SPORTS AUGUST 2015
- Usain Bolt retains World 100 meter title in Beijing
Jamaican Usain Bolt trumped American rival Justin Gatlin to retain his world 100 metre title on 23rd August. Bolt, also the double Olympic gold medallist and world record holder in the blue riband event, ran a season's best of 9.79 seconds. Gatlin, who has served two doping bans, was just one-hundredth of a second off Bolt, taking silver in 9.80sec.
On the second day of the World Athletics Championships in Bejing on 23rd August, Great Britain ranks first in the medals tally with two gold, followed by United States with 4 medals, including one gold. Germany ranks third with two medals, one of which is gold.
In Women's Heptathlon, Jessica Ennis-Hill of Great Britain won the gold, securing 6669 points. In Men's 25 kilometre walk, Miguel Angel Lopez of Spain won the gold, clocking 1 hour, 19 minutes and 14 seconds.
Reigning Asian champion and Indian shot putter Inderjeet Singh finished last in the final round to end his maiden World Athletics Championships appearance in disappointment. Another Indian, Baljinder Singh took the 12th spot in 20 kilometer race walk event. - SAI launches School Sports Promotion Foundation
To tap the sporting talent at the school level, Sports Authority of India, announced the launch of the School Sports Promotion Foundation on on 24th August
The foundation will organise sports tournaments across the country to identify talent, arrange to nurture it and take them through the city, district, state, zonal and national level of competitive sport. At the next level, it will arrange to provide sports coaching to those talented youth who are identified through these tournaments at all levels.
School Sports Promotion Foundation will roll out Football and Cricket in the first year of its operations and other sports like Tennis, Basketball and Athletics will be introduced from the second year onwards. The Sports Promotion Foundation hopes to reach out to around 1,00,000 secondary and senior secondary schools irrespective of their ownership, economic or social strata they operate in or the board they are affiliated to.
In the next phase, rural, sub-urban elementary schools with a strong focus on rural sports would be included in the programme. - Manipur govt hands over 336.93 acres land for National Sports University
Manipur Government has handed over 336.93 acres of land to Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on for construction of National Sports University.
The land for setting up the University at Yaithibi Khunou in Thoubal District was formally handed over to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. It may be mentioned that one Central team headed by Sports Secretary visited the site in the first week of August last year and identified it as the first preference for establishment of the University of its first kind in the country. - Dilip Vengsarkar elected president of cricket statisticians body
Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar has been elected unopposed as the president of the Association of Indian Statisticians and scorers of India at its AGM
Mumbai's Dara Pochkhanawalla and Ganesh Iyer were elected as the two vice presidents. Vengsarkar is also the vice president of the Mumbai Cricket Association.
lected members: President - Dilip Vengsarkar; Vice-presidents - Dara Pochkhanawalla and Ganesh Iyer; Secretary - Theo Braganza (Mumbai); Joint secretary - Deepak Joshi (Mumbai); Treasurer - Ajit Datar (Mumbai); Managing committee members - Prakash Dahatonde, Harish Thakkar (both Mumbai), Kanti Sutar, Tushar Trivedi (both from Gujarat Dilip Singh Upring (from Vidarbha); Co-opted members - Hari Makhija and Ajay Kavitkar (both from Maharashtra). - Indian women's hockey team qualifies for Rio Olympics Games
Indian women's hockey team will return to the Olympics after a long gap of 36 years as it qualified today for next year's Rio Games, courtesy England making it to the final of the ongoing Euro Hockey Championships in London.
England's semifinal victory over Spain, coming after the Netherlands' win over Germany in the other semifinal in the European Championships freed one quota place as both the finalists have already qualified for the Olympic Games.
India took the quota place on the basis of its fifth-place finish in the women's Hockey World League Semifinals in Antwerp, Belgium last month. International Hockey Federation confirmed that Indian women's team has qualified for the Rio Games. - World Badminton: Saina becomes 1st Indian player to win silver medal
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal on 16th August became the first Indian to win a silver in the World Badminton Championship. She lost the women's singles summit clash to Spain's Carolina Marin in Jakarta. Olympic bronze medallist Saina had reached the finals of the event defeating Indonesia's Lindaweni Fanetri.
Defeat in final for Saina was the second successive loss for her in a major final as she went down to the same opponent in the All England Championships final earlier this year.
This was India's fifth medal at the World Championship after PV Sindhu clinched the bronze twice in 2013 and 2014 and Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa notched up a bronze in women's doubles at the 2011 edition. Prakash Padukone was the first Indian to win a bronze at the 1983 edition. - US PGA championship: Lahiri finishes joint 5th, achieve highest position by any Indian
In Golf, Anirban Lahiri finished tied 5th at the US PGA championship at Whistling Straits which is the highest position by an Indian at a Golf Major. Lahiri and American Brooks Koepka, shared the fifth position while Australia's Jason Day lifted the PGA Championship title. Jason toppled America's Jordan Spieth by three shots. South African Branden Grace, who led the European Tour charge in Wisconsin, finished in third position behind Jason and Jordan. Englishman Justin Rose finished fourth.
World No. 53 Lahiri won his first European Tour title at the Malaysian Open in February before adding a second later that month on home soil at the Indian Open. - Anirban creates history by finishing tied 5th in PGA
Anirban Lahiri scaled a new high for Indian golf by finishing tied for fifth at the PGA Championship, the first time an Indian golfer has finished in the top-five of one of golf's four Majors.
Anirban Lahiri hit the global golf headlines with stunning wins in the Malaysian Open and Hero Indian Open in a span of three weeks, will return to top-50 in the new rankings and is also a near-certainty for the International Team for the President's Cup in Incheon, Korea in October.
