Vinesh's resilience & motherly love: Moments from 2024 to warm your heart

Here, we take a look at some of the heart-warming moments of Indian sports in the year:

Gukesh’s uncontrollable emotions

Gukesh Dommaraju, for most of the 14^th game of the World Championship match against Ding Liren, seemed destined for a draw.

Theoretically, the game should have been a dead draw, as per the experts. Even the great Viswanathan Anand claimed a 99.73% chance of a draw and the match heading into the tiebreaks.

But as things have previously in the year, everything fell into place for the 18-year-old Gukesh.

Ding placed his Rook to the f2 square – a blunder that would see him fighting with a pawn down a sequence of moves later with just the king on board.

Gukesh, at first, could not believe what he had spotted. He took some time to calm himself down, took a sip of water, and played his move. Ding resigned soon after.

Gukesh was crowned the youngest chess world champion after a rapid turn of events. Unable to control his emotions, the teenager broke down while still resetting the pieces on the chess board.

A measured individual, Gukesh went on to praise Ding for his fight before answering even a single question in the press conference just moments later.

A graceful champion, indeed.

Elavenil’s got Babuta’s back

A.rjun Babuta very nearly could have had an Olympic medal in Paris. The 25-year-old shooter was in contention for gold, leading the men’s 10m air rifle field at some point in the final.

But, he lost the plot soon after.

A series of not-so-good shots saw him trickle down from the lead to second. Then to third. Finally to fourth.

Aiming to reclaim India’s lost glory in men’s 10m air rifle, Babuta finished a heartbreaking fourth.

He was distraught. A golden opportunity to etch his name in the annals of Indian sports history had just gone down begging.

As Babuta tried to gather himself at a Chateauroux Shooting Centre, Elavenil Valarivan emerged from the sidelines to comfort him with a warm hug.

Just days before Elavenil had narrowly missed out in qualifying for the women’s 10m air rifle final after being in contention throughout the qualification round. She knew the feeling all too well.

She had Babuta’s back when the youngster possibly needed it the most.

A tale of graceful mothers

We live in a highly polarised world. The widespread reach of social media just aids the constant hate and fear-mongering.

So when Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra took a historic gold-silver finish in the men’s javelin throw at the 2024 Paris Olympics, it was easy to gather what was next to come.

The Indian fans were unhappy that they were beaten by their neighbors across the border, whereas the Pakistani fans were on cloud nine having beaten India.

Media houses played into the narrative for engagement and TRPs, but two women – Nadeem and Chopra’s mother shut it all down effortlessly.

“He [Chopra] is also my son,” declared Nadeem’s mother, when asked about her son beating the Indian.

“We are delighted. The one who won gold is also our boy,” shot back Chopra’s mother, on Nadeem winning the gold.

Chopra and Nadeem have often spoken about their friendship and how they push each other to do better.

We just witnessed where all that humility and respect comes from.

Phogat on the mat

Up until early this year, Vinesh Phogat and the Olympics in the same sentence used to flash a solitary picture in mind – that of her wailing in pain, holding her knee and being carried off the mat in a stretcher at the 2016 Games in Rio.

Come to the Paris Olympics, it would change.

Up against the almost unbeatable Japanese grappler Yui Susaki, who had won the gold in Tokyo three years ago without dropping a single point, Phogat put up a performance for ages.

The backdrop of the performance with year-long protests against the Wrestling Federation of India just elevates Phogat’s exploits to a higher level.

Phogat was on the defensive throughout the bout against Susaki. She would also concede two passivity points as the top-seeded Susaki led 2-0 for a major part of the six-minute battle.

But with seconds remaining on the clock, Phogat went on an attack for the first time in the match. She lunged forward and initiated a takedown. Susaki was taken aback by this sudden change in gears from the Indian.

The Japanese could not hold on. The takedown is successful for Phogat. The score was 2-2 and the Indians won the bout by winning the last point.

With her hands in the air, Phogat ran towards coach Woller Akos. But she dropped down on her knees mid-way on the mat. She fell backward and lay on the mat, tears rolling down as the TV cameras panned to the top angle.

Phogat had just done the unthinkable. The fight for an Olympic medal was on.

Phogat would later go on to be disqualified for being overweight, opening up a different can of worse. But for that 30-40 seconds, the world was Phogat’s oyster.

Indian trio rings the Stade de France bell

The gold medal winners in athletics at the 2024 Paris Games had a ritual. They would go on to ring the bell at the sidelines of Stade de France.

It was a usual sight for the Indian fans as the Paralympics commenced. While quite a few gold medals were pocketed and bells rang, what stood out was the men’s club throw F51 event.

There were three Indians in contention. The country earned a double podium with Dharambir taking the gold and Pranav Soorma adding the silver.

The third Indian – Amit Saroha finished tenth. Not an achievement he would be proud of but there was no one happier than Saroha at the Stade de France that day.

Saroha is a veteran and a mentor to quite a few talented Indian para-athletes. He was, in fact, a coach to Dharambir in his early days.

When the time arrived to do honors by ringing the bell, Dharmabir invited his compatriots. Soorma and Saroha joined in as the trio rang the bell together.