General Awareness : Sports - January, 2014
(General Awareness For Bank's Exams) Sports
January - 2014
The fastest centurion in ODIs
New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson scored the quickest century ever in international cricket on Wednesday, taking just 36 balls against West Indies to break the record long held by Pakistan's Shahid Afridi.
Afridi scored a 37-ball hundred against Sri Lanka in 1996 and had remained the fastest across all formats of the international game since.
Anderson, 23, brought up the mark with his 12th six of the innings after the third one-day international in Queenstown was reduced to a 21-over match due to rain.
Hockey World League tickets
Sale of tickets for the Hero Hockey World League (HWL) final, to be held at the National Stadium here from January 10 to 18, has started.
Tickets, which can be booked online at www.ticketgenie.in, have been priced at Rs. 50 each for general admission and Rs. 1000 for VIP seating.
Fans can also buy tickets from 16 ‘Twenty Four Seven’ retail stores and 14 Mobile Stores across Delhi and the National Capital Region.
India has been grouped with Germany, England and New Zealand in Pool ‘A’. Australia, Netherlands, Belgium and Argentina are placed in Pool ‘B’.
India will open its campaign against England (January 10), followed by New Zealand (January 11) and Germany (January 13).
India to host first Wimbledon tennis event
Former Great Britain No.1 Tim Henman will be in India to spearhead a new initiative aimed at boosting the development of junior tennis in the country. India will host the first Wimbledon tennis event outside the UK as 11-time-Tour winner Henman will be in Delhi and Mumbai later this month to launch ‘The Road to Wimbledon’ with a series of coaching clinics and events offering local children the chance to play at Wimbledon next August. The clinics are part of two Under-14 National singles events in Delhi (RK Khanna Tennis Centre) and Mumbai (MSLTA Tennis Centre). The top sixteen boys and girls from these two events are invited to the Wimbledon Foundation Junior Masters in Delhi in April with the two boys and two girls finalists invited to compete in the UK HSBC National Finals on the grass at Wimbledon.
Henman, who kick-started his career in India in 1994 with three successive tournament wins on the Indian satellite circuit, will be joined by All England Club Head Coach Dan Bloxham, for the activity in Delhi and Mumbai between January 6-14.The Wimbledon Foundation, the community, charitable and development arm of the All England Club and The Championships, Wimbledon, and HSBC have linked with All India Tennis Association (AITA) on this pilot scheme as the first phase of a long term plan to support the development of Indian tennis.
Asia Cup to be hosted by Bangladesh
The Asia Cup 2014 cricket tournament will be held in Bangladesh, despite the prevailing situation of the country.
The Asian Cricket Council sat in a meeting over the uncertainty of the event, scheduled to be hosted by Bangladesh, in view of the political situation.
After the meeting, Bangladesh was given the green signal to host the tournament. The schedule of the cricket tournament will remain unchanged.
Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hassan and acting Chief Executive Officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury were present in the meeting.
Chennai Open Title
Stanislas Wawrinka’s has been a well documented struggle with self-confidence. For someone who has fought that as long and as hard as him, it is tough to throw out the demon forever. While the end of 2013 was the first step in banishing that, 2014 will be a year in which he would like to finally believe he is up there.
The quest for the same has started perfectly. A 7-5, 6-2 win over seventh seed Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the final on Sunday gave him his second Aircel Chennai Open title and his fifth overall.
One of Wawrinka’s problems in 2013 was that he found it tough to close out matches. After a nervy first set here it was important for the old ghosts not to return.
Fourth seeds Johan Brunstrom of Sweden and Frederik Nielsen of Denmark clinched the doubles title at the Aircel Chennai Open after defeating the unseeded Croatian pair of Mate Pavic and Marin Draganja 6-2, 4-6, 10-7.
The Scandinavian pair broke twice, in the sixth and the eight games, to take the first set 6-2 only for the Croats to level it at one set apiece by taking the second 6-4.
Brisbane title
Australia's Lleyton Hewitt delighted his home fans when he battled to a typically gutsy 6-1 4-6 6-3 victory over Swiss top seed Roger Federer in the Brisbane International final.
