SPORTS NOVEMBER 2015

SPORTS NOVEMBER 2015

• India beat Pak; Lifts 8th Men's Junior Asia hockey cup
  India have lifted the 8th Men's Junior Asia hockey cup, beating traditional rivals Pakistan 6-2 in the finals played in Kuantan, Malaysia. Both nations have reached the final of Asia’s Premier Junior tournament six times in the last 27 years and on 22nd November India and Pakistan squared off once again for the fourth time.
  
• Djokovic wins ATP World Tour Finals
  World number one Novak Djokovic has become the first player to win the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals for the fourth consecutive time. In the title clash played in London last night, Djokovic defeated third seed Roger Federer, Overall, this was the fifth time that Djokovic won this tournament. He ends the year with 11 titles, including three Grand Slams, taking his total to 10 majors.
  
  Federer had defeated Djokovic in the round-robin stage, but the world number one Serb made sure that he drew level with Federer in 44 career meetings, with both players now winning 22 games each. The defeat for the Swiss also means that he will not be overtaking Andy Murray in the rankings, and the Briton will end the year as world number two for the first time.
  
  Meanwhile, in the Doubles, the eighth seeded Indo-Romanian team of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea has ended as runner up. They lost to the second seeded Dutch-Romanian team of Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. Bopanna was appearing in his second season-end Finale, having reached the final with Mahesh Bhupathi in 2012.
  
• SAI signs MoU with P Gopichand Badminton Foundation
  Sports Authority of India and Pullela Gopichand Badminton Foundation (PGBF) today joined hands to establish a SAI Gopichand National Badminton Academy at Gachibowli, Hyderabad. A Memorandum of Understanding for this purpose was signed today in the presence of SAI Director General Injeti Srinivas. The Academy is being established for optional utilization of the facilities being developed with National Sports Development Fund assistance at PGBF. SAI will also utilise the facilities at the Academy for national training camps and competitions.
  
  The Academy will select 50 players in a nation-wide talent search scheme for induction in the age group of 11 to 14 years. SAI will depute its coaches and from other government organisations like Railways, Oil and Natural Gas and other central government or state PSUs
  
  Srinivas welcomed the joint initiative and stated that it would serve as a role model to professionalise sports coaching in the country. Gopichand expressed satisfaction that this could help in institutionalising the present collaboration between SAI and his own efforts as a promoter of the sport. The BAI will be closely involved in the academy.
  
• India win Nagpur Test by 124 runs against South Africa, clinch series
  India on 27th November won the third Cricket Test against South Africa at Nagpur by an emphatic 124-run margin. The hosts, who went into the match with a One-Nil Lead, clinched the four-match series Two-Nil. India had won the first Test at Mohali, while the second Test at Bengaluru was washed out due to rain.
  
  On the third day of the penultimate match at the VCA stadium, needing to score 310 runs for a win, the visitors were all out for 185 in their second innings, 52 minutes after the Tea session. Ravichandran Ashwin recorded his career-best figures of 7 for 66, while Amit Mishra claimed three wickets for 51 runs.
  
  Ashwin was declared Man of the Match for his superb match haul of 12 for 98. This was Virat Kohli's first Test series win as a Captain on home soil and also marked an end to South Africa's track record of not losing a Test series away from home for nine long years. The fourth and final Test between the two teams will commence in Delhi on December 3.
  
• Saina Nehwal loses China Open final to Xuerui Li
  Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal on 15th November lost to sixth placed Chinese player Xuerui Li in the Women's Singles final of China Open Superseries Premier Badminton tournament at Fuzhou.
  
  The top seed and defending champion Saina and Li, the reigning Olympic champion has met 12 times against each other. Saina has won just 2 of those games. This was Saina's fifth final of the year.
  
• India's Siril wins silver at World Junior badminton Championships
  Young Indian shuttler Siril Verma clinched a silver medal at the BWF World Junior badminton Championships in the Peruvian capital of Lima. With this medal, Siril now joins the elite list of Indians such as Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, RMV Gurusaidutt, HS Prannoy and Sameer Verma, who have won medals for India in the Junior World Championships.
  
• WADA suspends Russian anti-doping agency
  World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has suspended Russia's anti-doping agency, raising the possibility of Russian track stars being barred from next year's Rio Olympics if the country does not fall back into line with accepted international rules.
  WADA's foundation board unanimously passed a recommendation from a committee which found the Russian agency (RUSADA) non-compliant with the global body's charter.
  
  The decision had been anticipated following a report by a WADA panel that uncovered a state-sponsored doping program in Russia. RUSADA had been heavily implicated in the scandal and was accused of destroying samples requested for analysis by WADA.
  The International Association of Athletics Federations had provisionally suspended Russia from international competition in the 2nd week of November, but left the door open to a return in time for the Olympics.
  
• Rohan Bopanna-Florin Mergea enter ATP World Tour doubles Final
  In Tennis, 8th seeded Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian teammate Florin Mergea entered the ATP World Tour Finals. In a semi-final match, they defeated the third placed Croatian-Brazilian team of Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo on 21st November. The other Doubles semi-final will be played between the top two pairs - defending champions and top seeds, Bob and Mike Bryan, and the Dutch-Romanian duo of Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.
  
• N. Srinivasan removed as ICC Chairman; Shashank Manohar takes his place
   The BCCI rules on conflict of interest were approved on 9th November in its Annual General Meeting which took place at BCCI headquarters in Mumbai.
  
  BCCI President Shashank Manohar informed reporters today that all complaints regarding conflict of interest will be referred to Ombudsman.
  
