After a hectic festive period, we take stock of the year gone by and review the teams at the half-way mark of the season. In Part One, we turn the focus on the top six.
After a hectic festive period, we take stock of the year gone by and review the teams at the half-way mark of the season. In Part Two, we take a look at the teams outside the top six.
Novak Djokovic was undoubtedly the player of the year, winning three grand slam titles and finishing the year as the undisputed world number one.
The year saw Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel win his second successive driver's championship.
It was a year of drama in both Indian and International football; unfortunately, far too much of it took place off the pitch rather than on it.
The overwhelming dominance of one team rarely makes for an interesting story in a sport which thrives on rivalry and competition. Yet Barcelona’s delightful game and their continued remarkable success got neither old nor tiring in 2011. There were plenty of surprises in the Serie A, but as far as the La Liga and Champions League went, it was hard to look past Barcelona yet again.
The Serb won three of the four grand slam titles to round off a truly remarkable year.
Paes and Bhupathi split for the third time after teaming up together at the start of the year.
Seasoned campaigner Alok Kumar was the cynosure of all eyes with his Asian Billiards title, but overall it was an average year for Indian cue sports as success eluded the country at the major international events.
Saina Nehwal's struggle for form summed up a disappointing year for Indian badminton, the rare high point of which was Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa's World Championships bronze medal.
IBNLive.com takes a look back at the year 2011, which went through thick and thin over 12 memorable months in sports.
A year that witnessed the passing of one European golfing legend may have heralded the arrival of another. The death of Spanish great Seve Ballesteros in May hit the golfing fraternity hard, but it was a year in which the continent's leading players maintained their hold over the Americans.
Over the last five years, Formula One (F1) fans have been spoiled by late-season championship deciders.
That wasn't the case in 2011 as Sebastian Vettel won his second straight title with four races to spare. The Red Bull driver did so with a dominance as complete as any driver since Michael Schumacher at Ferrari.
The success story that started at the turn of the millennium continued for Indian shooting in the year 2011 as well, with nine marksmen making the cut for the London Olympics.
After a rewarding 2010, athletics slumped to a low this year as seven top athletes, including three Commonwealth and Asian Games gold medalists, were involved in one of India's biggest doping scandals.
For once, doping did not take centre-stage in Indian weightlifting, but the country failed to impress at the world stage in 2011, with London Olympics qualification still uncertain, even though there was unprecedented success to savour in the Commonwealth Championships.
Another year passed but the sorry state of Indian hockey refused to change as the prolonged struggle for power between two warring federations once again took centre-stage over the performance of the national team in 2011.
A record number of them booked Olympic berths in the very first qualifying event as Indian boxers rounded off yet another superb year, holding out promise for more than one medal at the world's biggest sporting extravaganza next year.
A 17-year-old Deepika Kumari shone with some outstanding performances as the women's recurve team emerged as strong contenders for an elusive Olympic medal in archery, during a year that was witness to the dramatic fall of the fancied men's team.
Barcelona were crowned champions in La Liga and the Champions League, while Manchester United emerged triumphant in England.
The year saw Lionel Messi come to India and Uruguay win the Copa America, even as FIFA continued to be mired in controversy.
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