(Current Affairs) Sports | February: 2015

Sports

Indian Aces beat UAE Royals to top IPTL standings

  • Indian Aces notched up its third win on the trot with a 28-20 victory over the UAE Royals in the battle of two unbeaten sides in an India Premier Tennis League match.
  • After Sunday’s win, Indian Aces topped the table after the Manila leg to emerge early front-runner in the high-profile tournament.
  • The Indian side, however, began with a loss with Ana Ivanovic going down fighting 4-6 to Kristina Mladenovic in the first women’s singles.
  • The battle of the in-form women’s singles players was a thrilling contest with Ivanovic almost making a sensational comeback from 1-5 down, before eventually losing the match.
  • Mixed doubles pair Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna registered a 6-3 second-set win over Mladenovic and Nenad Zimonjic, and Indian Aces took the advantage with Bopanna partnering the crowd-favourite Gael Monfils to a 6-4 victory over Zimonjic and Marin Cilic in men’s doubles.
  • An injury pulled Cilic out from early in the set against Monfils, but Malek Jaziri was a more than capable substitute.

Quick win for Deepan in National Premier Chess

  • Vidit Gujrathi, the highest-rated player, was forced to a draw for the second successive day, this time by his Petroleum Board teammate Abhijit Kunte, in the second round of the South Indian Bank-CMS College 52nd National Premier Chess championship at the CMS College.

  • Meanwhile, Deepan Chakravarthy, who was the quickest of the day with a 27-move verdict over P.D.S. Girinath, Deep Sengupta and M.R. Lalith Babu posted wins. Five players, with 1.5 points each, are in the lead.
    Varun Kakran set a new National record

  • Uttar Pradesh’s Varun Kakran cleared a height of 1.86 metres to set a new National record in the under-14 boys’ high jump in the Jio junior National athletics championship at IGMC stadium here on Saturday.

  • Varun eclipsed Maharashtra’s Anil Kumar Sahoo’s 1.85 metre effort achieved in 2011.

  • Kerala and Haryana athletes dominated the penultimate day with Kerala runners hogging the limelight in the relays.

  • The results: Boys: U-14: High Jump: 1. Varun Kakran (UP) 1.86m – NR (ONR & NMR 1.85), 2. Anil (Har) 1.70; 3. Ravindra Reddy 1.56.

Chikkarangappa triumphs at CG Open Golf 2014

  • S. Chikkarangappa defended his title in style at the CG Open Golf 2014, producing a final round of four-under-66 at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club course.
  • The Bengaluru golfer totalled 17-under-263 in the PGTI Super Series event and also topped the Rolex Rankings.
  • Om Prakash Chouhan bettered the course record with 10-under-60 in the fourth round, and was rewarded with the second spot carding 16-under-264.
  • Overnight leader C. Muniyappa of Bengaluru returned a card of 15-under-265 for third place.
  • Chikkarangappa (67-66-64-66) started with pars on the first three holes, birdied the fourth, fifth and seventh. Muniyappa bogeyed the 11th, as the former struck form to manage birdies on 16th and 18th for the title.

East Zone reclaims ‘Deodhar Trophy’ after a long gap

  • East Zone proved to be a hard nut to crack and won the Deodhar Trophy after 11 seasons. The game swung back and forth in a tantalising manner, but East struck crucial blows in the closing stages of the match to beat West by 24 runs in the final.

  • East’s team work stood out in stark contrast to some poor bowling by Shardul Thakur and Yusuf Pathan, and later some poor batting chasing a tall target of 270.

  • West’s chase suffered as Ashoke Dinda, getting one last chance to impress the selectors before the World Cup probables selection, induced errors from Smit Patel, Sheldon Jackson and Ambati Rayudu. His effort earned him the man-of-the-match award.

  • As the final drifted towards East, Maharashtra’s Kedar Jadhav and his Pune teammate Ankit Bawne pulled their team out of the woods with a solid 74-run stand for the fourth wicket.

