(General Awareness For Bank's Exams) Sports
December - 2014

Indian Aces beat UAE Royals to top IPTL standings

•  Indian Aces notched up its third win on the trot with a 28-20 victory over the UAE Royals in the battle of two unbeaten sides in an India Premier Tennis League match.

•  After Sunday’s win, Indian Aces topped the table after the Manila leg to emerge early front-runner in the high-profile tournament.

•  The Indian side, however, began with a loss with Ana Ivanovic going down fighting 4-6 to Kristina Mladenovic in the first women’s singles.

•  The battle of the in-form women’s singles players was a thrilling contest with Ivanovic almost making a sensational comeback from 1-5 down, before eventually losing the match.

•  Mixed doubles pair Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna registered a 6-3 second-set win over Mladenovic and Nenad Zimonjic, and Indian Aces took the advantage with Bopanna partnering the crowd-favourite Gael Monfils to a 6-4 victory over Zimonjic and Marin Cilic in men’s doubles.

•  An injury pulled Cilic out from early in the set against Monfils, but Malek Jaziri was a more than capable substitute.

Quick win for Deepan in National Premier Chess

•  Vidit Gujrathi, the highest-rated player, was forced to a draw for the second successive day, this time by his Petroleum Board teammate Abhijit Kunte, in the second round of the South Indian Bank-CMS College 52nd National Premier Chess championship at the CMS College.

•  Meanwhile, Deepan Chakravarthy, who was the quickest of the day with a 27-move verdict over P.D.S. Girinath, Deep Sengupta and M.R. Lalith Babu posted wins. Five players, with 1.5 points each, are in the lead.

East Zone reclaims ‘Deodhar Trophy’ after a long gap

•  East Zone proved to be a hard nut to crack and won the Deodhar Trophy after 11 seasons. The game swung back and forth in a tantalising manner, but East struck crucial blows in the closing stages of the match to beat West by 24 runs in the final.

•  East’s team work stood out in stark contrast to some poor bowling by Shardul Thakur and Yusuf Pathan, and later some poor batting chasing a tall target of 270.

•  West’s chase suffered as Ashoke Dinda, getting one last chance to impress the selectors before the World Cup probables selection, induced errors from Smit Patel, Sheldon Jackson and Ambati Rayudu. His effort earned him the man-of-the-match award.

•  As the final drifted towards East, Maharashtra’s Kedar Jadhav and his Pune teammate Ankit Bawne pulled their team out of the woods with a solid 74-run stand for the fourth wicket.

•  After Bawne’s dismissal, Jadhav and local lad Suryakumar Yadav took charge. Jadhav also survived a strong appeal for leg-before off left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and was lucky to be dropped by Kumar Deobrat at long-on off off-spinner Saurasish Lahiri.

•  But once Odisha all-rounder Biplab Samantaray bowled Jadhav and Dinda dismissed Yadav, East’s anxiety ended and it went on to win the match.

•  Earlier, after electing to bat, East was indebted to skipper Manoj Tiwary — his 75 led the fight-back after early loss of wickets — and Samantaray’s quick-fire half-century.

Varun Kakran set a new National record

•  Uttar Pradesh’s Varun Kakran cleared a height of 1.86 metres to set a new National record in the under-14 boys’ high jump in the Jio junior National athletics championship at IGMC stadium here on Saturday.

•  Varun eclipsed Maharashtra’s Anil Kumar Sahoo’s 1.85 metre effort achieved in 2011.

•  Kerala and Haryana athletes dominated the penultimate day with Kerala runners hogging the limelight in the relays.

•  The results: Boys: U-14: High Jump: 1. Varun Kakran (UP) 1.86m – NR (ONR & NMR 1.85), 2. Anil (Har) 1.70; 3. Ravindra Reddy 1.56.

ATK holds Goa, books semifinal spot in Indian Super League 2014

•  Atletico de Kolkata scampered into the semifinals of the inaugural Indian Super League by doing what it has done best in the tournament so far — play out a draw.

•  Egged on by 37,000 raucous spectators, ATK held a 10-man FC Goa 1-1 to muster the important point that sealed its place in the elite stage.

•  This was the seventh draw for the host which has won only four and lost the remaining three. With FC Goa (22 points) having previously occupied the second spot, ATK crept into the third spot tallying 19 points from 14 matches and nudged Kerala Blasters FC (19 points) to the fourth spot on a better goal difference.

•  ATK thus set up a re-match against FC Goa at the same venue in the first outing of the two-leg semifinal. The other semfinal will feature table topper Chennaiyin FC (23 points) and Kerala Blasters at Kochi.

