SC refuses to allow Jallikattu, protests intensify in TN

Last-gasp attempts to hold the traditional bull-taming sport of Jallikattu during pongal festivities on Wednesday ended in failure, with the Supreme Court refusing to vacate its order staying lifting of a ban on the sport by the Centre, provoking intensified protests in Tamil Nadu.

As the Supreme Court refused to vacate its order staying the Centre's notification lifting the ban on the popular but controversial sport, the animal rights group People for Ethical Treatment of Animals India shot off a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee, urging him not to pass any such ordinance so bulls can be protected.

The PETA's move came a day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to promulgate an ordinance allowing holding of Jallikattu, a 3,000-year-old sport, which has become a hot political issue in an election year.

"We are not inclined to vacate the stay," a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and N V Ramana said after hearing the urgently moved pleas of some Tamil Nadu residents and a group called Compassion Unlimited Plus Action.

The bench said it was "unimpressed" with the arguments that Jallikattu should be allowed under the supervision of the court by appointing court commissioners who could submit reports on the event and the claim that it was a socio-religious harvest festival and not entertainment.

It said the apex court's two-judge bench in its judgement in 2014 had discussed various facets of the age-old sport and expressed its opinion that bulls cannot be subjected to cruelty.

"The aforesaid submission leaves us unimpressed, for the simon-pure (genuine) reason (that) the two-Judge bench of this Court, as it appears, had discussed many facets with regard to Jallikattu and expressed its opinion. The arrangements made on the basis of the notification would not warrant alteration of our order and, therefore, we are not inclined to vacate the order of stay," the bench said.

The apex court remained unimpressed with the contention that Jallikattu was not a fight between bulls and humans but a game where the participants are required to embrace the running bulls by hanging on to their hump as long as possible and that the men are unarmed.

With the Supreme Court declining to vacate its stay on the Centre's notification, protests intensified across Tamil Nadu.

Protests were held in several cities and towns, including Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Pudukottai and Salem.

In Chennai, activists of the 'May 17 Movement' and 'Tamilar Munnetra Padai' staged demonstrations seeking measures by the Centre to facilitate Jallikattu.

In Tiruchirappalli district, a man attempted to set himself ablaze but police overpowered and removed him from the spot.

Organisers and supporters of the bull taming sport also blocked roads and organisers and participants went on a fast in Alanganallur and Palamdedu in Madurai, police said.

Many men tonsured their heads in Madurai as a mark of protest and black flags were hoisted in several places.

"An ordinance cannot be brought now at this stage when the case continues to be in court. However, the state government can do it and if that is done, we will support it," Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters at Mamallapuram near Chennai on the sidelines of a function.

However, Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan told reporters at Cuddalore that appropriate measures were being considered to facilitate conduct of the sport.

PMK chief Ramadoss said "people's expectations on (conducting) Jallikattu should not be banned."

With Jayalalithaa making a pitch for promulgating an ordinance to allow conduct of Jallikattu, PETA petitioned the President not to take such a course so the bulls are protected.

"After learning from various reliable news reports that TN CM J Jayalalitha has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to disseminate an ordinanace allowing Jallikattu, PETA India fired off a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee urging him not to pass any such ordinance so that bulls can remain protected," a PETA India statement said in Delhi.

Jayalalithaa in her letter to Modi had on Tuesday said, "Considering the urgency of the issue, I strongly reiterate my earlier request to promulgate an ordinance forthwith to enable the conduct of Jallikattu. On behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu, I urge you to take immediate action in this regard."

The PETA India letter said, "We urge you (President) not to pass any ordinance allowing bull races, Jallikattu, bull fights or any other similar events or to allow the use of bulls as performing animals again under any pretext." 

Gadkari says no to casinos; wants Ramdev, Sri Sri to enter tourism

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday made it clear that casinos are not welcome in the country while he pitched that organisations doing 'good work' like Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali group and Sri Sri Ravishankar's Art of Living should create facilities at the over 1,300 islands, which are to be opened up for tourism across the country.

"We oppose things like casinos, and I will not give permissions for that. People will also not tolerate such things," Gadkari said at an industry event in Mumbai.

Stating that Art of Living (of Sri Sri Ravishankar) and Ramdev are doing good work, Gadkari asked them to start ayurvedic spas to give massages and ayurvedic treatment at these islands being opened up.

