This is the time to ring in the new and ring out the old. Like in all spheres of life, Indian sport too experienced ups and downs in 2005 as well. Thankfully, there were more highs than lows. If Sania Mirza gave us moments of pride, Neelam Jaswant Singh shamed us by testing positive for a banned drug at the Helsinki World Athletic Championships. For more, read on?

JANUARY

HIGHS

January 19: Sania Mirza creates history by becoming the first Indian woman to enter the third round of a Grand Slam tournament. Sania, who had a wild card for the Australian Open, defeated Hungary’s Petr Mandula 6-2, 6-1 in Round II. She, however, bowed out to Serena Williams later.

 

FEBRUARY

HIGHS

February 1: Narain Karthikeyan becomes the first Indian to enter the Formula One circuit. He reaches an agreement with Jordan.

February 11: Sania becomes the first Indian woman to capture a WTA Tour title (Hyderabad Open), defeating Ukraine’s Alyona Bondarenko 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

February 14: Sania becomes the first Indian woman to break into the top 100 of the WTA rankings with 99 points.

 

MARCH

HIGHS

March 1: Sania accounts for US Open Champion and world No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-4, 6-2 and enters the quarter finals of Dubai Open. She later lost to Jelena Jankovic.

March 13: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore wins team gold in double trap along with Ronjan Sodhi in Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

March 20: Pankaj Advani becomes the first Indian player to complete a grand double by claiming both the points and time format titles at the IBSF World Billiards meet in Qawra, Malta.

March 31: Viswanathan Anand bags the Monaco meet title with a round to spare.

LOWS

March 21: Harbhajan Singh reported for chucking again by Match Referee Chris Broad.

 

APRIL

HIGHS

April 13: Anand wins the coveted Chess Oscar for the fourth time.

LOWS

April 1: Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) bans Gagan Ajit Singh and Daljit Singh Dhillon for assaulting Indian Oil Corporation player Vikramjit Singh during the national meet in Hyderabad.

April 12: Indian captain Sourav Ganguly banned for six ODIs for a Level III breach of the ICC’s Code of Conduct.

April 17: India lose by 159 runs at Feroze-Shah Kotla, thereby losing the six-match ODI series 2-4 to Pakistan.

 

MAY

HIGHS

May 2: India whitewash Uzbekistan 5-0 in Davis Cup, having attained a World Group play-off berth.

LOWS

May 29: Malaysia inflict 4-1 defeat on India at Azlan Shah Cup, their highest victory margin.

 

JUNE

HIGHS

June 12: Anand claims Leon (Magistral Ciudad de Leon) title.

June 20: Sania becomes first Indian woman to reach the second round at Wimbledon, beating Japan’s Akiko Morigami 6-3, 3-6, 8-6.

June 20: Sachin Tendulkar opens India Room in the new stand at the Oval in London.

June 20: India colts bag four-nation hockey meet title in Bilbao, Spain.

LOWS

June 5: India finish 5th in Azlan Shah Hockey.

 

JULY

HIGHS

July 3: Mahesh Bhupathi and Mary Pierce bag Wimbledon Mixed Doubles crown, beating Paul Hanley and Tatiana Perebyinis 6-4, 6-2.

July 8: Panchanathan Magesh becomes India’s 12th GM.

July 21: Harikrishna wins China GMs meet.

July 22: Sania moves into quarter finals of the Cincinnati Open, defeating Kristina Brandi 7-6 (7-5).

 

AUGUST

HIGHS

August 3: Sourav scores 51 vs Sri Lanka in Dambulla ODI to become only the third batsman, after Sachin and Inzamam-ul Haq, to complete 10,000 ODI runs.

August 8: Sania becomes the first Indian woman to move into the top-50 of WTA Tour rankings. She jumps 11 spots to 48.

August 11: Arjun Atwal becomes the first Indian to tee off for US PGA Championship.

August 16: Anand claims Mainz Classic title.

LOWS

August 13: Discus thrower Neelam Jaswant Singh, Busan Asian Games gold-medallist, tests positive for a banned drug at the World Athletic Championships in Helsinki.

August 20: India finish 7th in eight-nation Rabobank Trophy in Amstelveen.

 

SEPTEMBER

HIGHS

September 2: Sania storms into the fourth round of the women’s singles of the US Open with a crushing 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 victory over Marion Bartoli of France at the Louis Armstrong Stadium.

September 2: Soma Biswas and Sushmita Singha Roy script a glorious double at the 16th Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon City, Korea, capturing the gold and silver medals, respectively, in heptathlon.

September 3: Manjit Kaur and Sati Geetha script another double at the Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon City, clinching the gold and silver medals, respectively, in 400m.

September 8: Bhupathi and Daniela Hantuchova bag US Open Mixed Doubles crown.

September 9: Anju Bobby George leaps to silver with 6.75m in the World Athletics Finals in Monaco.

September 22: India beat Zimbabwe 2-0 in the two-test series to win a series outside the subcontinent after 19 years ? the last being the win against England in 1986.

LOWS

September 26: Sweden beat India 3-1 in Davis Cup World Group play-off.

 

OCTOBER

HIGHS

October 2: M.C. Mary Kom retains women’s World Boxing title in 46kg class.

October 3: Leander Paes-Paul Hanley clinches Thailand Open title.

October 10: Sania moves up to No. 31 in WTA rankings ? highest ever amongst indian women.

October 29: Harikrishna lifts Hoogeveen meet crown.

 

NOVEMBER

HIGHS

November 12: India win Videocon series, beating Sri Lanka 6-1.

November 23: Bengal under-21 side beat AC Milan juniors (U-18) 2-1 at Salt Lake Stadium.

November 29: India move up to 4th spot in ICC ODI rankings.

 

DECEMBER

HIGHS

December 10: Sachin Tendulkar sets the world record for most number of Test centuries with his 35th century, leaving Sunil Gavaskar on 34.

December 17: India beat Bangladesh 2-0 to clinch SAFF Cup football meet.

December 22: India climb to No. 2 spot (behind Australia) in ICC Test rankings, beating Sri Lanka by 259 runs to win the three-match Test series 2-0. Irfan Pathan occupies the 4th spot in the allrounder rankings in Tests.

LOWS

December 18: India finish last in Champions Trophy, going down to Pakistan 3-4, thus forfeiting their berth in the next edition.

And, controversy No. 1...

This was the mother of all explosions! It rocked our cricket and threatened to divide Team India down the middle. It began in Bulawayo, venue of the first Test against Zimbabwe, when Sourav Ganguly went public with the sensational bit about coach Greg Chappell having asked him to step down on the eve of the series. A patch-up (without meaning) ensued, but Chappell’s confidential e-mail to the BCCI brass got leaked and, for a while, everything was out of control. Eventually, Sourav not only lost the captaincy, but his place in the one-day team. He was there for the first two Tests against Sri Lanka, but got dropped for the last — a decision which sparked a national uproar. However, Sourav ended 2005 by being selected for the Test series in Pakistan