Friday, December 15, 2023

Rewind 2023: From Asian success in Hangzhou to Neeraj Chopra's gold, India's memorable year in sport beyond cricket

Another year has nearly passed us by in the blink of an eye, with 2023 coming to an end in a little over two weeks.

Looking back at the events of the bygone year, it certainly was a memorable one for Indian sports, especially with the country achieving new highs in multi-sporting mega events such as the Asian Games.

In a nation as obsessed with cricket as India is, it’s the ‘Gentleman’s Game’ that usually remains the dominant talking point when the discussion centres around its sporting achievements.

This year, however, with the Indian men’s and women’s teams failing to win a single ICC trophy despite dominating across formats, cricket takes a backseat and allows other events to hog the limelight for a change.

And why shouldn’t that be the case? India registered a record haul of medals in both the Asian Games and the Asian Para Games, both of which took place in Hangzhou, China in September and October.

Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra also created history by finally winning gold in the World Athletics Championships this year after falling narrowly short in 2022, making 2023 an even sweeter year for Indian sports fans.

More on that in detail below:

Breaking the 100-medal barrier in Asian Games

It’s tough picking a winner when it comes to choosing between India’s record Asian Games haul and Neeraj Chopra’s world championships gold as the highlight of 2023 for Indian sports, both achievements being a first for the country.

Indian sport has witnessed extraordinary individual achievements such as Abhinav Bindra and Chopra’s individual gold medals. Or even standout team achievements such as the eight consecutive Olympic gold medals in men’s hockey between 1928 and 1956. It’s not often, however, that India excels as a nation in a multi-sporting event such as the Asian Games.

The Indian contingent had travelled to the Hangzhou Games, which had been delayed by a year due to COVID restrictions, with the aim of achieving ‘Mission Sau Paar’ — breach the 100-medal mark in the continental games for the first time ever.

The last time India had breached the 100-medal mark in an event that comes close to matching the Asian Games was the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. As for the Asian Games, India had been exhibiting steady progress over the years, finishing with their highest-ever tally in Jakarta 2018 with 70 medals at the eighth spot on the medal table.

To finish with 107 medals in the Hangzhou Games — 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze — is a considerably more special achievement for Indian sport however. Especially since India closed the gap with the ‘Big Three’ from the continent, finishing fourth on the table this time behind China, Japan and South Korea.

India also became only the fourth nation after the ‘Big Three’ to finish with 100 or more medals in a single edition of the Asian Games thanks to their rich haul this year.

The Hangzhou Games also witnessed India sending its largest contingent ever — 655 athletes across 41 sporting disciplines compared to 570 in 2018. Athletics gave India the most medals this time around with India winning 29 track and field medals — six gold, 14 silver and 19 bronze. Shooting which has also been India’s strength in multi-sporting events had the highest contribution of gold medals this time around, with seven of their 22 medals in this sport being yellow in colour.

India also won historic medals in a number of other disciplines — gold in Equestrian and Cricket (where the men’s and women’s teams made their debut), bronze in the table tennis women’s doubles event, beating powerhouse China, among others.

Achieving a new high in the subsequent Para Games

It wasn’t just in the Asian Games that India achieved their target of finishing with a ‘Sau Paar’ medal count.

The country registered their best-ever performance in the Asian Para Games that took place right after, finishing at the fifth spot on the table with 111 medals. That was eight more than what South Korea managed, though they finished higher at the fourth spot thanks to their superior gold medal count.

As had been the case in the Asian Games as well, athletics was the top contributor in the Para Games medal rush with 55 medals, including 18 gold. Badminton was second on the list with 21 medals — four gold and as many silver besides 13 gold.

India also ended up breaking a few world records along the way, including in the men’s javelin event by Gurjar Sundar Singh and Sumit Antil.

Neeraj Chopra adds another feather to his cap

Chopra, meanwhile, continues to scale new peaks and with his list of achievements, he has already cemented himself as one of the country’s greatest athletes of all time.

The Haryanvi had become only the second Indian after Anju Bobby George in Paris 2003 by winning silver in men’s javelin in the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, USA.

In the 2023 edition in Budapest, however, he would go a step further and go where no Indian had in the sport of athletics before — winning gold at the World Championships.

After falling agonisingly short in Eugene, Chopra entered this year’s event as a firm favourite and lived up to that billing by winning gold with a best throw of 88.17 — not his greatest throw by any stretch of the imagination but one that got the job done nevertheless.

Chopra had become a household name after becoming only the second Indian after shooting icon Abhinav Bindra to win an individual Olympic gold medal.

On 27 August this year, he became the first Asian to win javelin gold at the world championship and in the process, joined an elite club of athletes being Olympic and world champion at the same time.

What was also noteworthy in the final was two other Indians finishing in the top eight — Kishore Jena (84.77m) and DP Manu (84.14) finishing fifth and sixth respectively.



from Firstpost Sports Latest News https://ift.tt/PCa9c6m
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