Indians dominate BWF para badminton awards nominations, Olympic champion Nitesh in fray

New Delhi, Dec 5 (PTI) Reigning Olympic champion Nitesh Kumar was on Friday named among four nominees for the BWF Men's Para Badminton Player of the Year 2025 following his fine performances, as Indians dominate award hopefuls in the para badminton section.

Cheah Liek Hou of Malaysia, Daiki Kajiwara of Japan and Park Haeseong of South Korea are Kumar's three rivals for the coveted award. The winners will be announced at the BWF World Tour Finals 2025 Gala Dinner in Hangzhou, China, on December 15.

The awards celebrate outstanding talent, consistent performance throughout the season, fair play, personality and profile across a 12-month eligibility period from 1 December 2024 to 30 November 2025.

During this period, the 30-year-old Kumar clinched in Standing Lower (SL3) men’s singles gold at the Asia Para Badminton Championships in Thailand, and won the crown at the Indonesia International. He had won gold in men's singles SL3 (impairment in one or both lower limbs, and poor movement balance) event in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Two Indians -- Manisha Ramadass and Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan -- figured among the four nominees for the women's Para Badminton Player of the Year 2025.

But the maximum Indians were named in the Para Badminton Pair of the Year category (both men and women considered together). Three Indian pairs -- Jagdish Dilli and Naveen Sivakumar, Krishna Nagar and Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan, and Sudarsan Saravanakumar Muthusamy and Sivarajan Solaimalai -- were named out of four nominees.

The able-bodied category, however, did not have any Indian in the five marquee awards which includes the best players in men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

World champions Shi Yu Qi, Akane Yamaguchi, Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning and Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae are among the leading contenders. PTI PDS PDS AT DDV