BackA year of many firsts
A year of many firsts
PremiumLionel Messi. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
•Still mesmerizing
• Upswing downhill
• Double delight
• Golf’s new cub
• Cup encore
• The right formula
• Beginning of the end?
• Djoker’s last laugh
• A new ringmaster
• Farewell blues
Finally, a requiem for the great athletes who died this year: Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, 70, better known by the epithet “Tiger", who became the Indian cricket team’s captain at 21, and led them to their first overseas victory (1968, against New Zealand); “Smokin"Joe Frazier, 67, former heavyweight champion of the world, whose rivalry with Muhammad Ali lit up rings for over a decade with such legendary bouts as the “Fight of the Century" and the “Thrilla in Manila"; Italian MotoGP racer Marco Simoncelli, 24, and British racing driver Dan Wheldon, 33, both tragically died in two separate crashes while racing; Sócrates, 57, one of the greatest footballers to come out of Brazil, and known as much for his flair on the field as for his political and social activism off it; and Peter Roebuck, 55, one of cricket’s most insightful and hard-hitting writers, who committed suicide under mysterious circumstances.
rudraneil.s@livemint.com
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