We witnessed some scintillating sporting performances in 2018, with the Indian national cricket team maintaining their top spot in the ICC Test rankings, Novak Djokovic reaching the top spot and Mary Kom winning her sixth World Boxing Championship.
Here we give you some of the sportspersons and teams who reached the zenith in their fields in 2018:
India won 69 medals in the 2018 Asian Games, its highest tally so far. Indian athletes brought home 15 golds, 24 silver and 30 bronze medals. The medal winners include Neeraj Chopra, Swapna Barman, Indian rowing team, Jinson Johnson, Bridge team, Manjit Singh, and others.
On November 1, Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles claimed Gold in the Individual All-Around event in the 2018 gymnastics World Championships in Doha. Biles became the first woman to win four Individual All-Around titles at the gymnastics World Championships. In December, Biles was named the ESPN The Magazine's most dominant athlete of 2018.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic was in top form this year. Even though he lost at the French Open quarterfinals, he was seeded No.12 at the Wimbledon 2018. He went on to win the Wimbledon and US Open titles in 2018. At the ATP Finals, Djokovic confirmed his No.1 ranking as Rafael Nadal withdrew from the championship. He was way ahead in the ATP rankings at 9045 points, with Nadal in 2nd position with 7480 points.
Romania's Simona Halep is the No.1 on the WTA Tour. She maintained her No.1 ranking from October 2017. In 2018, Simona Halep won the French Open and was also the finalist in the Australian Open. She was the semifinalist in the Wimbledon and US Open. Despite her poor performance at the year-end tournament, she accrued enough points to secure the year-end No.1 ranking for the second successive year.
Lewis Hamilton became the first driver to surpass 3000 total career points. Hamilton finished the season with 11 pole positions, 11 race victories and a record-equalling 17 podium finishes.
Croatia's Luka Modric won the Ballon d'Or in 2018. Led by Luka Modric, Croatia reached the FIFA World Cup 2018 finals. Though defeated by France (2-4) in the finals, Croatia won many hearts throughout the world. Luka Modric was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament.
Magnificent Mary won her sixth World Boxing championships in 2018, becoming the only women's boxer to achieve this feat. Mary Kom won the World Boxing Championship in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2018. Mary Kom also won the Commonwealth Games in 2018. She is the No.1 ranked boser in the World Women's ranking light flyweight category.
The Indian cricket team maintained its top position in the ICC Test rankings. India is at No.1 position with 116 points, and England just behind with 108 points. Despite losing to England 1-4 in England, Team India defeated West Indies at home and remained on top of the rankings. India is ranked 2nd in the ODI rankings with 121 points, and England leads the chart with 126 points. In the T20 rankings, India is in 2nd spot with 126 points, and Pakistan leads the table with 138 points.
On October 24, 2018, Indian captain Virat Kohli became the fastest to reach 10,000 ODI runs, overtaking Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli reached this milestone in 205 innings while Sachin Tendulkar took 259. Kohli is now the fifth Indian batsman, and the 13th overall to achieve this feat. On August 5, Kohli displaced Steve Smith to become the No. 1 ranked Test batsman in the ICC Test rankings. During October, Kohli scored his 38th ODI century. He is second on the list of most centuries, after Tendulkar with 49 centuries. He remains on top of the ICC Test ranking with 920 points, marginally ahead of New Zealand's Kane Williamson's 913 points. Kohli is also No.1 in ODI rankings with 899 points. But Kohli is at No.14 in in the ICC T20 international rankings.
Norwegian Magnus Carlsen regained his World Chess Championship title in London on November 28, 2018. Magnus Carlsen remained at the top of the World Chess rankings with 2835 rating points, followed by US' Fabiano Caruana with 2832 rating points.
Wreslter Bajrang Punia had a good 2018. He won gold in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, 2018 Asian Games and a silver in 2018 World Wrestling Championships. For showing a good performance in the year 2018, he was named No.1 wrestler in the 65 kg category.
Japan's Kento Momota won Fuzhou China Open, Denmark Open, China Open, Japan Open, Indonesia Open, Malaysia Open, and also the World Badminton Championships. He did not participate in the 2016 Rio Olympics. He is the current World No.1 in men's badminton ranking.
Tai Tzu Ying from Chinese Taipei was ranked No.1 in the women's section for 67 consecutive weeks. She won the Asian Games gold medal and also the Asian Championships. In the Asian Games, she defeated both P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal to collect the gold medal. She also won Denmark Open, Chinese Taipei Open, Indonesia Open, Malaysia Open, All England Open and Indonesia Masters. She collected silver medals in French Open and Malaysia Masters.
