The last decade was India’s best when it came to performances across disciplines. For a country that was considered as pushovers, Indian athletes competed with the best and emerged victorious. The next decade only promises more such glories and success stories...
MC Mary Kom
She is one of the greatest sportspersons India has seen. Some might argue that she’s the greatest woman athlete the country has produced. To measure MC Mary Kom’s success is like counting stars on a clear, night sky. The Manipur native’s rags-to-riches story has been written and rewritten countless times. It is so inspiring that even a movie, starring renowned actor Priyanka Chopra, based on her was released in 2014. It goes without saying that many youngsters have taken up boxing because of her. Determination, hard work and thirst to be the best have powered her. Being a mother made boxing secondary for a brief period; twice, in 2007 and 2013. But, Mary returned stronger and hungrier. The lone Indian woman boxer to win an Olympic medal. Six-time world champion. First Indian woman boxer to win at Asian Games. She just doesn’t stop. Mary’s most-recent high was a Worlds bronze in October. That saw her become the most successful boxer (both men and women) at the event, with eight medals to her name. She surpassed Cuban legend Felix Savon’s tally of seven. At 36, Mary might not be as explosive as she was in her prime. But what she lacks, she makes up with intelligence. That was evident during her record sixth Worlds gold last year. As recently as Saturday she showed the world, she still has it in her beating Nikhat Zareen in 51kg trial. She will be keen to make use of that game sense during the Olympic Qualifiers next year, and come one step closer to gold — the only medal that has evaded her — in Tokyo Olympics.
Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell
A career that began in 1989 and spanned 24 years ended in 2013. While everyone expected Tendulkar to walk away after 2011 World Cup, he prolonged his final dash. The search for that elusive 100th hundred ended in March 2012, but Tendulkar still batted on. With critics constantly pointing out his decline in Tests, Tendulkar decided to hang up his boots. Before West Indies came to India in 2013, Tendulkar requested BCCI to host his last — and 200th Test – at his home ground. In October, began one of the grandest farewells the world had ever seen. First a Ranji Tropjhy fixture in Lahli; a tournament that isn’t used to audiences saw a huge one through television. Then after the first Test in Kolkata, the focus shifted to Mumbai. In his final innings — which saw his mother in attendance for the first time — Tendulkar made 74. Holding back tears, Tendulkar touched the 22-yard strip for one last time. India conferred on him its highest order: Bharat Ratna. It was befitting that he became the first sportsperson to win the award.
2011 World Cup
Cricket’s biggest carnival had returned to the subcontinent for the first time since 1996, and a show that would be hard to emulate was put up. At the end of it on April 2, MS Dhoni lifted the trophy at Wankhede Stadium, ending India’s 28-year wait for a second. The pressure was immense during the build-up to the event. Nobody wanted any other captain to lift the cup. They were the hosts. But with that came the perennial jinx; no team had won the event at home. Then there was Sachin Tendulkar. Everyone wanted to see their idol lift that piece of silverware at his home-ground before he bade farewell. Therein lies India’s glory; becoming the first hosts to lift the cup. India hadn’t hit their high notes early on. They finished second in their group. Yuvraj Singh may have walked away with the Man of the Tournament award, but there were all-round performances from No 1 to 11. Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh. All made telling contributions. We all thought it wouldn’t get better than those quarterfinal and semifinal wins over Australia and Pakistan. But the best was reserved for the last. Dhoni, who hadn’t touched 50 in the event, played the innings of his life. That 91 and Gambhir’s 97 ensured India partied long and hard into the night. But the ICC world title that was sealed with a six would be India’s only one in this decade as they managed only semifinal finish in the other two editions.
Ravichandran Ashwin
564 wickets. No other bowler has taken as many wickets across formats as R Ashwin since his debut across all formats. As Harbhajan Singh faded away, India found an immediate replacement in the off-spinner from Chennai. He’d already made a name for himself in limited-overs, being part of the 2011 World Cup winning side being a notable achievement. But from the moment he stepped into the Test side, Ashwin showed the world that he’s a match-winner, walking away with Man of the Series award in his first outing. By 2016, he added five more of those to this tally, surpassing the record set by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. While he was MS Dhoni’s go-to-man with the ball, under Virat Kohli, Ashwin established himself as one of the best spinners for India. Whatever he touched turned into gold. Joint-fastest to 350 Test wickets. Second Indian to score 500-plus runs and take 50-plus wickets in a year (in 2016). After ending 2016 with 72 scalps — the most for anyone — Ashwin picked up 64 wickets in 13 Tests at home, becoming the highest wicket-taker for India in a single domestic season which saw the team become the No 1 in Tests. Though Australia’s Nathan Lyon gave Ashwin a tough challenge for the throne, the Chennaiite only enhanced his reputation. After the 2017 Champions Trophy, he was surprisingly excluded from the limited-over sides. But Ashwin continues to remain a force to reckon with in the longest format. He will be crucial to India’s dreams of winning the World Test Championship.In between, he was also made the captain of Kings XI Punjab in the IPL.
