Best Sporting Events of 2011

Sports lovers had a great  time in the year, 2011 as some of the prominent tournaments and matches took place in this year. Achievements were made in diverse fields and the world witnessed the talents of some of the excellent players.

Some of the best sporting events of 2011 are-


Cricket

The year 2011 will have special prominence in the hearts of millions of cricket lovers in India, as the country made it to the finals and arose as World Champions at the world cup final after 28 long years. India defeated Sri Lanka in the final match held at Wankhade stadium in Bombay on April 2nd. The first nation blessed with winning world cup final in its home town is India. The world cup took place between 19th February and 2nd April, which is the 10th world cup match. India won with a breathtaking  six from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of Indian cricket team, who was declared as the man of the match. Yuvraj Singh became the man of the tournament.

Billiards

World Champion Pankaj Advani won his fifth national Billiards title by defeating Balachandra Bhaskar of Bangalore with a commanding 5-1. Earlier, he has won four Asian titles besides two gold medals in Asian games. He is one of the best snooker players in India who has also won many awards like Padma Sree, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award and so on.



Hockey

India won the Asian Champions Trophy, after defeating Pakistan with 4-2 in penalty strokes, in the final held at Ordos, China on 11 September. The tournament was held from 3rd September to 11th September where 6 nations, India, Korea, Pakistan, Malaysia, Japan and China participated. Malaysia won the bronze medal by securing the 3rd position in the tournament. S. Sreejas, Indian goal-keeper turned out to be the star of the match, who ensured winning of the match by making two saves in the shot-out.

Indian Grand Prix

The Indian Grand Prix, the 17th race of the Formula one season was held at the Buddh International Circuit, in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The Indian sub-continent got a chance to host the Formula one Prix for the first time. About 95,000 spectators attended the Formula one race. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel won the event which was his 11th victory in 17 races. Jenson Button came second in the race and Fernando Alonso acquired the 3rd position.24 drivers participated in the Grand Prix, but only 19 finished the race, as five of them had to retire in between. The Indian driver, Naresh Karthikeyan finished 17th at the race.

Tennis

The year 2011 will be remembered as the ‘year of Djokovic’. Novak Djokovic, world No.1 male tennis player won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open Title.The best match was held between Djokovic and Federer at the US Open semi-final. Another remarkable achievement in the field of tennis was the Twin brothers, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan assured the year- end No.1 team ranking for a record seventh time in 9 seasons. These American professional players also claimed 8 tour level titles.