The Hindu: Ashwin and PV Sindhu appear above Virat Kohli in Top 20 sportspersons, teams of 2016

"Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian female gymnast ever to compete in the Olympics and the first Indian to do so in 52 years. Dipa attained the pinnacle by winning a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She came close to winning a medal at the Rio Olympics but missed the bronze by a whisker. For her feat at Olympics, she was conferred the Khel Ratna Award. She has guaranteed the fans that she will win a Olympic medal for the country at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020."

"After taking the reins from M.S. Dhoni, Virat Kohli had further lifted the morale of the young Indian side in Tests and brought glory. By winning the consecutive series against West Indies in West Indies, New Zealand and England in India, Kohli's team dethroned Pakistan to become the No.1 Test ranking side and maintained it till the end of 2016. Kohli has captained India in 18 consecutive Tests without a defeat, starting from the tour of Sri Lanka in August 2015. He has captained in 22 Tests and won 14 out of it and lost only 2."

"P.V. Sindhu became the first woman to win a badminton silver at the recently concluded Rio Olympics. She emulated her compatriot Saina Nehwal, who had won a bronze in 2008. Sindhu played brilliant badminton at the Rio Olympics and just demolished her opponents and reached the finals with a huge expectation from millions of fans. Sindhu has earlier defeated her opponent Carolina Marin in 2015. And the way she swamped her opponents in the group stages, quarterfinals and semifinals, fans expected a certain gold from her. But her opponent Carolina Marin held on to the pressure and upped the ante to beat Sindhu in a three-set thriller finals."