Sports - Current Affairs for October, 2016

The Indian football team on 20th Oct 2016 achieved the best ever FIFA ranking in more than 6 years- the team jumped 11 places to be 137th on the list
India defeated Puerto Rico ranked 114th in Sept 2016

• In August 2010, India was ranked 137th which had been its best FIFA ranking since then
• The Indian team was ranked 171st in February 2015 and slipped to 173rd in March 2015
• Currently, Argentina tops the FIFA World Rankings followed by Germany and Brazil
• FIFA World ranking is a ranking system for men’s national teams in association football
• The teams of member nations of FIFA are ranked based on their game results with most successful teams attaining higher rankings
• The rankings were introduced in December 1992 and 8 teams have held the top position since then
• Brazil has attained the first ranking for the longest time
• Eight teams included Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain
• A points system is used, with points being awarded based on results of FIFA recognised international matches
• The ranking system was revamped after the 2006 World Cup

Japan’s Morinari Watanabe on 20th Oct 2016 was elected the new President of the International Gymnastics Federation

• Watanabe has emerged victorious in the election after defeating rival candidate Georges Guelzec of France by a massive margin in a vote in the governing body’s Congress
• Watanabe is the secretary-general of the Japan Gymnastics Association who won 100 of the 119 votes
• Guelzec, the head of European Union of Gymnastics received just 19 votes
• Watanabe has become the ninth president of the FIG since it was established in 1881
• He succeeded Bruno Grandi who held this position for 20 years
• Watanabe is scheduled to take charge on January 1, 2016
• The International Federation of Gymnastics is a governing body of competitive gymnastics
• It was headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland
• It was founded on 23rd July 1881 in Liege Belgium
• It is the world’s existing international sports organisation originally known as the European Federation of Gymnastics
• It has three member nations namely Belgium. France and the Netherlands till 1921 when non European countries were admitted and it received its current name
• The federation sets rules called the Code of Points that regulate how gymnasts’ performances are assessed
• 6 gymnastics disciplines are governed by the FIG– artistic gymnastics, (men’s artistic gymnastics and women’s artistic gymnastics), rhythmic gymnastics, aerobic gymnastics, acrobatic gymnastics, and trampoline
• The federation is also responsible for determining if gymnasts are old enough to participate in the Olympics

Ace Indian shuttler, Saina Nehwal has been appointed as member of the International Olympics Committee’s IOC Athletes Commission.

• A letter to this effect was received by the badminton ace from IOC President Thomas Bach on 17th Oct 2016
• The Athletes Commission is chaired by Angela Ruggiero and it comprises 9 vice presidents and 10 other members
• Saina has been appointed to the panel days after she resumed practice following recovery from a knee injury
• The IOC Athletes Commission is a body maintained by the International Olympic Committee for representing athletes
• It was established in 1981 by the President of the IOC in that year, Juan Antonio Samaranch and its creation was codified by the IOC in Rule 21 of the Olympic Charter
• The commission is a consultative body whose function is the link between active athletes and the IOC
• It has made recommendations to the IOC’s executive bodies and its chair serves as member of the IOC Executive Board
• Commission meets once or twice in a year
• It organises an Athletes Forum once every two years
• It works in liaison with athletes commissions of the Continental Associations, Individual National Olympic Committees and the International Sports Foundation

Brazil on 15th oct 2016 won the first BRICS U-17 football tournament in the title clash played at Nehru stadium of Goa

• Brazil defeated South Africa 5-1
• Earlier in the match for the 3rd place between Russia and China, Russia defeated China 2-1.
• The 10 day BRICS tournament transcends the traditional sphere of interaction and opens new vistas in the field of sports
• The sports tournament spurs India’s impetus to Khelo India and Mission 11 Million.

