It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Indian sport reached unprecedented highs in 2023, but also reached new depths of despair off the field.
ESPN takes a look at the numbers that defined Indian sport in 2023.
107+111
218 Indian athletes returned from Hangzhou, China having stepped onto the podium at the Asian Games (a record 107 medals) and the Para Asian Games (a record 111 medals). Granted, these were the largest-ever contingents sent (661 and 303 at the Para Games), but never before had India achieved success on this scale at the Asian level. For context, the previous edition in Jakarta saw India win 70 and 72 (Para Games) medals, meaning a bump of 76 additional medals (a 53.5% rise).
Yet, looking beyond the numbers, a large portion of these successful athletes succeeded despite the system, not because of it. Nonetheless, ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the unprecedented success raises hopes of a best-ever Olympic campaign.
343... and counting
India's greatest-ever wrestlers gathered at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on a cold January morning for what seemed at the time, an innocuous sit-in protest. The press conference that followed sparked off a campaign never seen before - where a gathering of India's best sportspersons directly took on an entrenched establishment figure - with allegations of sexual harassment, among others. 343 days have passed since January 18th and the saga has taken numerous twists and turns, only to seemingly return back to square one after the most recent WFI elections. Sakshi Malik has retired, Bajrang Punia returned his Padma Shri, Vinesh Phogat returned her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Awards in protest, with the WFI also suspended by the Sports Ministry. This will continue to rumble on and shake Indian wrestling to its very core.
2023: the year wrestling changed everything, and yet things remained the same
1
Neeraj Chopra completed men's javelin in 2023.
India's best had no new podiums left to climb after winning every possible gold medal available to him - completing the set with a World Championship gold and coming full circle by defending his Asian Games gold - in dramatic fashion.
18/52
Of the 52 categories (men, women and mixed) that the Athletics Federation of India tracks, 2023 saw national records set in 18 of them (34.6%). A few of them (such as the fastest 100m mark of 10.23s set by Manikanta Hoblidhar) have yet to be ratified by the AFI, but this was undoubtedly the federation's most impressive year. 29 of India's 107 medals at the Asian Games and 55 of India's 111 medals at the Para Asian Games came via athletics - in a record-setting performance for the federation.
3
India's para-sportspersons set three world records at the Para Asian Games - Sumit Antil (Javelin throw F64), Sundar Singh Gurjar (Javelin throw F46) as well as Rakesh Kumar and Suraj Singh with a compound archery score of 158.
Sumit Antil breaks barriers to go where no one has gone before
59 and 0
India leapfrogged the USA to be the second-worst offender in the World Anti-Doping Agency's report, with 59 rule violations. Doping reared its ugly head once more with the likes of Dutee Chand and Dipa Karmakar suspended, and reached a nadir when every athlete but one that qualified for the 100m Delhi State Athletics Championship final pulled out after NADA officials made their presence known. Ironically, Lalit Kumar, the winner of the farcical one-man race, failed a dope test later - making that potentially zero clean athletes that qualified for that 100m final.
9 and 1
The Indian men's hockey team endured a rollercoaster 2023 - a disastrous World Cup showing in January, where hosts India finished in ninth place. Coach Graham Reid was let go and later replaced by Craig Fulton, who's 'defend to attack' philosophy took time to bed in, but ultimately resulted in India winning gold at the Asian Games - the country's fourth gold in 17 attempts, after a bronze in 2018.
The women's team grabbed bronze at the Asian Games - this the fourth such medal, with India earning two silvers (1998, 2018) and gold (1982) before.
1
The men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have a penchant for setting plenty of firsts in Indian badminton, but achieved their greatest-ever feat by becoming the first Indians to ever win a badminton gold at the Asian Games. They also won India's first ever Super 1000 title - the highest tier of titles on the BWF World Tour - at the Indonesia Open. The pair also were briefly no.1 in the world rankings, another first, as they ensured 2023 was a year of unprecedented highs.
Satwik-Chirag's 2023: A year of unprecedented highs for Indian badminton
0
The number of Indian badminton stars featuring in the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals. For the first time since 2010, no Indian badminton player qualified for the tournament, which has the year's top eight players competing. PV Sindhu's downward trend, HS Prannoy's highs and lows coupled with Satwik-Chirag's inconsistent participation meant India's badminton highs in 2023 had one big asterisk.
1
Six Grand slam titles, the all-time best ranking of 27 by an Indian tennis player in singles, world no.1 in women's doubles for 21 months, 44 WTA titles, eight Asiad medals, 20 years in a sparkling career, one Sania Mirza.
