2009: A rollercoaster year for Indian sports

Amlan Chakraborty
New Delhi, Dec 30 (PTI) Saina Nehwal broke the Chinese
stronghold in badminton, Vijender Singh pushed the boxing
envelope further while Pankaj Advani became billiard's
babyface world champion but everything paled in comparison as
a cricket-crazy nation celebrated India's rise as the number
one Test playing team with unbridled verve and brio.

Elsewhere, old war horses Leander Paes and Mahesh
Bhupathi proved still enough competitiveness was left in their
ageing bodies, Somdev Devvarman emerged as the next best thing
in Indian tennis, Force India's rags-to-riches story warmed
the cockles of many hearts, while Indian golf witnessed the
rise of Gaganjeet Bhullar and C Muniyappa.
On the other side of the ledger, the lifters continued to
disgrace the country, hockey languished in turmoil, athletes
toiled in obscurity and Delhi's preparation for the 2010
Commonwealth Games hit the headlines for all the wrong
reasons.
Cricket remained the passion and religion of the Indian
populace which lapped up all three formats of the game.
It turned out to be quite an eventful year for Indian
cricket with the Indian Premier League proving to be a
gold-rush which drew players in droves while the cult of
Sachin Tendulkar completed two illustrious decades.
But the highlight of the year definitely was India's
emergence as the number one Test team after Mahendra Singh
Dhoni and his teammates beat Sri Lanka at home. (More) PTI AY
ANU


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