Guwahati: The Sports Journalists Federation of India (SJFI) at its annual general body meeting here on Saturday decided to confer the inaugural SJFI medal on tennis legend Vijay Amritraj.
The 64-year-old multi-faceted Padma Shri awardee will be honoured during the SJFI annual convention scheduled to be held in Bengaluru from September 18-22.
The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold medallist in Javelin Throw Neeraj Chopra was named the ‘Sportsperson of the Year’, while the history-making men and women’s table tennis team which represented the country at the CWG was adjudged the ‘Team of the Year’.
Manu Bhaker, the youngest India to win a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup, is this year’s ‘Emerging Talent’ of the Year’. At the AGM, it was also decided to award three eminent sports personalities —Anjali Bhagwat, PK Banerjee and WV Raman— the SJFI honorary membership.
Subodh Barua (Assam Sports Journalists Association) and A Vinod (Kerala Sports Journalists Association) were unanimously re-elected as the president and secretary of the SJFI for the 2018-20 term. Prashant Keni was retained the treasurer.
Odisha’s senior sports journalist Sambit Mohapatra was elected to the executive committee for the third time.