18 sporting achievements that define 2015 for India

2015 has been a great year for the Indian sporting contingent, with several athletes having overcome serious barriers - both infrastructural and financial, to be able to succeed on the international stage.Several of these athletes have had serious impediments in terms of their finances, physical limitations and a lack of coaching - but they overcame all the odds to win.Here are 18 sporting achievements from 2015 that will make every Indian proud:

#1 Satnam Singh Bhamara became the first Indian to enter NBA

Satnam Singh Bhamara is an Indian professional Basketball player for the Texas Legends of the NBA Development League. In 2015, he became the first player from India to be drafted into the NBA when the Dallas Mavericks chose him as the 52nd overall pick in the 2015 draft.

The 7’2” tall player plays the center position and is a regular player of the Indian Basketball Team.

#2 Saina Nehwal is first Indian woman to become World No. 1

Saina Nehwal created history on 28th March this year, becoming the first female shuttler to attain the World No. 1 ranking. This followed a defeat of one of her biggest rivals, Spain's Carolina Marin, who has since regained top rank.

Prior to Nehwal's achievement, only one other Indian had been No. 1 - Prakash Padukone.

The Indian, who won bronze at the London Olympics, has won a staggering 14 international titles in her glorious career, and most recently became the first Indian woman to make the finals of the prestigious All England Championships in Manchester.

#3 Sania Mirza becomes first Indian Doubles No. 1

Sania Mirza created history in 2015 by becoming the first female tennis player from India to achieve the world number one rank in doubles, following her stupendous title win at the WTA Family Circle Cup with partner Martina Hingis.

Before the 29-year-old, only Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi had achieved the top rank when they dominated the men’s doubles circuit in the late 1990s.

Mirza is also the first female player from the country to win Grand Slam tournaments.

#4 India makes Olympic skeet shooting debut

Mairaj Ahmed khan in action in Italy

Mairaj Ahmed Khan this year became the first Indian to qualify for the Rio Olympics 2016 event, in skeet shooting.

The 40-year-old started the second day of men's skeet competition at the Shotgun World Champions in Lonato, Italy in 9th position after the first three rounds of qualification.

He entered the skeet finals in sixth with a total score of 122 out of a maximum possible 125.

Given that all the first five shooters in qualification had already booked their Rio berths, Khan secured one of the two available quota places, India's first in skeet.

#5 Indian women\'s hockey team qualifies for Rio after 36-year gap

Indian women's hockey team qualified for 2016 Olympic Games

The Indian women's hockey team will return to the Olympics after a 36 year wait, with the eves successfully qualifying for the Rio Olympics.

England took a semi-final victory over the Spanish side, which came after the Netherlands’ win over Germany in the other semifinal in the European Championships. This freed one quota place as both finalists have already qualified for the Olympic Games courtesy other wins.

India took the quota place on the basis of its fifth-place finish in the women’s Hockey World League Semifinals in Antwerp, Belgium last month.

#6 Indian Men\'s Hockey team end 33-year FIH drought

The Indian men's hockey side won their first medal in a major International Hockey Federation (FIH) tournament in 33 years with a win over The Netherlands in the third place play-off at the Hockey World League Final at Raipur.

A spirited India came back from two goals down to beat defending champions and World No. 2 Netherlands 3-2 in the shoot-out after both the teams were tied 5-5 at regulation time in the bronze medal play-off match.

#7 Aditi Chauhan first Indian woman to play for a foreign club

Aditi Chauhan made history this year as she became the first Indian woman Footballer to be picked for a foreign club.

English football club West Ham United's ladies team signed the 23-year-old in August. The West Ham senior men's team is a regular participant in England's top-flight football, the English Premier League.

She became the first Indian woman footballer to play in English League football in August as she made her debut on August 16th this year, and has also represented India at the women’s football competition at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

#8 Deborah Herold becomes cycling World No 4

Indian cycling sensation Deborah Herold became the country's first female cyclist to finish fourth in the UCI (the sport's world governing body) individual world rankings following the release of the latest rankings for the 500m time trial event.Prior to the recent Track Asia Cup held at the Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex Velodrome, she was ranked 10th, but after that success has risen six places. At the three-day event last month, her three medals were critical to India's cycling contingent finishing at third place with 11 medals.

#9 India wins Test series against South Africa

The Indian Cricket team won the Freedom Trophy against South Africa convincingly this year, with the hosts taking an early lead in the four-match series at Mohali as they defeated the Proteas.

The fourth and final match of the series was played at Delhi, where India convincingly beat the visitors by 337 runs.

South Africa is the No.1 ranked Test team in the world and upto that point, had not lost a single series outside South Africa for nine years.

The Indian team, led by Virat Kohli, produced an outstanding performance, which culminated in spinner Ravichandran Ashwin being awarded Man of the Series.

