Sports
2010 was a year that witnessed it all in the sporting arena. We saw history being made and records being broken. We had match fixing scandals and new football champions, an F1 Championship that went down to the wire and also a Commonwealth Games that almost never happened.
The year began with Roger Federer winning his 16th Grand Slam title after beating Andy Murray in the final of the Australian Open. Angola hosted the African Cup of Nations which Egypt won, but the tournament was marred by an attack on the Togo team bus by gunmen resulting in the death of 3 players. Canada won the Winter Olympics held at Vancouver but February will be remembered for Sachin Tendulkar’s historic double century against the South Africans in an ODI at Gwalior.
March saw IPL 3 kick off amidst controversy while it also marked Tiger Woods’ return to the golf circuit. Chelsea completed a double by winning the Premiership and the FA Cup while Inter Milan went a step ahead and won the Treble including the Champions League. May also saw England win their first ICC Trophy beating Australia in the final of the World T20 Championship.
Nadal won his fifth French Open title in June and the Wimbledon in July while the SW 19 also played host to the longest ever Tennis match in history with John Isner and Nicolas Mahut battling it over 11 hours in a first round match, that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.
The most popular sporting event in the world – The FIFA World Cup kicked off in South Africa and after a month of non-stop action gave birth to new World Champions Spain. July also brought an end to the career of the most successful bowler in Test history, Muttiah Muralitharan, who went out on a high after picking up his 800th wicket in his last Test.
The gentleman’s game hit an all time low in August with Pakistani pace bowlers, Mohammed Aamir and Mohammed Asif, along with their skipper Salman Butt were embroiled in a spot fixing controversy.
Rafael Nadal capped off a wonderful year by winning his third major and becoming only the sixth player in history to secure a career Grand Slam after he won the U.S Open beating Novak Djokovic in the final. Andrew Flintoff, after a series of continuous injuries, finally announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. October finally saw Tiger Woods lose his spot as the planet number one golfer after 381 weeks at the top while India successfully hosted the Commonwealth Games, amidst the corruption and mismanagement that had marred the buildup to the Games.
After a strong showing in the CWG, where they picked up 101 medals, they also won 14 Golds in the Asian Games held at Guangzhou, their best ever haul. The F1 Championship had 4 drivers in with a shot at the title going into the last race of the season for the first time ever. Sebastian Vettel’s victory at Abu Dhabi made him the youngest F1 Champion while it also helped Red Bull win the Constructor’s Championship.
Russia won the bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup while the 2022 hosting rights went to Qatar. Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsmen ever to reach a half century of centuries while England ended an enthralling year of sporting action by retaining the Ashes for the first time in 24 years.
Tags: Commonwealth Games, FIFA World Cup, Roger Federer, Sachin Tendulkar, Spain, Sports, Sports World, World Sports
