From the primary Thomas Cup title to the primary FIH Nations Cup victory, 2022 is a yr for the books so far as Indian sports activities are involved. With the brand new yr closing in, allow us to look again at sure milestones that have been achieved – each on and off the sector.

Historical Firsts on the Birmingham Commonwealth Games

India completed with 61 medals (22 gold, 16 silver, and 23 bronze) regardless of taking pictures being scrapped from the video games and stars like Neeraj Chopra lacking out.

India’s ladies’s group secured a gold and the lads’s group a silver in garden bowls, a sport during which India had by no means gained a medal earlier than.

Murali Sreeshankar gained India’s first silver in males’s lengthy soar, and Eldhose Paul bagged India’s maiden triple soar gold, adopted by silver by Abdulla Aboobacker.

Race walkers Priyanka Goswami and Sandeep Kumar completed on the rostrum, and Avinash Sable completed with a silver within the males’s 3000m steeplechase, clocking a nationwide document. The hockey groups and girls’s cricket groups bagged medals too.

Maiden Thomas Cup Win

The Indian males’s badminton group, comprised of Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, introduced again India’s first Thomas Cup from the thirty second version from Bangkok, Thailand. They clinched their maiden title after defeating Indonesia, essentially the most profitable group within the competitors’s historical past and the defending champions.

World Championships – Javelin, Boxing, Wrestling, Weightlifting, Shooting and Judo

Having made heads flip final yr together with his gold medal on the Tokyo Olympics, Neeraj Chopra continued his dream run in 2022, clinching a silver with a nationwide document on the Paavo Nurmi Games, one other silver on the World Championships in Oregon, and a stellar Diamond League marketing campaign, ending as the primary Indian to win a Diamond League Trophy.

After a profitable gold medal on the CWG, boxer Nikhat Zareen turned the fifth Indian lady world champion after the legendary Mary Kom, Laishram Sarita Devi, Jenny R. Lee, and Lekha Ok.C. in May 2022.

Two of one of the best wrestlers within the nation, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, completed with bronze on the World Championships, including to the massive checklist of achievements we now have this yr. Antim Panghal turned the primary and solely Indian lady to win the U-20 World Championship in Bulgaria this yr. Aman Sehrawat joined the clan by profitable gold on the U-23 World Wrestling Championships.

Mirabai Chanu is one other on the checklist to proceed reaching after a podium end on the 2022 CWG. After profitable the gold medal at CWG, she went on to win a historic silver on the World Weightlifting Championships.

One of essentially the most shocking achievements of the yr was the “gold” on debut on the ISSF Shooting World Championships for Rudrankksh Patil within the males’s 10 m air rifle occasion in Egypt.

Indian judoka Linthoi Chanambam made historical past together with her gold medal on the World Cadet Judo Championships, changing into the primary Indian to win a gold on the championships throughout all classes. She gained the nationwide championships and the Asian cadet and junior championships, and completed with a silver and bronze within the 2021 editions of the Asia-Oceania Junior and Cadet Championships, too.

Indian Women’s Hockey win maiden FIH Nations Cup

The ladies’s hockey group, led by Savita Punia, not too long ago gained the inaugural Women’s FIH Nations Cup, placing them in rivalry for the FIH Pro League 2023-24 season. Following their bronze medal at CWG 2022, this victory was one other feather of their cap.

The males’s hockey group had earlier secured a silver medal on the CWG 2022 and can quickly be combating it out for the World Cup scheduled in a few weeks.

Gender Equality within the business – BCCI’s equal pay coverage and First Woman IOA President

Off the sector, the BCCI introduced equal match charges for each women and men cricketers, bringing pay equality to the Indian sports activities panorama.

Further, the previous Indian athlete P.T. Usha, fondly remembered because the “Payyoli Express”, turned the primary Olympian and first lady to change into President of the IOA (Indian Olympic Association).

The Indian males’s soccer group qualifying for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, the Indian blended 4 x 400 relay group setting a junior Asian document on the way in which to a silver on the U-20 World Championships, breaking the world’s main aspect Australia’s profitable streaks in males’s hockey and girls’s cricket, and the emergence of prodigies like boxer Nitu Ghanghas are sure different key moments from 2022 that deserve honourable mentions.