Other Sport Features

YEARENDER: The major events in sport in 2010

By Peter Auf der Heyde Dec 31, 2010, 11:30 GMT

Switzerland\'s Roger Federer returns a ball to Spain\'s Rafael Nadal during the exhibition match \'Together for the Children\' in aid of Rafael Nadal\'s charity foundation, in the Magic Box of Madrid, central Spain, on 22 December 2010. Nadal won 7-6 (3), 4-6 and 6-1. EPA/CHEMA MOYA

Berlin - Sport's major events in 2010:

January 8 - The bus carrying Togo's national football team to the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola is attacked by gunmen, leaving one person dead and several wounded.

January 10 - The Africa Cup of Nations kicks off, with the hosts squandering a 4-0 lead in the opening game against Mali to draw 4-4. Also on Sunday, Togo fly home and are subsequently banned from future tournaments, but the ban is later lifted.

January 11 - St Louis Cardinals player Mark McGwire, who broke the baseball home run record in 1998 admits to using steroids during his career, including in the 1998 season.

January 30 - Serena Williams beats Justine Henin 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 for her fifth Australian Open tennis championship title.

January 31 - Switzerland's Roger Federer secures his 16th Grand Slam tennis title with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (13-11) victory against Briton Andy Murray in the Australian Open final.

January 31 - Egypt become the first country to win the Africa Cup of Nations for the third time in a row by beating Ghana 1-0 in the final in Luanda.

February 7 - The New Orleans Saints win their first Super Bowl by beating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in New Orleans. 106 million people watch the game on television in the US, making it the most- watched program in US television history.

February 12 - The XXI Olympic Winter Games are opened in the Canadian city of Vancouver. The opening ceremony is overshadowed by the death of Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili, who died after crashing during a training run.

February 28 - The Winter Olympics close in Vancouver with the home country topping the medals table with 14 gold.

March 21 - Baseball star Joe Mauer signs an eight-year contract extension with the Minnesota Twins worth 184 million dollars, which is the richest major league baseball contract for a catcher.

April 11 - Phil Mickelson wins his third US Masters title with a 16- under-par 272 in Augusta for his fourth major victory overall.

April 21 - Former president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Juan Antonio Samaranch, dies aged 89. The Spaniard headed the IOC for 21 years (1980-2001) as the world's most powerful sports leader. He transformed the ailing Olympics into a professional and profitable business. But his IOC term was also marred by doping affairs and a bribes-for-votes scandal within the IOC.

May 7 - Germany beat the US in the opening match of the 2010 world ice hockey championships. The attendance of 77,803 in the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen in Germany is a new world record.

May 12 - Atletico Madrid beat Fulham 2-1 in extra-time in the final of the Europa League in Hamburg. Uruguay striker Diego Forlan is the matchwinner for Atletico with two goals.

May 16 - England secures a seven wicket win against Australia in the final of the World Twenty20 cricket World Cup in Barbados.

May 22 - Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in the Champions League final. Inter coach Jose Mourinho wins the trophy for the second time after having guided Porto to victory in 2004.

May 23 - The Czech Republic beat Russia in the final of the ice hockey world championships in Germany, while Sweden finish third after beating the hosts in the play-off match.

May 30 - Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay pitches the 20th perfect game in Major League Baseball history as he leads his team to a 1-0 victory against the Florida Marlins. He becomes only the fifth pitcher in major league history (the first since Nolan Ryan in 1973) to throw more than one no-hitters in the same season.

June 5 - Francesca Schiavone becomes the first Italian woman to win a tennis Grand Slam tournament after beating Samantha Stosur 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) in the final of the French Open.

June 6 - Spain's Rafael Nadal wins his fifth French Open crown after a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory against Swede Robin Soderling.

June 9 - The Chicago Blackhawks win the National Hockey League Stanley Cup for the first time in 49 years years by beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in overtime.

June 11 - South Africa play to a 1-1 draw against Mexico in the opening game of the 2010 football World Cup. It is the first World Cup hosted in Africa.