The Union shipping minister said apart from ayurveda and traditional wellness activities, ‘entertainment facilities are also welcome on the islands but definitely not casinos’.

The functioning of the casinos has been a contentious issue in the country and only the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Goa, the Union Territory of Daman and Sikkim have functional places of gambling.

As per the Constitution, gambling and allowing casinos are state subjects.

Referring to a conference held earlier to leverage on the tourism potential offered by the islands and lighthouses, Gadkari said the government has decided to open up 1,300 islands and 280 lighthouses.

He said there is a good demand for activities like yoga and traditional Indian wellness programmes from foreigners and apart from the foreign exchange it will also help in generating employment.

Kashmir shivers as mercury stays way below freezing point

A bright sunny day and rise in night temperature brought some respite from cold in most parts of the northern India except Kashmir valley where the mercury dipped further.

Delhi witnessed a pleasant morning as the minimum temperature settled at 10.6 degrees Celsius, four notches above normal. The general visibility was recorded at 1,000 metres.

The weatherman has predicted partly cloudy sky afternoon onwards, with possibility of shallow fog on Wednesday morning.

In Rajasthan, there was a rise in night temperatures in most parts of the state, where the lowest was recorded in Churu at 5.8 degrees Celsius.

According to MeT department, Sikar recorded a minimum of 6 deg C, Sriganganagar 8.4 deg C, Bikaner 9.6 deg C, state capital Jaipur 10 deg C and Ajmer 11.5 degree Celsius.

Cold wave tightened its grip across Kashmir valley as the minimum temperature dropped at most places.

Leh was the coldest recorded area at minus 11.8 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature recorded in Srinagar was minus 3.7 degrees Celsius against Monday's minus 2.7 degrees Celsius, a MET office spokesman said.

The famous ski resort of Gulmarg, a major attraction for tourists visiting the valley during winter, was the coldest recorded place in the valley with a low of minus 6.6 degrees Celsius against Monday's minus 5.4 degrees Celsius.

Kargil, also in the cold desert of Ladakh, registered a minimum of minus 10.2 degrees Celsius, making it the second coldest place in the state, the spokesman said.

The minimum temperature dropped several degrees in Pahalgam hill resort to settle at minus 6.4 degrees Celsius against Monday's minus 2.9 degrees Celsius.

The minimum temperature in north Kashmir town of Kupwara was minus 2.5 degrees Celsius, while the southern Kokernag resort recorded a low of minus 0.9 degrees Celsius.

Qazigund, the gateway town to Kashmir along Srinagar-Jammu national highway, registered a minimum of minus 0.6 degrees Celsius.

As the sun shone brightly for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, the chances of snowfall or rains have further reduced.

Himachal Pradesh also witnessed a clear sky. Capital Shimla witnessed a minimum temperature of 8 degrees Celsius, which was about 3 degrees above normal for this time of the season.

Nahan recorded a low of 10.1 degrees Celsius while the lowest temperature in higher hill reaches of Kalpa was at zero degree Celsius. Usually temperature remains around minus four to five degrees Celsius here at this time of the season. 

Doval's actions saved critical air assets in Pathankot

'Ajit Doval has done a splendid job in handling the Pathankot attack and certainly helped save heavy destruction of critical air force assets,' says Abhay Jere.

Ajai Shukla's column is another example of the pathological hatred within a section of armchair columnists towards Narendra Modi's establishment.

Shukla has certainly pretended to be objective while analysing the handling of terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase, but he has purposefully chosen to overlook/ignore the facts which does not support his viewpoint. Moreover, he has labelled all the journalists praising the handling of the Pathankot attack as National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's 'cheerleaders'.

So now let us systematically dissect the various issues raised by Shukla to perpetuate his prejudice that the Pathankot terrorist attack was poorly handled by Doval and that he is incompetent to be the NSA.

The first and foremost aspect of the Pathankot attack was the availability of credible intelligence inputs before the actual attack. This itself a very positive sign as India has paid heavily in the past for not having credible and actionable intelligence inputs prior to any major terrorist attacks like the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Doval, being an ex-spy, certainly must have done something right to ensure that our intelligence system is geared enough to give credible inputs. Needless to say, if we didn't have the intelligence inputs, then the damage would have been far worse.

Moreover, the primary objective of these terrorists was to destroy our critical air force assets, but our armed forces ensured that they were not successful.

