Reigning world champion Bhagat, who had won a historic gold medal in the men’s singles SL3 class in the Tokyo Olympics in September, was also named along with Manoj Sarkar for the newly introduced Para Badminton Pair of the Year, with five other nominees. Sarkar had bagged a bronze in the men’s singles SL3 class in the Tokyo Olympics. The 33-year-old Bhagat, who had contracted polio when he was four years old, picked up the sport after watching his neighbours play. Initially, he competed against able-bodied players before getting into competitive para badminton in 2006. Bhagat is also current world number one and Asian champion in SL3. In SL3 classification, athletes with lower limb impairment compete. There was no Indian in the list of nominees in the able-bodied categories. Danish players Viktor Axelsen and Anders Antonsen, China’s Wnag Yi Lyu and Japan’s Yuta Watanabe were nominated for the (able-bodied) Male Player of the Year. Axelsen was the gold medallist at the Tokyo Olympics. China’s Tokyo Games gold winner in women’s singles, Chen Yu Fei, Spain’s Carolina Marin, Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying and Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi were the nominees for Female Player of the Year. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the eligibility…