In a year which included successful campaigns both at the Commonwealth Games as well as at the Asian Games, India won its fair share of major titles in cricket, football, hockey and kabaddi.
In cricket, it was a super successful year for India as they won two world titles and a continental event.
India continued their supremacy in kabaddi as they clinched a trophy in a six-nation tournament in Dubai.
In badminton, in what was otherwise a lean year for the Indian shuttlers, PV Sindhu ended 2018 on a high. Youngster Lakshya Sen also won a tournament for the country.
Here’s a look at India’s major title triumphs in 2018:
Cricket
ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup
Prithvi Shaw-led Team India beat Australia by eight wickets to win the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup held in New Zealand. This was the fourth time India lifted the Under-19 World Cup trophy. Indian remained unbeaten in the entire tournament. India’s Shubman Gill was adjudged the Player of the Series.
India vs South Africa ODI Series
The Indian side led by Virat Kohli registered their first-ever ODI series victory in South Africa earlier this year. India won the six-match ODI series 5-1, with Virat Kohli scoring three centuries and a half-century in the series.
Blind Cricket World Cup
India beat Pakistan by two wickets in the final at Sharjah to win the 2018 Blind Cricket World Cup. This was their second title triumph in the tournament. Along with Pakistan, India are the only team to lift the title twice. In the group stages, India had beaten Pakistan once before beating Bangladesh in the semi-finals.
Asia Cup 2018
India beat Bangladesh by three-wickets in the final of the Asia Cup in UAE. The nail-biting final went down to the wire, as Dinesh Karthik won it for India with a last-ball six. This was India’s seventh Asia Cup title. India, led by Rohit Sharma in the absence of Virat Kohli, remained unbeaten in the tournament and beat arch-rival Pakistan twice.
Football
2018 Intercontinental Cup
India won the inaugural edition of the 2018 Hero Intercontinental Cup by defeating Kenya 2-0 in the final. The four-team tournament was organised by AIFF as part of the senior men's team's preparation for 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the other two teams being Chinese Taipei and New Zealand. India beat Chinese Taipei 5-0, Kenya 3-0 before losing 1-2 to New Zealand in the round robin stage.
Hockey
2018 Asian Men's Hockey Champions Trophy
India were declared joint winners of the 2018 Asian Hockey Champions Trophy after the final was abandoned due to bad weather conditions in Muscat, Oman. With this win, both teams have won the trophy three times each. India, who remained unbeaten in the tournament, scored 28 goals in the edition.
Kabaddi
Dubai Kabaddi Masters
India thrashed Iran 44-26 in the final to win the six-nation Kabaddi Masters Dubai. The three-time World Champions remained unbeaten in the tournament. In the opening encounter of the event, India beat arch rival Pakistan 36-20 to start on a grand note. Ajay Thakur captained the Indian side in Dubai.
Badminton
BWF World Tour Finals 2018
PV Sindhu created history this year by becoming the first Indian to win the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals tournament. In the final in Guangzhou, China, Sindhu beat her nemesis Nozomi Okuhara 21-19, 21-17. The result was a welcome win after Sindhu suffered numerous heartbreaks in the finals of tournaments this year. This was her maiden BWF World Tour Finals title.
2018 Asia Junior Championships
Seventeen-year-old Lakshya Sen became the first Indian player to win a gold in the boys’s singles event at the Asian Junior Championship after 53 years. In the final, Lakshya defeated the top seeded World No 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21-19, 21-18 to clinch the gold.
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