#10 Thakur Anoop Singh winning Mr. World title (Bodybuilding)

Thakur Anoop Singh wins Mr.World title

Thakur Anoop Singh won the gold medal at the 7th WBPF World Bodybuilding and Physique Championships on November 28, 2015.He also earned the coveted title of ‘Mr. World’ at the competition held in Bangkok, Thailand.

Singh gained fame on the TV serial Mahabharata, and years later has achieved this laurel, becoming only the second bodybuilder from India after Manohar Aich, to lift the title. Aich won in 1952.

#11 Pankaj Advani wins World title

India's most successful cueist, Pankaj Advani, added another feather to his cap as he won the IBSF World Snooker Championship, defeating Chinese opponent Zhua Xintong in the final to take his world title count to 15.

The victory for Bengaluru's golden boy has come just after he clinched the IBSF Billiards crown in September. He is also the first person in history to take the short (6-Red) and the long snooker format in the same calendar year.

#12 Arantxa Sanchis becomes first Indian woman to win Billiards and Snooker World titles

Arantxa Sanchis with the World title

Arantxa Sanchis achieved in 2015 the distinction of becoming the only female cueist in India to win World titles in both snooker and billiards.

The National Billiards champion won the inaugural IBSF World Billiards title (time format) in Adelaide, outclassing compatriot and veteran R Umadevi 414-255 in the two-hour final. Sanchis had also won the IBSF World team snooker title in 2013 with Vidya Pillai in Ireland.

Sanchis has taken both titles in the inaugural year of the championships.

#13 Dipa Karmakar first Indian to qualify at the World Gymnastic

Dipa Karmakar at World championship.

Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian gymnast to qualify for the World Championship. Her quest to become the first ever Indian to win a medal at World Championships ended with a couple of disappointing executions in Glasgow.

In the Women's Vault Final of 2015 World Gymnastics Championships, the 22-year-old girl from Agartala, finished fifth in a strong field of eight gymnasts.

Nonetheless, she made the country proud by qualifying for the World Championship for the first time. She is also the first Indian woman to win a commonwealth gymnastics medal.

#14 Indian Sepak Takraw team winning silver medal at French Open

The Indian Sepak Takraw team

The Indian Sepak Takraw team has never failed to make the country proud on the international stage.

This time around, they saw a second-placed finish at the International de France de Sepak Takraw Championship.Their loss to traditional heavyweights Malaysia in the final was their first in the entire tournament. In fact, they only went onto lose their first set in the semi-final clash against China.

The tournament was also a much needed warm up for the upcoming World Super Series finals to be held in Bangkok, Thailand.

#15 Abhijeet Gupta wins commonwealth chess championship

Abhijeet Gupta wins commonwealth chess championship 2015

Grandmaster and former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta won the 2015 Commonwealth Chess Championship after settling for a quick draw with Arghyadip Das in the ninth and final round of the event. The 2015 Commonwealth Chess Championship was held from 22-30th June in New Delhi.

Gupta, a winner of the event in 2013 in Port Elizabeth, regained the crown with a very impressive eight points out of a possible nine, winning the first seven games in the championship and drawing the last two with utmost ease.

#16 Sumit Nagal wins Wimbledon juniors title

Sumit Nagal with the trophy

Youngster Sumit Nagal entered the history books as only the sixth Indian to win a Grand Slam junior title after winning the boys doubles trophy at the Wimbledon championships with partner Nam Hoang Ly, in London on Sunday.

17-year-old Nagal and his eighth seeded Vietnamese partner overcame the fourth seeds Reilly Opelka and Akira Santillan 7-6(4) 6-4 in the title clash that lasted 63 minutes.

#17 Indian swimming team winning gold medal at Asian age group championship

Indian national swimming team after winning the gold medal at the Asian Age Group Championships

The Indian national swimming team made the country proud this year, winning the gold medal at the Asian Age Group Championships in Bangkok.

Participating in the 4x100m relay event, Neil Contractor, Virdhawal Khade, Sajan Prakash and Anshul Kothari clocked a time of 3:27.1 to finish, ahead of Indonesia and Macau respectively.

India’s best athlete from the 2015 National Games, Sajan Prakash, continued his stellar run this year, by bagging a silver medal in the 400 m event as well. Prakash clocked a time of 3:57.4, missing out on the gold medal by 0.3 seconds.

The swimmer from Kerala has already booked a spot at the 2016 Olympics in this particular event, finishing under the qualification timing of 3:58.4.

#18 Devendra Jhajharia wins IPC Athletics World Championships, Doha

Devendra Jhajharia in action

India's top para-athlete Devendra Jhajharia won silver in the men's javelin throw F46 event to give the country its first medal in the IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha.

35-year-old Jhajharia, who won a gold in the 2013 edition of the event in Lyon, came up with a best throw of 59.06m to finish second behind Guo Chunliang (61.89m) of China at Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium.

With this effort, Jhajharia, an IPC world record holder in this event, booked a berth for 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.