The year 2024 has been historic for India in terms of cricket, Paralympics and chess. India made history by winning the T-20 World Cup after 17 years. The country could only win 6 medals in the Olympics, but had its best performance by winning 29 medals in the Paralympics.
1. Cricket
Victory that brought glory to the country
India won the T20 World Cup by defeating South Africa in the final.
India won the T20 World Cup after 17 years. India remained undefeated until the finals of the tournaments held in the 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 received the Player of the Tournament award for taking 15 wickets. After the match, Kohli and Indian captain Rohit Sharma said goodbye to the T20 format. This was also Rahul Dravid’s last match as coach.
Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma last featured in India’s T20 match on June 29, 2024.
Test series lost at home after 12 years
New Zealand 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 was tied 1-1, but in October-November, the team lost the Test series against New Zealand at home by 3-0.
India lost the home Test series after 12 years, before that, in 2012, England had beaten the Indian team 2-1. India suffered a clean sweep at home in Test history after 24 years. In 2000, South Africa beat South Africa 2-0, when Sachin Tendulkar was the captain.
Rishabh Pant was the most expensive seller in the IPL
Rishabh Pant was bought by Lucknow Supergiants for Rs 27 crore in the IPL mega auction.
After 3 years, the mega auction of Indian IPL franchise tournament took place. The price of 2 players crossed Rs 26 crore, among which Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player in history. He was bought by Lucknow Supergiants for Rs 27 crore, while Shreyas Iyer became a member of Punjab Kings for Rs 26.50 crore. The twist is that Pant only made his comeback in March this year after being injured in a car accident in 2022.
Ravichandran Ashwin said goodbye to cricket
Ravi Ashwin has taken 537 Test wickets for India.
Veteran Ravichandran Ashwin retired midway through the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. The third Test was a draw in Brisbane on 18 December. As soon as the match ended, Ashwin announced his retirement in the press conference. Ashwin, 37, has played 106 Tests in his career and taken 537 wickets. He also had 6 centuries in his name equal to MS Dhoni.
Bumrah became the number 1 bowler in Test rankings
Jasprit Bumrah scored over 900 points in the Test bowlers’ rankings during the Australia tour.
This year has been very special for fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah. He remained in the news throughout the year. He did not play any ODIs, but shone in the T-20 and Test formats. With his excellent performance, he became the number 1 bowler in the Test rankings and also crossed the 900 ranking points mark.
2. Paris Olympic Games
I didn’t receive any gold
Neeraj Chopra won India’s only silver medal at the Paris Olympics.
India’s performance in the Paris Olympics was very disappointing. The country’s 117 athletes were only able to win 6 medals. There wasn’t even a single gold among them. The country obtained 1 silver medal and 5 bronze medals. The only silver medal was also won by golden boy Neeraj Chopra, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Shooter Manu Bhaker became the first independent Indian player to win two medals at the same Olympics. He won both medals in air pistol shooting. Aman Sehrawat won a bronze medal in wrestling, becoming India’s youngest Olympic medalist. At the time of victory, he was only 21 years and 24 days old.
Heartbroken by Vinesh-Lakshya’s results, fourth place in 6 events
Wrestler Vinesh Phogat could not win a medal despite appearing in the final. She was disqualified for being 100 grams overweight on the day of the competition.
This time the Olympics were also heartbreaking for India. The country could have won 16 medals, but Indian players remained fourth in 6 events. 2 boxers remained one victory away from the medal. While Vinesh Phogat and Nisha Dahiya were unlucky.
Shuttler Lakshya Sen performed well in the group stage and quarterfinals, but lost to champion Viktor Axelsen in the semifinals. He won the first game of the bronze medal match, but Malaysia’s Li Ji Jia came back and won the remaining two games and snatched the medal from India. Wrestler Vinesh Phogat had already confirmed the medal by reaching the final. In the first round of the 50 kg category, he beat the reigning champion and world number 1. She reached the final, but was disqualified due to being 100 grams overweight on the day of the competition. She was so saddened by this result that she stopped wrestling at the age of 29. His pain pricked his compatriots like a thorn.
