Sportstar Aces 2021 celebrates the Giants of the Decade

The 2021 Sportstar Aces Awards saw 31 winners declared as ‘Giants of the Decade’ in 27 categories. Hosted on an exclusive virtual platform, this year’s edition was both a visual and memorable treat, taking viewers back to India’s glorious chapters in the sporting field between 2011 – 2020. Sportstar Aces began on 27 March with a curtain raiser show and the award winners were revealed over four episodes between April 1 and 4. The event was presented by MRF, with Life Insurance Corporation of India, Odisha, Union Bank of India, SPEED – Bharath Petroleum, Baashyaam and SSVM Institutions as other partners. 

Batting maestro GR Viswanath was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award while five-time world boxing champion MC Mary Kom was named Sportstar of the Decade. Sachin Tendulkar and Abhinav Bindra were declared ‘Inspirational Giant of Indian Sport’.  

For the Chairperson’s Choice Awards, Sportstar also recognised the efforts of three Indian athletes who, as frontline workers, have been at the forefront of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic – Joginder Sharma, Ajay Thakur and Akhil Kumar were conferred with the ‘Giant off the Field’ honour by Malini Parthasarathy, Chairperson, THG Publishing Pvt Ltd. The Odisha State government won the Best State for the Promotion of Sport honour for the third time in a row, having won the award in 2019 and 2020 as well. 

Apart from the jury and the winners of this year, the show was star-studded with sporting personalities such as Anju Bobby George, Geethu Anna Jose, VVS Laxman, Shantha Rangaswamy, Anil Kumble, Jeev Milkha Singh, Robin Uthappa, Deepak Nivas Hooda, Vijender Singh, Parthiva Sureshwaran, PT Usha, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Kris Srikkanth and others making an appearance at the virtual ceremony. 

The unprecedented nature of the last year resulted in little sporting action to make a true assessment of performance. In consultation with the esteemed jury, Sportstar decided to honour the best performers of the past decade. The Sportstar Aces Awards 2021 witnessed the best athletes of India vying for the Giants of the Decade title. These winners have made the nation proud with their performances between 2011 and 2020. Sportstar Aces had three categories — Popular Awards, Jury Awards and Chairperson’s Choice Awards. This year’s Jury was headed by Sunil Gavaskar, along with M. M. Somaya, Viswanathan Anand, Aparna Popat, Anjali Bhagwat and Bhaichung Bhutia. The winners of the Sportstar Aces – Giants of the Decade were: 

Popular Awards: 

Sportswoman of the Decade (Cricket) – Mithali Raj 

Sportsman of the Decade (Cricket) – MS Dhoni 

Sportswoman of the Decade (Racquet Sports) – PV Sindhu 

Sportsman of the Decade (Racquet Sports) – Kidambi Srikanth 

Sportsperson of the Decade (Motorsport) – Narain Karthikeyan 

Sportswoman of the Decade (Individual Olympic Sport) – Mary Kom 

Sportsman of the Decade (Individual Olympic Sport) – Sushil Kumar 

Sportswoman of the Decade (Team Sports) – Rani Rampal 

Sportsman of the Decade (Team Sports) – Manpreet Singh 

Club of the Decade – Bengaluru FC 

Moment of the Decade – PV Sindhu's World Championship Win in 2019 and Viswanathan Anand's 2017 World Rapid Triumph 

Jury Awards: 

Sportswoman of the Decade (Track and Field) – Krishna Poonia 

Sportsman of the Decade (Track and Field) – Neeraj Chopra 

Parathlete Sportsperson of the Decade (Female) – Deepa Malik 

Parathlete Sportsperson of the Decade (Male) – Devendra Jhajharia 

Sportswoman of the Decade (Individual Non-Olympic Sport) – Koneru Humpy 

Sportsman of the Decade (Individual Non-Olympic Sport) – Viswanathan Anand 

Lifetime Achievement Award – GR Viswanath 

Sportstar of the Decade – Mary Kom 

Inspirational Giant of India Sport – Sachin Tendulkar and Abhinav Bindra 

Coach of the Decade – P. Gopichand 

National Team of the Decade – 2011 World Cup-Winning Men's Cricket Team 

Best State for the Promotion of Sport – Odisha 

Best PSU for the Promotion of Sport – Railways 

Best Corporate for the Promotion of Sport – Hero Motocorp 

Chairperson’s Choice Awards 

Giants off the Field (COVID-19 Warriors) – Joginder Sharma, Akhil Kumar and Ajay Thakur 

Sport for Social Good – Anantapur Sports Academy