SPORTS AUGUST 2014

SPORTS AUGUST 2014

• Aravind Chithambaram becomes Grand Master
  Aravind Chithambaram of Tamil Nadu became a Grandmaster by winning his last round tie against seasoned GM Alexei Shirov for the third and final norm at the Riga International Open in Latvia on 24th August.
  
• Danial Ricciardo won Belgian Grand Prix
  Australian Daniel Ricciardo won the Belgian Grand Prix for Red bull on 25th August
  
• Atul wins Bronze, creates history
  Atul Verma won India its first Olympic archery medal — a bronze — at the Youth Olympic Games at Nanjing on 26th August.
  
• Micromax wins BCCI title sponsorship rights
  Micromax has won the Board of Control for Cricket in India's title sponsorship rights for the 2014-2015 season. The home series against the West Indies in October-November will be the first opportunity for the mobile handset makers. Micromax will also be entitled to title rights for five major domestic tournaments, including the Ranji Trophy.
  
  STAR India were the lone bidders for the 2013-14 season. Last year, STAR had won the BCCI rights at the base price of Rs 2 crore per international match. Sachin Tendulkar had retired during the season
  
• Mukul Mudgal committee files report
  The Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee on 29th August filed a report in the Supreme Court on its investigation into the roles of ICC president N. Srinivasan and 12 prominent players in the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting and spot-fixing scandal. A Bench led by Justice T.S. Thakur took on record the report, which was handed over to it in a sealed cover by senior advocate Raju Ramachandran.
  
  In October 2013, Supreme Court of India appointed a one member committee headed by Justice (Retd) Mukul Mudgal to probe allegations of betting and spot fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Justice Mudgal submitted his report to the Supreme Court in February 2014. The detail of the report has not been made public. The Former Indian Cricket Captain Sourav Ganguly has been appointed as a part of the committee and will be a part of the investigating process of the committee.
  
• Kush and Lakshya won
  India’s Kush Kumar and Lakshya Ragavendran retained the boys’ and girls’ under-19 titles in the Indian Junior Open at the Indian Squash Academy
  Boys: Under-19: Kush Kumar
  Under-17: Velavan Senthilkumar
  Under-15: Jesse Kok Sheng Foo (MAS)
  Under-13: Yash Fadte
  Under-11: Jeh Pandove
  Girls: Under-19: Lakshya Ragavendran
  Under-17: Akanksha Salunkhe
  Under-15: Nikita Joshi
  Under-13: Aifa Azman (MAS)
  Under-11: Sehveetrra Kumar (MAS)
  
• Sindhu won Bronze
  P V Sindhu won a second consecutive bronze medal after succumbing to Carolina Marin of Spain in straight games at the semifinals, on 30th August.
  
  The Sindhu became the first badminton player to win two bronze medals at the World Championship. Badminton Legend Prakash Padukone had won the men's singles bronze in 1983, while Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won bronze in women's doubles in 2011.
  
  Sindhu, who won two grand Prix Gold titles at Malaysia and Macau last year, had finished at the semifinals of 2012 China Super Series Premier, besides ending in the last four at the 2010 and 2013 India Super Series.
  
• Federer Triumph
  Roger Federer won his 80th career ATP title and sixth at the Cincinnati Masters, beating David Ferrer. Federer owns three titles this season (Dubai and Halle) and he ran his career title total to 80 from 121 finals. Serena Williams won her first Cincinnati title victory over Ana Ivanovic. She won nine of the last 10 games against Ivanovic to roll to victory in just over an hour.
  
• Asian Games: Sumairwala named Chef-de-Mission
  Athletics Federation of India (AFI) President Adille Sumariwala has been appointed the Chef-de-Mission of the Indian contingent for next month’s Asian Games at Incheon, South Korea.
  
• Ravi Shastri was made Director
  The BCCI on 19th August reduced Coach Duncan Fletcher’s role. BCCI also appointed former all-rounder and captain Ravi Shastri as overall in-charge of cricket affairs of the Indian team for the five-match One-Day International series against England.
  
