Hello 2025. As a new year dawns on us, ESPN India's staff list out their one big wish (each) for Indian sport in this new year:
Look beyond the (obvious) headlines
Jayaditya Gupta
Indian sport is an amazing place, but you wouldn't know that if you were a casual observer. The peaks, like D Gukesh's record-breaking win in Singapore, and all the other moments in our 2024 round-up - that's about a dozen-odd stories that the average sports fan will remember, and very few beyond that. So why do I call it an amazing place? Because away from those headlines are stories of courage, hard work, and success - perhaps a different definition of success, but success all the same.
Take a look at the list of Arjuna Award winners for 2025. How many of those names do you recognise? How many of their feats do you remember? Jyothi Yarraji's defiant silver at the 2023 Asian Games? Saweety Bora's historic gold medal in the boxing World Championships that same year? Abhay Singh's under-pressure win in the deciding game of the Asian Games squash final - against Pakistan, no less?
And even these are top-line athletes winning top-line medals. There's another world of success that doesn't make it to the national awards but are successes nonetheless; those feats are recorded in the sports pages of India's newspapers, or news websites, or even social media handles. It's all there, all the good news (and bad too), if only we choose to look. So my wish for all of us, all sports fans, is that we can look beyond the obvious headlines to see the wonderful world that is Indian sport. It's always a rewarding experience.
Remember their names
Sunaadh Sagar
It's not an Olympic year and in the absence of major multi-sport events, the chances of a non-cricketing athlete capturing the nation's consciousness are minimal. With only six medals in Paris 2024, there's a prevailing idea that it was an unsuccessful Olympics, but with the plethora of Indians finishing fourth, there's so much medal-winning ability in the nation's sporting well.
These athletes will now begin the grind towards the next Olympic cycle, where in contrast to the sponsors beating down the doors of the Neeraj Chopras and Manu Bhakers of the world (not that it is a bad thing), they'll be up against the lack of funding, incompetent federations and general apathy from the populace.
It is precisely now when they need the most support, the most celebration. This is when Olympic medals are forged. So, tune in to the domestic events, cheer on their achievements, however minor they seem, and simply, please remember their names. Do that, and LA 28 will return way more than six.
Consistency from the Indian national football teams
Aaditya Narayan
2024 was a year to forget for Indian football, at every age group, both genders. 2025 provides the opportunity for a reset. For Manolo Marquez, the Asian Cup qualifiers will take top priority, with India drawn alongside Bangladesh, Singapore and Hong Kong. Only the top team goes through, so India will need to consistently get results throughout the qualification campaign. If they don't get the job done, there are sure to be shouts for PIOs to be allowed to play for India again, particularly as Leicester City player Hamza Chaudhary will turn out against India for Bangladesh.
The women, under new coach Joakim Alexandersson, will have their own qualification campaign for the Asian Cup too, and it's an opportunity to get to a tournament in which they were robbed off a spot by COVID-19 spreading within their camp in 2022.
Making continental tournaments every time is a bare minimum for Indian football to achieve, and if that isn't managed this year, then serious questions will need to be asked of the AIFF and the other stakeholders running football in India.
Indian women's hockey team must make impact
Anish Anand
For hockey, it's not a big year in terms of big competitions, however, it is still crucial, especially for the Indian women's hockey team. Harendra Singh has taken charge and guided the team to the Asian Champions Trophy title, but it's imperative they keep making progress throughout the year.
Salima Tete and company will face the big nations in the FIH Pro League and the best of Asia at the Asia Cup, which is also the World Cup qualifier for 2026. Becoming Pro League champions is easier said than done but a mark of significant progress would be to be in the top three; as would strong performances from young talent like Deepika, Sunelita Toppo, Beauty DungDung, Sangita Kumari etc. Beating China's best team at the Asia Cup, unlike the weakened version at the Asian Champions Trophy, would also signify the impact of Harendra Singh's methods.
There is enough quality in the team and the potential is high with good coaching and consistent performance.
Wrestling administrative chaos to be resolved
Zenia D'Cunha
It's been two years since India's top wrestlers sat down in protest against the mismanagement within the Wrestling Federation of India. This included very serious allegations of sexual harassment against then chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Much has happened since, court cases and an Olympic medal, back outs and new elections... but there's been no real resolution to the issue.
BBSS' associates continue to be in positions of power and there seems to be uncertainty on the competitions and camps. That Indian wrestlers have the capability to function with this chaos was proven in Paris but for them to achieve their absolute best, the system needs to be in order, and they need to be held accountable.
In a year with no major multi-sport event, Indian sport fans shouldn't forget that we need accountability beyond the medals and money spent on athletes. We need it from the administrations, the judiciary handling these cases and from all stakeholders. The wrestlers vs BBSS case is a prime example of this and resolving it soon would be the right kind of message to send at a time when India looks to bid for the Olympics.
It's 2025... para-athletes deserve the basics, at least.
Anirudh Menon
"I aim to have accessible sporting stadiums in 600 districts across the length and breadth of the country to tap into the grassroots. I have approached numerous state governments to ensure their stadiums have ramps, are accessible via wheelchair and have accessible toilets", Paralympic Committee of India head (and of this nation's greatest athletes) Devendra Jhajaria told ESPN around the time of the Paralympics.
India is not a nation with para-friendly architecture or infrastructure, so such a basic goal was understandable. There was a lot of public support for this in September 2024, when the para-athletes took centre stage and won more medals than India's ever seen at such a big stage. Now, we're back to radio silence... let us not do them the disservice of staying quiet till 2028.
Para-friendly infrastructure may sound too simple a cause to rally around, but that's where it all starts. For all stakeholders, it's important they keep their collective foot on the pedal and continue building from the ground up as elite Indian para sport continues to soar to greater heights.