Recap 2018: Highs and Lows of November

From Mary Kom's record sixth gold medal at the Boxing World Championships to the Copa Libertadores final second leg violence, here are November's highs and lows in sports.

Mary Kom after winning a record sixth world title.

Highs

• Mary Kom won her sixth gold medal in World Championships, beating Hanna Okhota in the 48kg final bout of the Women’s World Boxing Championships.
   
• Magnus Carlsen successfully defended his world championship final by defeating Fabiano Caruana in a winner-take-all final.

Magnus Carlsen lifts the FIDE World Chess Championship Trophy.

 

• Paris Saint-Germain wrote itself into the history books as it became the first team to win its opening 12 matches of a season across Europe's big five leagues .
   
• Karen Khachanov caused one of the biggest shocks of the tennis year by overpowering Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-4 in the Paris Masters final to end the Serbian's remarkable spell of dominance in the men's game.
   
• Indian shuttler Subhankar Dey's fairytale run continued as he ousted fifth seed Rajiv Ouseph 21-11, 21-14 to clinch the 2018 SaarLorLux Open Super 100 tournament in Saarbrucken, Germany.
   
• Simone Biles set yet another record on the final day of the World Gymnastics Championships in Doha, Qatar, as she became the first American to win a medal in every event at Worlds.

Simone Biles becomes the first woman to win four all-around world titles.

 

• India rode on Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant's half-centuries in the third T20I to soar to a six-wicket victory against West Indies and win the T20 series 3-0.
   
• Maharashtra’s Avantika Narale broke Dutee Chand’s nine-year-old 200m Under-16 girls meet record on the final day of the 34th National junior athletics championships at Ranchi.
   
• World championships silver medallist Bajrang Punia became the first Indian wrestler to secure the No. 1 slot in the world rankings.
   
• Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary combined to clinch the junior mixed air pistol gold with a junior world record of 485.4 in the 11th Asian Air Gun championship in Kuwait. Saurabh Chaudhary added yet another feather to his cap as he beat compatriot Arjun Singh Cheema by 2.1 points to win the junior men’s air pistol gold.
   
• England beat Sri Lanka by 57 runs in the second Test to record its first Test series win in the island since 2001.
   
• Alexander Zverev beat Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-3 to clinch the ATP World Tour Finals title.

Novak Djokovic walks over to congratulate a shocked and elated Alexander Zverev after he beats Djokovic in their men's singles final at the ATP World Tour Finals.

 

• Sanjana Ramesh got herself a one-year scholarship with the Northern Arizona University’s women’s basketball team for the 2019-20 for the Division I college season.
   
• Sameer Verma successfully defended his Syed Modi World Tour title with a 16-21 21-19 21-14 victory over China's Guangzu Lu.
   
• Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix wrapping up a sensational season in style.
   
• Abhinav Bindra was conferred with the Blue Cross – International Shooting Sport Federation's highest honour.

 

Lows

 

• Sardar Singh, one of Indian hockey’s greatest centre-halfs of all time, said he was forced to retire because he was treated badly.
   
• Former world number five Lucie Safarova announced that she will retire from tennis after the 2019 Australian Open citing health issues as the main reason behind her decision.
   
• Sebastian Vettel was handed a EUR 25,000 fine following an incident at the weighbridge during qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
   
• Germany was relegated from League A of the inaugural Nations League, as a dreadful 2018 for Joachim Low's side got even worse.
   
• Sophia Floersch, a 17-year-old teenage driver, suffered a fractured spine when her car flew off the track in a horrifying crash at the Formula Three Macau Grand Prix.

Formula 3 driver Sophia Floersch's car flew through the air and into safety netting at the Guia Circuit's Lisboa bend, a sharp right-hander.

 

• CONMEBOL postponed the Copa Libertadores final between Boca Juniors and River Plate after an attack on the Boca Juniors travelling coach.

Security forces stand guard as River Plate's supporters leave the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, after the all-Argentine Copa Libertadores second leg final match against Boca Juniors was postponed for the second time.

 

• British sprinter Nigel Levine was banned for four years after failing a drug test.
   
• McLaren driver Fernando Alonso announced his retirement from Formula 1 at the end of the season.
   
• The International Olympic Committee halted preparations for the Tokyo 2020 boxing competition as it announced an inquiry into the sport's troubled governing body.