M. M. Somaya: Sportstar Aces helps bring out inspirational stories that need to be told
Hockey legend M. M. Somaya stressed the importance of honouring athletes for their year-round achievements ahead of the seventh annual Sportstar Aces Awards.
“These stories are inspirational and need to be told. Winning an Olympic medal is truly outstanding,” he said.
Somaya, who had won a gold medal with the Indian team at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, is part of the elite jury panel for the honours, which also features Sunil Gavaskar, Abhinav Bindra, Anjali Bhagwat, and Aparna Popat.
“The nature of this jury is that we are very open in our decision-making and thought process. We are also open to decisions being overruled in case they need to be,” the 65-year-old said.
READ: Abhinav Bindra: Sportstar Aces a good chance to reflect on India’s sporting culture
“Earlier we used to say international achievements are the benchmark with which we pick winners, right? Now every single person has something happening internationally… everyone’s training abroad, basically climbing higher levels of competition. I think various factors are taken into account, but in the end, very little to choose between nominees.”
Gavaskar attributes this narrowing gap to greater exposure to multiple disciplines in mainstream media.
“You have to give credit to magazines like Sportstar and newspapers like The Hindu and others who are now covering more sports. There was a time when sports pages were dominated by cricket at any level. Television has made a difference because now a lot of people who probably wouldn’t have seen other sports can experience newer disciplines and understand the difficulties and the pleasure of participating in those sports.”
The 2025 Sportstar Aces Awards will be held in Mumbai on Friday, February 14.
