The year 2017 was no less than a delight for sports fanatics across the world. Especially in India, where women sportspersons hogged the limelight throughout the year. Whether cricket, badminton, athletics or any other sport, the Indian eves got global recognition. They emerged as superheroes as their efforts and hard work made our country proud.
Starting with the 2016 Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu, the 22-year-old lady shuttler from Hyderabad had a superb season as she won the India Open Superseries followed by the Victor Korea Open Superseries title. However, she couldn’t end the year with another gold as she lost to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in Dubai open’s final and bagged the Silver medal.
Saina Nehwal, on the other hand, bagged the bronze medal at the World Badminton Championship and even beat Sindhu to win the 82nd national badminton championship.
In cricket, the Indian women’s cricket team emerged as the favourites ever since they played the final of the 2017 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup. Players like Mithali Raj and Smriti Mandhana became household names post the tournament.
All these achievements earned them popularity not only in India but across the globe as well. Their following increased exponentially as more people spent time Googling them. Before 2018 begins, let’s find out who was most popular on the internet globally.
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After putting all the above-mentioned sports personalities in the popularity meter, we came up with exciting results and here they are:
The above graphs show that PV Sindhu is the overall winner. According to Google Trends, she is the most searched female sports personality in India followed by in the United States of America, France and other South Asian countries.
Indian women skipper Mithali Raj stood second in the popularity check. Surprisingly, the Indian captain was most searched in Nepal and Saudi Arabia.
It’s a tough competition between Mithali Raj and Saina Nehwal, who stands third on this list. If we see the region-wise search, then Saina is the most followed sports star from India worldwide. She is the most searched in Pakistan, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Canada, Brazil, Iran, Australia and New Zealand.
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However, that is not the case when we take the average search results into account.
At last, it’s Smriti Mandhana who is the least searched personality among the four. However, it should be noticed that she topped the charts in the month July when she was playing the World Cup in England and became an overnight sensation with her century against West Indies.
Well, these were the results based on the Google Trends of the last 12 months. But all the above-mentioned sports stars are equally honoured across the country as they have been inspiring the young generation. We wish them a very happy new year!
