Sports - Current Affairs for September, 2016

Indian women’s Kabbadi team on 28th Sept 2016 bagged a gold medal at the 5th Asian Beach Games.

• In the summit clash played at Danang in Vietnam, the team defeated Thailand 41-31
• This was the fifth gold in succession for the Indian team
• The team has been giving stellar performance and winning a gold medal since the biennial games were first held in 2008
• This also marks the fifth time in the row that India won over Thailand in the final
• Indian men’s beach kabaddi team won silver losing to Pakistan 28-30
• The Indian team has won gold in men’s cabbed in 2008 and 2010
• In Kurash, a form of wrestling originated in Uzbekistan, Amisha Tokas won silver in women’s 70kg category after losing to Nguyen Thi Lan of Vietnam in the final
• In beach bodybuilding, Manoj Kumar Majumdar won a bronze in up to 158cm category
• India has won a total of 6 medals- one gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze, making it 15th in the medals tally headed by Vietnam (25 gold medals, 22 silver and 27 bronze).

India’s first international football event is the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

• Local organising committee for the World Cup on 27th Sept showcase the official emblem for the event
• The U-17 World Cup will be held in six venues across the country
• Emblem of the first ever FIFA tournament in India included elements of the Indian Ocean, the banyan tree, the kite and the starburst (an interpretation of the Ashok Chakra, an integral part of the national identity)
• The Indian Ocean serves as the base of the emblem; it is an integral part of the subcontinent
• Banyan tree is the national tree of India while the kite is a symbol of freedom and fun which represents the soaring aspirations of the young and vibrant democracy of India
• Starburst evokes festivity
• Shaped like the FIFA trophy, the emblem combines global and national elements
• FIFA stands for Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
• This is a competition inspired by the Lion City Cup created by Football Association of Singapore in 1977
• It began as a competition for U-16 and rose to 17 since 1991
• The most recent tournament was hosted by Chile; it was won by Nigeria
• Meanwhile, India’s NGO Slum Soccer has also won the inaugural FIFA diversity award
• The other two finalists were the International Gay & Lesbian Football Association (IGLFA), which promotes and fosters the worldwide growth of football for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals (LGBT) while also strengthening the self-respect of the global LGBT community, and Kick It Out, of England, an organisation which tackles discrimination
• The FIFA Diversity Award is part of FIFA’s overall strategy to reinforce its fight against discrimination and promote diversity in football.

In a first for Indian cricket, former captain Kapil Dev will run the Eden Gardens bell for signalling the commencement of the second Cricket Test between India and New Zealand on 30th September.

Cricket Association of Bengal has confirmed this.

• The ringing of a 5 minute bell at Lords by international cricketers, administrators or sports enthusiasts is a well known tradition which commenced in 2007
• CAB has followed suit and decided to have their own tradition; the silver coated giant bell will be placed near the Eden block
• Bell will be rung by different personalities every morning during the five days to signal the start of the play
• BCCI has meanwhile written to CAB confirming the Eden Test will be India’s 250th on home soil
• Board president Anurag Thakur has confirmed that both teams will be felicitated with specially minted 100gram silver coins
• CAB has also arranged for special gold coin for the toss
• India has taken a lead over New Zealand in the three match series

• Record broken by R. Ashwin, off-spinner becomes second fastest bowler to claim 200 test wickets.
• He achieved the milestone in the 37th test match, beating legends Dennis Lillee and Waqar Younis who took 38 tests
• No.1 spot is held by ex Australian leg spinner Clarrie Grimmet who took 36 tests to reach the 200th wicket market
• Ashwin was playing India’s 500th test match against New Zealand in Kanpur
• Ashwin also broke Sehwag’s record for most Man of the Series awards for India in Tests
• In the four-match series, Ashwin scored 235 runs with two centuries and claimed 17 wickets to help India register their biggest Test series victory on the Caribbean soil with a 2-0 win over the West Indies.
• Ashwin became the first Indian to score ton and take five-for in same Test, twice
• He also won Man-of-the-Series award - the sixth of his career - for his special performance. The feat is the most by any Indian in the longest format of the game, surpassing the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Kapil Dev, Harbhajan Singh, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin and Sourav Ganguly.
• He was also the quickest to reach the milestone in 36 test matches and 13 test series past Malcolm Marshall (21 series), Curtly Ambrose (27) and Steve Waugh (54), who all have won the equal number of player of the series honours.
• Tendulkar (74) and Sehwag (39) have five awards each in Test cricket

