SPORTS DECEMBER 2012

SPORTS DECEMBER 2012

• Sachin Tendulkar announced Retirement from One Day Cricket.
  Sachin Tendulkar on 23 December 2012 announced retirement form one day cricket which put an end to his 23- year old glorious career. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian Batsman who is considered one of the greatest batsman of the world after Don Bradman in Test Cricket and the second most successful one day batsman after Viv Richards as per the ranking done by Wisden-the Bible of Cricket. Tendulkar who belongs to Mumbai Maharashtra made his appearance in six world cups for India and was the member of the 2011 World Cup winning squad of the nation.
  
• Some Milestones in Schin’s cricket career:
  • Sachin scored 18426 runs in 463 one-day matches at an average of 44.83
  • Tendulkar made his ODI debut on his international tour against Pakistan in 1989 in Gujranwala, where he scored zero runs
  • He scored his first half century in the 9th ODI
  • He made 49 hundreds in the one-day format, including a double hundred which is the first in this form of cricket and 96 half centuries
  • He scored his first century in the 79th ODI against Australia in 1994 at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo in a day-night match-this was the third match of singer world series
  • In the 2003 World Cup in South Africa he finished as the highest run-getter
  • He became the first cricketer to score a double century in the history of One Day international Cricket against South Africa in February 2010
  • He played his last One Day International Match against Pakistan in Asia Cup Dhaka played at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur and scored a half century to help India win the match
  • Tendulkar scored his 100th international century on 16 March 2012 against Bangladesh, where he scored 114 runs
  
  
• Pakistan beat India in a closely fought final to win the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament in Doha 5-4 on 25 december. The match, in which India led at half time 2-1 were pegged back by a resurgent Pakistan who raced to a 3-2 lead after the break. India managed to equalise twice as Pakistan extended their lead to 5-4.The match though had a controversial moment when in the dying minutes, the Indian team while contesting a long corner walked off. The Indians while attacking the Pakistani goal missed a chance, but contended that there was enough contact for a penalty corner. The Korean referee though ruled otherwise. After a heated argument, the entire Indian team walked off the turf. However, the drama soon ended as the Indians returned on to the field shortly afterwards. But Pakistan held on for the remaining couple of moments to clinch the cup. India had defeated Pakistan earlier in the tournament 2-1 on December 24, 2012.
  
• Former England captain and renowned commentator Tony Graig died from lung cancer on 29 December. He was 66. He was a renowned channel 9 commentator.Tony had led England to number of remarkable victories against different test playing nations. As commentator, he added a refreshing and gripping to cricket’s live broadcast, covering some memorable matches.
  
• Australian veteran Mike Hussey announced on 29 december,that he will retire from Test cricketafter third and final match against Sri Lanka in Sydney.Hussey's retirement will leave a huge hole in Australia's lower batting order ahead of next year's back-to-back Ashes away and home series against England preceded by a tour to India in February-March.Hussey has scored 19 hundreds in 78 Tests and averages 51.52.Hussey's recent form has been outstanding and he has been averaging 180.00 after two Tests in the current series against Sri Lanka. He said any Test match is a stressful experience, but next week's third Sydney Test could be different.Australia have already clinched the three-match series against Sri Lanka with huge wins in Hobart and Melbourne.Hussey, who made his Test debut at the late age of 30 in 2005, has become Australia's 12th-leading runscorer with 6183 runs at 51.52.
  
• Novak Djokovic on 29 December 2012 won World Tennis Championship final against Spanish tennis player Nicolas Almagro. Novak Djokovic beat Nicolas Almagro to clinch the Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition tournament held in Dubai.Novak Djokovic, the world number one from Serbia beat Nicolas Almagro the Spaniard by 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-4 to get his season off to the perfect start.
  
