A breathtaking year for world sport

AS WE prepare to bid a fond farewell to 2023, sports fans in Singapore and around the world can look back on another action-packed year that was chock-full of memorable moments. As usual, it was pretty tough to narrow the list down, but here (in no particular order) are six events that stand out from the others.

Sprint queen Shanti rules the track

What a year it’s been for Singapore’s undisputed sprint queen, Shanti Pereira. The 27-year-old ran the races of her life on the track, and was rewarded with a boatload of accolades. She bested her own national records in the 100 m and 200 m several times, and clinched two medals – a gold in the 200 m and a silver in the 100 m – at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Her incredible 23.03 seconds in the 200 m final gave Singapore its first athletics gold medal since 1974, when Chee Swee Lee won the women’s 400 m.

With the Paris Olympics coming up and Shanti already securing the necessary qualifying time standard, she’s definitely gearing up for a big year ahead with, hopefully, more honours and medals to come her way.

Relentless Djokovic still on top

Even at 36 years of age, Novak Djokovic simply doesn’t know when to call it quits. In fact, 2023 proved to be one of the Serb’s most prolific seasons. He clinched the year-end world No 1 ranking for a record-extending eighth time; he’s the first man to win 24 Grand Slam titles; and he now owns 40 ATP Masters titles, four more than second-placed Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic is one Slam away from overtaking Margaret Court’s longstanding record for the most singles slams won by any tennis player, male or female, in history.

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He’s a heavy favourite to achieve that feat as early as January, when he competes in the Australian Open. Djokovic is also looking to continue his riveting on-court rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz, who denied him the Calendar Slam when the Spaniard won at Wimbledon.

F1’s Flying Dutchman

What a dominant year it’s been for Max Verstappen, who seemed bent on breaking every single Formula 1 record whenever he raced. It’s been a long time since the sport witnessed one driver win so convincingly, regularly, and often with such ease. The 26-year-old Dutchman racked up the most number of wins in a single season (19 out of 22 races), scooped up the most victories in a row (10), the most consecutive wins from pole position in a single campaign (16), and the most finishes on a podium in a season (21).

If there’s one city that stopped the Red Bull driver firmly in his tracks, it was Singapore. His run of 10 straight wins was snapped in the Lion City, with Singapore also being the only stop on the calendar where Verstappen finished outside the top three.

City’s treble haul

For nearly a quarter of a century, Manchester United were the only English club to have won the coveted treble of the league championship, FA Cup and the Champions League. Their so-called noisy neighbours, Manchester City, added their names to that list in June when they matched that accomplishment.

Pep Guardiola’s men sauntered their way to a fifth English Premier League (EPL) crown in six seasons, defeated Manchester United in the FA Cup final, and completed the treble by beating Inter Milan in the Champions League final. They did so largely because of the goalscoring exploits of Erling Haaland, the Norwegian who marked his first season in English football with 52 goals in 53 games in all competitions, including the most in the EPL with 36 goals in 35 matches.

King James breaks scoring record

For almost four decades, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points. In February this year, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers overtook that mantle with a signature 21-foot fall-away jumper against the Oklahoma City Thunder, setting a new standard in professional basketball that may well take another 40 years (or even longer) to break.

James took 20 seasons to earn this record, and it’s hard to envision anyone in the current generation getting anywhere close. In fact, only seven players in NBA history have ever scored more than 30,000 points, and the next highest scorer who’s still actively playing is Kevin Durant, who is far behind with less than 28,000 points.

What’s staggering is that James, who turns 39 on Dec 30, is far from done. The four-time NBA champion and 19-time NBA All-Star now has 39,282 points and is closing in on the magical 40,000 milestone.

Shameful Rubiales ruins Spain’s World Cup triumph

What should have been Spanish women’s football’s proudest moment as the team lifted the World Cup trophy in Sydney was instead overshadowed by the inexplicable actions of Luis Rubiales.

With the world’s TV cameras on him, the now-former Spanish Football Association president celebrated by bizarrely grabbing his crotch while standing next to Spain’s Queen Letizia and the 16-year-old Princess Infanta Sofia in the VIP section. During the trophy presentation ceremony, Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso firmly on the lips, sparking a furore.

Faced with incessant calls for him to resign, Rubiales finally did so, and the disgraced 46-year-old was later banned by world governing body Fifa from all football-related activity for three years.