Top five Indian athletes who disappointed in 2023

PV Sindhu failed to win a single tournament in 2023.

Year 2023 has been a season of mixed fortunes for Indian sports. While the several athletes have achieved some remarkable feats, there have also been some disappointments. India’s historic performance at the Asian Games was a standout moment, with new heroes like Sheetal Devi emerging and established athletes like Neeraj Chopra continuing to shine. However, there were also some notable disappointments. India’s loss to Australia in the ICC Cricket World Cup was a hard pill to swallow for cricket fans.

The country’s performance at the Boxing World Championships, Athletics World Championships, and Hockey World Cup were below par. India’s top shuttlers, including PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, failed to make an impact at the Badminton World Championships.

Five Indian athletes who disappointed in 2023

5. Deepika Kumari (Archery)

The year 2023 has been a challenging one for Deepika Kumari, an experienced archer. Her performance has been inconsistent throughout the season, and she has not been able to secure a single international medal. Despite being an Arjuna awardee and a multiple World Cup gold medallist, she did not qualify for the Asian Games.

She finished seventh in the first phase of the trials in Kolkata in August and did not cut the final leg of the three-day trials, ending outside the top eight in the women’s recurve event.

Deepika Kumari’s only significant achievement has come at the National Games, where she won two gold medals and one silver.

4. Apurvi Chandela (Shooting)

The 2019 World Cup Gold Medalist has had a disappointing 2023 season. The shooter has not shown any significant improvement this year. Apurvi Chandela failed to advance after Qualification. Apurvi Chandela did not qualify for 10m Air Rifle as well as 3 positions in the Qualifying rounds of the Asian Games.

3. Bajrang Punia (Wrestling)

The Former Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia has had a dismal 2023 season. He could not win any medal at the Asian Games 2023, where he lost the bronze medal match to Japan’s Kaiki Yamaguchi in the men’s 65kg wrestling category in Hangzhou, the People’s Republic of China.

Bajrang Punia has been medal-less this year, unlike the previous year when he shone at the Commonwealth Games. His last medal was in 2022 Commonwealth Games.

2. Saurabh Chaudhary (Shooting)

Saurabh Chaudhary was the star of Indian shooting team when he broke the World Record in shooting in asian games at Jakarta. 2023 has been a terrible year for Chaudhary who ended up at 30th in the 10m air pistol event of the ISSF World Cup in Rio de Janeiro recently, a huge contrast from the good form of the recent past.

Chaudhary also failed to win any medal at the Asian games even though Indian shooting team performed well.

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1. PV Sindhu (Badminton)

PV Sindhu has been the pillar of Indian Badminton for a long time. Season after season, the long badminton player has reached the podium in multiple events. 2023 has been an exception in that regard, Sindhu has not won any event this year. Surprisingly, Sindhu reached only one final this season.

Her best finish came at the BWF 300 Spain Masters where she finished as runners-up after going down to Gregoria Mariska Tunjung. Apart from that she also reached the semifinals of the Arctic Open, Canada Open, Malaysia Masters and Denmark Open. She has an average win-loss record too with 28-22.

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