Kathmandu. As the English New Year 2025 began on Wednesday, 2024 was a fruitful year in terms of world sports. This year, the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup got a new winner. Three continental football tournaments, Euro 2024, Copa America and Africa Cup of Nations, also got winners.
The Olympics and Paralympics held in the French capital, Paris, were special competitions for 2024. Seven of the major competitions are included here.
Africa Cup of Nations (January 13 – February 11)
The Africa Cup of Nations, which is Africa’s continental football competition, got a new champion last February. Ivory Coast won the title. Ivory Coast, which is also the host of the tournament, won the title for the third time by defeating Nigeria 2-1 in the final.
The tournament was supposed to be held in 2023. However, the schedule was changed to January due to a clash with European clubs. A total of 24 teams participated in the 34th edition of the tournament. South Africa finished third and DR Congo finished fourth.
ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup (January 19 – February 11)
A total of 16 teams participated in the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup held in South Africa. The Nepali youth cricket team was also selected in it. Australia won the 15th edition of the tournament on February 11 by defeating India by three wickets in the final. Australia became the champion for the fourth time.
In the group stage of the tournament, Nepal competed against India, New Zealand and Afghanistan. Despite losing to India and New Zealand, Nepal made it to the Super 6 with a thrilling one-wicket win over Afghanistan. In the Super 6, Nepal lost in all its matches.
The Twenty20 World Cup held in 2024 is even more special for Nepal. When Nepal ascended to the stage of the Twenty20 World Cup after 10 years, the tournament was organized in the West Indies and the United States. A total of 20 teams participated in this edition.
India, who won the tournament, defeated South Africa by seven runs in the final. Nepal, which was in Group ‘D’, lost in three matches. Nepal lost to the Netherlands by 6 wickets, South Africa by one run, and Bangladesh by 21 runs in the group stage matches. The match between Nepal and Sri Lanka was called off due to rain.
The 17th edition of the European Championship, considered the second largest in world football, was held in Germany. A total of 24 teams participated in this European continental football competition.
Spain became the Euro champion for the fourth time by defeating England 2-1 in the final held on July 14. Nico Williams and Mikel Oyarzabal scored goals for Spain in the final held in Germany. England’s Cole Palmer scored a goal back.
Copa America (June 20 – July 14)
Another football event that is considered a parallel competition to the European Championship is the Copa America. The host country of its 48th edition, which is a South American continental competition, was the United States. A total of 16 teams from North and South America competed in the competition.
Argentina won the title for the second time in a row, defeating Colombia in the final held at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Lautaro Martinez scored the decisive goal for Argentina in the final. Before that, Argentina had also won the 47th edition held in 2021.
Olympics (July 26 – August 11)
The Olympics, considered the largest and most prestigious competition in world sports, was also successfully concluded last year. The competition, held in the capital of France, was named Paris-2024.
204 ‘teams’ from around the world participated in this sports mega-event. It included nations, Olympic refugee teams and individual neutral players.
A total of 10,714 players participated in the competition, which was held until August 11. 329 events in 32 sports were completed. The United States topped the Paris Olympics with 40 gold, 44 silver and 42 bronze medals. China came in second with 40 gold, 27 silver and 24 bronze medals. Japan won 20 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze medals, securing the third place.
Seven players from Nepal participated in the competition. The achievements of all these players were limited to participation. Nepali athletes included Shantu Shrestha in table tennis, Pris Dahal in badminton, Sushmita Nepal in shooting, Alexander Shah and Duwana Lama in swimming, Manita Pradhan in judo and Santoshi Shrestha in athletics.
The Paralympics are an Olympic event where athletes with disabilities compete. The competition held last year included a total of 549 events in 22 sports. 4,463 athletes from 170 ‘teams’ from around the world participated.
China topped the Paralympic medal table. China won a total of 220 medals, including 94 gold, 76 silver and 50 bronze. Britain, in second place, won 49 gold, 44 silver and 31 bronze. The United States came third, winning 36 gold, 42 silver and 27 bronze.Three athletes from Nepal participated in the Paralympics. Out of the three, Taekwondo’s Palesha Govardhan won a bronze medal for Nepal. This is also the first medal won by Nepal in the history of the Olympics. Apart from Palesha, Taekwondo’s Bharat Singh Mahata and Swimming’s Bhim Bahadur Kumal competed in the Paralympics. Agency