India's performance has improved in sports in 2007 and the team did well in cricket, hockey, tennis, chess, car racing, archery and football. This is a round up of India sports and teams' feat in various sports events.

SPORTS IS one of the areas in which India is fighting neck and neck with other countries of the world. Earlier India was known for the games of hockey, cricket, chess and tennis all over the world. But for last few years some highly spirited sportspersons have made our country proud by their individual performance. Narain Karthikeyan (Formula One Racer), Dola Banerjee (archery), Vishwanathan Anand (Chess), Pulela Gopichand (Badminton) and Sania Mirza (Tennis) are the names who created the history in their respective fields. Year 2007 was a memorable for India as our teams and sportspersons performed very well.

World Twenty 20 Cup, Asia Cup Hockey, Nehru Cup, World Chess Championship, World Cup Archery and first A1 GP are the big achievements for India this year. Of course, our list of achievements is long for the year 2007 and it's impossible to sum up all here, but here I am providing a brief account of achievements here. We expect more and more from our sport persons in the coming year.

Cricket:
Indian Cricket also hit a new low in 2007 due to controversies like reluctant captains, the Australian coach Greg Chappell and the rift of the board officials with chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar. Indian Cricket League (ICL) and Indian Premier League (IPL) two new faces of Indian cricket took birth in this year. Before the end of the year team India was defeated by Australia by 337 runs and the series is still on. Three test matches are still left that will be followed by a triangular series including Sri Lanka. New coach Gary Kirsten will take up his post in March and team India is also improving itself, so we can hope a good year ahead for Indian cricket.

Chess:
Vishwanathan Anand is the person who provided identification to chess in India. Anand who became India's first grandmaster in 1988, was ranked first in the world for the first time in the April 2007. On September 29, 2007 Vishwanathan Anand added one more feather in his cap by winning the 2007 World Chess Championship tournament held in Mexico City. Eventually Anand became the undisputed World Chess Champion and he is still the world's number one chess player.

Grand Prix:
It's really amazing and a matter of pride for we Indians that our team won its first A1 GP at Zhuhai International circuit in China. India's first Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan was the man behind this achievement. Despite the absence of proper facilities for grand prix, Narain Karthikeyan created a history by finishing 0.502 second ahead of Kiwi Jonny Reid.

Tennis:
Tennis: Indian Tennis has got international recognition in past few years due to tennis stars Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupati and Leander Peas. The year 2007 remained special for India's tennis sensation Sania Mirza. Beginning the year with the world rank of above 50, she improved greatly and entered in world's top 30 players list. In 2007 Sania Mirza defeated five of world's top 20 ranked players including the then12th-ranked Martina Hingis, 14th-ranked Dinara Safina and 17th-ranked Patty Schnyder. In August 2007, after getting the 26th seed in US Open championship, Mirza become the first Indian woman to be seeded in a Grand Slam. With the passage of time Sania is improving her game and we expect more from her in the coming year. Same expectation is from our other stars Leander Peas and Mahesh Bhupati.

Football:
Football is one such game which is popular in only few states of India such as West Bengal, Goa and Kerala. But in the year 2007 we had seen a new face of football in India. For the first time the Indian football team won the Nehru Cup, after its introduction in the year 1982. In the month of August, India lifted the ONGC Nehru Cup title by beating Syria 1-0 at the Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi. The tournament was organized in Delhi and it got awesome response from spectators. In fact, some cricket stars like Virender Sehwag, top politicians namely Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, Sheila Dikshit were present in the stadium to see the matches. In 2007 the Indian team improved its position in the FIFA world ranking. Now with the sincere efforts of Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, the president of All India Football Federation (AIFF), Indian football is getting proper attention and we can surely hope for a bright future ahead.

Hockey:
This year the national game of India remained in focuss not only due to fine performance of players, but also due to Shimit Amin's film 'Chak De India.' Based on the life of a former Indian hockey player, the movie played a major role in catching the attention of Indian people and officials towards the poor state of the game. In fact, Shahrukh Khan played the character of hockey coach 'Kabir Khan' in the film. Chak De influence was seen during Asia Cup 2007 and the team India lifted the title by 7-2 win over South Korea. One month later the hockey team was felicitated by President Pratibha Patil at Darbar Hall, Rasthrapati Bhawan.

Indian cricket team was also honoured by the President in the same function. During the function World Twenty 20 Cup captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and hockey captain Prabodh Tirkey posed for cameras together.

Year 2007 may be said more or less good for Indian Cricket. After dismal performance and first round exit in World Cup 2007, the team came back strongly and performed well. Team India won test series against Bangladesh, England and Pakistan this year. Only Bangladesh was a weak opponent, England and Pakistan were strong teams and India scored historic Test series against both the teams. In one day internationals, India finished the year with 20-15 win-loss record that seems good. Overall, Team India's biggest and most memorable achievement remained the World Twenty 20 Cup, 2007. The young team led by the new captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni surprised everyone with their superb performance and beat the strong teams like South Africa, Pakistan England and Australia.

Courtesy: www.merinews.com, January 01, 2008