June 17 - The Los Angeles Lakers win back-to-back NBA titles with a 83-79 victory against the Boston Celtics in the decisive seventh game.

June 20 - Northern Irish golfer Graeme McDowell becomes the first European to win the US Open in 40 years as he secures a one-shot victory at the Pebble Beach Golf links in California.

June 22 - The jersey that ice hockey player Paul Henderson wore during Canada's victory in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union is auctioned off for 1,275,000 dollars, making it the highest price ever paid for a hockey top. Henderson scored the winning goals in three of the eight matches of the series.

June 23 - A first round match between American John Isner and Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon is halted at 59-59 in the final set after ten hours of play. It become the longest match in tennis history.

June 24 - The game between Isner and Mahut is finally finished after 11 hours and five minutes and three days of play. Isner wins 6-4 3-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-3) 70-68. The game rewrites the record books for the longest match, the longest set, the most games in a set and a match, the most aces in a match and the most aces by a player.

July 3 - Serena Williams takes her fourth Wimbledon crown with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Vera Zvonareva. It is the 13th Grand Slam title for the American.

July 4 - Nadal wins his eighth career Grand Slam title with a 6-3, 7- 5, 6-4 victory against Tomas Berdych in the Wimbledon final.

July 11 - Spain win the World Cup for the first time in their history after beating the Netherlands 1-0 in the final in Johannesburg to bring an end to the first World Cup tournament on African soil.

July 18 - South African Louis Oosthuizen stuns the field as he wins the British Open by seven strokes over Lee Westwood. It is the first major victory for the South African golfer.

July 20 - Russian NHL star Ilya Kovalchuk signs a historic 17-year contract with the New Jersey Devils worth a staggering 102 million dollars. It is later rejected by the NHL as it ignores the annual six million dollar salary cap. The NHL says Kovalchuk is going to be paid more in the early years and less later.

July 25 - Spain's Alberto Contador wins the Tour de France. It is the third time in four years that he wins the prestigious race. He announces at the end of September that he tested positive for clenbuterol during the race, but says it is due to eating tainted food.

August 4 - Alex Rodriguez becomes the youngest (and the seventh overall) player to hit 600 home runs. The New York Yankees star is 35.

August 14 - The inaugural Youth Olympic Games open in Singapore. They are a brainchild of IOC president Jacques Rogge and bring together some 3,600 of the world's best athletes aged 14 to 18 across 26 sports.

August 15 - Martin Kaymer becomes the second German to win a golf major as he beats Bubba Watson in a play-off for the 92nd US PGA Championship.

September 6 - Rodriguez becomes the first player to reach 100 RBIs in 14 seasons, beating the 13-season record set by Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Fox.

September 12 - Belgian Kim Clijsters beats Vera Zvonareva 6­2, 6­1 to become the first woman since Venus Williams in 2001 to retain the US Open tennis trophy.

September 13 - Nadal wins his third Grand Slam tennis tournament of the season, beating Djokovic 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the US Open.

October 3 - The Commonwealth Games open in New Delhi. The run-up to the competition is dogged by controversy, with organizers running behind in their preparations. At one stage the athletes' village is declared 'unfit for athletes.'

October 31 - England's Westwood takes over the number one spot from Tiger Woods. The American golfer had an uninterrupted reign at the top for 281 weeks before being knocked off the top by Westwood.

November 1 - The San Francisco Giants win the fifth game of the World Series to beat the Texas Rangers 4-1. It is the first time the Giants win baseball's World Series since 1954.

November 14 - Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel becomes the youngest Formula One world champion when, at the age of 23, he takes victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. His rivals for the title, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber, finish off the pace. The German was only third going into the final race of the season.

November 28 - Germany's golfing superstar Kaymer wins the 1.45 million dollars prize for victory in the Race to Dubai.

November 28 - Federer sends his season on a high as he beat Rafael Nadal in the ATP final in London.

December 2 - The FIFA executive committee controversially awards the right to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals to Russia and Qatar respectively. Earlier, two members of the committee had received lengthy suspensions over corruption allegations. They were found guilty of contravening FIFA's rules of ethics.