(Sample Content) "Sports" From Current Affairs Book For IAS Pre 2011

Sample Content: "Sports"

Sebastian Vettel wins Malaysian GP

• Sebastian Vettel led Mark Webber in a 1-2 finish for Red Bull at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
• Vettel passed pole-sitter Webber in the run to the first corner and held that lead throughout, with Nico Rosberg finishing third for Mercedes as forecast rain stayed away from the Sepang circuit.
• Renault’s Robert Kubica was fourth and Force India’s Adrian Sutil took fifth.

Paes & Dlouhy beat Bhupathi & Mirnyi for title

• Third seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes claimed their first title of the season by defeating fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi 6-2, 7-5 in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open.
• The results : Finals: Women: Kim Clijsters bt Venus Williams 6-2, 6-1. Men’s doubles: Lukas Dlouhy & Leander Paes bt Mahesh Bhupathi & Max Mirnyi 6-2, 7-5 .

Roddick reigns supreme at Key Biscayne

• Andy Roddick used a dominating serve and a smart baseline game to beat Tomas Berdych 7-5, 6-4 and win the Sony Ericsson Open.
• The results : Men’s singles final: Andy Roddick bt Tomas Berdych 7-5, 6-4

Indian Open badminton at Chennai

• The Yonex-Sunrise Indian Open badminton Grand Prix Gold was be held at the Nehru Indoor Stadium from June 8 to 13.
• Nineteen countries are participating in the tournament, carrying a prize money of $1,50,000.
• After the Chennai event, the players have proceed to Singapore and then to Indonesia, according to a press release from Tamil Nadu Badminton Association.

Emma Bonney downs Chitra for World title

• Emma Bonney claimed her fifth World Ladies Billiards title, beating India’s Chitra Magimairaj 269-220 in a 90-minute final at the Hall Green Stadium, Birmingham.
• The results: Final: Emma Nonney bt Chitra 269-220. Semifinals: Emma bt Hughes 448-89; Chitra bt Palmius 313-186.

Three medals for Santoshi

• India opened its campaign in the Asian Youth weightlifting championships on a high note with 48kg woman lifter Matsa Santoshi winning a gold and two silver medals on the first day of the event in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
• Santoshi won gold in snatch with a lift of 68kg and added a silver in clean and jerk with an effort of 88kg.

Negi shares second spot

• Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi drew with Iran’s Ehsan Ghaem Maghami to share the second spot half-a-point behind new leader Viorel Irodachescu after six rounds of the Dubai Open chess tournament in Dubai.
  Advani reigns supreme
• Pankaj Advani defended his Asian billiards title with a 6-5 victory over Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist.
• At the Yeshwant Club, in front of a supportive audience, the 25-year-old reinforced his superiority over his opponent whom he had defeated last year.

AITA to launch IPL-style Indian Tennis League

• Inspired by the popularity and commercial success of the Indian Premier League, All India Tennis Association (AITA) is launching the Indian Tennis League (ITL) this December in five cities across the nation.
• Corporate sponsorship is sought to develop and promote city-based franchises and tennis matches will be played home and away on a team format. Former Grand Slam winners, Indian internationals men and women (names to be announced later) will be attached to tennis franchises.

Videocon to renew bid to own IPL team

• The Videocon group, which made an unsuccessful bid to buy the Pune team for the Indian Premier League (IPL), will make an attempt to buy out a team in the IPL-four season next year, group chairman Venugopal Dhoot has said.

Nadal’s reign continues

• Rafael Nadal snapped a title drought stretching back nearly a year as the powerful Spaniard made history with a sixth consecutive trophy at the Monte Carlo Masters.
• Nadal roared back as a force on clay with a 6-0, 6-1 defeat of fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in one hour, 24 minutes.
• Nadal becomes the first player in the post-1968 Open era to win a tournament title for six straight years and gives Spain its eighth winner in the last nine tournaments.
• Doubles (final): Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjic bt Mahesh Bhupathi & Max Mirnyi 6-3, 2-0

Wimbledon winners to net £1million

• The winners of this year’s Wimbledon singles’ titles will net a staggering £1million ($1.54 million) in prize money after the All England Club announced a significant rise in the rewards on offer at the grasscourt Grand Slam .
• The total prize money for the event has been increased by £1.175 million ($1.81 million) to £13.725 million ($21.147 million).

Viswanathan Anand faces multiple challenges

• Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov will finally sit down in the Bulgarian capital to play the first game of the €2 million World Championship chess match.
• The match will be World champion Viswanathan Anand’s biggest challenge given the off-board obstacles he has already faced and the strength of his opponent.

Sahara Pune Warriors is new IPL team

• The Sahara India group launched the Pune team of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the S.P. College ground .The team was named Sahara Pune Warriors.

Chennai Super Kings rules

• Chennai Super Kings tasted victory in its second entry into the final — this time, holding its nerve at the ‘death’ to clinch the DLF IPL3 decider against Mumbai Indian by 22 runs.

