The year 2024 was historic for India in terms of cricket, Paralympics and chess. India created history by winning the T-20 World Cup after 17 years. The country managed to win only 6 medals in the Olympics, but gave its best performance in the Paralympics by winning 29 medals.
Read Top Achievements and Shocking Records of Indian Sportsmen and Teams in Sports from January to December…
1. Cricket
A victory that made the country proud
India won the T20 World Cup by defeating South Africa in the final.
India won the T-20 World Cup after 17 years. India remained unbeaten till the finals of the tournament held in West Indies and America in June. The team defeated South Africa by 7 runs in the title match and won the first T-20 title since 2007.
Virat Kohli became the player of the match for his innings of 76 runs. Jasprit Bumrah won the player of the tournament award for taking 15 wickets. After the match, Kohli, Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja said goodbye to the T20 format. This was also Rahul Dravid's last match as a coach.
Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma were last part of India's T20 match on 29 June 2024.
Lost a Test series at home after 12 years
New Zealand have won a Test series in India for the first time. The team ended India's dominance at home.
India played 5 Test series in 2024. Beat England and Bangladesh at home. The series was a draw in South Africa. The series against Australia is tied 1–1, but the team lost the Test series at home to New Zealand 3–0 in October–November.
India lost a Test series at home after 12 years, before England beat Team India 2-1 in 2012. India faced a clean sweep at home after 24 years in Test history. In 2000, when Sachin Tendulkar was the captain, South Africa beat India 2-0.
Rishabh Pant is the most expensive player in the history of IPL
After 3 years, the mega auction of India's franchise tournament IPL took place. The cost of 2 players crossed Rs 26 crore, out of which Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player in history. Lucknow Supergiants paid him Rs. 27 crores, while Shreyas Iyer Rs. 26.50 crores became part of Punjab Kings. The special thing is that Pant made a comeback in March this year after being injured in a car accident in 2022.
Ravichandran Ashwin bids farewell to cricket
Ravi Ashwin took 537 Test wickets for India.
Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin retired midway through the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. The third Test in Brisbane was drawn on 18 December, with Ashwin announcing his retirement in a press conference shortly after the match ended. Ashwin, 37, played 106 Tests and took 537 wickets in his career. MS Dhoni also has exactly 6 centuries to his name.
Bumrah became the number 1 bowler in the Test rankings
Jasprit Bumrah achieved 900+ rating points in the bowler test rankings during the tour of Australia.
This year has been very special for fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah. He was in the news for the whole year. He did not play any ODIs, but shone in the T20 and Test formats. His brilliant performance made him the number-1 bowler in the Test rankings and also crossed the 900 rating point mark.
2. Paris Olympics
Deprived of gold this time
Neeraj Chopra won India's only silver medal at the Paris Olympics.
India's performance in Paris Olympics was very disappointing. 117 athletes of the country could win only 6 medals. Not a single gold medal came between them. The country got 1 silver and 5 bronze medals. The only silver was also won by golden boy Neeraj Chopra, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Shooter Manu Bhakar became the first athlete from independent India to win two medals in a single Olympics. He won both the medals in air pistol shooting. Aman Sehrawat won a bronze medal in wrestling, becoming India's youngest Olympic medalist. He was only 21 years and 24 days old at the time of victory.
Vinesh-Lakshya's results were heartbreaking, finishing fourth in 6 events
Wrestler Vinesh Phogat could not win a medal despite reaching the finals. She was disqualified for being 100 grams overweight on the day of the competition.
This Olympics was also heartbreaking for India. The country could have won 16 medals, but Indian athletes finished fourth in 6 events. 2 boxers were one win away from a medal. While Vinesh Phogat and Nisha Dahiya were not lucky.
- Shuttler Target Sen Performed well in the group stage and quarter-finals, but lost to eventual champion Viktor Axelsen in the semi-finals. He won the first game of the bronze medal match, but Malaysia's Lee Ji Jia made a comeback and won the remaining two games to wrest the medal from India.
- Wrestler Vinesh Phogat The medal had already been confirmed by reaching the final. In the very first round of the 50 kg category, he defeated the defending champion and world no.1. She reached the finals, but was disqualified on the day of the competition for being 100 grams overweight. This result upset her so much that she quit wrestling at the age of 29. His agony was piercing the countrymen like a thorn.
3. Paris Paralympics
Created history by winning 29 medals
Archer Sheetal Devi won a bronze medal in the mixed event at the Paralympic Games by shooting an arrow with her feet.