Federer, who led Hewitt 18-8 in meetings between the former world number ones going into the contest, committed 22 unforced errors on his way to being broken three times in the first set after reaching the final without dropping serve once.
The victory secured Hewitt's first ATP title since Halle in 2010 when he also beat Federer in the final, ending a 15-match losing run against his opponent.
The match was Federer's last competitive outing before the Australian Open begins on Jan. 13, where the Swiss will be seeking to add to his record 17 grand slam titles with a fifth Melbourne crown
MS Dhoni : captain in all three formats
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not averse to the idea of continuing as the skipper of the the Indian cricket team in all the three formats, saying it would be unfair to burden a new player with the mantle of captaincy with just one year left for the World Cup.
Dhoni had, last year, said that he might have to give up a format to lead India's title defence in 2015 but such a decision would be made only at the end of 2013. Dhoni will be 33 by the time the World Cup starts in Australia and New Zealand.
World’s top junior shuttler: Aditya Joshi
Young shuttler Aditya Joshi from Madhya Pradesh has become the first male junior badminton player from India to be ranked top in the world.
Aditya, 17, recently got the number one slot in the January rankings of the World Badminton Federation (WBF).
Aditya was at the 11th position till November, but he managed to jump ahead of all the players by achieving 18,776 points.
Aditya started playing badminton in 2001 when he was only five and very soon, he started winning in the categories above his age in the local tournaments.
Within six years, he started proving himself at the international arena and clinched the gold in Remensco junior international tournament held in Russia in 2011. During the same year, he won a gold medal in Asian sub-junior championship held in Japan.
His victory in the national junior championship held at Chandigarh in December 2012 made way for his top ranking.
Aditya was the national champion in 2013 and had won two gold medals in junior international tournament held at Pune and silver in the senior national championship while his age corresponds to junior category.
Bopanna-Qureshi’s first win of the season
India's tennis doubles specialist Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi registered their first win of the new year after coming together again winning the first round of men's doubles competitions of the ATP Sydney International .
Bopanna and Qureshi defeated the Dutch-Roman pair of Jean-Julien Roger and Horia Tecau in the first round of the $511,825 hardcourt event.
The Indo-Pak pair, who are seeded third, won 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 10-3 over Roger and Tecau in one hour and 41 minutes.
In their first match of the season, Bopanna and Qureshi had suffered a loss and made a first round exit from last week's Chennai Open.
Bopanna and Qureshi will next face Treat Huey from Philippines and Briton Dominic Inglot. Huey and Inglot had defeated the Spanish pair of Pablo Andujar and David Marrero 6-4, 6-3 in the first round.
Meanwhile, the second-seeded Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek will start their campaign against the French pair of Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. In the Chennai Open, Vasselin had finished runners-up in the men's singles.
It was also end of the road for India's Somdev Devvarman, who failed to qualify for the main draw in the singles after he lost the second round of the qualifiers.
Top-seeds : Nadal and Serena
· World number ones of both men and women's tennis, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams, have reportedly been made the top seeds at the Australian Open, which begins on Jan 13 at Melbourne Park.
· Defending champion and world number two Novak Djokovic have been made second-seeded, followed by Spaniard David Ferrer at third, Wimbledon champion Andy Murray at fourth, Argentine Juan Martin del Potro at fifth and 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer at sixth.
· According to Sport24, on the women's side, defending champion Victoria Azarenka is No 2, followed by Maria Sharapova, Li Na, Agnieszka Radwanska and former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in sixth.
· The report mentioned that the 32 seeds were only altered twice from the rankings, both because of injuries, with No 29-ranked Jurgen Melzer not playing due to a left shoulder injury and Maria Kirilenko, who would have been seeded 18th, having a left knee injury
Team India's No.1 position at stake
India will have to beat New Zealand in the upcoming ODI series to retain their top spot in the ICC rankings as Australia and England have a chance to topple Mahendra Singh Dhoni`s men from the perch.
Australia are currently ranked second with 114 ratings points, six ratings behind number-one ranked India, while England is ranked third on 111 ratings points.
