Here is a look at some of the key moments of Indian sports in the past 75 years 🇮🇳
- 1951 Asian Games: Only 4 years after independence, India hosted the 1st ever Asian Games in New Delhi 🇮🇳 11 nations participated in it and India won a total of 51 medals.
- 1952 Olympics: Independent India’s 1st individual medal – K.D. Jadhav wins Bronze in Wrestling
- 1956 Olympics – In the 1950s & 60s, Indian football team was a good team at global level. And they finished 4th at 1956 Olympics.
- 1957 Polo World Cup: India won the Polo World Cup in 1957.
- 1960 Olympics: Milkha Singh finished 4th in 400m event at 1960 Rome Olympics. The Indian sprinter missed out on Bronze by 0.1 second.
- 1964 Olympics: Jeremy Bujakowski becomes the first athlete to represent India at 1964 Winter Olympics in Austria.
- 1962 Asian Games – Indian football team wins Gold at 1962 Asian Games in Indonesia.
- 1966 Davis Cup: India finished Runners-Up at the 1966 Davis Cup. India lost the final to Australia.
- 1951 Asian Games: Sachin Nag wins Gold in Swimming. He won the Gold in 100m freestyle event. Till date, this is the only Gold medal in Swimming for India in Asian Games.
- Indian Hockey at Olympics: Indian Men’s Hockey team won 8 Gold medals between 1928 and 1980 Olympic Games.
- Highest Ranked Indian player till now – Ramanathan Krishnan became World No. 6 in Men’s Tennis ranking in 1950s.
- 1975 Hockey World Cup – India win Men’s Hockey World Cup for the 1st time. Till date, it is the only time India has won Hockey World Cup.
- 1980 All India badminton Championships – Prakash Padukone wins 1980 All England Badminton Championship.
- 1983 Cricket World Cup: This is one of most important sports moments of independent India. In 1983, against all expectations, India lift 1983 Cricket World Cup.
- 1984 LA Olympics: PT Usha finishes 4th in Women’s 400m hurdles. She missed out on a medal by 0.01 second.
- 1982 Asian Games: India wins Gold in Golf. This was India’s first big achievement in the field of Golf.
- 1982 Asian Games: India wins 3 Gold medals in Equestrian.
- 1986 Asian Games – PT Usha wins 5 medals – 4 Golds & 1 Silver at 1986 Asian Games.
- 1994 World Weightlifting Championship: Karnam Malleswari becomes the first Indian to win a gold at the World Weightlifting Championships.
- 1996 Olympics – Leander Paes wins Bronze in Men’s Singles event at 1996 Olympics. Till date, this is the only Olympic medal in Tennis for India.
- 1999 – Anil Kumble picks all 10 wickets in an innings in a Test match against Pakistan
- 1999 Tennis Grand Slams – Leander Paes & Mahesh Bhupathi dominate the Men’s Doubles and reach finals of all 4 grand slams. They end up winning Wimbledon & French Open.
- 2000 Sydney Olympics – Karnam Malleshwari wins Bronze. It is India’s first Olympic medal in weightlifting.
- 2000 FIDE World Chess Championship: Viswanathan Anand wins 2000 World Chess Championship.
- 2001 All England Championship: Pullela Gopichand becomes 2nd Indian to win All England Championship. His win kick starts rise of badminton in India.
- 2001 India v/s Australia Test series: In one of the greatest test series comebacks, India beat Australia 2-1. In the second test match at Kolkata, India beat Australia even after following on in the 2nd innings.
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- 2002 Commonwealth Games – Indian Women’s Hockey team wins Gold.
- 2002 World Women’s Boxing Championship: Mary Kom becomes World Champion for the first time at 2002 Antalya World Championship. In the next 16 years, she wins World Championship for a record 6 times.
- 2003 World Athletics Championship – Anju bobby George wins India’s 1st ever medal at 2003 World Athletics Championships. She wins Bronze in Women’s Long jump.
- 2004 Athens Olympics – Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore becomes the 1st Indian to win a medal in Shooting at Olympics. He wins Silver in men’s Double Trap event.
- Formula 1 – Narain Karthikeyan becomes first Indian driver to race in Formula 1 in 2005.
- 2005 Women’s Cricket World Cup – India reach finals of Women’s cricket World Cup for the 1st time. They lost the final to Australia.
- 2006 World Shooting Championships – Abhinav Bindra and Ronjan Singh Sodhi win Gold at 2006 World Shooting Championships.
- Jeev Milkha Singh becomes the first Indian golfer to play on the European Tour in 1998. His first title win comes eight years later at the Volvo China Open in 2006.
- 2007 T20 World Cup – India win the inaugural T20 World Cup after beating Pakistan in a thrilling final.
- First Indian Golfer to play at Augusta Masters: Jeev Milkha Singh becomes 1st Indian to play at the prestigious Augusta Masters in 2007.
- 2008 – Indian Premier League starts with its 1st edition. In the next 15 years, it goes on to become one of the largest sports league in the World.
- 2008 Beijing Olympics – Abhinav Bindra wins India’s first ever individual Gold medal. He wins Gold in 10m Air Rifle event.
- 2008 Beijing Olympics – Vijender Singh wins India’s ever Olympic medal in Boxing. He wins Silver in Men’s 75 kg category.
