New Delhi: India’s young shuttler Manisha Ramadass has been named the BWF Female Para-Badminton Player of the Year in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced on Monday.
The World Champion in the SU5 section, Manisha Ramadass won 11 gold and five bronze medals overall in 2022 and was named BWF Female Para-Badminton Player of the Year for her superb performance.
Other contenders in this section were India’s Nithya Sre Sumathy and Manasi Joshi, Sarina Satomi, Giuliana Poveda Flores, and Pilar Jauregui.
In Para badminton, the BWF Awards Commission gave special allowance for the BWF Para-Badminton World Championships 2022, which concluded on November 6, to be included in the list of eligible tournaments.
India’s Pramod Bhagat was among those shortlisted for the BWF Male Para-Badminton Player of the Year but the award went to WH2 world champion and reigning Paralympic champion Daiki Kajiwara, winner of 10 gold and four bronze medals overall. The Japanese earned the nod of the BWF Awards Commission ahead of Cheah Liek Hou, Lucas Mazur, Chu Man Kai, and Choi Jungman besides Bhagat.
In the corresponding awards for the able-bodied shuttlers, Viktor Axelsen and Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong’s extraordinary dominance this season was honoured as they won the BWF Player of the Year Awards in their respective categories.
Axelsen won BWF Male Player of the Year for sweeping nearly everything in his path. During the eligibility period from November 1, 2021, to Oct. 31, 2022,
Axelsen won nine titles, including his second TotalEnergies BWF World Championships crown, which was achieved on the back of three consecutive HSBC BWF World Tour titles, the BWF said in a report on its official website.
China’s Zheng/Huang was nearly unbeatable in mixed doubles, with nine titles, and received the BWF Pair of the Year ahead of Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai, Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan and Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik.
The BWF Female Player of the Year was won by Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, who achieved the rare honour of winning back-to-back World Championships titles within a nine-month period. She also won two other titles – the All-England Open 2022 and the Japan Open 2022. The other contenders were An Se Young and Tai Tzu Ying.
Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto’s superb consistency through 2022, when they made eight finals and won four, saw them named the BWF Most Improved Players of the Year. The Indonesians won the honour ahead of HS Prannoy and Jeong Na Eun/Kim Hye Jeong.
Japanese 21-year-old Kodai Naraoka, who had a meteoric rise in 2022, won the Eddy Choong Most Promising Player of the Year. Naraoka made four finals and won the Vietnam Open.
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