Indian Olympic sport has rarely had it as good at the start of a year. Make no mistake, there will be challenges. Fitness issues and more. Luck, so very important in sport, will always be a factor. But, at the start of 2024, India seems ready. Keen and poised to take on the world and make a sporting statement. It has rarely happened before, and that is what makes the start of the new year a really vibrant one.
With the big prize eight months down the line, 10 medals in Paris 2024 doesn’t look a pipedream anymore. The 2023 World Cup failure notwithstanding, hockey under Craig Fulton is on an upward curve and there is no reason why India should mess up the Olympics, having won the Asian Games in style and qualified early. The women’s team under Savitha Punia and Vandana Katariya is also starting to look good and should make it to Paris with a good effort in the qualifiers in Ranchi starting in 10 days’ time.
The two disciplines where the Indians have started to dream of Olympic medals are shooting and badminton. Shooting has come a long way since the Tokyo debacle and if the 2023 Asian Games were an indication, the future is golden. India now have multiple world champions in the age group of 15-18 and if they are well protected by the NRAI, Suma Shirur and other mentors, they have every reason to deliver in Paris. A strong national championship is always an indication of the depth of a particular sport and the most recent one has seen seriously high scores from India’s leading shooters. In Sift Samra, Manu Bhaker, Tilottama Sen, Mehuli Ghosh, Esha Singh and Aishwary Tomar, not to forget Rudranksh Patil, Akhil Sheoran and Sarabjot Singh, India have a crop that could easily be labelled the golden generation of Indian shooting.
In badminton, the year-end championships in China did not have a single Indian. While it was an underwhelming first after five years, it wasn’t really an index of the year gone by. PV Sindhu has resumed training and, once back at full fitness, is always going to be a player to watch out for on the Olympic stage. With An Se-young, Tai Tzu-ying, Chen Yufei and Akane Yamaguchi at the top, Sindhu knows the competition will be tough. This is the best crop in women’s badminton in years and to beat them isn’t easy. But then, on the Olympic stage, Sindhu is a different player. “I have to tell you I never put pressure on myself,” Sindhu said to us a few months ago. “Even when I had lost a few matches, I knew I could turn it around and just needed to keep working hard. That’s all it is about. Keeping focus and keep working hard.”
With HS Prannoy coming back strong and Satwik-Chirag looking to dominate the doubles, India will have a more than fair chance in Paris. Kidambi Srikkanth and Lakshya Sen, who both had underwhelming years, are expected to step up again, and with Satwik and Chirag in top shape, multiple medals are indeed possible.
The good thing is there is hope in other sports as well. In boxing, we continue to have Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain, and with the brilliant Deepak Bhoria shaping up well, 2024 should see many Indians qualify. In wrestling, where the mess has shown no signs of ending, Antim Panghal is on par with the world’s best. If she can do what she did at the World Championships and the Asian Games, she can emulate Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt on the Olympic stage., the domestic crisis notwithstanding.
For the first time, perhaps athletics is giving us our best hope at the start of 2024. Neeraj Chopra is the best in the world, and Murali Sreeshankar has shown serious improvement. Kishore Jena too has stepped up and it could well be a strong Indian showing in the javelin in Paris 2024.
With Manika Batra and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran doing the same in table tennis, alongside Ayhika and Sutirtha Mukherjee, and Bhavani Devi in the fencing, India’s dream of becoming a multi-sport nation finally seems possible. And if Rohan Bopanna can make a dream comeback in 2023 at age 43, nothing is impossible anymore.
Over the last few days we’ve looked back at the various sporting moments for India in 2023.
On the last day of the year, here’s @BoriaMajumdar looking ahead at 2024 in Indian sports. #AFCAsianCup2024, #Paris2024, #T20WorldCup and more! @AgeasFederal #HappyEnding… pic.twitter.com/mE9zWzDROz
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) December 31, 2023
Cricket, in contrast, is looking at a somewhat modest future. In white-ball cricket, India are a force to reckon with, but continue to struggle in ICC trophy finals. No doubt India will start the T20 World Cup in the USA in summer as one of the favourites. Most importantly, the bench strength, key to the continued success of any sporting unit, is looking good in the white-ball formats. With Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh expected to be first-choice pace picks, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel make the spin department a potent one. And in all this, a fit-again Hardik Pandya will provide the X-factor.
As we look slightly ahead and cast a glance at the World Cup, the team looks all but ready. The core is in place and with Hardik expected to be back in time, the middle-order vacuum will be filled. In fact, Hardik and Jadeja, it can be argued, have emerged as first-choice finishers. With Jadeja making a solid comeback, India have multiple options up their sleeve. While Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli continue to be two of the best players of the white ball in the 50-over format, it will be interesting to see what they do in the forthcoming Afghanistan T20 series (if picked) and the IPL. If only the players’ workloads can be balanced well, and the fast bowlers get some much-needed rest during the gruelling IPL, India will be match-ready come the first game of the World Cup in early June 2024.
For the women too, the story is similar. India desperately need an ICC trophy win, and to do so, Harmanpreet Kaur will have to lead from the front. Jemimah Rodrigues is clearly the most improved player in the last few months, and could be the breakout star in 2024. Smriti Mandhana too needs to be a little more consistent for India to mount a strong challenge against Australia and England.
Finally, in red-ball men’s cricket, the big Cape Town Test will offer a number of answers. Is India good enough to make a comeback, and how resilient is Rohit’s team in comparison to some of the past Indian sides of the last few years? It is Rahul Dravid’s big test as coach, and all eyes will be on the Newlands track where India has never won a Test match before.
In sum, a cracking sports year is in prospect, starting tomorrow.