SPORTS SEPTEMBER 2012

SPORTS SEPTEMBER 2012

• Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal signed the Rs 40-crore deal with Rhiti Sports, a management company which also manages India's cricket captain MS Dhoni.Saina, who was contracted with Deccan Chronicle till July 31, signed the three-year deal with Rhiti a few days back. While she used to get Rs 1.5 crore base money per year from DC, she will now get close to Rs 14 crore from her new management company.
  
• Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar won Golf Asian Tour title held in Chinese Taipei on 17 september.Jason Kutzon of U.S.stood at second position.
  
• Defending champions India by defeating Nepal 3-1, retained the Women's SAFF Football Championship on 16 september held in Colombo.
  
• Matthew Hayden, the Australian Cricketer on 20 September 2012 announced his retirement from all formats of Cricket. Matthew Hayden retired from test cricket in the year 1999 and was a part of Chennai Super Kings squad in the Indian Premier League.Mathew Hayden scored 8,625 runs in 103 Tests for his country with 30 centuries, at an average of more than 50. He also played 161 one-day internationals.Highest score of 380 runs made by an Australian batsman in the test match is recorded by his name.
  
• Chandrika Tarafdar on 19 september, became the first Indian to win a medal in the youth World weightlifting championships after she bagged two bronze medals in the girls’ 44kg category on the opening day at Kosice, Slovakia.Chandrika won a bronze each in clean and jerk and total lift. She lifted 55kg in snatch and 74kg in clean and jerk for a total effort of 129kg.This is the first time that an Indian has taken home a medal in the history of the Youth Worlds.India is being represented by eight lifters in the championships , two boys and six girls.
  
• Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) won the ICC Cricketer of the year, ICC Test Cricketer of the Year and the People`s Choice Award. The Vice-Captain of Indian Cricket team, Virat Kohli was named as the ODI Cricketer of the year.These awards were give away at ICC Awards Function held at Colombo, Sri Lanka on 15 September 2012. The other players awarded at the award function were-Richard Levi (South Africa) - The ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year,Daniel Vettori (New Zealand) - The Spirit of Cricket Award,
  Sunil Narine (West Indies) - The Emerging Cricketer of the Year,
  Stafanie Taylor (West Indies) - The Women`s ODI Cricketer of the Year,
  Sarah Taylor (England) - Women`s T20 Cricketer of the Year,
  George Dockrell (Ireland)- Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year.
  
• Retired boxing great Muhammad Ali has been awarded the Liberty Medal on 13 september,in Philadelphia, US.The award was presented in a ceremony at the National Constitution Center. It recognizes his longtime role as a fighter outside the ring for humanitarian causes, civil rights and religious freedom.Since hanging up his gloves in 1981, Ali has traveled extensively on international charitable missions and devoted his time to social causes.Previous medal recipients include rock singer Bono, former South African President Nelson Mandela and former President Jimmy Carter.
  
• The Karnataka high court on 21 september, stayed the two-year AITA ban on tennis players Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna from representing the country till June 30, 2014 on disciplinary grounds.Hearing a writ petition filed by the duo challenging the two-year ban imposed by All India Tennis Association, justice Mohan Shantanagoudar ordered issue of emergent notice to AITA and the sports ministry.
  
• The nation of China lead the medal list in the 2012 Paralympics held in London, after a strong showing at this year's Summer Olympics. Russia came in second in gold medals with 36, while the host Great Britain obtained the second most medals overall with 120. Here is the medal table of the top five countries.
  1. China -- 231 medals (95 G, 71 S, 65 B)
  2. Great Britain -- 120 medals (34 G, 43 S, 43 B)
  3. Russia -- 102 medals (32 G, 38 S, 28 B)
  4. USA -- 98 medals (31 G, 29 S, 38 B)
  5. Australia -- 85 medals (32 G, 23 S, 30 B)
  
• Mariamma Koshy appointed as the full-time President of Hockey India:
  Hockey India on 17 September 2012 appointed Mariamma Koshy of Hockey Kerala as its new full-time President. The decision was made during the 15th meet of Board Executives and was taken following the guidelines prescribed under rule 4(f) of Hockey India Rules and Regulations. Koshy (63 years in age) has been a vice-president of Hockey India as well as an Interim-President of the National Body. Gayatri Shetty, the treasurer of Hockey Karnataka was named as the new Vice-President of Hockey India after the post was vacated, due to Koshy’s elevation. Appointment of Gayatri also was done following the guidelines and regulations under rule 4 (f).
  
