SPORTS NOVEMBER 2012

SPORTS NOVEMBER 2012

• Olympic Medalists Saina Nehwal and M C Mary Kom are the new National Icons of Election Commission of India to enhance voters’ participation in elections.They are the first female national icons to support ECI. They join the galaxy of existing national icons namely former president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam and Indian cricket captain M S Dhoni. Messages of Nehwal and Mary Kom will be used in Gujarat and all subsequent elections for enhancing voter turnout. There are separate messages from them for promoting enrollment of voters in various states and union territories, particularly among youth and women. The two leading sportswomen have been roped in as part of ECI’s strategy to bridge the noticeable gap in youth participation and also the gender gap in electoral participation in several areas. Commission has availed the services of a large number of celebrities from various walks of life in the last 12 general elections to the states as part of its Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation programme (SVEEP).
  
• 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.
  
• Usain Bolt of Jamaika won the IAAF World Athlete of the Year Award 2012 for the fourth time and United States sprinter Allyson Felix won women's World Athlete of the Year Award 2012 on 24 November 2012 during the IAAF's 100th Anniversary Celebration. Bolt had won this award for defending his gold medals in the 100 and 200 meter races of the summers’ Olympic Games, he also won the same award previously in 2008, 2009 and 2011. Allyson Felix managed to secure her Gold medal in the London Olympics in the 200 meter race. United States hurdler Aries Merritt was successful in winning the Inspiration Award for his season and the award included a gold medal and a world record in the 110-meter hurdles. David Rudisha won the Performance of the Year award for his record-setting gold medal run in the 800 meters; he was the winner of the Athlete of the Year in 2010. Keshorn Walcott, Javelin thrower of Trinidad and Anthonique Strachan sprinter of Bahamas won the Rising Star awards.
  
• Sebastian Vettel of Germany(25), the Red Bull driver became youngest triple champion in the history of Formula One on 25 November 2012 by finishing 6th behind Jenson Button in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Vettel was the third driver in the history of Formula One to win three consecutive titles. Others who have done this before are Michael Schumacher and Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio.
  
• West Indies won the Bangladesh Test Series by 2-0
  West Indies on 25 November 2012 won the second match of the test series against Bangladesh at Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium and sealed the series with 2-0. Tino Best the West Indies paceman claimed his career best sex-wicket haul to help the team win the match against the competitors, which was followed by the five wicket haul in the first test against Dhaka. With this defeat Bangladesh faced its 65th defeat in the 75 tests played till date, since the time it got recognition as aq test playing nations 12 years back. The list of defeat also includes 34 defeats by an innings. After marking this major win in the test series, West Indies would be playing five one-day internationals followed by a twenty20 international match.
  
• Anand Pawar Won Scottish International Challenge Tournament in Badminton
  Anand Pawar, Mumbai shuttler won Scottish International Challenge tournament at the Emirates Arena in Scotland on 25 November 2012. In the men’s singles final, Pawar performed brilliantly against the challenge from Kazumasa Sakai of Japan. Pawar started off with a disaster but soon recovered to overcome No. 10 seed Japanese 10-21, 21-11, 21-17 in the 56-minutes match. This was the close victory in which the 26-year old Pawar grabbed his 2nd Scottish title after he first won in 2010. This was the seventh international title of Pawar and also 2nd in 2012. In April 2012, Paward had grabbed French International tournament. He finished runner-up in Dutch Open after a week.
  
• Ricky Ponting announces retirement from Test cricket
  PERTH: Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting on 29 November called time on his 17-year Test career, announcing this week's clash against South Africa in Perth will be his last. "This Test will be my last," he said at a hastily-called press conference, adding that he will continue to play for Tasmania in the domestic competition this summer. Ponting, who turns 38 next month, has failed in three innings against the Proteas during draws in Brisbane and Adelaide and pressure has been building on the veteran ahead of Friday's series decider in Perth. Perth will be a fitting conclusion to a remarkable career. After being made Australian captain in 2004, the right-hander went onto become one of the country's greatest cricketers.
  
