BENGALURU: The multi-faceted city that Bengaluru is, it has been home to some talented sportsmen who have gone ahead to make history and made India proud.
Badminton
It was a dream come true for Vimal Kumar, when India lifted the Thomas Cup. India beat the 14-time champ Indonesia 3-0 in the final in Bangkok.
Lakshya Sen, Srikanth Kidambi, Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Prannoy H S, Dhruv Kapila, Anurag Thakur, Arjun M R and Priyanshu Rajawat were representing India at the tournament. Kumar, the manager for team India, had told CE in an earlier interview, “It has been a good year for India, with the country witnessing its first Thomas Cup win.”
Sen was clearly the champ and got a star-studded welcome post winning a gold at the Commonwealth Games 2022. The player, who is currently training at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, also reached his career best ranking of No. 6. He received an Arjuna award as well, the second-highest sporting honour of India.
Swimming
City-based swimmer and paralympian Niranjan Mukundan, took part in the 2022 Commonwealth Games that took place at Birmingham. Mukundan, who finished at the seventh position, was one of the 200-plus athletes from India at the tournament. He was also part of the grand opening, which happened at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. He has also qualified for the World Championships 2023.
Cricket
Roger Binny was appointed as the 36th and incumbent president of BCCI. The B’lurean, who was part of 1983 World Cup winning Indian cricket team, was the former president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association. He also came under the scanner after a former Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association member complained about conflict of interest as Binny’s daughter-in-law is as an anchor for a sports channel that has the season’s cricketing rights.
Tennis
Rohan Bopanna made history after he qualified for his maiden French Open Men’s Doubles semi-final, along with his doubles partner Matwe Middelkoop. His qualification helped him return to the top 25 in doubles.