India’s national blind cricket team won the 2018 Blind Cricket World Cup
In January, the Indian National Blind Cricket team went up against Pakistan at UAE’s Sarjah Cricket Stadium. India were chasing a target of 308 runs, and, in a thrilling final over, India beat Pakistan to become the World Champions. By doing so, they retained their title, that they had previously brought home in 2014.
Mithali Raj became the first Indian cricketer to score 2000 T20I runs
During the India’s Women’s T20 Asia Cup tournament held in June this year, Indian women’s cricket team captain, Mithali Raj, became the first Indian cricketer to score 2,000 runs in T20I, a feat that hadn’t even been matched by anyone.
Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian gymnast to clinch a Gold at a global event
At the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup held in Turkey in July, Dipa Karmakar created history by becoming the first Indian gymnast to win a gold medal. In the first go, Dipa had a low score of 5.400 while she got 8.700 for execution (total came up to 14.100), and in her second attempt, she scored a total of 14.200, which gave her an average of 14.150. She achieved this impressive feat after returning to the court after almost two years, due to a knee injury. Indonesia’s Rifda Irfanaluthfi came second, whereas local participant, Goksu Uctas Sanli won bronze.
Sunil Chhetri became the third highest scorer in the world
During the Intercontinental Cup that was held in India this year, Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri tweeted a video asking the people to attend matches in the stadiums, at least on their home ground. This plea went viral, and the stadiums for every match that was played in the country post that tweet, was full. In the finals against Kenya, which also happened to be Chhetri’s 100th international match, Chhetri scored a goal, helping India bag a 3-0 win. His total tally now comes up to 64 goals. The only football players in the world to score higher than him are Cristiano Ronaldo (85) and Lionel Messi (65).
