Best sporting moments for India in 2018

2018 was a breakthrough year for Indian sports. While the country scaled heights in its premier game, Cricket, thanks to the Indian cricket team, numerous milestones were achieved in other disciplines like Shooting, Weightlifting, Boxing, Table Tennis, Badminton, and Football.

The Indian contingent recorded its best finish at the quadrennial Asian Games, and also enjoyed a great run in the Commonwealth Games. While Hockey and Kabaddi, the traditional powerhouses of Indian sport left fans wanting, the success in other sports eclipsed the below-par performance in these disciplines.

Let's have a look at the best sporting moments for India in 2018:

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#20 Ullas Narayan's run to glory

Ullas Narayan became the first Indian individual to win a medal in an international ultra running event, earlier this month. Narayan bagged the bronze medal, running 250km at the 2018 International Association of Ultra Running (IAU) 24 Hour Asia & Oceania Championships at Taipei. He also contributed to the team event and helped India win another bronze.

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#19 PV Sindhu ends the gold drought in style

PV Sindhu finally went past the final barrier, as she overcame Nozomi Okuhara in straight sets 21-17, 21-19 to win the 2018 BWF World Tour Finals. This was the first victory for an Indian at the World Tour. Before this, Sindhu bagged silver medals at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and the World Championships.

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#18 Dipa Karmakar lands on landmarks

Premier Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar made a swashbuckling return to the international scene after two years, clinching gold in the Gymnastics World Challenge Cup in Turkey, in the vault event. This championship is considered to be one of the biggest events in world gymnastics.

Dipa became the first Indian to win a gold in an international gymnastics event After having an injury-marred Asian Games, she returned to win a bronze in the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Germany in the month of November.

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#17 Sun shines in the Rainbow Nation

Team India created history in February, as they won the first ODI series against Proteas on their soil, defeating the home side by a convincing 5-1 margin. Virat Kohli (558 runs with three hundreds) and Kuldeep Yadav (17 wickets) were the leading performers for India.

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#16 Sunil Chhetri kicks off the past

Indian captain Sunil Chhetri became the second-highest international scorer amongst active footballers as he scored a brace in the final of the 2018 Hero Intercontinental Cup against Kenya in the final.

Chhetri now stands equal with Lionel Messi, with both having 65 goals each. He is only behind Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 85 goals to his name

#15 Well served, well deserved

2018 was a remarkable year for India in Table Tennis, as the athletes achieved the unprecedented in the discipline. India won medals in all the seven events at the CWG, with Manika Batra, Men's and Women's team bagging historic golds.

The paddlers also ended up on the podium for the first time in the Asian Games, with the Men's team and the mixed doubles pair of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra winning bronze.

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#14 Gold Toast at Gold Coast

India finished third on the medal tally in CWG 2018 at Gold Coast, winning 26 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze medals. This event saw many senior Indian athletes marking their comeback to the podium, with Saina Nehwal, Sushil Kumar and MC Mary Kom winning gold.

There were historic medals in the disciplines like Table Tennis, Javelin Throw and the team events of Badminton.

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#13 Well-played at Adelaide, historic punch on Boxing Day

Team India created history, as they won the Test matches in Adelaide and Melbourne by 31 runs and 137 runs respectively, leading the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1 for the first time Down Under.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Jasprit Bumrah were the main men for India in both the victories, as Pujara scored gritty centuries in both the games, while Bumrah claimed six and nine scalps respectively in the two matches.

This was the first time that India won the first Test of a series in Australia, and also a first victory at the Boxing Day test at MCG.

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#12 'The Wall' gets inducted in the Hall

Rahul Dravid became the fifth Indian to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, as he received the honours officially from another legend Sunil Gavaskar in Thiruvananthapuram in November.

Hailed as 'The Wall', Dravid is one of the all-time greats of the game with 13,288 runs in 164 Tests and 10,889 runs in 344 ODIs. The other Indians on the list are Sunil Gavaskar, Bishan Singh Bedi, Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble.

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#11 Kidambi Srikanth shuttles his way to the top

Ever since the introduction of computerized rankings, Kidambi Srikanth became the first Indian male athlete to be ranked World No.1. He achieved the feat in April, courtesy his four World Series victories in the previous year.

#10 Bhavnani Devi clears the final fence

CA Bhavnani Devi created history as she won the gold medal in the Women's Sabre event in the Commonwealth Championships at Canberra. She became the first Indian to win an international gold in the senior category.

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#9 Esow Alben presses the pedal

17-year-old Esow Alben became the first Indian to win a medal at the Cycling World Championships as he claimed a silver medal at the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships held in Aigle, Switzerland. He also became the first Indian to be ranked World No.1 in the Junior Sprint Category earlier this year.

