SPORTS SEPTEMBER 2013

SPORTS SEPTEMBER 2013

• Defying intense criticism, N. Srinivasan was elected unopposed as BCCI President for a third year during the Board’s AGM held in Chennai on 28 September, even though he will not take charge till further orders from the Supreme Court. Mr. Srinivasan was the lone Presidential candidate put forward by the South Zone, from where he got the proposer and the seconded. But he can resume his duties only after the Supreme Court gives its final verdict on the case filed against his candidature by the Cricket Association of Bihar secretary Aditya Verma. Mr. Srinivasan’s election was on expected lines despite the fact that he is facing intense criticism on the issue of propriety after his son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings Team Principal Gurunath Meiyappan was charge-sheeted in the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal. Another political heavyweight, Arun Jaitley, relinquished the vice-President’s position due to his political commitments and was replaced by his Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) colleague Sneh Bansal.
  
• Olympian Swaran Singh Virk won a gold medal at the 15th Asian Senior Rowing Championship at Luan, China, on 29th September. Besides Virk’s gold, India won two silver and as many bronze medals in the championship.The team of Anil Kumar, Robin P. Ulahannan, Olympian Bajrang Lal Thakar, Ranjit Singh, Kapil Sharma, Mohammed Azad, Maninder Singh and Davinder Singh took 6:12.47 minutes to win the silver medal in Men’s Eights event. While Kapil Sharma, Mohammed Azad, Maninder Singh and Davinder Singh bagged the Men’s Fours silver in 6:03.50 minutes. India won the bronze in Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls with Sonu Laxmi Narian and Shokindar Tomar winning it in 6:57.13 minutes.Monalisha, Dittymol Varghese, Chaoba Devim and Amusana Devi clinched a brone in Leightweight Women’s Quadruple Sculls with a timing of 7:03.33 minutes. irk had booked his berth for the 2012 London Games by winning the major qualifying event at the FISA Olympic Continental Qualification Regatta for Asia in Chung Ju, Korea.
  
• Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi won the bronze medal in the World Junior Chess Championship (U 20) after settling for a quick draw with Yu Yangyi of China in the 13th and final round that concluded at Kocaeli, Turkey on 26 September 2013.With Yu Yangyi winning the gold, the silver went to Alexander Ipatov of Turkey who defeated Aleksander Indjic of Serbia in the final round. Vidit Gujrathi was a former Under-14 world champion (2008). He was also three consecutive times age group National Champion (Year 2005, 2006 and 2007). Vidit also won many national and international tournaments in the under 14 category.
  
• Milos Raonic of Canada defeated top-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 7-6 (4), 6-3 to claim his fifth title at the Thailand Open on 29th September. In the doubles final, third-seeded Jamie Murray of Great Britain and John Peers of Australia beat fourth-seeded Tomasz Bednarek of Poland and Johan Brunstrom of Sweden 6-3, 3-6, 10-6. It was Raonic’s fifth tour victory, adding to the three in San Jose from 2011-13 and Chennai in 2012.
  
• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 25th September 2013 imposed a life ban on former IPL Comissioner Lalit Modi from participating in any of its activities. The decision to this effect was taken at the special general meeting under the chairmanship of BCCI President N.Srinivasan at Chennai. The meeting which was attended by 30 members of the Board, discussed the findings of the disciplinary committee and found Modi guilty on eight charges including financial irregularities, indiscipline and misconduct. The official statement issued by the BCCI said the Board members will again meet on the 29 September 2013 for the annual general meeting to elect its Chairman. Earlier, Lalit Modi had appealed to the Supreme Court to issue a stay on BCCI’s meeting. The case was dismissed by the Court.
  
• India won bronze medal in the 8th Women’s Asia Cup 2013 as they defeated China 3-2 via penalty shootout in the 3rd/4th place play-off played at the National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 27 September 2013. Ritu Rani captained Indian side in the tournament, whereas Weilin Mao captained the China team. India had to win this tournament to qualify for the 2014 World Cup at The Hague, Holland. However, it came at the third place. Meanwhile, Japan stunned defending champions Korea 2-1 in the final to win the Asia Cup and secure a place in next year's World Cup. The 8th Women’s Hockey Asia Cup 2013 Held at Kualalumpur (Malaysia) from 21 to 27 September 2013.
  
• The sports ministry on 18th September, decided not to confer Renjith Maheshwary with the prestigious Arjuna award as the triple jumper has been found to have used a 'scheduled' substance (ephedrine) back in 2008, putting an end to all speculations regarding his fate. After detailed investigations, the ministry has come to a conclusion that Maheshwary was found to have used ephedrine during the 46th National Athletic Championships in Kochi. The sample was collected on September 8, 2008 and given to the National Dope Testing Laboratory on September 15, 2008.NDTL on October 3, 2008 analyzed the A-sample of Maheshwary and reported levels of ephedrine far above the expected levels, even when ephedrine is consumed for therapeutic purposes.
  
