SPORTS JULY 2012

SPORTS JULY 2012

• Gagan Narang(29) won the bronze medal in men’s 10m air rifle event in the London Olympics, on 30 July. Narang displayed great character to deliver the third shooting medal for India in the Olympics after Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s silver in Athens 2004 and Abhinav Bindra’s gold in Beijing 2008. He joins wrestlers K.D. Jadhav (1952) and Sushil Kumar (2008), boxer Vijender Singh (2008), tennis ace Leander Paes (1996) and woman weightlifter Karnam Malleswari (2000) to win an individual bronze medal for India.
  
• Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari won this year's Formula One German Grand Prix championship on 21 July that was held in Hockenheim, Germany. While, Redbull’s driver Webber took the second position.
  
• Egypt won the world junior squash championship by beating Pakisthan on 19 July held in Doha, Qatar. While India beat England to get the Bronze medal.
  
• Hashim Amla became the first South African to hit a triple century against England on 21 July at Oval. He surpassed teammate AB de Villiers' 278 not out - the previous highest Test innings for a South African.
  
• Ernie Els of Britain won the British Open golf championship on 21 July held in Lytham, England. Els captured his fourth major title after the 1994 and 1997 US Opens and the 2002 British Open.
  
• 6th Leiden International Chess Tournament: David Howel of England won the 6th Leiden International Chess tournamenton 15 July 2012, which was held in Leiden, Netherland .The Indian grand master Parimarjan Negi took the second position. While the third place of the Leiden tournament was shared by two Indian Grandmasters S Arun Prasad and M.R. Lalith at 6.5 points.
  
• Indo-Pak cricket revived : Indo-Pak cricketing ties are set for revival with the BCCI today (16th July) agreeing to a three-match ODI series between the two arch-rivals, who have not played each other in a bilateral series for close to five years. The decision to resume cricketing ties with Pakistan was taken by the Board's powerful Working Committee much to the delight of cricket fans on both sides of the border.
  
• Australian fast bowler Brett Lee(35) announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket on 12 July 2012. However,he will continue to play in the IPL. He had already announced his retirement from Test cricket in 2010.In his 13 year career,he played 76 Tests, 221 One Day Internationals and 25 T20 internationals. He took over 700 international wickets (310 in Tests, 380 in ODIs and 28 in T20s). He has taken 10 five-wicket hauls in Tests and 9 five-wicket hauls in ODIs. He is also the first bowler to take a hat-trick in T20 cricket.
  
• Australian Mark Webber of Red bull won the British Grand Prix Formula one title held in London on 8 july.However ,Fernando Alonso of Ferrari finished at second.
  
• China won the junior women hockey championship by defeating India,The tournaments final was held in Bangkok on 7 july.
  
• PV Sindhu of Andhra Pradesh created history by becoming the first Indian to win the girls' singles title in the Asian Youth Under-19 Championships at Gimcheon, Korea.In the finals on 7 july, Sindhu rallied to beat Okuhara Nozomi of Japan 18-21, 21-17, 22-20. She is the reigning national women's champion.
  
• South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher on 10 July 2012 announced his retirement from International Cricket due to eye injury.He suffered the eye injury on the opening day of South Africa’s tour match against Somerset at Taunton on 9 July 2012. Mark Boucher had played 147 Test matches with a world record of 555 dismissals which include 532 catches and 23 stumping. He also played 295 ODIs in which he made 425 dismissals with 403 catches.
  
• Sushil to be India's flag-bearer at Olympics:
  The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on 15th July, announced that wrestler Sushil Kumar, a bronze medallist at the Beijing Games, will be the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent at the upcoming London Olympics. The names of top boxer Vijender Singh, tennis legend Leander Paes and ace shooter Abhinav Bindra were also doing the rounds for the honour. Vijender, Sushil and Bindra had all returned with medals from the last edition of the Games in Beijing in 2008. IOA acting president V.K. Malhotra announced that Sushil will be India's flag-bearer.mBindra was reportedly the preferred candidate of the IOA but since his 10m air rifle event is scheduled three days after the opening ceremony on July 30, the shooter wanted to focus on his preparations. Similarly, Vijender's weigh-in is scheduled for July 28 so it was tough for him to do the honours. Paes had led the contingent in 2000 Sydney Games and IOA decided Sushil should do the honours this time.
  
• Indo-Pak cricket ties breakthrough, BCCI agrees to ODI series: Indo-Pak cricketing ties are set for revival with the BCCI today (16th July) agreeing to a three-match ODI series between the two arch-rivals, who have not played each other in a bilateral series for close to five years. The decision to resume cricketing ties with Pakistan was taken by the Board's powerful Working Committee, which met here today, much to the delight of cricket fans on both sides of the border.
  
• Sharad Pawar's resign as thepresident of the International Cricket Council ended on 28 june as New Zealander Alan Isaac took charge from him for a two-year term at the ICC Annual Conference in kaulalampur.The 60-year-old Isaac, a former New Zealand Cricket chief, became the eighth president of the ICC, while former South Africa wicket-keeperDavid Richardson was confirmed as the new chief executive of the world body, taking over from countryman Haroon Lorgat.
  
• Spain won European football chapionship 2012 by beating Italy 4-0 in the final, at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine, on 1 July 2012. Spain which had earlier defeated Germany 1-0 in 2008 Euro Cup not only defended the title but also created a record by becoming the first team to claim two consecutive titles in tournament's 52-year long history. Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta of Spain was declared the man of the match given his match winning performance, while Fernando Torres was given the Golden Boot as he scored three goals in the Spain's title winning campaign.
  
• Swiss tennis player Roger Federerbeat British player Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to win the Wimbledon Open Championship 2012 in London on 8 July 2012. Federer, with this victory also reclaimed the world No. 1 rank. The Wimbledon Open marked 17th career Grand Slam for Federer, who had earlier claimed six Wimbeldon titles from 2003 to 2007 and again in 2009. Only William Renshaw's and Pete Sampras have got the distinction of winning the coveted Wimbledon singles title on seven occasions.Serena Williams of USbeat Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland to claim Ladies' singles title. The mixed pair of Mike Bryan and Lisa Raymond defeated Leander Paes and Elena Vesnina to win the mixed doubled final. The men's doubles final was won by Jonathan Marray and Frederick Nielson who defeated Robert Lindstedt. In Ladies' Doubles final the pair of Serena Williams and Venus Williams emerged victorious as they defeated Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka.Wimbledon, which is one of the oldest and most prestigious sporting events in the world, has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. Played on a grass court, Wimbledon is one of the four major grand slam tournaments in the world.