BADMINTON

Thomas Cup and Uber Cup Finals to be Hosted in Delhi

The Finals of the Uber Cup 2014 and Thomas Cup 2014 is to be held at New Delhi from 18 May 2014 to 25 May 2014. The announcement of the dates and venue of the finals of the two major badminton tournaments was done by the President of Badminton Association of India Akhilesh Das Gupta after an official signing ceremony between Badminton World Federation’s (BWF)and Badminton Association of India at present is hosting the India Open Super Series.

About Thomas Cup

Thomas Cup is the Badminton World Federation’s first international tournament and was first staged in 1948-49. It is also known as the Men’s World Team Championships. It is organised at an interval of three years. First President of the World body, Sir George Thomas and legendary player with 21 All England titles and administrator of the Sport came up with the idea of the competition and donation of the trophy.

About Uber Cup

Uber Cup is also known was the Women’s World Team Championships and was organised for the first time in 1956-57. Since 1984, the Final of the Uber Cup is held alongside the Men’s Competition i.e. the Thomas Cup. The Uber Cup, or the idea of organizing Women Championship was a brainchild of Betty Uber. Betty Uber in 1956-57 made a draw in the inaugural tournament of the Cup that took place at Lytham St Annes in Lancashire, England. Both Thomas and Uber Cup’s are held biennially now.
Malaysia

Badminton Grand Prix Title

India’s rising shuttler PV Sindhu on 4 May 2013 won her maiden Grand Prix Gold title winning Malaysia Open women’s final. In a thrilling clash in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon, top seed Sindhu got her act together in time and defeated lower seed, Gu Juan of Singapore, 21-17, 17-21, 21-19, with an exceptional racket display. She hit as many as 17 smash winners compared to just nine by the Singaporean girl.

With this, the World Number 13 Sindhu has become the second Indian girl to have won the Grand Prix Gold competition, after India’s shuttle queen and London Olympics bronze medalist, Saina Nehwal achieved the feat in 2006. PV Sindhu was the only Indian who had made it to the final stage of this tournament. Saina Nehwal did not take part in the tournament.

FOOTBALL

New President of Asian Football Confederation

Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa was elected as the new president of Asian Football Confederation on 2 May 2013. He replaced Mohamed Bin Hammam. Bahraini Sheikh Salman won 33 votes out of 46 in Malaysia to beat his rival Yousuf Al Serkal of the United Arab Emirates as well as Worawi Makudi of Thailand. Sheikh Salman claimed the vacant seat on executive committee of FIFA as well, which was held by Bin Hummam. On this seat, Sheikh Salman defeated Qatar World Cup organising chief Hassan Al Thawadi. It is important to note that Bin Hammam was given a lifetime ban in 2011 by FIFA on the basis of allegations that he tried to buy the votes. He eventually retired from football in July 2012 after his suspension was annulled. Sheikh Salman took over last 20 months of term of Bin Hammam as the AFC president. Next elections will be held in January 2015. The position of AFC president gives a person the control of all major football events in Asia.

David Beckham announced his Retirement

Legendary Footballer and Former England captain David Beckham on 16 May 2013 announced his retirement from professional football and gave an end to his illustrious career of more than two decades. He will retire from the professional football after the end of this season. The 38 year old footballer recently helped his team to win a league title in the fourth country with Paris Saint Germain.

About David Beckham

• Beckham earned 115 caps for England, a record for an outfield player, and won the Champions League, six Premier League titles and two FA Cups with Manchester United.

• David Beckham joined Manchester United as a 14-year-old in 1992 and made 398 appearances, winning six Premier League titles and the Champions League.

• He made his debut for England in 1996 and made 115 appearances for the country

• He is the most capped outfield player of in the history of England

• By securing the Paris Saint-Germain’s Ligue 1 wins, he has won 19 trophies of which 10 are League titles

• He is the only English player to win Championship titles in 4 different countries

• Beckham was a key member of the Treble Team and he helped it in addition of Champions League, 2 FA Cups, 1 Intercontinental Cup and 4 Community Shields to a long list of its honours. (Treble Team is a term that is used in football association to refer a team that wins three trophies in a single season).

• He is the first English player who scored in 3 consecutive World Cup Finals

• Beckham has the record of joint-second most goal assists in European Championship Finals history

• He is among few of the British players who played for Real Madrid, AC Milan, LA Galaxy and Paris Saint-Germain

• He is the first British player to reach 100 champions league appearances

• He was successful in winning La Liga Title in the final season of Spain as well as has been the winner of US MLS Championship twice

• He helped the team to win French Ligue 1 Championship in 19 years

Stiliyan Petrov Retired from Football

Stiliyan Petrov, the captain of Aston Villa retired from football in May 2013 at the age of 33 years. Stiliyan Petrov retired because of his fight with leukaemia. He was diagnosed with the disease in March 2012. Aston Villa Football Club is the English professional association football club that is based in Birmingham. Stiliyan Petrov became a part of Aston Villa in 2006 from Celtic for 6.5 million Pound.

He played for Aston Villa in the Premier League and the Bulgaria national team. He also won Bulgarian Footballer of the Year award in 2003 while playing for Celtic. In 2005, Stiliyan Petrov also wrote the autobiography titled You Can Call Me Stan. The book was a description of the correct spelling of his name.

Honours and Awards won by Stiliyan Petrov

• Bulgarian Championship: 1997

• Bulgarian Cup: 1997, 1999

• Scottish Premier League: 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006

• Scottish Cup: 2004, 2005

• Scottish League Cup: 2000, 2006

• UEFA Cup: Runner-up 2003

• Football League Cup: Runner-up 2010

• SPFA Young Player of the Year: 2001

• Celtic Player of The Year: 2005

• Aston Villa Players’ Player of the Year: 2009, 2012

• Aston Villa Supporters’ Player of the Year: 2009

• SPL Player of the Month: 3 times

• Bulgaria’s Player of the year: 2003

ARCHERY/SHOOTING

Indian Women’s Compound Team won Bronze in Archery
Indian women’s compound team which comprised Gagandeep Kaur, Trisha Deb, and P Lily Chanu, won Bronze medal on 18 May 2013 at Shanghai. This is India’s first ever world medal in archery. The Indian trio, defeated Italy which included Katia D’Agostino, Laura Longo and Marcella Tonioli in the bronze medal play-off in the World Cup archery Stage I by 228-223. India was ahead by two points after the first end, four at the halfway mark and three points after the third end. Shooting first in the last end, Italy landed two 8s, whereas India finished the match with 8-9-10-10-10-10 for a well-deserved victory.

In 2012 at Shanghai, Italy had triumphed over an inexperienced Indian trio of Parveena, Gagandeep Kaur, and V. Jyothi Surekha, by 230-217.