SPORTS NEWS OF THE YEAR

Tuesday, January 13th 2009
Ronaldo named world footballer of the year
Manchester United and star player of Portugal Christiano Ronaldo is the FIFA world footballer for the year 2008.Beating of competition from 2007 winner Kaka (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Fernando Torres (Spain), and Xavi (Spain) Ronaldo bagged the prestigious tag by FIFA. Ronaldo also holds the prestigious Ballon d'Or for the European footballer of the year. With the FIFA accolade Ronaldo becomes the second Portuguese player after Louis Figo (2001) to bag the title. 

Monday, February 02nd 2009
Federer slammed by Nadal at the Australian open
Number one seeded Rafael Nadal beat No.2 Roger Federer (7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2) to win his sixth grand slam title at the Australian open. Rafael Nadal is the first Spaniard to win the Australian open. India had news to cheer as Mahesh Bhupathi & Sania Mirza became the first all-Indian pair to win the mixed doubles slam title. They beat Andy Ram (Israel) & Nathalia Dechy (France) 6-3, 6-1.

Wednesday, March 25th 2009
IPL to be in South Africa
The second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held in South Africa this year. The deal was signed and announced after IPL chairman Lalit Modi met cricket South African CEO Gerald Majola in Johannesburg. Six cities that have been identified for the tournament are Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Pretoria, East London and Durban. The League will now begin from April 18th.

Wednesday, April 08th 2009
India clinch a 1-0 win in NZ test series
India's prospect of a certain-win on the final match of the New Zealand test series was foiled due to rain and the match was abandoned due to rain on the final day with New Zealand reeling at 281 for 8 in their second innings and chasing a mammoth target of 617. However India clinched a 1-0 series win as they were in the lead due to the team's stellar performance in an earlier match. The 2009 series win in New Zealand has come after a gap of 41 years, with the last series win over New Zealand in their home ground coming in 1968. Opening batsman Gautam Gambhir was the top performing batsmen of the tour. 

Monday, April 13th 2009
India wins Azlan Shah Hockey title after 13 years
The Indian hockey team won the Azlan Shah cup after a gap of thirteen years after beating the home team Malaysia 3-1 at a match held on Sunday at the Ipoh stadium, Malaysia. The tournament was a five-nation event, with the other three participating countries being New Zealand, Argentina and Pakistan. This is India's fourth Sultan Azlan Shah title in Malaysia. Previous victories were in 1985, 1991 & 1995.

Monday, May 25th 2009
Deccan Chargers win IPL 2009
Deccan Chargers won the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by six runs in a pulsating final at the New Wanderers on Sunday. Deccan Chargers 143/6 in 20 overs (Herschelle Gibbs 53 not out, Andrew Symonds 33; Anil Kumble 4-16, Vinay Kumar 2-30). Royal Challengers Bangalore 137/9 in 20 overs (Roelof van der Merwe 32, Ross Taylor 27; Pragyan Ojha 3-28, Andrew Symonds 2-18). 

Monday, June 01st 2009
Rafael Nadal defeated at the French open
Tennis player Rafael Nadal, world number one suffered his first ever defeat at the French Open in a loss to Sweden's Robin Soderling for 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 7-6(7-2). This defeat breaks Nadal's record of 31-unbeaten matches. The French Open which began on May 27th will conclude on June 7th at Roland Garros, Paris. Robin Soderling will now play against Nikolay Davydenko at the quarter finals.

Sunday, June 07th 2009
It was Federer and Kuznetsova at the French open 2009
In what was an all Russian finals for the women's singles titles at the French Open on Saturday, Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Dinara Safina 6-4,6-2. This is Svetlana's second grand slam title. In the Finals of the men's singles at the French Open world no.2 Roger Federer was back with a win against Robin Soderling 6-1, 7-6, 6-4. After clinching the French Open title he has tied with Pete Sampras for the number of titles won, this one being his 14th major title. Federer also became the sixth man to win all four grand slam championships on Sunday. The French open finals for men's doubles saw an age defying win by Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy who defeated Dick Norman and Wesley Moodie at 3-6,6-3,6-2.

Monday, July 06th 2009
Federer wins epic final at Wimbledon 2009
Wimbledon 2009 saw Roger Federer taking the men's singles title this time making it his 15th grand slam. Federer outlasted Andy Roddick for his sixth Wimbledon Championship in a marathon match that went to 16-14 in the fifth set at the finals on Sunday. Roger Federer served a career high 50 aces and overcame the American 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 to break the record of major titles he shared with Pete Sampras. The match ended after 4 hours, 16 minutes of play. 

Monday, August 17th 2009
Lin Dan clinches Badminton hat trick
Badminton Olympic champion Lin Dan clinched his third successive title after having defeated his compatriot from China Chen Jin at the singles finals of the BWF World championships in Hyderabad on Sunday. The Chinese won the title with a convincing score of 21-18, 21-16. He is now only the second player in the world to hold the Olympic and the world titles at the same time. 

Friday, August 21st 2009
Usain bolt's 200m record
The IAAF Athletics World Championships being held at Berlin have witnessed two records in the men's 100m and 200m race. Usain Bolt the Jamaican athlete is the one to have achieved a feat of setting a world record of 19.19 sec for the 200m race in the finals on Thursday. Usain Bolt known for the stir he created at the Beijing Olympics with his commendable performance on the track.

Tuesday, September 08th 2009
Advani wins World Professional Billiards
Pankaj Advani beat Mike Russell at the Northern Snooker center in Leeds to win his maiden World Professional Billiards title. The Bangalore boy scripted 2030-1253 win over Mike Russell. Advani is the second Indian after Geet Sethi to have won the Professionals title.

Monday, September 14th 2009
US Open 2009
At the US open 2009 which has been on from August 31 saw quite a few surprise wins. In the US men's singles semi finals Rafael Nadal was ousted by Juan Marten del Potro and the finals will see Roger Federer take on del Potro. In the US open women's singles finals Kim Clijsters of Belgium won tby defeating Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 7-5, 6-3. Kim Clijsters had earlier defeated Serena Williams in the semis. Leander Paes and his partner Lukas Dlouhy won the US Open men's doubles title, defeating Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in their final match at Flushing Meadows.

Monday, December 07th 2009
Team India becomes No.1 
As per the recently released ICC test ranking, team India has notched up the top position after their win against Sri Lanka in a test series on Sunday. The Indian cricket team ascended to top of the ICC rankings with the 2-0 win. The victory was also marked by some outstanding performances by Virendra Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. The test rankings done on rating points are calculated based on matches and series played on a three year cut of rule.