SPORT YEAR OVERALL 5

It broke a 29-race jinx and team owner Vijay Mallya
proved he had not been talking through the hat when he
promised points in 2009.

Fisichella soon joined Ferrari but Adrian Sutil kept up
the good work with his fourth place finish in Italy.
Indian football also showed signs of revival with
Baichung Bhutia and his men winning the Nehru Cup and South
Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championships and Praful
Patel taking charge of the national federation.
The highlight of Indian football was undoubtedly the
retaining of Nehru Cup International title after beating 2007
runners-up Syria via tie-breaker in August.
The tournament also saw Bhutia becoming the first Indian,
37th Asian and 152nd international footballer to have played
more than 100 matches for his country when he led the side in
a league match against Kyrgyzstan.
Away from media glare, the Indian archers made their
mark with the men's team winning the compound gold in the
Asian Championship, followed by young Deepika Kumari's Youth
World crown and mixed success in the recurve section.
For Indian hockey, 2009 was an year of significant ups
and downs.
While the team won the Azlan Shah Cup and finished
runners up in the Punjab Gold Cup, off-field incidents hogged
the limelight suggesting all was not well with the national
game. (More) PTI AY
ANU


The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments to this
message are intended for the exclusive
use of the addressee(s) and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged
information. If you are not the intended
recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please
notify the sender immediately and destroy
all copies of this message and any attachments contained in it.