Saina Nehwal
Where do we even begin? She made heads turn even during her age-group days. By the time India hosted Commonwealth Games in 2010, she’d already made the country look at badminton seriously. After her quarterfinal appearance in Beijing 2008, expectations of a medal were naturally high. She’d live up to them with a shiny, yellow one on her neck. Two years later in an Olympics that saw India come back with a record number of medals, Saina Nehwal ensured that the nation got its first in badminton. That was more than just a laurel. It kickstarted a badminton boom, one that has culminated in the nation having many more medal hopefuls as this decade comes to an end. PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth won Super Series titles on regular basis, apart from World Championship medals. Though the arrival of Sindhu at the Rio Olympics — and injuries as well — saw Saina’s prominence towards the end of the decade, she still remains an elite shuttler. Two Worlds medals (2015 and 2017) and a Commonwealth gold last year speak for themselves. Going into Olympics, expectations will naturally be high from the Hyderabadi. And that one sentence inadvertently speaks volumes about her staying power in a decade that has seen women’s singles badminton become one of the most competitive across any sport. That she is still within the top 10 — ranked No 9 in the world — mean she is in with a shout of once again making heads turn at the global event, fitness permitting. Over to Saina.
PV Sindhu
If Saina made India dream, PV Sindhu has made the next generation believe. For a nation that is habituated to being glued to cricket, India came to a standstill during Sindhu’s epic Rio Olympics final showdown with Carolina Marin. That silver came in the wake of many expectations, despite 2016 being her maiden Games bow. Sindhu had piqued hopes thanks to two Worlds bronze (2013 and 2014).Tall, fit and mean with a racquet in hand, Sindhu is the Yin to Saina’s Yang. She’s won 15 titles since her entry in 2011; a legend in the making even though she is only 24. Two successive Worlds silver (2017 and 2018) made India yearn to see gold glitter around Sindhu’s neck.
That wish came true this year in Basel; the elusive gold becoming hers after a win over perennial nemesis Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the World Championships. The victory also made her the second woman after Zhang Ning to clinch five Worlds medals. With the Tokyo Olympics around the corner, expectations are already running high fromthis shuttler, whom Forbes ranked 13th on their list of highest-paid female athletes of 2019.
Sushil Kumar
Wrestler Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav gave independent India its first individual Olympic medal: a bronze in 1952. Despite that initial success, the country had to wait for 56 more years for another medal from an Indian grappler. Then 25-year-old Sushil Kumar ended this drought with a bronze at the 2008 Olympics. The 66kg medal revolutionised Indian wrestling. The sport became the most consistent Olympic discipline. Indian wrestlers have won three medals since the 2008 Games (one bronze each by Yogeshwar Dutt (2012) and Sakshi Malik (2016) and one silver by Sushil (2012)). After the success in Beijing success, Sushil looked unstoppable. A Worlds gold was earned two years later; India’s only top podium finish at the event till date. Hailing from a nondescript village called Baprola (on the outskirts of New Delhi), the son of a Delhi Transport Corporation bus conductor again created history two years later. A silver at London Olympics saw him become India’s first sportsperson to win back-to-back medals in the biggest sporting extravaganza. With his bronze, Sushil changed the face of wrestling in the country. With his silver, he made India a force to reckon with in the world of wrestling.
CWG 2010
India’s sporting decade began with one of the biggest exhibitions they had ever thrown — the Commonwealth Games. By the time the actual show began in New Delhi, the bad news headlines had made the Indian public wary but the two weeks did create a lot of new heroes apart from celebrating established heroes. Finishing second in the medals tally by a solitary gold was an amazing achievement for a country which was still waking up the possibility that all sports, not just cricket, could also be pursued at the professional level. Shooting, led by Gagan Narang’s four gold, unsurprisingly saw the most podium finishes with 30 medals (14 G, 11 S, 5 B). Heroes were created in badminton, boxing, archery as well as the country rode on a theme of sporting nationalism. The most goosebumps inducing moment, though, was reserved for the women’s 4x400m team whose hair-raising gold in front of a capacity crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The gold though was tempered because of the news that three of the six runners involved were given doping bans a year later. A decade from the Games though and CWG’s legacy isn’t of the sporting stars who grace the occasion. It’s more remembered for the officials who oversaw a corruption scandal that rocked the nation.
Shooting stars
Indian shooting is in a happy place at the moment. Our shooters put up stellar shows to dominate 2019. With 15 Olympic quotas already in its pocket, the country is in a position to hit bullseye in Tokyo next summer. But that will be easier said than done. Only four shooters — Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Athens, 2004), Abhinav Bindra (Beijing, 2008), Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar (London 2012) — have won medals in the Olympics. Narang and Kumar were the last men to take that road less travelled, during the 2012 Olympics in London. Having failed to qualify for the finals in the previous two Games, Narang had flown to London as a determined man. After a near-flawless qualification round, the 10m air rifle shooter held his nerve in the final and won bronze, thereby fulfilling his dream. Kumar doubled the joy for India just a few days later, in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol. He lost only to a then world-record performance by Leuris Pupo of Cuba, settling for silver. It was a momentous occasion. Those hits were India’s third consecutive shooting medal at the quadrennial event. Both became household names and inspired many to take up the sport. The current crop of shooters, many of whom have been mentored by Narang, will look to emulate the two next year and write their name in history.