• Kolkata’s Mohammedan Sporting club won the 126th Durand Foot ball tournament as it defeated ONGC 2-1 in the final at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi on 19th September. They have lifted the cup after 73 years having won it back in 1940.The last time Sporting won Durand Cup was before Independence in 1940 by defeating Warwickshire Regiment, and the last time they played a final in the capital was back in 1992.The Durand Football Tournament was started at Simla in the year 1888 by Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, who was then, the Foreign Secretary to Government of India. Durand is the third oldest football tournament in the world and oldest in Asia and India.
  
• Indian wrestler Bajrang Kumar has bagged a bronze medal in the 60 kilogram freestyle category at the World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary on 17 September 2013.Bajrang Kumar recorded an overwhelming 9-2 win over Mongolia's Nyam-Ochir Enkhsaikhan to bag the Bronze. This is the first time India has won two medals in the Men's events at the World Championship level. Earlier, Amit Kumar had won a Silver medal in the 55 Kg freestyle category, after losing to Iranian Hassan Farman Rahimi.
  
• Former BCCI Secretary Jaywant Lele (78) passed away on 19th September 2013 in Vadodaraafter he suffered a heart attack. Jaywant Lele had become the BCCI secretary in 1996 and stayed in this post till 2001.In 2003, he was expelled from the BCA, along with two other administrators, for alleged financial irregularities and administrative lapses. Jaywant Lele was also a qualified umpire. In November 2011, he penned a memoir titled I Was There - Memoirs of a Cricket Administrator.
  
• World number one Serena Williams (31) won her fifth US Open title in a thrilling final against Victoria Azarenka(24) at Flushing Meadows on 7 September. The American, won by 7-5 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 over the Belarusian. Williams has now won 17 Grand Slam singles titles, moving her to within one of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, and seven short of Margaret Court's record total of 24.
  
  All-time Grand Slam singles wins--
  Margaret Court (Aus) 24
  Steffi Graf (Ger) 22
  Helen Wills Moody (USA) 19
  Chris Evert (USA) & Martina Navratilova (USA) 18
  Serena Williams (USA) 17
  Billie Jean King (USA) 12 
• Leander Paes became the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title on 8 September, when he and Radek Stepanek took the US Open doubles title. India’s Paes, 40, and 34-year-old Czech Stepanek, the fourth seeds, defeated Alexander Peya of Austria and Brazil's Bruno Soares, the second seeds, 6-1, 6-3. It was their second major title as a pair, the Asian star's third in New York, eighth in men's doubles and 14th overall. Paes and Stepanek won the 2012 Australian Open .Paes had won the US Open title with Martin Damm in 2006 and Lukas Dlouhy in 2009 and now has eight men's doubles trophies at the majors as well as six mixed doubles crowns. Meanwhile, Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of czech have won their first U.S. Open women's doubles title. The fifth-seeded Czechs beat Australia's Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-4 on 7 September. They also won the 2011 French Open championship. Hlavackova also won this year's mixed doubles championship at the U.S. Open, hoisting the trophy with Max Mirnyi on 6 September.
  
• South Korea defeated India 4-3 in the final of the Asia Cup Hockey at Ipoh, Malaysia on 1 September 2013. With this, South Korea confirmed its place in the World Cup at The Hague. V.R. Raghunath (India) is the player of the tournament. In the meanwhile, the Asian Hockey Federation gave the details of the participants for the next AHF Champions Trophy to be held in Kakamigahara (Japan) from 1 November 2013 to 10 November 2013. In the men’s section, the participants will be China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Oman and Pakistan. In the women’s section, the participants include China, India, Japan and Malaysia.
  
• Tokyo on 7 September 2013 won the right to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.Members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Buenos Aires chose the Japanese capital Tokyo. Japan won the right to host Olympic Games for the second time. It had previously hosted the Games in 1964. Olympic is considered world’s biggest sporting event. The decision means it will be the fourth time that Japan plays host to the Olympics, having also organized hosted Olympic winter Games in Nagano (1998) and Sapporo (1972). Asia will also see successive Olympics, as the South Korean resort of Pyeongchang is hosting the 2018 winter edition.
  
• India's Bhuvana Kalva won her maiden 10000 US dollars ITF women singles title on 31 August 2013 after she won over sixth-seeded Akari Inoue of Japan by 6-4, 7-5 at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association complex. Bhuvana Kalva is from Andhra Pradesh. She is 18-year-old. She also defeated top seed Ankita Raina and third seed Keren Shlomo of Israel en route final. Her title win fetched her 12 ranking points while Akari, won 8 ranking points. Akari, had won the doubles title along with Hua-Chen Lee on 30 August 2013.