2024 gave the average Indian sports fan unprecedented reasons to celebrate as peaks outnumbered the valleys in a confident march towards a promising future.As 2024 winds down, here is a throwback to the India’s biggest sporting glories of the year.
India’s sporting calendar was action-packed in 2024. India sent its teams to Olympics, Paralympics, the men’s T20 World Cup, the women’s T20 World Cup, the chess Olympiad and many other international events. India was also represented at the World Chess Championship and World Rapid and Blitz Championship. 2024 gave the average Indian sports fan unprecedented reasons to celebrate as peaks outnumbered the valleys in a confident march towards a promising future.As 2024 winds down, here is a throwback to the India’s biggest sporting glories of the year.
In January, tennis veteran Rohan Bopanna became the oldest man to win a Grand Slam doubles title in the Open era. The 43-year-old Indian achieved the feat when he won the men’s doubles title at the Australian Open with his partner Matt Ebden. Just two days later after winning the Australian Open, Bopanna became the world no.1 in men’s doubles rankings. Bopanna also became the oldest tennis player to accomplish the feat. (Image: Reuters)
April saw Indian chess Grandmaster Gukesh D win the prestigious Candidates tournament. At 17, Gukesh became the youngest-ever to win the Candidates tournament. The win in Candidates gave him the right to challenge the then World Champion Ding Liren of China for the title of World Championship later in the year.
India ended its 11-year long wait for a ICC title as the Men in Blue won the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 held in the USA and the West Indies in June. The team led by Rohit Sharma remained unbeaten throughout the tournament to be crowned as the T20 champions. It was India’s second T20 World Cup title after India had clinched the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007. Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was adjudged the Player of the Series for his superb bowling all through the tournament. (Image: AP)
India sent 117 athletes to participate in the Paris Olympics that were held from July 26 to August 11. The Olympics largely turned out to be underwhelming two athletes stood out. Shooter Many Bhaker scripted history as she won two medals at the Games. She first clinched bronze in the women’s 10m Air Pistol and backed that with another bronze medal in the 10m mixed team Air Pistol event along with Sarabjot Singh. Bhaker thus became independent India’s first athlete to win multiple medals in a single edition of the Olympic Games. Bhaker is now also the second woman, after PV Sindhu, to have won two medals at the Olympics. A few days after Bhaker’s stellar show in Paris’ shooting range, Neeraj Chopra made India proud in the athletics arena in Paris. The gold medalist in men’s javelin at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Chopra won the silver medal in Paris with a best throw of 89.45m. Chopra came second behind Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem who shattered the Olympic Record with a monstrous throw of 92.97m. By backing his gold in Tokyo with a silver in Paris, Chopra solidified his place as India’s greatest Olympian. (Images: Reuters)
Indian men’s hockey team also made the country proud at the Paris Olympics as it clinched the bronze medal. With their third-place finish in the Paris Olympics this summer, the Harmanpreet Singh-led men’s hockey team proved that the historic bronze in the Tokyo Games three years ago was not a flash in the pan. It was the first time in 50 years that the hockey team clinched back-to-back medals at the Olympics. Beating powerhouse Australia, a team that has troubled India in the past, en route the bronze medal made the victory sweeter. (Image: Reuters)
The Olympics were followed by the Paralympics that were held from August 28 to September 8. The heartbreaks from the Olympics were forgotten as Indian Paralympians came up with memorable show in the French capital. Indian Paralympians won 29 medals (7 golds, 9 silvers and 13 bronze) to overhaul their medal tally of Tokyo Paralympics. This was India’s best show in a single edition of Paralympics and highlighted the need to treat para-sports at para with other sports. (Image: Reuters)
Budapest hosted the Chess Olympiad from September 10 to September 23 as it welcomed 193 teams in the Open section (men’s) and 181 squads in the Women’s competition. In terms of participation, the Olympiad was the biggest chess event of the year. And India made the Chess Olympiad memorable by winning historic double team gold. India won the team gold medals in both men’s and women’s competitions at the Olympiad. India also clinched four individual gold medals as the tournament. The victory further enhanced India’s credentials as best chess nation in the world.
October saw 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.
Indian Grandmaster Gukesh D scripted history in Singapore when he defeated Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship. Thus at the age of 18, Gukesh became the youngest World Chess Champion. Gukesh overhauled the long-standing mark set by Russian icon Garry Kasparov as a 22-year-old back in 1985. Gukesh is only the second Indian after the great Viswanathan Anand to claim the world title. (Image: FIDE)
In the final week of November Jasprit Bumrah led the Indian Test team to a remarkable victory over Australia in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar series in Perth. Bumrah captained Indian in the absence of Rohit Sharma and India thrashed Australia by 295 runs. The victory was special for India as the team had been written off after suffering a 0-3 drubbing in a Test series against New Zealand at home. Bumrah was adjudged the Player of the Match for his 8 wickets. (Image: Reuters)
A few hours after India’s famous victory in Perth, Rishabh Pant gained the tag of the most expensive player in the history of the Indian Premier League. The wicket-keeper batsman was bought by Lucknow Super Giants at the 2025 IPL mega auction held in Doha for a staggering sum of ₹27 crore. Becoming the most expensive player in the IPL auction rounded-off Pant’s comeback in cricket almost two years after a fatal car accident that had almost ended his playing career. (Image: IPL)
Chess continued to make India proud even in the final few days of 2024 as Grandmaster Koneru Humpy won her second world rapid title in New York. The 37-year-old won it back in 2019, which was followed by a maternity break. The 38-year-old’s inspiring comeback could not have gone better.
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