For another year, the pandemic cast its shadow on the sports world. Although the players had learned to cope, most competitions took place in front of empty galleries, athletes were bound by bubbles, and in many cases, events had to be called off or postponed due to outbreaks or bubble-violation. However, amidst all the gloom and anxieties, Indian sports enjoyed a year of unprecedented glory. For the first time in Olympic history, an Indian won a gold medal in track and field in Tokyo, the hockey team ended its 37-year medal drought, a weightlifter from a village in Manipur won a silver medal. Elsewhere, Kidambi Srikanth became the first Indian male shuttler to win a silver medal at the World Championships; The men’s cricket team booked a year in which they claimed their supremacy by defeating two forts, Brisbane and Centurion. England Home and Away, and conquering Australia.
One achievement outweighs the rest – javelin thrower Neeraj Kumar’s Olympic gold. No Indian track and field athlete had ever stood on an Olympic podium, only PT Usha came close. In its scope and ability to transform Indian athletics, it can only be compared to India’s World Cup victory in 1983. Like the cricket revolution, there could be a boom in athletics. This could be the wake-up-sleeping-giant moment of athletics in the country. India has also got its first super-athlete in Neeraj. He is only 23 years old, a few years short of the so-called peak, and could bring more glory to his country. Expectations will be high in 2022, the year of both the Commonwealth and Asian Games, where India will push for a bigger medal tally.
Virat Kohli And his team will look to ensure India’s maiden Test series win in South Africa. Later in the year, under their new white ball captain Rohit Sharma, they will start the search for the T20 World Cup. Shuttlers will be eyeing the World Championship and World Football will look collectively towards Qatar for the World Cup. By this time, the world will have returned to the new normal, stadiums will have rolled their shutters, the bio-secure bubbles will subside and the galleries will be filled with joy and cheer again. 2021 was a sweet year for Indian sports; May 2022 be sweet.
,