Sports - Current Affairs for October, 2015

Hockey India has signed a 3 year MoU with SAI to enable hockey to retain its position as the leading sport of the nation. SAI will promote hockey to regain top position in the country and it is also among the most popular sports in the world. Sports Authority of India/SAI will work with HI to also improve the coaching and talent identification system in India.

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports, Sarbananda Sonowal on 28 October 2015 inaugurated Games Secretariat of the SAF games at Meghalaya’s capital Shillong. This marks the first time an event of international level is taking place in NE India. The Secretariat would oversee the smooth functioning of the SAF Games.The 12th SAF Games will be held in Guwahati and Shillong from 6 February to 16 February 2016.

Indian archer Deepika Kumari has won the silver medal in the Archery World Cup Final held in Mexico City losing first place to South Korea’s Chou Misun. She is currently world number 5. She won her first World Cup individual stage recurve gold medal at Turkey in 2012. She is also the winner of the 2012 Arjuna award and FICCI sportsperson of the year in 2014.

India has retained second place in ICC ODI rankings despite 2-3 series defeat to S. Africa in Mumbai. S. Africa reclaimed third position in the rankings. Skipper AB. de Villiers retained his number one ranking in the latest ICC ranking.

Indian skipper M. S. Dhoni climbed up two rungs to sixth place in ICC batsmen rankings released on 26th October 2015. He holds a 11 point advantage over Shikar Dhawan. Other cricketers who experienced gains include Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma. Captain Virat Kohli is second after scoring 3 sets of 100 runs in 5 matches. Hashim Alma dropped to fifth place. For bowling, Mitchell Starc from Australia retained the top spot.

In the 5th ODI between India and S. Africa, the latter beat the hosts by 214 runs sealing the first ever bilateral series win in the country. Centuries were scored by AB de Villiers, Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis attaining a massive 3-2 series win.

Afghanistan created history on 24th October 2015 when they became the first Associate nation to defeat a Test playing nation in an ODIs series with massive 73 run win over Zimbabwe. This ensured that Afghanistan will secure a 3-2 series win following the first 4 games between the two sides.

Ace Indian badminton player S. Nehwal lost her World Number 1 spot to World Champion Carolina Marin in an update of BWF rankings on 22nd October 2015. Her performance in the previous two tournaments- Japan Open and Denmark Open has led to a fall to position no.2 in women’s singles. P. V. Sindhu retained the rank 13 despite reaching the Denmark Open final. In men’s singles, players like K. Srikanth, P. Kashyap and H. S. Prannoy dropped in rankings.

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri won the inaugural Hilton Asian Tour Golfer of the Month Award based on his performance in the months from June to September. Lahiri (b 1987) turned professional in 2007. He has also won the Arjuna Award for Golf, besides being the first Indian to be part of the President Cups International team. He is ranked 39th in the world and is currently leading the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Raipur Rangers, a franchise of the Champions Tennis League has appointed Anil Kumble as a brand ambassador. Rapid Rangers is co-owned by A. Mishra and C. Tiwari. It constitutes players like Ramanathan Ramkumar and Thomas Muster. CTL was conceived by former Indian tennis ace Vijay Amritraj in 2014.

India's tennis player Saketh Myneni on 18 October 2015 defeated Australia's Jordan Thompson 7-5 6-3 to win the Vietnam Tennis Open in the men’s singles. He was runner up with Indian Sanam Singh after being defeated in the final 6-1 3-6 8-10 to Tristan Lamasine (France) and Nils Langer (Germany). This is his first singles ATP Challenger title of 2015. It is also his second overall singles title at Challenger level, the other title he won being Indore Open in October a year back.