Australia was last ranked number-one in July 2012, only to be overtaken by England who held the top position till December 2012.
Australia and England`s rise to the top position however, is dependent on how India fare in their five-match series against host New Zealand, which begins on January 19 in Napier.
For both England and Australia to go top, they would not just need wins themselves but also hope that New Zealand gets the better of India.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli is the highest-ranked Indian in the batsmen`s rankings at the second spot with Shikhar Dhawan being the next best-placed at 10th.
In the bowlers` list, Ravindra Jadeja is the highest-ranked Indian at sixth followed by R Ashwin at the 16th position after going up a rung. Jadeja is also the best among the Indians in the all-rounders` list at the fifth spot.
Biggest winner in Australian Open draw
Three-time winner and defending champion Novak Djokovic earned a dream Australian Open draw while world No.1 Rafael Nadal faces a tricky first-round opponent in Bernard Tomic.
Unbeaten in four months, Djokovic was handed the kindest draw amongst the big guns. The Serbian meets Slovakia's world No.90 Lukas Lacko in his opening match, and is drawn to meet 15th seed Fabio Fognini in the fourth round.
The biggest threat in Djokovic's half is Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, who will play Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev in the first round. And then the world No.2 is seeded to run into Spanish world No.3 David Ferrer in the semi-finals.
Top-seeded Nadal, No.4 Andy Murray, No.5 Juan Martin del Potro and No.6 Roger Federer all stacked in the opposite half.
Nadal, who missed last year's Australian Open with a left knee injury during a seven-month absence from the tour, returned to win 10 titles in 2013 and regain the No.1 ranking, overtaking Djokovic. His first round opponent Tomic reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2011 and has been ranked as high as No.27.
Venus William’s first round exit in Australian Open
American tennis star Venus Williams has been knocked out of the Australian Open tournament in the first round itself following a 2-6 6-4 6-4 defeat by Russian Ekaterina Makarova on the opening day of the first Grand Slam event of the year.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion has fueled speculation that her glittering career might be nearing its end following her third opening-round exit from her past six Grand Slam appearances, after losing in the first round just three times in her first 54 majors.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 22nd seed Makarova survived a spirited start by Williams to win the game and will next face unseeded Italian Irina Falconi, who beat Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3 6-1.
In other first-round matches on day one, ninth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany beat Australia's Jarmila Gajdosova 6-3 0-6 6-2, Belgian 18th seed Kirsten Flipkens defeated Britain's Laura Robson 6-3 6-0 and unseeded Australian Casey Dellacqua accounted for Russia's Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-2, the report added.
Winning start for David Ferrer in Australian Open
World No 3 David Ferrer got his Australian Open challenge off to an impressive start with a straight-sets win over Alejandro Gonzalez.
Ferrer needed just over two hours to see off the Colombian with a 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory.
The Spaniard, who lost to Novak Djokovic in 89 painful minutes in the semi-final 12 months ago, will now take on Adrian Mannarino in the second round.
Ferrer is joined in the next round by fellow top-10 ranked stars Stanislas Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych and Richard Gasquet
Berdych, the seventh seed, disposed of Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-3 6-4 6-3 in 110 minutes.
Wawrinka, seeded eighth, was in complete control as he led Andrey Golubev 6-4 4-1 on Hisense Arena when a calf injury force the Kazakh player to retire.
Ninth seed Gasquet put his injury doubts behind him as he edged out fellow Frenchmen David Guez 7-5 6-4 6-1.
U-19 World Cup Cricket : Captain of Indian team
Vijay Zol of Maharashtra was selected as the Captain of India to lead the Under-19 Cricket World Cup by the All-India Junior Selection Committee.
The U-19 Cricket World Cup will be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February 2014.
Vijay Zol also led India to victory in the U-19 Asia Cricket Cup against Pakistan in January 2014.
India has won the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup three times in 2000, 2008 and 2012 till now.
In 2012 India won the U-19 World Cup under the leadership of Unmukt Chand.
Australian Open 2014
Novak Djokovic moved into the third round of the Australian Open after a routine victory over Leonardo Mayer.
