SPORTS DECEMBER 2013

SPORTS DECEMBER 2013

• Deepika Kumari of Jharkhand won her sixth straight individual women’s recurve title in the 34th senior National archery championship at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpuron 25 December. she won the title with a 6-4 win over V. Pranitha of Gujarat. The men’s individual recurve title went to Atanu Das of PSPB who should thank veteran Muni Ram Tirkey of Services in gifting the title. Rajat Chauhan of Rajasthan regained the compound men’s individual crown after a gap of a year defeating Kawalpreet Singh of Punjab 144-142 in the summit clash. The women’s title went to veteran Jhano Hansdah of Jharkhand who got the better of Ramandeep Kaur of Punjab 137-132. This was Jhano’s third National crown. Deepika figured prominently in Jharkhand’s triumph over Punjab in the final. She and Jayanta Talukdar won mixed team gold with a 203-202 win. The men’s team honors went to Services, which got the better of Assam 219-214. Punjab won the men’s compound team title outplaying Himachal Pradesh 224-215. Bihar ladies won against Manipur 222-216 to take the women’s crown.
  
• K. Srikanth and P.V. Sindhu won the men’s and women’s titles respectively at the 78th Senior National Badminton Championship in Siri Fort Sports Complex at New Delhi on 23 December 2013.Srikanth won the men’s singles title of the Senior National Badminton Championship by defeating M V Guru Sai Dutt 21-13, 22-20 in the finals. In the Women’s singles, PV Sindhu defeated the Junior National Champion Rituparna Das 21-17, 21-11 in the finals to win the title. In the men's doubles the second seeded Pranav Chopra and Akshay Devalkar beat the top seeds Munnu Atri and Sumit Reddy 21-19, 21-17 to won the title. Women's doubles title was won by Jwala Gutta and Ashwani Punnappa. Jwala and Punnappa regained the women’s doubles crown for the first time, since 2009. Defending mixed doubles champions Aparna Balan and Arun Vishnu retained their title by defeating Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa 21-10 21-17. The second seeded pair of Jwala and Ashwini prevailed over top seeds Pradnya Gadre and Siki Reddy N 21-17 21-16.
  
• Germany on 15th December 2013 lifted the Men's Junior Hockey World Cup for a record sixth time.In the title clash at New Delhi, defending champions Germany defeated France, 5-2 to retain the title. In another match, the Netherlands beat Malaysia, 7-2 to finish third in the tournament. The Indian team finished at the 10th spot, after losing to Pakistan in penalties in the 9th-10th position match on 14 December 2013.The Junior Hockey world Cup 2013 was held in New Delhi, India from 6-15 December 2013. A total of 16 teams were participated in this tournament. The Men's Junior Hockey World Cup also known as the Roger Danet Trophy is an international field hockey competition organized by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).The tournament was first held at France in 1979. Since 1985 it has been held every four years. Competitors must be under the age of 21 as of December 31 in the year before the tournament is held.
  
• Kapil Dev, the Former Captain and legendary All-rounder of Indian Cricket Team on 18 December 2013 selected for the BCCI’s prestigious Col. CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award for the year 2013. Kapil Dev had played 131 Tests for India taking 434 wickets. He was the first player to complete 5000 runs and 400 wickets in Tests. He played 225 ODIs, in which he took 253 wickets and scored 3783 runs. His most memorable contribution to Indian cricket was the victory in the 1983 World Cup. Sunil Gavaskar won this award for the year 2012. Other cricketers to have bagged the coveted award include, Mohinder Amarnath, Ajit Wadekar, Mohinder Amarnath, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Lala Amarnath, Syed Mushtaq Ali and Capt. Vijay Hazare. Col. CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award, comprises a trophy, a citation and a cheque of 25 lakh Rupees. This award, named after India's first Test captain, is given to individuals whose contribution to Indian cricket, on and off the field by BCCI.
  
• India won the boy’s and girl’s team titles in the Asia-Pacific junior golf championship at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC). It was India’s first ever victory in the Asia Pacific Junior Golf Championship.In the boy’s category, the team of Viraj Madappa and Manu Gandas took India ‘A’ to win the team title. On the other hand, in the girl’s category, the team of Aditi and Ridhima Dilawari fashioned India ‘B’ to win the team title. In the individual category, Aditi Ashok lifted the individual title in the girls’ category after a thrilling play-off with second-placed Min-Jou Chen of Chinese Taipei.
  
• India defeated Pakistan 48-39 in the Kabaddi World Cup in the final played at Guru Nanak Dev Stadium in Ludhiana, Punjab on 14th December 2013. With this win, India retained the title for fourth consecutive time. Hardavinder Singh Dulla and Balbir Singh from India were named as the Best Raider and Best Stopper of the tournament, respectively. In the semi-finals, hosts India crushed England 63-32 while Pakistan beat USA 51-33.The winning team India was presented with a cash reward of two crore rupees and the runner-up team, Pakistan won a cash prize of one crore rupees. Earlier on 13 December 2013, the Indian women Kabbadi team defeated New Zealand by 49-21 and received 51 lakh rupees as winning amount.
  
• Waqar Younis, the former captain of Pakistan cricket team was inducted into the ICC Cricket’s Hall of Fame on 11th December 2013 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai Sports City. Waqar received his commemorative cap from International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive David Richardson. With this induction Waqar Younis became the Seventieth male member and fifth Pakistani to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. The other Pakistani’s, who has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of ICC, are Hanif Mohammad, Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram.Being one of the best fast bowlers in the world, Waqar have got 373 wickets from 87 tests and 416 scalps from 262 One-Day Internationals. Waqar Yonis had the best strike rate of any bowler with more than 200 wickets in Tests during his playing days – a record, which was beaten recently only by Dale Steyn. He was also the fastest to the milestone of 400 wickets in ODIs. He was a member of the Pakistan team that reached the quarter-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 1996 and the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 1999.
  