The 12th edition of the Asia’s oldest and world’s 3rd toughest mountain biking race kicked off on 24th Sept 2016 from historic Ridge Maidan in Shimla, capital city of Himachal Pradesh

• Close to 67 participants from 14 countries including 11 SSB men took part in the race which concluded on October 3, 2106 in Dharamshala, district HQ of Kangra.
• A total of 650 kilometres will be covered by participants during the journey and this year’s new route is even more challenging in terms of terrain
• There were equal uphill and downhill segments in the race
• Looped circuits of approximately 60-70 km each day of the race is covered by riders.
• Bikers will also meet 10,000 school children on the way studying in different schools and create environmental awareness as well as cycling habits in them.

India’s celebrated cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on 21st September 2016 named the captain of Wisden’s all time India Test XI.

• The team included Test skipper Sunil Gavaskar and cricketer Virender Sehwag as openers.
• The middle order comprised Dravid followed by Tendulkar and VVS Laxman
• Dhoni is currently India’s captain for ODI and T20 and also remains the wicket keeper
• Pace legend Kapil Dev was also included in the team along with Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, BS Bedi and Anil Kumble
• The 12th man was former skipper Azharuddin

India will make its 500^th Test appearance when they challenge New Zealand in a three match test series in Kanpur on 22nd Sept.

• India is set to become the fourth nation after England, Australia and West Indies to play 500 matches in the longest format of the game
• Debuting under CK Nayudu, India made its test debut in 1932
• Its 100th test appearance was in 1967 in a test match with England at Birmingham
• India’s Pakistan tour saw the country’s 200th test match in the 1980s with Sunil Gavaskar captaining the team
• The 300th Test Appearance was led by Sachin Tendulkar in 1996 in Ahmedabad against the Proteas South African players.
• The 400^th test appearance was in Jamaica against West Indies in 2006 with Rahul Dravid at the helm

Hearing impaired Indian shooter Priyesha Deshmukh on 14th Sept 2016 won the bronze medal in her first ever international competition

• The first World Deaf Shooting Championships were held in Kazan, Russia from Sept 7 to 15, 2016
• Deshmukh won bronze in 10m air rifle category
• Shooter won the deal after scoring 180.4 points
• Ukraine’s Svitlana Yatsenko won Gold in the Championships while Servia’s Gordon Mikovic won silver

China became only the third country in the world to win more than 100 gold medals at a single edition of the Paralympic Games.

• China ended the games with 105 gold, 81 silver and 51 bronze medals
• United States and Britain are the only other nations to in a century of gold medals in a single Paralympics
• Both US and UK won their century tally of medals at the 1984 NY games where US claimed 136 victories and Britain 107
• 5 of China's track and field gold medals on 17th Sept - the penultimate day of competition - were achieved with world record performances.
• The records were set by Zheng Jin, Mi Na, Zhou Hongzhuan, Zhou Xia
• In the men's 4x400m relay T53/54, China's Cui Yanfeng, Liu Yang, Li Huzhao and Liu Chengming clocked 3 minutes 3.12 seconds to eclipse their own previous world record of 3:04.77.
• Wu Guoshan recorded his longest throw of the year to win the men's shot put F57.
• China’s Zhang Bian and Gu Gai beat Serbia's Borislava Peric-Rankovic and Nada Matic in TT
• Zhang Li secured her third gold medal here by winning the 100m freestyle S5 final.

Paralympic athletes winning medals at the Rio Paralympic Games can literally hear the sound of victory.
Paralympians can hear their medals with the assistance of steel balls fitted inside the medals.

