Nitesh Kumar nominated for BWF Men’s Para-Badminton player of the year

India's Paralympic champion Kumar Nitesh has been nominated for the 2024 BWF Annual Awards in the Men’s Para-Badminton Player of the Year category.

Nitesh, who won his first gold medal in the SL3 category at the Paris Paralympics, is the sole Indian in this year’s nominations for the prestigious award.

He will compete against other top players, including two-time Paralympic gold medalist Cheah Liek Hou (SU5) of Malaysia, Japan's Daiki Kajiwara (WH2), and China's Qu Zimo (WH1).

Nitesh is a two-time silver and one-time bronze medallist at the World Championships.

In addition to Nitesh's nomination, Olympic champions Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and South Korea’s An Se-Young headlined the BWF Player of the Year nominations.

Winners will be decided based on a combination of world ranking points earned during the eligibility period and votes from a five-member expert panel, factoring in performances in top-tier tournaments, including the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Nitesh is the only Indian athlete featured in the Player of the Year nominations.

Full list of players nominated:

Men’s Doubles Player of the Year: China’s Olympic silver medalists Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang, Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, Denmark’s Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, and South Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae.

Women’s Doubles Player of the Year: Olympic finalists Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan (China) and compatriots Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning headline a strong list.

Mixed Doubles Player of the Year: China dominates with Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong and Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping leading the nominations.

Additional award categories

The Eddy Choong Rising Star Award, recognizing the best talent under 21, replaces the Most Promising Player Award.

Two new categories, Players’ Player of the Year (Men) and Players’ Player of the Year (Women), are peer-voted recognitions introduced this year.