The tied fifth end saw Lahiri improve on the tied ninth finish in the PGA Championships in 2008 by Jeev Milkha Singh. Lahiri, who played all four Majors and made cuts in three, was tied 49th at Masters and tied 30th at The Open. - Olympic champion Sebastian Coe elected new IAAF presiden
The world government body of athletics, the International Association of Athletics Federations - the IAAF, has chosen the British former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe as its new president. His election comes at a time, when the organisation is facing allegations of widespread doping in the sport. He succeeds Senegalese Lamine Diack, 82, who has led the IAAF for 16 years. - Saina regains No. 1 spot in world badminton rankings
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal today regained the number one spot in world badminton rankings by toppling Spaniard Carolina Martin to whom she had lost in the summit clash of the just-concluded World Championships. Olympic bronze medallist Saina, who was beaten by Carolina at Jakarta, dethroned the Spaniard in the latest Badminton World Federation ranking released on 20th August.
Saina had first become the World No. 1 in March after her maiden win at the Indian Open. She lost her top spot soon after that before regaining it again in May. She eventually was dethroned from the number one position by Carolina in June.
In men's singles, Parupalli Kashyap jumped two places to become World No. 8, while women's doubles combination of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Poppanna also broke into the top 10 after their quarterfinal finish at the World Championship. The Commonwealth Games silver medallists have improved two places to be at number 10.
India Open winner Kidambi Srikanth, however, dropped one place to be at number four while two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, P V Sindhu too lost a spot to be at World No. 14. - World Badminton Championships to start in Jakarta
The World Badminton Championships start in Jakarta on 11th August. Led by Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, India will be fielding its biggest contingent at the prestigious championships which will be held at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium.
It is for the first time that India will have two players in the top 5 -- Saina (World No 2 in women's singles) and Srikanth (World No 3 in men's singles). - SS Ganguly wins Asian silver
Grand Master Surya Shekhar Ganguly brought out his best on the final day to outclass Zhang Zhong of Singapore and secured the silver medal in the Asian Continental Chess Championship on its conclusion on 11th August. - Dahihandi is now an adventure sport in Mah
Mumbai’s famous Dahihandi, in which a human pyramid is formed to break an earthen pot filled with curd hanging mid-air to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna, is now an adventure sport.
On 12th August, the state government in Maharashtra issued a Government Resolution (GR). From now, Dahihandi will be a sport approved by the government and will be played as per the rules and regulations to be written by a State-level association. It will not be limited to Janmashtami.
The decision comes after the Bombay High Court put restrictions on the festival to curb noise pollution and avoid public nuisance. Going by the injuries and the deaths in the past, the court limited the height of the handi to 20 feet and banned minors from the event. - Saina Nehwal becomes first Indian to reach World Badminton final
For India, Saina's medal would be India's fifth medal at the World Championships. PV Sindhu clinched the bronze twice in 2013 and 2014 and Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa notched up a bronze in women's doubles at the 2011 edition. Legendary shuttler Prakash Padukone was the first Indian to win a bronze at the 1983 edition. - Abhishek Verma clinches gold for India at Archery World Cup
India's Abhishek Verma clinched the gold medal in the compound men's individual section in the Archery World Cup Stage 3 competition in Poland last night. - First international army games 2015 end in Russia
In Russia, the closing ceremony of the first International Army Games was held on 14th August, on Alabino Range in Moscow Region. Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation General Sergei Shoigu attended the closing ceremony of International Army Games 2015 and awarded the winners of some of the contests with medals.
The International Army Games 2015 were held August 1st to 15th on 11 training ranges across three Russia’s military commands, the Western, the Southern and the Central. Fifty seven teams from 17 countries from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, which competed at the Games. - Rahane creates record by taking 8 catches
Ajinkya Rahane became the first fielder in Test history to take eight catches, achieving the feat in the ongoing first cricket match against Sri Lanka
Rahane caught Rangana Herath at slip off Amit Mishra to enter the record books after going past five international players -- Yajurvindra Singh (India), Greg Chappell (Australia), Hashan Tilakaratne (Sri Lanka), Stephen Flemimg (New Zealand) and Mathew Hayden (Australia), all of whom took 7 catches in a match. Incidentally Yujuvindra took 7 catches in a Test after Independence Day in 1977, while Rahane has done it on the eve of August 15.
England wicketkeeper Jack Russell -- in 1995 -- and South African glovesman AB de Villiers -- in 2013 -- have 11 dismissals each in a Test match. - Victorian Open WSA: Joshna Chinappa bags squash title
Indian champion Joshna Chinappa annexed the squash title in the 15,000 US Dollar Victorian Open WSA Event in Melbourne on 2nd August.
A release from the Squash Racket Federation of India in Chennai said Joshna defeated second seeded Line Hansen of Denmark to bag the title. It is Joshna's tenth WSA title, the last being the Richmond Open title win in April last year. The title in the men's section went to Ryan Cuskelly of Australia who beat Greg Lobban of Scotland. - Dipa Karmakar clinches bronze medal at 6th Senior ART Gymnastics Asian Championships
Ace Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar has clinched the women's vault bronze medal at the 6th Senior ART Gymnastics Asian Championships. At Hiroshima on Monday, Dipa, who won a bronze in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, stood third at the podium with 14.725 points. - India static at 156th in FIFA rankings
The Indian football team continued to languish at 156th in the latest FIFA rankings as world champions Germany dropped to number three, with beaten finalist Argentina still holding on to the numero uno spot.
India dropped a whopping 15 places in the rankings issued last month, following reverses against Oman and lowly Guam in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. The south east Asian nation has 160 points in its kitty, with neighbours Pakistan occupying 171st place. India share the position with another Asian nation Kyrgyzstan.
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