• Preeti wins gold in National Women Boxing
  Preeti Beniwal bagged gold medal in the Senior National Women Boxing Championship here in Guwahati. She out-punched Uttrakhand's Monika 18-15 in the tough final battle of the 60kg weight category last evening. Earlier, Pratima won the semifinal bout by 18-11 against Priyanka of Punjab. The Haryana Police sub-inspector in the quarterfinal defeated Mizoram's Boethsai 19-13. Preeti recently won the yellow metal in All India Police Games 2012 in New Delhi. "I won in Delhi and now here in Guwahati. It feels realy great. "It was a tough bout. Monika was good but the tips which I got from my father and Indian boxer Akhil ji helped me," Preeti told after the match.
  
• Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar will receive Indian cricket board's Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced this on 20 November. Gavaskar, who is now a respected TV commentator, played in 125 Tests from 1970-71 to 1986-87. He was the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Tests, and the first to play 100 consecutive Tests. He led India in 47 Tests.
  
• M. Mahalakshmi and R. Vaishali from Chennai on 19 November 2012 won Gold at the World Youth Chess Championship in Slovenia. Arvindh Chithambaram (Under-14 Open) from Madurai and Girish A. Koushik (Under-16 Open) from Mysore won Silver Medals in the championship. G.K. Monnisha (under-14) and Savant Riya (Under-12) secured Bronze at the Championship for India.R. Vaishali was successful in securing her position in under-12 girls honours. Arvindh Chithambaram lost gold after losing the tie-up with the American Troff Kayden by a tie-break score at the end of the 11-round event.
  
• The Czech Republic on 18 November 2012 won the 100th Davis Cup 2012 finals, after defeating Spain by 3-2 in the finals. Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic outclassed Nicolas Almagro of Spain with 6-4, 7-6 (0), 3-6, 6-3 in the 3 hours and 52 minutes game, on the hard court of Prague’s O2 Arena, during the final fifth rubber of the Davis Cup. Radek Stepanek has created a history by his name after winning the Davis Cup final as he became the first man ever aged 30 or above to win the decisive rubber in 100 years. With this win, the Czech Republic lifted the Davis Cup for the first time after winning independence in 1993. Before this in the year 1980 it lifted the trophy under Czechoslovakia flag by the team led by Ivan Lendl. With this win the Czech Republic turned-up to be the first nation that won the Hopman Cup, Fed Cup and Davis Cup in one year.
  
• Asian under 10 girls chess champion Nuthaki Priyanka bagged the world youth chess championship at Maribor, Slovenia on 18 November 2012. She completed with 9.5 points of 11 rounds. Priyanka completed her game against US-based Wang Annie in 38 moves. She is the 5th standard student of Mustabada Sports and Educational Academy. She became the second girl to win the title from Hyderabad after Koneru Humpy who bagged her title in 1997. V.R. Bobba, the noted coach provided training to Priyanka. She has become the fifth one to bag the title from Andhra Pradesh in the under-10 category after P. Hari Krishna, K. Humpy, Ch. Moineesh and Sahajasree. On her victory, Global Chess Academy director, District Sports Development Officer as well as Krishna District Chess Association secretary congratulated her.
  
• India won the first test match against England by nine wicketson 19 November. India which needed 77 runs to win the match, reached the target by losing the wicket of Sehwag. Earlier, England began the fifth day play with an overnight score of 340 runs for 5 wickets. The team lost all wickets for 406 runs. Pujara who scored a double century in the first innings scored 41 runs and was unbeaten at the end of the match. Sehwag made 25 runs. Pujara was sent to open the innings for India as Gautam Gambhir returned home as his grandmother passed away.
  
• Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez became the first Spanish pair to win the doubles title at the ATP Tour Finals for 37 years on 12 November, which was held in London, with a narrow victory over Indian duo Mahesh Bhupati and Rohan Bopanna. They won in straight sets by 7-5 3-6.The only other Spanish duo to win the title were Juan Gisbert and Manuel Orantes in 1975 in Stockholm when the title was decided by a round-robin group.
  
