Sports Current Affairs 2011

September 2011 

Manoj Kumar in 2nd round of World Boxing Championships

Manoj Kumar (64kg), Commonwealth Gold Medalist beat Valentino Knowles of Bahamas 17:11 to go into the second round of World Boxing Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. Kumar is only the sixth Indian boxer to get to this round of the championships behind L. Devendro (49kg), Suranjoy Singh (52kg), Akhil Kumar (56kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Vikas Krishnan (69kg). Manoj Kumar, contesting in the light welter weight category, outplayed Knowles, a bronze medalist at the previous year held Commonwealth Games. Following earning a vital one-point advantage in the first round itself, the 24-year-old extended the difference by another couple of points in the following round. He surged the ante in the last round and was declared victories in the last three minutes of the spell Kumar, who has emerged on the World Championships for only the second, will now be locking horns against European champion from Ireland, Raymond Moylette in the first of the many knockout phases. The Irishman has defeated Arturs Ahmetovs of Latvia 16:11 in an exhilarating game. Raymond Moylette is currently ranked 6th in the overall rankings.

Game Venues or White Elephants

Dearth of housing services and soaring rentals has averted a number of national sports bodies to hold their training camps or important tournaments at the high-tech CWG venues. A few of them have started to decay inside a year-long time of the grand games here. In the past year or so, merely a few tournaments have been staged at the 12 CWG venues that consumed crores of rupees. The maintenance of these top-notch stadiums is a key distress for the government agencies. Athletics Federation of India (AFI) executive M.L. Dogra cites that AFI chooses to organize its camps at NIS, Patiala, or at different Sports Authority of India (SAI) centers rather than the posh Jawarharlal Nehru Stadium due to dearth of housing services there. There was just a single tournament held since the Commonwealth Games at the Karni Singh Shooting Range (by NRAI) – the Sajjan Singh Memorial Championship earlier in September. DLTA, the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association sports complex, nevertheless, is the lone exception, staging a whopping seven international tournaments already. These included the high-profile junior Davis Cup and junior Fed Cup. It will also hold the national championship in October. The complex has a housing division and the charges per room are Rs.1000/night and the national gymnastics team availed all its services in its recent visit.

Women’s Hockey Team heading to Australia; led by Anjum

Women’s hockey team is all set to board for Australia under the leadership of Striker Saba Anjum. Saba will be the captain of an 18-member Indian women’s hockey team Down Under where they will be playing four Test matches against the in-from Oz. Following that, the ladies form India will be contesting in a three-nation 9-a-side International Super Series in Perth for eleven days Oct 12-24. The selections were held at the SAI Centre in Bhopal just a couple of days back. Anjum and Jasjeet Kaur Handa, hail from Railways who would also respectively be the captain and vice captain, on their trip. Anjum and Handa have 232 International Caps between them. The selectors of Hockey India, BP Govinda, Syed Ali and Rekha Bhide apart from Government Observers Harbinder Singh and Dilip Tirkey convened the trials where the 18-member team went through their rates of knots in the innovative 9-a-side format of the game. India will kick start their tour with four Test matches against Oz Oct 14 onwards and will later play in the 9-a-side format which has FIH permit. It will be for the first time that international teams will be contesting in such a tournament and the organizers have decided with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that the event will take place at Perth.