Woods crashes out

• Tiger Woods crashed out at Quail Hollow, missing the cut for just the sixth time in his US PGA Tour.
• The World No. 1 spiralled to a seven-over 79, giving him a nine-over total of 153 that saw him miss the cut by a shocking eight strokes.
• Billy Mayfair took the halfway lead shooting 68 to total eight-under 136.
• Angel Cabrera is one stroke behind after a 67.
• Masters champion Phil Mickelson (68) is among a group two strokes behind.

Henin wins title

• Former World No. 1 Justine Henin gave herself a Roland Garros boost with the first victory on her comeback as she won the Stuttgart WTA tournament.
• Since ending her 18-month hiatus in January, Henin’s 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 win over Australia’s Samantha Stosur in the final was her first title in her third final since coming out of retirement having last won in 2007.

Bhupathi opens tennis academy

• Inaugurating a tennis academy in his name in the city,of Kolkata, Mahesh Bhupathi said he was not averse to the idea of taking the help of former doubles partner Leander Paes when it came to development of the game.

Anand retains world title

• Viswanathan Anand retained the FIDE World Chess Championship, defeating Bulgarian Veselin Topalov with black pieces in the final classic game of the series in Sofia .
• Anand won the 12-game match with a score of 6.5-5.5 to defend the title he claimed in 2007.
• Anand became the Undisputed World Chess Champion after winning an eight-player tournament in 2007 and defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. Topalov won the right to challenge Anand after getting the better of Gata Kamsky in 2009.

Sushil Kumar wins gold

• An in-form Sushil Kumar notched up his first-ever gold medal in the Asian wrestling championship as host India garnered its second yellow metal of the meet at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex wrestling stadium in New delhi.
• Sushil (66 kg freestyle) outsmarted Korean Dae Sung Kim, a bronze medallist in the championship last year, in two rounds (4-0, 2-0) to stamp his class.
• The win would ease the Olympic bronze medallist, who had overweighed in the last edition in Pattaya (Thailand) and had been pulled up by the Union Sports Ministry.
• The medal winners: Freestyle: 55 kg:
  1. Shinichi Yumoto (Jpn),
  2. Nasibu Kurbanov (Uzb),
  3. Woo-Joo Lee (Kor), Kyong-Il Yang (PRK).
  66 kg:
  1. Sushil Kumar (Ind),
  2. Dae Sung Kim (Kor),
  3. Ikhtiyor Navrujov (Uzb), Unurat Purebjav (Mgl);
  84 kg:
  1. Ehsan Lashgari (Iri),
  2. Semyon Semyonov (Kaz),
  3. Shinya Matsumoto (Jpn), Feng Zhang (Chn).
  120 kg:
  1. Marid Mutalimov (Kaz),
  2. Chluunbat Jargalsaikhan (Mgl),
  3. S.M.Azarshakib (Iri), Aiaal Lazarev (Kgz).

Sample Content: "Sports"

Memorable title triumph for England

• Defying odds, England ambushed Australia by seven wickets to win its first title in an ICC Global event at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown.
• Chasing 148, England outplayed Australia with three overs to spare to triumph in the ICC World Twenty20.

India, Korea declared joint winners

• India and Korea were declared joint champions after the cup final was abandoned a little over six minutes after start in the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament inIpoh. India, the defending champion, leads the pool with a tally of 13 points.
• Heavy rain forced the Tournament Committee to arrive at this unprecedented decision. This is the first time that the teams have been declared joint winners in this tournament since its inception in 1983.

Webber wins Monaco Grand Prix

• Mark Webber leapt into serious contention for this year’s drivers’ World championship when he drove to an imperious victory ahead of his precocious young teammate Sebastian Vettel in the Monaco Grand Prix.
• The 33-year-old Australian led from start to finish and made light of four interruptions for the introduction of the Safety Car on his way to a second comprehensive win in succession, having won equally impressively in

Spain last weekend.

• It was the fourth win of his career, his second this year and he became the first Australian victor on the famous Mediterranean street circuit, bathed in more glamour than sunshine this time, since Jack Brabham won in 1959, on his way to the World title.

Nadal prevails in Madrid Masters

• Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer 6-4, 7-6(5) to win the Madrid Masters, gaining revenge for the defeat he suffered at the hands of the World No. 1 in last year’s final.
• Nadal collected his 18th career Masters 1000 title, one more than Andre Agassi and two ahead of Federer.
• Men: Final: Rafael Nadal bt Roger Federer 6-4, 7-6(5). Women: Final: Arvane Rezai bt Venus Williams 6-2, 7-5
• Doubles: Final: Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan bt Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjic 6-3, 6-4.

2012 Olympics mascots unveiled

• Two ultra-modern one-eyed creatures have been unveiled as the mascots for the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics.
• The organisers of the Games believe Wenlock, the Olympic mascot, and Mandeville, his Paralympic colleague, will raise at least £15 million of the £70 million they need to generate from licensed merchandising.
• The chairman of the London 2012 organising committee, Sebastian Coe, said he hoped children would come to think of the mascots as “good friends”.
• London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton said: “For our merchandising programme we anticipate royalties of between £70 and 80 million.”

