A year which saw Chess at its best
Just hours remain for the New Year to set in even as year 2024 awaits to slip into history. Looking back it must be said 2024 was a year that brought up several bright moments for Indian sports, nothing brighter than the recent sensational win young Gukesh Dommaraju earned in the World Chess Championship in Singapore. The 18-year-old Chennai lad Gukesh was considered a chess prodigy and he proved his high rating and lived up to the expectations of all chess lovers in the country with his victory over the reigning champion Ding Liren of China and what a nail-biting finish it proved to be!
It was virtually a chess version of cricket T20 game with both players trading draws and wins until the contest reached the final moments, the 14th and last game! Like the final over sparkle in cricket, Gukesh stole a late victory with his famed rival making an error. Chess experts were bewildered how an experienced player like Liren could make such a blunder from a seemingly comfortable position. Pressure can do strange things but what mattered was that the young challenger Gukesh engulfed himself in all brilliance. Suffice to state Gukesh rose to become the youngest ever champion, beating the record of Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he clinched the crown from Anatoly Kasparov in 1985. Instantly the young lad had become a household name, just the way his mentor and India’s first ever world Champion Viswanathan Anand had experienced in his time.
When we thought Gukesh had added the final glitter to the year’s achievements in sports in the country came another famous show soon after, again in Chess when experienced Koneru Humpy bagged an epochal second World Rapid Chess championship title in New York She had won this event in 2019 earlier in Georgia and what is more, this number one Indian is only the second player after China’s Ju Wenjun to lift the title more than once. Truly it had been a sensational year for Indian chess. Only in September India had shone in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest with first-ever gold medals in the Open and Women categories. With two World titles and an array of highly talented players ready to grab honours, Indian chess is on path of a revolution and the year 2024 will ever be etched in India’s sports history just for this.
As said earlier, the year also witnessed high points in other fields. Cricket was one such with India’s T20 squad winning the world title in Barbados in June, beating South Africa in a close fight. It was after 17 years that the nation was tasting victory in this event and the win had ended a 11 year wait for a major ICC trophy since the country’s success in the 2013 Champions trophy tournament in England.
At the Olympics in Paris in July, the Indian contingent had travelled on high expectations. Aim was to better the efforts of the previous edition in Tokyo where India had garnered seven medals including a gold by the current athletics icon javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, the Olympic and World champion. However, things turned out differently. India grabbed six medals but no gold. The one and only Neeraj was not in fine fettle, just managed one good throw which helped him come next best to his constant rival, the Pakistani Arshad Nadeem. But there were other areas of comfort. Ace shooter Manu Bhaker for instance created history by becoming the first Indian to win two medals in a single edition of the Games. What is more, Manu is also the first Indian woman shooter to stand on the Olympic podium. Her performance created quite an interest back in India and expectedly it did not take long before she became the darling of the sports lovers.
Indian hockey again gave promise. After the Tokyo bronze medal, another medal of the same hue was added in Paris. A sport that had been the centre of all glory for India in these Games for a long time, may just be looking up again. Hopefully Paris could just trigger that sentiment. After all this was also the first time that India had won back-to-back Olympic medals in hockey since 1972!
Not to be left behind were the Paralympians thereafter. This time in Paris they made a historic show, bagging 29 medals including 7 gold medals to surpass the 19-medal haul in Tokyo. Shooter Avani Lekhara was a star winning two gold medals. Then in athletics, India for the first time had a one-two finish with Dharambir (gold) and Parnav Soorma (silver) doing the turn in the men's club throw. More stellar performers added to the merry. Praveen Kumar won a high jump gold with an Asian record. Mariyappan Thangavelu with a bronze in high jump had the distinction of winning medals at three consecutive Paralympics. Archers too shone to more than compensate for the touch lukewarm show earlier by the regular athletes.
The year also brought good news for table tennis with the Indian women’s team, comprising Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee, Suthirtha Mukherjee and Diya Chitale making history in the Asian TT championship in Kazakhstan with a first ever medal, a bronze. Another noteworthy effort came in tennis where Rohan Bopanna came up with a title-winning show in the Australian open which made him the oldest first-time world number one in doubles. His first Grand Slam title at age 43. Need anything more be said of inspiration!
Overall then, Indian sports had looked good but it was chess which took the cake providing the brightest splash. Maybe this sport is going to churn out more. There is promise as also talent.