The BBC World Service is one of the most important arms of the BBC and broadcasts in over 40 languages. Up until 2014 it was funded through 'grant-in-aid' from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. That was an arrangement which meant that
(a) it wasn't a drain on licence-payers' money ; and
(b) the funding was 'at arm's length' from the Government, ensuring that the BBC could remain independent of it.
Then the Government decided, as a cost-cutting measure for the public purse, to cease such funding (although, in reality, some grants continue to be made by the FCO). The World Service remains as a 'public corporation of the FCO' (with the FCO being involved in deciding which languages the World Service should broadcast in but with editorial decisions being made solely by the BBC) but, despite that, it is now forced to obtain most of its funding through the licence fee. (The need to do so was largely responsible for BBC3 being taken off air as a TV channel and for cuts to the BBC's website).
The BBC has called for the funding situation to be reversed so that, once again, it won't need to take any money from licence fees to fund its services. (i.e. the BBC itself isn't happy that it uses licence-payers' money to fund the World Service but the Government has insisted that the World Service must continue to operate as part of the BBC's Charter and that it must be funded from licence fees, rather than by the FCO).
The BBC World Service is regarded as a lifeline of independent broadcasting by millions of people across the world, with 50 million people in India alone listening to, or watching, its programmes regularly. (i.e. there are far more people in India who rely upon the BBC as a trustworthy source of information than there are in the UK):
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/bbc-international-audience-record-high
So I can't see anything wrong at all in the BBC promoting an award for Indian sports people.