• Dhoni named as the captain for IIC ODI team of the year:
  Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of Indian Cricket team has been named as the Captain of ICC’s ODI team of the year. Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir are two more players from Indian squad to be selected in the ICC’s ODI team for the year. Dhoni has been nominated to be a member of the team for fifth consecutive year in a row.The complete team of twelve members selected for the ICC’s One Day International team of the year includes three Indians and two members from each of the team Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and England along with one nominated South African player as a whole. The team was selected by the a panel headed by the former West Indian Captain Clive Lloyd that included other members like Carl Hooper (Former Skipper-West Indies), Marvan Atapattu (Former Captain Sri Lanka), Tom Moody (former Australian all-rounder) and Clare O’Connor (Former Captain of England’s women team). Name of the squad for the ICC ODI team was announced by David Richardson, the ICC Chief Executive at an event organized before LG ICC Awards ceremony. Name of the players for the team are MS Dhoni (Ind, wicketkeeper/Captain), Shahid Afridi (Pak), Gautam Gambhir (Ind), Kumar Sangakkara (SL), Alastair Cook (Eng), Virat Kohli (Ind), Morne Morkel (SA), Michael Clarke (Aus), Lasith Malinga (SL), Saeed Ajmal (Pak), Steven Finn (Eng). The twelfth man of the team will be Shane Watson (Aus).
  
• Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar is world No. 2 :
  London Olympics silver medallist Vijay Kumar has added another feather to his cap as he achieved the world number 2 ranking in the latest list issued by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). Vijay has 2871 points compared to top-ranked Pupo Leuris' 3690 -- he won the gold medal at the Games. Bronze winner Ding Feng of China was fourth with 2699 points, a place behind Russia's Alexei Klimov who has 2856 to his name. Reitz Christian of Germany completed the top-5 with 2475 points. Two other Indians -- Pemba Tamang (159 points) and Gurpreet Singh (76) -- were ranked 23rd and 34th respectively in the list.
  
• Rest of India, lifted the Irani trophy for the second year in a row, by defeating the Rajasthan. At the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Chennai on 24 September, Rajasthan lost by an innings and 79 runs in the last session of the fourth day. M. Vijay, for his fine knock of 266, was adjudged the ‘Man-of-the-match’.
  
• India's top archer Deepika Kumari won the silver medal, in the recurve women's individual event in world cup held at Hibiya Park in Tokyo on 22 September. Deepika, in her first appearance after the London Olympics debacle, was in splendid form as she won the quarterfinals and semifinals to lead 4-0 in the final before she lost 4-6 ((26-23, 27-25, 24-28, 23-26, 25-26).
  
• Olympic bronze medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal on 28 September, experienced the thrill of flying in an Indian Air Force aircraft. She flew in 'Kiran Jet Trainer' for about 20 minutes, after taking off from the training academy in Dindigul on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
  
• Babita Kumari (51kg) became only the second Indian woman wrestler to win a medal at the World championships when she clinched a bronze at the event in Edmonton, Canada. Babita’s medal is the second won by any Indian female wrestler in the senior World championship. The first medal, a bronze, was won by Alka Tomar in 2006, China. After her sister Babita Kumari’s bronze medal winning feat in 51kg, Geeta Phogat claimed the 55kg bronze in the women’s World wrestling championship in Edmonton, Canada, on 29 September. Commonwealth Games champion Geeta became the third Indian woman to bag a World championship medal after Alka Tomar (2006) and Babita.
  
• Grand Master Koneru Humpy won the final leg of the FIDE Grand Prix which concluded at Ankaraon 28 september. She defeated Monika Socko of Poland. Humpy tallied 8.5 points from her 11 games to top the 12-player, all-play-all which followed the Chess Olympiad held in Istanbul. Humpy started well while most of her rivals came tired directly from the Chess Olympiad. However, a ninth round defeat after reaching a clearly better rook ending against top seed and World Women’s No. 2 Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia nearly spoilt her event. The title race opened up with Muzychuk half a point ahead with two rounds to go.In the overall, six Grand Prix events held at Rostov, Shenzhen, Nalchik, Kazan, Jermuk and Ankara, world women’s champion Hou Yifan of China had won three already with a maximum 480 points. Each player took part in four of the six events with the best three counting for Grand Prix points. Humpy’s victory in Ankara helped her overtake Muzychuk and win the second place with 415 points. Muzychuk was third with 405 points. Humpy won in Ankara, tied for first in Kazan with Muzychuk and finished third in Jermuk.Grand Prix final placings: 1. Hou Yifan (Chn) 480; 2. Humpy 415; 3. Muzychuk 405.
  
• Former Indian cricketer Sandeep Patil was 27 September, appointed the chairman of the national selection committee. Roger Binny (South), Vikram Rathore (North), Saba Karim (East) and Rajinder Singh Hans (Central) comprise the rest of the new panel which had no place for former cricketer Mohinder Amarnath who was dropped after just one year's term. Chnadrakant Pandit, a wicketkeeper-batsman who played for India between 1986 and 1992, was named chairman of the junior selection committee. BCCI's previous selection panel comprised of Srikkanth, Amarnath, Narendra Hirwani (Central Zone), Surendra Bhave (West Zone) and Raja Venkat (East Zone). Amarnath had replaced Yashpal Sharma last year..
  