• Apurvi Chandela won Women’s Air Rifle Gold in the Sahara National Shooting Championship
  Apurvi Chandela of Rajasthan on 24 December 2012 won Women’s Air Rifle Gold in the Sahara 56th National Shooting Championship. The 19 year old managed to take a lead with 0.2 points from Pooja Ghatkar with a 10.7 last shot, till the ninth shot the game between two was tied. Pournima Zanane, the former champion and National record holder was successful in winning the Bronze and was 0.2 points ahead of the Avneet Sidhu the World Championship finalist. Pournima clinched the bronze 0.2 point ahead of the World championship finalist Avneet Sidhu. Nikita Salunke lost her race in the final but was successful in winning a junior gold. 
• Historic T20 win for Pak
  Pakistan’s five year wait for a cricket match against India climaxed on a scintillating high when they posted their first ever T20 win over the arch-rival before a packed M Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bangalore) on 25 December. The cracker of a win was made possible by man of the match Mohammad Hafeez, who led from the front with a swashbuckling 61, and Shoaib Malik, who remained unbeaten on 57. With a brilliant106-run stand, they helped Pakistan beat India by 5 wickets after earlier restricting Indian 133 for the loss of nine wickets. 
• Third India-Australia Test shifted to Hyderabad
  The BCCI on 28 December shifted the third match of the upcoming India-Australia Test series from Kanpur to Hyderabad, citing construction work at the original venue, which was criticised for being under-prepared by a Cricket Australia inspection team. “The Tour, Programme and Fixtures Committee of the BCCI has decided to shift the third Test of the forthcoming Airtel Test series between India and Australia from the Green Park, Kanpur to the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad. This change is as per the rotation policy of the Board,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said in a statement. 
• Mahaveer Singh and Tejaswini Sawant Bagged Gold in National Shooting Championship
  Mahaveer Singh of Rajasthan and Tejaswini Sawant of Maharashtra won gold medals on 28 December 2012 in National Shooting Championship. In the category called standard-pistol, Mahaveer Singh shot 569 to get hold of the prestigious prize ahead of Pemba Tamang (567) who belongs to Army as well as Samaresh Jung (563) belonging to CISF at Karni Singh Shooting Ranges. ONGC’s Amanpreet Singh shot 580 + 99.5 to secure gold in the men’s air pistol. The silver was grabbed by Army’s Jitu Rai scoring 579 + 100. Karnataka’s P N Prakash was the one to win bronze with 580 + 98.4 score. In 3-position women’s event, Tejaswini Sawant shot 581 + 98.2 for the gold. Army’s Raj Chaudhary grabbed silver with 579 + 98.5 score while the bronze was grabbed by Lajja Gujarat's Gauswami who scored 578 + 96.6. In the category of air pistol junior, Army’s Sarjeet Singh claimed gold medal by scoring 573. 
• Sachin Tendulkar on 23 December 2012 announced his retirement form one day cricketwhich put an end to his 23- year old glorious career.Tendulkar who belongs to Mumbai Maharashtra made his appearance in six world cups for India and was the member of the 2011 World Cup winning squad of the nation. Sachin scored total 18426 runs in 463 one-day matches at an average of 44.83. Tendulkar made his ODI debut on his international tour against Pakistan in 1989 in Gujranwala.He made 49 hundreds in the one-day format, including a double hundred which is the first in this form of cricket and 96 half centuries. In the 2003 World Cup in South Africa he finished as the highest run-getter. He became the first cricketer to score a double century in the history of One Day international Cricket against South Africa in February 2010. He played his last One Day International Match against Pakistan in Asia Cup Dhaka played at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur and scored a half century to help India win the match. Tendulkar scored his 100th international century on 16 March 2012 against Bangladesh, where he scored 114 runs.
  
• Praful Patel on 20 December 2012 was re-elected as the President of All India Football Federation (AIFF) during the annual general body meet that was held at Football House at New Delhi. This would be the second term for him as the President of All India Football Federation.
  
• Triple Olympic hockey gold winner Leslie Claudius (85) died at a private hospital 20 december, after a prolonged battle with cirrhosis of liver. Claudius was member of three Olympic gold medal-winning Indian teams - London 1948, Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956. At Rome (1960), he led India to a silver medal finish.
  
• India Lost the Test Series by 1-2 after Nagpur Test ended as a Draw
  The last test match between India and England of the Tournament England Tour to Indianded up as a draw and with this India lost the four-test match cricket series against England by 1-2 on 17 December 2012. With this win England succeeded in ending a 28 year long wait of winning a test series on Indian Soil. Before this the English side under the captaincy of David Gower won the test series in India 1984-85.
  
