Sports - Current Affairs for May, 2017

C.A Bhavani Devi has become first Indian to win a Gold Medal in an international fencing tournament.

She has won the gold medal in the sabre event of the Turnoi Satellite Fencing Championship held at Reykjavik in Iceland.

In the final, she beat Sarah Jane Hampson of Great Britain 15-13 on points.

About C A Bhavani Devi

• Chadalavada Anandha Sundhararaman Bhavani Devi is a sabre fencer from Chennai.
• She had earlier won silver medal in another event.
• She is currently a fencing coach at Sagar Lagu’s training academy, the SAI Centre in Thalassery, Kerala. She beat Sarah Jane Hampson of Great Britain 15-13 on points, and another British fencer Jessica Corby 15-11 in the semifinal.
• Bhavani Devi became the first Indian to win a gold medal in an international fencing event.
• She had previously won a silver medal in a satellite event.
  She now trains at the Sports Authority of India centre at Thalassery.

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was conferred the much-desired International Cricketer of the Year award at the CEAT Cricket Rating (CCR) International awards 2017 on 24 May 2017.

The award was presented by former Indian Cricket Captain Sunil Gavaskar and Chairman of RPG Enterprises Harsh Goenka at a function held at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai.

The award is the player’s second one, as he had won the ICC Cricketer of the Year award in 2016 as well.

With this, he has joined the ranks of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, the only two other Indian cricketers to have received the honour.

The young Indian batsman Shubhman Gill won the Young player of the year award for his superb performance during the India-England U-19 ODI series, which was played in Mumbai.

R. Ashwin: Know More

• Born: 17 September 1986 (age 30), Chennai
• Height: 1.88 m
• Spouse: Prithi Narayanan
• Education: Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering
• Last T20I: 1 February 2017 v England

Alexander Zverev on 21 May 2017 defeated World No. 2 Novak Djokovic 2 6-4 6-3 to win the Italian Open. The final was held in Rome, Italy.

With the win, Zverev became the youngest Masters 1000 titlist since a 19-year-old Djokovic won the 2007 Miami Open presented by Itau.

Born on 20 April 1997, Alexander Zverev Jr. is a German professional tennis player.

He is the son of former Russian tennis player Alexander Zverev Sr. and the younger brother of tennis player Mischa Zverev.

He entered the ATP top 10 for the first time after defeating Novak Djokovic in the final of the Italian Open. Between October 2013 and June 2014, he was the No. 1 ranked boys junior player.

Italian Open: Know More

• The Italian Open is an annual tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. After the French Open, it is one of the most prestigious red clay tennis tournaments in the world.
• The men’s competition is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour, and the women’s competition is a Premier 5 event on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour.
• The tournament is also known as the Rome Masters and the Italian Championships.
• Rafael Nadal has won the title a record seven times.
• The 2016 Italian Open Men’s Singles title was won by Andy Murray.
• The 2017 Italian Open Women’s Singles title was won by Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.

Indian cricket team has retained its top position in the latest ICC Test rankings with 123 points.

The Indian team is six points ahead of second placed South Africa. Australia has been placed at the third place with 100 points followed by England at 4th (99 points), New Zealand at 5th (97 points), Pakistan at 6th (93 points), Sri Lanka at 7th (91 points), West Indies at 8th (75 points), Bangladesh at 9th (69 points) and Zimbabwe at 10th with zero points.

While Indian and South African teams have improved their performance, Australia, England and Pakistan have made downward movements.

During recent matches, India registered series wins against West Indies last year and defeated New Zealand, England and Australia in home series.

Out of the total 13 matches played in India, the Indian team have registered 10 wins, 2 loses and one draw.

In the ICC ODI Championship Rankings, Indian team has been placed at third position after South Africa and Australia

In the ICC Twenty20 Championship Rankings, India occupies fourth position after New Zealand, England and Pakistan.

In the ICC Women’s Championships Rankings, Indian Women’s team is at fourth position after Australia, England and NewZealand.

Indian cricketer Suresh Raina launched Gracia Raina Foundation (GRF) on 15 May 2017.

It is dedicated to creating awareness and work closely with mothers and children who require help ranging from physical and mental issues.

The announcement was made by the cricketer along with his wife Priyanka on the occasion of his daughter, Gracia Raina’s first birthday.

The foundation aims to work towards physical wellness of mother and child by providing the mother with knowledge and information about pregnancy, child care post birth and nutritional needs to keep them physically healthy.

It also aims to impart skills to the underprivileged mothers in order to enable them to earn a livelihood for sustainable living.

Besides this, it also aims to provide the pregnant women with a community where they can share their problems and get guidance from when needed, thus helping them in their mental wellness.

It also aims to empower women to make informed decisions about themselves and their children. The foundation believes the best way to unlock human potential is through the power of creative collaborations.

Suresh Raina: Know More

• Born: 27 November 1986, Muradnagar
• Height: 1.73 m
• Spouse: Priyanka Chaudhary (m. 2015)
• Children: Gracia Raina
• Current teams: India national cricket team (#3 / Batsman), Gujarat Lions (Batsman), Uttar Pradesh cricket team (Batsman)

The 19-year-old Motorsports’ Indian driver, who drives for Jenzer Motorsport, has become the first Indian to win a GP3 Series (a feeder series to GP2) race at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Arjun Maini is supported by JK Racing and TVS.

This victory has moved Arjun Maini into third place in the driver’s championship standings after completion of the first round of the eight-round GP3 series.

He has 23 points. Nirei Fukuzumi of Japan leads the championship standings with 29 points, followed by Alessio Lorandi of Italy with 25 points.

