It’s that time of the year when sports tournaments around the world climax and awards start pouring for the champion players and teams. Last week, we witnessed some thrilling finishes in cricket and football while Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth finished their year on a low note after facing defeat in the Semi Finals. In Cricket, bowlers – Ishant Sharma, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Johnson and Dale Steyn put up a brave show steering the matches across the globe. Moreover, every cricketing nation looked busy picking up their Final 15 for the ICC world cup scheduled next year in February. As usual, LA Liga and Premier League matches were on high but the finals of Indian Super League stole the show on weekend.
Cricket
Team India collapsed on the last day of the 2nd test match against fiery bowling by Mitchel Johnson which meant mere 130 runs for Australia to win the test match. Ishant Sharma provided initial breakthroughs but couldn’t stop Aussies from winning the match. Now, Australia leads the 4-test Border-Gavaskar series by invincible 2-0 which India would look to nullify in the Boxing Day match. Dhoni & Co. will need to make fresh strategies to tackle the Australian pacers as well as spin attack. In another match, South Africa thrashed West Indies by an innings and 120 runs led by a 6-wicket spell of Dale Steyn.
Football
Indian Super League climaxed on Saturday with Atletico de Kolkata winning the first edition of this football tournament. Sachin Tendulkar owned Kerala Blasters give a good fight to Kolkata and the match was even for 90 minutes but, Rafique hit a header in the fourth minute of added time making it 1-0 in the end. In European competitions, Real Madrid won the 2014 Club World Cup by defeating San Lorenzo 2-0 on Saturday. One goal each from Sergio Ramos and Gareth Bale boosted Real Madrid up to their 22nd consecutive win across all competitions. Premier League witnessed a fierce competition between Liverpool and Arsenal which ended in 2-2 draw.
Kabaddi
It was a proud moment for India on Saturday when both Men and Women Kabaddi teams won the World Cup. In Men’s competition which was the 5th Kabaddi world cup, India beat Pakistan to clinch the trophy. In Women’s finals, India women Kabaddi team defeated New Zealand for the 2nd consecutive year to win the Women’s World Cup.
Tennis
Though there was not much action on tennis turfs across the world, International Tennis Federation (ITF) named Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams as men’s and women’s World Champion of 2014. Djokovic won this title for fourth time while at 33, Williams became the oldest player to win this singles title.