SPORTS JANUARY 2016
- PV Sindhu wins Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold Badminton title
India's Ace Shuttler, PV Sindhu has won the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold Badminton title. She defeated Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour in the final at Penang on 24th January. Sindhu had an easy final where she dominated right from the start to seal the match in straight games. This is Sindhu's Fifth career Grand prix gold and first title of the year 2016.
- India win First T20 Asian Cup for Visually Handicapped beating Pakistan in Final
India won the first T20 Asia cup Cricket for Blind beating Pakistan by 44 runs in the finals held at Kochi Jawaharlal Nehru stadium on 24th January. - India regains top spot in ICC Test rankings
India regained its numero uno Test status after a hiatus of nearly four-and-half years following England's 2-1 series victory over former leaders South Africa. South Africa's huge 280-run win over England in the final cricket Test in Centurion failed to stop their slide from the top of the rankings chart to the third spot. India is the new leaders with 110 rating points followed by Australia and the Proteas. Pakistan is fourth ahead of England (5th), New Zealand (6th), Sri Lanka (7th), West Indies (8th), Bangladesh (9th) and Zimbabwe (10th).
After England's 2-1 series win over South Africa, India are officially No. 1 in Test Rankings, the ICC wrote on its twitter handle yesterday. India returned to the summit of the Test rankings for the first time since August 2011. India had moved to the second of the Test rankings in December last year when they beat South Africa 3-0 on home soil. - India clinch T-20 series after beating Australia by 27 runs in 2nd match
India has won the 2nd T-20 match against Australia by 27 runs at Melbourne on 29th January. With two victories in total three T-20 matches’ series, India has lifted the series against Australia. - Sania-Hingis win Women double Australian Open title
The Indo-Swiss duo of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis has clinched the Australian Open women's doubles champions.
They beat Czech duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in straight sets by. This is the third consecutive Grand Slam title for Sania and Martina, having won the Wimbledon and US Open in the 2015 season. In an incredible feat, Sania and Martina have now extended their unbeaten run to 36 matches, winning eight titles in a row.
It was Sania's second title at the Australian Open, having won the mixed doubles in 2009 with Mahesh Bhupathi.
However, Sania Mirza and Croatian Ivan Dodig have bowed out of their mixed doubles semi-finals today. The top seeded pair lost to Russian-Brazilian pair of Elena Vesnina and Bruno Soares. - Germany's Angelique Kerber wins women's singles
Germany's Angelique Kerber has lifted her maiden Grand Slam Tennis title. In the women's singles final of the Australian Open in Melbourne on 30th January, playing her first Grand Slam Final, the German 7th seed stunned defending champion Serena Williams in three sets
With the win, Kerber also dashed the World Number One American's dream of equalling Steffi Graf's open era record of 22 Grand Slam Singles titles. - IPL spot-fixing scandal: BCCI imposes life ban on off-spinner Chandila
BCCI on 18th January imposed a life ban on Haryana off-spinner Ajit Chandila for his involvement in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal, while Mumbai batsman Hiken Shah was handed a five-year suspension for making a corrupt approach to a fellow player.
The decision to this effect was taken at the BCCI disciplinary committee meeting Mumbai. However, the committee, headed by BCCI President Shashan Manohar and comprising Jyotiraditya Scindia and Niranjan Shah, deferred a decision on Chandila's co-accused Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf till February 12, giving him a final deadline of February 9 to file his reply.
The 32-year-old Chandila, an off-spinner who was found guilty of spot-fixing during his stint with Rajasthan Royals, was handed a tougher punishment for violating the codes pertaining to accepting bribes, fixing, underperforming, trying to induce a fellow player and betting. "Both the players were held guilty of misconduct and corruption under various sections of the BCCI Anti Corruption Code. - Match-fixing in tennis rocks Australian Open
A report alleging widespread match-fixing in Tennis rocked the Australian Open as the year's first Grand Slam began on 18th January. 16 top players in the past decade, including Grand Slam champions, had been repeatedly suspected of fixing matches for betting syndicates.
