TOP Sporting Moments 2009 (Spl. Photos)

[bholus10]

Coming back from wilderness, Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in the ICC World Twenty20 final at Lord's. This was Pakistan's major title after 17 long years. Shahid Afridi who played a stellar role in the tournament was named man of the match while Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan was named man of the series.


In another major event, Australia retained the ICC Champions Trophy with a six-wicket win over New Zealand in the final. Shane Watson's heroic 105 helped Australia become the first team to win consecutive Champions Trophy titles. Ricky Ponting's side affirmed their No. 1 rankings in One-Day Internationals after the much-needed win.

[bholus10]

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal stunned the badminton world by handing India a historic first title in the world junior championships. Saina was also awarded with the Sports Person of the Year award for 2008-09 in the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board annual awards.



Billiards and Snooker professional Pankaj Advani became only the second Indian after Geet Sethi to win the Professional World Billiards title.
After giving India its third medal at the Beijing Olympics, boxing sensation Vijender Singh achieved yet another feat by becoming the world's top-ranked pugilist in the middle weight (75kg) category.

[bholus10]

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar completed 20 years in international cricket on November 15, 2009, during the first Test against Sri Lanka. He also became the first cricketer to score more than 30,000 international runs. The little master also holds the record for most Test and ODI runs and centuries and the gap created by Sachin will be tough for his contemporaries to catch up with.

Another Indian great, Rahul Dravid became the second Indian to score 11,000 runs in Test cricket. The 'Wall' Dravid achieved the feat with a fine 177-run innings against Sri Lanka during the first Test.

[bholus10]

Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Adavani added another feather to his cap by winning the 2009 World Professional Billiards Championship.



Lightning Usain Bolt took the world to storm during the Beijing Olympics and continued his domination at the IAAF World Athletics Championships.
Swimming sensation Michael Phelps won five golds and one silver at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships.


In football, Baichung Bhutia-led India defeated Syria 5-4 in sudden-death in the final to lift their second successive Nehru Cup title.

[bholus10]

Injuries have haunted England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff many times and the year 2009 saw the worst when Freddie was forced to annlounce his retirement fom Test cricket. Australia's Brett Lee and Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar are the other speedsters in this list. Virender Sehwag, Kevin Pietersen and Michael Clarke were left cooling their heals during the year.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa also suffered from a life-threatening head injury during the Formula One qualifying race in Hungary. The Brazilian received the blow when a spring from Reubens Barrichello's car struck him in the helmet forcing him out for the rest of the season. While Rafael Nadal withdrew from the 2009 Wimbledon Tennis tournament because of a knee injury.