Sports beyond cricket
Even as cricket still ruled the roost, other games and players held their own in the year gone by, writes M. S. Unnikrishnan

Though cricket dominated the Indian sportscape in 2009, sports persons in other disciplines did just as well, to make it a riveting year.

Saina Nehwal is the first Indian woman to bag a Super Series crown Photo: Reuters

Pankaj Advani, Saina Nehwal, Vijender Singh, Suranjoy Singh, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza, Yukhi Bhambri, Somdev Devvarman and Baichung Bhutia produced landmark feats to make it an eclectic mix of success. In team games, football and Davis Cup teams stood out, but cricket continued to rule the roost, still. The hockey team did not have much to crow about, and their failure to qualify for next year’s Champions Trophy was quite a big letdown.

The Commonwealth Games roadshow provided many interesting asides with the Suresh Kalmadi-Mike Hooper spat hogging the spotlight. Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell also voiced his concern at the tardy functioning of the Organising Committee (OC). But much damage-control was done with the appointment of a upright IAS officer Jarnail Singh as the CEO of the OC, and bringing the 23 crucial sub-committees under the charge of vice-chairman of OC Randhir Singh, who effectively turned things around to deliver results to set deadlines.

Baichung Bhutia became the first Indian to play 100 international matches Photo: PTI

Cricket, however, was the show stealer. First, it was the uncertainty of holding the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 Championship on account of security concerns that hogged media space as the event was clashing with the Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections in some states. IPL-II was eventually shifted to South Africa, where the Adam Gilchrist-led Deccan Chargers made merry to eclipse the Anil Kumble-fired Royal Challengers, Bangalore, in the title clash.

India also hosted the inaugural Champions Challenge Twenty20 successfully, though none of the four host teams in the fray could sail into the challenge round.

Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers, Bangalore, had scraped the bottom of IPL-I, but they turned the corner in IPL-II due to the inspiring leadership of Gilchrist and Kumble, both of whom had quit international cricket prior to the T20 mega show.

However, defending champions India put up a flop show in the second Twenty20 World Cup in England, immediately after IPL-II. Mahender Singh Dhoni’s men beat Bangladesh and Ireland, but succumbed to West Indies, England and South Africa to make an inglorious exit, to erase the good work they had done by winning the inaugural edition in 2007 in South Africa.

Vijender Singh became the International Boxing Federation World No I following his bronze medal victory at the World Championship in Milan Photo: AFP

Indian cricket, however, hit a never-before high, when they recorded 100th Test victory, and became No 1 in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test ranking following their 2-0 sweep of the three-Test series against Sri Lanka.

India became No 1 for the first time, since they made their Test debut 73 years ago, though the ICC Test ranking was introduced only in 2001. Australia reigned as No 1 for more than six years before South Africa toppled them to take the top spot, till India overturned SA. But at 124 points, India are just two points ahead of South Africa, and their stay at the top may not last very long. Yet, it was an amazing achievement for Indian cricket, which loudly spoke up for the class and calibre of the present crop of cricketers under Dhoni, though the process was initiated when Sourav Ganguly was the captain, and the momentum was maintained under Anil Kumble.

There were many personal milestones too, with Sachin Tendulkar completing 20 years of international cricket. He also totted up 30,000 runs in both ODI and Test formats.

Dhoni maintained his clean slate as Test captain, winning seven of the 10 Tests he had captained, to follow in the footsteps of Sourav Ganguly, the most successful Indian captain ever.

At 37, Leander Paes defied age, winning the French Open and US Open doubles titles and finishing runners-up in the mixed doubles of the latter

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir set new benchmarks in opening partnerships as they plundered runs by the tons. Sehwag missed his third triple century by just seven runs against Lanka in the third Test at the Cricket Club of India’s Brabourne stadium where Test cricket returned after a gap of 30 years.

Gautam Gambhir became the most consistent Indian batsman in Tests, ODIs and T20, and bagged the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year Award. Pacer S. Sreesanth came back with a vengeance after a 19-month break to scalp six wickets, and play a decisive role in the Indian victory against Sri Lanka in the second Test at Kanpur.

