SPORTS AUGUST 2013

SPORTS AUGUST 2013

• Top seeds Daniel Nestor and Leander Paes won their first ATP World Tour team title on 24 August, as they defeated Treat Huey and Dominic Inglot 7-6(10), 7-5 in the Winston-Salem Open final. Both aged 40, Nestor and Paes were playing together for just the second time in their careers. Paes clinched his first title of the season and improved to a 52-36 finals record. It was also the first title of the season for Nestor, who was runner-up earlier in the year at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell with Robert Lindstedt.
  
• Former athlete Henry Rebello, who had represented India in the 1948 Olympic Games in London, died in Gurgaon on 27 August after a long illness. He was 84. An avid sports lover till the very end, Rebello was a triple jumper of the highest quality. He took the top spot in a pre-Olympic event for foreign athletes in London, and led the field in the preliminary rounds of the main event. Soon after the London Olympics, he was commissioned into the Indian Air Force, and retired as a Group Captain. He was actively involved in the conducting of the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, and then served as a Director in the Sports Authority of India
  
• England cricket team won Ashes Test Series-2013 by 3-0 against Australia on 25 August 2013 at England. England and Australia drew the fifth Test as the Ashes series ended in a dramatic draw on the final day at the Oval on 25 August 2013. With this fifth test match draw England finished the five-match contest as 3-0 winners having triumphed in three successive Test series against Australia for the first time since the 1950s. (England won ashes series in 2009, 2011, 2013). Alastair Cook captained the England side in the tournament, whereas, Michael Clarke captained the Australian team. Players of the series are- Ian Bell (England, RJ Harris (Australia).The Ashes is a Test cricket series which has been played between England and Australia since 1882. The Ashes is played biennially between England and Australia taking turns to host it. The Ashes series consists of five Test matches; if a series is drawn, the country holding the Ashes retains series.
  
• Indian women's Recurve team defeated the South Korean team to win gold medal in the World Cup Archery Stage- 4 at Wroclaw, Poland on 25 August 2013. In the Women's Recurve Team final, the sixth seeded Indian team of Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Rimil Buriulydefeated the top seeded South Korean team of Yun Ok-Hee, Ki Bo Bae, and Joo Hyun Jung, 219-215 to clinch the Gold. This is the Indian trio's second successive Gold. They had brought success to the country in July 2013, after winning the Stage 3 meet at Medellin, Colombia.
  
• Saina Nehwal-led Hyderabad Hotshots crowned themselves as the champions of the inaugural Indian Badminton League when they defeated Awadhe Warriors 3-1 in the finals at the NSCI Stadium in Mumbai, on 31 August. Indian shuttle queen Saina brought the Hotshots on level terms by trouncing her young challenger P.V. Sindhu in straight games (21-15, 21-7) in 35 minutes after K. Srikanth gave the Warriors an unexpected 1-0 lead by stunning top-20 rival S. Tanongsak in straight games, 21-12, 21-20. Hotshots surged ahead again after Saina's win when their top Malaysian men's doubles team of Goh V Shem and Wah Lim Khim got the better of the scratch Danish-Indonesian pair of Mathias Boe and Markis Kido in three games 21-14 13-21, 11-4.Later Ajay Jayaram did the star turn for the Hotshots with a wonderful turnaround when he got past R.M.V Gurusaidutt after dropping the first game. Jayaram, ranked 24th in the world, beat 20th ranked Guru 10-21, 21-17, 11-7 in 52 minutes to help the Hotshots win the top prize of Rs 3.5 crore. Warriors took home Rs 1.75 crore.
  
• Satywart Kadian of India won a bronze medal in the 96-kg freestyle category at the World Junior Wrestling Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria on 17 August 2013. Satyawart Kadian produced a clinical display of freestyle combat to get the better of Turkey's Ali Bonceoglu to open India's account at the championships. Satyawart's march was halted by Armenia' Viktor Kazishvili in the semi-finals, as he lost the bout in the first period itself. Satywart Kadian has also won a bronze medal at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.
  
