Sports - Current Affairs for July, 2016

Sergei Tetyukhin, the captain of the Russian men’s volleyball team will carry the flag of the nation during the opening ceremony of the Rio Games.

• Yelena Isinbayeva announced this; she is one of the athletes unable to attend the Rio Games due to a decision by IAAF to ban Russian track and field athletes form Rio in response to systematic state sponsored doping scandal in the nation.

The International Cricket Council announced that Muttiah Muralidharan, Arthur Morris, Karen Rolton and George Lohmann will be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

• Record breaking Muralidharan became the first Sri Lankan player to be inducted with twice ICC Women’s World Cup Winner and former Australia women’s captain Karen Rolton and college Arthur Morris part of Bradman’s invincible and 19th century fast bowler Britain’s George Lohmann who took 100 wickets in 16 tests.

International Olympic Committee announced the launch date for the Olympic Channel starting 21st August 2016.

• This will be after the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games Rio 2016.
• Athletes and sports fans can follow the Olympic Channel on newly launched social media handles on FB, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
• Following the launch, the Olympic Channel will foster partnerships with other Olympic stakeholders including broadcasters and National Olympic Committees to develop localised versions of the Olympic Channel.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton from Great Britain has won the 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix title of Formula One passing teammate Nico Rosberg with six points.

• This was his 4th Hungarian Grand Prix after winning in 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013.
• It was also his 5th title of the series after Monaco Grand Prix (May 2016), Canadian Grand Prix (June 2016), Austrian Grand Prix (July 2016) and British Grand Prix (July 2016).
• Red Bull’s Daniel Ricardo came in third.

Spanish tennis exponent Feliciano Lopez beat Dutch player Robin Haase to win the Swiss Open Gstaad in a 6-4,7-5 match in a total of 77 minutes.

• Lopez won the tournament a decade after losing it.
• It was this first title on clay and 5th overall; in 2006 he lost to Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
• Spanish player Lopez had previously won the 2004 Vienna Open, 2010 Johannesburg Open and 2013 and 2014 Eastbourne open.
• He captured his 5th ATP World tour title in his 14th final.
• He is currently number 21 in the Emirates ATP rankings.
• He attained his career’s highest singles ranking of world number 12 in March 2015.
• The Swiss Open has been held since 1915 in Gstaad, Switzerland.

Chopra broke the record by winning gold medal at the U-20 World Championships in Poland.

• Chopra, who broke the earlier record of 84.69 meters held by Latvian Zigismunds Sirmais, recorded a throw of 86.48m.
• The 18-year-old was gunning for a spot at Rio Olympics but failed to hit the qualifying mark of 83 meters and now have stunned everyone with his record breaking throw.

America’s Keni Harrison broke the 28 year old world record in the 100m hurdles clocking 12.20 seconds at the London Anniversary Games.

• She is the fast woman in the world this year.
• The previous record of 12.21 seconds was held by Bulgaria’s Yordana Donkova.
• This is Harrison’s second record breaking performance of the year.
• She set the American record for 12.24 seconds on May 28 in Eugene, Oregon.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli earned a significant milestone in his career scoring a maiden double century in Test cricket against Day 2 of the first Test against West Indies in Antigua

• He broke Mohamed Azharuddin’s 26 year old record to become the first Indian captain to score double hundred overseas.
• Azhar’s match in Auckland during the 1990s was the previous best by an Indian captain outside the country.
• His previous highest score in Tests was 169 against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2014
  The right handed batsman is leading Indian for the first time in a test series in the Caribbean.
• Kohli scored 24 boundaries and strike rate of 71 to get the score of a maiden double century.

Steve Elworthy, the former South Africa fast bowler was on 19th July 2016 was appointed the MD of the 2019 World Cup to be held in England and Wales

• Elworthy will oversee the running of the 2019 World Cup as well as the Champion’s Trophy and Women’s World Cup.
• He was earlier tournament director for the 2007 and 2009 World T20 and 2013 Champions Trophy

SC on 18th July 2016 accepted major recommendations of Justice RM Lodha Panel on structural reforms in the BCCI.

• SC agreed that no minister or serving bureaucrat can be a member of the BCCI board.
• Bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice FMI Kalifulla rejected the objection against recommendations for one state-one vote and indicated states like Maharashtra and Gujarat having more than one cricket association will have voting rights on rotational basis.
• It also accepted the panel recommendation that there should be a players’ association in the BCCI and funding of players’ association accepted while leaving the board to decide the extent of funding.

Ivo Karlovic offered proof that tennis careers blossom after players cross their prime, with the 37-year-old being able to beat Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 7-6(12).

• Karlovic won the grass court Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, Rhode Island turning into the oldest champion in the history of the tournament.
• Karlovic became the oldest tour winner since Marty Riessen in Lafayette in 1979.
• Karlovic was also the oldest man to reach the third round of grand slam for 25 years at French Open 2016.
• He lost to runner up Andy Murray finally at Roland Garros

Martin Klizan won the German Open , his second title this year beating Pablo Cuevas 6-1,6-4.