Jason Yengkhom from Manipur became the first India to win a gold medal in the World Junior Wushu championships

• Yengkhom won in the boys 52 kg Sanshou event and the 6th edition of the championships in Bulgaria beating China’s Jun Yuang
• India’s Thoudam Malemnganbi and Roshibina Naorem won the silver and bronze respectively
• China ranks no 1 and Iran no.2 generally but India has broken the records this time
• Wushu is an exhibition and full contact sport derived from traditional Chinese martial arts
• It was developed in the 1940s in China after efforts to standardise the practice of traditional martial arts
• Wushu comprises two disciplines- taulo and sanda; while the former involves martial arts patterns and manoeuvres, the latter is a modern fighting method and sport influenced by traditional Chinese boxing
• World Wushu Championships are held every two years and organised by the International Wushu Federation.

Dustin Johnson was named PGA Tour Player of the Year on 11th Oct, 2016 following a breakthrough season where he landed his first major after leading the United States to victory in the Ryder Cup.

• The 32-year-old worked his way up to the top after overcoming personal problems and testing positive for cocaine in 2014
• Johnson’s season saw him win the US Open as well as the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and BMW Championship
• In 22 starts, the world number two posted 15 top 10 finishes and made 21 cuts
• Johnson has won an average of one PGA tour event in 9 consecutive seasons dating back to the rookie year in 2008
• This marks the longest active streak on the Tour
• His triumphant campaign comes after many setbacks and a voluntary sabbatical.

Indian shooter Jitu Rai on Oct 6,2016 won the silver medal in the 50m pistol event of the ISSF World Cup Final in Bologna, Italy.

• 29-year-old Jitu settled for silver shooting a score of 188.8 to finish behind China’s Wei Pang who scored 190.6
• Italy's Guiseppe Giordano settled for bronze
• Jitu equalled his own national record in the qualification round
• Jitu had earlier won the Silver medal in the ISSF World Cup in Baku Azerbaijan in the 10m air pistol event
• In the Rio games, he finished 8th in the men’s 10m pistol final

Athletes with robotic prostheses from across the globe will gather in Zurich to be part of the world’s first Cybathlon

• They will compete across the a number of disciplines to test latest assistive technologies
• Races are there for powered wheelchairs and exoskeletons.
• There's a competition to complete a set of tasks with a robotic arm, and a similar one for robotic legs.
• The cycling race only allows for pedalling by the artificial stimulation of motor nerves.
• The most fascinating one is the Brain Computer Interface race where athletes paralysed from neck down play a game using electrodes connected to the brain; the specially created game involves using avatars to score points
• The Cybathlon has been thought of by Robert Riener, a professor of Sensory-Motor Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
• "We want to motivate developers to create technologies that provide real support to people in daily life," he explains.
• The Paralympics forbids the use of assistive technologies unlike the Cybathlon

Bengaluru’s Kieren Dsouza has become the first Indian to complete the Spartathlon, widely described as the “world’s toughest race”.

• The 23-year old completed the distance of 246.6 km in the 2016 edition , in 33.1.38 hours,The Spartathlon is an annual run held each year between Athens and Sparta in Greece, with a reported success rate of 50%.
• In 2015, he became the fastest Indian to run above 100 miles by winning the Salomon Bhatti Lakes Ultra Marathon.
• Kieren has been in top form, heading into the Spartathlon. Last year, he completed the 222 km La Ultra in Ladakh, and again became the only Indian to do so.
• However, he believes that running is the easiest part of his sport.

Javelin thrower Annu Rani smashed her own national record to become the first Indian woman to cross the 60m mark on the third and final day of the 56th Open National Athletics Championship on 29th Sept 2016

• She won bronze in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games as well
• Annu Rani threw the javelin to a distance of 60.01m to better her earlier national mark of 59.87m
• The earlier record was made during the National Inter State Championships in Hyderabad
• 24-year-old Annu representing railways secured her fourth national record in 2 years
• Poonam Rani of ONGC won silver with the effort of 56.73m while bronze went to K Rashmi from Indian railways with 51.56m
• In the men’s jump, for the first time in Indian athletics history, the top three finishers cleared 2.20m
• Tejaswin Shankar won gold with an effort of 2.22m while Chetan and Sreenith Mohan bagged silver and bronze by clearing 2.20m
• Commonwealth Youth Games champion Tejaswin added 5cm to his personal best to win gold and equalled Jithin Thomas’s 2.22m, a record since 2012