• Usain Bolt of Jamaica equalled the world record of highest golds after winning the 4x100m relay at the World Athletics Championships on 18 August 2013 at Moscow, Russia.By winning the 4x100m gold medal Usain Bolt’s secured his eighth gold. This was his third gold medal at World Athletics Championships 2013 Moscow. Bolt won the 100m and 200m sprint at Berlin in 2009, 200m in Daegu in 2011, the 100m and 200m in Moscow 2013, as well as golds as part of the winning Jamaican 4x100m relay squads in 2009, 2011 and 2013.With this victory Bolt has joined the club of highest (8) gold medal winners list along with American women's 200m specialist Allyson Felix, and retired US track stars Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson including relays. Usain Bolt (26) holds the world record in the 100m and 200m with record times of 9.58 seconds and 19.19seconds respectively at the World Championships in Berlin 2009. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is generally called as the fastest man on Earth.
  
• Kush Kumar won the first gold for India when he beat Mohammad Syafiq Mohd. Kamal of Malaysia 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7 in the boys’ squash final in the second Asian Youth Games at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre on 19 August. Incidentally, it was the third medal for India in the Youth Games, following bronze medals by girl judoka Mongjam Kabita Devi in the 44kg class and boy weightlifter Lalchhanhima, who lifted a total of 228 kg in the 56 kg section. Meanwhile, teenager Abhishek Yadav ensured India of a bronze medal after he defeated Malaysia’s Dunley Foo to enter the semifinals of the men’s singles table tennis. The Indian defeated Foo 11-6, 11-5, 15-13, 5-11, 18-16. He will now meet the top-seeded Chinese Zhendong Fan in the semifinal.
  
• Rafael Nadal won the ATP Cincinnati Masters for the first time on 19 August, his ninth title of 2013 lifting him to No. 2 in the world and stamping him as a U.S. Open favourite. The fourth-seeded Spaniard, whose season didn’t start until February when he returned from a seven-month injury absence, proved again the eight-time French Open champion is back in peak form after his shock first round exit at Wimbledon. He beat unseeded American John Isner 7-6(8), 7-6(3) to add the Cincinnati crown to the Montreal Masters title he won a week before, his first ever back-to-back hardcourt trophies.He is the first Spaniard to win in Cincinnati since Carlos Moya 11 years ago. while ,Victoria Azarenka toppled world No. 1 Serena Williams 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(6) to claim the title.
  
• The National Sports Awards-2013 will be conferred upon the following sportspersons/ coaches/organizations. The Government on 22 August, approved their names, as recommended by the Selection Committees -
  
  A. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award:

  Sl. No.	Name	Discipline
  1.	Mr. Ronjon Sodhi	Shooting +

  
  
  B. Arjuna Awards: 

  1.	Ms. Chekrovolu Swuro	Archery
  2.	Mr. Ranjith Maheshwari	Athletics
  3.	Ms. P.V. Sindhu	Badminton
  4.	Ms. Kavita Chahal	Boxing
  5.	Mr. Rupesh Shah	Billiards & Snooker
  6.	Mr. Virat Kohli	Cricket
  7.	Mr. Abhijeet Gupta	Chess
  8.	Mr. Gagan Jeet Bhullar	Golf
  9.	Ms. Saba Anjum	Hockey
  10.	Ms. Rajkumari Rathore	Shooting
  11.	Ms. Joshna Chinnappa	Squash
  12.	Ms. Mouma Das	Table Tennis
  13.	Ms. Neha Rathi	Wrestling
  14.	Mr. Dharmender Dalal	Wrestling
  15.	Mr. Amit Kumar Saroha	Athletics (Para)

  
  
  C. Dronacharya Awards for 2013:

  Sl.No.	Name	Discipline
  1.	Ms. Poornima Mahato	Archery
  2.	Mr. Mahavir Singh	Boxing
  3.	Mr. Narinder Singh Saini	Hockey
  4.	Mr. K.P. Thomas	Athletics*
  5.	Mr. Raj Singh	Wrestling*
  * Lifetime contribution in coaching

  
  
  D. Dhyan Chand Awards: 

  Sl.No.	Name	Discipline
  1.	Ms. Mary D’souza Sequeira	Athletics
  2.	Mr. Syed Ali	Hockey
  3.	Mr. Anil Mann	Wrestling
  4.	Mr. Girraj Singh	Para Sports (Athletics)

  
  
  Apart from a medal and a citation, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awardee will receive a cash prize of Rs.7.5 lakh. Arjuna,Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand Awardees will receive statuettes, citations and cash prize of Rs.5 lakh each. Recipients of Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar will be given Trophies. The awardees will receive their awards from the President of India at a specially organized function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 31, 2013.
  