• Seventh seeded Klizan rolled through the first set and took 84 percent of his first serve points to seal the second title after Rotterdam.

Dipika Pallikal Karthik prevailed over the defending champion Joshua Chinappa to regain women’s title in the 73rd Senior National Squash Championship.

• Men’s title was captured by top seed Saurav Ghoshal for the record 11th time, defeating fourth seed Harinderpal Singh Sandhu.

Indian Grand Master Harika Dronavalli won the Fide Women’s Grand Prix Trophy in Chengdu, China.

• She won against Russia’s Olga Girya winning her maiden career GP title.
• Dronavalli was born in January 1991 and is an Indian chess grandmaster.
• Harika earned the Grandmaster Title in July of 2011 and has won the Commonwealth Women’s Championship three times

Belgian player Justine Henin and Russian Marat Safin were honoured as inductees in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.

• 7 time grand slam singles winner Henin and twice grand small champion Safin were joined in festivities by French player Amelie Mauresmo who was also inducted into the hall of fame.
• Henin was the first Belgian to be elected to the shrine
• Mauresmo, a Wimbledon champion and the first French woman to reach world number one also joined the Hall of Fame

Pakistan’s captain Misbah-ul-Haq became the oldest captain to score a Test hundred after scoring 110 against England at the Lord’s on 14th July.

• The 42 year old cricketer became the oldest captain to score Test hundred.
• He is also the oldest visiting player to play a test on English soil in the past 3 decades.
• Previous oldest player was Somachandra de Silva of Sri Lanka at 42 years and 73 days. Misbah is 42 years and 47 days old.
• He was also the ODI captain till his requirement from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
• He scored the fastest test half century equalling the record of Viv Richards which was later broken by Brendon McCulluam.

In a significant decision, Hockey India has named senior goalkeeper PR Sreejesh as the captain of the national team for the Rio Olympics.

• Long time skipper Sardar Singh has been removed from the post.
• Sreejesh was rewarded after the team ended up with a silver medal at the 6 nation Champion Trophy hockey tournament in London.
• SV Sunil has been named the vice captain

He completed his mission by becoming the Wimbledon champion. His 6-1, 6-4 win over Stefan Olsson of Sweden gave him a second grand slam singles title.

• The 24-year-old Reid won his first Australian Open title in January, after which he immediately set his sights on Wimbledon.
• Reid, who was confined to a wheelchair 12 years ago after contracting Transverse Myelitis, a neurological condition affecting the spine.
• Wimbledon is one of 4 grand slam events held in a year

UEFA on 11th July 2016 named French forward and tournament top scorer Antoine Griezmann as the best player of Euro 2016 after the hosts’ final defeat to Portugal.

• Alex Ferguson, the former MU manager was among UEFA’s 12 strong panel of technical observers.
• Griezmann also won the Golden Boot award for his six goals.
• Griezmann and midfielder Dimitri Payet were included in the UEFA team of the tournament along with Portuguese skipper Cristiano Ronaldo
• Portugal defensive player Pepe was also included along with fellow Portuguese goalkeeper Rui Patricio and Raphael Guerriro

Andy Murray defeated Milos Raonic to secure his second Wimbledon title.

• He became the Wimbledon champion by beating Canadian Milos Raonic 6-4,7-6,7-6.
• Murray was playing his 11th Grand Slam final and for the first time, he was the favourite having faced Djokovic and Federer before
• This is his second Wimbledon crown and third grand slam title to win multiple Wimbledon singles since Fred Perry in 1935.

Portugal against all odds defeated favourites France in the Euro 2016 to lift their maiden major international trophy despite losing marquees player and captain Cristiano Ronaldo due to a knee injury within 25 minutes.

• Portuguese lifted their game to deny the attacking home team with stubborn defending.
• Eder fired in a low shot that rocketed past Hugo Lloris sending the Portuguese camp into frenzy with what was a crucial shot of the game
• Portugal’s man of the match was Pepe.

Serena Williams said it was a relief to clinch a record equalling 22nd Grand Slam title as the American star made history with a Wimbledon final victory against Angelique Kerber from Germany.

• She has drawn level with Steffi Graf’s Open era record of major titles since winning Wimbledon in the past year
• The player defeated German fourth seed Kerber 7-5, 6-3 to secure a seventh Wimbledon title
• In her ninth final Wimbledon final, Serena was pushed hard to defeat her opponent and now equals Steffi Graf’s record

Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar was named a Gymnaste de Classe Mondaile (World class gymnast) by the International Gymnastics Federation/ FIG

• She had an official letter confirming the distinction from the federation on July 6, 2016
• She became the first Indian gymnast to receive this honour. The Agartala Tripura gymnast won the brazen medal at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth games, becoming the first Indianf female gymnast to do so
• She also received the Arjuna Award in 2015

With no Indian swimmer managing to attain the A qualification mark for Rio Olympics, the Swimming Federation of India selected Kerala’s Sajan Prakash and Haryana’s Shivani Kataria for representing India at the games.