• The Series
  • The first Test was played at Ahmedabad from 15 November to 19 November 2012 in which India won the match by 9 wickets.
  • The second was played at Mumbai from 23 November to 26 November 2012 in which England won the match by 10 wickets
  • In the third test match played at Kolkata from 5 December to 9 December 2012 England won the match by 7 wickets
  • The last test resulted in a draw and was played at Nagpur from 13 December to 17 December 2012
  
  
• Junior World TT Championship: China Claimed All Titles
  China got the clean sweep of titles at Volkswagen 2012 World Junior Table Tennis Championship after it won girls as well as boys trophies on 16 December 2012. In the second week of December 2012, China had won girls’ and boys’ team titles. Petrissa Solja of Germany who was the only non-Chinese, lost in the semifinal to Chinese top seed Zhu Yuling who finished by turning over Gu Yuting 4-0 for the title of girls. Her top speed, superior technique as well as great attitude helped her win the title. Thereafter, Fan Zhendong also overcame to beat Lin Gaoyuan 4-2 and thus claimed boys singles title. Initially, he was also the winner of mixed doubles title.Second-seeded team of Liu Gaoyang and Fan Zhendong recovered fast to beat top-seeded competitors Gu Ruochen and Lin Gaoyuan 4-3 to claim their gold in boys doubles. Gu Yuting and Zhu Yuling defeated Gu Ruochen and Liu Gaoyang with a score of 4-3 to claim girls double gold. The mixed doubles gold was claimed by Fan Zhendong and Liu Gaoyang who defeated Lin Gaoyuan and Gu Ruochen combine 4-3.
  
• India retained their Number Five Position as per the Latest ICC Test Ranking
  India retained their number five position as per the latest ICC Test Championship rankings issued in Dubai on 17 December 2012 despite losing to England 1-2 in the home Test series. South Africa topped the ranking at 123 points. India, however, dropped a ratings point to 105, and is now four-points behind arch-rival Pakistan who are placed at the fourth position. England, on the other hand, consolidated their number two slot by adding a point after drawing the final Test at Nagpur, thereby winning a Test series in India after a long gap of 28 years. England now stands just five points behind South Africa. Australia is positioned at number three in the rankings.
  
• India to host Commonwealth TT Championships
  India will host the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in the national capital in May 2013. It will be the fifth time that India will host the tournament. Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) treasurer V.K. Bawa told that the championships will take place at the Thyagaraja Stadium (New Delhi) May 5-10. The decision to award the Championship to India was taken during the World Junior Championships that ended in Hyderabad last week.
  
• Roger Federer Named Swiss Male Athlete of the Year
  Roger Federer, 31, the No. 2 of the world and 17 times Grand Slam champion, was named Swiss Male Athlete of the Year on 16 December 2012. Federer received the honour for the fifth time. Earlier in 2012, Federer had grabbed the 17th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon Championships, London, while also reclaiming his No. 1 ranking in the month of July 2012. He also acquired top most position by the end of the season. Roger Federer, the Swiss player acquired the same title in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. The female Athlete of the year was Nicola Spirig, the Olympic triathlon champion of Switzerland.
  
• For the third consecutive time, India won the men’s final of the World Kabaddi Cup held in Ludhiana on 15 december, by crushing arch-rivals Pakistan 59-22.India clinched the Kabaddi World Cup title, in both men’s and women’s category on 15 december.With the title of World Cup Kabaddi, India got a prize money of Rs2 crore and Pakistan took home Rs1 crore while Canada clinched the third prize of Rs51 Lakh.Indian women Kabaddi team defeated Malaysia by a huge margin of 72-12 to win the one-sided final of the world cup kabaddi played at Guru Nanak Stadium at Ludhiyana.
  
• Australia clinched a record fifth straight Champions Trophy (2012)field hockey title with a 2-1 extra-time win over the Netherlands in the final in Melbourne on 9 December.The bronze was claimed by Pakistan after they beat India 3-2 on a match on 9 December 2012. India missed the chance to win bronze, which would have been its second Champions trophy medal as well as the first since 1982. In the champions trophy,Top Scorer is Nicholas Wilson (NZL), while Best Player award goes to Shakeel Abassi (PAK).
  