In his article, Shukla implied that Doval was casual in his approach and initially failed to understand the gravity and magnanimity of the problem. He also suggested that Doval initially restricted the role of the army and relied on hapless Defence Security Corps jawans, thus resulting in more casualties. This is absolutely not true.

On the contrary, after getting credible intelligence of an imminent terror attack on the base last Friday itself, a special forces team of the Indian Army along with two infantry columns (25 to 30 soldiers per column) of the army were deployed at the air base.

In addition, a team of the National Security Guard's Black Cat Commandos was also immediately deployed. More importantly, the overall command of the entire military operation was with a brigadier of the Indian Army and then with an NSG Inspector General (Operations).

Later, nine more columns of the army were moved in to ensure that the entire base was sanitised and completely under control. Doval was continuously monitoring the situation and for the very reason he cancelled his scheduled visit to China.

Shukla says that NSG commandos are not the first line of defence and not trained to protect assets like airbases and only trained to flushing out terrorists holed up in a house. He is not completely right. NGS commandos are special forces under the ministry of home affairs primarily trained for combating terrorism in every form. Their training is comprehensive and covers all aspects of countering terrorism and not just the holed up terrorist.

The NSG commandos are trained to conduct counter-terrorist tasks that include counter-hijacking tasks on land, sea, and air; bomb disposal (search, detection and neutralisation of IEDs); post blast investigation as well as hostage rescue missions. Anyway, during the Pathankot operation, NSG commandos were never the first line of defence.

Finally, Shukla talks about the delay (three days) in finishing the operations, especially the time taken to neutralise the last two terrorists who were holed up in a staff residential building. Now, according to Shukla, the NSG commandos are experts in tackling holed up terrorists, then questioning the delay in neutralising the last two holed up terrorists is to directly question the competence and ability of our NGS commandos.

It will be extremely unfair on our part to make judgments regarding the length of duration of an operation sitting inside air-conditioned chambers in far away locations, as we are still unaware of all the details which might have resulted in the delay.

It also could have been a strategic decision by the NSG to ensure that the terrorists are tired before making the final assault.

I completely agree with Shukla on a couple of minor points. First, the statements by the home minister in almost announcing the end of the operation without validating all the facts could have been avoided. Moreover, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi's statements during Sunday's press briefing were quite insensitive and should have been worded more carefully.

Having said this, I have no hesitation in proclaiming that Doval has done a splendid job in handling the Pathankot attack and has certainly helped saved heavy destruction of critical air force assets.

Instead of mindless criticism just based on prejudice and conjecture, people like Ajai Shukla, who have no real experience or expertise in counter-terrorism operations, need to learn to give credit where it is due.

Djokovic not as smooth on romantic dates as on tennis court...

It seems Novak Djokovic's moves with the ladies are not as perfect as the moves with his tennis.

In an honest admission, the Serbian tennis star revealed that he made a rookie error on his first date with now-wife Jelena Djokovic.

In a new commercial for an Australian wine brand, Djokovic revealed how his attempt to impress Jelena was derailed by his immaturity and ignorance.

Image: Novak Djokovic kisses his wife Jelena Ristic on their wedding day

Almost 10 years ago, Djokovic took his lady to a sports bar for their first date and, knowing what a fan of steak she was, promptly ordered the steak tartare on her behalf. The only problem was, he had no idea steak tartare was actually raw beef -- a completely inedible prospect for both of them.

Even after all these, the move was taken positively, resulting to the marriage of the 28-year-old tennis star and his lady love on July 2014.

The couple has a 15-month-old baby boy Stefan.

It's a wrap! Sania-Saina super show dominate 2015

A phase of transition gripped India's favourite obsession both on and off the field but tennis ace Sania Mirza and top shuttler Saina Nehwal ensured that sports other than cricket also had their moments of glory as they geared up for next year's Olympics in a low-key 2015.

IMAGE: Saina Nehwal in action. 

Cricket soap opera

IMAGE: India ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (left) with Virat Kohli. 

That cricket dominated headlines for most part of the year was hardly a surprise given the drama which unfolded in an episodic manner, be it on the field or inside the Board of Control for Cricket in India power corridors.

Whether it was Virat Kohli starting his Test captaincy reign in the middle of a high-profile series in Australia or Narayanaswami Srinivasan waging a lone battle to save his chair before eventually bowing out from both the BCCI and the International Cricket Council, cricket was undoubtedly a soap opera that had the fans hooked.

