Manisha, Pranay and Bhagat Chuke selected as BWF’s best para badminton player of the year

Young Indian player Manisha Ramadoss has been named the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) Women’s Para Badminton Player of the Year award for her stupendous performance in the current season.

The BWF on Monday declared 17-year-old Manisha the winner. Manisha had won the gold medal in the SU5 category of the World Championships. He won 11 gold and five bronze medals overall in 2022.

Other contenders in this category included India’s Nitya Sri Sumati and Manasi Joshi, Serina Satomi, Giuliana Poveda Florence and Pilar Jauregui.

Paralympic champion Pramod Bhagat and Thomas Cup winner HS Prannoy, however, lost out in the race for the BWF awards.

Bhagat, who won his fourth singles gold at the World Championships this year, was named in the BWF Male Para Badminton Player of the Year category but the award in the WH2 category went to world champion and reigning Paralympic champion Daiki Kajiwara, who won a total of 10 gold medals. and won four bronze medals.

Apart from Kajiwara and Bhagat, other nominees for the award were Chieh Leek Hou, Lucas Mazur, Chiu Man Kai and Choi Jungman.

Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen was adjudged the best player in men’s singles while Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong won the best pairs award at the Best Badminton Players Awards.

BWF said in a report on its official website that Axelsen won nine titles during the eligibility period from November 1, 2021 to October 31, 2022. He also won the World Championship title for the second time during this period.

Akane Yamaguchi of Japan was named the best women’s singles player of the year, who achieved the feat of winning two consecutive world titles within nine months. He also won the All England and Japan Open titles.

Other contenders in this class were Aan Se Young and Tai Tzu Ying.

The Most Improved Player of the Year award went to the pair of Fajar Alfiyan and Mohamed Riyan Ardianto, who made eight finals appearances and won four titles in 2022.

The Indonesian pair beat HS Prannoy and Jeong Na Eun and Kim Hee Jeong to win the award.

Japan’s 21-year-old Kodai Neroka received the Eddie Chung ‘Most Promising’ Player of the Year award. Neroca made it to four finals in 2022 and won the Vietnam Open title.