  • After Bawne’s dismissal, Jadhav and local lad Suryakumar Yadav took charge. Jadhav also survived a strong appeal for leg-before off left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and was lucky to be dropped by Kumar Deobrat at long-on off off-spinner Saurasish Lahiri.

  • But once Odisha all-rounder Biplab Samantaray bowled Jadhav and Dinda dismissed Yadav, East’s anxiety ended and it went on to win the match.

  • Earlier, after electing to bat, East was indebted to skipper Manoj Tiwary — his 75 led the fight-back after early loss of wickets — and Samantaray’s quick-fire half-century.

Indians subdue the Dutch in Champions Trophy

  • After two morale-sapping defeats, India finally regained a lot of confidence by notching up a 3-2 upset win over World Cup silver medallist and second-ranked Netherlands in its final Pool B match of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament at the Kalinga Stadium.

  • The home team, which opened its account with three points earned from this unexpected victory, finished third in its pool and will meet Pool A’s second-placed side Belgium in the quarterfinals.

  • The Netherlands frontline, especially the trio of Jeroen Hertzberger, Sander Baart and Rogier Hofman, showed tremendous understanding and agility to invade the Indian circle at lightning speed and came close to taking the lead on several occasions.

  • But India remained unaffected mainly due to some fabulous saves by its brave goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh. V.R. Raghunath and Rupinderpal Singh, who were tested on numerous instances, withstood the nervous moments.

  • Against the run of play, India grabbed the lead early in the third quarter. Bubbling with energy, young Gurjinder Singh launched a long-range slap shot and S.V. Sunil deflected it in to trigger celebrations in the stands. The Dutch lost a bit of advantage as its referral challenging the goal did not yield the desired result.

Pakistan wins a thriller, makes final in Champions Trophy

  • The blockbuster involving India and Pakistan had disappointment in store for the passionate home fans as the host lost 4-3 an evenly-contested, high voltage semifinal clash of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament at the Kalinga Stadium.

  • Incidentally, India had also lost to the same opponent in the last four of the 2012 edition in Melbourne. The defeat also meant that the third place finish in 1982 remains India’s best ever performance in the Champions Trophy.

  • World No. 11 Pakistan, which reached the final after 16 years on the strength of Muhammad Arslan Qadir’s brace, will take on Olympic champion and nine-time winner Germany. The world No. 3 edged past five-time defending champion Australia 3-2.

  • It was also a big achievement for Germany, which had struggled throughout the year and came into this event with a team which had several players from the 2013 Junior World Cup-winning squad, as it made the final after 2009.

  • As expected, Pakistan used its sharpened wings to cut through the Indian defence frequently and kept hitting into the circle from the right.

IPTL & traditional tennis can co-exist says Carlos Moya

  • The innovative rules and format of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) may have struck a chord with the Asian fans, generally starved of top-level action, but former World No.1 Carlos Moya believes the ‘traditional’ sport will stick to its conventional rules, though the inaugural tournament will ‘co-exist’ and thrive alongside the existing order.

Mahalakshmi in sole lead in National under-17 girls’ chess

  • Top seed M. Mahalakshmi defeated second seed G.K. Monisha to move into the sole lead at the end of the seventh round of the National under-17 girls’ chess championship at Patna on Saturday.
  • With four rounds remaining, she has six points, half-a-point ahead of Tejaswini Sagar and V. Varshini. In the boys’ event, fifth seed Aradhya Garg maintained his sole lead with 6.5 points, one point in front of V. Pranavananda.

Indians just behind Brazilians in goal-scorers’ list

  • Indian players have scored 23 goals, only three less than Brazilian imports from all teams, in the Indian Super League football tournament that has entered the knockout phase now.
  • Brazilian players, led by eight strikes from Chennaiyin FC’s sharp shooter Elano Blumer, have notched up 26 goals overall.
  • Indian players — led by FC Goa’s Romeo Fernandes and Chennaiyin FC’s Jeje Lalpekhlua who have found the target thrice each — have tallied 23 in all.

<< Go Back To Sports Main Page

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