The Serbian was in irresistible form early on and appeared keen to seal a quick success in the scorching Melbourne heat by winning the opening eight games of the match.
While world No 98 Mayer did at least improve thereafter, he never threatened an upset and failed to earn a single break point as Djokovic completed a 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 win in 107 minutes.
Djokovic, who is bidding to become the second man after Roy Emerson to win four straight titles here, came storming out of the blocks.
The second seed, under the watchful gaze of new coach Boris Becker, broke at the first opportunity and it quickly became apparent there would be few alarms.
Hockey World League
At the start of the Hero Hockey World League, India’s hockey skipper Sardar Singh had promised his side wouldn’t just make up the numbers but would surprise their opponents. Its unlikely anyone took him very seriously at the start of the tournament. After the first couple of defeats, one would be even less inclined to think so.
The draw against Germany was perhaps the first time, there appeared to be some validity to the skipper’s predictions. But, ten minutes into their game against defending world champions Australia and with a two goal to nothing lead, it is likely even Sardar would have been surprised.
The match eventually finished 7-2 to the Australians, but at least for the first quarter of the game, India looked like pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament. The match had got off to a fast start. India had put together their first good opportunity in the opening minute of the game courtesy a move by K Uthappa and Mandeep Singh. But while the chance came to nothing, the lead eventually came in the sixth minute.
Dharamvir Singh found space on the right, crossed to Birendra Lakra who shot on target from a tight angle. The goalbound attempt caught an Australian stick on the way to the net, but the umpires arms were pointing to the centerline all the same. Australia had a chance to pull things back when they earned a PC in the 9th minute, but PR Sreejesh cleared the high drag attempt. Australia would have known that India would come hard at them, but they still seemed unprepared for it. They made some surprisingly basic errors including in the 10th minute when they left Yuvraj Walmiki unmarked on the left flank.
Malaysia Open
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu got off to winning starts in their season, notching up straight-game victories in their respective opening round women’s singles matches in the USD 500,000 Malaysia Super Series Premier .
While eighth seeded Saina took just 36 minutes to get the better of Indonesia’s Hera Desi 21—10, 21—16 in their first ever meeting, Sindhu fought hard before prevailing 21—17, 21—18 over her old foe Lindaweni Fanetri of Indonesia in a 43-minute contest.
Saina next faces Yao Xue of China, while world number 11 Sindhu takes on sixth seed Yeon Ju Bae of Korea in the second round at the Putra Stadium here.
In the men’s singles, however, Anand Pawar and R M V Gurusaidutt crashed out of the event after suffering contrasting defeats in their first round matches.
Serena Williams sets Australian mark
Serena Williams got on and off court as quickly as she could in the scorching heat registering yet another record with match win No. 61 at the Australian Open as she advanced to the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Daniela Hantuchova.
The five-time Australian Open champion later withdrew from the doubles, avoiding any extra exposure to the blazing sun during the once-in-a-century heat wave that was gripping Melbourne for a fourth straight day.
Two-time finalist Li Na, the major threat to top-ranked Williams in the top half of the women’s draw, had to save a match point before coming back to beat No. 26-seeded Lucie Safarova 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3 in 2 hours, 37 minutes.
Williams didn’t face any serious danger in her win over No. 31-seeded Hantuchova, whose only win in 10 head-to-head matches came in the corresponding round at the 2006 Australian Open.
Williams was off the court in 1 hour, 20 minutes, and has conceded just 12 games in three straight-set wins this week.
She equaled Margaret Court’s Australian Open mark of 60 wins with her second-round victory, and beat that in the third round when she also matched Lindsay Davenport’s record of 69 main-draw matches here in the Open era. That means she’ll set another record just by showing up on Sunday, against the winner of the night match between 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur and former No. 1-ranked Ana Ivanovic.
Manchester United to sell Wayne Rooney
Chelsea’s coach Jose Mourinho has said Manchester United will sell their ace striker Wayne Rooney this summer only to a club outside the Premier League.
Chelsea bid twice for Rooney and there are strong indications that Mourinho still believes he can sign the player, who has just one further season of his contract left to run.
