New Delhi: Indian para-badminton player Nitesh Kumar on Monday was nominated for the Para Badminton ‘Player of the Year’ award by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The global governing body of the sport announced list of all nominees across categories for the year-ending awards.
Nitesh, who hails from Rajasthan’s Bas Kirtan village, clinched gold medal in the men’s singles SL3 class at the Paris Paralympics 2024 in September. He defeated Daniel Bethell of Great Britain in a nail-biting final with the scores reading 21-14, 18-21, 23-21.
Nitesh was nominated for the men’s para-badminton player by the nominees announced by BWF. The 29-year-old will face contention from Cheah Liek Hou (Malaysia), Daiki Kajiwara (Japan), and Qu Zimo (China).
In the women’s para badminton category, Li Feng Mei (China), Liu Yutong (China), Sarina Satomi (Japan), and Leani Ratri Otkila were nominated. Furthermore, the media release mentioned that Qu, Liu, Oktila and Li have a shot at a double, as they have also been nominated for the Para Badminton Pair of the Year with respective partners Mai Jian Peng, Yin Meng Lu, Hikmat Ramdani and Lin Naili.
Olympic champions Viktor Axelsen, An Se Young nominated for Player of the Year awards
Star Danish shuttler Viktor Axelsen, who defended his gold medal in men’s singles category at the Paris Olympics, was nominated in the Male player of the year award. He will face contention from Shi Yu Qi (China), Chou Tien Chen (Chinese Taipei), and compatriot Anders Antonsen.
In the women’s singles, An Se Young (South Korea) has been named alongside Wang Zhi Yi (China), Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (Indonesia), and Han Yue (China) for Female Player of the Year.
All these awards are bestowed to players for their exceptional performances, fair play, personality on court from December 1, 2023, to November 30, 2024. The winners will be dermined by combined score of world ranking points in the past 52 weeks along with the votes from the five-member expert panel.
Indian para-badminton player Nitesh Kumar on Monday was nominated for the Para Badminton ‘Player of the Year’ award by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). Badminton Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