The feisty and ferocious Kohli ushered in the new age Indian cricket team with an approach which had the purists divided.

The sight of an Indian team unabashed about getting under the opponents' skin as much with words and gestures as with sheer superiority of skill was met with mixed response from both the fans and yesteryear stars of the game.

It was also a year which marked the end of an era with the retirement of swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan.

The year began with the cricket series against Australia well in progress. The team was recovering from the shock of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's retirement after the Melbourne Test and there was eagerness to see Kohli's approach to captaincy amid the dramatic turn of events.

The Indians lost the series but there was near unanimity that Kohli was the man to take Indian cricket forward. The Delhi batsman did not disappoint and delivered the first series win as captain in Sri Lanka, ending a 22-year wait.

The young leader then made history when he led India to a 3-0 series win at home against No.1 Test side South Africa, who were made to taste an overseas loss after nine years.

But even in its moment of glory, controversy did not leave the Indian team with a furore on the pitches prepared for the series culminating into an ICC warning for the country.

There were googlies being bowled inside the BCCI boardroom as well and after brazening out the 2013 spot-fixing storm for more than a year, Srinivasan was finally bowled out.

Shashank Manohar, under whom Srinivasan served as Secretary, managed to get the BCCI rally behind him for a second stint as President of the country's richest sports body.

Eventually, Srinivasan also had to give up on his ICC Chairmanship after the BCCI withdrew its support to the once all-powerful figure. It was Manohar again who replaced Srinivasan.

The Indian Premier League continued to churn out on and off field drama with Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals suspended for two years for involvement of their key officials Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra in betting-related activities during the 2013 season.

Meiyappan, the former Team Principal of CSK, and RR co-owner Kundra were suspended for life for indulging in betting and bringing the IPL and the game into disrepute.

But the players of the two teams were not made to suffer even as they had to split ways with new inductees Pune and Rajkot pitching for the big guns from the suspended sides.

If Pune got the prized catch in Dhoni, then Rajkot bagged Suresh Raina, the two CSK veterans, who had seen the champion side win three editions of the cash-rich league.

Sania unarguably the biggest success story

IMAGE: Sania Mirza features in the BBC’s 100 women of 2015.

Away from the cricket field, it was a year in which Sania was unarguably the biggest success story with her staggering 10 titles on the tour -- two of them Grand Slams.

Her pairing with Swiss legend Martina Hingis was near invincible through the year and the duo enjoyed a 55:7 win-loss ratio, clinching nine titles together in all. The stupendous success catapulted the duo to world number one spot in women's doubles.

Among the men, India's 'ageless wonder' Leander Paes continued to bring laurels for himself by winning three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles with Hingis being the common factor.

Saina rediscovered herself

IMAGE: India's Saina Nehwal returns a shot. 

If Sania ruled the tennis court, Saina rediscovered herself on the badminton court, becoming the first Indian woman shuttler to occupy the world number one spot, though for a brief period, before injury derailed her run to an extent.

The London Olympic bronze-medallist snared two titles and became the first Indian woman to make the finals of the All England and the World Championships.

Away from the glaring spotlight, the shooters were on mark, bagging seven Olympic quota places through various events and they would once again be the country's prime medal hope in Rio de Janeiro.

On the badminton court, Saina was not the only one making hay as K Srikanth also won two titles.

Srikanth had emerged as the next big thing last year when he had beaten two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan en route to his China Open triumph and the 22-year-old from Guntur continued his rampaging run in the first half of the season, winning the Swiss Open and India Open in March besides reaching the World No. 3 ranking in June.

Vijender Singh, one bright spot amid the gloom

IMAGE: India’s Vijender Singh celebrates after beating Samet Hyuseinov on Saturday. 

However, as has been the case for several years, administration of sports in India remained woefully managed.

While the men and women who matter got busy preparing for Rio Olympics next year, the politicking among officials, especially boxing, made for a depressing footnote. In fact, the sport does not have a national federation anymore and the effect is beginning to show inside the ring as well with none of the boxers managing to secure an Olympic berth so far.

However, Vijender Singh turned out to be one bright spot amid the gloom, stunning one and all with his decision to turn professional. He has so far been an unstoppable force, winning all his contests via knockouts.