He said maybe this summer they will try to sell Rooney to a non-direct rival, The Independent reports.
Mourinho later clarified that by non-direct rival he meant an overseas club.
Rafael Nadal thrives at the Australian Open
Rafael Nadal swept into the Australian Open third round under the Rod Laver Arena roof but Juan Martin Del Potro was sent packing as sweltering temperatures, lightning and rain caused chaos on the outside courts.
Fifth seed Del Potro, whose match was shunted back to the late evening by the disruptions, was the first major casualty of the men's draw in the early hours of Friday morning when he lost 4-6 6-3 5-7 6-4 7-5 to 62nd ranked Spaniard Roberto Bautista.
On a third consecutive day of sauna-like heat and with temperatures climbing towards a peak of 43.4 degrees Celsius (110 Fahrenheit), organisers finally enacted the third stage of their "Extreme Heat Policy" after three hour's play.
Play was suspended for more than four hours on the exposed outer courts and, in a bizarre turn of events, the players had been back on court for less than two hours when a thunderstorm sent them scuttling back to the locker rooms.
While third seed Maria Sharapova had a tougher time, though, and a quirk of the rules meant her match against Karin Knapp was concluded in the full glare of the sun some 50 minutes after it was adjudged too dangerous to play.
The Russian reflected the confusion and anger of players over the last three days at a perceived lack of transparency over when the Extreme Heat Policy is put into force.
Sharapova’s early exit in Australian Open
Third-seeded Maria Sharapova has been eliminated in the fourth round of the Australian Open, losing 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to Dominika Cibulkova in the second major upset in 24 hours on Rod Laver Arena.
Sharapova struggled with her serve, hitting seven double-faults in the third set, and needed an off-court medical time out after the second set for what appeared to be a lower back problem.
The four-time major winner was two tournaments into a comeback from a prolonged layoff with a right shoulder injury.
Top-ranked Serena Williams was knocked out in the fourth round in a three-set loss to 14th-seeded Ana Ivanovic.
Chong Wei to retire
World number one Datuk Lee Chong Wei may hang up his badminton racquet at the end of this year, if his performance is not at its best.
The national badminton champion said fatigue and personal problems were the main reasons prompting him to voice his intention to retire this year.
Chong Wei started his career at 18, and among his greatest achievements was winning the silver medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Maria Sharapova out of the Australian Open
Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova has caused the second huge women's upset at the Australian Open in as many days, downing third seed Maria Sharapova in the fourth round.
The 20th-seeded Cibulkova won 3-6 6-4 6-1 in a match lasting two hours and 12 minutes.
Sharapova's defeat came less than 24 hours after world No.1 Serena Williams went down to Ana Ivanovic, and further opened up the women's draw.
Two-time defending champion Victoria Azarenka is the only player left in contention to have previously won the Australian Open title.
Professional wrestling league
The Wrestling Federation of India has announced the launch of the world's biggest pro-wrestling league - the Indian Wrestling League (IWL).
The inaugural IWL edition this year will feature six city-based franchises and wrestlers will be vying for $3.5 million in auction and prize money.
The six IWL cities in the inaugural year will be shortlisted out of eight cities in the fray - Delhi, Mohali (Punjab), Hisar (Haryana), Pune or Mumbai (Maharashtra), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Kolkata (West Bengal).
The IWL will be held under the aegis of WFI and as per the International Wrestling Federation (FILA) rules.
The league will feature both men and women wrestlers competing in a team format for the first time in the sport of wrestling.
Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said Indian wrestling has a great tradition and the wrestlers are today winning medals at the Olympics and World Championships.
Li Na moves towards her second Grand Slam
Chinese trailblazer Li Na marched towards a second Grand Slam title by blasting past teenager Eugenie Bouchard and into the Australian Open final, where she will face Dominika Cibulkova.
The fourth seed steamrolled the rising Canadian 6-2, 6-4 to continue her stellar form at Melbourne Park where she has now reached three finals, as well as another semi-final and the fourth round over the past five years.
After an agonising defeat to Victoria Azarenka in last year's decider on Rod Laver Arena, when she dramatically twice rolled her ankle and briefly blacked out, she is desperate to go one better.
