January 2011 Sports News

International Sports Events in January 2011

CRICKET
Australia-England Test Series
England clinched its first Test series victory in Australia in 24 years by wrapping up the fifth and final Test by an innings and 83 runs to take the Ashes series 3-1.

Australia-England ODI Series
Australia claimed the ODI series with a 51-run win in the fifth match at Gabba. The result gave Australia an unbeaten 4-1 lead in the seven-match series, ending England's run of five straight ODI series wins.

Australia pulled off a spectacular run-chase to win the sixth ODI by two wickets to take 5-1 lead in the series.

FOOTBALL
FIFA World Player Award
Lionel Messi of Argentina has been named the world's best player of 2010. Messi won the FIFA award for a second straight year.

Asia Cup, 15th
The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was held in Qatar. It was the second time that the tournament was hosted by Qatar, the other being the 1988. Japan won the cup after a 1-0 win against Australia, and earned the right to compete in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil.

TENNIS
Australian Open, 2011
Men's Singles: Novak Djokovic won his second Australian Open title when he defeated Andy Murray of Britain.

Women's Singles: Belgium's Kim Clijsters defeated China's Li Na to win her first Australian Open title.

Women's Doubles: Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta
Men's Doubles: American twins Mike and Bob Bryan defeated India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi to win the men's doubles title and dash the hopes of the Indians of completing a career Grand Slam.

Mixed Doubles: Katarina Srebotnik and Daniel Nestor.

India Sports News in January 2011

GAMES
SAF Winter Games
The first South Asian Federation (SAF) Winter Games got off to a spectacular start at the ice skating rink in Dehradun, Uttarkhand. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Maldives were the participating nations.

The official mascot for the Games was Bharal, the Himalayan Blue-Sheep or Big-Horn (Ovis Ammon) Wild. The Bharal was chosen as the ideal mascot for these games keeping in view its agility, strength, sure-footedness and adaptability for survival in the snow-covered high altitude areas.

With 11 Gold, 9 Silver and 11 Bronze medals, India topped the medals list. India was followed by Pakistan (1 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze) and Sri Lanka (1 Gold).

CRICKET
Ranji Trophy
Giant killers Rajasthan notched up their maiden Ranji Trophy title after defeating hosts Baroda in the finals, on the basis of first innings lead.

South Africa-India Test Series
Chasing 340 to win, India preferred to play safe and played for a draw in the third Test. The three-Test series ended in a 1-1 draw. While the first Test, played at Centurion, was won by South Africa by an innings and 25 runs , India bounced back to win the second Test at Durban by 87 runs.

Jacques Kallis of South Africa was declared the man of the series.
South Africa-India ODI Series
South Africa defeated India by 135 runs in the first ODI played at Durban. Set to score 290 runs for a win, the Indian batting collapsed with only Virat Kohli scoring a half-century.

India took the second ODI by one run to level the series. South Africa made a mess of what should have been a comfortable chase of a below par total of 190 runs set by India. Munaf Patel was the pick of the bowlers. He took 4 wickets for 29 runs to help India win the match.

Virat Kohli's gritty 87-run knock was the only bright spot in India's poor batting show as South Africa beat India by 48 runs in the fourth ODI via Duckworth and Lewis method, to level the series 2-2.

Yusuf Pathan scored a brilliant 105 with eight fours and eight sixes but that was not enough for India as South Africa won the final ODI in Centurion by 33 runs to clinch the five-match series 3-2.

Last Updated on 7/9/2012