•  The outcome here had its own share of controversies as the host seemed to be favoured with a penalty — which Fikru scored to fetch the equaliser — though there seemed to have been no contact by the purported offender, FC Goa’s Portuguese defender Bruno Pinheiro.

•  The match turned at this point — in the 66th minute — as the Goans till then had enjoyed greater control. Pinheiro was given the marching orders by American referee Baldomero Toledo, who found the Goa defender guilty of tripping Fikru inside the box.

•  Television replays indicated a different story: the ATK striker apparently fell down entangling his legs in the rush to reach the ball first.

Del Piero, ‘a relieved man’, Indian Super League 2014

•  With the 2-2 draw against Chennaiyin FC leaving Delhi Dynamos still in with a chance, coach Harm van Veldhoven seemed pretty satisfied with the way his team played in the second half while also ruing the ‘hesitant defence’ for the major part of the first half.

•  “The second goal (the equaliser) came a bit too late in the match,” he said. “But not many teams can fight against a team like Chennaiyin after being 2-0 down.”

•  Alessandro Del Piero, the marquee player, had come under lot of fire for not being able to score a goal in nine appearances for Dynamos, and when it did come it was a big relief for the Italian forward.

•  “I am happy. Being down by a goal, there was no time to celebrate,” he said. On whether he would return for the next ISL season, Del Piero said, “I hope this [against Chennaiyin] is not the last game.”

•  Marco Materazzi didn’t seem overtly upset at the result. “For him, playing any team home or away in the semifinals doesn’t make a big difference. “It is the same,” the player-manager of Chennaiyin FC said.

Chikkarangappa triumphs at CG Open Golf 2014

•  S. Chikkarangappa defended his title in style at the CG Open Golf 2014, producing a final round of four-under-66 at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club course.

•  The Bengaluru golfer totalled 17-under-263 in the PGTI Super Series event and also topped the Rolex Rankings.

•  Om Prakash Chouhan bettered the course record with 10-under-60 in the fourth round, and was rewarded with the second spot carding 16-under-264.

•  Overnight leader C. Muniyappa of Bengaluru returned a card of 15-under-265 for third place.

•  Chikkarangappa (67-66-64-66) started with pars on the first three holes, birdied the fourth, fifth and seventh. Muniyappa bogeyed the 11th, as the former struck form to manage birdies on 16th and 18th for the title.

Indians subdue the Dutch in Champions Trophy

•  After two morale-sapping defeats, India finally regained a lot of confidence by notching up a 3-2 upset win over World Cup silver medallist and second-ranked Netherlands in its final Pool B match of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament at the Kalinga Stadium.

•  The home team, which opened its account with three points earned from this unexpected victory, finished third in its pool and will meet Pool A’s second-placed side Belgium in the quarterfinals.

•  The Netherlands frontline, especially the trio of Jeroen Hertzberger, Sander Baart and Rogier Hofman, showed tremendous understanding and agility to invade the Indian circle at lightning speed and came close to taking the lead on several occasions.

•  But India remained unaffected mainly due to some fabulous saves by its brave goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh. V.R. Raghunath and Rupinderpal Singh, who were tested on numerous instances, withstood the nervous moments.

•  Against the run of play, India grabbed the lead early in the third quarter. Bubbling with energy, young Gurjinder Singh launched a long-range slap shot and S.V. Sunil deflected it in to trigger celebrations in the stands. The Dutch lost a bit of advantage as its referral challenging the goal did not yield the desired result.

Pakistan wins a thriller, makes final in Champions Trophy

•  The blockbuster involving India and Pakistan had disappointment in store for the passionate home fans as the host lost 4-3 an evenly-contested, high voltage semifinal clash of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament at the Kalinga Stadium.

•  Incidentally, India had also lost to the same opponent in the last four of the 2012 edition in Melbourne. The defeat also meant that the third place finish in 1982 remains India's best ever performance in the Champions Trophy.

•  World No. 11 Pakistan, which reached the final after 16 years on the strength of Muhammad Arslan Qadir's brace, will take on Olympic champion and nine-time winner Germany. The world No. 3 edged past five-time defending champion Australia 3-2.

•  It was also a big achievement for Germany, which had struggled throughout the year and came into this event with a team which had several players from the 2013 Junior World Cup-winning squad, as it made the final after 2009.

•  As expected, Pakistan used its sharpened wings to cut through the Indian defence frequently and kept hitting into the circle from the right.