India loses No1 ranking
New Zealand pushed India off the No. 1 position in ODIs with another clinical performance although India's middle order demanded that their bowlers stay at it till the end.
Largely, though, the match followed the first ODI's script. Jesse Ryder went bang bang for too brief a while, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor scored fifties to set up a final assault, Corey Anderson nearly blasted the fastest ODI fifty too, India had a big chase at hand and were kept alive by Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni but New Zealand kept producing timely wickets to pull India back every time they brought some semblance of parity to the chase.
Diaspora data bank
The Kerala government will prepare a data bank of the Malayali diaspora to provide details of their qualifications and expertise.
The budget proposals have allocated Rs.6 million for advertisements in the print and electronic media here to create awareness among those who aspire to go abroad for jobs.
Rs.1 billion will be set aside for a rehabilitation package for the returning diaspora and another Rs.2.5 million for conducting investor seminars and for promotion of Kerala culture in the US and Europe.
Hockey India League
The second edition of the Hero Hockey India League will get underway soon with Jaypee Punjab Warriors taking on Delhi Waveriders in the opening match at the newly-built International Hockey Stadium here under lights.
With the winner taking home a whooping Rs 2.5 crore, and the runner up getting Rs 1.25 crore, there is a lot at stake for teams to win the tournament and both Punjab and Delhi would aim to begin the tournament on a winning note.
In the previous edition of the HIL, the two teams faced each other in the semi-final, in which Delhi defeated Punjab 3-1.
Sania Mirza-Horia Tecau in Australian Open mixed doubles final
Sania Mirza stands just one win away from clinching her third mixed doubles Grand Slam title after the Indian and her Romanian partner Horia Tecau entered the Australian Open final with a come-from-behind win.
Sania and Tecau defeated the Australian pair of Jarmila Gajdosova and Matthew Ebden 2-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a contest lasting an hour and 13 minutes.
Sania and Tecau will be up against the winners of the clash between Sino-American pair of Jie Zheng and Scott Lipsky and the French-Canadian combination of Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor.
If Sania and Tecau win the summit clash, it would be the Indian's second Australian Open mixed doubles title. Sania had earlier won the trophy with Mahesh Bhupathi in 2009.
Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold tournament
Top seed Saina Nehwal prevailed over compatriot and second seed PV Sindhu 21-14, 21-17 to win the $120,000 Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold tournament in Lucknow .
The home tournament provided Saina the much-needed platform to end her title drought. The Indian had not won a title in more than a year. In the last edition of the tournament — held in December 2012 — Saina had pulled out of the tournament citing a knee injury when she was leading 21-17, 20-18 — just a point away from winning the first round game against Russian Ksenia Polikarpova. In the edition before that, she had pulled out citing a bout of ‘cold and flu’ and a ‘hamstring pull’. However, this year’s tournament turned out to be far more important to her than she might have imagined.
In the men’s singles final, ninth seed Xue Song of China defeated sixth seed K Srikanth of India 16-21, 21-19, 21-13. Srikanth played well and had chances to pack up the match when he was up 19-12 in the second game after winning the first. Eventually, Song nicked the test and ran through the decider.
The finals of all the doubles events proved to be all-Chinese affair. In the mixed doubles final Yilv Wang and Huang Yaqiong defeated Kaixiang Huang and Qingchen Chen 21-18, 21-14. In the women’s doubles finals, Qingchen Chen and Yi Fan Jia registered a 22-24, 21-19, 21-11 victory against Yu Xiaohan and Huang Yaqiong. In the men’s doubles finals, Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen beat Kaixiang Huang and Si Wi Zheng 21-17, 19-21, 22-20.
Lusofonia Games
India turned the match on its head in the last two minutes to secure a cherished gold in basketball at the Lusofonia Games 2014.
Tied 67-67 against Angola and with just two minutes on the clock, India left the visitors gasping for breath with some inspiring play as they finished 77-70 at the Shyam Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Taleigao.
