Sports - Current Affairs for April, 2017

Indian shot putter Manpreet Kaur became world number one after winning the goal medal at the Asian Grand Prix in China on April 24, 2017.

With a throw of 18.86 metres, Manpreet defeated Olympic champion Michelle Carter who finished second.

Manpreet’s previous best 17.96m was set in 2015 during Open National meet in Kolkata.

With this performance, Manpreet also qualified for the IAAF World Championships to be held in August in London.

The entry standard for women's shot put in the World Championships stands at 17.75m.

Manpreet Kaur: Know More

• Manpreet Kaur is an Indian professional Olympic shot putter from Ambala.
• On 10 January 2013, she won the gold medal in the +75 kg category by lifting an overall weight of 189 kg in National weightlifting championship.
• She is currently world number 1.
• Born: 6 July 1990 India
• Height: 1.7 m
• Weight: 89 kg

One of the sports to miss out from the programme list of the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang is cricket.

Apart from cricket, skateboarding, sambo and surfing are among the other sports which have been removed from the programme in order to reduce the burden on Indonesian organisers.

This measure was taken as a part of the series of changes aimed at reducing the total number of events from 493 to 431.

Also omitted from the list are kurash and belt wrestling events. This news was confirmed by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

Meanwhile, there will also be reduced competitions in the sports of ju jitsu, jet ski, sport climbing, paragliding, bridge and wushu.

Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) director general Husain Al-Musallam indicated sports popular in Indonesia would be the focus of the game.

No changes, however, have yet been made to any of the other 28 permanent Summer Olympic sports due to be contested.

It was Nadal's 70th career title but his first of the season, having lost his previous three finals.

The only final the 30-year-old Nadal has lost at Monte Carlo was to Novak Djokovic in 2013. Ramos-Vinolas wasn't a threat to the defending champion.

Nadal's 29th Masters title moves him one behind Djokovic's record. He will also have his sights set on a 10th title in Barcelona next week–Nadal's previous career title was there, almost one year ago.

Rafael Nadal: Know More

• Born: 3 June 1986, Manacor, Spain
• Height: 1.85 m
• Nationality: Spanish
• Weight: 85 kg
• Coach(es): Toni Nadal (1990–2017); Carlos Moyá (2017)
• Davis Cup: W (2004, 2008, 2009, 2011)

Top shuttler PV Sindhu has been ranked No. 3 in the latest BWF ranking.

Sindhu who was at No.5 climbed up two places on the basis of making the quarter-finals of the recently-concluded Singapore Open Super Series.

Sindhu’s career best is when she reached World No. 2 two weeks ago.

As per the latest BWF ranking, London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal has been ranked eighth.

Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth have been placed at 21st and 22nd positions respectively.

PV Sindhu: Know More

• PV Sindhu received international attention after getting listed on the Top 20 list of Badminton World Federation rankings in 2012.
• In 2013, she created history by becoming first Indian women’s singles badminton player to win a medal at the 2013 World Championships.
• Sindhu grabbed Silver medal in Rio Olympics.
• With that, she became the second Indian female shuttler to win an Olympic medal after Saina Nehwal (2012 London Olympics).
• Sindhu has been awarded Padma Shri in 2015, which is India’s fourth-highest civilian honour.

Sixteen-time world champion Pankaj Advani won his seventh Asian title by defeating Sourav Kothari 6-3 in an entertaining final of the Asian Billiards Championship on April 14, 2017.

This makes it the sixth Asian Billiards and seventh overall Asian championship.

The other title being 6-red snooker which he won last year.

Pankaj Advani: Know More

• Born: 24 July 1985 (age 31 years), Pune
• Nationality: Indian
• World Champion: 16 times (Billiards:12 Snooker:4)
• Parents: Arjan Advani, Kajal Advani
• Awards: Padma Shri, Arjuna Award for Billiards & Snooker

Promising Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth clinched his maiden Super Series title at the Singapore Open after defeating compatriot K Srikanth in a historic all-Indian final on Sunday.

World No.30 Praneeth, who had won the Canada Open Grand Prix last year and reached the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold final this year, outmaneuvered Srikanth 17-21, 21-17, 21-12 in the summit clash of the $350,000 event.

It was the first time in the history of international badminton that two Indians were playing a Super Series final.

The two are trainees at the Gopichand academy run by ace coach, Pullela Gopichand.

