September - 2013

CRICKET

Darren Lehmann Appointed Coach of Australia

43 years old Darren Lehmann in the Month of June 2013 has been appointed coach of Australian Cricket team. He was appointed replacing Mickey Arthur who was sacked two weeks before the Australia Ashes Tour which was set to start on 10 July 2013. South African Mickey Arthur, faced criticism following poor performances and disciplinary issues within the camp. He had coached Australia to 10 wins and six defeats in 19 Test matches.

About Darren Lehmann

• He had played 27 Tests and 117 one-day internationals for Australia between 1996 and 2005.

• He retired from playing for South Australia in 2007, and was appointed as coach of Queensland in May 2011.

• He had also coached Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League 6.

• Lehmann played for Yorkshire in between 1997 to 2006 and was part of the side that won the County Championship in 2001, and captained the county the following season.

• Queensland won the Sheffield Shield as well as two domestic one-day trophies in Lehmann’s two years coaching the state.

India to host 2016 World T20 and 2023 World Cup

BCCI (Board of Control of Cricket in India) on 29 June 2013 was awarded a chance to host two major events of International Cricket namely World Twenty20 for the first time in 2016 and its fourth 50-over World Cup in 2023 by ICC (International Cricket Council). BCCI also got the chance to host the second edition of ICC World Test Championship scheduled in February-March 2021.

The inaugural edition of the Test Championship will be hosted by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) June-July 2017. Apart from this, the ECB was awarded a chance to host the 2019 World Cup and Cricket Australia (CA) got the hosting rights of the 2020 World Twenty20. All the three events were awarded to India during the International Cricket Council (ICC) Annual Conference. Jagmohan Dalmiya the interim Chief of BCCI and a former ICC president represented India in the event. During the International Cricket Council Annual Conference, ICC finalized its global events to be held from 2015 to 2023. In its decision, ICC decided that full members of International cricket will have to play a minimum of 16 tests over a period of four years to retain its test status. During the same conference, Afghanistan was confirmed as the 37th Associate Member of the ICC and Romania was accepted as an Affiliate Member.

ICC ODI Rankings

India clinched the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 on 23 June 2013 against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham with a five-run victory. After this victory, India not just maintained the top most position in ICC ODI rankings, but also widened the gap with its nearest rivals, England. India has the rating points of 123 now and its nearest rivals, England as well as Australia have the ranking of 113 points. South Africa, on the other hand has rating of 111.

Players who Jumped in ICC ODI Rankings

Significant gains were made by Ravindra Jadeja and Shikhar Dhawan. It is important to note that Shikhar Dhawan was also declared as the Man of the Tournament during the ICC Champions Trophy 2013. Ravindra Jadeja climbed to his career best third ranking among all the bowlers and All-rounders category. R.Ashwin is placed at ninth position among the bowlers.

Among the batsmen, Shikhar Dhawan jumped 21 positions and reached 29th position with his performance in Champions trophy. Shikhar Dhawan was also given the Golden Bat trophy for scoring maximum number of runs in the tournament. Protean Skipper AB Devilliers is at the top most position of batsmen, followed by Hashim Amla. At the third position is India’s Virat Kohli.

ICC ODI rankings of the Teams

ICC Champions Trophy 2013

India clinched the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 on 23 June 2013 against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham with a five-run victory. Mahendra Singh Dhoni captained the Indian Side in the tournament, whereas, Alastair Cook captained the English team. India made a total of 129 runs in 20 overs for seven wickets. It then restricted England to 124 for eight. Ravindra Jadeja was declared as the Man of the Match after he took two wickets and scored an unbeaten 33 runs. He was also awarded with the Golden Ball for grabbing 12 wickets (maximum) in the series. Sikhar Dhawan was declared as the Man of the Series award for being the highest run-scorer (363 runs) of the tournament. This was the second Champions Trophy title of India. Earlier, it had won the title jointly with Sri Lanka in the year 2002.

About the ICC Champions Trophy

The ICC Champions Trophy is the One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament which is organised by International Cricket Council (ICC). It is considered important event in cricket, only after the Cricket World Cup and is also known as Mini World Cup. The ICC Champions Trophy was inaugurated in the year 1998 as ICC Knock out Tournament. It was later named as Champions Trophy in 2002. Since the year 2009, the number of teams participating in the ICC Champions Trophy has remained eight. These are the eight highest-ranked ODI teams.

The ICC Champions Trophy 2013

• The ICC Champions Trophy 2013 was held in England and Wales between 6 June 2013 and 23 June 2013.

