gurgaon olympic bronze medallist saina nehwal was declared sports illustrated sportsperson of the year while her mentor and india coach pullela gopichand was given the coach of the year award for nurturing new crop of talented young shuttlersthe event was organised by the sports magazine to honour good performances of the year 2012saina had also bagged this award in the inaugural edition in 2009the 14 categories in which the awards were presented include young player of the year award won by u19 world cup winning captain unmukt chand while athlete of the year was presented to young india cricketer virat kohlirahul dravid and vvs laxman the indian batting stalwarts who retired from international cricket last year were given the lifetime achievement award for their contribution to the sportwrestler sushil kumar who won became the first indian to win backtoback individual olympic medals was adjudged the gamechanger of the year for bagging a silver medal at london gamesteam of the year award was given to india u19 cricket team for winning countrys third icc under19 world cup in australiaparalympic high jumper hn girishas silver medal winning effort at paralympic last year was awarded sporting moment of the yearthe list also included asian champion sawarn singh virk rowing and race walker kt irfan as surprise package of the yearthe other awardees include footballer uttam rai sportskid of the year service sports control board administrator of the year and services domestic performance of the yearthis is the fourth year of the india awards which are inspired by the worlds most prestigious sports awards the sportsman of the year established by sports illustrated in 1954