India and Australia on April 12, 2017 started a partnership aimed at increasing cooperation in sports, in the presence of visiting Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and batting great Sachin Tendulkar.

It will advance India-Australia cooperation in four areas — athlete and coach training and development, sport science, sport governance and integrity, and grassroots participation.

The India-Australia Sports Partnership would facilitate exchange of athletes, coaches, technical officials, sports scientists between the two countries.

India has launched a major grassroots programme - Khelo India for developing a sporting culture at grass-roots level.

The GoI is planning to introduce sports as a compulsory subject in schools,” he said.

A National Sports Talent Identification and Development Portal would be launched shortly.

As per the new partnership, Victoria University and the University of Canberra would work with India to assist in the establishment of a National Sports University similar to the Australian Institute of Sport.

The National Basketball Association announced the setting up of its first basketball school, a network of tuition-based basketball development programmes, in Mumbai.

The school, as part of a multi-year agreement announced today with India On Track (IOT), is open to male and female players between ages 6-18.

The new initiative adds an additional layer to the NBA’s existing basketball development efforts, including the Jr. NBA, Basketball without Borders (BWB) and NBA Academies.

Additional schools will be launched by NBA in India and around the world in the coming months, it added.

The school’s curriculum has been developed by the NBA’s Elite Basketball Development team in consultation with current and former NBA coaches, former NBA players, and player development experts.

NBA: Know More

• Number of teams: 30
• Sport: Basketball
• Commissioner: Adam Silver
• Headquarters: New York City, New York, United States
• Most titles: Boston Celtics (17 titles)
• Key Subsidiaries: WNBA, Eastern Conference, Western Conference

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has granted affiliation to the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), ending a long-standing impasse between the two bodies.

As per the directives of the International Olympic Committee vide their letter dated February 7, the IOA grants affiliation to the BFI subject to ratification by the Executive Council/General Body of the IOA.

The affiliation ends a logjam that goes back to September last year when BFI took charge of the sport after elections conducted in the presence of International Boxing Association (AIBA) and sports ministry observers.

The IOA had initially refused to grant recognition to BFI stating that it still considered the now-defunct Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) as the official national body for the sport.

It had eventually referred the matter to its affiliation committee after persistent requests from the BFI.

With this, the BFI now becomes the fully recognised body for Indian boxing, having already been granted affiliation by AIBA and the sports ministry.

India’s ace batsman Virat Kohli on 5 April 2017 was named the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2016.

The announcement was made in the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, which is also often called the ‘Bible of the Cricket.’

Kohli also features on the cover of the 2017 edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.

It shows the cricketer playing a reverse sweep in a Test match.

Two Pakistani cricketers, Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, have been named in the list of the five Cricketers of the Year for the first time since 1997.

The other Cricketers of the Year are Ben Duckett, Toby Roland-Jones, and Chris Woakes.

Ellyse Perry was named the Leading Woman Cricketer in the World.

The other awardees included AJ Woodland, the left-hand opening batsman who scored 1200 runs across formats for St Edward’s School, Oxford who was chosen as the Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year.

Emma Johns book Following On was named Wisden Book of the Year.

Saqib Majeed, won the Wisden-MCC Cricket Photograph of the Year award, also found a feature in the Almanack.

About Wisden: Know More

• Wisden Leading Cricketer Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom.
• It is considered the world’s most well known sports reference book.
• In October 2013, an all-time Test World XI was announced to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.
• An Indian edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack was launched in the year 2012.

Indian forward S.V Sunil and drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh were named as the Asian Player of the Year 2016 and Asian Promising Player of the Year respectively by the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) here on March 30, 2017.

Sunil played a vital role in India's successful outing at the FIH Champions Trophy in London where the team earned a historic silver medal.

Considered to be one of the fastest men on the pitch in the world, Sunil has also served as the team's vice-captain and is entrusted with the duty of leading by example.

The nominations for these awards were made by coaches across the national teams in Asia and the criteria of nomination was based on the performance for the year 2016.

Harmanpreet had a stupendous 2016 with India winning the Junior World Cup where he led the team's defence and was instrumental in converting penalty corners.

He was also part of the Indian men's team at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the FIH Champions Trophy in London.

AHF: Know More

• Motto: Ever onwards
• Type: Sports federation
• Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Membership: 31 member associations
• President: Malaysia ( Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah)
• Website: www.asiahockey.org