She may have retired, but her legacy is of 'a girl who fought for the right things.'
Sania Mirza: The girl who fought for the right things
54 and 46
Mumbai City FC's 2022-23 Indian Super League campaign was the best-ever by any club in the league's history. There was no arguing with the 46-point total they amassed - the highest ever, nor the 54 goals they scored along the way - also the highest ever. The club were also on course for an unprecedented unbeaten season, but two losses in their last two games (after the leaders had been decided - the earliest ever) put that to bed.
18
This was a year for India's teen stars to shine:
18-year-old Antim Panghal becoming the first Indian to defend her U-20 World Championship title, before a bronze medal at the senior World Championships and Asian Games later in the year.
18-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa became the world's youngest chess player to reach the World Cup final, and only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to contest said final, and also qualify for the FIDE Candidates tournament. With his sister R Vaishali, also becoming only the third Indian woman to achieve the rank of grandmaster, the siblings became the world's first brother-sister GM duo.
18-year-old shooters Esha Singh, Palak Gulia (then 17, now 18) winning medals with the poise of veterans as they racked up multiple medals at the Asian Games.
77 and 43 and 39
At the other end of the age spectrum were the likes of Bharati Dey, born in 1946, and part of India's women's bridge team at the Asian Games at the age of 77.
In a similar vein, Rohan Bopanna had a record-breaking year as well, becoming the oldest man to reach a Grand Slam final, the oldest to reach the semifinals of the season-ending ATP World Tour finals and the oldest ATP Masters champion. The 43-year-old also won the mixed doubles gold at the Asian Games, alongside Rutuja Bhosale.
Sunil Chhetri continued to break records in 2023, becoming the all-time top-scorer in the SAFF Cup with 23 goals (joint-top with Ali Ashfaq of the Maldives). He also went past Mokhtar Dahari of Malaysia in the all-time international goalscorers chart to become the fourth-highest men's international goalscorer of all time - only behind Cristiano Ronaldo (128), Ali Daei (109) and Lionel Messi (106).
Aging like fine wine, the lot of them.
61, 41 and 37
Achievements that stood for decades, long droughts that spanned generations - all were broken as Indian sport reached new highs.
The Indian men's relay 4x400 team won gold for the first time since the 1962 Asian Games, ending a 61-year-drought. India's dressage equestrian team also won gold at the Asian Games, the nation's first-ever in dressage, and ending a 41-year wait for an equestrian gold medal (last achieved in 1982). HS Prannoy won India's first men's singles medals since the legendary Syed Modi, also in 1982.
However, perhaps the greatest streak to end was Viswanathan Anand's 37-year reign as India's no.1 chess player, when 17-year-old Dommaraju Gukesh went past him in the FIDE rankings on September 1, 2023. India was very different on July 1, 1986 when Anand ascended to the top of Indian chess, but a new generation is taking shape - as India potentially sends four chess players to the FIDE Candidates for the first time ever (R Praggnanandhaa, R Vaishali, Vidit Gujrathi and potentially Gukesh).
How the world changed as Anand stayed constant on top of Indian chess
8/10
It was a hugely successful year for compound archery with Indians sweeping 8 out of the 10 biggest gold medals on offer - at the World Championships and Asian Games. For a non-Olympic discipline, these competitions are as big as they get.
At the World Championships in Berlin, 17-year-old Aditi Swami and 21-year-old Ojas Pravin Deotale (individual) and the women's compound team of Aditi, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Parneet Kaur won gold. These were India's first ever gold medals at the Archery Worlds (in both compound or recurve,) At the Asiad in Hangzhou, India did a clean 5 out of 5 sweep - Jyothi winning gold in women's, Ojas winning the men's title while the two partnered for the mixed team and the led the men's and women's team titles. Unprecedented.
Sergio Pagni sculpts golden 2023 for Indian compound archery
2:59.05
The new Asian record set by the Indian men's 4x400m relay team of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammad Ajmal Variyathodi and Rajesh Ramesh at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. India finished second in the Heats, just behind USA with Ramesh briefly overtaking Justin Robinson of the USA in the anchor leg - a virtually unprecedented sight.
Anas, Amoj, Ajmal, Rajesh - Unlikely Indian relay stars shine on the big stage
4
India had a total of 4 world champions crowned at home at the Women's World Boxing Championships in March in New Delhi. Nikhat Zareen defended her world title while Lovlina Borgohain won her first. Nitu Ganghas and Saweety Boora made it a perfect 4/4 result in the finals for India.