Sports have no longer remained only physical activity, but due to the immense entertainment it gazes, has become a sensational craze for people throughout the globe. The passion involved with the sportsmen together with the tension engaged with the spectators has cumulated the overall effect of sports. But there are only some sporting incidents which have become quite impossible to be erased from the memories of sports’ fans. Below is a list of ten such incidents:

10. Dona’s Hand of God:

The 1986 quarter-final between England and Argentina is famous for one of football’s most iconic incident. The Golden Boy (Diego Maradona) displayed the brilliance of a player at the peak of his powers and those street urchin tendencies that characterized him throughout his career. Six minutes into the second-half, Maradona passed the ball to Jorge Valdano and continued his run from the left into the England penalty area. The pass was intercepted by Steve Hodge but in trying to clear the ball he skewed it into the penalty area where Maradona had continued his run and England goalkeeper Peter Shilton had come out to meet it. Shilton was favorite to punch the ball clear, however, Maradona reached it first and with the outside of his left fist, knocked it beyond Shilton and into the net. Inexperienced Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser and his linesman did not see the infringement and the goal stood making it a historic incident.

9. The tiring match:

The scoreboard even got tired, when John Isner of U.S.A. and Nicolas Mahut of French finally ended their tennis match after 11 hours, 5 minutes of play over three days at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. This match ended as the longest match in tennis history and John Isner finally winning it. But the patience and stamina displayed by both as well as the spectators went down as one of the most memorable sports incidents of all time that can never be forgotten easily.

8. The Deadly Bouncer:

Even in the time of helmets, a cricket ball is a lethal missile. This dangerous side of the gentlemen’s game came out once again in front of the world when Australian batsman Phil Hughes lost his life after a short-pitched delivery struck his head during a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Hughes, who was playing for South Australia against his old state NSW, was felled by the bouncer from fast bowler Sean Abbott and was then immediately hospitalized at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. The ball struck him on the left side of his head, behind his ear to mark one of the most dreadful and memorable incident of recent times in the world of sports.

7. Rumble in the Jungle:

The world saw something historic in 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). Held at the 20th of May Stadium on the night of October 30, this memorable sport incident pitted the undefeated world heavyweight champion George Foreman against challenger Muhammad Ali, a former heavyweight champion. Ali won by knockout, putting Foreman down just before the end of the eighth round. It has been called “arguably the greatest sporting event of the 20th century”. This sporting incident as argued by sports’ fans can never be forgotten by any true lover of passionate sports.

6. The Munich Massacre:

Never ever the world had seen before this, such a ruthless attempt of terrorism in the worlds’ biggest arena of sports – The Olympics. The Munich massacre was an attack during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, on eleven Israeli Olympic team members, who were taken hostage and eventually killed, along with a German police officer, by the Palestinian group Black September. Shortly after the crisis began, they demanded 234 prisoners jailed in Israel and the German-held founders of the Red Army Faction be released. Police officers killed five of the eight Black September members during a failed rescue attempt. Such was the gravity of this incident that no one can dare to forget these black memories of the sporting world.

5. The Jesse Magic:

Just in 45 minutes he scripted a historic incident. At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Jesse Owens won international fame with four gold medals: 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump, and 4×100 meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the games and as such has been credited with “single-handedly crushing Hitler’s myth of Aryan supremacy.” Jesse Owens’ achievement of setting three world records and tying another in less than an hour at the 1935 Big Ten track meet has been called “the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport” and has never been equaled. The magic created by Jesse made this sporting incident such memorable that sport fans will find it hard to forget at any time.

4. Hard hitting head:

Things can turn out sometimes to be so ugly in sports that they can become the most memorable incidents ever. Such was the happening in 2006 FIFA World Cup final between France and Italy, when France’s captain Zinedine Zidane head-butted Marco Materazzi in the chest. Following this he was shown a red card and after that he retired from professional football and confirmed that he would not go back on his decision. He was sentenced by FIFA to a three match suspension for the red card also. Later when interviewed, the world media came to know that Materazzi made out some abusive comments regarding Zidane’s sister, which made Zidane to show up that physical reaction.

3. 1st perfect ten:

At the age of 14, Nadia Comaneci gave sports’ fans all over the world such a memorable sporting incident that made her one of the stars of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and a global star gymnastic performer for the rest of her life. During the team compulsory portion of the competition on July 18, her routine on the uneven bars was awarded a perfect ten. It was the first time in modern Olympic gymnastics history that the score had ever been awarded.

2. The unlucky Flight:

On 6th February, 1958, sports’ fans all over the world were in tears as British European Airways flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport, West Germany. On the plane was the Manchester United football team, nicknamed the “Busby Babes”, along with supporters and journalists. The football team was returning from a European Cup match in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) against Red Star Belgrade. The flight stopped to refuel in Munich because a non-stop flight from Belgrade to Manchester was out of the “Elizabethan” class Airspeed Ambassador aircraft’s range. 20 of the 44 on the aircraft died. This accident went to be such a tragic incident in the world of sports that it can never ever be erased from the memories of people.

1. The sharp Bite:

Fights in the sport of boxing can go to such extent also was unimaginable till this incident happened. Evander Holyfield vs Mike Tyson II, billed as “The Sound and the Fury”, was a professional boxing match contested on June 28, 1997 for the WBA Heavyweight Championship. It achieved notoriety as one of the most bizarre fights in boxing history, after Tyson bit off part of Holyfield’s ear. Tyson was disqualified from the match and lost his boxing license, though it was later reinstated. The match later got infamously referred to as “The Bite Fight” and has an everlasting effect on the minds of world audience.