Smriti Mandhana Named BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year 2025

By: WE Staff | Tuesday, 17 February 2026

• Smriti Mandhana wins BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year 2025
• Divya Deshmukh wins Emerging Player of the Year for FIDE Women’s World Cup victory
• Preethi Pal wins Para-Sportswoman of the Year for winning two Paralympic bronze medals

The BBC awarded Smriti Mandhana "BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year" for her exceptional role in contributing to India's Women's World Cup win in 2025.

Divya Deshmukh received the award for "Emerging Player of the Year" for the 20-year-old chess player who won FIDE Women's World Cup.

Preethi Pal won "Para-Sportswoman of the Year" after winning two bronze medals in track and field at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Anjali Bhagwat, awarded "Lifetime Achievement Award," was first Indian woman shooter to reach an Olympic finals; she had impressive international career.

Speaking via video message, Smriti, who is currently preparing with Indian cricket team for a multi-formats series in pre-season training in Australia, said "Women's cricket was great in 2025 (especially at the end when we won the World Cup), and I am happy to have aided Indian teams by supporting winning games."

She has already become one of the best current female cricketers as at 29 she has the second most number of centuries in Women's ODIs.

She had previously broken Virat Kohli's record for the fastest fifty-over international century by scoring 100 runs off 50 balls against Australia and therefore set a new record for the fastest fifty-by-an-Indian (both male and female) on September 5, 2020.

The BBC News CEO Jonathan Munro congratulated all the award winners: “Congratulations to this year’s award winners. They represent the very best of sport excellence. By sharing these stories of achievement and success, we are proud to be a part of the service that the BBC World Service delivers to the people of India and beyond.”

The ceremony also recognized many different types of athletes and individuals who play a transformative role in changing the Indian sporting landscape.