Indian Grandmaster D. Gukesh’s World Chess Championship triumph, the Indian cricket team bringing back the Twenty20 World Cup after 2007 and Manu Bhaker bagging two individual medals at the Paris Olympics... fans will cherish 2024 as one of the best years for Indian sports.
There were some closes misses too... The Indian men’ s hockey team had to settle for a bronze at Paris despite a valiant effort from the team with captain Harmanpreet Singh leading from the front. Goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh announced his retirement and joined as the coach for the national junior hockey team.
And a heartbreak too happened at Paris. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem dethroned Neeraj Chopra to become the new Olympic champion at the javelin event. Nadeem’s massive thrown of over 92m gave him the yellow medal while India’s Neeraj Chopra had to settle for silver.
Along with World Cup high, the Indian cricketers delivered some disappointments as well. Against New Zealand, the men’s team faced a humiliating whitewash at home. It was the first time that India lost all the Test matches in a series since 2000.
The Indian women’s hockey team could not make it to the Paris Olympics but ended the year with a stupendous victory in the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy.
An intriguing race is on for the World Test Championship final. South Africa at No.1 position followed by Australia and India. With the win over Pakistan in the first Test at Centurion, South Africa became the first team to book a place in the WTC final, which will be played at the Lords in 2025.
India may have lost the crucial Boxing Day contest by 184 runs but all is not lost as far as their chances of qualifying for the WTC final are concerned.
India must win the last Test of the series against Australia at Sydney, and then hope for a positive result for Sri Lanka (or a 0-0 draw) when Australia tour the island nation early next year.
Post the loss, India’s point percentage (PCT) has dropped to 52.78 from 55.89. Australia, on the other hand, boosted their PCT as they now have 61.46.
If India manage to win in Sydney, they will have 55.26 PCT and Australia will have 54.26. A win out of two Tests against Sri Lanka then would be enough for Australia to go past India’s PCT and join the Proteas in the final.
If Australia draws or wins the final Test, they will lift the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a long hiatus.
Indian cricket witnessed a slew of high profile retirements. While Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirement from the T20 format, ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin stunned fans by announcing his retirement in the middle of the Border-Gavaskar series. Earlier in the year, former left-handed opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan hung his boots.
In the international arena, Rafael Nadal announced his retirement after the Davis Cup quarterfinal loss against the Netherlands.
On December 17, New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee announced his retirement. The 36-year-old swing bowler then revealed he would also play no more limited-overs matches for his country, ending a record-breaking 17 years across all three formats.
England’s best fast bowler James Anderson also retired from international at the age of 41. For Australia, left-handed opening batsman David Warner announces his retirement.
Former Indian women hockey captain Rani Rampal announced her retirement in October.
Here we capture some of the best sporting moments.
(compiled by N. Kesavan)
Ace Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin announced his retirement from international after the third India-Australia Test in Brisbane. Ashwin has played 106 Tests and has claimed 537 wickets with an average of 24.00. He has taken 37 five-wicket and 8 ten-wicket hauls. Ashwin was a handy batsman too having scored 3503 runs with six hundreds to his credit. He has taken 765 international wickets in all forms of the game besides taking 779 wickets in the first class games.
Indian Grandmaster and challenger D Gukesh reacts after beating reigning champion China’s Ding Liren in the 14th and last game of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2024, in Singapore, He became the youngest one to win the title in the history of World Chess Championship.
Defending champion and China’s Ding Liren won the first match and bounced back in the 12th game to equal. But Gukesh was too good for him in the 14th and final game and won the championship. A total of 9 games were drawn.
Tennis legend Rafael Nadal announced his retirement from international tennis on November 20, 2024 after his loss in the Davis Cup quarterfinal singles match against Netherlands. Nadal has so far won 22 Grand Slam tournaments. Besides this, he won Olympic Gold in 2008 and has also enabled his team to win five Davis Cup titles. Nadal is one of three men to complete the career Golden Slam in singles. His 81 consecutive wins on clay constitute the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era.
Former Indian women hockey team captain Rani Rampal announced her retirement on October 24, 2024. A clinical forward, who made her international debut in 2008 as a 14-year-old in the Olympic qualifiers that year, Rani scored 205 goals in her 254 outings for India. Rani’s journey through the years and ranks culminated in leading the team to a historic fourth-place finish at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and included breaking a 13-year drought to win the Asia Cup in 2017 and a silver at the 2018 Asian Games.
One of the heroes of 2013 Champions Trophy, Shikhar Dhawan has played 34 Tests scoring 2,315 runs, 167 ODIs scoring 6,793 runs. In Tests, he has scored 7 centuries while Dhawan scored 17 centuries in ODIs. Dhawan has a healthy average of 40.61 and 44.11 in Tests and ODIs respectively.
Australia greatest opening batsman David Warner also hung his boots from international cricket. He has played 112 Test, 161 ODIs and 110 T20 internationals having scored 8,786, 6,932 and 3,277 runs respectively. He has also played 387 T20 matches having scored 12,435 runs with 8 centuries. He has scored 26 centuries and 22 tons in Tests and ODIs respectively.
England’s legendary fast bowler James Anderson announced his retirement at the age of 41. He had played 188 Tests taking 704 wickets at an average of 26.45. James Anderson had taken 991 wickets across all formats. James Anderson has taken 1,126 wickets in first class cricket, a record of sorts.
