In the National sports news, India failed to defend their title at the Asian Champions Trophy, losing by 4-5 to arch-rivals Pakistan in a high-scoring final of the 2nd Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament which took place at Doha.
London Olympics silver medalist Vijay Kumar clinched the gold medal in the men's rapid fire pistol event. In the 3-position women's event, Tejaswini Sawant won gold and in the women's skeet event, Aarti Singh Rao won gold and Punjab's Heena Sidhu won gold in the women's air pistol competition.
In 10-metre air rifle event, Chain Singh of Army won the gold, leaving behind Abhinav Bindra with silver and the bronze was won by Satyendra Singh of Army. Athens Olympics silver-medalist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the double trap gold medal, Mohammad Asab from UP won silver while Ronjan Sodhi won the bronze.
In other Indian sports news, India hosted the T20 World Cup for Blind and defeating Pakistan by 29 runs in the final clash in Bangalore winning the title. In the sport of Luge, Manali-born Shiva Kesavan reclaimed the Gold medal for the second time in two consecutive years, setting a new Asian record (49.590 seconds) in the Asian Championship which was held in Japan.
In first-class cricket Ravinder Jadeja makes history becoming the first Indian batsman to hit three triple centuries in first-class cricket when he scored 320 not out against Railways in a Ranji trophy match. In the previous month he had scored 303 not out against Gujarat and his first triple century (314) came in November 2011 against Orissa. The other Indian batsmen to have scored two triples are: V.V.S. Laxman, Vijay Hazare, Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer and Raman Lamba.
In Australia-South Africa Cricket Test series, South Africa thrashed Australia by 309 runs in the third Test in Perth, claiming the three-Test series by 1-0. Ricky Ponting retired from his Test Cricket Career after this match. In the Australia-Sri Lanka Test series, Australia beat Sri Lanka by five wickets with a day to spare in the third Test to sweep the series 3-0.
In the India-England Test series, the fourth and final Test match at Nagpur ended in a draw, giving England their first series win in India after 28 years. England defeated India by seven wickets on the fifth day of the third Test at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, taking an invincible lead of 2-1 in the series.
In the Bangladesh-West Indies ODI series, Bangladesh crushed West Indies by 160 runs in the second One-day International. Bangladesh had won the first ODI by 7 wickets. West Indies then leveled the series by winning the third match by 4 wickets and the fourth match by 75 runs. Bangladesh then edged out the West Indies by four wickets to win the fifth and final match winning the series by 3-2.
In the India-England T20 series, the second Twenty20 match leveled the two-match series by 1-1. In the India-Pakistan T20 series, the series again drew in the two-match series by 1-1. Pakistan had won the first match, and India won the second.
Sachin Tendulkar, questionably the best one-day batsman ever, announced his retirement from ODIs and stated that he will not be playing T20 Internationals. Tendulkar played in 463 ODIs; during the course he scored 18,426 runs with 49 centuries and 96 half-centuries.
In International news, Anna Ushenina of Ukraine claimed the Women's Chess World Championship crown defeating Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the first set of tie-break games at Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.
In Football, Lionel Messi surpassed Gerd Mueller's 40 year old record of 85 goals in a calendar year. He scored his 85th and 86th goal of 2012 which helped his side to an important 2-1 win at Real Betis. In Club World Cup, South American champions Corinthians ambushed Chelsea to win the Club World Cup. They had won the first Club World Cup in 2000.
In Hockey Champions Trophy (Men), Australia eased the pain of their London Olympics flop show by winning a record fifth consecutive Champions Trophy in a 2-1 extra-time victory over the Netherlands.
Last Updated on 01/23/2013