This council headed by Prof V.K. Malhotra, being its President in the rank of Minister of State. All India Council of Sports includes the following members:

- Sachin Tendulkar, MP (Rajya Sabha),
- P.T. Usha (Athletics),
- Limba Ram (Archery),
- N. Kunjarani Devi (Weightlifting),
- I.M. Vijayan (Football),
- P. Gopichand (Badminton),
- Baichung Bhutia (Football),
- Uday Shankar, CEO Star India,
- Vishwanathan Anand (Chess),
- Sandeep Pradhan, Director General, Sports Authority of Gujarat, Secretary (Sports), Government of Madhya Pradesh,
- Secretary (Sports), Government of Assam,
- President/Secretary General, Indian Olympic Association,
- Secretary, Department of Sports, Government of India,
- Director General, Sports Authority of India,
- Director General, National Anti Doping Agency,
- Vice Chancellor, Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education (LNIPE),
- Joint Secretary, Department of Sports, Government of India, as members.
- Secretary, Sports Authority of India is Member Secretary of the Council.

After close to 10 years as the Maharashtra Badminton Association President, Pradeep Gandhe has taken the decision to step down from his post. He has been replaced by Arun Lakhani as the new president. Gandhe stepped down after 11 years of active service. Lakhani has been a member of the Executive Committee of MBA and has been associated with the sport since college days.

PV SIndhu beat Carolina Marin to reach the final of the Denmark Open Super series in Odense on 17th October 2015. After beating Tai Tau Ying and Wang Yihan of China, she suffered a straight game defeat against Olympic champion Li Xuerui who notched up a 21-19, 21-12 win.

IDBI Federal Life Insurance has announced a partnership with Cricket Association of Bengal to strengthen state cricket. Recently, its youngest president Sourav Ganguly has created a roadmap for rejuvenating the cricket dynamics of the state. Vision 2020 project will be established to hone talent by CAB with eminent cricket legends such as VVS Laxman and TA Sekhar.

Michael Conlan became the first Irish boxer to win an AIBA World Boxing Championship title. Belfast based Conlan who is a EU and Commonwealth Champion won against Uzbekistan's Murodjon Akhmadaliev. During the championship, another record was also set when Cuban boxer Joahnys Argilagos won gold, aged just 18 beating Russia's Vasili Egorov.

Indian cricketer Zaheer Khan who had debuted in 2000, announced his retirement from international cricket on 15th October 2015. He is counted as a leading pacer in Indian cricket. He has taken 311 wickets in tests and 282 in ODIs.

Female bodybuilder from India, Shweta Rathore during the first week of October 2015 won a silver medal at the 49th Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Championship in Uzbekistan. She won the silver in the Women’s Fitness Physique category and also qualified for the World Championship to be held in November 2015 at Thailand. She is also a bronze medalist at World Bodybuilding and Physique fitness Championship. The 49th Edition of the WBPF Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Championship was organised by the World Bodybuilding and Physique Federation.

Novak Djokovic on 11 October 2015 won the China Open Men’s Singles title crushing Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-2 6-2. This was the 4th consecutive win in Beijing for him since 2012. He is the only player to have won this title 6 times. Remaining two titles were in 2010 and 2009. Djokovic is the only man in the Open era to reach 4 major finals along with Rod Laver and Roger Federer.

Lewis Hamilton has emerged victorious at the Russian Formula One Grand Prix attaining a possible third world championship. This was Hamilton’s 9th win in the season and the 42nd of his career. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was the runner up while Force India’s Mexican Sergio Perez finished third.

Spain’s Garbine Mugururza on 11th October 2015 has captured the China Open women’s singles title by beating Swiss player Timea Bacsinszky. Muruguza has emerged victorious through a 3-0 record against her rival, aiding her to attain a career high singles ranking of World Number 4. This was Muguruza’s second title after the first win at Hobart International in 2014. She also entered the finals of 2015 Wimbledon Championship and made an appearance in the 2014 and 2015 French Open.

Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis has won the women’s doubles title of the China Tennis Open defeating the Chinese Taipei pair of Hao Ching Chan and Yung Jan Chan 6-7(9), 6-1, 10-8. The pair has now won its fourth title in the row and the eighth title of the season. The other 7 titles Mirza and Hingis have won comprise Charleston, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Wells, Miami, Wimbledon, Charleston, and US Open.

Asian bronze medallist Shiv Thapa settled for a bronze medal at the World Boxing Championships, remaining in contention for an Olympic berth. He lost 1-2 to Asian silver medallist Murodjon Akhmadaliev from Uzbekistan. 20 year old Thapa will now face Dmitry Asanau in an important bout. He is only the third India following Vikas Krishnan and Vijender Singh to secure a World Championships medal.