New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee announced his retirement on December 17, 2024. Tim Southee played 107 Tests taking 391 wickets. He has also taken 385 wickets in ODI and T20 internationals. In first class cricket, Tim Southee has taken 558 wickets.
Chess players pose with their medals after winning Gold in the women's open section and men's open event in the 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad 2024, in Budapest
New Zealand cricket team whitewashed India in the three Tests they played. India lost all the Tests they played previously in 2000 against South Africa. The Black Caps got the better of India in Bengaluru and Pune to break the home side’s 18-series win streak at home.
With the thrilling win over Pakistan in the first Test at Centurion on December 29, 2024, South Africa became the first team to book their place in the World Test Championship final which will be played at Lords in June 2025.
Having lost the first Test at Perth, Pat Cummins-led Australian cricket team bounced back and defeated India by 10 wickets in the pink ball Test at Adelaide. With the third Test drawn, Australia won the fourth Test at Melbourne to lead the series 2-0. Australia has a very good chance of meeting South Africa in the World Test Championship final to be played at Lords in 2025.
After their 0-3 loss against New Zealand, India bounced back strongly in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Perth. With the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah led from the front and defeated Australia by 295 runs.
India defeated South Africa in the final of the Twenty20 Wrold Cup and lifted the trophy after a gap of 17 years. India won the trophy in 2007. Having lost the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup, this win was a comeback for the Rohti Sharma-led team.
Having finally won a ICC Twenty20 World Cup trophy, both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirement from the T20 internationals.
American gymnast Simone Biles became the fourth US female artistic gymnast to compete at three Olympics Games. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, by winning the all-around competition Biles became the third female artistic gymnast to win two Olympic all-around titles after Larisa Latynina (1956–1960) and Věra Čáslavská (1964–1968) and the first to do so non-consecutively. During the vault final, Biles performed her eponymous Biles II (Yurchenko double pike) and a Cheng to win the gold medal; as a result, she became the second woman after Čáslavská to win two Olympic vault titles.
After winning more than 100 medals in the Asian Games, Indian athletes expected to win at least more than 10 medals at the Paris Olympics. But Indian athletes disappointed at the Olympics. India won only 6 medals with Manu Bhaker leading from the front. Manu Bhaker became the first Indian to win two medals in an Olympics.
Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh celebrates with Indian flag after winning bronze medal in 10m air pistol mix doubles team event in Paris Olympic 2024 in Chateauroux shooting range in France.
Indian fans were in for more disappointment at the Paris Olympics. Neeraj Chopra had to settle for a silver. He was defeated by Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem who threw a massive throw in his second effort. He dethroned Neeraj Chopra with a massive throw of 92.97m. Neeraj Chopra won the silver in his second effort with a throw of 89.45m.
India’s Aman Sehrawat became the youngest Indian to win an Olympic medal in the 57-kg category.
Wrestler Vinesh Phogat was to fight for the finals, she fought hard to reduce her weight. Vinesh was found marginally overweight at the mandatory weigh-in and was disqualified. On the back of her exit from the Paris Olympics 2024, Vinesh Phogat announced her retirement. Despite her appeal, Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) dismissed here petition for the joint silver medal. Vinesh and her fan-following were disappointed about the verdict from CAS.
Indian men’s hockey team won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. They last won the bronze at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. P.R. Sreejesh announced his retirement from international hockey and became the coach of the Indian men’s Junior Hockey team.
Novak Djokovic defeated Carlos Alcaraz on August 4 to claim a maiden Olympic title and become just the fifth player to complete a career Golden Slam. The 37-year-old Serb, competing in his fifth Games, came through 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2) in an enthralling final at Roland Garros to add Olympic gold to his 24 Grand Slam triumphs. Victory allowed him to join Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Steffi Graf and the watching Serena Williams as the only players to win all four Grand Slam tournaments and Olympic singles gold.
Indian women hockey players celebrate with the trophy after winning the final of the Asian Champions Trophy in Nalanda.
Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner ended the year 2024 with the No.1 ranking followed by Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz in the second and third position. The Olympic gold medal winner Novak Djokovic finished at the 7th position.
In the women tennis rankings, Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka finished at the top of the rankings followed by Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff at the second and third positions.
Bangladesh's players celebrate with trophy after winning the second and last Test cricket match against Pakistan at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi on September 3, 2024. Bangladesh defeated Pakistan 2-0.
With an eye at the World Test Championship final, South Africa defeated Sri Lanka 2-0 and have topped the ICC Test Championship ranking followed by Australia and India. If India had to enter the finals they have defeat Australia in the remaining three Tests.
England defeated Pakistan in the first Test at Multan by an innings and 47 runs and expected to prevail over Pakistan in the remaining two Tests. But the Pakistan cricket team bounced back to defeat England in the second Test at Multan by 152 runs and dominated England in the third Test at Rawalpindi and won it by 9 wickets.
With ICC Women ODI World Cup in sight, Indian women cricket team visited Australia but the team lost all the three ODIs it played. Australia women cricket team dominated India in all the three ODIs and won it easily with 3-0 margin.
Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid won the best FIFA men’s player and the goalkeeper award went to Emiliano Martinez of Aston Villa. Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti won the best coach award of 2024. In the women’s, Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati won the FIFA player of the year award while Chicago Red Stars’ Alyssa Naeher and Chelsea and U.S.’ Emma Hayes won the best goalkeeper and coach awards.
Published - December 30, 2024 08:58 pm IST
