Do we know how much Yusneylis Guzman weighed when she lost the Paris Olympics semifinal to Vinesh Phogat? Can we prove Vinesh held an unfair advantage over the Cuban when she reached the Olympic final? Can we claim Vinesh did not beat reigning world champion Yui Susaki on sheer genius of defensive tactics and a super clever endgame, but on an imagined weight-superiority differential? Can Susaki, Oksana Livach and Guzman say they were not beaten fair and square after Vinesh was eligible to fight those three bouts?
Is Olympics wrestling for real, if it simply wipes out Day 1 results based on a fairly ridiculous retrospective rule applied on Day 2? Is there an eraser that can delete mass memories of three real wins witnessed by all who saw Vinesh reach finals? Greek philosophers, many of them wrestlers, would love those posers.
India wrestler Vinesh Phogat. (FILE photo)
Vinesh returned with three fair wins that promised a final, and no medal. Go figure. Which leads us to this silvery slivery question: Would Vinesh, 100 gms lighter, have beaten the American Sarah Hildebrandt, to give India its first-ever gold by an Indian woman?
Just the thought is so happy-making, you can’t help but start bawling once more.
2. Pant’s play, acting
Rishabh Pant dives to take catch. (File)
With another ICC trophy slipping out of India’s hands, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant did a street-smart gully cricket thing. To break South Africa’s momentum, Pant fell to the ground and then called the physio to tape his knee. A clutching-at-straws delaying tactic. First ball after the break, Heinrich Klaasen went for a widish ball from Hardik Pandya with hard hands and no foot movement. Pant took the easy chance to see the back of the dangerman — a wicket that swung the momentum in India’s favour. “Mast acting kar raha tha,” Pant said later. His last throw of the dice act deserves more than a footnote when tales of Bridgetown 2024 are etched in gold.
3. Garden and the gardener
India captain Rohit Sharma lauded Sarfaraz Khan after he struck multiple fifties on Test debut against England. (PTI)
Remember March … England, Rohit Sharma, Bazball, 4-1. All that seems ages ago. IPL, World T20, Bangladesh whitewash, New Zealand loss, Mega IPL auction and now Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The pace at which Indian cricket moves, the events fade away in a blur. You don’t just miss the trees for the forest but even forget the Himalayas, under whose shadow Rohit’s young team had called out England’s boast of them being the pioneers of the entertaining and aggressive brand of cricket. Those were heady days, India believed Rohit and his young brood would conquer the world and capture the Test mace. The captain was in total charge, the 20-somethings around him were his trusted brood. He would indulge them and taunt them. If any one of them slacked on the field he would say: “Kya garden mai hai (Are you in garden)”. It’s now December, the garden has changed and the gardener too might.
4. New Zealand’s Mission Impossible
New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of India’s Shubman Gill on the second day of the second test cricket match between India and New Zealand, at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, in Pune, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (PTI Photo)
Nothing in the lead-up to the home Test series against New Zealand suggested that the most impregnable fortress in the game was going to be breached. After all, they had been recently spun out in Sri Lanka and were without their greatest-ever batsman Kane Williamson. But once the ball started rolling backwards for the hosts – they were bundled out for 46 after opting to bat first under cloudy skies on a greenish pitch in Bengaluru – the visitors never let go. The proud home record was built on the shoulders of a few good men, and when most of them had less than stellar series, the edifice came crashing down.
5. Rohit’s happier times vs Aus
India’s captain Rohit Sharma plays a shot for six runs against Australia during an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup cricket match at Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, Saint Lucia, Monday, June 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
When Rohit Sharma held the pulse of a World Cup contest on June 24, the whole of St. Lucia and the world seemed suspended in his whim. Reeling from the ‘Ahmedabad Heartbreak’, Rohit met Australia in another near-knockout fest. The carnage pruned Australia on that Caribbean afternoon as Rohit unleashed the most fearsome 92 runs of his career, in his final week as a T20I bat. Rohit’s autumnal feistiness did its bit in awakening India’s Gen-Z T20 conscience that day, curiously before falling to his method in the following months.
6. Bumrah’s perfect yorker
England’s Ollie Pope is bowled out by India’s Jasprit Bumrah. (Reuters)
On a hot afternoon in Vizag, the crowd had gone silent before Rohit Sharma gave a semi-old ball to Bumrah to conjure magic against England. And Bumrah, the genius, would oblige in the most devastating manner possible. Ollie Pope appeared to have covered the line of the ball, released from wide of the stumps. But then, it would reverse-swing ferociously. Pope would use the bat to save his foot, but the precision of Bumrah’s yorker was such that it left the stumps in disarray. It was a delivery that changed the complexion of the series, would soon hit the Instagram reels and live fresh in the memory for years to come. #Goosebumps
7. Arjun’s 20-move takedown of Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen faces Arjun Erigaisi at the Tata Steel India Rapid and Blitz chess tournament on Thursday at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
Magnus Carlsen was baffled. He looked into the sea of Indian fans on his left at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata mumbling aloud to himself. His tormentor, 21-year-old Arjun Erigaisi, was sitting across the board patiently awaiting the world no 1’s resignation. The silence was deafening when Carlsen resigned in a blitz game at the Tata Steel Chess India tournament after just 20 moves. Hikaru Nakamura had predicted in 2023 the way the upcoming era in chess would pan out. “This is the future for Magnus. The Indians are coming for him. It’s going to be one Indian after another, after another — all the disciples of Vishy!” he had said. It rings truer now.