Lightweight boxer Dheeraj Rangi snagged a silver medal in the World Military Games held in South Korea’s Mungyeong district. He lost to Yahia Abdeulli from Algeria, 3-0. Mohammed Husamuddin, Devanshu Jaiswal and Narendra Berwal also claimed bronze medals. Haryana player Rangi has also been part of the Sports Excellence Programme of JSW for the past 2 years.

FIFA provisionally suspended its president Sepp Blatter, secretary general Jerome Valcke and vice-president Michel Platini for 90 days. The ethics committee handed out the punishment following allegations of corruption against the three. FIFA also banned ex vice president Chung Mong-joon for 6 years.Issa Hayatou, head of Africa's football confederation CAF will act as the interim FIFA president during Blatter's ban. Blatter was the 8th president of FIFA. FBI and IRS-CI are currently investigating cause of corruption against him in scrutiny of collusion between officials of continental football bodies CONMEBOL (South America) and CONCACAF and sports marketing executives.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, on 7th October 2015 gave its ex-post facto approval for circulation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Agreement on cooperation in the field of sports signed with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. This MoU was signed in the month of July, 2015. Bilateral exchange programmes in the field of sports between India and Kazakhstan and India and Turkmenistan will assist in expanding knowledge and expertise in the areas of sports science, sports medicine as well as coaching techniques besides improvement in performance of Indian sportspersons in international tournaments.

Russian player Sergey Karjakin has won the 2015 FIDE World Chess Cup beating Peter Svidler 6-4 in the final at Azerbaijan’s capital Baku. The latter player also hails from Russia. Both won two classical games and the title was contended in the tie breakers. By reaching the final, both players have qualified for the 2016 Candidates Chess Tournament. The Chess World Cup is one of the prized competitions along with the World Championship and the Candidates Tournament. Russian chess grandmaster Sergey Karjakin is from Ukraine and currently world number 11 in FIDE World Rankings.

China won the International Basketball Federation Asia Championship by defeating Philippines on 3rd October 2015. This qualifies the country for direct entry to 2016 Rio Olympics. While Philippines was second, Iran secured third place in the tournament. India secured the eighth position in the tournament.

Shashank Manohar has been formally elected BCCI president at the SGM of the board. Following his election he announced a slew of measures to face various issues such as conflict of interest, corruption in cricket and so forth. Manohar has announced BCCI would appoint independent official to preside over issues pertaining to conflict of interest. He was elected unopposed following the death of incumbent J. Dalmiya with the support of India’s ruling party, BJP.

Ace Indian tennis player Sania Mirza won the seventh title with Swiss partner Martina Hingis following their victory in the Wuhan Open women’s doubles trophy on 3rd October 2015. The winning pair defeated Romanian team of Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu 6-2, 6-3 in the title clash.Following this win, the Indo-Swiss pairing has 7 WTA titles namely Wuhan, Indian Wells, Charleston, Miami, Wimbledon, Guangzhou and US Open. They have won last 3 tournaments and 13 matches without losing a single set.

Indian pistol shooter Heena Sindhu won the gold medal at the 10m air pistol event at the 8th Asian Air Gun Championships in New Delhi. She is the first shooter from India to be ranked number 1 in the world. Shweta Singh won the silver medal while Korean shooter Seon. A Kim settled for bronze. Indian shooter Yashaswini Singh Deshwal has finished fourth in the final. India won an impressive haul of 17 medals, including 6 gold, to top the championships. Iran took second place while Taipei was third.

BAI had announced the appointment of Sportzlive as official marketing and sponsorship partner for second season of Indian Badminton League scheduled from January 2nd to 17th in 2016. The company is associated with investing and creating sports IPR in India and its key promoters are Gaurav Bahal and Atul Pande, associated with more than 25 years of collective sports and media experience. Deal gives Sportzville the right to approach corporates, brands and business owners for sponsorship and franchisee slots in League. IBL will feature 6 franchise teams across India to boost the experience with the inclusion of talented domestic and international players. Player auctions have been scheduled for November 20, 2015.