Thaindian News

New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS) Indian sports had some adrenalin-rush moments in 2011. The second cricket World Cup crown, Formula One coming to New Delhi and Virender Sehwag’s record double ton in ODIs are some of the main sporting highlights of the year.

The following are some of the highs in Indian sports:

* Led-by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India lifted the World Cup at home after a gap of 28 years at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, April 2. For batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar it was a dream come true as he realised his childhood dream of laying his hand on the most coveted trophy in international cricket.

* Formula One, rated as the pinnacle of motorsports, zoomed into India at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida. Some 95,000 crowd turned up at the spectacular circuit on a bright Sunday, October 30, to cheer for home team Force India and India’s first Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan, who was racing for Hispania Racing Team.

* Virender Shewag proved again his menacing power in cricket and smashed a breathtaking record 219 off 149 balls while leading the side against the West Indies at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, December 8, for the highest individual score in ODIs. Sehwag also broke his mentor Sachin Tendulkar’s 200 record that was set in Gwalior, some 500 kms from Indore, in 2010.

* India’s badminton star Saina Nehwal had a mixed year but she ended it on a high by becoming the first Indian player to reach the singles final of the BWF World Superseries Finals. The Hyderabadi shuttler finished runners-up to World Champion Wang Yihan at the tournament in Liuzhou, China after beating the likes of Denmark’s Tine Baun and and former World No.1 One Wang Xin in earlier rounds.

* Indian tennis player Rohana Bopanna might have made his mind to team up with veteran Mahesh Bhupathi for 2012 but he alongwith with long time Pakistani doubles partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi did enough to add another feather in their caps. The erstwhile Indo-Pak Express won their maiden ATP Masters by winning the Paris event in November. They split soon after after winning three titles in the year.

* Shiva Keshavan brought a little known sport into limelight by winning the gold at the Asia Cup luge event in Nagano, Japan last week. The 30-year-old from Manali clocked 134.3 kmph at the Japan meet to set an Asian record and get India its first gold in an international winter
sports event.

* India entered the big league of boxing with Transtadia taking up a franchise in World Series of Boxing. Thirteen Indians including Akhil Kumar are part of Mumbai outfit, that is named Mumbai Fighters. The team also has four overseas recruit in Patrick Gallagher, Marko Calic, Paul Gene Koon and Trent Rawlings.

* Haryana boxer Vikas Krishan secured India’s second medal in the World Championships when he won a bronze in the 69 kg category at the 2011 edition in Baku, Azerbaijan. Vijender Singh is the first Indian to win a medal at the world meet. He won a bronze in 2009.

* The continuous rise in the performance of archers have given Indians hope of an Olympic medal in London. One of the biggest achievement for Indian archery came came this year when the recurve trio of Deepika Kumari, Chekrovolu Swuro and Laishram Bombayala Devi finished runners-up in the World Championships in Turin, Italy. Kumari went on to win her second individual gold in World Youth Archery.

(Bharat Sharma can be contacted at bharat.s@ians.in)

–Indo-Asia News Service
bs/abr/rn