  The BCCI also virtually handed pink slips to bowling coach Joe Dawes, fielding coach Trevor Penney and named former India players Sanjay Bangar and Bharat Arun as assistant coaches and R. Sridhar as fielding coach for the ODI series.
  
  While Penney began his India innings after the 2011 World Cup final, South African Eric Simmons made way for Dawes after the 2011-12 Australian tour.
  
  While all three — Fletcher, Dawes and Penney — have a running contract with the BCCI up to the 2015 ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, a very senior BCCI official revealed that it was virtually the end of the road for Dawes and Penney. They were politely told that they could work at the NCA in Bangalore if they were not keen on a break or holiday.
  
  Shastri had a short stint as coach of the national team following India’s quick exit from the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. In spite of his media commitments he has agreed to work for the five ODIs to be played from August 25 to September 5 at Bristol, Cardiff, Nottingham, Birmingham and Leeds.
  
• RagalaVenkat triumph
  Weightlifter Ragala Venkat Rahul bagged India's first medal in the second Youth Olympic Games by winning silver in the men's 77kg category in Nanjing, China. Rahul lifted 141 kg in snatch, followed by 175 kg in clean and jerk to finish with a total of 316 kg. This was also the first medal for India in weightlifting in Youth Olympic Games.
  
• Kush Kumar created history
  Kush Kumar on 13th August 2014 became the first Indian player to reach the semi-final of World Junior Squash Championship. The championship is being held in Windhoek, Namibia. He achieved this feat when he defeated England's George Parker.
  
• Deepika earns 3 medals for India in World Cup Archery
  Deepika Kumari won one gold and two bronze medals in the World Cup archery Stage 4 at Wroclaw (Poland) on 10th August.
  
  World Cup Archery:
  The Archery World Cup is a competition, started in 2006, organized by the World Archery Federation, where the archers compete in four different stages in four different countries and the best eight archers of each category (from 2010, four archers from 2006-09) advance to an additional stage to contest the Archery World Cup Final. This form of competition was introduced following the success of the 2003 World Archery Championships in New York and the 2004 Summer Olympics with the intent of making the sport more popular and attractive to the spectators, with the matches being held in 'spectacular' locations and the final matches being broadcast online.
  
  From 2013, the World Cup is being broadcast live on Euro sport. It carries sponsorship from Kia and Longines, which supports the annual Longines Prize of Precision for archery, for the "best male and female athletes that master bow and arrow through concentration, balance, accuracy, and skill.
  
• Kheta Ram triumph
  Kheta Ram won in the men’s 5000m, as the 18th Federation Cup athletics championships that were started at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) Patiala, on 17th August. In the women’s 5000m, O.P. Jaisha won
  
• First Para-Gliding World Cup in Himachal Pradesh
  Himachal Pradesh has been selected as venue to host Paragliding World Cup 2015. This will be the first-ever para-gliding World Cup and it is being hosted by India. The tournament will be organized under the auspices of Para-gliding World Cup Association, France. The tournament will be held in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh from October 25, 2015 and will witness participation of around 150 top ranked pilots of the world besides 500 free flying pilots. Himachal bagged the opportunity to host the world cup event after successfully hosting the para-gliding pre-World Cup in 2013.
  
• Indian Cricket Team record in dismal performance
  India had a dubious distinction of registering 6 ducks in the same Test innings. This unwanted record came on 7th August against England on the opening day of the fourth Test at Old Trafford. This is only the fourth time in the history of Tests that six batsmen have failed to open their account in the same innings. Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pankaj Singh were the 6 Indian batsmen who scored ducks on 7th August. Pakistan, South Africa and Bangladesh are the three other teams to be in this 6-duck club. 
  • Previous instances of 6 ducks in same innings
  • Pakistan - Vs West Indies (Karchi, 1980)
  • South Africa - Vs India (Ahmedabad, 1996)
  • Bangladesh - Vs West Indies (Dhaka, 2002)
    
