New Delhi
The year 2024 was a great one for India’s sports journey. Where the country performed well in both Olympic and Paralympic global events. Apart from cricket and chess, he performed historically in many sports. The tireless hard work of the players also got full support from the government. Expressing its commitment to promote sports, the Central Government had allocated a fund of Rs 470 crore for the Paris Olympics 2024. Amid complaints of increasing heat in the sports village in Paris, the Modi government, expressing its full support towards the players, had provided 40 portable air conditioners in the Olympic sports village. This was a result of the government’s intense focus on sports infrastructure. The support of government initiatives like ‘Khelo India’ and ‘TOPS’ is playing a vital role in empowering these athletes, enabling them to break barriers and redefine India’s place on the global stage.
On one hand, the government made every effort to free the players from all the stress so that they could focus completely on the game, while on the other hand, the Indian players did not disappoint the country with their strong performance. Manu Bhaker especially created history for India in the Olympics. This young shooter from India became the first Indian to win two medals in the same Olympics. Swapnil Kusale did wonders by winning another medal in shooting. With this, India made a record of winning the most medals in a sporting event in a single edition of the Olympics.
At the same time, after winning the gold medal in Tokyo, Neeraj Chopra also won the silver medal in the javelin throw event of the Paris Olympics. With this Neeraj Chopra became India’s most successful player in Olympic history. The tradition of winning medals in wrestling also continued and Aman Sehrawat became the country’s youngest Olympic medalist wrestler to win a bronze medal.
The Paralympic Games held after the Olympics did wonders. In this, India made a record of winning the most medals in a Paralympic Games. Indian Paralympic players won a total of 29 medals including 7 gold medals. Avani Lekhara won the gold medal in the women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1, while Nitish Kumar did wonders in badminton, winning the gold medal in the men’s singles SL3 event. Similarly, Sumit Antil and Dharmbir won gold in F64 and F51 men’s javelin throw events respectively. In Paralympic archery, Harvinder Singh won gold medal in men’s individual recurve open. This truly became a collective achievement for Indian para-sports.
Apart from Olympics and Paralympics, India’s performance was special in other sports also. Like in chess, Gukesh D of India recently became the youngest world chess champion. Similarly, Vaishali Ramesh Babu became the third woman Grandmaster of India. Indian chess team won gold medal in women’s and open section in the 45th Chess Olympiad held in Hungary. The women’s team won the gold medal for the first time in this prestigious competition.
India’s Divyakirti Singh became the country’s first female horse rider to win the Arjuna Award. Talking about cricket, Virat Kohli was chosen ICC ODI Player of 2023 and Suryakumar Yadav was chosen ICC Men’s T20 International Cricketer of the Year 2023. India also won the T20 World Cup held in West Indies and USA under the leadership of Rohit Sharma. Apart from these, giving a significant boost to women’s cricket in India, Capri Sports-owned Women’s Premier League (WPL) team UP Warriors has been recognized as ‘Generation Equality Ally’ by UN Women. Indian women’s doubles pair Ayika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee created history by winning the country’s first bronze medal at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Indian wrestlers won four silver and five bronze medals at the Asian Wrestling Championships in Kyrgyzstan. India finished third by winning seven gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze medals in the Asian Under-20 Athletics Championship 2024 held in Dubai. India’s Gulveer Singh creates a national record in the men’s 10,000 meters at the Hachioji Long Distance 2024 Athletics Meet in Japan. India’s Man Singh won the gold medal with a personal best timing of 2 hours 14 minutes 19 seconds (2:14:19) at the Asian Marathon Championships 2024 in Hong Kong, China.
In the world of boxing, Indian boxer Mandeep Jangra won the US-based National Boxing Association’s Intercontinental Super Featherweight title. Overall, this remarkable year for Indian sports underlined the tireless dedication and talent of the country’s athletes.
