Year-Ender 2023: Top Moments From Indian Sports

Be it the century-plus medal hauls in Hangzhou Asian Games and the Asian Para Games or dominance in world cricket, India had an incredibly feat-filled year. Let us relive five of the most glorious moments for Indian sport in 2023, through this year-ender

Bhuvan Gupta

Updated on: 17 December 2023 2:38 pm

Grandmaster siblings R Praggnanandhaa (R) and Vaishali (C), with their mother Nagalakshmi.

It was a remarkable year for India on the sports front. World Championships were won, historic feats registered and dominance displayed across playing fields in 2023. (Sports News)

It is hard to divorce any assessment of Indian sports from the nation's performance in major multi-discipline events, given the collective eyeballs around them. And even on that count, India had an year to remember.

The century-plus medal hauls in both, the Hangzhou Asian Games and the Asian Para Games underlined the country's growing might in the continent, and served as a delicious precursor to what can be expected at the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris next year.

Indian athletes typified triumph amid resilience in 2023, as illustrated by a defiant Jyothi Yarraji standing her ground against Asiad officials after being wrongly disqualified from the women's 100m hurdles final, and eventually earning a splendid silver.

Later in the year, the Indian men's cricket team disappointed crores by missing out on a third 50-over World Cup trophy, but looked at with equanimity, it was a campaign second to none in terms of consistency and excellence, before the law of averages finally caught up in the final.

ALSO READ: Top Moments From Sports World In 2023

Let us relive five of the most glorious moments for Indian sport in 2023, through this year-ender.

Sheetal Devi's All-Conquering Run

Sheetal Devi (L) in action at the para archery event in Hangzhou. PTI

The 16-year-old Sheetal Devi had an unforgettable 2023. The world's first female archer to compete internationally without arms, Sheetal bagged three medals at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou and became the first Indian woman to win two gold in a single edition of the Games.

She later ascended to the world number 1 spot in the women's compound open section of the para world archery rankings, and earned the Best Youth Athlete Of The Year honour at the Asian Awards 2023. The teeanger capped off an already-memorable year with a gold at the inaugural Khelo India Para Games in Delhi.

Praggnanandhaa And Vaishali's 'Grand' Reckoning

Chess World Cup runner-up R Praggnanandhaa being welcomed upon his arrival, at Chennai International Airport. Photo: PTI/R Senthilkumar

Indian chess prodigy Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa touched the zenith of the sport by challenging the mighty Magnus Carlsen in the FIDE Chess World Cup Final, before losing narrowly in a rapid format tie-breaker. The 18-year-old was the youngest to reach the summit clash of the tournament and with his pioneering run, sealed a prestigious Candidates qualification.

His sister Vaishali consequently ensured the duo's status as chess royalty in December, as she became India's 84th Grandmaster, making her and Praggnanandhaa the world's first-ever Grandmaster siblings. The 22-year-old is only the third female Grandmaster from India, after Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli.

Satwik-Chirag Create History

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (L) and Chirag Shetty posing with their Asian Games 2023 gold medal AP

The ace Indian badminton men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy went where no Indian duo had before, becoming World No. 1 in the BWF rankings soon after clinching a historic gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023 in October.

Satwik and Chirag had an absolutely smashing 2023, winning the Badminton Asia Championships, Indonesia Super 1000, Korea Super 500 and Swiss Super 300 titles and finishing runners-up at the China Masters. Their fabulous campaign was rewarded with a nomination for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

Neeraj Chopra Breaches Final Frontier

Neeraj Chopra after winning gold at the 2023 World Athletics Championships. AP

Neeraj Chopra is used to taking the road less travelled. But even he would have experienced unprecedented joy when he added the ultimate achievement to his burgeoning list of firsts - a gold medal at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in the men's javelin event in August 2023.

With that, the 25-year-old ensured he had won every major track-and-field event there is — Olympics, World Championships, Diamond League, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. He made the victory even sweeter by defending his Asian Games title in dramatic fashion in October.

Indian Cricket On Top Of The World

India's Jasprit Bumrah (second from left) celebrates with teammates the wicket of Australia batter Mitchell Marsh during the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 match between India and Australia, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai. Photo: PTI/R Senthil Kumar

With their five-wicket win over Australia in the first ODI of a three-match series in September ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, the Indian men's cricket team became world number one in all three formats of the game - Tests, ODIs and T20Is. The Men In Blue displaced arch-rivals Pakistan from the numero uno position in the 50-over format.

With that, India became only the second team in men's cricket history to occupy the number one spot across all three formats. Prior to this, only South Africa had achieved the feat back in August 2012.