• Common Wealth Games
  2014 Commonwealth Games were held in Glasgow, Scotland. The games were held from 23rd July to August 3rd. The Commonwealth of Nations, commonly known as the Commonwealth is an intergovernmental organization of 53 member states that were mostly territories of the former British Empire.4950 athletes from 71 different nations were participated in the tournament, making the ever largest multi-sport event held in Scotland. A total of 18 sports and 261 medal events were contested.
  Logo: Logo depicts two sprinters two sprinters woven into a tartan motif, representing Scotland. The logo for these games was unveiled on Commonwealth Day i.e. 8th March, 2010.
  Clyde, an anthropomorphic thistle named after the river which flows through the centre of Glasgow was the official mascot of the games
  Among the medal winners, England has got highest number of medals, with a total tally of 174 medals. It was followed by Australia. The third position has gone to Canada, followed by Scotland. India stood in third place with 64 medals in all. However, the host nation, i.e. Scotland got 53 medals, but stood in fourth position, since it got more gold medals. Jamaica stood in last position, among the medal winning nations, in all it got 22 medals, preceded by Kenya.
  England finished top of the medal table for the first time since the 1986 Commonwealth Games, also held in Scotland. Kiribati (its an island nation in Pacific Ocean) also won its first ever medal at a Commonwealth Games, a gold in the 105 kg men's weightlifting competition.
  -The Commonwealth Games is a unique, world class event which is held once every four years. It's often referred to as the ‘Friendly Games’.
  On the second Monday in March every year, an annual celebration for the Commonwealth is held to mark the Commonwealth’s achievements.
  Scotland has previously hosted the Commonwealth Games twice, in 1970 and 1986, both in Edinburgh.
  -Thirty-one of the commonwealth members have a population size of 1.5million people or less.
  -The Glasgow Commonwealth £5million young persons found will provide 2,500 young people with work experience.
  -At the 2014 Games 17 sports were held over 11 days.
  -At the 2014 Games five sports run 22 Para-Sport medal events, the highest number of events to date.
  -The first Commonwealth Games were held in Canada in 1930.
  Scotland sit seventh on the all-time Commonwealth Games medals table with 92 gold, 104 silver and 160 bronze medals.
  -In September 2015 the Youth Commonwealth Games will be held in Samoa.
  -The next Commonwealth Games will be held in the Gold Coast, Australia in 2018.
  Glasgow 2014 host to the first Para-Sport Cycling (Track) events in Commonwealth Games history.
  Glasgow won the right to host the 2014 CommonwealthGames on 9 November 2007.
  Nigeria's Chika Amalaha failed a doping test and was stripped of a gold medal in the women's 53 kg weightlifting. In the women's 400 metres final, Botswana's Amantle Montsho placed fourth; she was subsequently provisionally suspended pending the results of a B sample after failing a doping test
  India at the Games:
  India stood in 5th position, in this commonwealth games. In total India has got 64 medals (15 gold, 30 silver, 19 bronze)
  Medal winners
  GOLDSanjita Khumukchan: Women's 48 kg weightlifting
  Sukhen Dey: Men's 56 kg weightlifting
  Abhinav Bindra: Men's 10 metre air rifle shooting
  Apurvi Chandela: Women's 10 metre air rifle shooting
  Rahi Sarnobat: Women's 25 metre pistol shooting
  Satish Sivalingam: Men's 77 kg weightlifting
  Jitu Rai: Men's 50 metre pistol shooting
  Amit Kumar: Men's freestyle 57 kg wrestling
  Vinesh Phogat: Women's freestyle 48 kg wrestling
  Sushil Kumar: Men's freestyle 74 kg wrestling
  Babita Kumari: Women's freestyle 55 kg wrestling
