 "Indian Olympic sports Yearender 2023: Hockey, Javelin and Satwaik-Chirag")
2023 would be called the Indian year in Olympic sports as they crossed the 100-medal mark in the Asian Games for the first time in history and followed it up with a historic showing in the AsianPara Games. Before that, Neeraj Chopra had created history at the World Athletics Championships and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa at the Chess World Cup.
Asian Games record tally
India recorded their biggest medal haul in the history of the Asian Games, winning 107 medals at the continental showpiece event. Not only that, but the number of gold medals at 29 was also the highest compared to any previous edition by nearly double the margin, with the previous best being 15, achieved in the 1982 Asian Games held in New Delhi. India finished fourth in the medals table behind powerhouses China, Japan and Korea.
In the Asian Para Games, India created history by winning 111 medals in total. With 29 Gold medals, India finished fifth in the medals tally, but their 111 medals were the fourth most by any country behind China, Iran and Japan.
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Neeraj Chopra’s world title
Before heading to the Asian Games, Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Neeraj Chopra had won the historic World Athletics Championships title in the sport, becoming the first Asan to win the coveted title. He also achieved the distinction of being one of the few players to be the world Olympic and continental champion at the same time after he won the gold at the Asian Games 2023, beating compatriot Kishore Jena to the title.
Indian hockey’s mixed-bag year
The year started on a disappointing note for Indian hockey fans and players alike as India failed to reach the knockout stage of the Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023, which Odhisha hosted for the second time. Putting it past them, the Blue Sticks, under a new coach, Craig Fulton, got back to the grind and won the Asian Champions Trophy before winning gold at the Asian Games and getting the ticket to the Olympics 2024.
The Indian women’s hockey team bronze at the Asian Games 2023 but could not get directly to the Paris Olympics. However, they won the Asian Champions Trophy at home and now look more than good enough to make it to the Olympics by winning the qualifiers in January 2024, scheduled to be hosted in India.
Satwik-Chirag scale the heights of Badminton
The Indian men's doubles duo of Satwiksiaraj Rankidredy and Chirag Shetty continued their upward journey in world Badminton as they rewrote the history books. Whatever they won, they were the first Indian doubles pair to do that. However, they did certain things not achieved even by Singles players before them.
Satwik, Chirag became the first Indian to win the Badminton Asia Championships gold, the Indonesian Open and the gold medal at the Asian Games. They failed to reach the medal round of the World Badminton Championships but became the first Indian men's doubles pair to be ranked number one in the world. Their nomination for the Khel Ratna was the icing on the cake.
Wrestlers on the street
For wrestling, it was a year marred by controversies. Top Indian male and female wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phigat hit the streets, demanding the removal of Brijbhushan Sharan Singh as the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
They raised the issue of rampant misuse of power by the WFI president at the start of the year, and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur took cognizance of the problem and assured the aggrieved wrestlers of action. Seeing nothing happening, they hit the streets again and demanded justice from the court, which ordered the immediate filing of an FIR against Singh.
Once the Singh issue died down, it came to the selection criteria used by the WFI to select wrestles for big events like the Olympics and the Asian Games. The practice won the medal in the previous edition and was first chosen to represent the country again.
However, it was changed to the medal winner facing a challenger in a one-off battle to decide who goes through. The challenger would be chosen after national trials involving all national-level wrestlers in that weight category.
Praggnanandhaa in the Chess World Cup final
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa became the first Indian since Viswanathan Anand in 2002 to reach the Chess World Cup medal round. The teenager then beat Fabiano Caruana in the semi-final to set up a date with Magnus Carlsen for the final, where he lost out in the final rapid draw after playing two draws in the classical format.
However, the victory put him in the Candidate’s Tournament 2024, where a win could give him a shot at the prestigious World Championships title against Ding Laren of China.