IPTL & traditional tennis can co-exist says Carlos Moya

•  The innovative rules and format of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) may have struck a chord with the Asian fans, generally starved of top-level action, but former World No.1 Carlos Moya believes the ‘traditional’ sport will stick to its conventional rules, though the inaugural tournament will ‘co-exist’ and thrive alongside the existing order.

•  “Top players are trying out different things but tennis is a traditional sport. But ATP and IPTL have their respective places in tennis and can co-exist together,” Moya, coach of the Manila Mavericks playing in the ITPL told IANS on the sidelines of the Delhi leg of the competition.

•  The clay-court specialist, however, gave a thumbs up to the tweaks the compeition has introduced into the game said the concept is ‘exciting’.

•  Spain’s former Davis Cup captain, Moya, was dragged into a controversy two months prior to his new coaching role when, after his resignation from Spanish duty, ex-female tennis star Gala Leon was named as his successor.

•  It’s been over two months since her appointment erupted into a huge controversy and Moya said the tennis authorities could have avoided a needless controversy by taking the players into confidence before appointing her.

Mahalakshmi in sole lead in National under-17 girls’ chess

•  Top seed M. Mahalakshmi defeated second seed G.K. Monisha to move into the sole lead at the end of the seventh round of the National under-17 girls’ chess championship at Patna on Saturday.

•  With four rounds remaining, she has six points, half-a-point ahead of Tejaswini Sagar and V. Varshini. In the boys’ event, fifth seed Aradhya Garg maintained his sole lead with 6.5 points, one point in front of V. Pranavananda.

Indians just behind Brazilians in goal-scorers’ list

•  Indian players have scored 23 goals, only three less than Brazilian imports from all teams, in the Indian Super League football tournament that has entered the knockout phase now.

•  Brazilian players, led by eight strikes from Chennaiyin FC’s sharp shooter Elano Blumer, have notched up 26 goals overall.

•  Indian players — led by FC Goa’s Romeo Fernandes and Chennaiyin FC’s Jeje Lalpekhlua who have found the target thrice each — have tallied 23 in all.

Trishul Chinnappa wins in Amateur Golf Championship

•  Trishul Chinnappa saw off Syed Saqib Ahmed in a closely-contested final to win the Tata Steel 114th Amateur Golf Championship of India at the KGA course.

•  Chinnappa laid the foundation for his victory in the 36-hole final with a splendid effort in the first half, when he went five up.

•  Notwithstanding a stutter on the second 18, where his advantage had shrunk to one at the turn, Chinnappa held firm to triumph 2 and 1.

Elano Blumer gets the Golden Boot in Indian Super League

•  Chennaiyin FC’s Elano Blumer and FC Goa’s goalkeeper Jan Seda (FC Goa) topped the list for Golden Boot and Golden Glove awards respectively as the inaugural Indian Super League concluded.

•  Elano scored eight goals in 11 matches, apart from one assist, according to official website www.indiansuperleague.com.

•  He is followed by FC Goa’s Mirosalv Slepicka (five goals/ four assists, 10 games), Kerala Blasters’ Iain Hume (five/ three, 16), Delhi Dynamos’ Gustavo Santos (five/ two, 15) and ATK’s Fikru Lemessa (five/ two, 11).

‘Be Safe’ wins Indian 2000 Guineas (Gr. I)

•  Mr. M.A.M.Ramaswamy’s Be Safe (Suraj Narredu up) won the ABV Nucleus Indian 2000 Guineas (Gr. I), the stellar attraction of the races held. The winner is trained by M.Narredu.

Germany wins Champions Trophy

•  Enjoying the strong backing of a partisan crowd of 7,000 in a city designed by German architect Otto Konigsberger, Olympic champion Germany made itself at home to see Pakistan off 2-0 in the final and lift the Champions Trophy at the Kalinga Stadium.

•  The World No.3 could not have asked for more as it ended the year by pocketing its 10th Champions Trophy crown. It had last won the tournament in 2007. A tired and lacklustre India was beaten 2-1 by World champion Australia in the battle for third place.

•  This was the fifth Champions Trophy final involving Germany and Pakistan, and the previous time they had met in the summit clash was way back in 1994, when Pakistan had emerged champion through penalty shoot-outs in front of home supporters in Lahore.

•  In changed times, with both teams seeking to groom the youngsters in their squads in the run-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics, the duel assumed importance for different reasons.

•  Thanks to the plans of master tactician Markus Weise, Germany stifled the Asian Games silver medallist with some brilliant possession and strong marking.