India deserved every bit of the gold, the country's first involving teams from outside the sub-continent for as long as anyone can remember. They dominated three quarters of the match, and after being down 50-53 going into the final quarter, the hosts overcame weariness, both physical and mental, to emerge champions.
Joginder, India's big-shots player, was the star of the day, accumulating 18 points, 15 of them through three-pointers. Then there was Bhriguvanshi, whose 17 points came at a time when the team needed it the most.
In the women's category, Mozambique were in a league of their own as they thumped Angola 73-49 to clinch the gold medal. India, who lost to both Angola and Mozambique in the group stage, had to settle for the bronze medal, finishing just ahead of bottom-placed Macau.
Rahul Dravid : to mentor junior Olympic, Paralympic athletes
Former Indian cricket captainRahul Dravid announced his association with GoSports Foundation with an aim to contribute towards the development and mentorship of Indian junior Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
Dravid will join the Board of Advisors of sports non-profit organisation and will also institute the 'Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Programme'.
The mentorship will involve Dravid and his team of experts personally advising select high-potential athletes at key phases in their careers, and also providing them access to scientific expertise, performance and injury management, and allied professional services, so as to provide specific and meaningful support to their young careers.
Dravid joins 2008 Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra on the Foundation's Board of Advisors.
Series clinched by Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka defeated India by six wickets with seven balls to spare in the third and final women’s Twenty20 match to claim the series 2-1, at the ACA-VDCA stadium.
Sri Lanka captain Shashikala Siriwardene played a responsible knock to remain unbeaten on 46 (42b, 4x4, 1x6) to guide the visitors to victory.
India, opting to bat, was pushed to a corner early in the match as it lost a wicket each in the first four overs.
Star India and Times Internet to distribute IPL
Star India has licensed the digital distribution rights for IPL 2014 from Times Internet, the digital arm of The Times of India Group. Star India will offer streaming and video on demand on starsports.com, the Star Sports app, and on mobile operator services powered by Star Sports.
Times Internet will distribute IPL streaming and video on demand on its cricket destination on web and mobile, powered by a starsports.com video player. Both companies will market the joint proposition, and Star India will be solely responsible for monetisation, including advertising sales.
Last year, IPL online witnessed a 56 per cent growth in unique visitors, with over 200 million video views. This year, India’s two largest media houses will co-distribute IPL, offering unparalleled reach and viewership.
Times Internet is the largest Indian online media entity, with over 40 million monthly visitors across its numerous digital destinations. Its portfolio includes news, lifestyle content, entertainment, e-commerce, mobile VAS, music & movie streaming, and local services.
Prominent Indian players’ base prices:
Rs.2 crore: Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Robin Uthappa, Amit Mishra, Murali Vijay, Manoj Tiwary. Rs.1.5 crore:Zaheer Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma. Rs. 1 crore:Parthiv Patel, Mohit Sharma, Ashoke Dinda, Wriddhiman Saha.
World badminton ranking
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The victory at the Syed Modi International tournament in Lucknow helped London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal to surge two places to reach the seventh position in the latest world badminton ranking, released in Kuala Lumpur recently.
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The 23-year-old, who broke a 15-month title drought in Lucknow after winning the Grand Prix Gold event, bagged 7,000 ranking points and now has 59,680 points from 14 tournaments.
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P.V.Sindhu, who finished runners-up at that tournament after losing the final to Saina, also broke back into the top 10 with 55,752 ranking points. She gathered 5950 points from her second-place finish at Syed Modi International tournament.
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Rising men’s singles player, K.Srikanth, who also finished runners-up at Lucknow, made a massive jump of 10 places to break into the top-20. He is currently the second highest ranked men’s shuttler behind Parupalli Kashyap, who is at 18th spot.
ICC 2015 World Cup
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Scotland pipped Kenya to secure their third World Cup appearance while United Arab Emirates (UAE) also booked their ticket for next year’s marquee 50-over tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
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On the final day of the Super Sixes in Christchurch, Rob Taylor shrugged off his poor form and, batting at number eight, blasted 46 unbeaten runs off 37 balls to help Scotland reach the 261-run victory target with three balls to spare.
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Scotland and UAE will now play the tournament final at Bert Sutcliffe Oval.
