Sportstar ACES Awards 2025: List of nominees for Sportstar of the Year (male) Award
Sportstar ACES Awards 2025: List of nominees for Sportstar of the Year (male) Award
2024 was a landmark year for Indian sports, marked by historic achievements. D. Gukesh became the youngest-ever World Chess Champion, while India’s men’s and women’s chess teams clinched gold at the Olympiad in Budapest. The men’s cricket team ended its ICC trophy drought with a T20 World Cup win. Indian athletes shone at the Paris Summer Olympics and Paralympics. Let’s celebrate these and other milestones at the seventh Sportstar ACES Awards.
Age: 18
Discipline: Chess
D. Gukesh, once the second-youngest Grandmaster in history and now the third youngest overall, is among the most talked-about chess players globally. Hailing from Chennai, he began his chess journey at age seven after being introduced to the game in school. Within just six months, he became a FIDE-rated player.
Gukesh is now the youngest World Chess Champion after beating China’s Ding Liren in the 14-match Championship final in Singapore. Earlier, he made headlines by becoming the third youngest player, following legends Bobby Fischer and Magnus Carlsen, to compete in the Candidates tournament. At 17, he also became the youngest winner of the tournament.
With a live rating of 2776.8 (as of December 16, 2024), Gukesh is currently ranked fifth in the world.
– Youngest World Chess Champion at 18, bettering Garry Kasparov’s record, who became Champion at 22
– Won individual gold on Board 1 and team gold in the Open section of the Chess Olympiad 2024 in Budapest
– Finished second behind Wei Yi in the Tata Steel Chess Masters 2024 in Wijk aan Zee
– Became the youngest player to win the Candidates Tournament in April 2024
– Hit peak rating of 2796.4
Age: 26
Discipline: Javelin Throw
A recurring groin injury saw Neeraj push himself harder than ever in the recently concluded season. He registered a throw of 89.45 metres in his only valid attempt in the Paris 2024 final, securing India back-to-back Olympic medals. His effort may have fallen short of the monstrous 92.97-metre Olympic record throw that won Arshad Nadeem the title in the French capital, but Neeraj continued to flirt with the 90m mark throughout the year.
He came closest at the Diamond League in Lausanne, where he fell merely 51cm short of the coveted mark. During the Paris Olympics qualification, he hurled the javelin 89.34m. On a couple of occasions, he was left to rue losses by the narrowest of margins – by 2cm against the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch at the season-opening Doha DL and by a centimetre in the DL final at Brussels, where Grenada’s Anderson Peters recorded an 87.87 metre throw to win the Diamond Trophy.
– Won the Olympic silver medal
– Became the fifth individual multiple medallist for India at the Olympics
– Won gold at the Paavo Nurmi Games with a throw of 85.97m
– Finished as runner-up in the Diamond League final by a margin of 1cm
Age: 26
Discipline: Javelin Throw (F64)
F64 is for field athletes with moderately affected movement in one or both legs or the absence of limbs. These athletes have to adjust for asymmetric balance during the run-up for javelin and across the throwing circle in shot and discus.
Sumit Antil, whose left leg is amputated below the knee, is the world record holder in men’s javelin (F64). At just 26 years old, he became the first Indian man to successfully defend his Paralympic title with an impressive throw of 70.59 metres, surpassing his own Paralympic Games record.
He kicked off the event with a throw of 69.11m, breaking his previous Paralympic record of 68.55m set at Tokyo 2020. He then improved his mark again with a throw of 70.59m in the next round.
Prior to this, Sumit also secured gold at the World Para Athletics Championships 2024 in Kobe, Japan, with a throw of 69.50m. In 2023, he achieved gold at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games in the javelin throw F64 event, setting a new world record with a remarkable throw of 73.29 metres, breaking his previous world record of 70.83 metres that he set while winning gold at the World Para Athletics Championships.
– Paris Paralympics 2024 (gold)
– First Indian man to defend title at the Paris Paralympics
– Broke Paralympic record twice in Paris
– World record holder in men’s javelin F64
– Has broken the world record at least eight times over five years (2019-2024)
– World Para Athletics Championships 2024 (gold)
– Forbes India 30 Under 30 2024
Age: 30
Discipline: Cricket
Jasprit Bumrah started 2024 by helping India beat England to maintain his side’s winning run in the home Test series. The right-arm pacer took 19 wickets at an incredible average of 16.89 as India beat England 4-1.
Bumrah continued in his relentless ways in IPL 2024, claiming 20 scalps at a miserly economy of 6.48, despite a below-par tournament for his side Mumbai Indians. However, the 30-year-old reserved his best for the T20 World Cup, where his sharp bowling was vital in India’s title win. Bumrah was nearly unplayable in the tournament, giving away just 4.17 runs per over while bagging 15 wickets. During the first Test against Bangladesh in Chennai, Bumrah reached 400 international wickets, becoming only the sixth Indian pacer to reach that mark.
– T20 World Cup 2024 title
– T20 World Cup 2024 Player of the Tournament
– Third-highest wicket-taker in IPL 2024
– Became the fastest Indian pacer to take 150 wickets in Test cricket
Age: 28
Discipline: Hockey
The year 2024 saw the end of an era as goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh called time on his 18-year-long career after winning a second consecutive Olympic field hockey bronze at Paris 2024. The 36-year-old from Kizhakkambalam in Kerala played a crucial role in India’s victory over Great Britain in the quarterfinal of the Olympic Games after the team was reduced to ten following a red card to key defender Amit Rohidas. Sreejesh was at his best in the shootout following the 1-1 draw, producing two spectacular saves to lead India to a 4-2 win.
He was once again instrumental in the bronze medal encounter, his last international match, producing a series of pivotal saves to help India over the line against Spain. The Khel Ratna award winner has stepped into the shoes of a coach and will be part of the junior national team setup going forward.
– Bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics
– Conceded just five goals from penalty corners at Paris 2024
– Nominated for FIH Goalkeeper of the Year Award
