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AMR Group presents ‘THE MAHARAJA OF MADRID’ – by JJ Valaya
New Delhi: 24rd JULY, 2013: JJ Valaya heralds the couture season of 2013 with the grand opening of the Aamby Valley India Bridal Fashion Week in association with Azva, the Hotel Grand, New Delhi. JJ Valaya’s show is presented by the AMR Group, a diversified business conglomerate with business interest in different industry verticals.
A visual spectacle involving nearly 50 models and 30 artistes will showcase the JJ Valaya Couture collection set amidst a creatively charged set designed by Scenographer Sumant Jayakrishnan depicting a grand conglomeration of royals at a reception to welcome the Maharaja and his daughter, the princess, from their adventures in Spain. The Maharaja, in turn, a devoted believer of India and its wonders, and now also fascinated by all things Spanish is keen to showcase his newfound inspirations. In an endeavor to take the audience through his exalted experiences, this collection projects a medley of Spanish and Indian influences, both visually as well as through a specially created soundtrack by Gaurav Raina of Medieval Pundits. However, rather than dwell upon the rather obvious visual connects of Spain, the collection delves into seemingly contradictory juxtapositions to come out with a unique collection of the some of the finest couture statements of the season.
Section 1. Inspired by the laces found in Spanish fans and headgears, and combined with the elegant grandeur of Indian jewels, this collection in Ivory showcases a sinuous blend of the tailored with the flow.
Section 2. Imbued with the soul of Spain, Huge fringed shawls, known as “Mantón de Manila” remain a Spanish tradition and almost always depict flowers in varied hues and sizes. In harmony with the beauty of the Indian Jamawar, a unique collection takes birth in deep aubergines, reds and Turquoises in rich silks and jacquards.
Section 3. Diego Rivera was a Mexican artist known for his exquisite murals. Besides the fact that Mexico was once occupied by Spain, Diego Rivera also started his career with a famed Spanish artist, Eduardo Chicharro. His frescoes (with an almost renaissance like resonance) combined with the unrivalled beauty of Indian Miniature art are the inspiration for a collection in blacks and reds.
Section 4. A collection inspired by battle…by the armors of Spain and India, a collection that plays with modern shapes and forms using metallic transfers and fine metal embroideries. Velvets, Tulles and georgettes hold court in lush burgundies and distressed greys.
Section 5. The final collection stands inspired by perhaps what Spain is best associated with; the bullfighters, also known as the Toreros, and commonly as matadors. Their flamboyant costumes find an unusual mate in the unique forms of Thewa jewelry and digitally printed Matka silks.
Section 6. The Bride. Need we say more?
The story of this collection also continues off-ramp and weaves its way into a beautiful experience center located in the exposition area of the IBFW. Here the showcase focuses on the complete JJ Valaya Bridal experience involving Haute Couture, Bridal Couture, Conceptual wedding design (in association with Fashion One and FNP), Wedding gifting concepts (in association with The Home of the Traveler (THT) and bespoke fine cuisine concepts (in association with Seasons).
AMR Group, a diversified business conglomerate with business interest in different industry verticals, feels honored to associate with JJ Valaya – Kapil Aggarwal, MD AMR Group “A name of repute in the fashion domain, one that has won laurels on myriad national and international platforms. He is indeed one of the biggest names when it comes to bridal trousseau in India. He has that flair and knack of seamlessly blending the contemporary with the traditional. AMR is delighted at the fact that India Bridal Fashion Week is being organized in the national capital for the very first time. As a business entity that’s been at the forefront of fashion & related developments in the region we feel proud to partner with it.”
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TOISA 2026 shortlists unveiled ahead of Lucknow ceremony
Eighth edition on March 21 honours standout performers from 2025.
MUMBAI: TOISA 2026 just dropped a shortlist so stacked, even the trophy is wondering if it needs a bigger shelf. The Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) has revealed its 2026 shortlists, setting the stage for the eighth edition on 21 March at The Centrum Hotel in Lucknow. Celebrating achievements from 1 January to 31 December 2025 across more than 45 sports categories, this year’s nominees capture a golden 12 months of Indian sport from ODI and T20 World Cup triumphs to double golds at the Asian Athletics Championships and podium finishes at the World Para Athletics Championships.
For the first time, TOISA opens its doors to the public. Passes are available at timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toisa2025.