• Three cities in all hosted the matches, which were London (at The Oval), Birmingham (at Edgbaston) and Cardiff (at the SWALEC Stadium).

• The winners of the tournament earned 2 million US dollar as the prize money. This is the largest amount since the beginning of the tournament.

• The ICC Champions Trophy 2013 was the seventh and final ICC Champions Trophy. This will be replaced by ICC World Test Championship in 2017.

• Eight teams participated in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 and these were- England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia, India, South Africa, West Indies and Pakistan.

• In the seventh edition of the tournament, Sri Lanka, India, England and South Africa were the four teams to make into the semi-finals.

Winners of the ICC Champions Trophy since 1998

Raj Kundra Suspended for betting in IPL VI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 10 June 2013 suspended Raj Kundra, the co-owner of Rajasthan Royals for allegedly betting on IPL matches. He has been suspended from having any involvement in cricket till the police probe in the matter was completed. The decision on Raj Kundra was taken by the emergent working committee of BCCI that met on 10 May 2013. The committee also said that the two-member panel comprising Justice T Jayaram Chouta and Justice R Balasubramanian, who are probing similar charges leveled against Chennai Super Kings team official Gurunath Meiyappan, will investigate the case of Kundra and his franchise. The suspension imposed by the working committee on Raj Kundra will stay till the pendency of enquiry.

ICC ODI Championship Shield

Indian Skipper MS Dhoni received the ICC ODI Championship Shield and a cheque of 175000 US dollars for leading the number One ODI team on the annual 1 April cut-off date. Indian team claimed the number-one spot from England after winning the series 3-2 in January 2013.

India won eight out of 13 ODIs while losing five in the 12-month period between 1 April 2012 and 1 April 2013.

This is the first time since the current ranking system was introduced in 2002 that India finished as the No1 ranked One-Day International (ODI) side. David Morgan, former President of the International Cricket Council (ICC), presented the Shield to Dhoni.

Sachin Tendulkar Retire from Twenty20

Sachin Tendulkar announced retirement from Twenty20 cricket format on 26 May 2013, immediately after Mumbai Indians beat Chennai Super Kings to lift the title of Pepsi Indian Premier League 2013 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. This means that IPL Season 6 was the last IPL season played by Sachin Tendulkar.

Some Important Facts

• Sachin Tendulkar was the captain of Mumbai Indians team in 2010.

• He has represented this franchise in 86 matches in all and finished with 2529 runs. These runs include one century and 14 half-centuries.

• Sachin Tendulkar played the last game for Mumbai against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Wankhede Stadium on 13 May 2013. He was injured thereafter.

• Twenty20 cricket is the second format from which he announced his retirement. Earlier in December 2012, he had announced retirement from the One-Day Internationals.

• He also has the unbroken record of 15837 test runs as well as 18426 ODI runs.

September - 2013

TENNIS

French Open 2013

Men’s Singles Title

Rafael Nadal on 9 June 2013 won his 8th Men’s Singles Tittle of the French Open Tennis Tournament. In the final at Paris, Nadal beat Spanish compatriot David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. With this, he became the first player to win 8 Singles Titles at the same Grand Slam Tournament. It was his 12th Grand Slam title overall. It also gave Nadal his 59th win out of 60 matches played in Paris.

Last year, he passed six-time Roland winner Bjorn Borg with his seventh title. Only one player of his generation, Robin Soderling in 2009, has been able to register a victory over him at Roland Garros.

Women’s Singles Title

Serena Williams on 8 June 2013 won the Women’s Singles title of French Open Tennis tournament. In the final, she defeated Maria Sharapova in straight sets by 6-4, 6-4. This is Serena’s second French Open title and 16th grand slam. It was the 31-year-old American’s 16th Grand Slam title win.

It was Sharapova’s 10th straight loss to Williams. It was the first French Open women’s final involving the two top seeds since 1995. At 31 years, 247 days she is the oldest women in the Open Era to win the French Open title. She beat the record of Chris Evert who set the previous mark in 1986.

Men’s Doubles Title

Top-ranked American twins Bob and Mike Bryan on 8 June 2013 won their record 14th major doubles title by defeating Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut of France 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 in the French Open men’s doubles final.

In the tiebreaker, the Bryan brothers rallied from 4-2 down to clinch the victory. The Bryans had won their only other French Open in 2003. They lost in the final in 2005, 2006 and 2012. Llodra and Mahut were hoping to become the first Frenchmen to win the doubles since Yannick Noah and Henri Leconte in 1984.

