The calendar year of 2023 has been a cherishable year for the underdogs of the sports worldwide. Here are the 10 most memorable and best dark horses sports had this year:
1. Afghanistan (Cricket): Afghansitan completed their best cricketing year as they registered their best ever World Cup campaign with 4 wins, and the most memorable one being against England as they defeated the then reigning-world champions by 69 runs. They also defeated Pakistan by 8 wickets and with both of these victories, they also registered their first ever ODI win against these sides.
2. Netherlands (Cricket): The Dutch have a history of causing major upsets in the past but 2023 has been really memorable for them. Not only they ousted former two-time world champions West Indies and in-form Zimbabwe in the qualification stages, they defeated one of the hot favourites in South Africa and Asian giants Bangladesh at their most familiar Indian ground, Eden Gardens, in the ODI World Cup.
3. Newcastle (Football): Ever since their Saudi takeover in the ownership, the fortunes of the English Premier League (EPL) side have changed drastically as not only they qualified for the UEFA Champions League (UCL), they have been a sensation this season as well. Many labelled them as one-season wonder but Newcastle laid down a major statement of the beginning of their dynasty when they thwarted PSG 4-1 in the group stages of the UCL. Newcastle have been playing well in the Premier League and are in contention of a silverware as well this season.
4. Napoli (Football): Napoli are the story of the 2023 football calendar year as they won the Scudetto (Serie A) in a dominating fashion and also had a really impressive UCL campaign before they were ousted in the quarter final stages by fellow country club AC Milan. The Italian club have previously come close of winning the Serie A but the 2022-23 squad has been nothing but a memorable fairytale for the Naples-based club. Napoli, previously, have been way past their prime, which was way back in the late 80's when the iconic Diego Maradona led them to domestic and European glory.
5. Sean O Malley (UFC): Sean O Malley has been one of the best stories of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in recent times. The American is the reigning, defending, unndisputed Bantamweight Champion of the UFC. His rise up the ranks has been meteoric and currently sits 7th in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings. He knocked out Aljamain Sterling to win the Bantamweight Championship at the UFC 292.
6. Sean Strickland (UFC): Sean Strickland, ever since his UFC debut in 2014, never really had a big push and has earned his way past all the critics. 2023 proved to be the American mixed martial artist's year as he not only earned a title shot, but also ended up defeating arguably one of the top 3 greatest middleweight UFC fighters of all-time in Israel Adesanya to win the Middleweight Championship to become the reigning, defending, undisputed champion at UFC 293.
7. Alexa Grasso (UFC): Alexa Grasso scriped history this year as she became the first ever Mexican women to be a UFC women's champion in any division. Ever since her loss to Carla Esparza in 2019, she has went undefeated for the past 4 years and ended up defeating arguably the greatest Women's flyweight champion in Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 285 to become the reigning, defending, undisputed champion.
8. Denver Nuggets (Basketball): The National Basketball Association (NBA) side has been a dark horse for past couple of season but the dominance of giants Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors, and Los Angles Lakers have kept them at the bay but the 2022-23 NBA season came as a blessing for the Western Conference side as they not only dominated the whole NBA season, but were also flawless in NBA play-offs to go on to win the NBA title. The ever-consistent Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray did the bulk of scoring as they won their first ever NBA title.
9. Marketa Vondrousova (Lawn Tennis): The Czech Republic lawn tennis player grabbed the headlines as she became the first Women ever to win a grand slam single's title being unseeded walking in to the tournament. She won the Wimbledon 2023 by defeating the hot favourite Ons Jabeur and later, grabbed her best ever ranking when she entered the Top 10 list for the year 2023.
10. Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (Badminton): The dynamic Indian duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have been a great sensation and it was just a matter of time these dark horses were about to become the main talk and 2023 proved to be their year as they scripted history by becoming the first ever Indians (singles or doubles, men's or women's) to win Asian Games badminton gold medal.