Heart Stoppers and heart breakers. Here are two dozen most riveting moments in sport from 1980 as Sunday Mid-Day celebrates its 24th anniversary today.
1
PRAKASH PANACHE
Prakash Padukones 1980 All-England badminton championships win made history as it was a first ever by an Indian. Then, for all those parched for badminton success after Padukone hung up his racket, Pullela Gopichand won it in 1998.
2
HOCKEY HURRAH
India won the Olympic mens hockey gold at the 1980 Games. However, this achievement comes with a caveat, because nine teams including the top three teams at Montreal 76 had boycotted these Games. For the post-1950s generation, that medal is the only link to Indias golden past.
3
GOT IT, THE GAMES
The 1982 Asian Games came to New Delhi in a flurry of excitement. The well-organised Games broke Indias image of a nation that had fumbled its way hosting sports events. The 1982 Asian Games provided a springboard for the 2010 Commonwealth Games bid that India won last year.
4
CUP OF JOY
Indian cricket was never the same after Kapils Devils shocked Clive Lloyds West Indians on June 25 in 1983.
After flops in the 1975 and 1979 editions, a win was more dream than reality. But the world woke up to smell the curry! 5
HEART BREAK HURDLES
Her list of achievements in Indian athletics was longer than her name. Pilluvallukandi Thekkeparambil Usha (or P T Usha). Usha had made the 400m hurdles final at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. However, she was beaten to fourth place, missing a medal by 1/100th of a second.
6
ZO-L A
It is the most infamous shove in Olympic history. In the 3,000m womens finals at the 1984 Olympic Games, Zola Budd (running for Britain) and USs Mary Decker were involved in a collision. The great Decker fell on the track and had to be carried off weeping while a shaken Budd could only come in seventh.
7
SIX FIX
The Australasia Cup final in Sharjah, 1986 was heading towards yet another edge-of-the-seat climax. Yet, no one expected it to be decided the way it did when Javed Miandad whacked a Chetan Sharma full toss for a six. It was a shot that affected a nations psyche.
8
FORECAST SUNNY
After spending a decade and a half spanking and grinding bowling attacks into the dust zeal, Sunil Gavaskar became the first man to scale Peak 10,000, scoring that figure in Test cricket against Pakistan in Ahmedabad, 1986-87.
9
DIVE DRIVE
Every once in a while comes along a sportsman that looks to threaten the adage: nobody is greater than the sport and Greg Louganis is one of these.
The greatest diver in Olympic history, Louganis, hit his head on the springboard at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He, however, went on to win gold in the event cementing his place as the greatest ever.
10
Nothing NEST(Y)
Anthony Nesty of Surinam won gold in the swimming event at the 1988 Seoul Olympics becoming the only Olympic champion from his tiny South American country. Nesty made a statement for courage as he was visually impaired. The black swimmer also proved successful in an event dominated by whites.
11
POWELL AND GLORY
It was a record that stood by 23 years. It was time somebody broke it. Mike Powell did just that when he soared to 29 feet 4.5 inches in the mens long jump at the 1991 Tokyo world championships sending Bob Beamons 29 feet 2.5 inches leap into orbit.
12
DAVIS-TATING WIN
Leander Paes and Ramesh Krishnan won the Davis Cup tie against France, beating the nation in their own backyard 3-2 to put India into the World Group in 1993. It is an achievement unparalleled in Indian tennis.
13
KNIFE STRIFE
A mentally unsound man called Gunther Parche stabbed Monica Seles in the back in 1993 at a Hamburg tennis tourney. Though the then World No 1 survived the incident physically, her spirit and soul were never the same.
14
OF BALL AND GATT
Mike Gatting was no bunny with the bat. But when Shane Warne pitched outside leg stump to hit his off-stump, Gatting looked as bewildered as a little boy lost in the forest. He had just been a victim of the ball of the century.
15
SENNA-SATION
Aryton Senna sent the racing world into mourning when he was killed in a crash during a Formula One race in 1994 in Italy when his car hit a concrete wall. The Brazilian was only 34.
16
BRONZE AGE
An Olympic medal is always extra special and Leander Paes will hold his Olympic bronze close to his lion heart.
Paes watched the Indian flag go up as he stood on the podium at the 1996 Olympics with Andre Agassi (gold) and Sergi Bruguera (silver).
17
IN A FIX
The match-fixing scandal in cricket that broke out in the late 90s exposed the warts in the popular game. Outlook magazine brought crickets wicket, wicked ways to the public eye. The number of skeletons took on graveyard-like proportions.
18
DRUG PRICE
Florence Griffith-Joyners death in 1998 when the sprinter was 38 only added fuel to all that fire about the sprinter taking dope. Flo-Jos achievements were phenomenal, her 10.49 in the 100m is a record that may not be broken for a decade still.
19
DESERT STORM
Sachin Tendulkars back-to-back hundreds in Sharjah, 1998 only underlined the fact that he was the most destructive one-day batsman in the world. Hardly did the Australians recover from his epic 142 in the previous game, than they were blitzed by another hurricane in the final.
20
SPINNING WINNING
If Warne did great things for the revival of spin, Anil Kumble played a critical role in steamrolling Indias opponents at home in the early 1990s.
By the end of the decade, he claimed ten wickets in an innings against Pakistan on a wintry day in New Delhi, 1999.
21
WEIGH TO GO
Weightlifting is not really on the Indian publics radar, but Karnam Malleswari changed all that with a bronze in the womens 69 kg category at the 2000 Sydney Games.
22
LAXMAN DEKHA
You cant win a Test match after following on unless someone comes up with what seems to be outside the realms of possibility. V V S Laxman did just that with his 281 and turning the series on its head.
23
LEAP OF FAITH
Anju Bobby George is the only Indian to win a medal at the World Track & Field Championships. She leapt to long jump bronze in Paris in 2003, earning her stripes as one of the most talented long jumpers in the world.
24
ON FIRE
A silver in shooting at the 2004 Athens Olympics saved India from total ignominy. It also spoke volumes about the steel in Rajyavardhan Rathore. An unheralded shooter, he was not hyped up like the other shooters. Yet, he proved that in sports delivering on the day matters.
Compiled by Hemal Ashar and Clayton Murzello
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