The report, based on secret files leaked by a group of anonymous whistle-blowers, claimed that three suspect matches were at Wimbledon. According to the BBC and BuzzFeed, eight of the players under suspicion were taking part in the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, Australian player Thanasi Kokkinakis has said, he was approached to fix matches. He said, he had been offered bribes by randoms on social media to lose. His claim came a day after world number one Novak Djokovic said that he was offered 2 lakh US dollars to lose a match in 2006. - India beat Australia by six wickets in 5th ODI
India have won the fifth and final Cricket ODI against Australia by six wickets. But India has lost series with 4-1. Man of the match for fifth one day was Manish Pandey, while Rohit Sharma was chosen Man of the Series for his outstanding batting performance.
- Lionel Messi grabs Ballon d'or award for fifth time
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has bagged the Ballon d'or award for the world's best football player of the year for a record fifth time.
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo was second, while Messi's Barcelona team-mate Neymar was third. In the 2014-15 season, Messi had played 61 games in which he scored 52 goals, and gave 26 assists. - FIFA dismisses Secretary General Jerome Valcke
World football's governing body, FIFA, has dismissed Secretary General Jerome Valcke. The Frenchman, 55, was provisionally suspended from football for his alleged involvement in a scheme to profit from the sale of World Cup tickets.
He was released from his duties on 17 September after being accused of a series of FIFA ethics code breaches. Appointed in 2007, the former right-hand man of FIFA president Sepp Blatter has denied any wrongdoing. FIFA 's ethics committee has already recommended that Valcke should be banned from all footballing activities for nine years.
Blatter and vice-president Michel Platini were both suspended for eight years in December following a FIFA ethics investigation. Valcke has now been sacked twice by FIFA. - Sania-Martina juggernaut continues unabated, wins Sydney title
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis' awe-inspiring run continued unabated as they lifted their second trophy of the season with the WTA Apia International title after clinching their 30th win a row, in Sydney on 15th January.
The top seeds defeated Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in the final. The US open and Wimbledon champions raced to a 8-3 lead in the decider and clinched the issue comfortably to stretch their unbeaten run to an incredible 30 matches.
It was the 11th title together for the Indo-Swiss pair as continuing the good show from 2015 when they won 9 titles including the year-end WTA finale.
The year 2016 has also started on a fabulous note for the fuo, which won the Brisbane International trophy last week - Lionel Messi grabs Ballon d'or award for fifth time
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has bagged the Ballon d'or award for the world's best football player of the year for a record fifth time. At a function in Zurich last night, the Argentine claimed the award with 41.33 percent votes.
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo was second, while Messi's Barcelona team-mate Neymar was third. In the 2014-15 season, Messi had played 61 games in which he scored 52 goals, and gave 26 assists.
He clinched the treble with the Spanish giants by winning the La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League. Ronaldo had won the award last year for the third time, while Messi was the winner from 2009 to 2012. Barcelona manager Luis Enrique was named World Coach of the Year. US midfielder Carli Lloyd, who scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final recently, claimed the Women's player of the year award - VVS Laxman’s 281 voted the best Test knock of last half century
Eclipsing several other great individual knocks, V V S Laxman’s masterly innings of 281 against Australia at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata has been rated as the greatest Test performance of the last 50 years.
The honour was accorded to the Laxman performance knock after India trailed by 274 runs on the first innings, by his fellow-players, commentators and journalists in a poll published in the January issue of ESPN’s digital magazine the Cricket Monthly, a media release said.
Laxman, promoted to no. 3 after his first innings’ 59 out of a team score of 171, came up with his magical innings and also added 376 runs for the fifth wicket with Rahul Dravid (180). - Apurvi Chandela set world record in 10m air rifle at Swedish Cup Grand Prix
Indian shooter Apurvi Chandela has clinched the gold medal in the women's 10 metre air rifle event at the Swedish Cup Grand Prix setting a new world record. In the event held on 5th January, Chandela shot 211.2 which surpassed the feat of Chinese Olympic gold medallist Yi Siling, who held the record with 211.