While the Olympics were disappointing for India, the Paralympic Games saw a historic performance. The country won 29 medals including 7 gold, 9 silver and 13 bronze. India had never won 20 medals before, the country got 19 medals in Tokyo.
The country has made it to the top-20 in the medal tally for the first time. India sent a team of 84 para-athletes for 29 medals. Among them, shooter Avni Lekhara, javelin thrower Sumit Antil and Navdeep Singh, archer Harvinder Singh, shuttler Nitesh Kumar, high jumper Praveen Kumar and club thrower Dharmabir won gold. Avni won gold in the second consecutive Paralympics.
4. Chess
Double gold in Olympics for the first time in 97 years
Indian team celebrating after winning the Chess Olympiad trophy.
India won historic gold medals in the men's and women's categories of the Chess Olympiad. For the first time in the 97-year history of the Olympiad, India has topped both the categories simultaneously. The men's team won the gold after defeating America in the 10th round. The women's team won the gold in the 11th and final round.
Gukesh became the youngest world champion
De Gukesh won the World Chess Championship at the age of 18.
18-year-old Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh won the World Chess Championship title in Singapore. He defeated defending champion Ding Liren of China 7.5-6.5 in the final. Gukesh became the first player in the world to win the title at such a young age. Gukesh became India's second world chess champion. Viswanathan Anand was last champion in 2012.
Pragyananda defeated World No.1 and No.2
R Pragyananda defeated World No.1 and World No.2 in the same chess tournament.
In June, Indian Grandmaster R Pragyanandan performed brilliantly at the Norway Chess Tournament. He defeated World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and World No. 2 Fabiano Caruana. He was also part of Team India that won the Chess Olympiad.
5. Tennis
43-year-old Bopanna won the Grand Slam
India's Rohan Bopanna (left) became the oldest player to win a Grand Slam.
Rohan Bopanna won the Grand Slam of tennis this year at the age of 43 years and 9 months. In January, he won the men's doubles title at the Australian Open with Matthew Abde of Australia. With this he became the oldest player in the world to win a Grand Slam.
6. Table tennis
First medal in Asian Championship
The Indian women's team won the bronze medal in the Asian Table Tennis Championship.
The Indian women's team won the country's first ever medal in the Asian Table Tennis Championship. The team of Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Ahika Mukherjee, Sutirth Mukherjee and Dia Chitale won the bronze medal in the tournament held in Kazakhstan after a hard-fought semi-final. This was India's first medal in this tournament since 1972.
7. These players of the world also got attention
- Yusuf Dekak: 51-year-old Turkish shooter Yusuf Dekek's style at the Paris Olympics went viral on the Internet. Yusuf won a silver medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. Notably, he won the medal without a shooting kit, even seen with one hand in his pocket during the event.
Turkey's Yusuf Dikek won the silver medal in the shooting team event at the Paris Olympics.
- Iman Khalifa: Algerian boxer Iman Khalif was embroiled in a gender controversy at the Olympics. During a match in Paris, her opponent refused to fight, alleging that she had been hired to fight a male boxer. The Olympics issued a statement in support of Khalif, after which he also won a gold medal.
Iman Khalifa was trolled on social media due to gender controversy. He answered his critics by winning Olympic gold.
- Lamin Yamal: 17-year-old Spanish footballer Lamin Yamal has been in the news a lot. After playing in the Under-17 World Cup, Spain included him in the senior team and fielded him in the Euro Cup. He vindicated this selection with his performances and led the team to victory with a goal against France in the semi-final. Yamal also made 4 assists, making the team the Euro Cup champion.
Lamin Yamal of Spain had 1 goal and 4 assists in the 2024 Euro Cup.
- Rafael Nadal: Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal retired at the end of the year. Nadal last won a Grand Slam in 2022 in the form of the French Open. He has 22 Grand Slam titles to his name. He won the French Open 14 times, the US Open 4 times and the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles 2 times. In the final stages of his career, he had to retire due to injury.
Spain's Rafael Nadal won 22 Grand Slams in his tennis career.
- Nino Salukwaje: Georgian shooter Nino Salukvaje became the first female athlete in the world to play in 10 consecutive Olympics. In 1988, he participated in the Olympic Games for the first time, where he won a gold medal. Since then she has played in all the Olympics despite being 54 years old and qualified for the shooting event in Paris.
Nino Salukvaj competed in his 10th consecutive Olympic Games.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
