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Most of the sporting achievements made by India easily become word of mouth among people who follow sports.
But, there are several achievements which went unnoticed due to several reasons, be it fewer media coverage or low interest of the people. Here are some of the Indian sporting achievements of 2017 you may have missed.
Mirabai Chanu (Weightlifting)
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu clinched a gold medal at the World Weightlifting Championships in the 48 kg category held in Anaheim, USA. After disappointing at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Mirabai bounced back with a splendid performance at the World Championships.
She lifted 194 kg (85kg in snatch and 109kg in clean and jerk) while the runner-up, Thailand's Sukcharoen Thunya managed to lift a total of 193 kg.
The Manipur weightlifter became only the second Indian to achieve this feat after Olympic bronze medalist Karnam Malleshwaari won it twice in 1994 and 1995.
Pankaj Advani (Snooker and Billiards)
Pankaj Advani won both the ISBF World Snooker Championship and the ISBF World Billiards Championship in 2017. He won the World Snooker Championship for the third time while it was his ninth win in the World Billiards Championship.
Advani has a total of 58 gold medals in his cabinet, 18 of which are World, eight Asian, two at Asian Games, a solitary gold in Australian Open, and 29 at the national level.
Bhawani Devi (Fencing)
C.A. Bhawani became the first Indian to win a gold medal in an individual sabre event, as she clinched the of the Women's Satellite Fencing Championship held in Iceland. It was her third attempt at a satellite event and she was glad to finally win one.
The competition consisted of 26 participants from 8 countries, but Bhawani managed to come out on top in the end. She beat Great Britain's Sarah Jane Hampson 15-13 in the final.
The 24-year-old earlier settled for a bronze medal in the same category in Italy. In the 2017 Asian Fencing Championships, she lost in the quarter-finals to the eventual winner, Kim Ji-yeon.
Jehan Daruvala (Racing)
In February, Jehan Daruvala became the first Indian to win a Grand Prix, when he won the New Zealand GP at Circuit Chris Amon. He beat the likes of Pedro Piquet, who is the son of former World champion, Nelson Piquet, and Thomas Randle, the winner of Toyota Racing Series.
In July, the Mumbai-born driver became the first Indian to win an FIA Formula 3 European Championship at the Nuremberg Circuit. He was hailed as the "brightest Indian prospect" by Narayanan Karthikeyan.
Ramkumar Ramanathan (Lawn Tennis)
The Indian who has a career-best ranking of 139 caused a very big upset when he defeated World No.8 and top seed Dominic Theim in the 2017 Antalya Open. The Indian not only defeated him but beat him in straight sets (6-3, 6-2) by good use of the big serve which allowed him to qualify for the quarter-final.
In the quarter-final, he went down to World No. 114 Marcos Baghdatis, thus failing to capitalise on the great opportunity to play in his first ATP semi-final.
Later, in August, he qualified for his first Masters 1000 tournament at Cincinnati Masters, where he was eliminated from the second round by Jared Donaldson after he beat Christopher Eubanks in the first round.
Bhumika Sharma (Body building)
In June, Bhumika Sharma won her first Miss World Bodybuilding Championship in Venice, Italy. The championship saw 50 contestants competing in different events.
The girl from Uttarakhand who trained in a gym in Dehradun was one of the 27 contestants from India n the tournament.
The 21-year-old won maximum points in three different categories, individual posing, body posing and fall events.
Mehuli Ghosh, Anish Bhanwala and Yashaswini Singh (Shooting)
Mehuli Ghosh clinched eight gold medals at the 61st National Shooting Championship Competitions including four in team events. Earlier, in May, she was the only Indian to participate in the International Junior Shooting Championships and she finished seventh among 123 participants.
Anish Bhanwala broke a junior World record with a score of 579 and bagged a gold and a silver in the process in the Junior Men's 25 m standard pistol at the ISSF Junior World Championship. Earlier in the year, the boy from Haryana, won a gold and a bronze at an international meet in the Czech Republic.
Meanwhile, Yashaswini Singh Deswal also won a gold medal at women's 10m air pistol event at the ISSF Junior World Championship.
37 medals at the World Dwarf Games
The Indian contingent bagged 37 medals including 15 golds at the 7th edition of World Dwarf Games held at the University of Guelph in Ontario. This edition saw nearly 400 athletes from 24 countries feature in the tournament.
Many players won multiple medals. Joby Matthew won a total of six medals including two golds, three silvers and a bronze in many sports such as badminton, shot put, javelin and discus throw.
Arunachalam Nalini also bagged five medals including a gold. CV Rajanna clinched three gold medals in events such as 200m sprint at the event.
Sundar Singh and Kanchanmala Pande
Sundar Singh Gurjar won the gold at the men's javelin throw at the World's Para Athletic Championships and made his personal best of 60.36 m in the process. The 21-year-old suffered a heartbreak last season at Rio Olympics when he failed to turn up on his name call and was disqualified cruelly.
In December, the visually impaired, Kanchanmala Pande became the first Indian to win a gold medal at the World Para-Swimming Championship in Mexico. The 26-year-old won gold in the 200 metre-medley event. Earlier in the year, she bagged a silver at the Para-Swimming Championships in Germany, which helped her qualify for the WPSC.
Bharat Khandare (Mixed Martial Arts)
In November, Bharat 'Daring' Khandare became the first Indian MMA fighter to sign with the Ultimate Fighting League. He became the first Indian to be involved in a UFC fight when he made his debut against the Chinese, Liu Pingyuan on 25th November.
UFC has been trying to popularise its brand in Asia for a long time and organised a local promotional event for the same reason. At that event, Khandare was crowned the Featherweight champion.
He has a wrestling and a kickboxing background and his move will surely encourage other young Indians to aim to fight in the World's No.1 MMA organisation.
Notable Mentions
Davinder Singh Kang
He became the first Indian to qualify for the final round of the javelin throw World Championships. He qualified for the finals with a best distance of 84.22 m. But, due to a shoulder injury, Kang finished 12th out of the 13 participants in the finals with a best throw of 82.26 m.
Gayatri Gopichand
Gayatri, who is the daughter of legendary Indian badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, won the U19 All India Badminton tournament at the tender age of 14 and became the youngest player to win the tournament.