For boxing, it was another year in which the administration of the sport itself remained in a state of paralysis but Vijender's stunning professional plunge and Shiva Thapa's World Championships medal lifted the gloom to an extent.

With Vijender's departure to the pro circuit, the slot for India's No.1 amateur boxer fell vacant and though there is no particular contender in sight right now, the year 2015 did throw up some exciting talent, which had been around for a while but gained in maturity and confidence.

This breed includes Shiva (56kg), Mandeep Jangra (69kg) and Vikas Krishan (75kg) among a few others. Shiva shone a shade brighter than the rest by becoming only the third Indian boxer ever to win a medal at the World Championships.

It was a brilliant year for the 22-year-old Assamese during which he won a bronze at the Asian Championships before the historic bronze at the World Championships in Doha.

The only blip was his failure to book an Olympic berth, for which the World Championships was a qualifying event.

In fact, no Indian boxer could fetch an Olympic quota place in Doha but given the administrative mess, which led to the national federation's suspension for the second time in three years, it was no small achievement to clinch a medal at the showpiece tournament.

In women's boxing, it was all about the return of L Sarita Devi, the former world champion who had been serving a one-year ban for her emotional outburst at the 2014 Asian Games medal ceremony.

The Manipuri came back into the reckoning with some good performances in a training-cum-competition trip to China.

India's young shooters eye-catching performances

IMAGE: Jitu Rai in action. 

Coming to other sports, grounded in obscurity for long, India's young shooters and exponents of skeet shooting came of age with eye-catching performances at home as well as on foreign shores.

The likes of Abhinav Bindra, an Olympic champion and the country's most talked-about marksman, pistol ace Jitu Rai, Gagan Narang and Apurvi Chandela, among others, helped in swelling the number of quotas earned by India for the coming summer's quadrennial extravaganza in Rio de Janeiro.

Often considered the weakest discipline for Indian shooting, skeet also took a step forward with Mairaj Ahmed Khan securing the country its maiden Olympic quota in the category.

On-field achievements often jostled for space with off-field drama

IMAGE: Rupinder Pal Singh, left, PR Sreejesh, centre, and V R Raghunath celebrate. 

In hockey, on-field achievements often jostled for space with off-field drama as the sport endured a roller-coaster year during which the players scripted historical feats but coach Paul van Ass' acrimonious ouster and Gurbaj Singh's suspension created its share of storm.

While the women team's return to Olympics after a hiatus of 36 years and men team's breaking of a 33-year-old medal jinx in a major international tournament by winning Hockey World League Final were the high points, van Ass' bitter sacking and experienced midfielder Gurbaj's nine-month suspension summed up a mixed year for Indian hockey.

With a pretty decent start to his stint, van Ass' next assignment was the Hockey World League (HWL) Semi-final in Antwerp, Belgium.

In HWL Semi-final, India put up an inconsistent show but managed to finish fourth, losing 1-5 to Great Britain in the third-fourth place play-off match.

But a major controversy broke out after India returned from Antwerp as van Ass was sacked unceremoniously just six months into his job following a bitter public spat with Hockey India president Narinder Batra.

Highlight of the year: Narsingh sealing an Olympic berth

On the wrestling mat, if a keen tussle for a ticket to Rio between double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar and rising star Narsingh Yadavgrabbed headlines, the youngsters showed the sport's bench strength in a country that gave the world the much-touted Pro Wrestling League this year.

It was Narsingh sealing an Olympic berth for India that remained the highlight of the year.

At the last edition of the quadrennial event in London, Sushil and Narsingh had participated in different weight categories. While Sushil won the silver in 66kg, Narsingh, a veteran of 74kg, bowed out in the first round.

Since then Sushil has climbed up to 74kg division after the FILA, the governing body for international wrestling, re-jigged the weight categories. Sushil had bagged one silver and a gold medal in two tournaments he had participated since moving up the weight division in 2013.

But Sushil's absence from the mat for more than a year has not only seen Narsingh represent India in that weight division but also win medals consistently.

Another Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt continued to prove his mettle in whatever limited tournaments he participated in despite being bogged down by injuries for a major part of the year.

Lahiri dominated headlines with his record-breaking achievements

IMAGE: India's Anirban Lahiri plays his shot. 

Another success story was scripted on the golf course as Anirban Lahiri savoured unprecedented success, dominating the headlines with his record-breaking achievements, which included two European tour titles and a fifth place finish at a Major.