August 2011

Speed lovers soon to see Greater Noida as their pit-stop
• The highly anticipated homologation of the Budh International Circuit (BIC), setting for the first ever Indian Grand Prix, is all but done. Plus, the FIA team, headed by technical director Charlie Whiting, has also given his nod to all aspects of the 5.14m long track. As per a report declared by the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) President, Vicky Chandhok on behalf of the supporters JPSI, Whiting, through the first of the two days of inspection, was mighty delighted in the fashion in which the circuit’s making has been developing. "Mr. Charlie Whiting, the Formula One Race Director came to see the Budh International Race circuit some time back for a premeditated custom check," Chandhok stated in the statement. "He told us that the development was more than all right and was beyond of what he expected from us from the last visit he paid. He further put across assurance that the introductory Indian Grand Prix will be a titanic triumph," he added. On the other hand the statement read that as a general exercise for all fresh circuits, the physical issuance of Grade-I recognition to the circuit, will be sanctioned seven days ahead of the chief event to be held on October 30.
New Sports bill turned down by the Government
• A contentious offer that required controlling India’s and World’s most powerful cricket board BCCI and added national sports organizations was rejected by the government in late August, reports from the local media emerged. The proposal that is designed to regulate these sports bodies under federal intelligibility and responsibility laws were put forward by Ajay Maken, Sports Minister. However, the much needed bill was rejected by the cabinet and it asked Ajay Maken to return with a new and improvised version, one of the news networks of the county reported. The bill aimed to keep back no less than 25 percent of federation positions for previous players and puts a ceiling on the age of all administrators i.e.70. A further significant prerequisite of the bill was to get the associations under the purview of the Right to Information Act (RTI), a milestone regulation that lets members of the public to ask for information of the functioning of public bodies. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has usually been out of the government’s purview and, unlike added national sports federations, does not rely on the finances given by the state. Sports bodies in India have been the focal point of numerous controversies in recent years. The popular Indian Premier League, after previous year’s controversial exit of its Founding Chairman Lalit Modi, has been the center of numerous probing over charges of pecuniary indiscretions.

July 2011 London Olympics 2012 began its countdown.

With one to go ESPN star sports began its golden march to kick the London Olympics 2012 countdown. The countdown ceremony was broadcasts across 22 countries. Olympics being revered as the biggest sports event has made athletes to share the same anticipation like that of the rest of the world and have set their eyes on the event going to be held just after 365 days.

Also ESPN sports channel will broadcast the complete Olympic events for the 1st time in the history to all of its sports fans across the globe. The London Olympics will be the most sought after event with maximum viewer interest. The channel will cover 302 events in all the 26 categories of sports and will showcase almost 10,000 players and athletes from more than 200 countries.

Moto GP champion to stay out of Japanese Grand prix

MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner have ruled out the possibility to participate in the Japanese Grand Prix to be held this year. Both the racers have ride earlier for Japanese manufacturers. The reason for withdrawal is the fear of radiation that currently exists in Japan due to the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. The Motegi circuit is situated near the Fukushima nuclear power plant whose reactors were destroyed by an earthquake and Tsunami during March this year and led to massive leakage of radiation.

The race was originally to be held in April 24 but was later postponed to Oct 2, though no reason was given by the International Motorcycling Federation. Stoner firmly said during the Germany Grand Prix that he will not go for the Japanese GP. Further he said that his response would the same if anything similar would have happened elsewhere and that he is sure about the fact that other riders will be having the same opinion. Stoner became the world champion of the MotoGP in the year 2007.

Former Yankees pitcher found dead

Hideki Irabu former Yankees pitcher was found dead in his home. The 42 year old was an excellent pitcher said former league manager Bobby Valentine. The quircky right hander had a fabulous arm in flame throwing the ball. Los Angeles police officials have declared Irabu’s death as suicide, disclosing no further information. To confirm the full information the investigating team is waiting for the autopsy report.

Hideki was referred as the Japanese version of Ryan. Hideki arrived in the united states in the year 1997 and he was a hard throwing bowler with smashing speed of 98-mph. Though he was made an excellent debut with the Yankees but later on became an object of disappointment during the next three seasons. And then he was given a tag called as a fat toad after he failed to perform well during an exhibition game.

Dubai to bid for Olympics 2024 instead of 2020

The UAE national Olympics committee has decided to bid for 2024 Olympics instead of 2020. The committee said that the infrastructure for the 2020 Olympics is 75% ready but it would be feasible if we bid for 2024 instead for 2020 so that we provide best of infrastructure to Olympics events and the players and athletes.

Dubai’s crowned Prince Shaikh Hamdan said that “ Hosting the Olympics would be a matter of pride for the entire middle eastern region and we want to fully satisfy everyone and ourselves that we are completely ready to host the games and for this we are going to bid for 2024 Olympics instead of 2020. He further added that our first and foremost aim is to give a world class Dubai experience and a long lasting peace and satisfaction to the youth and to all the sports class events.

