India’s five greatest sporting achievements

We Indians are masters of one game, cricket. In the midst of all tours around the world playing one bilateral series after another, we do sometimes reach the cliff when it comes to sustaining interest. We reach such a point where we avoid the game for some time, just to let our interest level climb up again. Accept it or not, thats what we all, as Indians, do.At every step, we keep blaming the system for promoting only cricket. But is it the case that we are mediocre at everything else? No! We need not feel ashamed, because there is some history to be proud of. Here, I recall some of our greatest achievements.

#5 Hosting an F1 race

Not many countries can shoulder the responsibility of hosting a Formula One race. India’s F1 bid was led by the Jaypee Group, which secured a deal to hold F1 races since 2011 (the race will return to the Buddh International Circuit in 2015, after a break this year). The track was designed by the legendary Hermann Tilke, and the feedback from the drivers was very encouraging.

The facility, a part of the Jaypee Green Sports City, is also capable for hosting Superbike and Moto GP events in the future.

Apart from a widely appreciated track, India has also contributed two F1 drivers – Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok. Both have had stints racing for a minnow team, and as a test driver for a mid-field team. A huge majority of F1 drivers (current and former) either hail from Europe or the Americas - Asian drivers have been too few and far between.

Thus, it can be considered an achievement that out of nowhere, India has produced two F1 drivers, purely on merit, and also brought in a race in the last decade. It is hoped that more drivers come through in the future.

#4 Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi French Open and Wimbledon, 1999

Vijay Amritraj was the face of Indian tennis in the 1970s and 80s. His best singles ranking was 16, in 1980. He was also a consistent performer in Grand Slams, being a regular quarterfinalist. But he was also prone to choke. Most notably, in Wimbledon 1981, Amritraj lost to Jimmy Connors despite earning a two set lead . In 1979, he had lost in a similar manner to Bjorn Borg.

Amritraj’s near misses showed that India had the talent, but just lacked the finishing touch. It meant somebody would win India a Grand Slam eventually. The combination of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi was the one to do it.

The duo teamed up in 1996 and endured some early exits at Grand Slams that year. As time passed by, they got a better understanding of each other’s game, and bettered their Grand Slam performances. In 1998, they reached the semis in Australia, France, and USA. The moment finally arrived in 1999 when they beat Goran Ivanisevic and Jeff Tarango 6-2, 7-5 to win the French Open. This was followed up by an equally impressive victory over Paul Haarhuis and Jared Palmer at Wimbledon.

Though they parted ways later and have had their fair share of controversy, their ATP doubles ranking isn’t too bad. Paes currently has a world ranking of 12th.

#3 Vishy\'s dominance

Such was Viswanathan Anand’s meteoric rise to the top in the 1990s that today, it is hard to recall one standout moment. The 1990s was all about near misses; in particular, the one in 1998 against Karpov.

The breakthrough on the world stage arrived in 2000, when Anand won the FIDE World Chess Championship in Iran. He thus became the first Indian ever to win a World Championship.

In 2007, Anand again won the tournament (this one was combined between FIDE Championship and Kramnik’s Classic World Championship) and repeated the feat in 2008 with a convincing win against Kramnik. Anand retained the title in 2010 and 2012, before losing to Magnus Carlsen in 2013.

India is indeed lucky to have a player who has won in excess of 30 tournaments throughout his career, in what is an individual sport. Among the Russian masters, Anand’s name is already well established as one of the greatest ever players of chess.

#2 Olympics - Hockey

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India dominated hockey in the Olympic Games like no other team for a few decades. A run of six consecutive gold medals from 1928 to 1956 was followed by a silver medal in 1960. The next four editions saw the addition of two more bronze and gold medals. India still holds the Olympic record for the most number of gold medals.

It is sad to observe, however, that India hasn’t won a hockey medal since the 1980 Olympics. Critics attribute this decline to the emergence of cricket (a contentious issue). In London, 2012, the ultimate low was reached as India failed to win or draw a single game, finishing 12th.

#1 Cricket World Cup - 1983

Going into the World Cup, India was considered a minnow team. In 1975 and 1979 respectively, they had finished third and fourth in the group stage, winning only one match in both tournaments combined.

In 1983, the format was slightly changed. The 8 participating nations were put into two groups, and each group member had to play every other group member twice (two rounds of round robin). In a group consisting of favourites West Indies and a strong Australian team, India surprisingly emerged runners-up, with 4 wins and 2 losses.

The semi-final was the ultimate irony, where they beat England on their home soil comfortably by six wickets. In the final, India were bowled out for 183, and a brilliant bowling performance by Kapil Dev’s team dismissed the Caribbean side for just 140. The West Indies had not lost a single World Cup game in the previous two editions combined.

Kapil Dev holding aloft the World Cup trophy on the Lord’s balcony will forever be considered the greatest ever moment in Indian sporting history. It truly put India on the map, and the nation hasn’t looked back since.

Noteworthy mentions:

ICC Cricket World Cup, 2011 – It is a great achievement nonetheless. Playing on familiar pitches at home, with a more formidable team than earlier, and with a captain with prior experience of winning a major trophy (ICC World T20), winning the World Cup was more of an expectation than a dream.

Hockey World Cup, 1975 – At a time when winning Olympic gold medals in hockey was the norm, the Indian team also finished 3rd, 2nd, and 1st in the first three WCs.

Olympic Games – For the size of our population, our Olympics medals tally is usually shameful. Yet, there have been some significant victories to talk about from the recent past, credit to Olympians like Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar, Saina Nehwal and Mary Kom.