3. Paris Paralympic Games
Created history by winning 29 medals
Archer Sheetal Devi won the bronze medal in the mixed event by shooting arrows with her feet at the Paralympics.
While the Olympics were disappointing for India, a historic performance was recorded in the Paralympics. The country won 29 medals, including 7 gold, 9 silver and 13 bronze. India had never won even 20 medals before, the country had won 19 in Tokyo.
The country finished in the top 20 in medal totals for the first time. India had 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 Dharmbir won gold. Avni won gold in the second consecutive Paralympics.
4. Pursuit
Double gold medal at the Olympics for the first time in 97 years
Indian team celebrates 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 secured first place in both categories simultaneously. The men’s team only won the gold medal after beating America in the 10th round. The women’s team won gold by winning the 11th and final round.
Gukesh becomes youngest world champion
D Gukesh became the winner of the World Chess Championship at the age of 18.
Indian grandmaster D Gukesh, 18, won the title of world chess champion in Singapore. He beat defending champion Ding Liren of China in the final 7.5 to 6.5. 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. The last time Vishwanathan Anand became champion was in 2012.
Pragananand beat world numbers 1 and 2.
R Praggnanandha defeated world number 1 and world number 2 in the same chess tournament.
In June, Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhan performed brilliantly in the Norwegian Chess Tournament. He beat world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and world No. 2 Fabiano Caruana. He was also part of the Indian team that won the Chess Olympiad.
5. Tennis
Bopanna, 43, won the Grand Slam
India’s Rohan Bopanna (left) became the oldest player to win a Grand Slam.
Rohan Bopanna won the tennis Grand Slam this year at the age of 43 years and 9 months. In January, he won the Australian Open men’s doubles title with Australian Matthew Abde. He thus becomes the oldest player in the world to win a Grand Slam.
6. Table tennis
First medal at the 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 at the Asian Table Tennis Championship. In the tournament held in Kazakhstan, the team of Manika Batra, Shreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Diya Chitale won the bronze medal after putting in great effort in the semi-final. It was India’s first medal in the tournament since 1972.
7. These world players also attracted attention
Yusuf Dekek: The style of 51-year-old Turkish shooter Yusuf Dekek went viral on the Internet during the Paris Olympics. Yusuf won the silver medal in the 10 meter air pistol mixed team event. The special thing was that he won the medal without a shooting kit, and during the event he was also seen with one hand in his pocket.
Turkey’s Yusuf Dikek won the silver medal in the team shooting event at the Paris Olympics.
Imane Khalif: Algerian boxer Imane Khalif was involved in a gender controversy at the Olympics. During the match in Paris, his opponent refused to fight and claimed that he was being forced to fight a boxer. Olympics made a statement in support of Khalif, after which he also won the gold medal.
Iman Khalif was trolled on social media due to gender controversy. He responded to his critics by winning Olympic gold.
Lamin Yamal: The 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 European Cup. He proved this selection right with his performance and led the team to victory by scoring a goal against France in the semi-final. Yamal also made 4 assists, making the team the European Cup champion.
Spaniard Lamin Yamal scored 1 goal and 4 assists during the 2024 European Cup.
Rafael Nadal: Legendary Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal retired at the end of the year. Nadal last won a Grand Slam in the form of the French Open in 2022. He has 22 Grand Slam titles to his name. He has won the French Open 14 times, the US Open 4 times, and the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles 2 times each. In the last phase of his career he had to retire due to injury.
Spaniard Rafael Nadal has won 22 Grand Slam tournaments during his tennis career.
Nino Salukwaje: Georgian shooter Nino Salukwaje became the first player in the world to compete in 10 consecutive Olympic Games. In 1988, he participated in the Olympic Games for the first time, where he won the gold medal. Since then, he has participated in every Olympic Games and qualified for the shooting event in Paris despite being 54 years old.
Nino Salukwaje competed in his 10th consecutive Olympic Games.