Manchester United the most valued team in the world

The Manchester United has been named as the world’s most valued team. The Red Devils have been estimated for a total amount of 1.165 billion pounds overshadowing American Franchises like the New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys. The assessment has been made based keeping in mind the total income they get and the various sponsorship deals they make throughout the year.

This has come as the good news for the Glazer family who bought the Club for 790 million pounds in the year 2005, how they are still in debt but this does not deter them from being happy for making their club the most valued in the world.

Squash to be considered for the 2020 Olympics

On hearing the news that squash is going to be considered for the 2020 Olympics World Squash Federation president N.Ramachandran was far more delighted. He said that after this decision he is more confident that the game will be included in the 2020 Olympics.

He said that he truly believes that squash will prove to be a great sport for the Olympics. This game fulfils all the criteria to be included in the Olympics and that with its inclusion in the Olympics squash will attain a new level in the world of sports. He further added that squash has a number of high profile world champions and that with its inclusion in the Olympics it will provide massive participation from all over the world in the Olympics.

June 2011 Doping cases surge up; curbing measures required

Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Ajay Maken has delineated a range of measures to find out into entire doping incident and curtail this pain in the neck. Shri Maken presented the particulars of the six point guidelines forwarded to the executives of SAI (Sports Ministry and Sports Authority of India) to probe into doping episode at a press conference.

Taking into consideration the failed dope tests of eight athletes in various sports that include HariKrishnan in long jump, Tianna Mary Thomas in 4*400 m, M/s Mandeep Kaur, SiniJose, Priyanka Panwar in 400 m, Ashwini Akkunji, Joanna Murmu, and Sonia in shot put and “the current inquiry thereof, it is heading for that the Sports Ministry and Sports Authority of India must be aware of and concentrate on the function of the workforce support infrastructure that have been provided to these athelets,” said Shri Ajay Maken. He further avowed that at the same time as each doping episode engages dishonor of the entire country, prohibition and even fear of honors and accolades being asked from the charged athletes; the task of supporting trainers, health center executives and extra requirements to be questioned, determined and rightfully inclined.

Rouseau: 3rd Test between India v West Indies drawn

3rd test match held at the Windsor Park Stadium between India and West Indies, the former’s first tour since the World Cup triumph ended in a disappointing draw. KA Edwards and S Chanderpaul stood at the crease for 161 runs for the fourth wicket. This means that India will need to wait more to win 2 test matches in the Carribean. Chanderpaul was partnered by Kieron Edwards as the former completed his 23rd Test century in all important 37-over toil to deny India a victory.

Chanderpaul dealt with all the seam bowlers India had at their disposal with no difficulty, driving and extracting easy runs out of them and exhibiting rock-solid defense and rotating the strike regularly as Kerion Edwards chipped in. He stood steady at one end; he strained the Indian bowlers to shoft their attentions totally towards Kieron Edwards, who’s supported and helped Chanderpaul to get to another achievement is professional playing career.

