Indian sport, in general, had a forgettable year. Barring shooting and a bit of women’s boxing, there is nothing to brag about. From badminton to wrestling to archery, it’s not been a good year for Indian Olympic sports.
“It’s expected that the year after the Olympic Games, athletes work on their techniques... some athletes bring in new coaches. It takes time to show the results. I am confident that our athletes will deliver from 2026. This year was a lull,” Gagan Narang, 2012 London Olympic Games winner in shooting and at present one of the vice-presidents of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), told The Telegraph.
Here’s a wrap-up of 2025, the year India struggled to get a proper footing in several sporting disciplines:
Being Neeraj
Victim of his own success. That’s Neeraj Chopra for you.
The champion javelin thrower gave the country an Olympic gold (Tokyo 2020) and a silver (Paris 2024), a World Championship silver (2022 Eugene), followed by a gold (2023 Budapest). Neeraj has won everything under the sun.
Yet, time and again — from August 7, 2021, when Neeraj gave us the first yellow metal in track and field — he was asked in news conferences when he would breach the 90-metre mark, considered the gold standard in javelin throw.
And finally, when he had the monkey off his back, in the Doha Diamond League in May with a throw of 90.23 metres, the heartbreak of the Tokyo World Championship four months later is being dissected threadbare.
It’s expected. He has raised the bar so high that even one average year looks like a failure. Neeraj, who turned 28 on Wednesday, brought in Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic after amicably parting ways with long-time associate and biomechanic expert Klaus Bartonietz.
His struggles — back problem also did not help his cause — post-Doha give the impression that he is missing what the German used to bring to the table. It was under Bartonietz that Neeraj took the world by storm.
The World Championship setback — he was ousted after the fifth and penultimate round with a best effort of 84.03m that left him eighth overall — has shown that even the best can falter at times.
“He changed the dynamics in the world of javelin. Neeraj has singlehandedly put India on the track and field map. For someone who has been consistently performing since 2016, just one failure cannot define a champion. He battled with injuries, and yet he had the courage to participate in big-ticket events. Any other athlete in the world would have skipped. The year 2025 was just an aberration,” World Athletics vice-president and Athletics Federation of India spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla told The Telegraph from Mumbai.
Still, Neeraj had reasons to smile about. With the inaugural NC Classic, he realised his dream of hosting a world-class event in front of the home crowd and family members. And the year also saw him tying the knot with Himani Mor. The coming year has the 2026 Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games, where Neeraj is expected to live up to the expectations. “He is fit now and I am confident he will rule the javelin world next year,” Sumariwalla added.
Future stars
Indian shooting thrived with the emergence of a glut of youngsters who shone right throughout the year. India’s shooting success, from the time Abhinav Bindra won the gold in the 2008 Games and then medals in the 2012 edition, to Manu Bhaker’s exploits in Paris last year, has propelled young kids to take up the game.
So here you are, where youngsters like Suruchi Singh (19 years), Samrat Rana (20) and Simranpreet Kaur Brar (21) are carving a niche for themselves. So much so that even superstar Manu was overshadowed this year.
Suruchi’s year began with a medal in Buenos Aires, and from then on, there was no looking back for the pistol shooter. Similarly, Rana became the world champion in November. “Shooters performed really well,” Narang said.
Shooting’s success also drives home a point that if a game is run well, then it shows in the performances. National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), headed by Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, is one of the best-managed national sports federations in the country, and it deserves a loud shout-out. Sample this. As many as 15
shooters qualified for the year-ending World Cup Finals in Doha. That too, without being the host country or the wild card quota.
Shuttlers struggle
If shooting is scaling new heights, badminton is struggling.
PV Sindhu is trying hard to regain ground, but at 30, she is not getting younger. Lakshya Sen did manage to end his title drought with the Super 500 Australian Open after enduring a tough time post-Paris Games meltdown. The doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are playing well, but somehow titles have eluded them this year.
“Badminton is not an easy sport. Workload management is important now. It’s a double-edged sword. If you skip tournaments to reduce the workload, your rankings suffer. It’s not just Indian badminton players who are struggling with the punishing schedule. It’s a global problem,” someone who runs an academy in Calcutta said. “We do not believe the state of Indian badminton is poor.”
Yes, some good young players are showing promise of a better future. Tanvi Sharma, just 16, has it in herself to become a world champion. Last month, she defeated former world No. 1 Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.
Dubious hat-trick
India’s failure to fight the doping menace was once again highlighted after the World Anti-Doping Agency said the country topped the rankings of global sports drug cheats for the third straight year. The dubious hat-trick deals a major blow to the 2030 Commonwealth Games hosts. It is also a hit on the aspirations of bringing the 2036 Olympic Games to the country.
It’s not just doping. Women’s hockey coach Harendra Singh resigned after some players complained to the sports ministry about his high-handedness.
The bid for the CWG 2030 and Games 2036 has done one thing though — the PT Usha-helmed Indian Olympic Association finally showed a united front after almost three years of internal bickering.
Usha, who became the IOA president in December 2022, was at loggerheads with the executive committee members on a number of issues.
The truce, albeit for the time being, came after some tough words from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which asked IOA to put its house in order.
The year also saw the start of the Archery Premier League on Dussehra. The Koreans gave it a miss, and the league of the subaltern sport failed to gain much traction among the spectators.