Watch: The best moments of Indian sport from 2015
Sania Mirza (with Martina Hingis) spun sheer magic, but there were several other bright spots in the year.
It would be fair to say that for India, 2015 in sports belong to the Indian-Swiss duo of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. Over a span of ten months, Hingis and Mirza were on an unbeatable run, notching up nine doubles titles and being pronounced the Women’s Doubles World Champions.
While we could pick any of their nine triumphs to showcase, here's the Wimbledon final (video above) where they recovered from being 5-2 down in the final set to clinch the title 5-7, 7-6 (4), 7-5, and prove just how good they are.
Indian cricket had an up and down season, but their World Cup performance, where they reached the semi-finals, probably exceeded most expectations – if not hopes. The cricket team's best moment in the year came in their World Cup campaign when they dispatched Pakistan in a comprehensive win at Adelaide in February to make it six wins over their arch-rivals in World Cups.
Both the India men’s and women’s hockey teams had impressive years. The women’s team clinched qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics after 36 years, thanks to a fifth-place finish in the Hockey World League semi-finals in Belgium.
The men’s team did even better. At the Hockey World League finals, the team defeated Netherlands to clinch the bronze at a global hockey event after a gap of 33 years.
Gymnast Dipa Karmakar’s journey this year was inspirational. At the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, she became the first ever Indian to qualify for the final stage and finished fifth.
And finally, there was golfer Anirban Lahiri. In a year of highs, Lahiri achieved two European Tour wins and finished fifth at the 2015 PGA Championship in Whistling Straits in the US, setting a record for the best finish by an Indian professional golfer at a major event. He also became the first player from India to be named to the squad for the 2015 Presidents Cup.