Women’s Doubles Title

The Russian duo of Elina Vesnina and caterina Makarova lifted the Women’s Doubles title. They defeated top seeded Italian’s Sara Irrani and Roberta Vinchi by 7-5, 7-2.

Mixed Doubles Title

Frantisek Cermak and Lucie Hradecka won mixed doubles title at the French Open. They defeated Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic 1-6, 6-4, 10-6.

Halle ATP Title

The Grass Court King, Roger Federer on 16 June 2013 won Gerry Weber Open Halle ATP final after defeating Mikhail Youzhny of Russia by 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4 at the Gerry Weber Stadium in Halle, Germany. This is the first title won by Federer in the year 2013 and sixth Halle Title and 77th title of the career. The 31 year old Swiss star, broke away the 10 months and 11 tournament drought without a title.

Halle Opens

Grass Court Swing

The Gerry Weber Open is one of five grass court events on the ATP World Tour calendar. The tournament gives players their first chance to play on the surface in the lead-up to Wimbledon. The Gerry Weber Open has crowned five German winners, since the inaugural event in 1993: Michael Stich (1994), Nicolas Kiefer (1999), David Prinosil (2000), Tommy Haas (2009 & 2012) and Philipp Kohlschreiber (2011). Roger Federer won his sixth title in 2013.

HOCKEY

3rd National Sub-Junior Hockey

Odisha on 27 May 2013 clinched the boy’s title while Haryana won the girl’s championship at the third National Sub-Junior Hockey tournament. Odisha crushed Jharkhand, 8-0 while Haryana beat Madhya Pradesh, 3-2 in the finals played at Bhopal ’s Aishbagh stadium.

The goal scorers for Haryana were Sonika (3 min), Ritu (35 min) and Navneet Kaur (49 min) while Karishma (4 min) and Neelu (24 min) scored goals for Madhya Pradesh. Earlier, Jharkhand defeated Chandigarh 2-1 to claim the third position in women category. In the men’s category Punjab defeated Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy 1-0 in a hard-fought match to get the third position.

BADMINTON

Thailand Open Badminton 2013

India’s talented youngster Srikanth K. on 9 June 2013 clinched the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton trophy. In the Men’s Singles title clash played this morning, 13th seed Srikanth defeated top seed and local favourite Boonsak Ponsana in straight games, 21-16, 21-12, to bag his career’s maiden title. The match lasted for 34 minutes. Indian shuttler K. Srikanth had entered the final of the Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after registering a comfortably defeating local favourite Thammasin Sitthikom in the men’s singles event.

None of the other Indian shuttlers were able to stamp authority in the competition, which also saw defending champion Saina Newal bow out in the quarterfinals. Thailand Open Badminton 2013 was held in Bangkok.

IBL Launched School Programme for Badminton Talent Hunt

Indian Badminton League, which was formed recently along with the commercial partner Sporty Solutionz launched new programme called Indian Badminton League School Programme (IBLSP) for promotion of badminton all over India.

Key features of Indian Badminton League School Programme (IBLSP)

• Under Indian Badminton League School Programme (IBLSP), badminton players such as PV Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap, Ashwini Ponnappa, Jwala Gutta, Pullela Gopichand and Saina Nehwal will visit 120 schools in six cities of India.

• The programme is also known as Shuttle Express.

• The programme will offer a cash prize of 10 lakh Rupees to winners in girls as well as boys single events. These events will be held in six cities of India- Pune, Lucknow, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai. The finalists of the event will be given an opportunity to become trainers a Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.

• Indian Badminton League School Programme (IBLSP) said that this programme will be initiated in three phases in order to find out new badminton players through intra-school competition that will be held in July 2013.

The national level finals will take place in August 2013 in Mumbai.

The Indian Badminton League

• The Indian Badminton League partners include Jain International School (Bangalore), Genesis Global School, Expressway (Delhi NCR), Jamnabai Narsee, Juhu Parle (Mumbai), La Martiniere Boys (Lucknow), Indus World School (Hyderabad) and Symbiosis Primary & Secondary School (Pune).

• The Indian Badminton League will take place from 14 August 2013 to 31 August 2013. It will feature some of the top most badminton players of the world.

• The Indian Badminton League will be shown in more than 100 countries of the world through live telecast.

