A cricket World Cup, half a dozen Olympic medals and two chess world champions. Year 2024 gave the average Indian sports fan unprecedented reasons to celebrate as peaks outnumbered the valleys in a confident march towards a promising future. Tales that bear repeating were many but the year going by will primarily be remembered for four dates — June 29, July 30, December 12 and December 28. A big step towards the future was the formal expression of intent to host the 2036 Olympics, a move that has the potential to change the sporting landscape of the country.
When sport shone through in its purest form
On a humid and nervy June evening in Barbados, the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team won a long-awaited World Cup title after more than a decade of heartbreaks in knockout matches of ICC tournaments, the feat matching the country’s undisputed status as the game’s most influential voice.
A month later, effervescent pistol shooter Manu Bhaker became India’s first athlete post independence to win two Olympic medals in a single edition, showing incredible mental fortitude to exorcise her Tokyo demons and write one of the best redemption stories at the Games.
Also in Paris, one of India’s greatest ever, unassuming javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra embodied excellence like few others and climbed into a galaxy of his own by winning a silver medal, three years after his historic gold at Tokyo Games.
India had hoped for a gold from the reigning world champion, but it was ultimately not to be as he lost to Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem who bettered a Games record that had stood for 16 years, not once but twice.
In the last four months, the chess board became India’s happy hunting ground with both the men’s and women’s teams knocking off Olympiad gold medals for the very first time in September. Individually, D Gukesh and Koneru Humpy then scaled new heights with world titles in December.
While Gukesh dethroned China’s Ding Liren to become the youngest ever world champion at 18 on December 12, the 37-year-old Humpy won the women’s rapid world title for a second time in her career, continuing to be an inspirational tale of perfect balance between motherhood and professional success.
Things like this do not happen often.
Speaking of that, another major highlight of India’s Paris campaign was the hockey team’s second successive medal (bronze), proving that lightening can in fact strike twice.
But then six near-misses in the French capital were also a reminder that plenty more needs to be done before being duly recognised a sporting powerhouse.
Also leaving a lasting impression were the para athletes with their record-breaking feats at the Paris Paralympics, and veteran tennis star Rohan Bopanna’s Australian Open men’s doubles title victory at 44.
Also scripting history was the women’s table tennis team of Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee, Suthirtha Mukherjee, and Diya Chitale. They secured India’s first-ever medal (bronze) at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.
But before the success in the Olympics, the Paralympics, Chess Olympiad and the FIDE World Championship, the Indians were rejoicing in a magnificent title triumph in cricket, which came about after years of disappointments in global tournaments.
Indian cricket reigns supreme on and off field
Displaying absolute dominance, India imposed their collective will upon the world to win a trophy that they so desired, much to the delight of the team’s millions of fans across the globe.
However, while they ended their winless run in global events, India’s 12-year streak of not losing a Test series on home soil snapped in the most embarrassing manner — a 0-3 whitewash to a New Zealand side missing its talisman Kane Williamson.
Amid the euphoria over a massive World Cup triumph, cricket’s financial superpower also tightened its vice-like grip on the game’s governance with Jay Shah’s ascent to the ICC chairmanship after the BCCI reported an overall revenue of Rs 20,686 crore for the 2024 financial year, which is almost Rs 4200 crore more than their revenue in 2023.
Gukesh defies description in memorable year for chess
In winning the FIDE world championship as a teenager, Gukesh shattered the record held by Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he got the better of Anatoly Karpov in 1985.
Gukesh’s triumph in Singapore, as also the country’s double gold medal-winning effort at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, demonstrated India’s growing stature in the game of 64 squares.
And if anymore validation was needed, Humpy provided that in her second world rapid title in New York. She first won it back in 2019, which was followed by a maternity break. The 38-year-old’s inspiring comeback could not have gone better as she While Gukesh almost defied description by achieving a feat as big as this at such a young age, the likes of Arjun Erigaisi (21), Vidit Gujrathi (30) Divya Deshmukh (18) Vantika Agrawal (21), Chennai’s Grandmaster siblings R. Praggnanandhaa (19) and R. Vaishali (23) and veteran Tania Sachdev (38) all showed their wares while playing for sides with frightening depth.
All of them are expected to be the dominant names in international chess, making true Kasparov’s quip after Gukesh’ Candidates win — “Vishy’s children” are on the lose.
Most of them truly are his proteges. The semi-retired Viswanathan Anand, who is also a FIDE vice president now, quietly watched these exploits from behind after single-handedly revolutionising chess in India.
He had a definitive hand in shaping their careers and the players have duly acknowledged his role too.
A striking aspect of these success stories in chess, including the world championship wins, was that none of them came as a surprise thanks to a structure that is probably one of the best in the world.
Six medals and as many near-misses
India could have rewritten Olympic history in Paris but eventually settled for a 71st position among the 206 participating nations with six medals, including one silver and five bronze.
The Games will be remembered as much for the six medals as the six fourth-place finishes that resulted in heartbreaks. Most of the medals missed were by a whisker.
This is the joint-second best haul along with London 2012 and one behind last time’s Tokyo, where seven, including a gold, were won.
There were also silver linings such as shooting getting back among the medals and back-to-back bronze from the men’s hockey team, something that happened after a long gap of 50 years.
Having missed on the final after a narrow loss to Germany, Harmanpreet Singh’s India regrouped to beat Spain 2-1 and claim their second successive Olympic medal.
After her individual success, Manu partnered Sarabjot Singh to win the bronze in the 10m air pistol mixed team event.
Swapnil Kusale continued shooting’s resurgence by winning India’s first medal in the 50m 3 Positions — a bronze.
The 21-year-old Aman Sehrawat maintained wrestling’s medal streak — since 2008 Beijing — by finishing third on the podium in men’s 57kg freestyle.
The list of near-misses comprised, among others, Lakshya Sen, Mirabai Chanu, Arjun Babuta and Bhaker herself as she stood a great chance of becoming the first ever Indian athlete to win a hat-trick of medals at an Olympic Games.
Then, what seemed like a definite gold medal slipped through Vinesh Phogat’s grasp due to a cruel twist of fate as she ended up being disqualified for being 100gm overweight on the morning of the final, leading to a protracted legal battle which did not pan out in the manner she had wanted it to.
The never-ending administrative chaos in the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) also had a hand in pulling down what was once a flourishing sport in the country.
The unstoppable rise of para athletes
It was a year of validation for those who have supported the Paralympic movement in India. The country’s contingent bagged 29 medals at Paris 2024 for their most successful campaign ever at the Games.
India finished 18th on the overall medals table, and in all, they won seven gold, nine silver and 13 bronze.
The likes of Avani Lekhara, Sumit Antil, Mariyappan Thangavelu, Sheetal Devi, Nitesh Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Navdeep Singh, Sheetal Devi, Harvinder Singh and Dharambir to name a few from the contingent of 84 athletes, emerged as new heroes after their exploits in Paris.
Mixed bag off the field
On the administrative front, the ambitious bid to host the Olympics was set in motion and a long-pending national sports bill entered the final phase of being shaped into a policy but there was no end to the bickering and turf wars that have become the hallmark of Indian sports.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has been a faction-ridden body for the longest time and the PT Usha-led current dispensation has been no exception.
The sprint legend found herself pitted against 12 members of the 15-strong Executive Council, and an ugly spat over the appointment of a CEO marred the whole of 2024.
But as has been case for many years, Indian sports has managed to flourish despite the system, riding on the sacrifices of individuals and their families most often.
The challenge going forward would be to ensure that the system steps in before it’s too late.
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