(Current Affairs) Sports | March: 2014

Sports

CRICKET

TENNIS

HOCKEY

FOOTBALL

BADMINTON

CHESS

GOLF

VARIOUS

CRICKET

Fastest Century in ODI by Corey Anderson

New Zealand’s Corey Anderson has made world record by his name by blasted the fastest century in One Day International. History was created at Queenstown Events Centre ground against West Indies on 1 January 2014. The left-handed Anderson brought up his hundred off just 36 balls, shattering the previous record held by Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi. Anderson remained 131 not out (47 balls). New Zealand posted a mammoth 283/4 in 21 over. Jesse Ryder too hit a quick ton, scoring 104 off 51 deliveries. Ryder’s 100 are the sixth fastest in ODI history. Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi had taken 37 balls for his ton. Afridi had set the record in 1996 in Nairobi against Sri Lanka. The 22-year-old Anderson, batting at number 5, reached the world record mark in the 18th over of the match, which was reduced to 21 over each due to rain. New Zealand won by 159 runs after keeping the visitors to 124/5 in 21 over. The assault by New Zealand batsmen destroyed West Indies bowling figures. Fast bowler Ravi Rampaul was the most expensive with an economy rate of 21.33. He was hammered for 64 runs from 3 over. All six bowlers went for more than 10 runs per over, the least being 11 by Nikita Miller (1/44 in 4 over).

Fastest Hundreds in One Day Internationals

  • Corey Anderson 36 balls
  • Shahid Afridi 37 balls
  • Mark Boucher 44 balls
  • Brian Lara 45 balls
  • Shahid Afridi 45 balls

TENNIS

Australian Open title

Men’s

Stanislas Wawrinka won the Australian Open men’s singles title on 26 January 2014 by defeating Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in Melbourne. This is the maiden Grand Slam crown of eighth seeded, Wawrinka. This is
the first victory of Wawrinka over Nadal in 13 career meetings as he had never won a single set against the Spanish, Nadal before the final match on 26 January 2014. Wawrinka’s maiden Grand Slam success comes
in his 36th major, only Goran Ivanisevic (37) has taken longer to win a first major crown. With this win, Wawrinka became the first man to defeat the top two seeds at a grand slam since 1993 French Open played by Sergi Bruguera.

Women’s

Li Na of China won the women’s singles title by defeating Dominika Cibulkova 7-6 (3), 6-0 on 25 January 2014 at Melbourne Park. Earlier, Li Na has lost two finals in the previous three years. Li Na, who will turn 32 in
February is the oldest women’s Champion in the Open era in Australia.

Mixed Doubles

French-Canadian pair of Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor won the Mixed doubles title of the tournament after defeating India’s Sania Mirza and her Romanian partner Horia Tecau 6-3, 6-2.

HOCKEY

Inaugural title of Hockey World League

Netherlands on 19 January 2014 won the Hero Hockey World League Final by defeating New Zealand 7-2 in New Delhi. To help Netherlands to win the inaugural title of the championship, Constantijin Jonker slammed a hat-trick at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

The bronze medal was awarded to England that defeated the world champions Australia 2-1 in the match played for third-fourth place. Belgium retained its position at fifth place and sixth place was taken by India.

  • Captain of Netherlands: Robert van der Horst
  • Netherlands coach: Paul van Ass
  • Captained of New Zealand: Dean Couzins
  • New Zealand coach: Colin Batch Individual awards
  • Player of the Tournament: Robbert Kemperman (Netherlands) • Goalkeeper of the Tournament: George Pinner (England)
  • Top goal scorer: Kieran Govers (Australia)
  • Best Junior Player: Mandeep Singh (India)

GOLF

Sony Open Golf tournament

Jimmy Walker of the US won the Sony Open golf tournament held in Hawaii on 12 January 2014. This was his second PGA Tour title. His first PGA Tour title came in October 2013 when he won the Frys.com Open, the first tournament of the new wraparound season. Walker closed with 7-under 63 for a one shot victory over his compatriot Chris Kirk who was placed second.

As a result, he won 1.08 million dollars in prize money. The third place was taken by Jerry Kelly of England. Walker had gone 187 tournaments in seven years on the PGA Tour without winning. However, in last six months he has won two PGA Tour titles. As the first multiple winner for the 2013-14 season, he is leading the FedEx Cup and closing in on cracking the top 30 in the world. PGA tour is the organizer of the professional golf tours played by the men in North America and United States.

VARIOUS

Mahesh Mangaokar of India on 6 January 2014 won the Open du Gard squash title, the PSA Challenger 5 event. Mangaokar (19) of Mumbai defeated the top-seeded Scottish player Scot Greg Lobban 9-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-5 in the final match played at Squash des Arenes in Nimes, France to claim the tour title. Mangaokar from Mumbai defeated Lobban in the IMET Open in December and repeated the same again in the sixth edition of the 5000 dollar PSA Challenger event. To qualify for the finals, Mangaonkar defeated the second seeded Ammar Alamimi of Kuwait in the semi-finals. The is the third win of Mangaonkar on the PSA Tour and this also set up a nine-match winning streak for the Indian - the longest of his career. Semi-finals

  • Greg Lobban of Scotland defeated Christophe Andre ofFrance 11-8, 11-5, 11-7
  • Mahesh Mangaonkar of India defeated Ammar Altamimi of Kuwait 11-9, 11-2, 11-0

75th National Table Tennis Championship

Sanil Shetty and Ankita Das won their maiden men’s and women’s singles championship at the 75th Senior National Table Tennis Championships held on 12 January 2014. Shetty defeated Harmeet Desai 4-2 in the men’s final and won the amount of 2.30 lakh rupees. Ankita Das defeated Krittwika Sinha 4-0 in the women’s final and won the amount of 1.45 lakh rupees. Sanil Shetty is the first national champion to emerge from Mumbai after the great Kamlesh Mehta, who last won the title in 1995.

Results :

Men

  • Final: Sanil Shetty (PSPB) beat Harmeet Desai (PSPB)

Women:

  • Final: Ankita Das (PSPB) beat Krittwika Sinha Roy (AAI)

Mixed Doubles:

  • Final: Sanil Shetty/Neha Aggarwal (PSPB) beat Arjun Ghosh/ Mousi Pal (WB).

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