Standout shortlists include:
- Badminton (Male): Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, Kiran George, Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy
- Badminton (Female): Tanvi Sharma, Unnati Hooda, Tressa Jolly, Gayatri Gopichand
- Cricket (Male): Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav
- Cricket (Female): Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma
- Athletics (Male): Neeraj Chopra, Animesh Kujur, Gulveer Singh, Sachin Yadav
- Athletics (Female): Parul Chaudhary, Rupal Chaudhary, Jyothi Yarraji, Pooja Singh
- Shooting (Female): Suruchi Inder Singh, Simranpreet Kaur, Esha Singh, Elavenil Valarivan, Sift Kaur Samra, Manu Bhaker
- Emerging Sportsperson: Tanvi Sharma (badminton), Divya Deshmukh (chess), Shree Charani (cricket), Vaibhav Suryavanshi (cricket)
- Team of the Year: India Women’s Cricket Team, India Men’s Cricket Team, India Men’s Hockey Team, India Men’s & Women’s Kabaddi Teams, India National Shooting Team, India Women’s Cricket Team for the Blind, India Squash Team, India Women’s Ice Hockey Team
| Category | Shortlist 1 | Shortlist 2 | Shortlist 3 | Shortlist 4 | Shortlist 5 | Shortlist 6 | Column 1 | Column 2 |
| Badminton male | Lakshya Sen | Ayush Shetty | Kiran George | Chirag Shetty | Satwiksairaj Rankireddy | |||
| Badminton female | Tanvi Sharma | Unnati Hooda | Tressa Jolly | Gayatri Gopichand | ||||
| Cricket male | Shubman Gill | Abhishek Sharma | Ravindra Jadeja | Varun Chakaravarthy | KL Rahul | Kuldeep Yadav | ||
| Cricket female | Smriti Mandhana | Pratika Rawal | Jemimah Rodrigues | Deepti Sharma | Shafali Verma | |||
| Athletics (Track and field) male | Neeraj Chopra | Animesh Kujur | Gulveer Singh | Sachin Yadav | ||||
| Athletics (Track and field) female | Parul Chaudhary | Rupal Chaudhary | Jyothi Yarraji | Pooja Singh | ||||
| Sportsperson of the year (combined of all sports) | Divya Deshmukh | Suruchi Inder Singh | Smriti Mandhana | Samrat Rana | ||||
| Equestrian | Ashish Limaye | Shruti Vora | Divyakriti Singh | |||||
| Hockey male | Abhishek Nain | Harmanpreet Singh | Jugraj Singh | Amit Rohidas | ||||
| Hockey female | Udita Duhan | Navneet Kaur | Mumtaz Khan | Rutuja Pisal | ||||
| Shooting male | Samrat Rana | Ravinder Singh | Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar | Anish | Varun Tomar | Rudrankksh Patil | ||
| Shooting female | Suruchi Inder Singh | Simranpreet Kaur | Esha Singh | Elavenil Valarivan | Sift Kaur Samra | Manu Bhaker | ||
| Emerging sportsperson (combined) | Tanvi Sharma (badminton) | Divya Deshmukh (chess) | Shree Charani (cricket) | Vaibhav Suryavanshi (cricket) | ||||
| Coach of the year (male, female combined) | Amol Majumdar (Cricket) | Suresh Singh (Shooting) | Ashok Kumar Rana (Shooting) | |||||
| Chess male | Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa | Aravindh Chithambaram | Panneerselvam Iniyan | Nihal Sarin | Arjun Erigaisi | |||
| Chess female | Divya Deshmukh | Koneru Humpy | Vaishali Rameshbabu | Nandhidhaa PV | ||||
| Archery male | Dhiraj Bommadevara | Abhishek Verma | Atanu Das | Prathamesh Fuge | Rishabh Yadav | |||
| Archery female | Ankita Bhakat | Jyothi Surekha | Deepika Kumari | Prithika Pradeep | ||||
| Billiards/Snooker | Pankaj Advani | Aditya Mehta | Brijesh Damani | |||||
| Weightlifting male | Rishikanta Singh | Muthupandi Raja | Dilbag Singh | Lovepreet Singh | ||||
| Weightlifting female | Mirabai Chanu | Mehak Sharma | Bindyarani Devi | |||||