The silver and bronze went to Swedish shooters Astrid Steffensen and Stine Nielsen. Chandela has already qualified for the Rio Olympics. She won an Olympic quota place for India after winning a bronze in the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea in April last year. Chandela had won the gold in the National Championships held last month. - Pranav Dhanawade, Mumbai School Cricketer Re-Writes Record Books
Fifteen-year old Opening batsman Pranav Dhanawade made a world record on 5thJanuary by scoring unbeaten 1009 runs in 327 balls at H.T. Bhandari Cup inter-school tournament organized by Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).
He also becomes the first batsman not out at this mammoth score in single innings. His score includes 129 fours and 59 sixers. The team declared at 1465 runs. Pranav has broken former England batsman Arthur Collins' record score of 628 not out in 1899.
Pranav has beaten several in this craft. Besides England batsman Arthur Collins, Australian Charles Eady had scored 566 in 1901. Prithvi Shaw made 546 in 2013, Armaan Jaffer scored 498 in a Harris Shield match in 2010 and Sarfaraz Khan 439 in 2009-10. - India's Siril Verma tops junior badminton rankings
India's Siril Verma climbed up 11 places to occupy the number one spot in junior men's singles category in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings issued on 8th January. Verma, the current world junior championships runners-up, is ahead of second placed Toma Junior Popov of France while another Indian Chirag Sen occupies the third spot.
Star Indian women's shuttler and London Olympics bronze medalist Saina Nehwal continues to occupy the second spot in the rankings behind Carolina Marin of Spain, while Li Xuerei of China is at the third position.
Saina's compatriot and two-time world championship bronze medalist PV Sindhu maintained her 12th position in the new rankings. In the men's singles category, Kidambi Srikanth is the only Indian shuttler in the top 10, occupying the ninth spot. - Sania Mirza, Martina Hingis lift WTA Brisbane Tennis trophy
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis have lifted the WTA Brisbane Tennis trophy. In the final at Brisbane today, the top seeded duo defeated German Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic.
They also stitched a 26-match winning streak together, which has brought them six titles in a row at the US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing, WTA Finals and now at Brisbane. It is the longest winning streak since Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci's 25 in a row in 2012. The last doubles team to win more than 25 consecutive matches was Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva who had notched up 28 straight victories in 1994. - Ashwin ends 2015 as number one Test bowler and all-rounder
India's off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been selected as the number one Test bowler and all-rounder in the ICC rankings for 2015. Ashwin, who took 62 wickets in nine Tests this year including 31 scalps in the four matches against South Africa, became the first India bowler since Bishen Bedi in 1973 to achieve the milestone of finishing the year on top.
Bedi is the only India bowler to ever top the Test bowling table, while Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble peaked at number-two during their careers. The 29-year-old Indian also ended the year as top-ranked Test all-rounder, which he achieved for the second time in three years. - Virat Kohli named Cricketer of the Year
Indian Test captain Virat Kohli has been selected for 'Cricketer of the Year' award 2015, while Mithali Raj was picked for the top women's award in the BCCI annual honours to be given away on 5th January in Mumbai. Under Kohli, the Indian team ended a 22-year wait for a series win on Sri Lankan soil before battering world No.1 South Africa to give them their first overseas loss in nine years.
Kohli has done well and scored 640 runs in 15 Test innings. In his 20 ODI outings this year, Kohli managed to make 623 runs.
Mithali, on the other hand, became the first Indian woman and second overall to complete 5,000 runs in ODI format this year. Mithali will be presented with the M A Chidambaram Trophy for the best women's cricketer. - Govt decides to organise National School Games in big way
Center Government has decided to organise National School Games in a big way at four-five venues in the country every year in order to groom talent from a young age.
According to a Sports Ministry release the objective is to ensure proper promotion and development of various games at the school level with the twin aim of early identification of talent and ensuring physical fitness of children. For the purpose of efficient organization of the Games, the Department of Sports is joining hands with the School Games Federation of India.
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