Indians shine in sports in 2012, Sachin Tendulkar disappoints

New Delhi, Dec 17: India has rarely thrived at the Olympics and a reminder of their low expectations came when their unprecedented six-medal haul in London was hailed as a triumph. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) undermined even that moderate success when despite several warnings, it was kicked out of the Olympic family after allowing government interference in its elections. The country's cricketers can usually be relied upon to raise sporting spirits in the world's second most populous nation but the much vaunted India team lurched from one defeat to another. The retirement of batting greats Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman deepened the gloom and even Sachin Tendulkar, who became the first cricketer to hit 100 international centuries this year, laboured in the twilight of his career. Cricket-crazy India seems to be running out of patience with Tendulkar, the only man in the history of the game to have scored a century of centuries.Tendulkar, 39, has averaged 25 in 2012 and his innings of 76 at Eden Gardens against England was his first Test half century since January 3. In terms of Indian performance in London Olympics, this was India's most successful Olympics based on the medal standings, winning a total of 6 medals (0 gold 2 silver and 4 bronze), and doubling the nation's overall record in Beijing. Two medals each were awarded to the athletes in shooting and wrestling. India also set a historical milestone for the female athletes who won two Olympic medals. Badminton player and world junior champion Saina Nehwal became the first Indian athlete to win an Olympic bronze medal in the women's singles. Boxer Mary Kom, on the other hand, lost to Great Britain's Nicola Adams in the semi-final match, but settled for the bronze in the first ever women's flyweight event.Pankaj Advani became the youngest Indian sportsperson to win eight world titles while Aditya Mehta was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award as Indian cueists rounded off a successful year with quite a few titles coming their way at the international level.Advani, the ‘smiling assassin' of Indian cuesport, hogged the limelight when he claimed his seventh World Billiards Championship title after defeating defending champion and seasoned Englishman Mike Russell in the Time format final.His other world title had come in the IBSF World Snooker Championship back in 2003.The win was all the more special for the 27-year-old cueist as he had made the tough choice of picking the World Billiards Championship over International Snooker Championships due to a clash in the dates of the two tournaments.Advani became the first Indian to have qualified for the world's richest pro-snooker tournament—International Championships—which was held in October this year in China but missed out on the tournament due to the World Billiards.