FOOTBALL

FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013

Brazil won the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 on 30 June 2013 against Spain in the final match. Brazil won 3-0 against FIFA World Cup holders Spain. On the Brazilian side, two goals were scored by Fred and one was scored by Neymar. Brazil grabbed the FIFA Confederations Cup for the third time. Earlier, it had won the Cup in the year 2005 in South Africa, 2009 in Germany and 1997 in Saudi Arabia. Fernando José Torres of Spain was awarded with the Golden Boot Award, while Fred of Brazil won the Silver Boot Award. The Bronze Boot Award was given away to Neymar. Italy defeated Uruguay on penalties and secured the third place.

Facts about the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013

• The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth cup, held at Brazil from 15 June to 30 June 2013.

• It was the prelude to 2014 FIFA World Cup.

• The FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 was the first national team tournament which made use of the goal-line technology. This technology will also be used in 2014 World Cup.

• The final positions of the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup were: Brazil (Champions), Spain (Runners-Up), Italy (3rd Position) and Uruguay (4th position).

• The top scorers of the tournament were Fred of Brazil and Fernando José Torres of Spain who scored 5 goals each during the tournament. Neymar of Brazil was declared as the Best Player of the Tournament.

• 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup participating teams were: Brazil, Spain, Italy, Uruguay, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria and Tahiti.

• Prize Money: Brazil won 4.1million US dollar, Spain won 3.6 million US dollar, Italy won 3 million US dollar, Uruguay won 2.5 million US dollar. The teams from Fifth to eighth place won 1.7 million US dollar.

About FIFA Confederations Cup

• The FIFA Confederations Cup is the international association football tournament for national teams.

• It is held after every 4 years by FIFA.

• The teams participating in the tournament belong to each of the six FIFA confederation championships, i.e., UEFA, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, CAF, AFC, OFC, apart from the FIFA World Cup holder and the host nation.

• Total of eight teams participate in the FIFA Confederations Cup.

Awards given during 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup

German Cup 2013

Bayern Munich defeated Stuttgart in the German cup final in Berlin on 1 June 2013 to win the tournament. The final score was 3-2. It became the first German team to win the Bundesliga, the European cup and the German cup in the same season. Only Celtic in the year 1967, Ajax in 1972, PSV Eindhoven in 1988, Manchester United in 1999, Guardiola’s Barcelona in 2009, and Inter Milan in 2010 had won the treble. Thomas Mueller scored one goal for Bayern Munich while Gomez scored twice in the second half to put Bayern three ahead. Martin Harnick on behalf of Stuttgart scored twice. Bayern Munich finished the season with 15 wins from their final 16 matches and they have only suffered one defeat since October 2012.

September - 2013

ARCHERY/SHOOTING

Archery World Cup

Rajat Chouhan and Manjudha Soy of India won silver medal at the World Cup (Stage-II) Archery competition in Turkey on 16 June 2013.
The Duo lost the Compound Mixed Team final by 149-150 in a thrilling contest by the Italian world champions Sergio Pagni and Marcella Toniolli. India has never won a gold medal in the Compound Section of the event and before this India’s best performance in this format was in the Ogden World Cup 2011 (Stage-III) when the Women’s team of Manjudha, Gagandeep Kaur and Jhano Hansdah had won silver.

WRESTLING

Junior Asian Wrestling Championship

India topped in the medal tally in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship by winning 17 medals in the tournament on 16 June 2013.

India secured three gold, five silver and nine bronze medals in the championship. The tournament was held from 13 June to 16 June 2013 in Phuket, Thailand. On 16 June 2013 the final day of the tournament, Indian Grapllers, Pradeep Kumar (60 kilogram) and Sumit (96 kilograms), won Gold in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship in Phuket, Thailand.

Vikas (66kilogram) and Pradeep Kumar (74kilogram) captured silver medals after they lost the final bouts at the Saphan Hin Indoor Sports Complex. Mandeep (55 kilogram) secured bronze medal in the championship.

Team Ranking Team Points

India 68

Iran R.I. 63

Kazakhstan 55

Japan 41

Uzbekistan 41

MOTOR SPORTS/F1

Canadian Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel on 10 June 2013 won the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. With this win team, the Red Bull’s won its maiden Canadian Grand Prix.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso took the second position followed by Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, who conquered the third position. This is the third win of the Garman F1 driver, before the Canadian Grand Prix, Vettel won the Malaysia and Bahrain Grand Prix of the year.

He is now on 132 points, 36 clear of Alonso on 96 points. Kimi Raikkonen lies third on 88 points.

