SPORTS OCTOBER 2017

SPORTS OCTOBER 2017

• India beat Malaysia to clinch third Asia Cup hockey title
  
  • India on 22nd October became the Asia Cup Hockey champion after defeating Malaysia 2-1 in Dhaka.
  • India won Asia cup hockey, third time. Earlier India had won in 2003 and in 2007.
  • In 2017, it was held from 11 to 22 October 2017 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
  • The winner of this tournament qualified for the 2018 World Cup in India.
  
  
• Virat Kohli surpasses Rickey Ponting with 31st century
  • Virat Kohli on 22nd October surpassed Ricky Pointing to become the second highest century maker in ODIs en route his 31st hundred during the opening match against New Zealand in Mumbai.
  • Kohli, who scored 121, got to a double milestone by scoring a hundred on his 200th ODI, a feat only achieved by Ab de Villiers of South Africa.
  • Kohli is now only behind Sachin Tendulkar, who amassed 49 ODI hundreds besides a staggering 51 centuries in Tests.
  • The Indian captain has 17 hundred to his name in the five-day format.
  • By reaching the three-figure mark, he also became only the third Indian to score an ODI hundred at Wankhede after Tendulkar (1996 against South Africa) and Mohammad Azharuddin (1987 against Sri Lanka).
  
  
• Kidmabi Srikanth clinches Denmark Open title
  • India's Kidmabi Srikanth has clinched his third Super Series Premier badminton title.
  • In the final of men's singles in the Denmark Open at Odense, the ace shuttler defeated Korean veteran Lee Hyun II in straight games
  • Korea's women's doubles pair of Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan won the title outwitting Japanese sixth seeds Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto in the final.
  • In the men's doubles final, fifth seeded Chinese pair of Liu Cheng and Zhang Nan defeated second seeded Indonesian combo of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
  
  
• Indian women bag silver in archery world championships
  The Indian women’s compound team has bagged a silver medal in the World Archery Championships in Mexico City.
  
  Trisha Deb, Lily Chanu Paonam and Jyothi Surekha Vennam were defeated 228-234 to the fourth-seeded Colombian team in the final played.
  
  This was India’s fifth medal at the World Championships and all of them have been silver.
  
  It was also the first time India won any medal in the compound team archery section at the World Championships.
  
  Colombia's gold was their second ever world archery title. Korea, took bronze beating Germany.
  
• Jitu, Heena won gold in air pistol mixed team event at ISSF World Cup Final
  Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu gave India their first gold medal of the ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi, clinching the top honours in the 10m air pistol mixed team event on the opening day of competitions.
  
  Rai, a Commonwealth and Asian Games gold-medallist, and Sidhu, former Commonwealth Games gold-winner, picked up their third gold together in the mixed team event, being held officially for the first time at an ISSF World Cup.
  
  The mixed team competitions were organised as test events in the World Cups held earlier this year and will be making their Olympic debut in the Tokyo 2020 Games. France secured the silver medal, while China settled for the bronze medal in the event.
  
• India's Sangram Dahiya, Amanpreet Singh win medals in shooting at ISSF World Cup Final
  Sangram Dahiya and Amanpreet Singh won a silver and a bronze each in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final in New Delhi on 27th October.
  
  Double trap exponent Sangram clinched his first-ever senior medal in the tournament after years of toil, while Amanpreet bagged a well-deserved bronze after scoring 202.2 in the men's 50m pistol event.
  
  Both shooters were taking part in the prestigious event for the first time. Sangram shot 76 out of 80 targets, three behind gold medallist Hu Binyuan of China. Italy's Gasparani Davi took the bronze. Sangram had won a gold medal at the Asian Shooting Championship for junior way back in 2009. Amanpreet finished behind gold medallist Damir Mikec of Serbia and silver winner Oleh Omelchuk of Ukraine.
  
  In the women's 25m pistol event, Korea's Kim Minjung won the gold beating China's former world champion Jingjing Zhang in the final. Zorana Arunovic of Serbia won the bronze.
  
• Federer beats Nadal in straight sets to win Shanghai Masters
  Roger Federer on 15th October defeated his old rival Rafael Nadal in Shanghai Masters. It was a 94th title for the Swiss legend, drawing him level with the great Ivan Lendl. Federer is now close to world number one Nadal in terms of rankings points.
  
• Selena Selvakumar wins triple gold at Egypt Junior Table Tennis Championship
  Selena Selvakumar won triple gold medal at the Egypt Junior and Cadet Open Table Tennis Championship. She won singles and doubles gold medal apart from the team championship gold. In the final, she beat second seeded Marwa Alhodaby.
  
• Kerala High Court restores life ban imposed on Sreesanth by BCCI
  A division bench of the Kerala High Court on 17th October restored the life ban imposed on cricketer S Sreesanth by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the wake of the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal.
  
