2018 has been an eventful year in the world of sports, with several big-ticket events such as the Winter Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, the Fifa World Cup and the Asian Games.
Here is a look at the year gone by in pictures, the best of them:
Shiva Keshavan of India slides down the luge track at his sixth and final Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea (Reuters) Constantin Schmid of Germany in action during the ski jumping event of the Four Hills Tournament in Innsbruck, Austria (AFP) Former Australia captain Steve Smith breaks down during a press conference after admitting to his role in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa (AFP) India's Manika Batra in action during the Commonwealth Games, in which she won the women's TT singles gold and helped the Indian women's team win gold as well (AFP) Malaysia’s Izzah Amzan competes in the clubs event of the rhythmic gymnastics team final and individual qualification during the Commonwealth Games (AFP) Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger bids farewell to the club's supporters after his last match in charge (AFP) USA's Serena Williams in action during the French Open, where her catsuit outfit drew a lot of attention (AFP) Brazil's Neymar spent a lot of time on rolling on the pitch during the Fifa World Cup and became a very popular internet meme (Reuters) Lionel Messi cannot hide his disappointment after Argentina crashed out of the World Cup in the round of 16 (AFP) French president Emmanuel Macron celebrates during the World Cup final, where France beat Croatia (Reuters) French players celebrate after winning the World Cup (Reuters) India's PV Sindhu reached six finals in 2018, losing the first five before breaking her duck in the sixth one at the BWF World Tour Finals (AFP) Serena Williams courted controversy during the US Open final, which she lost but not before getting into a heated argument with the chair umpire (Reuters) McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Sauber's Charles Leclerc crash at the first corner of the Belgian Grand Prix (AFP) Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic cross paths during one of their matches in 2018 (AFP) Swimmers compete in a heat of the men’s 400m individual medley swimming event during the 2018 Asian Games (AFP) Hamburg fans let off flares and throw smoke bombs on to the pitch as riot police line up during a Bundesliga match against Borussia Monchengladbach (Reuters) Riot police surround referee Andres Cunha and match officials after the Copa Libertadores semi-final between Brazil's Gremio and Argentina's River Plate (Reuters) India's Mary Kom reacts during the women's world boxing championships, where she won her sixth title (AIBA) India captain Virat Kohli reacts during the Test series against Australia, where the visitors have taken a 2-1 lead going into the final match (AFP) Japanese surfer Wakita Takayuki rides the barrel during a late afternoon free surf session at the legendary Banzai Pipeline on the North shore of Oahu, Hawaii (AFP)