• Saikhom Mirabai Chanu won three bronze medals for India on the first day of the 19th Junior Women Asian Weightlifting Championshipsip held in Yangoon in Myanmar. She lifted 168kg to secure medals in 48kg weight category -- one each in snatch (74kg), clean and jerk (94kg) and total (168kg). Mirabai was fifth in 48kg weight category in the last edition of the tournament in Pattaya (Thailand). She clinched gold in the dame category during the seventh National Youth (Girls) Weightlifting Championships held at Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh last year.
  
• Medical reports have confirmed that athlete Pinki Pramanik, who won several important medals for India in women's events, is male.Pramanik had been accused by her girlfriend, Anamika, of being a man and of raping her. After a series of tests, doctors say that Pramanik is male and capable of intercourse. Pramanik won gold in the 4x400 metres relay at the 2006 Asian Games in Qatar, and was a silver medallist at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games the same year. The athlete was arrested in June in West Bengal where she lives after being accused by her partner of rape. Pramanik spent nearly 20 days in jail before being granted bail. Her treatment by the police raised protests by women's rights group. Cameras recording her arrival at a courtroom showed a cop groping her. Later, a cellphone video of her undergoing gender determination tests was leaked and circulated as a mobile phone video or MMS.
  
• Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, the female Weightlifter from India won three bronze medals for Indian Team on the opening day of the 19th Junior Women Asian Weightlifting Championships in Yangon in Mynamar. To win and secure medals she lifted 168kg in the 48kg weight category -- one each in snatch (74kg), clean and jerk (94kg) and total (168kg). Mirabai, got selected for the event after lifting 163kg in the trials and had managed an additional five kg more during the main event. Mirabai was fifth in 48kg weight category in the last edition of the tournament in Pattaya (Thailand). She had earlier clinched gold in the dame category during the seventh National Youth (Girls) Weightlifting Championships held at Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh in year 2011
• Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna won the Paris Master,their second title of the year, after scoring a hard-fought win over Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer on 4 november.The fifth seed Indian pair struggled past the Pakistan-Dutch combination 7-6 (6) 6-3 in the summit clash.Earlier,Bhupathi and Bopanna had won the Dubai ATP event and ended runners-up at Cincinnati and Shanghai.
  
• Indian Golf Player Gaganjeet Bhullar became the First Indian who made it to the elite group of the world’s top-100 players in the latest ranking.The title was previously held by Jeev Milkha Singh, who broke the record in 2006 at the age of 34 with Jyoti Randhawa following him in the same year when he was also aged 34.As per the latest Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), Bhullar had jumped 10 ranks on the back of a tied-18 finish in the $7 million WGC-HSBC Champions in China to take the 98th position in the world. Only Jeev Milkha Singh is ahead of Bhullar currently, and is placed at 95 in the OWGR. The next best placed Indian is Anirban Lahiri ranking 234 on the list. In Year 2012, Gaganjeet Bhullar had won the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship on 17 September 2012 which was followed by his win over the Venetian Macau Open in the month of October.
  
• Kimi Raikkonen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 4 november for his first victory since returning to Formula One this year.Raikkonen, the 2007 champion who drives for Lotus, overtook Red Bull's Mark Webber at the start to move into second. He took the lead on the 20th lap when McLaren's Lewis Hamilton retired because of an electrical problem.Raikkonen held off Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who finished second. Two-time defending F1 champion Sebastian Vettel finished third.
  
• The Czech Republic retained their Fed Cup title on 4 november, when Lucie Safarova routed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-1, 6-1 for an unassailable 3-1 lead in the final.The Czechs are the third country in a row to defend the Fed Cup title. Russia won in 2007-08 and Italy 2009-10.
  
• Andhra Pradesh D.G.P- Dinesh Reddy was elected president of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) at its special general meeting in New Delhi on 6 November.Reddy takes over the reins of the national federation just a few weeks after the International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced that it recognised IHF as its representative in India.This announcement came after the Delhi High Court reinstated it as the national sports federation in place of Hockey India.Dinesh Reddy replaces RK Shetty who resigned a couple of weeks ago. Reddy, a senior vice-president till his elevation, is the head of the AP Hockey Association.Incidentally, Dinesh Reddy, the director general of police, is the first person from Andhra Pradesh to head the top hockey body in the country.
  