• Serena Williams won Women's Singles US Open 2012:
  Serena Williams of USA won her fourth Women's Singles US Open title in New York on 9 September 2012. In the final match played a short while ago, fourth seeded Serena showed incredible resolve as she beat the top seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in two hours and 18 minutes. Besides the fourth US Open title, this was Serena's 15th Grand Slam singles crown. Meanwhile, the Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci won the Women's Doubles trophy. In the title clash, the second seeded Italian duo defeated the Czech pair of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, 6-4, 6-2 to win the title.
  
• Murray wins US Open, ends 76-yr British agony :
  History-making Andy Murray ended Britain's 76-year wait for a men's Grand Slam champion when he beat 2011 winner Novak Djokovic 7-6 (12/10) 7-5 2-6 3-6 6-2 in an epic US Open final on 11 September in New York. Murray became Britain's first major champion since Fred Perry claimed his third American title in 1936, the year the Spanish Civil War started and Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected US president.
  
• Klitschko retains his heavy weight title :
  Ukrainian, Vitali Klitschko managed to defend his WBC heavyweight title on 8 September 2012 at 30,000 seater Olimpiyski indoor sports arena. The medical team and the referee stopped the bout 56 seconds before the end of the fourth round after witnessing a cut mark on the opponent’s eye, the German Manuel Charr, 27. Vitali Klitschko is a leader of UDAR of Vitaliy Klychko, a political party and a member of the delegation to from Ukrain for Congress of the Council of Europe. He is the first boxing champion of the world to hold Ph. D. degree. For his accomplishments he won Germany’s highest civilian award Federal Cross of Merit. Manuel Charr is a professional boxer from Germany. At the age of 17.2 years, he became the youngest German to be a Champion in Muay Thai. Later at the age of 19, he became German Champion and the European Champion in Thai-Boxing. As per his track record, out of the 22 fights of his career as a boxer he won 21 matches and the only one he faced defeat id the one played against Klitschko.
  
• Lewis Hamilton became the winner of Italian Grand Prix 2012:
  Lewis Hamilton, the driver of McLaren's became the winner of the Italian Grand Prix 2012 on 9 September 2012. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso extended his overall lead after finishing at third position in the event. With this win, Hamilton managed to wash away the rumors of his future and possible switch to Mercedes after winning the grand prix and the twentieth victory of his career. Hamilton, who is 27 years old Formulae one driver from England, has been a 2008 Formulae one World Champion. He is the world’s youngest driver to secure a contract for McLaren driver development program, which paved his way to the F1 drive. Lewis Hamilton is also known as the first black driver in formulae one.
  
• India won Nehru Cup football tournament by beating Cameroon5-4 in penalty shoot out, on 2 September 2012 held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.
  
• Karnataka clinched Buchi Babu all-India cricket tournament by defeating kerala, by three wickets in the final held in Chennai on 3 September. Karnataka received, besides the winner’s trophy, prize money of Rs. 100,000, while Kerala was richer by Rs. 50,000.
  
• India won the second cricket test against New Zealand by 5 wickets on 3 September 2012. Chasing a target of 261 set by New Zealand on the fourth day of the second and final Test in Bangalore, India chased the target with one full day remaining. Virat Kohli, who had made 103 in the first innings, was adjudged man of the match, while Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was named man of the series.With this, India won the 2 match series 2-0. India had won the first test at Hyderabad by an innings and 115 runs.
  
• Andy Murray won the US Open Grand Slam Singles Championship by defeating Novak Djokovic 7-6 , 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 on 11 September 2012. By this, Murray has re written the history of Britain tennis. Before this, Fred Perry was the British player to win a grand slam in US Championship in the year 1936. The 25 year old Murray, recently won Olympic Gold medal in Men’s singles category and a silver medal in mixed doubles category in the 2012 London Olympics. He is the first British player, who won an Olympic Gold medal in hundred years and also the first British to reach in the men’s singles final of Wimbledon in an open era. In the women category,Serena Williams of USA won her fourth Women's Singles US Open title by defeating Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 , in New York on 9 September 2012. Besides the fourth US Open title, this was Serena's 15th Grand Slam singles crown. Meanwhile, the Italian pair Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci won the Women's Doubles trophy by defeating the Czech pair of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, 6-4, 6-2 to win the title.
  
• Indian High jumper Girisha Nagarajegowda, won a silver medal (F42 single leg, amputations minimal disability category) at London Paralympic Games. To make this happen, he cleared his career best 1.74 m high jump. He managed to secure the first medal for the country in this category of game. Girisha won eighth Paralympic medal for India and is the first to do so in the high jump category and third Indian to claim silver in the event. He is a man with polio impaired left leg. Sports minister, Ajay Maken declared that the medal winners in the Paralymipic will be awarded with the same cash reward as that of the Olympians i.e. 50 lakhs for gold, 30 lakhs for silver and 20 lakhs for Bronze.
  
• Tennis player Andy Roddick of US announced his retirement during the US open on 6 September 2012 after facing a defeat from John Martin del Potro. The 30 year old is a former number one ranked player who won 2003 US Open to be a Grand Slam singles champion. Till date Roddick was successful in reaching the finals of Wimbledon in the year 2004, 2005 and 2009 as well as US Open 2006 and faced a defeat from Roger Federer.