•  Germany, which shrugged off a below-par start to beat fine teams like England and Australia in the knockout stage, checked Pakistan’s free-flowing style.
  Boxing India not recognized by IOA

•  N. Ramachandran, President of the Indian Olympic Association, has categorically stated that the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) will be the official body and not Boxing India (BI). He added that boxing affairs will now be handled by IOA’s ad-hoc committee.

•  “This matter was discussed at length at the Executive Committee. The EC unanimously agreed that the body that will be recognised by the IOA will be IABF,” said Mr. Ramachandran at a press conference, after attending the IOA’s executive committee and the annual general body meeting.

•  Explaining the rationale behind the decision, Mr. Ramachandran said IOA refused to give official sanction to BI because BI elections were held without consulting IOA.

•  “When the dispute first arose between IABF and Boxing India, the IOA constituted an ad-hoc committee. It is AIBA which recognised Boxing India and the latter’s elections. Neither the Government of India nor the IOA sent an observer for the elections.

•  “In fact, when the IOA took up the matter with the President of the International boxing body (AIBA) and said that, in the interest of the athletes, the elections should be held under the aegis of IOA and with AIBA’s observer present, the latter did not accept these suggestions and BI held its elections under the supervision of AIBA,” he said, adding that the IOA had received “many” complaints of irregularities during the elections.

•  He said the top three athletes at the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Beach Asian Games, will receive a cash award of Rs. 3 lakh, Rs. 2 lakh and Rs. one lakh respectively. He regretted that the government funding for National Sports Federations has been reduced to a larger extent.

79 Indians retained for IPL 2015

•  The eight IPL teams have retained 123 cricketers in all — 79 Indians and 44 overseas players — for the 2015 season.

•  According to a BCCI press release, five Indian cricketers were traded. The window to extend player contracts on existing terms closed.

•  The released players will have the option to put their names up for the player auction for the 2015 season.

•  The BCCI-IPL has said that teams have a total salary purse of Rs.63 crore for the 2015 season, a 5% increase over the 2014 season purse, and that the salaries of the players retained will be deducted from this amount.

AIBA bans boxer L. Sarita Devi

•  Indian woman boxer L. Sarita Devi was handed a one-year ban by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) for refusing to accept her bronze medal at the Asian Games but the punishment is unlikely to hurt her career too badly as she would be available to compete in the 2016 Olympic qualifiers.

•  Sarita, who had refused to accept the medal to protest her controversial semifinal bout loss, has been banned retrospectively from October 1, 2014 to October 1, 2015 and fined 1000 swiss francs.

•  Although her repeated apologies failed in getting her AIBA’s pardon, even this ban is quite a relief for the lightweight (60kg) boxer, who is currently nursing a broken right wrist.

Bindra wins bronze in National Shooting championship

•  India’s sole individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra bagged the 50-metre rifle prone bronze medal, but the gold went to Hariom Singh in the 58th National Shooting Championships in Pune.

•  Competing in the men’s 50-metre rifle prone event after a gap of almost a decade, Bindra shot 183.8 to finish third on the podium at the Balewadi Shooting Range.

•  Fellow Olympic medallist Gagan Narang finished fourth in the eight-man final, after having finished third in qualifying, marginally ahead of Bindra, who qualified in fourth position.

•  India teammate Hariom, representing the Indian Army, won the top prize in the event shooting a total of 205 in the finals, after having qualified in sixth position. Gagan finished with 163.5.

•  In the women’s 10-metre air pistol event, Punjab’s Harveen Sarao led the field at the end of qualifying with a score of 379. Shital Shivaji Thorat of Maharashtra finished second with a score of 377 while Rachna Devi, representing the CRPF, came in third with a score of 376.

No FIH event till Pakistan players are punished, decided Hockey India

•  Taking strong exception to FIH’s “weak” censure to Pakistani players for their obscene behaviour after beating India in the Champions Trophy semifinal, Hockey India decided that it would not host any event sanctioned by the world body until strong punishment is handed out to the offenders.

•  The Pakistani players made obscene gestures towards Indian fans and media after their win last night but no action was taken against them by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) after their coach Shahnaz Sheikh offered an apology.

•  “It was a shameless and condemnable incident but the FIH took a very weak and feeble decision. It is not acceptable to us.

•  We have made it clear to FIH that such sort of behaviour from sportspersons is not acceptable to Indians,” HI president Narinder Batra told PTI from New Delhi.

