India at 75: Here are the country's biggest accomplishments in sports

NEW DELHI: India celebrates its 76th Independence Day today. During this journey as an independent nation, sports lovers in the country were treated to a number of memorable moments. These moments have collectively contributed to the current craze for sports in the country. Let us take a look at these moments till now:

KD Jadhav

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav is a wrestler who won independent India's first-ever individual medal at the Olympics. He accomplished this feat when he won a bronze medal in the 1952 Olympics in Finland in the Bantamweight category.

Indian hockey team's dominant run

Though the Indian hockey team had accomplished a lot in Olympics before Independence, they continued their success in the independent nation as well. India clinched gold in this sport in the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympics. In 1960, Team India dipped slightly but still had a silver. It won back gold in 1964, followed it with bronze medals in 1968 and 1972. In 1980, they finished this brilliant run with a gold medal.

Team India's Hockey World Cup win in 1975

Team India's Hockey World Cup win in 1975Team India, a dominant force in Hockey at the Olympics made history by winning its maiden Men's Hockey World Cup in 1975. The Indians defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by 2-1 in a historic final.

Team India's World Cup win in 1983

Indian cricket team headed into the 1983 World Cup as underdogs, having failed to make an impact in the 1975 and 1979 editions of the event. It had a dream run in 1983, which ended with them defeating World Champions West Indies by 43 runs in the final. This was the event that paved way for the cricket craze that still has the country in its grips. It went on to win the cup in 2011 also.

Abhinav Bindra creates history in 2008 Beijing Olympics

Abhinav Bindra created history and won India's first-ever individual gold medal in Olympics at 2008 edition of the multi-sport event in Beijing. He struck gold in the 10 m air rifle event.

Indian badminton has its '83 moment

Indian badminton team created history in 2022, winning the prestigious Thomas Cup for the first time ever by defeating multi-time champions Indonesia by 3-0 in the final.

Neeraj Chopra

Indian athletics got its new star during Tokyo Olympics 2020. Neeraj Chopra won India's second individual gold medal at the prestigious multi-sport event, becoming the first Indian track and field athlete to do so. He threw the javelin to a distance of 87.58m to pick the gold at the Olympics.