2017 has been a good year for Indian sports. What to look forward in 2018. In cricket one of the greatest players of the game was hooked for a six; the Virat-Anoushka marriage was by far the high point in the sporting world as the year closed curtains over a great sporting years.
Sports have had a huge fillip in India in the year gone past. Some of the biggest sporting events such as the U17 FIFA World Cup, the annual edition of the IPL, ISL and other leagues unfolded in the country. In fact, we now have a league for almost every popular sport in India, from hockey to cricket. And Indian sportswomen and men have done the nation proud in 2017.
India had a great outing as far as 2017 was concerned with Kidambi Srikanth being the stand-out performer who became the first Indian shuttler to enter three consecutive super-series finals and also the fourth player to ever win four super series titles in one year. He took home the Indonesian open, Australian open, Denmark open and French open. The next big highlight was the most expected event of the year for India, the U17 FIFA world cup where the England team went on to win the tournament by beating Spain 5-2 in the finals.
Cricketer Rohit Sharma and stand-in captain for the T20s brought up the end of the year with a blazing third double century against Sri Lanka in Mohali only to follow up with another blistering century in the T20 in Vizag. It was the fastest century by any batsman in T20 and miles ahead of any other Indian to match the deed.
Not only this, many other surreal moments were also experienced as far as 2017 was concerned and the Indian sports stars did a great job at outshining on the international front.
One of the biggest achievements in Indian sports came in 2017 when an actual sportsman who did the country proud by winning one of the few silver medals that India has won at an Olympics. Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the 2004 Olympic Games double trap silver medallist in Greece and is now the Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports. For the first time in the history of Indian sports and politics, a true sportsman will actually be driving the country’s sports policy. A lot of hope and expectations are tied in with this man.
Col Rajyavardhan Rathore has already promised that the Khelo India campaign will be kickstarted at a cost of Rs 1756 crores for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20. This campaign will make sure that 150 schools and 20 universities in the country will provide young talents with an opportunity to pursue a career in both education and sports.
One of the big-ticket events for 2018 is going to be the Men’s Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneshwar from November 28 to December 16. Let’s hope that India finishes stronger and bigger this year. Apart from this, we have a lot in store from the IPL, ISL, Pro Kabaddi League, Premier Badminton League and much more.
SOME OF THE BIG MOMENTS IN SPORTS 2017
Mirabai Chanu wins gold in Weightlifting
For the first time in more than two decades, we won the gold in the Weightlifting World Championships. Mirabai Chanu, the diminutive athlete from Manipur won the gold in the 48 kg division, lifting an impressive 194 kg (national record) in the US.
Under-17 football World Cup
It was quite a moment for a nation that has never participated in a World Cup that involves the most popular sport in the world. So to host the FIFA Under-17 World Cup was by far a great moment of pride for the country. After hosting the tournament with grand success, India is now aiming high and making a bid for the U-20 FIFA World Cup in 2019.
Women’s Cricket World Cup
It was a great moment for women’s cricket and the nation when our girls put up some outstanding performance on the cricket field, only to lose the final against England at the Lord’s. In a country so dominated by men’s cricket, it was great to see the nation sit up and take note of our girls in blue. In their semi-final against Australia, the women’s team posted 281 for 4 with a spellbinding inning of 171 by Harmanpreet Kaur and then went on to bowl Australia out for 245. Amazing but sad they could not pull off the cup.
Gold in World Para Athletics
Having performed very poorly at the last Olympics, our paraathletes did us proud at the 2017 world Para Athletics Championship in London winning one gold, two silver and two bronze medals. Sundar Singh Gurjar winning the gold in the men’s javelin throw was truly a proud moment for the country. Gurjar’s throw not only marked his best but he beat the best in the world by a huge margin having clocked 60.86 meters.
Badminton World Championship
After Saina Nehwal, it is PV Sindhu’s moment in the badminton limelight. Also a girl from Hyderabad, Sindhu has had some great moments on the badminton court in the past year. But the one that really stands out and something the world is unlikely to forget in a hurry will be her final against the Japanese shuttler Nozomi Okhura. It proved to be an epic battle of guts, stamina, skill and pure willpower which saw the two shuttlers in a marathon battle. In fact, the rally of 73 shots exchanged between the two for a single point will go down in badminton history.
Both players went the whole hog fighting a marathon 110minute battle in which ultimately Sindhu went down 19-21, 22-20 and 20-22. It could well go down in badminton history as one of the greatest games ever.
India’s badminton record has never been as good as it has been this year, with an Indian featuring in the top five players in the world among men as well as among women. Kidambi Srikanth at the fourth position among men and PV Sindhu at third place among women have powered India’s rise to the top of the charts this year. This year has also been great for Sindhu, who has risen from the 10th rank at the start of the year to finish third. Saina Nehwal, who has been recovering from injury, slipped one place from ninth to 10th.
Finally, cricket
And now for the Big Boys of cricket. The year 2017 saw Indian cricket reach amazing heights in all formats of the game. But the year began with a jolt but ended on a dreamy sweet note.
In January the talismanic Mahendra Singh Dhoni stumped every cricket fan on Wednesday when he informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that he is stepping down as the skipper of India’s One-Day International (ODI) and T20 International sides, ending a trophy-filled era.
The 35-year-old had already retired from Test cricket in December 2014 but continued to lead the national team in the shorter formats of the game. Dhoni, who had led India to the International Cricket Council (ICC) World T20 title in 2007, to the World Cup victory in 2011 and lifted the Champions Trophy in 2013 also took India to the zenith of the Test rankings during his tenure. He is the only captain in world cricket to win each of the ICC trophies.
Now just as India begins their ultimate challenge of carrying their successful run across formats overseas in countries like South Africa, England and Australia, former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has labelled Virat Kohli’s team as the one which may become one of India’s greatest-ever in ODIs.
India became the No 1 ODI team after their series win in Australia and shot up to the second spot in T20s after thrashing the Lankans at home. Last year, the team reached the No 1 spot in ICC Test Rankings.
But the mantle of the test team passed on to another great cricketer in the making, Virat Kohli, who after taking the side to a series of wins decided to take some time off and win over his other love and settle down. His marriage to Bollywood star Anoushka Sharma in the middle of December in dreamy Tuscany in Italy surely left Indian cricket and its fans starry-eyed and happy. It was a great 2017.