May 2011

Master blaster the leading cricketer of Widens 2010
• The master blaster became the 7th recipient of the Wisden award joining the league of other recipient like Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Jacques Kallis, and Andrew W Flintoff etc. Wisden regarded as the Bible of cricket named India’s Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar as its seventh recipient. Sachin if the 2nd Indian cricketer after Virender Sehwag who’s also among the wisden awardees’ league. In February itself sachin became the 1st world cricketer to score a double 100 in one dayers and before this he became the 1st cricketer to score 50 test tons.
• The 148th wisden edition was launched on Wednesday and this is the 1st time that master blaster has won this award since it began in the year 2004. Also sachin was even positioned at number 4 rank in the Wisden’s 2009 Test XI.
Annu Singh the Indian shooter to book berth for London’s Olympic
• Annu Raj Singh became the 5th Indian shooter to book her berth for the London’s Olympic to be held next year. She qualified for the Olympic seat after winning a silver medal at the ongoing ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning for the 10m Air Pistol. Singh who never won the world cup earlier qualified for the finals with a maximum of 389 points win. After this Singh is ranked at number 33 in the world. She is the next Indian to join the league for the Olympics after shooters Gagan Narang, Hari Om Singh, Sanjeev Rajput and Ronjan Sodhi.
• Her win was tied up with gold medallist Olena Kostevych of Ukraine.
Mary Kom strikes gold in Asian Cup
• India’s five time world champion M C Mary Kom won 1st gold medal of the year by winning in the Asian Cup Women’s Boxing tournament in Haikou, china.
• She won the medal for the 48Kg category. Kom became the winner after defeating Asian champion Kim Myong Sim of North Korea. The winning strike was lead by 4-3points in the finals. This was her 1st tournament since her bronze medal win at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games after which she made a place for herself in the weight division category after beating Kate Appari of Philippines.
• Though her North Korean counterpart was a stiff challenge for her but it was her skill and the agility of the champion that she made her way through the finals and won the gold.
• On the other hand another Indian in the line Pavitra (57kg) faced defeat in the finals against Tossamalee Thonalan of Thailand. She lost to her counterpart by 6-11 points.

April 2011

India Wins World Cup 2011
• The Indian cricket team came up with an inspired performance against Sri Lanka in the final to lift the World Cup in Mumbai on 2/4/2011 bringing to an end the 28 year wait when Kapil’s Devils had last lifted the cup in 1983. The World Champions were ecstatic with their victory while batting icon Sachin Tendulkar and Coach Gary Kirsten were given a lap of honour by their team mates. Sri Lanka had won the toss and opted to bat first notching up a formidable 274 runs on board thanks to an impressive century by Mahela Jayawardhene. Indian run chase started on jittery note when both openers Sachin and Sehwag were back in pavilion with the score at 31 for 2. However Gambhir and Dhoni who promoted himself up the order came up with a crucial partnership that helped to take India home. Dhoni finished of the match with a huge six over long on bringing the stadium to its feet and joy across millions of homes in India.
McLaren's Hamilton wins Chinese Grand Prix
• Mclaren’s Lewis Hamitlon won the Chinese Grand Prix in thrilling fashon on 17/4/2011 by passing Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel for the lead with just five laps remaining. Sebastian Vettel who had earlier made a strong bid for three straight wins to the start of the Formula 1 season how ever could not hold off Hamilton who looked in sublime touch throughout the race. Red Bull’s Mark Webber came in third on drove beautifully to finish on the podium considering he started eighteenth on the grid. Hamilton on his part was close to being out of contention when he fuel leak was detected in his car. The Mclaren mechanics worked frantically to rectify it. McLaren's Jenson Button was fourth, ahead of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who all led at various stages at Shanghai International Circuit. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was seventh, ahead of Mercedes' Michael Schumacher, and Renault's Vitaly Petrov, with Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi taking the final point in 10th place. With three races completed this season Vettel leads the drivers standing with 68 points followed by Hamilton at 47, Button on 38 and Webber on 37.
Duncan Fletcher has been appointed as coach of India
• Duncan Fletcher on 27/4/2011 has been named coach of the Indian cricket team finally ending weeks of speculation as to who would take over the high profile job. Fletcher (62) a former Zimbabwean all-rounder came to prominence when he coached England and helped them regain the Ashes in 2005. Under his guidance England won its first series in West Indies in 36 years and the team rose to the third spot in the Test rankings during his tenure. He captained Zimbabwe in the 83 World cup and has played in just 6 ODI’s during his time when the country hadn’t yet achieved Test status. He may not be a part of the team for the West Indies tour, as he has some prior commitments, said BCCI secretary N Srinivasan. He also added that Eric Simmons who was the bowling coach during previous coach Gary Kirsten’s tenure is to continue his stint with the Indian team.
IPL Season 4 Starts
• Just days after the Indian team won the cricket world cup the IPL season has started in full swing. IPL 4 is now a ten team event with the two new teams being the Kochi Tuskers and the Pune Warriors. Many players have gone for record prices and it is expected that this years IPL will be a very hard fought contest between the teams with fluctuating fortunes after every match. Two teams that are being considered hot favourites are the Mumbai Indians and defending Champions Chennai Super Kings. This is the first IPL event that is happening in the absence of Lalith Modi who created a lot of controversy last year. Now with Indian team riding a good wave of form it is expected the people will tune into the matches in large numbers.