BOXING

3rd China Open Boxing Tournament

Manjeet Singh bagged a Silver medal for India at the 3rd China Open boxing tournament on 22 June 2013. In the final of the super heavy weight category (+91kg), the 21-year-old Indian went down to local lad Akepeer Yusuf.

Although Manjeet lost in the final, he became the only Indian boxer to reach the final of the third China Open boxing tournament. It was his first international tournament.The boxing tournament was held in Guiyang, China.
The Indian men’s team returns from the event with one silver and three bronze medals won by Sunil Kumar (52kg), Ajay Kumar (56kg) and Jaideep (75kg). The bronze medal winners had lost in the round of four.

VARIOUS

Lydia Nsekra became the First Woman to be Elected to FIFA

Burundi’s Lydia Nsekera became the first woman to be elected to the FIFA Executive Committee (ExCo) for a full term of four years at the FIFA Congress in Mauritius held on 30 May 2013. The two other women Moya Dodd of Australia and Sonia Bien-Aime of the Turks and Caicos Islands, were coopted on for one year. Nsekera was also the first woman to be coopted on for one year at last year’s congress in Budapest. Lydia Nsekera is President of the Fédération de Football du Burundi since 2004 and has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 2009. The ExCo comprises a total of 24 members.
Asian

Athletic Championship 2013

The Maharashtra government on 13 June 2013 confirmed that the Asian Athletic Championship will be held in Pune from 3 to 7 July 2013.The decision was finalised at the State’s Cabinet meet held in Mumbai. The State government has said that it would incur an expenditure of 18 crore rupees for this tournament. To ensure that the Asian Athletic Championship goes off smoothly, the State government has already formed a few committees to look into the various aspects of the tournament. Maharashtra agreed to host the event after Tamil Nadu and later Delhi backed out of hosting it. Meanwhile, Maharashtra government felicitated pistol shooter Rahi Sarnobat. The 22-year-old from Kolhapur was presented a cheque of one crore rupees and offered a Grade-I job in the State government. Sarnobat had won a gold medal in the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup recently.

Slovak Junior ITTF Open Table Tennis tournament

Indian Girl’s team won the Gold medal while the Boy’s team won the silver medal in the Slovak Junior ITTF Open Table Tennis tournament held in Senec, Slovakia on 31 May 2013. In the title clash, the Indian Girls, led by Sutirtha Mukherjee beat Serbia-A, 3-2. The other members of the team were Monika Batra and Reath Tennison.

In the boy’s section, the Czeck Republic-A beat India 3-1 to win the gold. The Indian team, consisting of Shudanshu Grover, Abhishek Yadav and Rohit Rajshekhar, had to settle for a silver.

Fifteen-year-old Sutirtha Mukherjee played an important role in the final match, winning two crucial matches. India defeated Turkey 3-0 in the semifinal while Serbia overcame Italy 3-1.

15th Asian Youth Weightlifting Championships

Jamjang Deru of Arunachal Pradesh, India won three medals, which included two gold and one silver, on 28 May 2013, the opening day of 15th Asian Youth Weightlifting Championships in Doha. He won the medals in the boy’s 50kg category. Jamjang Deru won a silver with 87 kg and bagged a gold with 113 kg lift. Finally, he signed off with the gold with a total of 200 kg. It is worth noticing that Jamjang Deru had also secured a fourth position at the IWF Youth World Championships at Tashkent in April 2013 with an overall lift of 195 kilograms. These were the 15th Asian Youth Weightlifting Championships.

National Cycling Coach killed in Road Accident in Noida

Ruma Chatterjee, the Cycling Coach of Indian national team on 18 June 2013 died in a road accident near Nalgadha village on Noida Expressway in Uttar Pradesh. She is now survived by her mother and five sisters. Ruma Chatterjee died while training 20 junior team members on the expressway when she was hit by a speeding car from behind. She was attending the national camp ahead of the Indian team’s visit to International Cycling Union (UCI) Academy, Switzerland for training. The four-member squad will participate in the World Championships in Scotland in August 2013.

World School Chess Championship

Nine-year-old Mumbai girl Ananya Gupta claimed a bronze medal in the World School Chess championship held at Haldikki in Greece. She won seven out of nine games to bag the bronze in the tournament. It was held from 6 May to 15 May 2013.

Ananya created waves by beating the much higher ranked Yvonne Beline of France on way to finishing third in the competition. Earlier, she clinched gold at the 9th Singapore Chess Festival. Ananya, had clinched gold at the 9th Singapore Chess Festival earlier. Ananya is a product of South Mumbai Chess Academy (SMCA).

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