Shooting stars lift Delhi sport in a year of contrasts

The largest crowds to throng the historical Feroz Shah Kotla stadium this year gathered to witness two sporting legends—one an Indian cricket icon and the other an Argentine footballing great. In January, the stadium saw Virat Kohli return to the Delhi side after 12 years to feature in a Ranji Trophy fixture. Later in December, the venue was again the centre of intense public interest when Lionel Messi — along with his Inter Miami teammates Luis Suárez and Rodrigo De Paul — visited the cricket stadium during his highly publicised tour of India.

An expectant crowd of approximately 12,000 arrived early at the gates to watch Kohli execute his trademark cover drive, though many were left disappointed as the master batsman was dismissed cheaply. Despite this individual setback, the Delhi side managed to defeat Railways within three days in the four-day encounter. In contrast, a much larger crowd of over 40,000 fans gathered to catch a glimpse of Messi in December. The Argentine entertained the capacity crowd by kicking footballs into the stands and playfully showcasing the rich skill set that has defined his career.

Narrow misses

Incidentally, football – and shooting — emerged as one of the disciplines where Delhi showed significant promise this calendar year, while the National Capital’s cricket teams largely disappointed. In the senior national football championship for the Santosh Trophy, Delhi performed creditably but ultimately saw their campaign fall short of the final round.

On December 23, the Delhi side defeated Bihar 2-0 to register their second win in three matches in Group C, with their third fixture ending in a draw. This victory briefly propelled Delhi to the top of the group standings with seven points. However, their stay at the summit lasted only a few hours, as Railways defeated Jharkhand that day. Railways topped the pool to progress to the final round on account of a superior goal difference. While both Railways and Delhi finished level on seven points, the former advanced by scoring 13 goals without conceding any, whereas Delhi scored 10 and conceded one.

Under the current tournament rules, only the toppers of the nine groups advance to the final round, scheduled for January. These group winners will join the host state, Assam, along with defending champions West Bengal and runners-up Kerala, in a 12-team final round to be hosted across Dhakuakhana and Dhemaji.

Focus on youth

Anuj Gupta, the president of the Delhi Soccer Association (DSA), expressed satisfaction with the improvement shown by the local sides, though he advocated for changes to the Santosh Trophy format. “At the youth level, Delhi is currently one of the strongest teams in India. Overall, Delhi’s performances in various tournaments have been great this year, and opponents now fear playing against us. These results are a direct consequence of the youth system we have cultivated over the last three years, providing children with a higher volume of matches,” Gupta told Patriot.

In the Sub-Junior Boys’ National Football Championship, Delhi successfully reached the final. However, in the title clash held in November, West Bengal proved too strong, securing a 3-0 victory at the Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Football Stadium in Amritsar to claim their record-extending 14th title.

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Shaji Prabhakaran, a Delhi-based executive committee member of the Asian Football Confederation and former DSA president, also noted the upward trajectory. “However, the primary challenge in Delhi remains the weather and severe pollution during the winter months. This causes significant disruption as children are often prevented from playing in open spaces,” Prabhakaran observed. He emphasised that the city needs even more activities to sustain this growth, noting that increased participation would naturally lead to a larger talent pool and better national-level results.

Format concerns

Regarding the Santosh Trophy, Gupta noted that Delhi fielded a largely young team, with an average age of approximately 21. He pointed out that the current format resulted in several traditionally strong teams, such as Manipur, Mizoram, and Goa, failing to qualify for the final round. “The ideal format would involve fewer groups with more teams in each pool, ensuring that teams get to play more matches,” he suggested, noting that the previous format offered five matches per team compared to the current three.

Gunning for greatness

Throughout the year, Delhi produced a new crop of shooters who brought international glory to the country. Rashmika Sahgal clinched the junior women’s 10m air pistol gold with a commanding performance at the 16th Asian Shooting Championship in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, in August. The 17-year-old’s score of 241.9 points placed her a significant 4.3 points ahead of the silver medallist, Han Seunghyun of South Korea. Sahgal also secured a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team junior event. She continued her stellar run at the New Delhi Junior World Cup in September, bagging gold in the mixed team event and silver in the individual junior women’s category.

Other Delhi shooters also excelled in Shymkent; 18-year-old Naamya Kapoor secured silver in the 25m pistol women’s junior event, while 15-year-old Addya Katyal captured silver and bronze in the women’s trap junior and trap mixed team junior categories. In the men’s section, Harsh Gupta contributed to the team gold in the 25m standard pistol event alongside Gurpreet Singh and Amanpreet Singh.

Bhavya Tripathi also added to Delhi’s shooting medal haul when she won gold in trap junior women’s team event and silver in trap junior mixed team event in Kazakhstan.

Sizzling greens

In October, interest shifted to the Delhi Golf Club as several of the world’s leading golfers competed for a record $4 million prize purse, the richest ever offered in India. While Englishman Tommy Fleetwood eventually clinched the trophy, the standout Indian performance came from Delhi’s Shiv Kapur (43), who finished 32nd. Kapur, a four-time winner on the Asian Tour, improved in the final round to finish with a nine-under par 279, though it was not enough to challenge the top of the leaderboard at the Lodhi Course.

The event featured a star-studded field including world No. 2 Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, and Shane Lowry. Out of the 26 Indians in the field of 138, only five managed to make the cut. Meanwhile, the Kapil Dev-led Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) launched ‘72 The League,’ a franchise-based competition scheduled for February. This development was viewed as a direct challenge to the previously launched Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL), leading to the suspension of players who appeared in the IGPL, a matter which subsequently moved to the Delhi High Court.

Combat sports

In wrestling, Delhi continued to deliver strong performances, though it finished as runner-up to Haryana almost consistently. At the senior Federation Cup held in Jalandhar in March, Delhi finished second in the freestyle team rankings with 165 points, behind Haryana’s 220. In the women’s category, Delhi finished third. The pattern repeated at the Under-20 National Wrestling Championship in Kota in April, where Delhi secured second place across the freestyle, Greco-Roman, and women’s categories. Individually, wrestler Ankush remained a consistent performer for the Capital throughout the year.

Overall, while 2025 offered limited collective silverware for Delhi’s major teams – hockey slipped further during the year — the individual brilliance of its shooters and the resilience of its junior footballers provided enough reasons for optimism as the year drew to a close.