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#8 Visually Impaired, Skillfully Equipped

India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the final of the Blind Cricket World Cup by two wickets, successfully defending their title. The team secured its second title and was led by Ajay Kumar Reddy.

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#7 Jubilation at Jakarta, Bang at Palembang

India finished with its highest- ever medal haul with 69 podium finishes at the Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, eclipsing the previous feat of 65 medals it had achieved eight years ago at Guangzhou.

There were historic medals in disciplines like Table Tennis, Javelin Throw and Heptathlon. Tajinder Singh Toor set a Games record in Shot Put, throwing 20.75 m.

Vinesh Phogat became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal (wrestling). India finished eighth on the medal tally, with 15 gold, 24 silver and 30 bronze.

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#6 Under-19, to the dozen

The India U19 team created history by winning the ICC U19 World Cup for a record fourth time. Led by Prithvi Shaw and coached by Rahul Dravid, the U19 team claimed the title by defeating Australia in the final.

Shubhman Gill was awarded the Player of the Tournament for his consistent outings, while Manjot Kalra received the Man of the Match award in the final for his thunderous hundred.

#5 The Golden Run of Hima Das

Hima Das became a nationwide sensation as she became the first Indian to win a gold event in Athletics World Championships at any level. Hima clinched gold in the 400 m final in World Under-20 Athletics Championships at Tampere, Finland. She clocked 51.46s in the final.

Hailed as the Dhing Express, Hima also went on to clinch a gold and two silvers at the Asian Games. She has been appointed as the country's first youth ambassador by UNICEF-India.

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#4 Neeraj Chopra throws a surprise

Neeraj Chopra had a sensational year, as he bagged four golds and one silver, including gold in CWG and Asian Games on debut. Chopra became the first Indian to win a gold in both of these events, throwing 86.47 m and 88.06 m, respectively, to claim the top spot at the podium.

The flag bearer for India in Jakarta, he set a new national record with his throw at the continental event. He was also highly successful in international meets held in Europe, winning remaining of his medals there.

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#3 10,000 club - 'Virat' entry in the 'Mahi' way

Two biggest icons of Indian cricket at present, Virat and MSD breached the 10,000 figure mark in the ODIs this year, becoming the fourth and fifth Indians respectively to achieve the feat. While Dhoni achieved the milestone against England at Lord's, while Kohli achieved it against Windies at Visakhapatanam.

Virat broke Sachin Tendulkar's record as the fastest to 10,000 ODI runs, achieving it in his 205th innings. Interestingly, both these players are the only ones to achieve this landmark at an average of more than 50.

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#2 A 'Merry' year for Mary Kom

MC Mary Kom won a record 6th medal at the AIBA World Championships

MC Mary Kom created history, as she became the joint-most successful boxer, punching her way to a sixth gold medal at the AIBA World Boxing Championships in New Delhi. Mary Kom defeated her opponent on a unanimous decision and became the first woman to win six golds.

She is currently tied with Cuba's Felix Savon's tally of seven medals. She also won the gold at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year.

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#1 Golds galore for Young 'Guns'

Saurabh Chaudhary was arguably the best Indian athlete of 2018

2018 was a breakthrough year for Indian shooting. More pleasantly, the campaign was led by young guns such as Manu Bhaker, Anish Bhanwala, Shardul Vihan, Mehuli Ghosh and Saurabh Chaudhary. Anish Bhanwala became the youngest Indian to win a gold medal for India at the CWG, with his heroics in the 25m air pistol, while his compatriot Shardul Vihan became the youngest to win a medal at the Asian Games, with a silver in the Men's Double Trap.

The women's campaign was led by Manu Bhaker and Mehuli Ghosh, with the latter winning silver medals at the CWG and World Championships in the 10m individual and team event respectively. Manu Bhaker had a better outing, starting off with a gold at Gold Coast, and continuing with a gold and silver each in the World Cup and the Youth Olympics, all in the 10m air pistol.

Saurabh Chaudhary was arguably the best Indian athlete of the year, as he won almost everything that was on offer. A 10m air pistol specialist, the teenage shooting sensation clinched gold in the Asian Games, outwitting four-time Olympic Gold Medallist Jin Jong-Oh of South Korea.

He also won a gold and a bronze in the ISSF World Junior Shooting Championships. Chaudhary also claimed gold in the Youth Olympic Games, as well as three gold medals in the Asian Airgun Championships. The 16-year-old demonstrated calmness and maturity well above his age in each of the events and ended the year by shooting 248.2m, 4.6m more than the World Record.