- 2008 Beijing Olympics – 56 years after KD jadhav’s medal, Sushil Kumar wins a medal in Wrestling. He wins Bronze in Men’s 66 kg category.
- 2009 Australian Open: Sania Mirza becomes the 1st Indian Woman to win a Grand Slam. She wins 2009 Australian Open Mixed Doubles title with Mahesh Bhupathi.
- 2010 Commonwealth Games: India hosts Commonwealth Games for the 1st time ever. Indian athletes win a record 101 medals.
- 2010 World Wrestling Championship: Sushil Kumar becomes the 1st Indian to win Gold at World Wrestling Championship.
- 2011 Cricket World Cup: 28 years after 1st triumph, India win the 50 over cricket World Cup in Mumbai. The legend of MS Dhoni gets etched in Indian sports history.
- 2012 London Olympics: Saina Nehwal becomes first India badminton players to win a medal at Olympics. She wins Bronze in Women’s Singles.
- 2012 London Olympics: Mary Kom becomes first Indian female boxer to win a medal at Olympics. She wins Bronze in women’s flyweight category.
- 2012 London Olympics: Sushil Kumar becomes the 1st Indian to win 2 individual Olympic medals. He wins Silver in men’s 66 kg freestyle event.
- 2012 London Olympics: India win 2 medals in Shooting – Vijay Kumar wins Silver in Men’s 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol and Gagan Narang wins Bronze in Men’s 10m Air Rifle event.
- Sachin’s 100th International Century: In March 2012, Sachin becomes the first cricketer to reach 100 International centuries.
- 2014 Uber Cup: India win Bronze at 2014 Uber Cup. They go on to win another Bronze at 2016 Uber Cup.
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- Sania Mirza becomes World No. 1 – In April 2015, Sania Mirza becomes World No. 1 player in Women’s Doubles. in her career, she remained World No. 1 for 91 weeks.
- Saina Nehwal becomes World No. 1 – Saina Nehwal became the first Indian female player to reach World No. 1 position in Women’s Singles.
- 2016 Rio Olympics – PV Sindhu becomes 1st Indian player to reach finals of Badminton in Olympics. She eventually wins Silver after losing out to Carolina Marin in a thrilling final.
- 2016 Rio Olympics: Sakshi Malik becomes 1st Indian female wrestler to win a medal at Olympics. She wins Bronze in Women’s 58 kg category.
- 2016 Rio Olympics: Dipa Karmakar finishes 4th in Women’s vault event and puts Indian gymnastics on the map. She is one of the only five women who have successfully landed the Produnova (commonly known as death vault).
- 2018 Asian Games – India wins its 1st ever medal in Table Tennis. The Men’s team win a Bronze.
- 2018 World Junior Track Cycling Championship: Esow Alben becomes the 1st Indian cyclist to win a medal at World Cycling Junior Championship. He won Silver in Men’s Keirin event.
- 2018 Commonwealth Games: Manika Batra becomes 1st Indian to win Gold in Women’s Singles at Commonwealth Games.
- Chess: Koneru Humpy wins FIDE Women’s Rapid Chess Championship in 2019.
- PV Sindhu becomes World Champion – PV Sindhu wins Gold at 2019 Badminton World Championship.
- 2019 World Archery Championship: Indian Men’s Recurve team wins Silver.
- 2019 Shooting World Cups – In an utter domination, India wins 21 Golds & 30 overall medals at 2019 Shooting World Cup. They finish on top in the medal standings for the 1st time.
- Breaching the Gabba fortress: In an epic Day 5 chase, India beat Australia in 4th Test to win the series 2-1. In doing so, Team India becomes the first side to defeat the Aussies at the Gabba in 32 years.
- Tokyo Olympics: Aditi Ashok encapsulates the nation with her game. She finishes 4th in Women’s Golf tournament.
- Tokyo Olympics: Bhavani Devi becomes first Indian fencer to qualify for Olympics.
- Tokyo Olympics: Ravi Dahiya (Silver) & Bajrang Punia (Bronze) win medals in Wrestling.
- Tokyo Olympics: Lovlina Borgohain wins Bronze in Women’s welterweight category.
- Chak De Moment: Indian Women’s Hockey team finishes 4th at Tokyo Olympics. They produce unbelievable performances against higher ranked opponents.
- Hockey Medal after 4 decades: Indian Men’s Hockey team win Bronze to end a 4 decade wait for Olympics medal in Hockey.
- Tokyo Olympics: Mirabai Chanu wins Silver in Women’s 49 kg event.
- World Test Championships: India finish runners-up at the first ever World Test Championships.
- History in Athletics: Neeraj Chopra becomes only the second Indian individual Gold medalist. He wins Gold in Men’s Javelin Throw.
- Commonwealth Games 2022: Avinash Sable ends an almost 3 decade Kenyan dominance in Men’s 3000m Steeplechase. He wins Silver and misses out on Gold by 0.05 seconds.
- 2022 World Athletics Championship: Neeraj Chopra becomes the 1st Indian to win Silver at World Athletics Championship. He wins Silver in Men’s Javelin Throw.
- India win 2022 Thomas Cup: India win the Thomas Cup for the first time to send the nation into jubilation.