• During the Rio Games, athletes biting their medals at the presentation ceremony was a common sight
• But at the Rio Paralympics Games, athletes are holding up medals to their ears- here’s why
• International Paralympic Committee made the gold, silver and bronze medals fitted with steel balls on the inside to make a sound when shaken
• This ensures that visually impaired athletes can hear their medals
• Bronze medal has 16 balls and makes the lowest sound
• Silver medal has 20 balls, while gold medals have 28 balls making the loudest noise
• The medals also have the words “2016 Rio Paralympic Games” written on them in Braille

Ceferin has been elected the 7th president at the extraordinary congress in Athens

• He is an accomplished lawyer with little record in football before heading the Slovenian federation in 2011
• In a vote for UEFA presidency, he beat vice president Michael van Praag of Netherlands 42-13 in what many see as a verdict for change
• He was publicly backed by nations like Russia, Italy, France and Germany
• He has a degree in law and represents professional athletes and sports clubs
• He will also have to seek reelection before the next major event of UEFA, 2020 Euros
• UEFA or Union of European Football Associations is an administrative body for association football in EU
• Several member states are primarily or entirely located in Asia
• It is one of six continental confederations of world football’s governing body FIFA
• UEFA comprises 55 national association members
• Till 1959, its main HQ was located in Paris and later in Bern
• In 1995, the UEFA HQ was made in Nyon, Switzerland.
• The first president was Ebbe Stewart and Henri Delaunay was the first general secretary.

Devendra Jhajharia won the log medal at the men’s F46 event.

• He became the first Indian to clinch two gold medals at the Paralympics
• He broke his own world record to clinch the medal
• He also won a previous gold in the 2004 Athens Games
• His previous best was 62.15m which he had achieved in the 2004 Games
• In the 2016 Games, he improved the mark with an attempt of 63.97m
• World No.1 from China Chunking Guo won the silver while Sri Lanka’s Herath Priyantha grabbed the bronze
• India now has two gold, one silver and one bronze in the current edition of the Paralympics Games
• While Thangavelue Mariyappan struck gold in the men’s high jump, Varun Bhati secured bronze in the same event. Deepa Malik won the silver medal in the women’s short putt event.
• Jhajharia is currently being supported by the GoSports Foundation through the Para Champions Programme.

The bronze medal winner became the only Indian wrestler to be ranked in the top 10 of the United World Wrestling rankings.
She was the country’s first female Olympic medallist in the sport as well.

• Only two Indian male sportspersons made it to world top 20, with Sandeep Tomar ranked 15th in 57 kg category and Bajrang Punia in 18th place in 61 kg category
• Sakshi is an Indian freestyle wrestler born in September 1992
• She is part of the JSW Sports Excellence Program, along with fellow female wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Babita Kumari and Geeta Phogat.
• Sakshi had previously won the silver at 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and bronze medal at the Doha based 2015 Asian Wrestling Championships

Indian athlete Deepa Malik on 12th Sept 2016 became the first Indian woman to bag a medal at the Paralympics.

• She clinched a silver medal in the shot putt F-53 event
• Her throw of 4.61m was the best in her six attempts
• With this victory, she confirmed India’s third medal from Rio Paralympics
• Fatema Nedham of Bahrain won the gold medal with the best throw of 4.76m
• Greece’s Dimitra Korokida bagged the bronze medal with a 4.28m throw
• Deepa Malik hails from Sonipat. She is a member of Himalayan Motorsports Association and Federation of Motor Sports Club of India
• She has completed a 1700 km drive in sub-zero temperatures includes a climb to 18,000 feet
• She is a member of the working group in the formulation 12th five year plan (2012-2017) on Sports and Physical Education as nominated by the Planning Commission HRD Division on behalf of the Sports Ministry

Third seed Stan Wawrinka on 11th September 2016 defeated the world number one Novak Djokovic to lift the 2016 US Open Men’s Singles title.

• Swiss player Wawrinka defeated Serbian Djokovic 6-7,6-4,7-5,6-3 to clinch the title
• This is Wawrinka’s maiden US Open title and third major title
• He has reached three Grand Slam singles finals in his career
• He has also won the three- 2014 Australian Open, 2015 French Open and the 2016 US Open
• Prior to the 2014 French Open, he requested and ATP granted formal change in name from Stanislas Wawrinka to Stan Wawrinka
• 2016 US Open was a tennis tournament played on hard courts
• 2016 US Open was the 136th edition of the US Open, fourth and final Grand Slam event of the year.
• It took place at NYC in the US. While Angelique Kerber won the women’s singles event, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares won the men’s doubles title

Germany’s Angelique Kerber won the second career Grand Slam title with her first US Open Trophy
Kerber won the match 6-3, 4-6,6-4 breaking the reign of Pliskova in a 2 hr, 7 min match.

