February 2, 2026: The BBC has announced the nominees of the BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year (ISWOTY) Awards, celebrating the exceptional achievements of India’s leading women athletes in 2025. Now in its sixth year, BBC ISWOTY honours sportswomen who have broken barriers, inspired millions, and elevated India’s presence on the global sporting stage.
The nominees represent excellence across disciplines:
Divya Deshmukh, Chess
Harmanpreet Kaur, Cricket
Smriti Mandhana, Cricket
Suruchi Singh, Shooting
Jyothi Yarraji, Athletics
These athletes have been shortlisted by an eminent jury of sports editors, writers and specialists, following an evaluation of performances over the past year, continuing the award’s tradition of recognising India’s top five sportswomen annually. Since its inception in 2020, the BBC ISWOTY Awards have recognised India’s finest female athletes through a robust process involving expert jury shortlisting and public voting.
This year, continuing the tradition, nominees have been selected by the expert jury, with the final winner to be chosen by a distinguished grand jury comprising Leander Paes, Anju Bobby George, and Deepa Mallik.
Leander Paes is one of India’s most accomplished tennis players, an Olympic medallist and global doubles legend who firmly placed Indian tennis on the world map.
Anju Bobby George, India’s pioneering long jumper, is a world championship medallist who transformed the nation’s presence in global track and field and is also the recipient of BBC’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.
Deepa Mallik, India’s first Paralympic medallist, has redefined the nation’s understanding of ability, resilience, and excellence, inspiring generations by breaking barriers and showcasing the true spirit of sport.
Fiona Crack, Interim Global Director, BBC News, says: “Indian Sportswoman of the Year marks a year of sporting brilliance for women across India, and the BBC World Service plays an essential role in showcasing and celebrating those endeavours like no other media provider. We’re thrilled to give these women a platform to amplify their hard-earned achievements to audiences in India and around the world.”
The BBC ISWOTY is managed and produced by Collective Newsroom. Rupa Jha, Editor-in-Chief and Co-founder, Collective Newsroom says: “Women have often been discouraged from sport because of marriage, age, body norms, or disability. Every Body Can Play as this year’s editorial theme reinforces a simple idea that sport belongs to everyone, and its true impact is measured not only in outcomes, but in inclusion and opportunity. The ISWOTY 2026 celebrates every woman who dared to step onto the field and claim her space.”
Nominees Profile:
Divya Deshmukh, Chess
A 20-year-old chess prodigy, Divya Deshmukh scripted history in July by becoming the first Indian and the youngest ever champion of the FIDE Women’s World Cup. The feat earned her grandmaster status. In the finals, it was a passing of baton moment as Deshmukh defeated Koneru Humpy, the first Indian woman to become a grandmaster.
Born in the western Indian city of Nagpur in 2005, Deshmukh started playing chess at the young age of five. Within two years, she became the Under-7 National Champion and in 2017, she bagged the World Youth Chess Championship title in the girls’ under-12 category.
In 2022, she played a key role in India’s bronze-winning team at the Chess Olympiad in Chennai. Two years later, it was time for bigger glory as she bagged an individual gold and was also part of the team that finished top of the podium.
Harmanpreet Kaur, Cricket
The captain of the Indian women’s cricket team, Kaur led the country to its first ICC Women’s World Cup title in November 2025. Playing on home soil, she led from the front with an 88-ball 89, chasing a tall target of 339 in the semi-finals against Australia. In another World Cup semi-final against the same opponent back in 2017, her innings of 171 not out is still widely regarded as one of the greatest innings in women’s cricket.
In 1989, on the day she was born to sports-loving parents in the north Indian state of Punjab, her father bought her a t-shirt that read “good batting”. She lived up to the prophecy becoming a batting mainstay of the Indian team since making her debut in 2009. She has featured in Time magazine’s 2023 list of Top 100 Emerging Leaders and BBC’s 100 Most Inspiring Women. In 2017, she was also conferred the Arjuna Award – India’s second highest sports recognition.
Smriti Mandhana, Vice‑Captain, Indian Women’s Cricket Team
The vice-captain of the Indian women’s cricket team, Mandhana is already making a claim for a place among the all-time greats of the sport. The 29-year-old left-handed batter has the second-highest number of centuries in one-day internationals and the third-highest runs among current players. Hailing from Sangli city in Maharashtra, Mandhana was inspired by her father and brother, both of whom played cricket at the district level.
In 2013, while playing on a zonal under-19 tournament, she became the first Indian woman to score a double century in a domestic one-day match. In September last year, she made a 50-ball hundred against Australia – the fastest ton by an Indian in the format, breaking Virat Kohli’s record. She has been named the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year twice, in 2018 and 2021, and received the prestigious Arjuna Award from the Indian government in 2019.
Suruchi Singh, Shooting
Hailing from the northern state of Haryana, which has a rich history of producing shooters, Singh broke into the headlines in 2024, winning seven gold medals at the National Shooting Championship. Less than a year later, the 19-year-old made her senior international debut, quickly establishing herself on the global stage. In 2025, she won individual gold medals in the ISSF World Cup series held in Buenos Aires, Lima, and Munich, completing a rare golden treble. In Lima, she secured gold in the mixed team event.
At the Asian Shooting Championship 2025 held in Kazakhstan, she won a bronze medal in the women’s team event alongside Manu Bhaker and Palak Gulia. In September 2025, she became the top-ranked woman shooter in the International Shooting Sport Federation’s 10m air pistol category.
Jyothi Yarraji, Athletics
In a country where achievements in track and field events at the elite level have been few and far between, Yarraji became the first Indian woman to qualify for the Olympics 100m hurdles in the 2024 Paris games. Overcoming hurdles has in fact never been a problem for Yarraji as the 26-year-old was in a family with limited means – her father worked as a security guard and mother a domestic worker.
In 2022, she broke the national record for the 100m hurdles, clocking 13.23 seconds, and has since surpassed her own record multiple times. She also excelled at the 2022 National Games, claiming multiple gold medals across sprint and hurdle events, and earned bronze at the World University Games and silver at the 2022 Asian Games. In 2023, Yarraji won gold at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in the 60m hurdles and silver at the Asian Athletics Championships, cementing her reputation as Asia’s top hurdler. She also won the 100m hurdles gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships 2025 in Gumi. In 2024, she became a recipient of the prestigious Arjuna Award.
More about ISWOTY in 2026
This year’s BBC ISWOTY shines a spotlight on Indian women who have overcome barriers of age, gender, disability, and motherhood to pursue their passion for sport. In the lead‑up to the BBC ISWOTY awards on 16 of February in New Delhi, some of the inspiring stories will be published on BBC News, BBC Indian Languages’ websites, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram channels, BBC Sport, BBC Global Eye, and other platforms of BBC.
Watch the journey of India’s Women’s Ice Hockey Team here: BBC News Hindi
The Siddi community girls, long marginalised by poverty and discrimination, are now breaking barriers and transforming their lives through sports. Watch their inspiring story. BBC News Hindi
Millions of girls are pushed into child marriage, but in Rajasthan, some are rewriting their futures through sport. By learning football, they’re gaining financial independence and building their own identities. Watch their story on: BBC News Hindi
Stay tuned for the upcoming stories.
BBC will soon release new research on perceptions of gender equality and women in sports in India, building on its landmark 2020 study. The report examines how attitudes have shifted over the past five years, highlighting both progress and ongoing challenges, and offering fresh insights into the evolving landscape of women’s sports in the country.
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