In a watershed year which saw him juggle between Asia, US and Europe, Lahiri emerged as the new poster boy of Indian golf clinching the Indian Open and Maybank Malaysian Open, earning a fifth place finish at PGA Championship, qualifying for the prestigious President's Cup, claiming the Asian Tour Order of Merit and achieving a career-best ranking of World No. 34 among others.

Mediocrity in Indian football

IMAGE: India coach Stephen Constantine with members of the team during training. 

On the football field, the national team plummeted to depths unseen in years but the mediocrity, which has become a norm with the beleaguered outfit, got lost in the shrill din of the spectacle called Indian Super League even as the great Pele grabbed headlines briefly with his week-long sojourn.

Globally, the beautiful game witnessed the good, bad and ugly in equal measure.

From Barcelona's treble winning season to Cristiano Ronaldo claiming the Ballon d'Or for the second time running, to the long-standing FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA chief Michel Platini getting banned for eight years by the apex body's Ethics Committee, football had a bit of everything for almost everyone.

Memorable year for squash

IMAGE: India's Dipika Pallikal (left) and Joshna Chinappa celebrate.

In squash, Joshna Chinappa overtook Dipika Pallikal to become India's highest-ranked player while off the court N Ramachandran's role as the boss of the world governing body was questioned in what turned out to be a memorable year for Indian and world squash.

Joshna had the most fruitful time among the country's three torch-bearers including Dipika and Saurav Ghosal.

The highlight of her season undoubtedly was getting the better of world number one Raneem El Welily in the opening round of Qatar Classic. A couple of $ 15,000 titles in Melbourne and Mumbai along with a semifinal finish at the $ 50,000 Carol Weymuller Open in New York eventually helped her reach a career-high rank of 13, a jump of nine places since December 2014.

Weightlifting brought India a bad name

On the flipside, weightlifting brought India a bad name with the highest number of dope cheats this year, threatening the country's participation in next year's Olympic Games with the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) staring at a suspension.

After a dope-free 2014, it seemed that Indian weightlifters had successfully managed to bury the ghosts of drug menace but it came back to haunt the country this year with highest number of offenders ever to be registered.

If the early part of the year was marred by one of the biggest doping scandals in recent times with as many as 26 lifters provisionally suspended by the IWF after testing positive for banned substances at various domestic meets, the end of 2015 saw two women athletes failing dope tests at an international event.

As per the rules, three positive tests at international events in a calendar year result in a one-year ban for the national federation. Thus, one more positive case can destroy India's chances of participating in next year's Rio Games.

Year of mixed achievements

IMAGE: Vikas Gowda of India competes in the Men's Discus. 

In track and field, as many as 15, including ace discus thrower Vikas Gowda, qualifying for the Rio Olympics was the highlight of a year of mixed achievements while off the track, young sprinter Dutee Chand won a landmark case against world body of the sport IAAF.

Also, the buzz around India's speculated bid for the 2022 Olympics died after IOC President Thomas Bach -- during a visit to the country -- ruled out any such possibility.

Elsewhere, Pankaj Advani's name continued to sum up Indian cue sports for yet another year as the long-time poster boy took his world title count to an unprecedented 15.

In overall analysis, Indian sports did not have anything spectacular to celebrate this year but neither was it a completely disappointing one.

With all eyes trained on the Olympics next year, 2016 promises to be infinitely more exciting for the country's sportspersons.

Sri Lanka's Kusal Perera faces four-year doping ban

Sri Lanka's Kusal Perera faces a four-year ban after the country's sports minister said the wicketkeeper-batsman's 'B' sample has also tested positive for a prohibited substance.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) provisionally suspended the 25-year-old after he failed an out-of-competition anti-doping test in October.

IMAGE: Kusal Perera of Sri Lanka. 

Sri Lanka Cricket sent back Perera from their tour of New Zealand earlier this month while also promising to provide support for the dashing left-handed batsman to get back on the field as soon as possible.

"The ICC has informed that his B sample also has been tested positive for a banned drug," Sri Lanka sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekera told reporters on Friday.

"We are appealing against this because he was never found like this in the last four instances.

"We will back him with legal representation while doing every possible effort to help him to get out of this issue."

The cricketer faces a maximum ban of four years according to the ICC's anti-doing code.