• Pakistan on 6 November 2012 was declared champion of the Asian Kabaddi Championship after Indian team walked out from the field in a protest against the referee’s decision of penalizing the Indian Coach. The Pakistani team was leading the game by 40 points against 31 points scored by the Indian side. The protest by the Indian players came after the Coach of Indian side, Goormel Singh was shown a green card after continuously disturbing the finals in protest of decision of the referee.
  
• Female weight lifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, of India won three bronze medals for Indian Team on the opening day of the 19th Junior Women Asian Weightlifting Championships in Yangon in Mynamar.
  she lifted 168kg in the 48kg weight category. Mirabai was fifth in 48kg weight category in the last edition of the tournament in Pattaya (Thailand). She had earlier clinched gold in the dame category during the seventh National Youth (Girls) Weightlifting Championships held at Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh in year 2011.
  
• The Andhra Pradesh High Court on 8 November 2012 lifted the life ban from playing Cricket on Md. Azharuddin which was imposed by BCCI in Year 2000.The life ban on Mohammad Azharuddin came after he was found involved in the betting scandal and the match-fixing episode as per the BCCI three-member committee, comprising its erstwhile president A C Muthaiah and two vice-presidents Kamal Morarka and K M Ram Prasad.Overturning the BCCI decision, the bench of Justice which was comprised of justices Ashutosh Mohanta and Krishna Mohan Reddy gave relief to Azharuddin allowing his appeal challenging the order of a local court.The bench of Justice agreed with the argument of Azharuddin’s counsel K Ramakant Reddy that there is no evidence against him.Mohammad Azharuddin in his 49 years of age is currently a member of parliament from Moradabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
  
• Ace badminton player and current World No. 3 Saina Nehwal on 8 November, released her autobiography in Hyderabad titled, 'Playing to win, my life on and off court'. The world's third ranked player has written her autobiography in which she has revealed many of her secrets. The book has many incidents about Saina which are not in public domain. As most of the time Saina is busy playing in different tournaments across the world, so several aspects of her life are not yet known. The book tells a lot about Saina’s personal life, her joys and sorrows. London Olympics bronze medallist Gagan Narang was the special invitee for the book release published by Penguin Books India.
• Hironmoy Chatterjee, Secretary of the Bengal Tennis Association on 1 November 2012 was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The All India Tennis Association (AITA). The decision of Chatterjee’s selection was made by the Executive Board of AITA that is headed by President Anil Khanna with consultation to the honourable Life President, Yashwant Sinha. Chatterjee in his 36 years experience as a tennis administrator has been a beneficiary of conducting different types of tournaments that includes the local tournaments to the Davis Cup, a tournament of world level.
  
• India’s London Olympics medalists were conferred Honorary Doctorate Degree by a Indian university at its annual convocation ceremony. Badminton ace Saina Nahwal, boxer Mary Kom, shooters Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar, wrestlers Sushil Kumar and Yogeswar Dutt were honoured with Honoris Causa degrees by Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav at the Mangalayatan university's fourth Annual Convocations. Among those who were also awarded Honoris Causa degrees were Dr Rajendra Pachori, Director General, Energy and Resources' Institute and V K Saraswat, Scientific Advisor in the Ministry of Defence, Salma Ansari, Chairperson, Al-Noor Social and Charitable Society in the field of social work and Dr (Mrs) Tessy Thomas, Senior Defence Scientist.
  
• Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli was chosen for the BCCI’s Polly Umrigar award for being India's top international cricketer in 2011-12.With this Virat Kohli is going to be honoured with a trophy and cheque of 5 lakh Rupees at the Annual BCCI Awards Ceremony in Mumbai on 21 November 2012.The award Polly Umrigar is under the name of late Indian cricketer Polly Umrigar (28 March 1926 – 7 November 2006) who had played first-class cricket for Bombay, and Test cricket in the Indian cricket team, as a middle-order batsman and had captained the Indian team in eight Test matches from 1955 to 1958.