It was just the icing on the cake that the country needed when Dommaraju Gukesh became the youngest chess world champion December 12, 2024. The Indian was a shade over 18 years old, beating the record that the legendary Garry Kasparov had set in 1985 when he became the world champion at 22 years. In the process, Gukesh became the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to become a world champion. But chess aside there were many moments of sporting glory in 2024 to look back upon. India managed to break the 13-year jinx of not winning an ICC trophy, by annexing the T20 World Cup title. The hockey team did the nation proud by winning bronze at the Paris Olympics. It was the second successive time that India won the bronze at the Olympics after the Tokyo Games. The Paris Games though was a bit disappointing as India failed to achieve their target of a double-digit medal haul.
However, who can forget the double bronze of pistol shooter Manu Bhaker and Neeraj Chopra who continued with his heroics in the javelin throw event, bagging a silver at the Paris Games to back up his gold in the Tokyo edition. But there were heartbreaks too at the Paris Olympics. Wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified after reaching the final as she was found 100 grams overweight; PV Sindhu failed to replicate the form that took her to the podium at Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. And above all the World No.1 doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in badminton crashed out early in their event. They were being considered sure medal contenders. Back home in Odisha, there were few glorious moments to linger on.
Odisha ended their barren run in senior national hockey by winning their maiden title. The swimming quartet of Pratyasha Roy, Mannata Mishra, Shrishti Upadhaya and Sonia Patel rewrote history books by winning gold medals in the 77th national swimming championships in September. It was Odisha’s first-ever gold in the competition. Swasti Singh established her credentials by winning a bagful of medals at the 76th Senior National Track Cycling Championships in Chennai. Here’s a look back on mostly glorious and some not-so-glorious India and Odisha’s sporting achievements in 2024.
Team game to the fore
Expectations were high when the Harmanpreet Singh-led India hockey team left for the Paris Games. The players did not disappoint the fans. After losing a close match to Germany in the semifinals, the Indians regrouped to defeat Spain 2-1 and win the bronze. While Harmanpreet scored nine goals in the tournament, Odisha’s Amit Rohidas also put up a sterling display in defence alongside the ever-dependable goalkeeper PR Sreejesh. Incidentally, the bronze medal match was Sreejesh’s last in his career following which he retired.
Wait finally ends for Odisha
Odisha has always produced iconic hockey players like Dilip Tirkey, Lazarus Barla and Michael Kindo – players who have represented the country for a long time. However, a national title always eluded the senior men’s side. That ended in November when Odisha reached the final for the first time and trounced two-time champions Haryana 5-1. Out of the 18 players in the team, 17 were from Sundargarh district, the cradle of Odisha’s hockey. At an average age of 22, with only four players over 25 and the oldest being 26, Odisha were by far the youngest and fittest team to have reached the knockout stage of the tournament. They won all their games in a convincing manner to emerge champions.
Neeraj show continues
While it may not have been gold, Neeraj Chopra displayed another jaw-dropping skill of consistency at the Paris Games 2024 to win the silver medal. Neeraj has not finished outside the top since 2021 which demonstrates his consistency. The silver at Paris Games made him just the third Indian after wrestler Sushil Kumar and shuttler PV Sindhu to win individual medals in back-to back Summer Games. Chopra also finished second in the Lausanne Diamond League event with a season’s best throw of 89.49 metres.
Hockey eves dazzle
The Indian women’s hockey team won the Asian Champions Trophy beating China 1-0 in the final. It was the same team that India had beaten 3-0 in the group stage and they did an encore again in the summit clash match. Deepika scored the all important goal of the match played at the Rajgir Hockey Stadium in Bihar. This was the third time that the Indian eves emerged champions in the tournament, their earlier victories coming in 2016 (the inaugural year of the event) and 2023. Deepika was the star of the show for India as she emerged the highest scorer with 11 goals, five of those coming from the game against Thailand which India won 13-0. India did not lose or draw a single match in the tournament, with their toughest game being against South Korea in which they emerged victorious 3-2.
Sensational swimmers
The quartet of Pratyasa Ray, Mannata Mishra, Shristi Upadhyay and Sonia Patel bagged gold in the 4x100m relay at the Senior National Aquatic Championships 2024 in Mangalore. It was Odisha’s first ever gold medal in the senior nationals. The four clocked a time of 4 minutes 28.18 seconds to beat Maharashtra and emerge champions. All the four train at the Odisha IIS Swimming High-Performance Centre. Pratyasa, Mannata and Shristi later on won three silver medals in different events.
13-year wait ends
When the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team left to participate in the T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies, there were doubts as to whether the Men in Blue will be able to win the title. They grew in stature as the tournament progressed and won all their nine games to reach the fi nal. June 29, 2024, once more turned out to be red-letter day for India as they defeated South Africa by seven runs at Bridgetown. A cricket-crazy nation took celebrating like mad as it was India’s fi rst trophy after the 2011 50 overs World Cup title.
