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ESPN India Awards 2018: Which was the Moment of the Year?

From Neeraj Chopra's heroics with the javelin to the Indian women defending their 4x400m relay crown at the Asian Games, here are ESPN India's top picks for the Moment of the Year.

You can vote for your favourite until midnight, March 20.

Dutee Chand's redemption

Eyes closed, fists clenched, chest thrust to match the stride of her limbs, Dutee Chand stepped out of labels and a scarred past into an unreal, gobsmacked moment of truth. Exactly four years after she was slapped with a ban and robbed of her right to compete, the Odisha girl ran the race of her life to win silver in the 100m sprint by 0.02 seconds at the Asian Games. None of her earlier wins -- in courts or over detractors or over peers -- would have felt more cathartic. More than guts, glory, a silver medal won or a gold missed, Dutee brought the sprint event out of the cold storage in the Indian sporting context.

Her journey to making that possible was everything you didn't believe in before you saw her in her blue vest right there on your screen telling you how far hope can take you.


Manika and the rise of Indian TT

India's table tennis story at the 2018 Commonwealth Games is one that will be passed on from generation to generation. A tale that saw potential world-beaters become present-day world-beaters, giving a ray of hope to a sport that loomed in the shadows for too long. The story began when the women's team beat the formidable Singaporeans -- who'd won every gold medal in the event since its inclusion at the Games in 2002 -- in the final. Manika Batra, ranked 58th in the world, led the charge, beating three-time Olympic medallist and world No. 4 Tianwei Feng.

If that tear-ridden podium experience wasn't enough, Manika would do one better, winning the singles final to instantly become the star of the fable.


Neeraj Chopra's golden arm

Hair bouncing, biceps rippling, Neeraj Chopra created history at the Commonwealth Games when he won gold in the javelin with a throw of 86.47m, He became the first Indian to win a medal in the event -- also becoming just the third Indian man and fourth overall to clinch an individual athletics gold medal at the CWG, after Milkha Singh in 1958, Krishna Poonia in 2010 and Vikas Gowda in 2014.


Real Kashmir win second division I-League

A club created out of destructive floodwaters that burst over the Valley in 2014 found its feet, made its mark and became the first team from Jammu & Kashmir to qualify for the I-League first division in only its third year. After a surprise entry into the second division, RKFC found a way to vault over limited resources, inadequate infrastructure, civic unrest and political uncertainty to let its football do the talking. RKFC remained undefeated across 13 matches in the 18-club, three-month, second-division league, their qualification revealing a story of improbable magic and unreal romanticism. Co-owned by a Kashmiri Muslim and a Kashmiri Hindu, coached by former Scottish Rangers-pro David Robertson, RKFC was made up of a rainbow of ethnicities, with Kashmiris in the majority.

This, the owners and the players wanted the world to understand, was what was true and real and alive behind the nightly news headlines of an otherwise troubled state.


Saurabh gets it spot on

The fact that India won two shooting golds at the 2018 Asian Games was not a surprise in itself. However, the winners of those two medals definitely were. While Rahi Sarnobat's win was a sterling comeback after being sidelined by a serious injury, 16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary's victory was more impressive because it came in a very strong field, including Olympic champion Hoang Xuan Vinh, former Olympic and world champion Jin Jong-Oh and former world champion Tomoyuki Matsuda.

The boy with ice running through his veins became the first Indian to win gold in the 10m air pistol event at the Asian Game


Women's 4x400m winning streak

Convention dictates you keep your fastest, and most experienced, runners for the fag end of the relay. Convention dictates that if you put an athlete making her international debut up against the fastest single-lapper in Asia on the anchor leg of the 4x400m, there can only be one winner. At the 2018 Asian Games, convention was made to eat some Indo-Russian humble pie. Audaciously strategised by Galina Bukharina and flawlessly executed by the team of Hima Das, MR Poovamma, Saritaben Gayakwad and VK Vismaya, India ran the perfect race to beat Bahrain's team of grade-A superstars -- a team that included the Games' 100m and 200m champion Edidiong Odiong and the 400m champ Salwa Eid Naser.

India have now won five straight 4x400m women's relay golds at the Asiad. They've never lost this race in the 21st century.