News Sports Other New leagues take off but controversies marred Indian sports in 2014

New leagues take off but controversies marred Indian sports in 2014

New Delhi: It was a year of many firsts for Indian sports with a number of new leagues taking off but controversy was not too far behind as a betting scandal among team principals in

Indian men's hockey took giant strides towards reclaiming its position as one of the biggies of the sport with an Asian Games gold after 16 years, finishing runners-up in the Commonwealth Games and a few other memorable victories against top-ranked teams but their momentum took a beating following chief coach Terry Walsh's resignation.

Indian sportspersons put up commendable performances in the Commonwealth Games held at Glasgow and Asian Games at Incheon.

India won 64 medals (15 gold, 30 silver and 19 bronze) in the Commonwealth Games and was placed fifth in medals tally.

India won 57 medals (11 gold, 10 silver and 36 bronze) in Incheon, finishing in the eighth position. Mary Kom punched her way to India's first women's boxing gold in Asian Games, defeating Kazakhstan's Zhaina Shekerbekova in the flyweight (48-51kg) final.

But the quadrennial event will be remembered more in the country for the incident surrounding women's boxer Sarita Devi. Furious after losing her semifinal bout to South Korea's Park Ji-na in the women's lightweight division, Sarita refused to accept her bronze medal, alleging biased judging and was later handed a one-year ban by the sport's world governing body.