Sports in 2014: The Highs and The Lows – 10 Talking Points

Sports have always been the section of life from where one cannot just keep his or her eyes off. Once you have shifted your attention to the other aspects of life, sports will come to you and say, ‘You cannot keep your eyes out of here’. As we look back to the year 2014, we can trace number of instances when Sports have taken the front pages of the esteemed dailies across the world. Here comes the highlight of what has been a fascinating year in the world of sports.

[Source: Getty Image]

The summer transfers in English football always have something to catch the attentions of the football lovers. And this year it was the farewell of Frank Lampard from his club Chelsea. After a long career at Stamford Bridge that spanned for 13 years, Lampard left the club to join Manchester City. What was more astonishing was that Lampard scored a late equalizer against his mother club to prevent City losing against their title challengers very early in the season.

[ Source: AFP ]

It might not have been one of the greatest years for Great Britain in the field of sports and games but Lewis Hamilton made sure that the British had something to cheer for at the end of year. Hamilton clinched the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship for the second time in his career and in the process became the first British to win it twice in last 46 years. This remarkable achievement thus comes at number 9 of our list of top 10 sporting events.

[Image Source: Mirror.co.uk]

Once again it was proved that justice will prevail over anything in this universe when Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to 5-year jail term on the accusation of murdering his girlfriend on the Valentine’s Day last year. The South African Supreme Court finally gave the order of putting the South African Paralympics champion, the Blade runner, Oscar Pistorius behind the bars in the month of June.

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It was the second time on a row that the Norwegian youngster Magnus Carlsen got better of the Indian chess maestro Vishwanathan Anand. After a humiliating defeat for the first time in 2013, Anand might have thought of a turn around this time. But Carlsen was at his best when Anand tried to get better of his opponent. In the end it was the Norwegian for the second consecutive who emerged on top in the World Chess Championship

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As we kept our attention on one of the greatest sports personality of the modern era, we came across some sort of good news when Michael Schumacher was released from the hospital in which he was admitted after suffering a fatal injury on his head last December. Well there might not be great news regarding his improvement but the fact that he is still amongst us is much more relieving. Let’s hope that he gets well soon and the upcoming year brings in blessings in his life.

[Image Source: Getty Image]

One of the greatest moments of world sports in 2014 was the Winter Olympics 2014. Nothing big in the fact that it was held, what made it to the headlines is the hosting nation. Russia for the first time since the break-up of Soviet Union in 1991 got the rights to organize such a big event. And it was a grand success. The last time Russia organized a major event was in 1980 when they hosted the Summer Olympics in 1980 in Moscow.

IPL Scam

Indian Premier League has rarely taken the backstage in the field of world cricket since its introduction in 2007. And it’s in the headlines once again but for wrong reasons. The Indian Premier League became the hub of illegal betting and match fixing and all these came into bright daylight during the tournament this year. Players like S. sreesanth got involved and were handed life ban. It got even worse when big fishes like N. Srinivasan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and many others got involved in this scam. The Supreme Court of India has called for number of hearings related to this and the actual culprits are yet to be recognized properly.

[Image Source: Indian Express]

One of the most shocking incidents that caught the nerves of world sports was the passing away of Australian cricketer Philip Hughes after he had been hit by a bouncer bowled by Sean Abbott. It brought the whole world to a standstill. Condolences flowed in from various parts of the world but it’s a void that can never be filled. Only one thing can be uttered: May his soul rest in peace.

[Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images]

You just can’t keep this away from the limelight. just when it seemed that Dhoni had somewhat a docile year his decision of calling it a day suddenly has brought back all the focus on him. Dhoni’s announcement came in as a real shocker as there were no such signals of his behalf that something like this was coming. The only consolation is that he will still be playing in ODIs and T20s.

FIFA World Cup 2014

When there is a football world cup nothing can surpass its enigma. And no exception this time as well. The football World Cup 2014 was phenomenal much like the previous editions. Germany became the world champions beating Argentina 1-0 in the final after 24 years at the historic Marcana Stadium in Brazil. The talking point of the world cup though is the 7-1 defeat of the hosts Brazil in the hands of eventual champion Germany in the semi-final. It was a dream day for the Germans and just the opposite for the home supporters. Not many across the world were ready for such a scoreline but that’s how football goes. Besides this there were lots that kept the whole world on its toe for the whole duration of the tournament. And quite unsurprisingly, FIFA World Cup comes out on the top of the list of most striking incidents in sports in the year 2014.