Saina Nehwal took Indian badminton to new heights when she became the first woman to bag a Super Series crown in Indonesia, and improved her world ranking from eight to six. Saina was only the second player from outside China to figure among the first 10 in ranking. The Beijing Olympics quarter-finalist also entered the last eight of the Indian Open held in her adopted city of Hyderabad, which was also a first. No surprise, she was chosen as the "Sportsperson of the Year" by both CNN-IBN and Sports Illustrated.

India began the year promisingly winning the Azlan Shah Cup, but failed to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics and the 2010 Champions Trophy in Germany Photo: AFP

The 19-year-old Hisar-born Saina tamed Chinese No 2 Lin Wong to lift the Super Series title, while the doubles pair of D. Viju and Jwala Gutta also scored a first, when they won the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix gold, besides finishing as quarter-finalists in the Indian Open, and runners-up at the season-ending World Super Series in Malaysia.

Pankaj Advani kept alive India’s glorious tradition in cue sports when he won the World Professional Billiards title for the first time. He thus became only the second player to hold both the world amateur and professional titles. Twentyfour-year-old Advani was the second Indian to lift the Pro Billiards title after Geet Sethi. Advani scalped Mike Russell of England, the defending champion, who was gunning for his 10th title, in 17 appearances in the final, at the Northern Snooker Centre at Leeds.

It was Advani’s seventh cue sport title on the trot, taking into account his pickings at the amateur level as well. Advani now holds the titles of World Billiards, Asian Championship, Asian Games and the National Championship.

The incomparable pugilist, 22-year-old Vijender Singh Beniwal from Bhiwani, the Beijing Olympics bronze medallist, became the International Boxing Federation (IBF) World No I following his bronze medal victory in middle weight (75kg) at the World Championship in Milan.

And Asian champion Suranjoy Singh also scored a first, when he annexed the gold in the Inter-Continental President’s Cup, defeating Frenchman Nordine Oubaali in the 51kg title bout at Baku (Azerbaijan). The Manipuri was also adjudged the best boxer of the tournament.

But it was in tennis that India really proved their mettle. The 37-year-old Leander Paes defied age to play power tennis in the Grand Slam circuit, winning the French Open and US Open doubles titles partnering Lukas Dlouhy of the Czezh Republic, and finishing runner-up with Cara Black in the mixed doubles of the US Open.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza also created history when they became the first mixed pair to win a Grand Slam event, at the Australian Open, where the 17-year-old Yukhi Bhambri of Delhi captured the boys’ title, and then added two back-to-back ITF titles to prove that Indian tennis was well on the winning track.

Somdev Devvarman was another pleasing revelation on the tennis firmament. He played the sheet-anchor, winning his opening singles as well as the crucial reverse singles in the Davis Cup tie against South Africa in Johannesburg, to propel India into the World Group after a gap of 11 years. He was also the star of India’s triumph over Chinese Taipei in the Asia-Oceania Davis Cup tie in Delhi. After a long time, India entered the World Group without the help of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. An injured Leander pulled out of the team, while Mahesh and Rohan Bopanna conceded the doubles when the pair was trailing.

India had last figured in the 16-team elite World Group in 1998, but lost to Italy in the play-off. India had thrice figured in the World Cup finals, but were defeated on all three occasions.

Baichung Bhutia not only led India to their second successive Nehru Cup International Soccer title but also became the first Indian to play 100 international matches. India, which stunned Syria, ranked below 100 in 2007, played an encore in August at the Ambedkar Stadium to retain the crown. Goalkeeper Subrata Paul came up with three outstanding saves in the title-bout tiebreaker to help India canter home with a dream victory. Subrata had also effected a brilliant save in a league match against Kyrgyzstan to ensure the hosts’ entry into the final.

English coach Bob Houghton has proved to be a lucky mascot for Indian football, as under him, the country has won four major titles. That India have a promising second string also became evident when they annexed the SAFF Cup title, defeating Maldives at Dhaka, under the charge of former national coach Sukhwinder Singh.

The hockey team, under the new dispensation of Hockey India, have not been that lucky, though they have shown improvement after Spanish coach Jose Brasa was appointed the national coach a few months ago. India began the year promisingly, winning the Azlan Shah Cup, but failed to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics and the 2010 Champions Trophy in Germany. India have made the cut for the 2010 World Cup in Delhi, to be held in February-March, but as the hosts.

Overall, it was a memorable year for Indian sports, though it was an year without any World Championships or continental events, save for billiards and boxing.