Record-breaking show
India’s most successful Paralympic campaign to date unfolded at the 2024 Paris Games, where differently abled Indian athletes secured a record-breaking 29 medals – 7 gold, 9 silver and 13 bronze . The Paris Paralympics not only underscored India’s remarkable rise in parasports but also highlighted the broader evolution of the Paralympic movement itself. Among the stars of the show were Avani Lekhara (shooting), Sumit Antil (javelin) and Harvinder Singh (archery). But none symbolised the grit and determination than archer Sheetal Devi. Shooting with her legs, as she doesn’t have any arms, Sheetal missed out on a medal by a whisker.
Spain are European Kings
Spain won the European Championship for a record-breaking fourth time defeating England 2-1 in the final played at Berlin in July. It was England’s second successive loss in the final having been beaten by Italy four years back. Spain had earlier won the title in 1964, 2008 and 2012. They were tied with Germany on three titles each, but then created history by winning the trophy for the fourth time.
Hitting bull’s eye
Carrying the baggage of failure on her shoulders after a disappointing show at Tokyo, shooting sensation Manu Bhaker achieved the rare feat of winning two medals at a single Olympic Games in Paris. Manu bagged bronze medals in the 10m air pistol women and 10m air pistol mixed team event. She thus became the first Indian to win two medals at a single edition of the Olympic Games since Independence. “I still have a lot of years left in me and hence I will be back in Los Angeles,” Manu had stated after returning to India.
Bossing the chess world
Another historic moment in chess came in September. For the first time ever, both the Indian men’s and women’s teams won gold at the Chess Olympiad 2024 in Budapest. The men’s team featured D Gukesh, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi while the women’s squad were represented by Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal, and Tania Sachdev. India became only the third country after the Soviet Union and China to bag the double team gold at the Olympiad.
Cycling to glory
It was an incredible year for Odisha cyclist Swasti Singh who shone on the national stage like a beacon. She won a large number of medals, the most important being a gold at the 76th Senior Track Cycling Championships held at Chennai in November. To go with the gold she also won a silver and three bronze medals. Prior to that in May, the ace cyclist won five silver medals at the Khelo India Women’s Track Cycling League finals. Overall, she did not return empty-handed from any of the tournaments she took part in.
Cruel blow
Wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who has now turned politician, found her dream of winning an Olympic medal turning into a nightmare at the Paris Games. Vinesh had reached the final of the 50kg category which meant that a medal was assured for her. However, on the day of the day of the bout, she was found 100 grams overweight and disqualified. It meant that despite reaching the final there was no medal on offer for her. The entire nation plunged into a state of gloom as Vinesh’s disqualification news spread.
Revival of HIL
Hockey India’s decision to revive the Hockey India League after seven years meant good news for the lovers of the sport. The HI not only reintroduced the men’s HIL, but also introduced the women’s HIL. This will certainly be a shot in the arm for Indian hockey as top players from across the world will participate in the league. Harmanpreet Singh at Rs 78 lakh and Udita Duhan at Rs 32 lakh emerged the costliest players of HIL auctions.
On the sidelines
Gracias Rafa
Tennis legend Rafael Nadal announced his retirement from the sport and hung up his racquet after Spain lost to the Netherlands in the Davis Cup in November. It marked the end of a 23-year-old career where Nadal took the game to improbable heights. He was the third among the ‘Fab Four’ – after Roger Federer and Andy Murray – to bow out of the game (Novak Djokovic still playing). During his career, Rafa won 22 Grand Slam singles titles with 14 of them – another record – coming at the French Open in Paris. He was the ‘King of Clay’ who could do no wrong on the red soil.
Sreejesh bids adieu
A colossal among goalkeepers PR Sreejesh, has remained an insurmountable hurdle under the Indian goal thwarting the opposition with monotonous regularity. Probably he is the best hockey goalkeeper India has ever produced. Sreejesh played 336 matches for the senior Indian side from 2006 to 2024. It was fitting indeed that he bowed out with an Olympic bronze medal. Nicknamed ‘the Great Wall of India’ Sreejesh also had bagged a bronze in the 2021 Tokyo Games and was also a member of the Indian team that won Asian Games gold in 2014 and 2022.
Happy ending
PV Sindhu ended her title drought since 2022 by winning the women’s singles title at the Syed Modi Masters badminton tournament which was promptly followed by the announcement by her family that she is getting hitched. She tied the nuptial knot with Hyderabad-based Venkata Datta Sai, an executive director at Posidex Technologies, in Udaipur December 22. Incidentally the title at Lucknow this year came after she had won the gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022. As they say ‘all’s well that ends well’.
Minting money
It was on the cards and it so happened. Rishabh Pant became the costliest player in the history of the IPL when Lucknow Super Giants bought him at an astronomical sum of Rs 27 crore in this year’s auction. A couple of hours before Pant’s bidding, former KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer had become the costliest player when Punjab Kings acquired him for Rs 26.5 crore. But then Pant beat him to it.
They will be missed
The cricketing world was shocked when the news of the death of former England cricketer Graham Thorpe surfaced in August. His family members confirmed that Thorpe was suffering from mental issues and had died by suicide. Thorpe played 100 Tests for England scoring 6,744 runs.
Legendary Indian squash player Raj Manchanda, a six-time national champion and Arjuna Award winner, breathed his last in December at the age of 79 years. He also was an Asian Championship medallist. Manchanda overall won 11 national titles representing the Services in singles and doubles and made the game popular.
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