Tendulkar named for ICC World Cup 2015 ambassador

•  Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar was named the ICC World Cup ambassador for the second successive edition. “The International Cricket Council today announced Sachin Tendulkar as the World Cup 2015 Ambassador.

•  It will be the second successive time that the India maestro will be the Ambassador of ICC’s pinnacle tournament, after he fulfilled the role in the previous event in 2011,” the ICC said in a statement.

•  In his role as ambassador, Tendulkar will promote and support a variety of ICC initiatives to enhance the profile of the tournament, which is the third biggest sporting event in the world and will take place in Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29.

•  Tendulkar retired from international cricket last year after representing India in 200 Tests, 463 ODIs and one Twenty20 International. In a career spanning 24 years, the 41-year-old scored a total of 34,357 international runs and 100 centuries.

Gouramangi Singh is Bharat FC’s new catch for 2015

•  Defender Gouramangi Singh has been roped in by new I-league team, Bharat FC to firm up its squad for the 2015 season which will kick off next month.

•  Bharat FC, which will compete in its inaugural I-League season starting on January 17, snapped up Gouramangi from Chennaiyin FC on a season-long contract.

•  “I and Stanly have worked at the national team and I know how good he is. I have also been speaking regularly to Stuart and his vision for the team is really exciting.

•  I am excited about my role here,” said Gouramangi, who joined the Kalyani group-owned team during its pre-season training camp at the BharatiVidyapeeth football ground on Tuesday.

•  “I want to transfer my experience of having played in the I-League, help build the team well and win lots of football matches,” he added. The 28-year-old, who was a India regular before Wim Koevermans became India coach, comes to Bharat FC on the back of an impressive showing in the Indian Super League.

•  The centre-back made 11 appearances for Chennaiyin FC, driving them to the semifinals of the competition. One of the most accomplished players in India, Gouramangi who is a graduate of the Tata Football Academy, began his professional football career with Dempo SC in the 2004-2005 season making 40 appearances and scoring one goal.

Srikanth is No. 4 in World Badminton ranking

•  Young Kidambi Srikanth continued his meteoric rise in world badminton as he ended the season by becoming only the third Indian male shuttler to break into the top-five, reaching a career-high fourth after hovering in the 40s in the beginning of the year.

• The 21-year-old Indian, who clinched the China Super Series Premier before reaching the semifinals of back-to-back tournaments in Hong Kong and Dubai, jumped two places to join the elite club which comprises Prakash Padukone and national chief coach Pullela Gopichand, who were World No. 1 and 4 respectively in the past.

•  “When I started the year, I was in the 40s. Probably somewhere around 45. So I didn’t expect that I will reach world number four. But I am really happy with my performance this season, it has been a great year,” Srikanth told PTI.

Use of bouncer is the right of a fast bowler says Rackemann

•  “He was struck on top of the nose and he went crashing down holding his face. Actually, his face was split right down the middle,” remembered the burly former Australian fast bowler, Carl Rackemann.

•  He was recalling a Sheffield Shield contest between Queensland and West Australia at the lively ’Gabba in the early 90s. Mike Veletta, the batsman who was hit by the Rackemann lifter, was wearing a helmet without a grill.

•  Rackemann, now 54, said, “Those were days when many batsmen wore helmets that did not have the grill. They felt the grill affected their overall vision. Mike (Veletta) went to hook a bouncer and he missed.”

•  The former Queensland paceman said, “I was really concerned for him. It was really bad. I feared the worst. He was taken in an ambulance. Thankfully, they, at the hospital, were able to stitch his face back. It was a scary moment.”

•  A feared and respected paceman in his time — he hustled batsmen with disconcerting lift — Rackemann’s international career was blighted by injuries. He picked up 39 wickets in 12 Tests at 29.15. In the ODI’s, Rackemann scalped 82 batsmen in 52 matches at an economy rate of 3.94.

Elano Blumer gets the Golden Boot in Indian Super League

•  Chennaiyin FC’s Elano Blumer and FC Goa’s goalkeeper Jan Seda (FC Goa) topped the list for Golden Boot and Golden Glove awards respectively as the inaugural Indian Super League concluded.

•  Elano scored eight goals in 11 matches, apart from one assist, according to official website www.indiansuperleague.com.

‘Be Safe’ wins Indian 2000 Guineas (Gr. I)

•  Mr. M.A.M.Ramaswamy’s Be Safe (Suraj Narredu up) won the ABV Nucleus Indian 2000 Guineas (Gr. I), the stellar attraction of the races held. The winner is trained by M.Narredu.
   

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