Viswanathan Anand - NDTV Sports Person Of The Year

By Staff

NDTV Indian of the Year" award ceremony was held at New Delhi on 17th Jan. Prominent personalities including Prime Minister Manmohan Sing attended the ceremony. The awards have been divided into seven categories, the winners were chosen through a rigorous process. The Jury comprised eminent personalities from their respective fields.

Chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand was honoured with the 'Sports person of the Year" award by Union Sports Minister Mani Shanker Aiyar. Sports person of the year nominee included M S Dhoni, Biachung Bhutia and Sania Mirza. Anand was also nominated for CNN IBN Indian of the year. 2007 was a year of memorable milestones for Anand. He achieved his longtime goal of becoming world #1 in ratings. Won the Linares-Morelia Tournament and the World Chess Championship.

Anand is the first Indian to win the 2000 FIDE World Chess Championship title. He is the only player to win the Corus Chess Tournament titles 5 times. He has four chess Oscars given to the best player in the world and was also the first recipient of India's highest sporting honour - the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. Anand has also won the inaugural edition of the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship. Anand is the global ambassador of Spastics Society of India and National Institute of Information Technology Ltd (NIIT).