• Famous soccer player,Lionel Messi, on 9 December 2012 set the record for most goals in a calendar year by scoring his 86th goal of 2012. He set the record while scoring the winning goal against Real Betis. Messi's record included 12 for Argentina and 74 goals for Barcelona in 66 games. The earlier record was made by Gerd Mueller who had scored 85 goals in 1972 which included 72 goals for his club Bayern Munich and 13 for his country West Germany.Lionel Messi is a footballer who plays for La Liga club FC Barcelona and as the captain of the Argentina national team.
  
• Former Ranji cricketer B B Nimbalkar passed away in Kolhapur on 11 December due to age-related ailments.Nimbalkar was 93. He holds the record of scoring unbeaten 443 runs for Maharashtra against Kathiawar in a Ranji Trophy match at Pune in 1948-49.He was often described as "a man who nearly beat Bradman" for his innings, as at that time his knock was second only to the Australian's 452 not out as the record first-class innings.That particular innings still remains the fourth-highest individual score in first class cricket.Born on December 12, 1919, Nibalkar played cricket for various teams like Baroda, Holkar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Railways.An aggregate of 3,687 runs at a healthy average of 56.72 with 11 centuries marked him out as one of the outstanding batsmen in the Ranji Trophy.A prolific run getter, Nimbalkar, in his 80-match long first-class career, scored 4,577 runs at an average of 52.01 with 12 centuries.
  
• China swept the titles at Volkswagen 2012 World Junior Table Tennis Championship after it won boys as well as girls trophies on 16 December 2012,held in Hyderabad. Chinese top seed Zhu Yuling won the girls singles title. While,Fan Zhendong beat Lin Gaoyuan 4-2 and thus claimed boys singles title. Initially, he was also the winner of mixed doubles title.Second-seeded team of Liu Gaoyang and Fan Zhendong claimed their gold in boys doubles. Gu Yuting and Zhu Yuling defeated Gu Ruochen and Liu Gaoyang with a score of 4-3 to claim girls double gold. The mixed doubles gold was claimed by Fan Zhendong and Liu Gaoyang who defeated Lin Gaoyuan and Gu Ruochen combine 4-3.
  
• India won the inaugural T20 World Cup for the Blind by beating Pakistan by 29 runs in the Final held in New Delhi on 14 december. Pakistan won the toss and invited India to bat first after which Indian players posted a mammoth total of 258 runs. Keetan Patel scored aggressive 98 runs as India managed 258-8 in 20 overs. The last five overs yielded 81 runs.Pakistan who were the only undefeated side of the tournament couldn’t cope up with the required run rate, right from the start and managed to score 229 runs.
  
• Five wrestlers suspended for testing positive during Senior National Wrestling Championship
  Five wrestlers which also include four medalists were tested positive on banned substances during Senior National Wrestling Championship at Gonda, Uttar Pradesh which was held from 8 November 2012 to 11 November 2012. All five wrestlers were provisionally suspended while they have pending hearing against them. All these wrestlers agreed to B Sample testing which would be conducted soon. Four out of these five wrestlers were till now attending national camp at Sonepat, Haryana. After the information, they were asked to leave the camp till this issue was sorted finally. sThe wrestlers who failed the test include Manoj and Balraj, winners of bronze in 55kg freestyle; Sukhwinder, finishing at the fifth position in same category of the weight; Jitender, silver medalist in 74kg and Manish (60kg), winner of bronze in Graeco-Roman
• The Australian Cricketer Ricky Ponting announced his retirement on 3 December, from International Test Cricket. The decision of retirement came after Australia lost the third test match against South Africa by 309 runs on 3 December 2012 at Perth. While , Ponting will continue playing for Tasmania and in the Australian Domestic T20 Tournament the Big Bash League, where he would represent the Hobart Hurricanes this season. Ricky Ponting was the Captain for the national team of Australia in both test and one day segment of Cricket from 2004 to 2011 and 2002 to 2011 respectively. He made his international debut in one day cricket on 15 February 1995 against South Africa and in Test on 3 December 1995 against Sri Lanka. He played his last one day match against India on 19 February 2012 and test match on 3 December 2012 against South Africa before giving an end to his international career in Cricket.
  
