Thursday, June 2 2005 20:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Olympic silver medal shooter Rajyavardhan Singh and Chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand were leading contenders for the 'Sportsman of the Year Award - 2004' while Anju George and Sania Mirza were in line for the award in the sportswoman category.

The nominees for the award, by the Hero India Sports Academy, also included cricketers Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid.

Sehwag and Dravid may be the most popular among the four, but Rathore and Anand have more success last year to back their case.

Rathore was the first sportsperson of Independent India to win a silver medal at the Olympics when he finished second in the double trap event at the Athens Games in August last year.

The Lt Col with the Indian Army also won the national title at the Tughlaqabad Shooting Range near Delhi.

Anand had been at his best since 2003 and won back-to-back Oscars, his third and fourth, for his performance in the last two years.

The world's second highest ranked player, and the leader since the retirement of Gary Kasparov a few months back, won the Wij aan Zee and Dortmund classical format events besides clinching the Amber rapid chess title while finishing third at Linares.