Nagpur: The year 2024 belonged to the sportspersons of the city who made their mark across all corners of the globe. While Divya Deshmukh led the charge of Nagpur’s sportspersons, shuttler Malvika Bansod regained her momentum and clinched victories in a handful of international tournaments as paddler Jennifer Varghese won medals at the World Youth […]
While Divya Deshmukh led the charge of Nagpur’s sportspersons, shuttler Malvika Bansod regained her momentum and clinched victories in a handful of international tournaments as paddler Jennifer Varghese won medals at the World Youth Table Tennis Championships before dominating the national circuit.
New Year Special
City athletes Nayan Sarde, Adarsh Bhure and young basketball players Siya Deodhar and Gunjan Mantri gave an improved performance and earned the India cap in various international tournaments.
DIVYA DESHMUKH
Within months of becoming the World Junior chess champion, Nagpur’s 18-year-old golden girl and Woman Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh not only became the Junior No.1 ranked player of the world, but also graduated to the senior level and helped Indian senior women’s team to clinch the historic Olympiad gold medal. At the Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, Divya was the lone Indian master to play all the 11 rounds, remaining unbeaten throughout. With 8 wins and 3 draws, Divya played pivotal role in India’s title triumph on her way to amass 9.5 points. With a performance rating of 2586Elo, Divya won an individual gold medal on Board 3 and when Indian women’s team emerged champion, the Nagpur girl brought home double gold medals — a unique record of chess Olympiad. With this rare record the 18-year-old junior successfully graduated to the senior level and became the only Nagpur sportsperson to achieve this historic milestone.
MALVIKA BANSOD
The year was a story of fight-back of Nagpur’s badminton queen Malvika Bansod. In 2022 Malvika became India’s badminton sensation when she beat Saina Nehwal and soon broke into the top-30 mark in World rankings. In 2023 she was detected with dengue followed by typhoid and her journey to compete with the world’s top-20 women players abruptly came to a halt while she missed the Paris Olympics bus. But Malvika — the fighter — driven by her indomitable spirit, rose again to regain the lost momentum and hopes to represent India at the 2028 Olympics. Having won the 2024 US Open, Malvika went to stun experienced and higher ranked shuttlers of the world and by becoming only the third Indian player after Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu to enter the quarterfinals of China Open before winning silver medal in the Hylo Open in Denmark, the Nagpur girl is back on track with a memorable year in 2024.
JENNIFER VARGHESE
Nagpur’s table tennis prodigy Jennifer Varghese continued to remain consistent in winning medals at the (WTT) World Youth Table Tennis Championships in various age categories. By the end of the year, the 16-year-old Jennifer took her first step towards graduating to the senior level when she won women’s singles bronze medal during the Senior National Ranking TT tournament in Goa.
