SPORTS APRIL 2011

SPORTS APRIL 2011

• Formula one World champion Sebastien Vettel won the Malaysian Grand Prix with a dominant drive on 10 April to take an early grip on the Formula One season. 
• Sania Mirza and her Russian partner Elena Vesnina clinched their second WTA title together, lifting the Family Circle Cup doubles trophy with a straight-set triumph over Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy at Charleston (USA).
• Shane Watson smashed a record 15 sixes in a career-best 185 not out as Australia clinched a three-match One-Day International series against Bangladesh with a nine-wicket win in the second ODI on 11 April. 
• South African Charl Schwartzel has won the 75th U.S. Masters on 10 April. It is his first Major golf title at age 26. 
• Sanjeev Rajput of India won the gold in free rifle 3-position event in the World Cup in Changwon, Korea and grabbed one of the Olympic quota places for the London Games in 2012. 
• Alok Kumar of India defeated former world champion Praput Chaithanasukan of Thailand 6-0 to clinch the Asian billiards championship title at the Olympic Stadium in Kish Island, Iran. 
• Haryana overpowered Bombay in a 3-1 victory to take the 56th Senior National women's hockey championship, at the KSHA Stadium, Bangalore on 14 April. 
• Rafael Nadal beat fourth-seeded David Federer 6-4, 7-5 to win his seventh straight Monte Carlo Masters tennis title. The top-ranked Spaniard chalked up his 37th straight win at the clay-court event, where he has not lost since 2003. It was his 44th career title and 19th at a Masters event. 
• Britain's Lewis Hamilton by defeating the World champion Sebastian Vettel won the formula one Chinese Grand Prix title at shanghai. Vettel of Germany, after opening season wins in Australia and Malaysia, leads the title race with 68 points with Hamilton second on 47 and Button third on 38. 
• Former World junior champion and Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta defeated BPCL teammate Parimarjan Negi in a battle of nerves to clinch the Dubai International Open chess title in Dubai. He is the first Indian to win the Dubai Open title. 
• Donna Urquhart of Australia, the top seed, defeated India’s Joshna Chinappa in the final of the WISPA-Indian Challenger $16000 squash tournament at the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai on 23 April.
• Indian tennis players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won their second title of the season by clinching the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami(USA) to become No. 1 in the ATP World Tour doubles team rankings. Third-seeded Bhupathi and Paes rallied to beat the second seeded Belarusian-Canadian pair Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor 6-7(5), 6-2, 10-5. 
• Victoria Azarenka defeated Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-4 to win the WTA's prestigious Sony Ericson open Miami hard court crown for the second time. Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated World No. 1 Rafael Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) to win the ATP Miami Masters crown and remain unbeaten in 2011.Djokovic has now won all 24 matches he has played this year, the best start to a season since Ivan Lendl began 1986, 25-0.The Serbian, ranked second in the world, has captured four titles, including the Australian Open, Dubai and, now, back-to-back elite Masters titles at Indian Wells and Miami, both with victories over Nadal in the finals. 
• Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni would soon become the latest high profile celebrity to get an honorary commission in the Territorial Army. Chief of the Army Staff General V.K. Singh made the offer when Dhoni called on him at the Army House, New Delhi. Over the past few years, actor Mohanlal and the former India cricket captain, Kapil Dev, were granted honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army while the Indian Air Force accorded honorary rank of Group Captain to Sachin Tendulkar last year. 
• Anirban Lahiri of India won the inaugural $300,000 Panasonic Open golf tournament. 
• World champion Sebastien Vettel won the Malaysian Grand Prix held in Sepang, Malaysia with a dominant drive on 10 April to take an early grip on the Formula One season. 
• Carnatic vocalist Nisha P. Rajagopal has been chosen as the first recipient of ‘ The Hindu Saregama M.S. Subbulakshmi Award.’ Presented by RmKV, the award, which was instituted on September 16, 2010, seeks to honour and recognise the merit of a young Carnatic vocalist aged between 25 and 35 pursuing music full-time.