• India got two quota for the Olympics.
• A qualification mark would have direct entry to Rio Olympics and a total of 5 swimmers have made the B cut.
• Sajan has trained in Phuket along with Shivani under the FINA scholarship

To bolster the anti-doping programme, the National Anti Doping Agency has signed a 2 year MoU with the Australian counterpart and international anti doping agency WADA.

• NADA, Australian Anti Doping Agency and World Anti Doping Agency to ensure India implements a more effective anti-doping programme fully compliant with the WADA Code.
• WADA’s role was to oversee the partnership including setting a timeline for the project and assisting with the implementation of work required.
• Scope of agreement included improvement of key aspects of NADA programme including testing and results management structures, more timely appeals processes, and a review of the agency’s structure to confirm the current structure enables autonomy in operational decision making.
• ASADA-NADA collaboration is part of a drive by WADA to promote knowledge exchange and enhance the quality of national anti-doping programs through NADO partnership program.
• 9 other NADO-NADO partnerships were struck in recent years including the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport providing assistance to the Jamaican Anti Doping Commission and Anti Doping Norway and the Chinese Anti Doping Agency supporting Kenya.

Javeline thrower Annu Rani on 2nd July 2016 bettered her national record with a 59.87m throw at the 56th National Inter State Senior Athletics Championship in Hyderabad

• Rani improved her previous meet mark with a first round 59.06m at GMC Balayogi Stadium
• Her 59.87 m throw came in the fourth round
• Suman Devi could only log 55.88m to snare second place
• Haryana’s Sharmila Kumari finished third with 53.80m throw
• Annu Rani is the current national record holder in javelin throw
• She is supported by Olympic Gold Quest and at the 2014 National Inter State Championship in Lucknow, Rani broke the national record held by Gurmeet Kaur with a throw of 58.83m.

Praneeth defeated South Korea’s Lee Hyun 2 in a 21-12, 21-10 match.

• Men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumesh Reddy also grabbed also grabbed Men’s doubles title in the tournament.
• Top seeded pair Attri and Reddy defeated Adrian Liu and Toby Ng in a lop sided finanl.
• This is the first Indian men’s doubles pair to qualify for the Rio Olympics 2016
• Praneeth ranks 33rd in BWF rating

Olympians Association of India was launched on July4, 2016 with the aim to look after former and current athletes from across the nation.

• It is a representative body of Olympians in India
• First and only non-profit organisation by Olympians for Olympians in India, OAI is directly affiliated to World Olympians Association under the International Olympic Committee.
• OAI proposes to look after the welfare of the former and current Olympians through careers and beyond found by acclaimed Olympians Shiva Keshavan, Viren Rasquinha, Malay Shroff, Adille Sumariwalla, Ashwini Nachappa, Saina Nehwal, Hakimuddin Habibulla and MC Mary Kom

Indian 4x100 m women’s relay team created a new national record at the Kazakhstan National Athletics Championships clocked 43.42 seconds in Almaty on 4th July, 2016.

• 4x100 relay quartet comprising Srabani Nanda, Dutee Chand, HM Jyothi and Merlin Jospeh improved their earlier national record of 44.03 seconds creating the IAAF World Challenge in Beijing in May.
• Indian women’s relay team has won the silver medal at the Almaty meet once the blocks were started
• Hosts Kazakhstan bagged gold with a timing of 42.92 seconds
• Indian 4x100 men’s relay team clinched the gold medal with a timing of 39.90 seconds.

Sports Ministry of India has granted recognition to the Paralympic Committee of India providing a huge confidence boost to para-athletes who have qualified for the Rio Paralympics.

• Move comes after the International Paralympic Committee announced temporary lifting of suspension imposed on the national body in the previous year so Indians can take part under the tricolour at this showpiece event
• Paralympics Games is a major international multi-sport event involving athletes with range of physical disabilities including impaired muscle power, impaired passive range of movement and limb deficiency
• There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games being held by the International Paralympic Committee

India’s Amul is the largest food products marketing organisation and it will be sponsoring the Indian contingent at the Rio Olympics 2016.

• Amul had also sponsored the Indian contingent at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
• Rio Olympics will host the largest Indian contingent with close to 100 sportspersons being part of it in August in Brazil
• Amul will be leveraging the connect with youth through sponsorship of the event.
• Its famous motto, Amul Doodh Pita Hai India will be used to cheer the Indian contingent
• Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative located in Anand Gujarat and shone through the efforts of founder chairman of GCMMF- Dr. Verghese Kurien.

Indian quarter miler Nirmala Sheoran made the cut for next month’s Rio Olympics after clocking 51.48 seconds in 400m in the National Inter-State Senior Athletics championships

• Nirmala improved her previous best by a huge margin
• Nirmala became the 24th track and field athlete to qualify for the Rio Olympics after she surpassed the Olympic qualification mark of 52.20 secs
• PT Usha trainee Jisna Mathew and TN’s PN Souwndharya took the other medals of the day

The Argentina women’s team on 27th June 2016 won the 2016 Champions Trophy Hockey title. To win the title, Argentina defeated the reigning World and Olympic champions the Netherlands 2-1.

• The final match was held at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in London, the UK.
• For Argentina, it was the 3rd consecutive title and the 7th title overall.