• Double Trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi was recommended for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award 2013while cricketer Virat Kohli was among the 15 sportspersons picked for the Arjuna award 2013 by the selection committee in New Delhi. The committee was headed by billiards legend Michael Ferreira. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is India’s highest honour for a sportsperson. Sodhi had won two silver medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and a gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games. In 2011, he became the first Indian to successfully defend a World Cup title. Rising badminton player PV Sindhu, was also in the list of 15 chosen players for the Arjuna award. She became the first Indian woman shuttler to clinch a bronze medal at the recently-concluded World Championships.
  
• French Lawn Tennis Player and Wimbledon 2013 (Women’s Singles) winner Marion Bartoli announced her retirement on 14 August, during the Western and Southern Open at Lindner Family Tennis Centre in Cincinnati, Ohio. She announced the retirement after losing in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters to Romania's Simona Halep. Bartoli is 28-years-old and ranked seventh in the world. Besides Wimbledon 2013, Bartoli won seven other WTA Tour titles, the first one was in Auckland in 2006. Recently she won two tournaments both in 2011 at Eastbourne and Osaka, Japan, prior to Wimbledon.
  
• India celebrated a rare moment of success in international table tennis as Soumyajit Ghosh on 11 August, clinched the Under 21 men's title while Manika Batra bagged the Under 21 women's trophy at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Brazil Open at Santos. After Manika accounted for host nation's Caroline Kumahara 11-5, 9-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-5 to take the Under-21 women's singles crown, Ghosh defeated Benjamin Brossier of France 8-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 11-2 to win the men's singles title. The Indians also won, USD 1500 each for their title wins.
  
• Meanwhile, Sagarika Ghosh won the Cadet Girls singles title while Birdie Boro had to be satisfied with a silver in the Cadet Boys singles at the Guatemala Junior and Cadet Open Table Tennis championships. Sagarika, the winner of South Asian Junior title recently, beat Sreeja 11-6, 11-5, 11-8 to take gold in the final. Birdie Boro lost 9-11, 8-11, 5-11 to Cuban Livan Martinez in the final of the boys singles event. Earlier, Boro had beaten teammate Anirban Ghosh 3-0 to enter the final.
  
• The 30-year-old Mo Farah from Britan won the 5,000m title in the 14th World Athletic Championship held in Moscow. On 11th August he had already won the 10,000m gold. Mo Farah's career reached incredible new heights as the Briton became only the second man in history to complete an Olympic and world 'double-double' in the distance events. Mean while, Usain Bolt captured a fourth major event sprint double as the Jamaican superstar stormed to a third straight 200metres title at the IAAF World Championships on 17 August. Bolt won his seventh overall world title in 19.66 seconds.
  
• Fantastic performance by Kolkata based Sayantan Das and Diptayan Ghosh enabled India to regain the gold medal at the World Youth Chess Olympiad, which concluded on 29th July at Chongqing, China.India thrashed Iran 3.5-0.5 in the final round of the team event to win gold, after having started the Olympiad as second seed.
  
  This is India’s third gold in this prestigious team event. India had won the event previously at Singapore in 2007 and in Turkey 2008. Sayantan and Diptayan won gold in the fourth and silver in the third board respectively.
  
  Sayantan had a sparkling run to win the yellow metal by getting 7.5 points out of nine games in the ten-round event. Diptayan secured 8.5 points out of ten to win silver. Two other Indian representatives Shardul Gagare (6/9) and Murali Karthikeyan (6.5/10) won bronze in the first and second board respectively.
  
