Sports - Current Affairs for February, 2016

Real Madrid star striker Cristiano Ronaldo has attained social media history by being the first athlete in the world to reach 200 million followers across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. He has 109.7 million followers on Facebook and 49.6 million followers on Instagram. He also has 50.7 million Twitter followers. He got more followers than NBA stars like Michael Jordan and Kevin Durant. Currently, Messi does not have a Twitter account. But the Barcelona star recently won the Ballon d’Or.

China has beat Japan 3-2 in the finals to win the Badminton Asia Team Championships in the ladies category on 21st February at Gachibowli stadium. Japanese player N. Okuhara attained a winning start against China’s Shixian Wang while Japanese doubles pair continued the winning streak. But China’s Yu Sun won followed by a decisive victory by China’s Yu Luo and Yuanting Tang.

The 12th South Asian Games just concluded in Sarusajai, Guwahati Assam at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium seeing 228 events in 23 sports disciplines. 12th South Asian Games saw the participation of 2600 athletes from different SA countries and was co-hosted by Guwahati and Shillong. India finished at the top with a record 308 medals including 199 Gold, 90 Silver and 30 Bronze medals.

Lionel Messi has been named as the player of the month for January by La Liga, marking the first time the Barcelona player has received the award. He was recognised for scoring six times in five league games, including key goals at Malaga and at home to Atletico Madrid as Barca took control of the title race. 17 different players have been awarded this honour since it was launched in September 2013.

ICC Board on 3rd February constituted the Anti Corruption Unit Oversight Group and a decision with regard to this was taken by ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar. Aside from Rahul Dravid, other members of this group include David Peever, Louis Westom, John Abbott, David Richardson and Ronnie Flannigan.

Magnus Carlsen won the Wijk ann Zee tournament for the 5th time, equalling the record of India’s Vishwanathan Anand in the Dutch city. He clinched his fifth title of the well known tournament with 9 points in 13 rounds. The challenger section of the tournament was won by TN stalemate B Adhiban.

Angelique Kerber of Germany on 30th January 2016 won the Australian Open Women’s Singles Tennis title at the Rod Laver Arena in Australia’s Melbourne city. The seventh seeded player defeated world number 1 Serena Williams to win the match. This is her second win over Serena in 7 career meetings. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic won the men’s open singles final beating Andy Murray.

Top seeded Kidambi Srikanth has attained a rollicking start to the coming season after clinching the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold with a clear win over China’s Huang Yuxiang during the men’s singles final. Srikanth has reached the summit clash and prevailed over World number 73 Hunag to win what is his fifth title. Earlier, he had won the 2013 Thailand Grand Prix Gold, 2014 China Super Series premier and Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold and India Super Series last year.

Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis on 29th January 2016 won the Australian Open title of tennis in the women’s doubles category. For winning the title, top seeded pair defeated 7th seeded Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (1), 6-3 at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. They have now been unbeaten for 26 matches. In the semi final of the tournament, duo created the world record by winning the 29th women’s doubles match in succession.