Ten brightest and sad moments for Indian sports in 2012

New Delhi: As 2012 draws to a close, a quick assessment on a memorable year for Indian sports. India for the first time won two silvers and four bronze medals at the Olympics, thanks to our shooters, wrestlers, boxers and the one and only Saina Nehwal. There were other moments of sheer exhilaration and success for Indians. And, of course, moments of disappointment and sadness. So let's have a look back at the most incredible year of sports India has ever witnessed.1. Paes wins men's doubles title at Australian Open India's veteran tennis ace Leander Paes created history by becoming the first Indian to complete a career Grand Slam of winning all the four major titles by winning the Australian Open men's doubles event in Melbourne. Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek thrashed world No.1 pair Mike and Bob Bryan from the US in straight sets in the final at the Rod Laver Arena. The Indo-Czech pair, who lost to the American twins in the Sydney International tournament in the run-up to the Open, won 7-6 (7-1), 6-2. 2. Rahul Dravid 'The Wall' retires Batting great Rahul Dravid, the second most prolific batsman in the game's history and India's middle order bulwark for years, bid adieu to Test cricket, bringing down the curtains on a glorious 16-year career. The 39-year-old Dravid, a former India captain, became the first of the three ageing greats of Indian cricket, besides Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, to retire in the aftermath of India's disastrous Test tour of Australia. Dravid ended his Test career with 13,288 runs -- behind only Tendulkar (15,470 in 188 Tests) -- in 164 matches, with 36 hundreds and 63 half centuries at an average of 52.31, the 270 against Pakistan being his highest score. He scored 10,889 runs from 344 ODIs with 12 centuries and 83 half centuries at an average of 39.16. 3.Centurion of centurions, Sachin scores his 100th international hundred Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, treated like a God by his fans, ended the long and tiring wait for his 100th international century at Dhaka's Shere Bangla National Stadium. Tendulkar, the leading run scorer in the history of both Test and one-day cricket, achieved the most-coveted ton by taking a single off Shakib Al Hasan against Bangladesh in Asia Cup. Tendulkar's century came off 138 balls and was studded with 10 fours and a six. Towards the end of the year, Sachin's career showed a downward graph with prospects of retirement looming large. 4. Sushil wrests a silver at London OlympicsWrestler Sushil Kumar created history by becoming the first Indian to win back-to-back Olympic medals but the coveted gold medal eluded him as he lost the men's freestyle 66 kg category final to his Japanese opponent. The 29-year-old wrestler found the Japanese Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu, a tough opponent who carved out a 3-1 victory to shatter the his hopes of winning a gold medal. 5. Army shooter Vijay Kumar targets silver in London Indian shooter Vijay Kumar from the army won the silver medal in 25m rapid fire pistol event at London Olympics. After qualifying with the score of 285, Vijay scored 30 in eight series of 4 seconds each to finish behind Cuba's Leuris Pupo. Feng Ding of China took the bronze medal. 6. Gagan Narang wins a bronze at London Olympics Ace marksman Gagan Narang shot his way to the men's 10m air rifle bronze medal after watching compatriot and Beijing Games gold medalist Abhinav Bindra fall by the wayside in the preliminaries as India scooped up its first medal at the Olympic Games. Narang held his nerve in a gripping 8-man finale to stave off the challenge of Chinese rival Wang Tao bagging the third spot with an aggregate of 701.1, behind gold medal winner Alin George Moldoveanu of Romania and Italian world No 1 Niccolo Campriani who tallied 702.1 and 701.5 respectively. 7. Saina becomes first Indian to win an Olympic medal in badminton Saina Nehwal created history by becoming the first Indian to win an Olympic Games bronze medal in badminton, though under fortuitous circumstances, as her world number two Chinese opponent retired from the play-off because of a knee injury. The 22-year-old Saina was trailing 18-21, 0-1 in the high-voltage bronze medal play-off match when her second seeded opponent Xin Wang retired hurt, giving India an unexpected medal without having to sweat much. Saina also became the second Indian woman to win an Olympic medal, after Karnam Malleswari's weightlifting bronze in 2000 Sydney Olympics.8. Manipur's Mary Kom boxes her way to win bronze at Olympics M C Mary Kom, a housewife from Manipur with twin sons, scripted history by becoming the country's first woman boxer to win a medal at the Olympics when she finished with a bronze in the 51 kg event at the London Games.The people of Churachandpur in Manipur are proud of this lady's feat - a five time boxing champion. Mary Kom, who had been assured of the bronze on Monday itself when she reached the semi-finals, could not proceed further as she went down fighting in her pre-summit bout against local favourite Nicola Adams. Losing 6-11, Mary Kom became only the second Indian boxer after Vijender Singh to win an Olympic medal. Vijender got a bronze in Beijing fours years ago. 9. Grappler Yogeshwar Dutt gets a bronze in London Two decades of toil in wrestling and a progression from mud akharas to the modern day mat culminated in Olympic glory for lion-hearted Yogeshwar Dutt as he won bronze in the 60kg freestyle category at the London Olympics. 10. Team India lose first series on home soil after 8 years Losing 1-2 to England on home soil, India has lost a Test series at home for the first time since 2004 and MS Dhoni has lost his first Test series at home as India skipper. India had not lost a Test series at home for 8 years. Call it coincidence, the venue for fourth Test, Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Ground is the same place where India's last Test series defeat came in 2004.

Ten brightest and sad moments for Indian sports in 2012

New Delhi: As 2012 draws to a close, a quick assessment on a memorable year for Indian sports. India for the first time won two silvers and four bronze medals at the Olympics, thanks to

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