March 2011

ICC WC 2011 off to spectacular start
• The ICC cricket world cup is on in full swing. The fourteen teams have all played their group stages and 8 teams qualified to the knockout stages. The teams that played in quarterfinals were West Indies, India, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Among these only four teams made it to the Semis where Pakistan and India played each other at Mohali and Srilanka and New Zealand played against each other in Colombo. The semi final match between India and Pakistan created unprecedented hype as the two teams have not faced off against each other since Mumbai 26/11 attacks. There was a never before seen rush to get the tickets for the match and people were selling their tickets in black market at astronomical amounts. India and Sri Lanka went on to win their semi finals respectively and face each other in the final on April 02 , 2011.
Levon Aronian wins Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Championship
• Levon Aronian has won the 20th and final edition of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Championship held at Monaco. He had earlier also won in 2008 and 2009 respectively. The Armenian grandmaster tied his last round game against Sergey Karjakin and still maintained a one point lead over runner up Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Indian chess grandmaster and World Champion Vishwanath Anand came in at third position. With the 2011 edition the 20 year run of one the Worlds favourite chess events comes to an end and Aronian having won three of the last four editions does come across as a significant achievement.
Saina clinches Swiss Open Grand Prix
• India’s badminton ace Saina Nehwal won her first title of 2011 with a 21-13, 21-14 victory over South Korean Sung Ji Hyun in the Wilson Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton at Basil on 20/3/2011. It was her second win against the Korean in as many meetings whom she earlier defeated in the Indonesia Open Super Series as well. She reached the quarters of the All England Championship also held earlier this month where she lost to Eriko Hirose of Japan. Riding on her Swiss Open triumph Saina has regained her number three ranking with 69721.2637 points. At first place and second place are Shixian Wang (83506.4) and Yihan Wang (73988.9106) of China respectively.
Djokovic beats Nadal to win Indian Wells title
• Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win the BNP Paribas Open title at Calirfonia on 20/3/2011. The Serbian remains undefeated this year whose victories include Australian and Dubai open, has struck a purple patch notching up an impressive 18-0 record in 2011. He now jumps to number two in the ATP rankings pushing Roger Federer to the third place while Rafael Nadal is still at number one with a 14-3 record. Djokovic said "It definitely says good things. I am playing with a lot of confidence. I'm feeling the ball well on the court. I'm very dedicated. I have a big will to win each match. I want to keep on going and keep on playing good tennis."
Sebastian Vettel wins Australian GP
• Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel drove a flawless race to win the season opening Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne on 27/3/2011. Starting from pole position Sebastian drove superbly to open more than a two second gap over runner up Lewis Hamilton of Mclaren following the first lap. At third place was Renaults Vitaly Petrov who made his first ever podium finish. Fernando Alonso came in fourth with Australian Mark Webber finishing fifth at the race. They used three stops strategies which was one more than the podium finishers. It was not a good start to the year for Mercedes with both their drivers Michael Shumacher and Nicco Roseberg being forced to retire.
India crowned World Champions
• The Indian team defeated Sri Lanka win the final of the ICC World Cup becoming the first team to lift the cup after 28 years on April 02,2011. Srilanka won the toss and elected to bat and posted a daunting 274 on board following a superb century by Mahela Jayawardhene. The Indian team had begun their bowling on a bright note with ace spear head Zaheer Khan bowling a superb initial spell but the end power over proved to be a costly affair and helped the Lankans post a very challenging total. Indian batting started on patchy note when both the dangerous openers lost their wickets early to Lasith Malinga who came up with an inspired spell of fast bowling. The stadium had gone quiet but the Indian innings was resurrected when Virat Kholi and Gautam Gambhir formed a respectable partnership but the star of the innings was Indian Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He promoted himself up the order ahead of the inform Yuvraj Singh took India home with an unbeaten 91. The Captain criticized throughout the tournament for his lack of form stepped up at the most crucial moment with a crucial innings and hit the last ball straight down the ground for a huge six. The nation erupted with joy and there wild celebrations all over India. Sachin Tendulkar was given a lap of honour when his team mates took him on their shoulders and a happy Sachin could be seen waving at the crowds. This is the highest successful run chase made in a World cup final and what makes the victory sweeter is India is the first team to win a World Cup on home soil.