| Wrestling male | Sunil Kumar | Nitesh | Aman Sehrawat | Sujeet Kalkal | ||||
| Wrestling female | Antim Panghal | Manisha | Nisha Dahiya | |||||
| Squash male | Abhay Singh | Saurav Ghosal | Velavan Senthilkumar | Mahesh Mangaonkar | ||||
| Squash female | Anahat Singh | Joshna Chinappa | Dipika Pallikal Karthik | Tanvi Khanna | ||||
| Table Tennis male | Manav Thakkar | Sathiyan Gnanasekaran | Harmeet Desai | Payas Jain | ||||
| Table Tennis female | Manika Batra | Sreeja Akula | Diya Chitale | Ayhika Mukherjee | ||||
| Team of the Year (combined from all sports) | India Women’s Cricket Team | India Men’s Cricket Team | India Men’s Hockey Team | India Men’s & Women’s Kabaddi Teams | India National Shooting Team | India Women’s Cricket Team for the Blind | India Squash Team | India Women’s Ice Hockey Team |
| Tennis Male | Rohan Bopanna | Yuki Bhambri | Sumit Nagal | |||||
| Tennis Female | Ankita Raina | Vaishnavi Adkar | Sahaja Yamalapalli | |||||
| Football male | Subhasish Bose | Sunil Chhetri | Vishal Kaith | Brison Fernandes | Gurpreet Singh Sandhu | |||
| Football female | Soumya Guguloth | Grace Dangmei | Elangbam Panthoi Chanu | Manisha Kalyan | Pyari Xaxa | |||
| Kabaddi | Sanju Devi | Pawan Sehrawat | Ritu Negi | Arjun Deshwal | ||||
| Boxing male | Sachin Siwach | Hitesh Gulia | Pawan Bartwal | Ankush Panghal | ||||
| Boxing female | Minakshi Hooda | Jaismine Lamboria | Nikhat Zareen | Pooja Rani | ||||
| Sailing | Vishnu Saravanan | Zahaan Hemrajani | Abhimanyu Panwar | Ghashiayah A | ||||
| Para Archery male | Harvinder Singh | Vivek Chikara | Rakesh Kumar | Shyam Sunder Swami | ||||
| Para Archery female | Sheetal Devi | Payal Nag | Jyoti Baliyan | |||||
| Para Athlete (Track & Field) male | Sumit Antil | Shailesh Kumar | Sandeep Kumar | Nishad Kumar | ||||
| Para Athlete (Track & Field) female | Simran Sharma | Preethi Pal | Ekta Bhyan | Deepthi Jeevanji | ||||
| Para Badminton male | Pramod Bhagat | Sukant Kadam | Krishna Nagar | |||||
| Para badminton female | Mandeep Kaur | Manasi Joshi | Nithya Sre | |||||
| Para chess | Vaibhav Gautam | Samarth J Rao | Venkata Krishna Karthik K | |||||
| Para judo | Kapil Parmar | Avidha Sharma | Rahul Rajora | Kokila | ||||
| Para shooting male | Bhat Amir Ahmad | Nihal Singh | Sandeep Kumar | Rudransh Khandelwal | ||||
| Para shooting female | Mona Agarwal | Avani Lekhara | Rubi Kumari | |||||
| Para Sportsperson of the year | Sheetal Devi (Para Archery) | Praveen Kumar (Para Athletics – High Jump) | Preethi Pal (Para Athletics – Sprint) | Sumit Antil (Para Athletics – Javelin) | ||||
| Para Coach of the year | Dr. Satyapal Singh (Para Athletics) | Subhash Rana (Para Shooting) | Gaurav Khanna (Para Badminton) | Sandhya Bharti (Para Taekwondo) |
The jury comprises six of India’s most decorated athletes, Leander Paes, Mithali Raj, Abhinav Bindra, Devendra Jhajharia, Sharath Kamal and PR Sreejesh.
TOISA remains the one night on the Indian sporting calendar judged purely on merit, not popularity. This year’s edition in Lucknow, a state that has steadily become a powerhouse of grassroots talent reflects how excellence now runs deep across every region.
In a year when Indian sport refused to stay in one lane, TOISA isn’t just handing out trophies, it’s framing a portrait of a nation that’s finally sprinting, swinging and shooting its way onto the world stage, one unforgettable moment at a time.