  The bench, comprising Chief Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh and Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan, gave the verdict on a petition filed by the BCCI against a single-judge bench's order, lifting the life ban imposed on Srishanth.
  
• India defeats Malaysia 6-2 in Asia Cup hockey tournament
  India defeated Malaysia 6-2 in their second Super 4 stage match of the Asia Cup hockey tournament at Dhaka on 19th October.
  
  In their first Super 4 stage match on 18th October, India drew with defending champions South Korea 1-1.
  
• South Africa displace India from top of ODI rankings
  India on 20th October lost their top status in ICC ODI rankings to South Africa following the Proteas' win over Bangladesh in the second match of the series.
  
  According to the updated ICC ODI rankings, by virtue of South Africa's 104-run win over Bangladesh in the second ODI in Paarl, the Proteas jumped to the top spot, leapfrogging India.
  
  While India and South Africa have identical 120 points against their names, India are placed second on the basis of decimal points.
  
  India had claimed the top spot in the ICC rankings following their 4-1 win over Australia at home recently. Meanwhile, India skipper Virat Kohli has slipped a place to be at No. 2 in ODI batsmen's rankings, behind South Africa's AB de Villiers.
  
  Another Indian to be ranked in top-10 is Rohit Sharma, who has also dropped down two spots to be at seventh. In the bowlers' list, Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel are the two Indians who figure in top-10.
  
  ODI bowlers' table is topped by Pakistan's Hasan Ali, who has moved up as many as six places to become the fifth bowler at the No. 1 place of the ODI rankings this year.
  
  However, in the ICC All-rounder rankings, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja are the only two Indians in the top 20.
  
• India defeat Pakistan 4-0 to reach final of Asia Cup hockey
  India continued their unbeaten run in the Asia Cup Hockey match 2017 as they thrashed Pakistan 4-nil, to advance to the final.
  
  Pakistan in the first two quarters was the better team as they enjoyed the lion's share of the possession along with repeated inner circle penetration.
  
  However, India bounced back in the third quarter to regain possession and score four goals.
  
  Satbir Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Lalit Upadhyay and Gurjant Singh were the goal scorers for India.
  
• Anupama Ramachandran clinches World Open Under-16 Snooker Championship title
  India's Anupama Ramachandran has clinched the World Open Under-16 Snooker Championship title at St. Petersburg in Russia. In the girls category, second seed Anupama Ramachandran of India knocked out her compatriot and top seed Keerthana Pandian to become World Open Under-16 champion.
  
  Dylan Emery of Wales has claimed the title in the boys category. Federation of Billiards Sports of Russia hosted this first ever World Open championships for Under-16 boys and girls. Total 73 cueists from across the world have participated in this championship.
  
• US becomes first team to enter knock out round of FIFA Under-17 World Cup
  In the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, the United States have secured their passage into the round of Sixteen. In Group A game at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on 4th October, they beat two-time champions Ghana by One-Nil.
  
  With two wins in as many games, the USA became the first team to make it to the knock out stage in the present edition of the tournament.
  
  In their campaign opener, the United States defeated hosts India 3-0. Ghana had won their first match against Colombia. In another match played at Navi Mumbai, African champions Mali outclassed Turkey 3-0 in Group B.
  
  At present, two matches are in progress. At New Delhi, India and Colombia were goalless at half-time. At Navi Mumbai, New Zealand were leading 2-1 against Paraguay at the half-way stage.
  
• Rafael Nadal Wins China Open Title
  World number one Rafael Nadal won his China Open Title that is sixth title of this year. He defeated Nick Kyrgios (Australia) at the China Open 2017. He won a 16-time Grand Slam winner and came to the Chinese capital Beijing on the back of winning his third US Open.
  
• Female assistant referee to be seen in U-17 World Cup for first time
  The U-17 World Cup will set a record of sorts as it will see for the first time a female assistant referee in a FIFA men's competition this time.
  
  FIFA, the world governing body of football, said it's time for elite female support referees to be involved in a men's competition. The FIFA said, for the first-ever time, they have selected female referees for a men's tournament.
  
  FIFA's Head of Refereeing Massimo Busacca said, the results and improvements seen in the joint preparations have shown the time has come for elite female referees to officiate in men's competitions together with their male colleagues.
  
  Seven female assistant referees from across the world, one from each continent, have been chosen by FIFA along with 70 male referees to officiate the 52 matches in the FIFA U-17 World Cup to be played in six Indian cities from October 6-28.
  
• Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore announces launch of National School and College Games to tap talent
  Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore has announced the launch of National School and College Games to tap talent from every nook and corner of the country.
  
  The minister said the government has decided to start for the first time the Khelo India National School Games in December 2017 and Khelo India National College Games in January 2018. He added these will be annual events and the government is doing this to tap talent at the school and college levels. The minister said from these Games, 1000 children will be selected and be given 5 lakh rupees for eight years for their training. He said 1000 more children will be added each year.