• India on 12 December 2013 won the women's Kabaddi World Cup championship for the third time in a row, defeating New Zealand 49-21 in the summit clash in Jalandhar, Punjab. The Indian team got 1 crore rupees. Anu Rani was adjudged the best stopper while Ram Bateri was declared the best raider. Both received a Maruti Alto car each. In third place match, Denmark took the third place by 34-33 points, while Pakistan took the fourth place. The 4th Pearls Kabaddi World Cup - 2013 was held from 30 November to 12 December 2013 in the state of Punjab, India. The women teams which were participated in the tournament are India and the United States, England, Denmark, Iran, Mexico, Kenya and Pakistan. The Kabaddi world cup 2013 was organized state Government of Punjab. Indian women’s team has won 2011, 2012, and 2013 editions of World cups.
  
• The Indian cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara on 13th December 2013 bagged the Emerging Cricketer of the Year trophy at the ICC Annual awards announced in Dubai. This is the first ever ICC Award for Pujara. He became the second fastest Indian to score 1000 Test runs during the course of his double hundred against Australia on March at Hyderabad. He put on the board 370-run record second wicket partnership with Murali Vijay. Pujara, Apart from Pujara, the Captain of Indian cricket team Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the Indian to win ICC Annual award and he got LG People's Choice Award. Australian captain Michael Clarke was the winner of the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year and was also named as the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year. In total, there were eleven individual awards.
  The other winners are:
  • ICC Test Cricketer of the Year — Michael Clarke (Australia)
  • ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year — Suzie Bates (New Zealand)
  • ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year — Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
  • ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year — Kevin O’Brien (Ireland)
  • ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year —Umar Gul (Pakistan)
  • ICC T20I Women’s Cricketer of the Year — Sarah Taylor (England)
  • ICC Spirit of Cricket Award —Mahela Jayawardena (Sri Lanka)
  • ICC Umpire of the Year (winning the David Shepherd Trophy) — Richard Kettleborough
    
• The 27th edition of South East Asian Games is started in Naypyitaw, the new state capital of Myanmar on 11th December 2013. This is the biggest sporting event in South East Asia. The games involve 34 events with participation from 11 Countries. More than 1500 medals are to be given to the winners. The 27th edition of SEA Games is scheduled from 11 to 22 December 2013.Myanmar is hosting the South East Asian Games after 40 years. The Theme for this year SEA Game is: Green, Clean and FriendshipThe Southeast Asian Games is a biannual multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supervision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia. In order to participate, all athletes must be entered by their National Olympic Committee. The previous edition- the 26th South East Asian Games were held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2011.The first edition of SEA games were held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1959.
  
• India was chosen as the host country for Under-17 FIFA World Cup in 2017 by the FIFA executive committee in its meeting at Salvador de Bahia in Brazil on 5 December 2013. By virtue of being the host country, India will take part in the 24-nation tournament for the first time in its history. This will be the biggest ever football tournament in the country as this is the first FIFA event in the country's history. The tournament comprises 24 teams and it will be held in six cities across India Including New Delhi. The Union cabinet has sanctioned the Rs. 125 crore for infrastructure development. The Under 17 world cup started in 1985 with China hosting the first edition. Saudi Arabia is the only Asian country to have won this tournament in 1989. Japan, South Korea and the UAE are the other Asian countries to have hosted this tournament.
  
• India Cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on 3 December 2013 won the LG International Cricket Council (ICC) People’s Choice Award for the year 2013. Dhoni also became the second Indian cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar to get this award. Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangarkara won this award twice in 2011 and 2012.The International Cricket Council (ICC) People’s Choice award introduced in the year 2010 and Sachin Tendulkar won the Inaugural Award. The LG People's Choice Award allows cricket fans the unique chance to vote for international stars who have produced outstanding performances in the past year. Fans vote on a short list nominated by a panel of cricket experts using criteria set out by LG and the ICC.
  
• Indian Golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar on 1 December 2013 won the 2013 edition of the Indonesia open at Jakarta. Malaysia’s Nicholas Fung (66) finished tied second alongside Thailand's Chapchai Nirat (66).Bhullars victory also credited him US $1,35,000 prize money and jump two places to be placed fourth in Asia's Order of Merit with total earnings of 462378 Dollars. This is Bhullar’s fifth Asian Tour title. The 2013 edition of Indonesian Open is one of the tournaments in the Asian Tour, scheduled from 28 November to 1 December at the Pantai Indah Kapuk course at Damai Indah Golf, Jakata.
  
• Indian shuttler P.V. Sindhu on 1 December 2013 won the Women's Singles trophy at the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton Tournament. In the title clash, Sindhu, defeated seventh seed Li Michelle of Canada in straight games, 21-15, 21-12. With this victory, Sindhu has bagged yet another Tier-III title this season, after her triumph at the Malaysia Open Grand Prix in May 2013. Besides the Malaysia Open triumph, she also became India's first women's singles medalist at the World Championship in August 2013. This was India's first singles medal at the World Championships since Prakash Padukone won a bronze in the 1983 edition.
  
• Brazuka, the official 2014 FIFA World Cup match ball was unveiled on 3 December 2013 by manufacturers Adidas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The ball is called the 'Brazuca' after a public vote by more than one million football fans in the host nation Brazil. Brazuca is an informal local term which means "Brazilian", or relating to a Brazilian way of life. The ball, the successor to the Adidas Jabulani used at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, has already been tested in competitive international matches, at the Under-20s World Cup, with a different print design, and in the friendly between Sweden and Argentina in February 2014.The 2014 FIFA World Cup will be the 20th FIFA World Cup, is scheduled to be held in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014.