Sportstar ACES Awards 2025: List of nominees for Club/State Team of the Year Award
Sportstar ACES Awards 2025: List of nominees for Club/State Team of the Year 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.
Mohun Bagan Super Giant had a memorable 2023-24 season as it won its maiden Indian Super League Shield and was the runner-up in the cup final.
It maintained an Indian core throughout the season, employing India’s national team regulars Manvir Singh, Sahal Abdul Samad, and Subhasish Bose in the starting XI under head coach Antonio Lopez Habas.
Its midfielder, Dimitri Petratos, won the Golden Ball (best player) in the ISL while its goalkeeper, Vishal Kaith, bagged the Golden Glove in the Durand Cup.
The Mariners started the season with silverware in style, beating arch-rival East Bengal in the Durand Cup final in Kolkata and becoming the most successful team in the tournament, with 17 titles.
In the middle of the season, however, it changed coaches and kept the ship steady with Habas in charge as head coach. In the regular season, it scored the most goals by a team – 47 – which was five more than its closest contender, Mumbai City FC.
After winning the Shield, Mohun Bagan secured qualification for Asia, playing in the AFC Cup, now rebranded as the AFC Champions League Two.
Achievements:
– Won the Durand Cup 2023, beating East Bengal in the final
– MBSG goalkeeper Vishal Kaith won the Golden Glove in the 2023 Durand Cup
– Won maiden Indian Super League Shield
– MBSG midfielder Dimitri Petratos won the Golden Ball in ISL
– Qualified for AFC Champions League Two for the fourth consecutive time
The Ranji Team of Mumbai, under captain Ajinkya Rahane, saw several stars emerge through the 2023-24 season as it clinched its record-extending 42nd title, beating Vidarbha in the final.
It was the first Ranji title for Mumbai in nearly a decade, ending its eight-year trophy drought in the coveted tournament.
While the top order of Prithvi Shaw, Bhupen Lalwani, and Musheer Khan created a foundation for runs, the resilience of the lower order — Shardul Thakur, Tanush Kotian, and Tushar Deshpande — along with their wicket-taking ability, created a formidable unit for the eventual champion.
In the quarterfinal, Mumbai came agonisingly close to a new partnerships record, with Kotian and Deshpande scoring a century each while putting up 232 runs together yet falling just one run shy of the highest partnership for the 10th wicket.
Kotian won the Player of the Series with over 500 runs to his name and 29 wickets.
Mumbai, with a major chunk of the Ranji side, also finished as a quarterfinalist at the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
– Won the Ranji Trophy after eight years, beating Vidarbha in the final
– Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande scored the second-highest partnership for the 10th wicket in the Ranji quarterfinal
– Reached the quarterfinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy
– Reached the quarterfinals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) clinched the Indian Premier League title in spectacular fashion, dominating Sunrisers Hyderabad with an emphatic eight-wicket victory in the final.
Finishing at the top of the group stage, KKR’s triumph in Chennai secured its third IPL championship and its first since 2014.
Mitchell Starc set the stage for an extraordinary performance by KKR, delivering a stunning delivery in the opening over to dismiss Sunrisers opener Abhishek Sharma.
Sunrisers struggled to recover from the early blow and were skittled out for just 113, marking the lowest score ever in an IPL final.
KKR’s bowling attack was relentless, with every bowler contributing to the collapse. Andre Russell led the charge with impressive figures of 3-19, while Starc and Harshit Rana chipped in with two wickets each.
KKR’s comprehensive performance reaffirmed its dominance and added another illustrious chapter to its IPL legacy.
– KKR wins third IPL title
Puneri Paltan was often the underachiever of the Pro Kabaddi League with bottom-of-the-table and mid-table finishes over the years.
But its faith in its academy system started providing results when it finished runner-up in the 2022 season before it went all the way in 2023-24 to clinch its maiden PKL title.
Such was its dominance last year that it only lost twice – the least number of defeats since the introduction of the 22-game league campaign in 2017 – in the entire campaign.
Puneri Paltan’s strong showing over the season and its enviable tiered youth development setup put the team in the argument for being the greatest in the league’s history.
– Won its maiden PKL title with a league-record 96 points in the round-robin stage
– Paltan lost just twice in the campaign – a league record
Goa Challengers TTC became the first team in Ultimate Table Tennis history to win the title in two consecutive seasons.
With two new teams in the fray, Harmeet Desai-led Goa rode the pressure of being defending champions to make it to the playoffs, despite scoring just 37 points in the league stage.
During the final, Goa lost key paddler Diya Chitale to injury and didn’t have an injury replacement. But her teammates didn’t let the side feel her absence as they wrapped up the title in just the second match of the night.
:
– First UTT team to win successive titles
– Won the title despite scoring just 37 points and finishing fourth in the league stage