8. Sheetal Devi’s bulls-eye
Know more about the condition which Sheetal Devi suffers from (Source: AP/PTI)
At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Deepa Malik was the sole Indian female medallist and the first woman to do so. In Tokyo, Avani Lekhara and Bhavina Patel won three medals among them. But in Paris, Indian women were involved in a total of 11 medals. While Avani won gold again, and there were plenty of other impressive performances, the one standout moment was Sheetal Devi’s first arrow in her first knockout match. The armless archery sensation, all of 17, steadied herself, picked up the bow with her feet as always, and hit a perfect X. As the applause rang, she allowed herself a little smile. She ended up losing the match but went on to win the mixed team bronze.
9. Sreejesh’s bouncing-on-the-bum celebration
India’s goalkeeper Parattu Reveendran Sreejesh, in yellow jersey, sits on the goal cross-bars as India’s players celebrate after winning the men’s bronze medal field hockey match against Spain at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Colombes, France. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
A special shoutout to the Indian men’s hockey team at the Olympics, especially for their memorable wins against nemesis Australia and then Great Britain in the quarterfinals after going down to 10 men. Who can forget PR Sreejesh’s bouncing-on-the-bum celebration in the shootout?
10. Viktor taking foot of ‘Axel’
Viktor Axelsen spoke about the BWF’s reluctance to provide breaks or leeways to its ‘Top committed players’, who might be struggling financially or mentally. (Reuters)
For Viktor Axelsen, a repeat of his Tokyo Olympics gold seemed like it was being cut into a thousand pieces by Lakshya Sen. But right as Sen was about to take the first game, Axelsen came up with a stroke of genius — a hypnotic serve routine. The Indian couldn’t deal with the level change offered by the lanky Dane. You want pace? You get a serve routine where time stops still and the wait for the shuttle to arrive creeps up. Axelsen showed why he’s great, taking momentum away from his 23-year-old foe while keeping him guessing at a point where most would have started to look towards the second game.
11. Mondo soars above le monde
Armand Duplantis, of Sweden, competes in the men’s pole vault final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo)
Winner of his last 18 consecutive meets, owner of nine of the 10 highest vaults in history and being crowned Olympic champion in Paris may have been enough to make Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis a pole vault great. But it wasn’t not enough to seize the moment. Breaking the world record, with a 6.25m vault, on the night that you have registered your case as the greatest in the history of your sport, is a feat of audacity that only somebody of his freakish talent and athleticism could produce. In an Olympic Games that produced ‘over-bloated’ controversy, densely rich narrative arcs, and the birth of a local hero, the image of Duplantis soaring above the Stade de France into the Parisian skyline, endures above all.
12. Neeraj’s haunting question
File image of Neeraj Chopra competing at the Paris Olympics on August 8, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo)
With a silver in Paris, Neeraj Chopra cemented his place as the greatest Indian Olympian. Moments after, yours truly asked him if talent alone was enough to win two Olympic medals. Without hesitation, Neeraj said the ‘right mindset’ mattered more. Then suddenly, and unprompted, he pivoted to his struggles due to injury and how he was simply dragging himself to the finish line. There was pain in his voice. Neeraj didn’t seek a pat on the back for winning another Olympic medal or ask for sympathy for playing through pain. He sought reassurance that his effort was enough. He ended with a question: ”Aap khush ho?” Any normal person would be happy. But Neeraj isn’t just another Indian.
13. Of would-bes and could-bes
India’s Sreeja Akula plays against China’s Sun Yingsha during a women’s singles round of 16 table tennis game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
It couldn’t get bigger than an Olympics Round-of-16 match against World No.1 from China, Sun Yingsha, for Sreeja Akula. Round of 16. It couldn’t get bigger for paddler Sreeja Akula. In the biggest match of her career, Sreeja raced to a 10-6 lead in the first game but the Chinese came all guns blazing to fight back and win. It was the same story in the second game. There would be more chances for the Indian. But it became a case of would-bes and could-bes. A win could’ve been the catalyst for Indian TT. Now, she has to remember to forget it, every day.
14. Yamal’s strike of bewildering beauty
Spain’s Lamine Yamal reacts during a semifinal match between Spain and France at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, July 9, 2024. Left Spain’s Rodri. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
For a moment Lamine Yamal became a child again. Well, after all, he was a child. Just 16. The goal brimmed with the freshness of youth. From 30 yards out, almost hugging the touchline, a raft of muscular French bodies between the Spaniard and the goal, one of the sharpest goalkeepers manning the nets. There was no space; no time either. But he danced away, then swerved in and let his left leg rip, and composed a gorgeous curler that bent and curved and nestled into the far top corner, leaving everyone in the stadium in dumbstruck pause. He became the youngest goal-scorer in the history of Euros. The composure to work the space, the confidence to take on the shot was akin to a seasoned pro. But only a child with a wild imagination would have conceived that goal.
