The shortlisted nominees for Kerala's biggest sports award - Manorama Sports Star 2020-21 - instituted by Malayala Manorama in association with Santa Monica Study Abroad, have been announced.
The six final contenders picked by an expert panel are: P R Sreejesh (hockey), Sanju Samson (cricket), S Soorya (volleyball), Sandra Babu (athletics), Nihal Sarin (chess), and K V Athulya (football).
The winner will be determined via online/SMS voting. As many as 10 lucky persons who take part in the selection process will be given away Rs 10,000 each. The SMS and online voting will be done in two phases. The sportsperson with maximum number of votes will receive the Manorama Sports Star 2020-21 award and a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh. The second and third prize winners will be awarded trophies and a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively.
The final six contenders for the prestigious award were picked by a panel comprising Olympian T C Yohannan, writer and sports analyst N S Madhavan, and former cricketer and coach P Balachandran.
Ace shuttler H S Prannoy was the winner of the inaugural Manorama Sports Star Award in 2017. Athlete Jinson Johnson and special cricketer Aneesh P Rajan were the winners in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Here’s a quick recap of each finalist’s performance in 2020-21 and the format to vote:
1. P. R. Sreejesh: MSA<space>A
Sreejesh was part of the Indian men's hockey team that won a bronze in the Tokyo Olympics to end the country's 41-year wait for an Olympic medal in the national game. He won the prestigious World Games Athlete of the Year in 2021 and the FIH Player of the Year Awards (2020–21) for best male goalkeeper. Last year, the 33-year-old also won the Khel Ratna Award, highest sporting honour of India.
2. Sanju Samson: MSA <space> B
Sanju is the first Keralite to captain an Indian Premier League (IPL) side. He scored a century on his debut as captain of Rajasthan Royals. The 27-year-old, who got a number of opportunities to don the national colours in the last two years, was in excellent form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day tournament and the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 championship.
3. S. Soorya: MSA<space> C
Soorya was an integral part of the Kerala team which clinched many titles at the national level over the past couple of years. The central blocker played a pivotal role when Kerala won the 2020 Federation Cup volleyball championship held in Rajasthan. She was a key member of the Kerala team which won back-to-back titles at the National senior volleyball championships in 2020 and 2021.
4. Sandra Babu: MSA <space> D
Sandra clinched gold in triple jump and silver in long jump at the Under-23 National Athletics Championship held in New Delhi in 2021. Representing Calicut University, she finished second in triple jump at the 81st All India Inter-University Athletics Championship held in Moodbidri. At the third Khelo India Youth Games held in Guwahati in 2020, Sandra took bronze in long jump. The 19-year-old also broke a 17-year-old record in triple jump to bag gold at the Calicut University Athletic meet.
5. Nihal Sarin: MSA<space> E
Nihal won the Gazprom Brilliancy award for the best game from the World Youth online championships 2020. In the last two years, he emerged champion at the World Youth Chess (U-18), World Youth and Cadet Chess (U-18), and the World Junior Speed Chess Championships. The 17-year-old was a member of the Indian team which clinched the Chess Olympiad gold medal jointly with Russia in 2020. In May 2020, he grabbed headlines after beating the current world champion Magnus Carlsen in an online blitz game.
6. K V Athulya: MSA<space> F
Athulya is a star in women's football. A former player of Gokulam Kerala FC, she currently plays for the Ernakulam-based Don Bosco FA. The 26-year-old Kozhikode native was the mainstay of the Gokulam Kerala defence when they won the Indian Women's League in 2020.
The SMS should be sent to 56767123 (rates apply) in the prescribed format. For example, if your pick is the first person in the list, the format should be MSA<space>A. For online voting, log on to https://specials.manoramaonline.com/News/2022/manorama-sports-star/index.html
