Year Ender 2024: Celebrating Triumphs, Learning from Setbacks, and Building Momentum for 2025

As the sun sets on 2024 in a few hours, the sporting world will look forward to a new sunrise. India, too, will look forward to carry the momentum and usher in a bright New Year where achievements in the field of play in every sport can get better.

The easiest thing to do as an armchair critic is say what all went wrong. It takes positivity to reflect on what good happened in 2024 and how much more of it can be recreated in 2025. No, this is not a sermon, this is a wish, a desire, that sports acts as balm and brings us joy.

Did not all of us cheer and clap when India won medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics. The Olympics is, indeed, the toughest of all battles. The global stage 'warfare' in the field of play is the hardest at the Olympics. An athlete can prepare for years and arrive at an Olympics. If he or she is not mentally ready, in a matter of minutes it can all crumble like a cookie even before it is taken out of the jar. For that reason alone, Manu Bhaker winning two bronze medals at the Paris Olympics and finishing fourth in the sports pistol event will go down in the history of Indian sport as a watershed moment. Can Manu recreate the magic again is a question she alone can answer, not any sportswriter. To reach the obsession and perfection level of Abhinav Bindra, who competed in five Olympics, is asking for too much, perhaps. But then, Manu has loved to prove us wrong.

As the last few days of the year came to a close, a 37-year-old lady answering to the name of Koneru Humpy rocked. The smile was back on her face. And going by all interviews she has given the lady did not want to go out on a low! Wow, that's modest. To blaze the field and win the World Rapid Chess Championship in New York on Sunday is proof Nari Shakti is growing. The way Indian women excel in sports is defining, though Vinesh Phogat unable to lose 100gms and getting disqualified in wrestling at the Paris Olympics will go down as one of the worst moments in the history of 2024. She alone has to take the blame, for weight loss is in the athlete's hand.

There have been good performances from the women in Para Sports as well, and a Sheetal Devi inspires millions. Words cannot describe her passion, her commitment. Raised in Katra in the hills near the Holy Vaishno Devi shrine, archer Sheetal is destined for greatness. Watching her compete in Para archery reminds us how we are lucky to watch a girl like her. She has done Indians proud. Watch out for her in 2025 and also in 2026, the year of the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.

If Vinesh Phogat was a disaster, what Mirabai Chanu did, finishing fourth, was also below par. She has not been fit at all but to hype just her, again, as a medal prospect in the next Asian Games is a sign of bankruptcy in Indian weightlifting. The officials need to answer. As per latest reports, Mirabai is again not training. She is strengthening her 'glute.' All this jargon is painful. How can an elite athlete be in perpetual rehab?

Indian sport has to move on. The visuals from Udaipur, Hyderabad and Tirupati, of PV Sindhu dressed not in a skirt but gorgeous saree presents a delightful sight. Her smile reflects joy after her marriage. She has promised to return to badminton in January, which is pretty soon. Knowing Sindhu and how many Indian lady athletes post marriage did well, there is reason to believe Sindhu will peak again. For the record, even when Karnam Malleswari won the bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she was married. Sindhu did win the Syed Modi title in Lucknow and she is ready to face the challenge from youngsters.

How the Indian athletes reset for 2025 and 2026 is important. For all those talking of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the Asian Games and the diluted Commonwealth Games come first. How to slip into training for that cycle is important. There are so many disciplines in which India lagged, notably archery, boxing, gymnastics, swimming and even table tennis. Tennis is almost like a dead sport at home, sadly. A 44-year-old Rohan Bopanna is still hungry and Sumit Naga wanting to crack the Top 50 in ATP rankings is the dream for 2025.

Yes, Neeraj Chopra winning silver, Swapnil Kusahle winning bronze and Sarabjot Singh as partner of Manu Bhakerin the bronze effort is also important when one recalls the Paris 2024 Olympics. Each of these athletes is back in training. And what they will do in 2025 will be watched with massive interest. Indian athletics did well at the last Asian Games in Hangzhou. The Athletics Federation of India is rejigging its preparations and camps. How hard they work towards peaking in 2026 at the Asian Games will be watched closely, though funding from the Sports Ministry has shrunk. Neeraj will look to peak in the World Championship in Tokyo in 2025. With a new coach in Jan Zelezny, Neeraj has hit the strides. There is no surgery for him, just a change in technique. Fans will watch the marvel man with renewed interest.

Wrestling is one sport where India have been hit hard by politics. The Nationals in Bengaluru saw politics enacted, again. Unless the Sports Ministry gives the approval nod to the Wrestling Federation of India, there will be more conflicts. It's still a mess, even though Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is far away from the WFI office. For that matter, so many National Sports Federations caught in a governance mess is bad for the sports. Putting in place an administrator who knows nothing about the sport can only worsen matters. Indeed, wrestling will also go down in 2024 for one right reason and one wrong reason. Aman Sehrawat's bronze medal in Paris 2024 Olympics was good but Bajrang Punia's dope ban is a slur.

Here comes the golden chapter in Indian sports, chess. What world champion Gukesh Dommaraju has done is phenomenal. Humble, simple and a champion with no airs. He represents a whole community of chess champions being groomed in Chennai. A young girl like Vaishali and seasoned players like Harika Dronavalli who brought India glory in the Chess Olympiad need to be highlighted. Two Chess Olympiad gold medals was a massive effort.

"Nothing should stop in sports. What was achieved in 2024 is history. What will be achieved in 2025, 2026 and leading into the next Olympic cycle in 2028 in Los Angeles is important. That should be the mantra," says Jaspal Rana, a Dronacharya forever. For the record, he ensured Manu Bhaker could peak on the biggest stage. So what if he does not have a regular job, he is a true 'Karmayogi.'