Year Ender 2022: Top 10 major disappointments for India in sports

Some athletes were unlucky, while some failed to live up to expectations.

The year 2022 has seen many Indian athletes win several medals and give us many moments to cherish forever. However, there have been a few instances where the athletes failed to live up to the expectations. One major occasion was Manika Batra not winning a single medal, but she ended the year on a high winning a bronze medal at the Asia Cup.

In this Year Ender 2022 article, we take a look at the major disappointments in Indian sports in the year 2022!

Dutee Chand's disappointing performance in the 2022 National Games

The athlete from Odisha did not have a good 2022 season putting up below-par performances in both the national and foreign meets. Much was expected from Dutee Chand, who won the gold medal in the 2015 edition of the National Games but finished sixth in 100m with a timing of 11.69s (timing above from the heat race). Her last competition of 2022 was the North-East Zone Inter University Championships where she finished third with a timing of 11.81s.

Ravi Dahiya in World Championships

Olympic silver medallist Ravi Dahiya lost in the second round at the 2022 World Championships and returned home empty-handed. A few months prior to the World C’ships, he won the gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games but couldn't replicate the same performance at the World Championships. He won the first round comfortably but lost to Abdullaev (10-0) in a one-sided contest.

Doping - Kamalpreet Kaur, Dhanlakshmi, and Aishwarya Babu 

2022 has not been a good year for the Indians in terms of doping with many athletes facing suspensions. The above three are a few important athletes who could have gone on to achieve big had they not tested positive. Kamalpreet Kaur in particular was the first Indian to breach the 65m mark in discuss throw and finished sixth at the Tokyo Olympics.

Jeswin Aldrin controversy

Jeswin Aldrin had a tough time after qualifying for the World Championships with a jump of 8.26m at the Federations Cup. All his performances since the Fed Cup had been poor which made AFI rethink whether to send Aldrin to the World Championships. AFI made Aldrin attend two trials just a few weeks before the mega event and finally approved sending him just days before his event began.

AFI should have either sent him ahead along with other athletes so that players get used to the conditions rather than waiting till the last moments.

The women's table tennis team failed at CWG 2022

A lot was expected from Manika Batra and other Indian woman paddlers at the CWG Games but it was a disappointing outing with the experienced Manika Batra returning empty-handed. In the 2018 edition, Manika won several medals and was the pioneer of the women’s team. Emerging star Sreeja Akula was the only positive as she won gold along with Sharath Kamal in the mixed doubles. 

Sajan Prakash's failure at CWG 2022

Srihari Natraj stole the show at CWG Games by finishing credible fifth but a lot was expected from the swimmer from Kerala Sajan Prakash as well. Although he did not have a great time at CWG, he bagged the best male athlete award for the second consecutive time at the National Games.

Shiva Thapa's unsuccessful performance at CWG 2022

2015 World Championships bronze medallist was the title contender in the 63.5kg weight category. He lost in the second round to Scottish boxer Reese Lynch (1-4) after winning the first round comfortably against Suleman Baloch from Pakistan. In the recently concluded Asian Championships, he won the silver medal and end the year on a high.  

Punam Yadav's failure at CWG 2022

Punam Yadav is a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist and was the firm favourite to win hat-trick gold or at least finish on the podium. She failed to register in any of the three attempts in the clean&jerk section and ultimately bowed out of the competition. She failed in the first two attempts but was on the verge of clearing in the third attempt. Punam let go of the bar before getting a green signal from the judges.

Tejaswin Shankar AFI controversy

Tejaswin Shankar won the bronze medal in the high jump at the 2022 Commonwealth Games but the incident before that wasn't that good. Initially, AFI did not approve to send Tejaswin to Birmingham as he failed to participate in the Inter-State Athletics meet held in Chennai which was the last qualifying event for CWG.

Shankar breached the mark set by AFI at an NCAA meet which wasn't considered by AFI. After Tejaswin moved to court the judgement came in his favour and was allowed to take part in the multi-sporting event.

Saurabh Chaudhury

Saurabh Chaudhary, the Tokyo Olympian, started the year 2022 on a bright note winning the gold medal at the ISSF World Cup held in Cairo and since did not participate in any of the major competitions like the World Championships. He is one of India’s young bright prospects and the 2023 season will be an important one as many Olympic qualifying events are set to take place.