The world’s biggest marketplace, Google, has released a recap of the top trending stories of 2016. According to their analysis, the list is based on trends, user interests, news events and developments in a country. The data has been extrapolated after a big data analysis of trillions of searches conducted by internet users in India this year.
The 2016 Summer Rio Olympics emerged as the most searched term on Google India, followed by Pokemon Go, an augmented reality game. Meanwhile, in the list of top trending personalities, PV Sindhu ranked second. Sindhu earlier topped the list of most-searched sportspersons of 2016 in India, according to a review published by Yahoo.
2016 was a terrific year for the shuttler. She became the first female player from the country to reach the final of the singles event at the Olympics, and continued her good work by qualifying for the Superseries Finals in Dubai.
Also read: PV Sindhu becomes the most searched sportsperson in India; Virat Kohli ranks fourth
Interestingly, seven of the top 10 personalities in the list are women, including gymnast Dipa Karmakar and wrestler Sakshi Malik.
Placed fourth on the list, Dipa Karmakar, the artistic gymnast from Agartala, became the first Indian female gymnast ever to compete in the Olympics. She was also the first Indian gymnast to do so in 52 years. She missed out on the bronze after placing 4th in Women's Vault Gymnastics with an overall score of 15.066.
Finishing ninth in the list was Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik. The Haryana girl became the first female wrestler from India to win a medal and only the fourth from the country ever. Sakshi, who is yet to return to the mat after the Olympics, is set to marry Satyawart Kadian, one of India’s top male wrestlers in the 97kg category.
Surprisingly, the list does not feature any cricketer. However, actors Sushant Singh Rajput and Disha Patani, of the autobiographical feature “M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story”, ranked first in the top trending Bollywood actors section (both male and female).
In the top trending new segment, Brexit stood on the third spot after Rio Olympics 2016 and US elections, followed closely by the Indian demonetization scheme.
