Sports - Current Affairs for November, 2017

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to be in contravention of the provisions of Section 4(1) read with Section 4(2)(c) of the Competition Act, 2002 (Act) for its assurance to the broadcasters of Indian Premier League (IPL) that BCCI shall not organize, sanction, recognize, or support another professional domestic Indian T20 competition that is competitive to IPL, for a sustained period of ten years. After a detailed investigation by the DG, CCI found that BCCI enjoys a dominant position in the market for organisation of professional domestic cricket leagues/ events in India. Based on the nature of activities performed, BCCI has been held as an enterprise and thus, would come under the purview of the Act. While recognising the role of sports federation in taking measures to serve the integrity or development of the sport, CCI held that the impugned restriction had no nexus to the legitimate interest of cricket in the country. Rather, the restriction was pursued to enhance the commercial interest of the bidders of IPL broadcasting rights and the consideration in turn received by BCCI. Therefore, the impugned restriction has been held to be in contravention of Section 4(1) read with Section 4(2)(c) of the Act. A penalty of INR 52.24 crore has also been imposed on BCCI for indulging into the anticompetitive conduct.

Gopi Thonakal created history by becoming first Indian man to win Asian Marathon Championship. He achieved the feat in the 16th edition of the prestigious event held at Dongguan in China. He clocked 2 hours 15 minutes and 48 seconds to clinch gold medal. Uzbekistan's Andrey Petrov won silver medal while Byambalev Tseveenravdan of Mongolia won bronze medal

India's Ritu Phogat has won Silver medal in Under-23 Senior World Wrestling held in Poland. She won silver medal in 48 kg category. She entered into final by defeating Bulgarian Wrestler Selishka in Quarter finals and Chinese Wrestler Jiang Zhu in the semi-final. In the gold medal bout (in the final match), she lost against Turkish Wrestler Evin Demirhan and stand in second with a silver medal. Another young Indian wrestler, Divya Kakran, came close to a medal but lost in the bronze medal bout.

Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani clinched his 17^th world title after he thrashed his arch-rival Mike Russell of England in the IBSF World Billiards Championship at Doha in Nov 2017. Advani beat Russell 6-2 (0-155, 150-128, 92-151, 151-0, 151-6, 151-0, 150-58, 150-21) to defend the 150-up format title he had won in Bengaluru last year. Advani, winner of maximum number of world titles in any sport by an Indian, increased his total by one more as he dominated the remainder of the final. He clinically constructed lethal breaks of 151, 151, 151, 145 and 110 to completely dismantle his longstanding rival. Earlier in the tournament, Advani had overcome fellow Indian Rupesh Shah in the semi-finals 5-2, while Russell got the better of Singapore's Peter Gilchrist 5-1.

Mary Kom won her fifth gold at the Asian Championships. After fighting in the 51 kg category for the past three years, Mary, a Rajya Sabha MP, had shifted to 48 and this was her first international championship in the new weight class. She scored a 5-0 win over Kim Hyang Hi of North Korea in Ho Ch Minh City, Vietnam. She made a comeback for the 2014 CWG trials, where she missed out on a spot with a narrow loss against Pinki Jangra in 51 Kg. Mary won the gold medal at Asian Games in Incheon before taking a six month break once again. Nov 8's final saw Mary making use of counter punches and blanking Kim in all the rounds. Mary Kom: Know More

• Chungneijang Mary Kom Hmangte (born 24 November 1982), better known as Mary Kom, is an Olympic Indian boxer hailing from the Kom tribe in Manipur.
• She is a five-time World Amateur Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships.
• Nicknamed "Magnificent Mary", she is the only Indian woman boxer to have qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics, competing in the flyweight (51 kg) category and winning the bronze medal.
• She has also been ranked as No. 4 AIBA World Women's Ranking Flyweight category.
• She became the first Indian woman boxer to get a Gold Medal in the Asian Games in 2014 in Incheon, South Korea.
• On 26 April 2016, Kom was nominated by the President of India as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.
• In March 2017, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, appointed Mary Kom along with Akhil Kumar as national observers for boxing.