  Yogeshwar Dutt: Men's freestyle 65 kg wrestling
  Vikas Gowda: Men's discus throw athletics
  Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinappa: Women's doubles squash
  Parupalli Kashyap: Men's singles badminton
  SILVERMirabai Chanu Saikhom: Women's 48 kg weightlifting
  Shushila Likmabam: Women's 48 kg judo
  Navjot Chana: Men's 60 kg judo
  Malaika Goel: Women's 10 metre air pistol shooting
  Santoshi Matsa: Women's 53 kg weightlifting
  Prakash Nanjappa: Men's 10 metre air pistol shooting
  Ayonika Paul: Women's 10 metre air rifle shooting
  Anisa Sayyed: Women's 25 metre pistol shooting
  Shreyasi Singh: Women's double trap shooting
  Ravi Katulu: Men's 77 kg weightlifting
  Gurpal Singh: Men's 50 metre pistol shooting
  Gagan Narang: Men's 50 metre rifle prone shooting
  Vikas Thakur: Men's 85 kg weightlifting
  Harpreet Singh: Men's 25 metre rapid fire pistol shooting
  Sanjeev Rajput: Men's 50 metre rifle 3 positions shooting
  Rajeev Tomar: Men's freestyle 125 kg wrestling
  Lalita: Women's freestyle 53 kg wrestling
  Bajrang: Men's freestyle 61 kg wrestling
  Sakshi Malik: Women's freestyle 58 kg wrestling
  Satywart Kadian: Men's freestyle 97 kg wrestling
  Geetika Jakhar: Women's freestyle 63 kg wrestling
  Seema Punia: Women's discus throw athletics
  Achanta Sharath Kamal and Anthony Amalraj: Men's doubles table tennis
  L. Sarita Devi: Women's 57-60 kg boxing
  L. Devendro Singh: Men's 49 kg boxing
  Mandeep Jangra: Men's 69 kg boxing
  Rajinder Rahelu: Men's heavyweight powerlifting
  Vijender Singh: Men's 75 kg boxing
  India: Men's hockey
  Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa: Women's doubles badminton
  BRONZEGanesh Mali: Men's 56 kg weightlifting
  Kalpana Thoudam: Women's 52 kg judo
  Swati Singh: Women's 53 kg weightlifting
  Rajwinder Kaur: Women's +78 kg judo
  Omkar Otari: Men's 69 kg weightlifting
  Mohammed Asab: Men's double trap shooting
  Punam Yadav: Women's 63 kg weightlifting
  Manavjit Sandhu: Men's trap shooting
  Gagan Narang: Men's 50 metre rifle 3 positions shooting
  Lajja Gauswami: Women's 50 metre rifle 3 positions shooting
  Chandrakant Mali: Men's 94 kg weightlifting
  Navjot Kaur: Women's freestyle 69 kg wrestling
  Dipa Karmakar: Women's vault gymnastics artistic
  Pawan Kumar: Men's freestyle 86 kg wrestling
  Pinki Jangra: Women's 48-51 kg boxing
  Sakina Khatun: Women's lightweight powerlifting
  P.V. Sindhu: Women's singles badminton
  R.M.V. Gurusaidutt: Men's singles badminton
  Arpinder Singh: Men's triple jump athletics
  Other important points: 
  • Yogeshwar in the men’s 65kg and Babita Kumari in the women’s 55kg class won gold. Yogeshwar Dutt is a wrestler He won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Men's 60kg Freestyle wrestling. He was awarded the Padma Shri)
  • Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian woman gymnast to win a medal by taking bronze in the vault.
  • Amit Kumar has won gold in the Men;s 57 freestyle (Amit Kumar is the youngest athlete to represent India in the London Olympics held in 2012)
  • Sushil Kumar won g old in men’s 74kg free style (Sushil Kumar has won back-to-back medals in Olympics, the first Indian to do so, he also won a gold medal in gold in Delhi Commonwealth games
  • Parupalli Kashyap created history becoming the first Indian male shuttler in 32 years to win a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games. He joined badminton Prakash Padukone and the late Syed Modi, who had won the title in the past. While Padukone had won the men's singles gold medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Canada, Modi retained it four years later.
  • Woman discus thrower Seema Punia is the flagbearer of the Indian contingent during the closing ceremony of the commonwealth games.