February 2011

Cricket World Cup 2011 Officially Opened
• The 10th edition of the ICC cricket World Cup, was officially launched on 17th Feb with a grand opening ceremony being held in Dhaka, Bangaldesh. The stadium was filled with spectators and evening proved to be visual spectacle with colourful fireworks, songs and dance routines to mark the start of the eagerly awaited event. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared the event open amid thundering cheers while the fourteen participating Captains were revealed to the public being carried in tricycles. Shankar Ehsaan Loy and other popular artists performed at the venue with the show stopper being Bryan Adams.
National Games Held in Jharkand
• The 34th National Games, was finally held in Jharkand and the event turned to be very successful. The games were held from 12th February 2011 to 26th February 2011.Many athletes all over the country took part in various disciplines and quite a few records were broken in the process. The long-postponed 34th National Games was originally scheduled for 2007. The Games have been deferred six times – four times due to delay in developing infrastructure and then postponed again due to the coming of Assemble Elections.
India start their Word cup campaign on a bright note
• India played Bangladesh at Mirpur in the first WC match of the tournament on Feb 19. India started with a bang scoring 375 with both Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli hitting sensational hundreds to take the match away from the hosts. Sehwag particularly looked murderous. The Indian team was expected to be under pressure to perform well against Bangladesh as their previous campaign in 2007 resulted in an early exit and left many disappointed fans back at home.
Viswanathan Anand regains No.1 Ranking Again
• World Champion Viswanathan Anand played against Magnus Carlsen of Norway to end the match in hard fought draw and finished second in the Bilbao Final Masters chess tournament. But the icing on the cake was when the Indian ace dethroned Carlsen from the number one ranking in Live rating list for the first time since January this year and ended up as the top player in ratings too.
Brazilian striker Ronaldo announces retirement
• Former Brazil striker Ronaldo announced his retirement from soccer on Feb 14. The 34-year-old three-time world player had a year end contract with Corinthians. But a shock loss led to an early elimination from the Libertadores Cup and violent protests from fans. Ronaldo further added that frequent injury problems were one of the main reasons in him deciding to announce his retirement. Thus ends a brilliant career in which he scored more than 400 goals including a record 15 at World Cups.

January 2011

• India Vs England match to be shifted from Eden Gardens
  The India - England World Cup group stage match on February 27, to be held at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata , has been shifted following delay in construction work at the venue. This comes as a major embarrassment for the cricketing body of Bengal (CAB) The ICC has asked the BCCI to find out an alternate venue for the match. The Eden Gardens was scheduled to host four matches - on February 27, March 15, March 18 and March 20. Now, it remains to be seen if the ground can be readied quickly and whether the ICC will allow the remaining matches at the venue to go ahead.
• India loses ODI series at South Africa
  The Indian cricket team lost its chance at creating history by not being able to win the five match ODI series tournament recently concluded at South Africa. The finals match was expected to be a cracker with both teams having registered a couple of wins each. How ever the rain affected target of 263 set by South Africa proved to be too daunting for the Indian team after losing wickets at regular intervals. However some late fireworks by Yusuf Pathan who scored 105 made it a keenly fought contest.
• Djokovic wins Aus Open title
  Novak Djokovic of Serbia powered his way into winning the Australian Open 6- 4, 6-2, 6-3 over Andy Murray of Britain. It was a power packed power packed performance by the Serbian who played aggressive strokes throughout the match and always looked to be in control. Murray has now been runner-up in three Grand Slam finals extending Britain's near 75-year drought in men's singles Grand Slams