(Current Affairs) Sports | February: 2014

Sports

CRICKET

TENNIS

HOCKEY

FOOTBALL

BADMINTON

KABADDI

ARCHERY/SHOOTING

GOLF

F1/MOTOR RACING

VARIOUS

CRICKET

India - South Africa test Series

South Africa on 30 December 2013 clinched the two match series with India in Durban 1-0. It defeated India by 10 wickets in the second cricket test to win the series. In the second inning of the match, India gave a 58 runs target to chase on the fifth day. It was all out on 223 runs in the second innings in which Ajinkya Rahane scored 96 runs. For South Africa, Robin Peterson claimed four wickets while Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander took three each.

Brief Scores

  • India: 334 and 223 all out
  • South Africa: 500 and 59 for no loss
  • Man of the Match: Dale Steyn
  • Man of the Series: AB De Villers

Jacques Kallis, who was playing his last Test hit a superb 115 runs in the first innings. With this knock he surpassed Rahul Dravid of India as the third highest run-getter 13289 runs in the longest format in his farewell match. Now, he is behind Sachin Tendulkar (15921) and Ricky Ponting (13378) in the all-time list. Retiring South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis was given a guard of honour by the Indian players as he walked out
to bat in the second and final Test at Kingsmead on 29 December 2013.

India - South Africa ODI series

South Africa on 11 December 2013 won the three one day match cricket series 2-0 against India. The third match played on Centurion was washed away due to rain, after South Africa scored 301 runs for 8 in 50 overs. Q de Kock of South Africa was selected as the Player of the series. The previous two one day international matches were won by South Africa. In the second match South Africa defeated India by 134 runs at Kingsmead, Durban and in the first match India was defeated by 141 runs at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, while chasing massive score on 358.

ICC Annual Awards

The Indian cricketer and a Rising Test batsman, Cheteshwar Pujara on 13 December 2013 bagged the Emerging Cricketer of the Year trophy at the ICC Annual awards announced in Dubai. This is the first ever ICC Award for Pujara. He became the second fastest Indian to score 1000 Test runs during the course of his double hundred against Australia on March at Hyderabad. He put on the board 370-run record second wicket partnership with Murali Vijay. Pujara, the 25 year old cricketer has scored 1310 runs in 15 tests with an average of 65.50. Apart from Pujara, the Captain of Indian cricket team Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the Indian to win ICC Annual award and he got LG People’s Choice Award. Australian captain Michael Clarke was the winner of the Sir Garfield Sobers trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year and was also named as the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year. In total, there were eleven individual awards.

The full list of winners is:

  • ICC Cricketer of the Year (Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy) — Michael Clarke (Australia)
  • ICC Test Cricketer of the Year — Michael Clarke (Australia)
  • ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year — Suzie Bates (New Zealand)
  • ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year — Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
  • ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Yea r — Cheteshwar Pujara (India)
  • ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year — Kevin O’Brien (Ireland)
  • ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year — Umar Gul (Pakistan)
  • ICC T20I Women’s Cricketer of the Year — Sarah Taylor (England)
  • ICC Spi r i t of Cr icket Award — Mahela Jayawardena (Sri Lanka)
  • ICC Umpi re of the Year (winning the David Shepherd Trophy) — Richard Kettleborough
  • LG People’s Choice — MS Dhoni

The award function was hosted by Ricky Ponting, the former Australian Captain. Ponting is the winner of the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy in 2006 and 2007 and was the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year in 2006. Apart from this he was also appointed captain of ICC’s ODI Team of the Year in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

FOOTBALL

Under-17 FIFA World Cup 2017 in India

India was chosen as the host country for Under-17 FIFA World Cup in 2017 by the FIFA executive committee in its meeting at Salvador de Bahia in Brazil on 5 December 2013. By virtue of being the host country, India will take part in the 24- nation tournament for the first time in its history. This will be the biggest ever football tournament in the country as this is the first FIFA event in the country’s history. The tournament comprises 24 teams and it will be held in six cities across India Including New Delhi.

The Union cabinet has sanctioned the 125 crore rupees for infrastructure development. Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Ireland and South Africa were the other bidders of the 2017 edition.

Unlike the senior men’s and women’s world cups which are held every four years, Under 17 world cup conducted every two years. The Under 17 world cup started in 1985 with China hosting the first edition. Saudi Arabia is the only Asian country to have won this tournament in 1989. Japan, South Korea and the UAE are the other Asian countries to have hosted this tournament. India has hosted Asian Football Confederation’s Youth Championships (Under-20) in 2006 and then the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008 but never has hosted any FIFA tournament. United Arab Emirates hosted the tournament this year while Chile will be the host country for the 2015 edition.

