 "From Asian Cup qualification to Chess World Cup, how 2025 has been a dream year for women’s sport in India")
The year 2025 has been a mixed bag for Indian sport – from the highs of Neeraj Chopra finally breaching the 90 metre mark for the first time in his career to Indian football sinking to new lows with each passing day.
The stocks, however, are a lot higher when it comes to women’s sport in the country, and the kind of ground-breaking achievements witnessed in the first seven months of the year not only gives hope to the average Indian sports fan, it is doing its bit to inspire a lot more girls across the country into becoming an athlete.
From India qualifying for the Women’s Asian Cup on merit for the first time ever in football to an all-Indian final at the Women’s Chess World Cup and a historic double on English soil in cricket, it has been quite the roller-coaster ride so far.
Women’s football thrives despite the system
The Indian women’s football team appears immune to the All India Football Federation’s mismanagement that has greatly affected the men’s team. The Blue Tigresses, after all, recently qualified for the AFC Asian Cup that will be held in Australia next year on pure merit – and not on an invitational basis or as the host nation, which was the case in its nine past appearances in the continental tournament.
Crispin Chhetri’s side achieved this monumental feat with a clinical qualifying campaign in Thailand, where India won four out of four to finish top of Group B – beating the host nation 2-1 and scoring a combined 22 goals without conceding one against Mongolia, Iraq and Timor-Leste.
With such incredible performances in the qualifying campaign, one can’t wait to find out just how far they go in the main event Down Under next year.
Divya and Humpy make chess history in Batumi
Just as historic from the Indian perspective is the Women’s Chess World Cup in Batumi, Georgia, the prestigious event offering three spots for next year’s Candidates Tournament. Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli was the only Indian to have made it as far as the quarter-finals in the previous two editions.
This year, half of the quarter-finalists hail from the country widely seen as the newest superpower in the world of chess. Of the quartet of Grandmasters Harika, Koneru Humpy, R Vaishali and International Master Divya Deshmukh – two ended up going all the way to the final from the last-8, with Divya and Humpy set to battle it out in the grand finale that gets underway on Saturday.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsWhat has made this tournament even more special for Indian chess are some of the incredible results along the way. From Divya stunning two Chinese GMs ranked inside the top-10 (Zhu Jiner and Tan Zhongyi ) to fellow IM Vantika Agrawal pulling off a spectacular victory over former women’s world champion Anna Ushenina in the second round.
The incredible result has ensured at least two Indians will be challenging for a shot at the Women’s World Championship that is currently in the possession of China’s Ju Wenjun.
Harmanpreet and Co achieve a first in England
And onto the national religion that is cricket, the Women in Blue aren’t too far behind either. Nearly a year after their disappointing T20 World Cup campaign that nearly resulted in Harmanpreet Kaur losing captaincy, the Indian women’s cricket team has achieved a rare double on English soil – winning the T20I as well as ODI legs of their recently-concluded tour to walk away with both trophies in their possession.
What was especially impressive was India clinching the T20I series series with a game to spare , their first series win in the format on English soil. And with Harman and Co also triumphing in the 50-over format, they certainly have sent out a warning to all the other teams ahead of the ODI World Cup on home soil later this year.
Anahat and Sakshi offer hope for the future
Last, but certainly not the least, the future of Indian sport also appears bright following Anahat Singh and Shreyashi Joshi’s standout achievements in squash and roller skating respectively. Rising star Anahat, after all, capped off a stellar performance at the World Junior Squash Championships in Cairo, Egypt to win bronze .
Even more historic was Shreyasi winning double gold at the Asian Roller Skating Championships in South Korea – in the Inline Freestyle – Classic Slalom and Battle Slalom categories respectively.
The year is far from over, and there’s plenty of sporting action left to be witnessed. And the manner in which the ladies have been summiting one peak after another certainly gives the country hope of continued success in the near future.
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