India won men's, women's titles in inaugural Kho Kho World Cup
National Sports Governance Act was passed in August, with BCCI under ambit
India bagged a record 20 medals at Tokyo Deaflympics
Every year, the choc-a-bloc sports calendar leaves little time and mental bandwidth for true-blue afficionados to enjoy every notable happening. 2025 was no different in that regard.
With so much to watch, read, follow, something or the other gets left out. New tournaments arrive before one has realised, and you forget to catch up with the ones inadvertently omitted from your consumption list.
Here's a glance through some sports events, news and culture pieces that you might have missed out on in 2025:
Events
Kho Kho World Cup
The inaugural Kho Kho World Cup was held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi in January. The week-long event featured 20 men’s and 19 women’s teams, with hosts India beating Nepal in both men's (54-36) and women's (78-40) finals to lift the trophies. Birmingham will host the 2027 edition of the showpiece.
World Games
The World Games 2025 took place in Chengdu, People's Republic of China in August. The quadrennial event consists of sports and sporting disciplines that are not part of the Olympic Games. The 12th edition saw over 4,000 athletes from more than 100 nations take part, with 34 sports, 60 disciplines and 256 medal events. China topped the standings with a dominant performance, securing 36 gold, 17 silver and 11 bronze medals.
Deaflympics
The 2025 Summer Deaflympics were held in Tokyo, Japan in November. More than 3000 athletes from over 70 countries competed for medals in 21 sports. India sent a record 111-member contingent, and bagged 20 medals - nine gold, seven silver and four bronze - to end up with their best-ever haul at any edition.
News
National Sports Governance Act
Promising to revamp India's sports administration, the National Sports Governance Act was passed in August 2025. Its rules are set to be notified soon and Union sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya has promised full-scale implementation in early 2026. The Board of Control for Cricket in India has been included, and will have to register itself as a National Sports Federation once the Act comes into effect.
India's Alarming Dope Testing Figures
India threw up the highest number of doping violators among countries which conducted 5,000 or more tests in the World Anti-Doping Agency's Testing Figures Report for 2024. According to the WADA report, India conducted 7,113 tests (6576 urine samples and 537 blood samples) last year, which threw up 260 adverse analytical findings, leading to a positivity rate of 3.6 per cent, the highest among all major countries.
Culture
Web Series: Real Kashmir FC
The first web show to feature Indian football, Real Kashmir FC chronicles the journey of co-founders Sandeep Chattoo (passed away in December 2023) and Shamim Meraj in building an unlikely pro football club in Kashmir from the ground up. Starring Mohd. Zeeshan Ayub and Manav Kaul, the series has received critical acclaim for its simplicity of storytelling, among other things.
Book: The Escape
Titled 'The Escape: The Tour, the Cyclist and Me' in full, the book is a memoir from retired cyclist Pippa York and sportswriter David Walsh, encapsulating their time spent following the Tour de France. It addresses doping, gender in sport and lots more, and won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award, apart from featuring in The Guardian's 'five best sports books of 2025' list.
Film: F1 The Movie
The Brad Pitt-starrer 'F1' (marketed as F1 the Movie) is the next big media production on the sport after the raging success of British docu-series 'Formula 1: Drive to Survive'. The story is about F1 driver Sonny Hayes who comes out of retirement to mentor and team up with a younger driver. It's inspired by Martin Donnelly's near-fatal crash in 1990 during practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, and has been shortlisted in five categories for the Oscars.