• The IOC suspended India's national Olympic committee on 4 December, because of government interference in its election process. The officials says,after months of warnings, the IOC executive board imposed the sanction when the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) failed to comply with the world body's demands for holding independent elections.Suspension means the Indian body will stop receiving IOC funding and its officials will be banned from attending Olympic meetings and events. India's athletes will be barred from competing in Olympic events under their national flag, although the IOC could allow them to do so under the Olympics. Indian Sports Minister Jitendra Singh called the IOC decision "very unfortunate, more so for sports persons."The IOC had repeatedly told the Indian body to adhere to its own constitution and the Olympic Charter and not follow the government's sports code for this week's elections. The IOC will not recognize the results if the elections are held under government rules.
  
• The International Boxing Association on 7 December, has provisionally suspended the Indian Boxing Federation alleging “possible manipulation” in its recent elections, prompting the Indian government to suspend recognition to the body.Barely a few days after the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was suspended by the IOC, the sudden development has again brought to fore the “faulty and flawed” electoral practises followed by the federations and has added to the chaos currently engulfing Indian sports. The sports ministry, meanwhile, de-recognised the Archery Association of India (AAI) with immediate effect for “violating the age and tenure guidelines” of the government's Sports Code during its elections last month.
  
• Kobe Bryant Became Youngest Player in the History of NBA to Reach 30000 Career Points
  Kobe Bryant, 34, achieved the title of youngest ever player to reach the milestone of 30000 career points in NBA (basketball) on 5 December 2012. He achieved the milestone when he took Los Angeles Lakers towards the 103-87 victory over New Orleans Homets. In the second quarter, only 1:16 time was left and within that time period, Bryant took his jump shot, taking his career points to 30001. With that accomplishment, Kobe Bryant joined the elite list of just 5 more players to reach that milestone in the history of NBA. Other four of this elite segment are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38387 points), Karl Malone (36928 points), Michael Jordan (32292) and Wilt Chamberlain (31419). He is the youngest player in NBA history to reach this landmark at the age of 34 years. Chamberlain was aged 35 when he achieved this milestone; Malone and Abdul-Jabbar were 36 years of age while Jordan on the other hand was 38 years old to achieve this landmark. Bryant however was the fifth-fastest NBA player in context to the games played for reaching this milestone. He achieved this milestone in 1179th match. Chamberlain on the other hand achieved it in 941 games only.
  
• Ravindra Jadeja became the first Indian to score three triple-centuries in the unbeaten 320 runs against Railways in the Ranji Trophy Group A match on 2 December 2012 in Rajkot. With the help of Jadeja’s innings, Saurashtra reached the giant score of 534 for six in their first innings on second day of 4-day combat.
  
• Anna Ushenina of Ukraine won the Women’s World Championship Crown of Chess
  Anna Ushenina of Ukraine on 1 December 2012 won the Women’s World Championship Crown of Chess at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia after defeating Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in first set of tie-break game. Anna won the title along with 60000 US dollar for the efforts made by her to win the Chess championship. In 2013 Anna would be playing the next world championship against Chinese Yifan Hou, which is a part of new cycle in Women’s World Championship.
  
• Viswanathan Anand Drew the Match Against Luke McShane in London Chess Classic
  Viswanathan Anand, the World Chess Champion in a match against Luke McShane of England finished with a draw in second round of the London Chess Classic on 3 December 2012. In the game which was finely crafted, the number one of the world Norwegian Magnus Carlsen achieved himself the position of highest-rated player in the history by defeating second seed Levon Aronian of Armenia. The former World Champion Russian Vladimir Kramnik ensured in the meanwhile that victory wouldn’t come easy to Carlsen in merely two rounds. He also grinded US-based Hikaru Nakamura in the endgame that had queen and the pawns.
  
• Anna Ushenina of Ukraine on 1 December 2012 won the Women’s World Championship Crown of Chess held at Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia after defeating Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria. Anna won the title along with 60000 US dollar prize money.