• Indian girls created history by winning country's first ever bronze medal in the junior women hockey World Cup held in Monchenglabach, as they defeated England 3-2 on penalties on 4 August.18-year-old Rani scored India's only goal in the regulation time and then found the net twice in the penalty shoot-out to script India's memorable victory. Navneet Kaur's strike handed India a 3-2 lead in the shoot out and when Anna Toman missed the following shot, it secured India's win. The two teams had ended 1-1 after regulation time. India had surprised top teams in the competition and they finished their campaign in a superb manner. Hockey India has announced a cash reward for the Indian team. Each player will get Rs 1 lakh each.
  
• A six member team of students picked up from across the country schools which was sponsored by the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), an Institution under the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai has bagged two silver and three bronze medals at the 54th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) 2013 held at Santa Marta, Colombia during July 18-28, 2013. A total of 528 students from 97 countries participated in the prestigious world event. The silver medal winners are: Sangik Saha (Kolkata) and Shubham Sinha (New Delhi) and the bronze medal winners are Pallav Goyal (Chattisgarh), Pranab Nuti (Hyderabad) and Anish Prasad Sevekari (Pune).
  
• India's number one snooker player, Aditya Mehta on 31 July 2013 won the gold medal in the World Games, beating China's Liang Wenbo, 3-0, in the final of the quadrennial event at Cali, Columbia. Mehta had earlier defeated Thailand`s Dechawat Poomjaeng 3-1 in the semifinal. Poomjaeng defeated another Indian and eight-time world champion Pankaj Advani 3-1 in the quarterfinals. Poomjaeng won the bronze medal after securing a 3-2 win over Brazil`s Igor Figueiredo in his third-place play-off match.
  
• India's rising shuttler P.V. Sindhu earned a bronze medal at the World Championships after losing the semifinal to world No.3, Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand in the prestigious event held in Guangzhou, on 10 August. World number 12 Sindhu, playing in her maiden World Championships, had notched up stunning victories against two Chinese players in the run-up to the semifinals but she failed to out it cross Ratchanok, going down 10-21, 13-21 in a 36-minute women's singles match. Ratchanok , 18, eventually won the women’s single title at the World Championship. The Thai girl earlier won the India Open in New Delhi and also the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold this year. She is also a three-time world junior championship gold-medallist. She is also a silver-medallist from the 2010 Asian Games. As for as the IOndia’s concern, Prakash Padukone won the men's singles bronze in 1983 at Copenhagen while Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won another bronze in the women's doubles event in the last edition at London in 2011.
  
• Indian chess player Parimarjan Negi clinched the Politiken Cup 2013 after emerging with a fine score of nine out of a maximum possible 10 points, which was held in Copenhagen on 4 August. Negi, interestingly, won the same tournament in 2009, but this time around he finished a full point clear of the field, which included top seed Ivan Cheparinov, who has also been a second for former World champion Veselin Topalov. Negi, who had won two titles in US recently, scored eight wins and two draws in the Open tournament, which featured about 600 players from all over. Parimarjan, who was the lone Indian invited for this prestigious event of Scandinavia, will continue to stay in Denmark and Norway for few more days to prepare for the World Cup 2013 scheduled from 10th August in Tromso, Norway.
  
• Indian Junior Women Hockey team won its first ever bronze medal in ERGO Junior Women Hockey World Cup 2013 at Monchengladbac, Germany on 4 August 2013. India beat England by 3-2 in a penalty shoot-out. The tournament was played at Mönchengladbach, Germany from 27 July to 4 August 2013. India ended at third position in the tournament. Indian forward Rani was declared the Best Player of the tournament.The Vice-Captain and forward Rani scored India's only goal in the regulation time. Navneet Kaur's strike helped India a 3-2 lead in the shoot-out. Earlier, India lost to defending champions the Netherlands in second semi-final match on 2 August 2013.The Netherland team won the final against Argentina 4-2 in the shoot-out and clinched the trophy for a record third time. The coach for the Indian team was Neil Hawgood.
  