This is the third instance that the Indian National Anthem was played during an F1 weekend with the first two played after Karun Chandhok’s two wins in GP2.

GP3 rounds are held as support events during F1 Grand Prixs.

GP3 is a single seater motor racing series which was launched in 2010 as a feeder series for the GP2 Series.

Ex Indian batsman V V S Laxman on 11 May 2017 was awarded an honorary life membership to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).

He is the fifth Indian to receive the honour, after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan.

Born on 1 November 1974, Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman is a former Indian cricketer. He was a right-hand aggressive batsman, who played mostly in the lower middle order.

He is significantly known for his numerous match-winning and saving innings. His knock of 281 against them in Eden Gardens in 2001 is often considered as the greatest ever test-innings.

In 2011, he was honoured with the Padma Shri award.

He is one of the few players who have played 100 Tests but have never played in a Cricket World Cup.

In 2002, he was named one of Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Year. In 2012, he retired from international cricket.

MCC: Know More

• Marylebone Cricket Club is a London based cricket club.
• It was founded in the year 1787.
• It is located at Lord’s in St John’s Wood, London NW8.
• It was formerly the governing body of cricket both in England and Wales as well as worldwide.
• In 1993, many of its global functions were transferred to the International Cricket Council (ICC) and its English governance passed to the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) simultaneously.

Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat & Divya Kakran have bagged silver medals at the Asian Wrestling Championship held at the KD Jadhav Stadium in New Delhi.

Wrestler Sakshi, India’s bronze medallist at the Rio Olympics was strong in her first two rounds against Uzbekistan’s Nabira Esenbaeva and then Kazakhstan’s Ayaulym Kassymova.

She was defeated by Rio Gold medallist Risako Kawai of Japan and got settled for a silver medal in the 60 kg category.

Divya Kakran and Vinesh Phogat bagged silver in the 69 kg and 55kg categories respectively.

About the Championship

• In the championship, 112 freestyle,103 Greco-Roman and 83 female wrestlers are competing for 24 Gold and Silver, and 48 bronze medals.
• Asian Wrestling Championships are organized every year by the Asian Associated Wrestling Committee (AAWC).
• While the men’s wrestling tournament began in 1979, women’s tournament began in 1996.

She has become the highest wicket-taker in one-day internationals.

Jhulan Goswami has so far taken 181 wickets in 153 matches.

She has broken the world record held by Australia fast bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick who has taken 180 wickets during India’s ongoing match against South Africa in the Women’s Quadrangular Series.

She achieved this feat with the wicket of No.11 batsman Raisibe Ntozakhe of South Africa.

About the Indian Women’s Cricket Team

• Captain: Mithali Raj
• Coach: Tushar arothe
• Association: Board of Control for Cricket in India
• Location: India
• ICC status: Full member (1926)
• ICC region: Asia

• Jhulan Goswami is a right arm fast bowler who made her one-day debut back in 2002.
• She is considered as one of the fastest bowlers in the women’s cricket.
• Her top bowling figures is 6 for 31.
• Till now (May 2017), she has two five-wicket hauls in ODIs.
• She was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2010 and Padma Shri in 2012.

Bengaluru FC striker Sunil Chhetri on 2 May 2017 won the coveted Hero of the League 2016-17 Award.

Chhetri won the most number of votes cast by coaches and captains of the 10 teams, which took part in the I-League.

The striker had scored seven goals for fourth-place finishers Bengaluru FC.

Khalid Jamil, who guided Aizawl FC to a historic title win, was chosen as the Coach of the Year.

He was honoured with the Syed Abdul Rahim Best Coach Award.

About Sunil Chhetri

• Born on 3 August 1984, Sunil Chhetri is an Indian professional footballer.
• He plays as a striker for Indian club Bengaluru FC and the Indian national team.
• He is an all-time top goalscorer for the India national team.
• He also served as the captain of the national team from 2011 till 2016.
• He helped India win the 2007 Nehru Cup, 2009 Nehru Cup, the 2012 Nehru Cup as well as the 2011 SAFF Championship.
• He has also been named AIFF Player of the Year four times in 2007, 2011, 2013 and 2014.

India slipped to the fourth position in the ICC Twenty20 International team rankings in the annual update of the rankings by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 1 May 2017.

India dropped two places by having lost six points, giving Pakistan and England an edge to slide higher in the rankings list.

In the updated list, New Zealand retained its top position with 125 points despite dropping two points. England with 121 points climbed up three places to the second position after gaining seven points.

Pakistan too joined England on 121 points after gaining five points but was placed third for being behind England by a fraction of a point.

South Africa with 111 points holds the fifth position.

Australia also moved up one place replacing current ICC World Twenty20 champions West Indies at the sixth position with 110 points.

The teams at the 5th, 6th and the 7th position are separated by just a single point.

The new ranking system ensures that the teams are evaluated more on the basis of their recent form, phasing out the older records.

Going by the new rankings, Australia (host nation) and the next nine highest ranked teams will automatically qualify for the 2020 World T20 Championship, the tournament’s seventh edition.

India’s top cueist Pankaj Advani lost to China’s Lv Haotian in the summit clash of Asian Snooker Championship.

Advani lost 3-6 in the final to his Chinese opponent.

Having won all the major events - Nationals, Asian and World Championships in both Billiards and Snooker and in both the long and short formats, this is the one title (15-red Asian Snooker) that has eluded Advani.

A victory will make Advani only player in history to win all Majors in two sports at all levels and across all formats.

Asian Snooker Championship: Know More

• ACBS Asian Snooker Championship is the premier non-professional snooker tournament in Asia.
• The event series is sanctioned by the Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports.
• It started from 1984.