• She became the first German player to win the US Open since childhood idol Steffi Graf did so 20 years ago in 1996
• It was a 10th career title for the 28 year old, who broke through the top level earlier this year with her triumph over Serena Williams in the Australian Open
• She became number 1 at 28, the oldest player to do so for the first time
• Kerber’s win broke the 11 win streak for Pliskova who was winning since Cincinnati opener a month ago
• Pliskova denied Kerber the Number 1 ranking in Cincinnati
• Kerber won the silver medal at Rio Olympics
• Pliskova has the distinction of being the first player to beat both Williams sisters since 2009 US Open when Kim Clijsters did
• She also became the first player since Amelie Mauresmo to make a Grand Slam final despite not having advanced past the third round

Mariyappan Thangvelu won the first gold medal for India at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

• He won gold in the men’s high jump T-42 event leaping 1.89 metres
• He also became the first Indian high jumper to win gold at the Paralympics
• This was India’s third gold at the Games and the first after 12 years
• Bronze in the event went to Varun Singh Bhati who jumped 1.86 metres(his personal best) to finish third
• USA’s Sam Grewe bagged the silver medal
• India claimed a gold and bronze in Athens, 2004
• In the last edition of the London Games, India won a silver
• India won its first ever Paralympic Gold at the Heidelberg Games in 1972.

Indian squash player Joshna Chinappa rose to 10th rank while Dipika Pallikal remained at the 19th position in the Professional Squash Association rankings

• Chinappa slipped to 12th spot after breaking into the top 10 in July regained the position
• Pallikal held on to the 19th position
• In men’s rankings Saurav Ghoshal fell to 21st spot from previous perch of 17 while Mahesh Mangaonkar regained a position to be on 60th and Vikram Malhotra remained at 73
• Chinappa and Ghoshal reached the quarterfinal stage of USD 100 thousand China Open, a PSA World Tour event

Serena Williams broke through a record on 5th September with her 308th Grand Slam match victory taking her past Roger Federer for most wins in major tournaments.

• The win also qualified her to enter the quarter finals of the US Open.
• Williams was never seriously challenged in a 6-2, 6-3 victory over 52nd-ranked Yaroslava Shvedova as she extended her career record over the Kazakh to 5-0.
• A seventh US Open title would take her past the record she shares with Chris Evert
• She will also break the Open Era record shared with Steffi Graf of 22 Grand Slam crowns.

Wayne Rooney became England’s most capped outfield player when he was awarded his 116th cap by new manager Sam Allardyce in the 2018 World Cup qualifier to Slovakia
Team captain Rooney surpassed David Beckham who was capped 115 times by his country.

• Goalkeeper Peter Shilton capped 125 times holds the overall record
• Rooney is also England’s record goal scorer with 53 goals breaking Bobby Charlton’s record of 49 in September 2015
• Manchester United Skipper was selected in number 10 role behind Harry Kane as England began operations with Allardyce as manager.

Former pacer Zaheer Khan has become an honorary life member of the Marylebone Cricket Club becoming the 24th Indian cricketer to be bestowed the honour.
MCC has elected Zaheer who played 92 matches for his country during a successful career, taking 311 wickets at 32.94 runs apiece.

• The 37 year old also had memorable ODIs, making his debut in 2000, taking 282 wickets in 200 ODIs at average of 29.34
• He is the second former Indian International cricketer to be elected in recent weeks following Virender Sehwag who became an Honorary Life Member last month
• List also includes Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar who were inducted in previous years
• Zaheer retired from international and first class cricket in 2015 and is highly sought after in the Indian Premier League.
• There are more than 300 Honorary Life Members of MCC; its full membership is 18,000.

The new ATP Player Council elected World No.1 Novak Djokovic as President and Kevin Anderson as Vice President ahead of the start of the US Open

• Djokovic won his first round of victory over Jerzy Janowicz
• New ATP Player Council will hold its first meeting in NY
• Djokovic had previously been a member of the ATP Player Council in 2008-2010
• The ATP Board of Directors comprises three Player Representatives, three Tournament Representatives, and ATP Executive Chairman and President Kermode.