• Ministry of Tourism, Government of India on 10 August, has decided to support the Kerala Boat Race that is held annually in the Backwaters of Alleppay and surrounding areas. K. Chiranjeevi, Union Tourism Minister announced on the occasion of the start of the 61st Nehru boat Race in Alappuzha that the State Government of Kerala will contribute Rs.17.50 lakh for the Annual event while Union Tourism Ministry will contribute a matching amount. Kerala Governor Nikhil Kumar inaugurated the race. Speaking on the Occasion, the Minister also announced a Mega Alleppey Backwater Development Project for which a provision of Rs. 47.62 crore shall be made by the Tourism Ministry. He said that the Backwaters of the Kerala and the annual Boat race have immense tourism potential. The Tourism Ministry is therefore making all efforts to convert the Backwaters of Kerala into Internationally sought destination.
  
• The National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) has decided to support up to 50 sportspersons for customized training under ‘NSDF 50’ scheme. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has been asked to recommend names of sportspersons in consultation with the concerned National Sports Federations (NSFs) by the end of August, 2013. It was felt that potential young sportspersons who are medal hopes for 2020 Olympics should be encouraged and supported on a continuing basis. that it would be necessary to evolve a proper and credible selection process to identify such sportspersons, may be in the age of 16 – 20 years, in various sports disciplines included in the Olympics; up to a maximum of 50 such sportspersons can be supported for customized training under NSDF; the continuance of assistance should be subject to review of performance of the selected candidates twice in a year. Similarly, Institutes with world class facilities and coaches of international repute are to be identified for sending the selected candidates for training. Executive Committee of the Fund felt that assurance of continued NSDF assistance to our top medal prospects will enable them to concentrate on their preparation without having to worry about funding. ‘NSDF 50’ is also likely to generate competition for inclusion, leading to overall improvement in performance of sportspersons.
  
• India Shines on Wrestling Mat at World Police and Fire Games which held in Belfast. A seven member Indian wrestling team finished the Belfast Games by winning 5 Gold, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze medals. The second day of the competition witnessed Free-style wrestling bouts and the results were as under –
  
  Free-style Wrestling :
  1. Laxmi Narayan from BSF won Gold medal in 60 Kg category.
  2. Manoj Kumar from CRPF won Silver medal in 60 kg category
  3. Naveen Mor from Haryana Police won Gold Medal in +96 Kg category
  4. Jitender Kumar from Haryana Police won Silver Medal in 74 Kg category
  5. Surajbeer Singh of Punjab Police won Bronze medal in 84 Kg category
  6. Vikramjit Singh of CRPF won Bronze medal in 96 Kg category.
  
• Earlier on August 6, Indian wrestlers had grabbed 3 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze medals in the Greeco Roman category. On the third day of the Archery competition from the Indian team, Dipul Boro of CRPF won a Gold medal in Long Bow (traditional) event. The 3-member Indian team which participated for the first time in the World Police and Fire Games was able to win 4 Gold and 3 Silver medals at this prestigious event.
  
• Serena Williams defeated Romania's Sorana Cirstea 6-2 6-0 in the final match of women's Rogers Cup on 11 August 2013. With this, she captured her 54th WTA singles title. The Rogers Cup was held at Rexall Centre, Toronto from 3 August 2013 to 11 August 2013. Serena Williams won the Rogers Cup for the third time. The Rogers Cup initiated in 1881 for the men and 1892 for the women.
  
• Olympic champion Usain Bolt regained his 100m world title and won a fourth individual World Championships gold with a season's best of 9.77 seconds in Moscow World Athletic Championship. The six-time Olympic champion overtook Justin Gatlin in the final stages, forcing the American to settle for silver in 9.85. Bolt's compatriot Nesta Carter (9.95) claimed bronze, while Britain's James Dasaolu was eighth (10.21).
  
  Moscow 2013 World 100m result:
  1. Usain Bolt (Jam) 9.77 seconds ,Gold
  2. Justin Gatlin (US) 9.85, Silver
  3. Nesta Carter (Jam) 9.95, Bronze