15. Sarfaraz and the tale of toil
India’s Sarfaraz Khan plays a shot during the 4th day of the 3rd cricket Test match between India and England, at Niranjan Shah Stadium, in Rajkot. (PTI)
On February 15, Sarfaraz Khan finally got his much-awaited Test cap in Rajkot. The Mumbai boy did everything humanly possible to earn an India call-up. He had a staggering average of 70 in first-class cricket, scored 14 daddy hundreds and 14 half centuries in 66 innings. It makes one wonder why selectors took such a long time to hand Khan a Test debut.Within cricket circles, he was criticised for being overweight and lacking fitness for international cricket. The young man, though, waited for his time without uttering a word. Eventually, his debut restored faith that hard work always pays off.
16. Not standing the ‘Test’ of time
Kanpur: Groundsmen at the Green Park Stadium during the third day of the 2nd Test cricket match between India and Bangladesh, in Kanpur, Sunday, Sep. 29, 2024. (PTI Photo/Vijay Verma)
My debut Test match as a reporter got washed out in Greater Noida. A combination of inclement weather and an ill-equipped stadium resulted in no play over five days between Afghanistan and New Zealand. A couple of weeks later, the India-Bangladesh Test in Kanpur — where a section of the stadium was declared unsafe — saw two-and-a-half days of play being wiped out due to a wet outfield. Even a full rainless day wasn’t enough to dry the Green Park outfield. Other old stadiums around the world have retained their old-world elegance. Kanpur’s Green Park, India’s pre-independence Test cricket centre, is in dire need of a modern makeover.
17. Missing Hardik swagger
No-look shots have a mystical fondness in cricket, like the back-heel in football or the ‘tweener’ in tennis. A no-look ramp is even more electrifying. (X/Hardik Pandya)
The game looked done when Henrich Klassen was batting with David Miller in the final of the T20 World Cup earlier this year in Barbados. Just 26 runs were required from four overs when Hardik Pandya slipped in a wide yorker at the crease which Klassen nicked to Rishabh Pant. It was Hardik’s moment of redemption. Not long ago, he was booed by his fans when he walked for tosses as Mumbai Indians captain at the Wankhede. The tournament went horrendously for him both as captain and player. Though he always had a smile on his face all through, the usual Hardik swagger was missing.
18. A historic gold
Despite the false start in the final, Arshad Nadeem shattered the Olympic record to bag the javelin gold medal. (REUTERS)
For me, the sporting moment to remember in 2024 was an athlete from the town of Mian Channu in Pakistan’s Punjab winning the Olympic gold. Arshad Nadeem, who won the javelin throw gold with a throw of 92.97m, ensured that the javelin gold remained in Asia. His back story made it even more special — Nadeem didn’t have much resources. He trained at a home made gym and also practiced with javelins made of bamboo. His father would tell me “I have worked as a labourer but see how far my son has gone.” Nadeem showed that with the historic throw in Paris.
19. The break dancer who broke the internet
Raygun and Steph Broadbridge resolve everything after legal disputes (Reuters)
For all the superhuman efforts in Paris, a 36-year-old college lecturer managed to grab her share of space in public memory. Australian breakdancer Rachell Gunn, ‘Raygun’, set the internet on fire with her quirky dance routines. But she drew heavy flak from sports followers across the globe as her campaign ended with zero points. Although Raygun tried to put out a defiant face despite the relentless trolling, she admitted that the backlash did take a toll on her mentally. Whether one likes it or not, Raygun did dish out a performance that will remain etched in the memories of Olympic followers. She proved that sports are not always about sweat and blood but at times just pure entertainment.
20. ‘Signing’ of the year?
Ruben Amorim has replaced Erik Ten Hag has new Manchester United manager. (AP)
In the space of a month, Ruben Amorim showed why he’s so highly rated. Before signing on to be the Manchester United manager, Amorim faced Pep Guardiola’s Man City as the Sporting Lisbon coach in the Champions League on November 6. Amorim’s team stunned Guardiola’s much-fancied team 4-1, a scoreline which deepened City’s crisis. On December 15, Amorim would repeat the same trick as the Manchester United manager, winning 2-1. In a little over a month, Amorim had done the impossible and defeated Pep’s juggernauts to 2 defeats with 2 different teams, a rare instance in football.
I’m Manas Ranjan Sahoo: Founder of “Webtirety Software”. I’m a Full-time Software Professional and an aspiring entrepreneur, dedicated to growing this platform as large as possible. I love to Write Blogs on Software, Mobile applications, Web Technology, eCommerce, SEO, and about My experience with Life.
