Alan Pardew's dream of reprising a celebrated 25-year-old FA Cup triumph was scuppered by Liverpool as the seven-times champions came from behind to book a place in the quarter-finals with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday. This year's shock-laden competition had continued with second-tier Blackburn Rovers' 4-1 thrashing of the Premier League's Stoke City.
The cricketing fraternity has paid glorious tributes to just-retired Virender Sehwag with India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni leading from the front, comparing his destructive batting with that of legendary Viv Richards.
As the countdown to 2018 starts, it's time to rewind those moments in sport that stood out this year.
Barca overcome solid Bilbao challenge to scrape through 1-0.
On its 250th birthday, the Survey of India will send 30 mountaineers, armed with the most modern equipment, to measure the height of Mount Everest.
Shashi Kapoor, the star who made us laugh, romance and cry, passed into the ages on December 4. We look back at the often underrated actor, who reinvested all his earnings as an actor into making films and keeping the theatre he established, Prithvi Theatre, alive.
On Thursday morning, the world woke up to the news of the death of iconic New Zealand cricketer Martin Crowe. A teenage prodigy, who went on to carve an illustrious career with his superlative batting and smart captaincy, lost his three-year long battle against cancer at the age of 53. Unfortunately, Crowe is among a few famous cricketers who battled to beat cancer but didn't survive the fight.
Liverpool had won each of their previous four home leagues games in which they conceded first and 12 minutes later they had turned another match on its head as Roberto Firmino's trickery set up Mane to give the hosts the lead at the second attempt.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The comparisons with the legendary pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly are certainly flattering but Rohit Sharma feels his partnership with Shikhar hawan still has a long way to go before matching up to the iconic opening combination. "Comparisons with India's most successful opening pairing (Ganguly-Tendulkar) gives you immense satisfaction. Comparisons are a piece of joy. It would be great if me and Shikhar as opening pair can achieve the success that these two accomplished in their illustrious careers," Rohit, who is going through a dream phase in his career, told PTI in an exclusive interview. "We are still not there but both of us would like to entertain the fans and win as many matches as they have won for India," he said. Both the batsmen did well in the recent limited-overs series in Australia with Rohit notching up the Man of the Series award in the ODIs despite India losing 1-4. Despite enjoying a golden run off late, Rohit's appetite for big scores has not satiated yet.
Cautioning against various threats facing the subcontinent, President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said it was imperative for India to have an effective deterrence and strong defence to promote development and it must be prepared to use its "might" if the need arises.
'...then Bangladesh would have been the world champions a long time ago!'
History beckons trailblazers Bengaluru FC as they lock horns with Air Force Club of Iraq in the summit clash of AFC Cup in Doha on Saturday, aiming to become the first Indian football club to clinch a continental title. Bengaluru FC have already created history by becoming the first Indian club to qualify for the final of a continental tournament after they defeated defending champions Johor Darul Ta'zim in the semifinals on 4-2 aggregate last month. Before this, the farthest an Indian club had advanced in a continental tournament was the two AFC Cup semifinal appearances by Dempo in 2008 and East Bengal in 2013.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Viswanathan Anand says one factor that has contributed immensely to this has been his habit of 'forgetting' achievements.
This, the Congress said in its political resolution, was necessary as there were misgivings on the 'misuse' of EVMs to 'manipulate the outcome contrary to popular verdict.' The resolution called for reverting to the old practice of paper ballot as adopted by other major democracies to help restore the credibility of the electoral process.
There is so much goodness in Garm Hava, says Aseem Chhabra/ Rediff.com
'Knee jerk reactions are the worst in this kind of conflict situation.' 'The responses have to be thought through for strategic advantage rather than tactical satisfaction and ego,' says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd), former commander of the Uri-based Kalapahar Brigade.
'In all likelihood, the Congress will fall short in Gujarat.' 'The Modi-Amit A Shah duo will hold on to the state for the BJP,' predicts Sudhir Bisht.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
'Why do we feel our parents are not human? That our mother is not a woman?'
Indian cricket's fortunes ebbed and flowed in 2015 with Virat Kohli successfully leading the national side in Tests and Mahendra Singh Dhoni appearing to be losing his midas touch, while in off the field drama Shashank Manohar returned as the president of Board of Control for Cricket in India.
On the actor's 54th birthday on November 2, we write another tome about the boy with big dreams and a regrettable haircut, who defied incredible odds to become one of the most loved actors on the planet.
For the 12th successive time, none could match up to India's regional might but the host country's record-breaking medal haul of 308 can hardly hide the fact that the standard of competition in the South Asian Games has failed to rise significantly.
Nikita Puri and Dhruv Munjal explain why new-age businessmen are turning to exclusive, uber-rich clubs.
'When a soldier becomes a king, he better be a king. He should now just forget the past and move beyond continuity. He should catch the potential of India's moment and play a leader's role,' says Vallabh Bhansali of Enam Group.
'His simple lifestyle, his optimism, his hard work and his genuine humility made him an authentic role model to millions of children, many of them growing up in challenging circumstances.'
An MP's is a full-time job, so is the BCCI president's. How can Anurag Thakur do justice to both, asks Sudhir Bisht.
'Until India fully absorbs the fundamentals of international relations, it will continue to get evil for good,' says Brahma Chellaney.
Barcelona must to wait to confirm a place in the Champions League last 16 after dropping points for the first time in Group D in an absorbing 0-0 draw at Olympiakos Piraeus on Tuesday.
Vishal Sikka has little time left to turnaround Infosys.
'A P Venkateswaran left an indelible impression on Indian diplomacy and made an incredible number of friends, who kept remembering him, more than other Indian diplomats, who served at those posts.' Ambassador T P Sreenivasan salutes a legend of the Indian Foreign Service who passed into the ages.
Economist Dale W Jorgenson declares that India is doing "very, very well" and forecasts that India might continue to outrun world economies, including China over the next many years.
'The Congress, all these decades, worked on a slow Hindi-isation and Indianisation of Arunachal tribes. The RSS wants rapid Hinduisation,' says Shekhar Gupta.
If Paris really meant to serve as a landmark in recognising equity in climate negotiations, it should have heralded the second phase of the Kyoto protocol. Instead we have all countries, India and China included, all signing up with voluntary commitments in what can only be seen as a race to the bottom, reports Darryl D'Monte.
'In Udaan and in Lootera, the initial sensations that drove Vikramaditya Motwane to make those pictures never quite travelled beyond the walls that contained them.' 'Here, in Trapped, this sensations-strangled-by-the-walls feeling becomes the movie's real tune,' says Sreehari Nair.
In Muthuvel Karunanidhi's passing, Tamil Nadu has lost the last of its Titans.
Rescued from slavery at age 7 by Kailash Satyarthi's Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Om Prakash Gurjar is today one of the world's 7 top influential youngsters.
Tragic as it is, the submarine accident is more tactical in nature and it is the deeper strategic malaise across the board -- political, economic, security, judiciary, bureaucracy and even the media -- that has led to this dark mood of gloom and despondency, says Commodore (retd) C Uday Bhaskar.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