KABADDI

Kabaddi World Cup 2013

India defeated Pakistan 48-39 in the Kabaddi World Cup in the final played at Guru Nanak Dev Stadium in Ludhiana, Punjab on 14 December 2013. With this win, India retained the title for fourth consecutive time. Hardavinder Singh Dulla and Balbir Singh from India were named as the Best Raider and Best Stopper of the tournament, respectively. In the semifinals, hosts India crushed England 63-32 while Pakistan beat USA 51- 33. After the end of the final game, the winning team India was presented with a cash reward of two crore rupees and the runner-up team, Pakistan won a cash prize of one crore rupees. The awards were given by the Chief Guest of the match, Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Punjab Shahbaz Shrief along with Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister. When the World Kabaddi Cup concluded, the Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Punjab Mian Shahbaz Shrief promised that the fifth edition of the Kabaddi Cup would be held jointly at Lahore and Ludhiana. Earlier on 13 December 2013, the Indian women Kabbadi team defeated New Zealand by 49- 21 and received 51 lakh rupees as winning amount. The last three editions of the Kabaddi World Cup have been won by India by defeating Canada once and Pakistan twice.

GOLF

Asia-Pacific Junior Golf Team Titles

India won the boy’s and girl’s team titles in the Asia-Pacific junior golf championship at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC). It was India’s first ever victory in the Asia Pacific Junior Golf Championship. In the boy’s category, the team of Viraj Madappa and Manu Gandas took India ‘A’ to win the team title. On the other hand, in the girl’s category, the team of Aditi and Ridhima Dilawari fashioned India ‘B’ to win the team title. In the individual category, Aditi Ashok lifted the individual title in the girls’ category after a thrilling play-off with second-placed Min-Jou Chen of Chinese Taipei.

Results

Team Boys

1. India ‘A’ (Manu Gandas, Viraj Madappa)
2. Thailand ‘B’ (Ekthumrong Luanganuruk, Suradit Yongcharoenchai)
3. Chinese Taipei ‘A’ (Sung I Yu, Chun An Yu)

Team Girls

1. India ‘B’ (Ridhima Dilawari, Aditi Ashok)
2. Chinese Taipei A’ (Yu-Hsin Chang, Min-Jou Chen)
3. Chinese Taipei ‘B’ (Hsin-En Tsai, Cih-Hui Chen)

VARIOUS

Naypyitaw South East Asian Games

The 27th edition of South East Asian Games are kicked off in Naypyitaw, the new state capital of Myanmar on 11 December 2013. This is the biggest sporting event in South East Asia. The games involve 34 events with participation from 11 Countries. More than 1500 medals are to be given to the winners. The 27th edition of SEA Games is scheduled from 11 to 22 December 2013. Myanmar is hosting the South East Asian Games after 40 years. Myanmar was the host for 1961, 2nd SEAP Game and 1969, 5th Southeast Asian Peninsular Games (SEAP). The Theme for this year SEA Game is: Green, Clean and Friendship

About Southeast Asian Games

The Southeast Asian Games is a biannual multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supervision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia. In order to participate, all athletes must be entered by their National Olympic Committee. The previous edition- the 26th South East Asian Games were held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2011. The first edition of SEA games were held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1959.

Delhi Half Marathon 2013

Ethiopian runner Atsedu Tsegay on 15 December 2013 won the Men’s Delhi Half Marathon (21.097 km) by creating a new race record. Tsegay clocked 59 minutes 10 seconds beating the previous record of 59 minutes 15 seconds held by Deriba Merga since 2008. Former junior world champion Geoffrey Kipsang of Kenya came second, while his compatriot Wilson Kiprop finished third. G. Laxman was the top finisher for India, with a timing of 1 hour 04 minutes and 44 seconds.

Women’s category

In women’s category Kenyan athlete Florence Kiplagat finished on top with a timing of 1 hour 07 minutes and 58 seconds. Gladys Cherono came second, while Lucy Kabuu finished third. Among the Indian athletes, Preeja Sreedharan was the top finisher. She clocked 1 hour 20 minutes 04 seconds. The winners of the both men and women category won the prize money of 25000, 18000, and 12000 US Dollars respectively according to their top three positions.

About Airtel Delhi Half Marathon

The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon is an annual half marathon event held in New Delhi, India. Established in 2005, it is both an elite runner and mass participation event. Indian telecommunications services company Airtel took the title ownership of the marathon in 2008. Prior to this, telecom provider Vodafone had the title sponsorship. A total of 31000 plus runners participated in the 2013 Delhi half marathon.

<< Go Back To Sports Main Page

Sports and Awards
Current Affairs
Civil Services EXAM
Civil Services Preliminary
Civil Services Mains
UPSC