reached the threefigure mark in an odi against bangladesh but within nine months announced his retirement from the 50over format leaving a lot of questions unanswered in february this year yuvraj singh was diagnosed with a rare germcell cancer and had to undergo chemotherapy sessions in the us before stunning one and all to make a comeback in international cricket within six months for tendulkar who has been worshipped for the past 23 years for for his delightful strokes the timing of his odi retirement became a subject of debate as to what prompted the legend to take such a decision especially with a highprofile series against pakistan round the corner while tendulkar would still be seen in white flannels rahul dravid and vvs laxman decided to call time on their international careers to signal the beginning of the rebuilding process in indian cricket ironically enough the two who wrote one of the finest chapters in indian cricket with their great recovery act against the mighty australians at the eden gardens in 2001 played their last test together in adelaide earlier this year the muchawaited hockey resurgence didnt quite happen as the team slid to its worstever olympic performance finishing last but hopes were once again revived when under new coach michael nobbs it managed a fourthplace finish in the champions trophy and the runnersup position in the asian champions trophy in the tennis court some fine individual achievements were pushed out of public memory as a shattered olympic dream wrecked primarily by avoidable ego clashes hogged the spotlight ageing star leander paes began 2012 with a bang as he completed his career slam by grabbing the australian open with new partner radek stepanek in january sania mirza won her second grand slam when she triumphed at the mixed doubles event of the french open with mahesh bhupathi and remained a force on the wta tour at least in doubles bhupathi and rohan bopanna won a few titles together and also qualified for the yearend high profile atp world tour finale in london these were no mean achievements and deserved accolades but in the end the fans would remember 2012 for the bitter bickering between these very players ahead of the london olympics indian boxings euphoric rise in the past four years also met a sudden fall as a disappointing olympic campaign was followed by international suspension indian boxers got a reality check this year as none of the seven men who made the cut for the london olympics managed to finish on the podium even though mary kom ensured that the boxing contingent did not return emptyhanded from london the fivetime world champions commendable feat could not hide the overall disappointment outside the ring too the sport endured turbulent times as the indian amateur boxing federation went to polls which were later declared null and void by aiba alleging possible manipulation outgoing president abhay singh chautala was made a nominated chairman following constitutional amendments and his brotherinlaw and rajasthan