Sports - Current Affairs for December, 2015

Based on the success of the maiden Grand Prix title triumph in Mexico Open, the men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy jumped 3 spots to regain career best ranking of World Number 17 in latest BWF rankings. Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu continued to be static at World No.2 and 12 while Kidambi Srikanth remained World No.9 and Parupalli Kashyap as well as HS, Prannoy retained World No. 10 and 15 rankings respectively. Women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa fell to World No 14 while Arvind Jayaram gained 21st place after his quarter final appearance in Mexico in the men’s singles.

Adjudicatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee on 21st December 2015 banned FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Vice President Michel Platini for 8 years from football associated activities at national or international level. Ban came into force with immediate effect. Both officials have also been fined USD 40,000 and 80,0000 respectively.

The Ethics Committee was chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert. The ban was made in the wake of payment of 20 lakh Swiss Francs which was transferred to Platini by Blatter in February 2011.

Ace tennis player Andy Murray has won the 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award presented to him by Irish boxing legend Barry McGuigan. Murray won the award based on a public vote. He had received the previous award in 2013. He is second in world rankings current

In a massive boost for 4 Indian boxers, the International Olympics Committee conferred scholarships on the sportsman namely World Championships bronze medallist Shiva Thapa, Commonwealth Games silver medalist Mandeep Jangra, and Sumit Sangwan as well as Gaurav Bidhuri. While Bidhuri finished with an impressive performance at the World Series of Boxing, Sumit won a silver medal at the 2010 Asian Championships. A sum of USD 800 per month will be given to them as part of the scholarship along with USD 5,000 provided they qualify for the Olympics.

Ex world champion V. Anand played a draw with Holland’s Anish Giri to finish 9th in the London Classic. The event was won by Magnus Carlsen of Norway. World champion Carlsen has won the Grand Chess Tour after winning the classic beating Russia’s Alexander Grischuk and Maxime Vachier Lagrave of France.

Japanese shuttlers Kento Momota and Nozomi Okuhara have won the men’s and women’s singles categories in the BWF Superseries Final at Hamden Sports Complex. World no.5 Momota beat Danish Viktor Axelsen while World No.4 Okuhara beat No.3 Yihan Wang from China. Chinese twin shuttlers Luo Ying and Luo Yu won the women’s doubles titles while in the mixed double final, Adock couple Chris and Gabriele were the victors. Indonesia’s double men’s pair of Hendra Setiwan and Mohammad Ahsan won the men’s doubles.

Organising Committee of the 12th South Asian Games 2016 unveiled the logo and mascot of the game at Guwahati,Assam. Both Shillong and Guwahati will jointly host the Games from February 6 to 16 2016. The OC-SAG kicked off its volunteers programme also, which is open to the public. Close to 4500 sports persons and officials from 8 nations will be participating in 23 events from 6th to 16th February 2016. The logo has 8 petals representing the nations participating in the 12th South Asian Games. Name of the Mascot of the Games is Tikhor who is the brand ambassador of the 12th South Asian Games 2016.

India on 7 December 2015 won the four-match Test series against South Africa 3-0, beating them by 337 runs in the fourth and last match. Proteas chased a score of 481 while Ashwin claimed his 15th 5 wicket hail to beat them. Test series was called Freedom Trophy and dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

All England and World Champion Carolina Marin has beaten ace Indian shutter Saina Nehwal to win the Female Player of the Year award from BWF. Marin, the winner of five World Superseries titles, held off competition from China's Zhao Yunlei, Saina and China's Bao Yixin. China’s Chen Long won the Male Player of the Year award. Korea’s Le Sam Seop and Norwegian Helle Sofia Sagoy won Para Badminton Player of the Year award in male and female categories while Zheng Si Wei won the most promising player of the year.

Indian offspinner Harbhajan SIngh launched the first every comprehensive sports platform BookMySports which serves as an interface between the Indian public and their access to sports facilities and organising the tournaments. This product is especially relevant for metros where there is less time and space to engage in sports.

Olympic bronze medallist MC Mary Kom has won atleast a bronze medal by reaching the semifinals of the AIBA Olympic Test event in Rio de Janeiro. She defeated Venezuela's Karlha Magliocco 3-0 in the quarterfinal bout of the event, where boxers have been individually invited by the world body and the Rio Olympics organising committee.

Well known Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has been nominated for Woman Player of the Year Award of Badminton World Federation following consistence occupation of the world number one spot. Saina is currently ranked number two and will view for the award with Spain’s Carolina Marin, China’s Bao Yixin and Zhao Yunlei. She has attained the feat of being the first world number one in women’s singles and also reaching finals of BWF World Championships and All England and Thaihot China Open.

Anil Khanna was on 28th November 2015 re-elected as president of the Asian Tennis Federation. He was elected for 4 years at the Colombo AGM of this tennis body. He is currently also the president of AITA apart from being the vice president of the International Tennis Federation.

Fury beat the Ukrainian player to become World Boxing Association (WBA) (Super), International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Organization (WBO), International Boxing Organization (IBO) and The Ring unified heavyweight champion in a bout held in Düsseldorf, Germany.