  In the meeting it was also decided that Mr. Shashank Manohar will be the BCCI representative to the ICC, by virtue will be the ICC Chairman. N Srinivasan was today dethroned as the ICC Chairman after BCCI decided recall him. The tenure of Mr. Srinivasan, who took over in June last year, was to end next year. The remainder of the term will be completed by Mr. Manohar as it is India's turn to hold the top position.
  
• India bags 17 Gold, 14 Silver and 13 Bronze in Asian Shooting championships
  London Olympics Silver medallist Vijay Kumar shot two more medals on the final day of the 13th Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait City to take India's final tally to 44 including 17 Gold, 14 Silver and 13 Bronze.
  
  Vijay won the Bronze in the 25 meter Center Fire Pistol event for men and also teamed up with veteran Samaresh Jung and Pemba Tamang to bag the Team Silver in the event. The Indian team scored 1736 points. The Korean team won the Gold with a total score of 1738 while Vietnam bagged the Bronze with a score of 1731.
  
• Russia's athletics federation provisionally suspended from international competition
  Russia's athletics federation has been provisionally suspended from international competition - including the Olympic Games - for its alleged involvement in widespread doping. The International Association of Athletics Federations, IAAF, took action after the publication of an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report that alleged "state-sponsored doping".
  
  Its council members voted 22-1 in favour of Russia being banned. Russia's Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said the suspension was "temporary" and the problem is solvable. The country's IAAF council member was not allowed to participate in 14th November’s vote.
  
  As it stands, Russian athletes may not enter international competitions, including the World Athletic Series and Rio Olympics, which begin on 5 August next year. Russia will also not be entitled to host the 2016 World Race Walking Cup in Cheboksary and the 2016 World Junior Championships in Kazan.
  
• Sania-Hingis duo wins Singapore BNP Paribas WTA Finals
   Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis lifted their ninth trophy of the season, winning BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore on 1st November. The top seeds Indo-swiss pair won the match against eighth seed Spanish team of Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro.
  
  Sania and Hingis, who secured 2015's WTA Year-End world number one ranking, cruised through first set unchallenged winning their all 3 break points. In second set also, they had a smooth run with opponent Spanish team managing to earn three games. The match lasted 66 minutes.
  
• Agnieszka claims her maiden WTA Finals title; Defeats Kvitova
  Agnieszka Radwanska claimed her maiden WTA Finals title with a victory over Czech Petra Kvitova in an absorbing encounter at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 1st November.
  
• NZealand beat Aus to retain Rugby World Cup
  New Zealand has become the first team to defend a Rugby World Cup, beating Australia in the final at Twickenham Stadium in London on 31st October. Since 2011, New Zealand has won 49 of the 54 games under coach Steve Hansen.
  
• Roger Federer beats Rafael Nadal to win Swiss Indoors final
  Roger Federer has defeated Rafael Nadal to win Swiss Indoors Basel Tennis title. Competing in a record 12th final on home soil in Basel on 1st November, he added the Basel trophy in his kitty for the seventh time. This is 88th title of Federer's career at the tour-level.
  
• Mana Patel, Virdhawal win best swimmers' award
  Mana Patel of Gujarat and Maharashtra's Virdhawal Khade emerged as the best swimmers of the 69th senior National Aquatic Championships that concluded in Rajkot. Mana, was adjudged the best swimmer in the women's category of the competition while Khade was declared best swimmer in men's category.
  
  The Karnataka team was adjudged the best team for its overall performance in the competition. As per points table, the Railway was at the top, followed by Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Over 700 swimmers from across the country had taken part in the five-day-long event organised jointly by the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) and Gujarat State Aquatic Association (GSAA).
  
• IPL COO Sundar Raman resigns, BCCI accepts resignation
  Indian Premier League Chief Operating Officer, Sundar Raman has resigned from his position. Board of Control for Cricket in promptly accepted the resignation on 3rd November, putting an end to the intense speculation over his future in the wake of the change of regime in the BCCI.
  
  Sundar Raman's role had been questioned by the Justice Lodha Committee during their investigation into the IPL spot-fixing scandal. Earlier in January, the Supreme Court said that the allegations against Sundar Raman could not go un-probed.
  
  Sundar Raman was also among the 14 named in the Justice Mukul Mudgal report on IPL Scam last November. Raman put in his papers during a meeting with BCCI president Shashank Manohar in Nagpur yesterday. He is under investigation for his alleged role in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal, and is scheduled to appear before the Lodha Committee on 15th of this month.
  
• Michelle Payne becomes first female jockey to win Melbourne Cup
  Michelle Payne has become the first female jockey to win Australia's most prestigious horse race, the Melbourne Cup. The New Zealand-bred Prince of Penzance won despite being an outsider, with French horse Max Dynamite second and New Zealand horse Criterion third.
  
• Jitu wins silver in 13th Asian Shooting Championship
  Ace shooter Jitu Rai won India's first senior medal at the 13th Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait City on 4th November. He bagged the Silver by finishing second behind Korea's Park Daehun in the finals of the men's 50 metre pistol event. India also won Four Silver and Two Bronze medals in the junior events of the championships. In the women's 25 metre pistol event, Heena Sidhu, Gauri Sheoran and Annu Raj Singh could not qualify for the finals.
  
• Heena Sidhu wins Gold in 10 metre Air Pistol event
  Indian girl Heena Sidhu has won Gold in 10 metre Air Pistol event at 13th Asian Shooting Championships in Kuwait. India has won overall 6 Gold and one Silver medals taking its tally to 28.
  
  So far, India had bagged seven medals, including five Gold, on the 3rd day of Championship. Heena, who won a Gold at the eighth Asian Air Gun Championship at home recently, shot an excellent 198.2 in the finals to edge out Mongolian Gundegma Otreyad, who shot 198. Jangmi Kim of Korea won the Bronze with a score of 176.2.