India had to wait long for their second Women's Asia Cup title with the last one coming way back in 2004 India edged past China 5-4 via shootout to win the women's Asia Cup hockey title here on Sunday. With this, India also qualified for next year's World Cup as Continental champion. It was skipper Rani Rampal who scored the winning goal while Savita Punia made a great save in sudden death. Savita was adjudged Goalkeeper-of-the-Tournament while Monica won the Woman-of-the-Match award. Final: India 1 (Navjot Kaur) bt China 1 (Tiantian Luo) in shootout. Third place: Korea 1 (Hyejeong Shin) bt Japan 0.

Shooter Heena Sidhu continued her terrific form this year winning gold in the women's 10m Air Pistol event at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships, Brisbane on 30^th Oct 2017. She scored 240.8 in the final to beat Australian Elena Galiabovitch, who shot 238.2 to settle for silver. Bronze went to Kristy Gillman (213.7) of Australia. London Olympic bronze-medallist Gagan Narang finished fourth in the same event, while Ravikumar ended fifth. Narang shot 626.2 in the qualification to create Commonwealth record. Sidhu in October 2017, paired with Jitu Rai at the ISSF World Cup final in New Delhi had won gold for India. The pair had finished with 483.4 points to beat France with 481.1. This was her third gold with Rai after the duo had claimed the top spots in the same event at the ISSF World Cup in Delhi in February and ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol series in Gabala, Azerbaijan. In May, she had won bronze in the women's 10 air pistol event at the Grand Prix of Liberation Plaza Shooting Championships in the Czech Republic, shooting 218.8 in the eight-woman final, in an event won by Rio Olympic gold and bronze medalist Anna Korakaki of Greece.

Roger Federer claimed an eighth Swiss Indoor title when he outlasted Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 in front of a partisan Basel crowd. The 36-year-old beaten by Del Potro in consecutive Basel finals in 2012 and 2013, has managed to win back. Victory means Federer trails world number one Rafael Nadal by 1,460 points going into the Paris Masters where 1,000 points are on offer for the champion. Del Potro would have moved into the eighth and final qualifying spot for London had he claimed a third Basel title, but now must reach the semi-finals at least in the French capital to make it to the season-ending tournament. Roger Federer has overtaken Ivan Lendl by winning his 95th career singles title after beating Juan Martin del Potro in three sets in the final of the Swiss Indoors in Basel. The 19-time Grand Slam champion was made to work early by the big-serving Argentine, coming back from a set down to win 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3. It is Federer's seventh title of the calendar year-the first time he has managed that feat in a decade. Del Potro-who was on an eight-match winning streak having won in Stockholm a week ago - provided stern resistance in the first set, saving six break points.

M. V. Sridhar, a central figure in Hyderabad cricket circles, passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest at his residence in Banjara Hills. A man of multiple talents, Sridhar was a qualified doctor-turned cricketer-administrator who swiftly rose up the ranks. He resigned last month as the BCCI’s Cricket Operations Manager - a position he held for four years during which he interacted with the players, selectors, Board officials, members of different committees and even attended ICC meets. Doc, as he was fondly called, is also credited for the smooth handling of ‘Monkey Gate’ controversy involving Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds during India’s 2008 tour of Australia, a pointer to his communication skills. He was the Indian team’s media manager then. MV Sridhar: Know More

• The former Hyderabad captain was also the tournament director when India hosted the Twenty20 World Cup in 2016.
• Before that, he served the Hyderabad Cricket Association as secretary and joint secretary between 2000 and 2014.
• Prior to that, he dazzled on the field to become Hyderabad’s highest run-getter.
• A right-handed batsman, Sridhar played 97 first-class matches between 1988 and 2000 and scored 6,701 runs at an average of 48.91 with 21 centuries and 27 fifties. He also played in 35 List ‘A’ games and scored 930 runs at 29.06, with five half-centuries and a highest of 78 not out.
• His best was the staggering 366 in Hyderabad’s record-breaking total of 944/6 declared against Andhra at the Gymkhana ground (home) in the 1993-94 Ranji Trophy season.
• That individual score remains the highest for Hyderabad and the third highest in India behind Bhausaheb Nimbalkar’s 443 not out (for Maharashtra against Kathiawar in 1948) and Sanjay Manjrekar’s 377 (for Bombay against Hyderabad in 1991).
• Besides serving as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) General Manager from 2013, Sridhar had been involved in administration in various capacities for a number of years.