Harmanpreet Kaur is named Sportswoman of the Year (Cricket) at the Sportstar Aces Awards 2023

Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the Sportswoman of the Year (Cricket) award at the Sportstar Aces Awards 2023 at the Taj Mahal Palace on Monday.

Odisha won the Best State For the Promotion of Sports award. The Prime Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, accepted the award.

“I would like to thank The Hindu Group and Sportstar magazine for this honorable award. In Odisha we have tried to do a lot for the sport of ice hockey in recent years – in the last 15 months we have built the largest ice hockey stadium in the world. We believe that investing in sport is an investment in youth and investing in youth is an investment in the future,” said Patnaik.

Mohinder Amarnath, a key member of the Indian team that won the 1983 Cricket World Cup, recalled the moment he lost the last West Indian wicket in the final. “When West Indies were down by nine, Kapil (Dev) bowled and I played at Deep Point. I prayed that Kapil would not take the wicket just because it would have been impossible for me to reach the dressing room. The crowd was absolutely ready to run into the ground,” Amarnath said.

At the crucial moment, Amarnath said: “At the time, we didn’t know what we were doing. We made history.”

The jury was headed by legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, former Indian ice hockey captain MM Somaya, chess great Viswanathan Anand, former Indian soccer skipper Bhaichung Bhutia and Olympians Anjali Bhagwat and Aparna Popat were the other members of the jury.

The event is supported by IDFC First Bank, Indian Oil, India Cements, United India, Ramaiah University, Experimenta Science Center GD Naidu Charity, Finolex Pipes, LIC, BPCL, Samsonite, Big Basket, Nippon Paint, CRICHQ, Wordswork, NewsX and Casagrand .