Devvarman qualifies for French Open

• Somdev Devvarman became the first Indian in 13 years to qualify for the men’s singles event of the French Open after scoring a 6-4, 6-1 win over Adrian Mannarino.
• Leander Paes was the last Indian to play in the men’s singles event of the French Open in 1997 when he made the second round of the clay court Grand Slam.
• This is for the second time that Devvarman has qualified for the men’s singles of a Grand Slam tournament. He first played at the U.S. Open last year where he had reached the second round.
• Devvarman’s victory means India will not go unrepresented in the singles event of the second Grand Slam of the year since Sania Mirza is giving a miss to the women’s singles event.

Nadal lifts his fifth French Open crown

• Rafael Nadal recaptured the French Open crown, gaining revenge over Robin Soderling with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win and, in so doing, he also retook the world No.1 spot from Roger Federer.
• Nadal was simply too powerful on clay for the Swede who 12 months ago ended the Spaniard’s 31-match, four titles win streak in Paris in stunning fashion with a four sets, fourth round triumph.
• The win, Nadal’s fifth since 2005, put him second on the all-time list of French Open winners, one behind Bjorn Borg whose last title came in 1981. He is now 38-1 in matches played at Roland Garros.
• It was also the second time he had won the French Open title without dropping a set, having first achieved that feat in 2008.

French Open Result:-

• Men’s singles (final): 2-Rafael Nadal bt 5-Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
• Men’s doubles (final): Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjic bt 3-Leander Paes & Lukas Dlouhy 7-5, 6-2.
• Boys singles (final): Agustin Velotti bt Andrea Collarini 6-4, 7-5.
• Girls singles (final): Elina Svitolina bt Ons Jabeur 6-2, 7-5 .

Interesting facts and figures about FIFA World Cup

• The following are some interesting facts and figures about FIFA World Cup
  1. Including the 2010 edition, a total of 76 teams will have taken part in the World Cup finals. This includes teams which either no longer exist or have undergone a transformation. When the World Cup was expanded to 24 teams, five countries qualified for the finals for the first time. Since then, there have always been three or four new teams, six in 2006. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be an exception to the trend as Slovakia will be the only debutant.
  2. The most successful teams are those which have been in the FIFA World Cup the highest number of times. Taking this into account Brazil have been in 19 WCs, Italy and Germany in 17 and Argentina in 15.
  3. Brazil is the most prolific team in World Cup history in terms of goals scored — 201 followed by Germany (190), Italy (122) and Argentina (113). Aside from goal-scoring Brazil’s World Cup track record is impressive: 19 tournaments, 5 titles, 92 games, 64 victories and 2.2 points per game.
  4. With regard to African World Cup history, Egypt was the first of Africa’s teams to appear in the FIFA World Cup. This was in 1934 when they played just one match against Hungary and were eliminated. Morocco was the next African participant in 1970. The first continental win was in 1978 when Tunisia beat Mexico 3-1. In 1982 Cameroon was the African team to be eliminated after three draws. In 1986 Morocco became the first African team to qualify for the second stage in 1986.
  5. Austria’s 7-5 win over Switzerland in 1954 still tops the list of highest-scoring matches.
  6. The three biggest scoring victories have been matches with a margin of 9 goals. In 1954 Puskas & Co. defeated South Korea 9-0. In 1982 it was Hungary again who subjected El Salvador to a similar fate by beating them 10-1. In 1974 Yugoslavia also triumphed over Zaire with a 9-0 win.
  7. A total of 2,063 goals have been scored in the 708 matches that have been played so far — an average of nearly three goals per game. The 1954 tournament in Switzerland had the greatest average of goals scored — 5.4 per match. This is compared to 2.2 goals per match, the lowest ever, in Italia’90.
  8. Brazil’s Ronaldo is not only the best ever scorer with 15 goals but also the player who has scored in the most number of matches, 11. He is followed by Germany’s Jurgen Klinsmann who scored his 11 in 10 different matches. The record for a single tournament is held by Frenchman Just Fontaine who incredibly scored 13 times in 1958. Kocsis has the best goal score average with 11 goals in five games.
  9. Pele is the only player with three World Cup wins to his name (1958, 1962 and 1970), although in 1962 he did miss most of the games through injury, including the final. His compatriot team member Cafu is the only player to have played in three consecutive finals (1994-2002).

Hat-trick of gold medals for Poonia

• Krishna Poonia accomplishing a hat-trick of gold medals in discus throw.
• Krishna Poonia, a chief welfare inspector with the Railways based in Jaipur, was happy with the result but pointed out that it was still way behind the 63.69 she recorded in training at Santiago (California).

India wins men’s recurve gold

• India won the men’s team recurve gold medal beating the United States by 218 points to 214 in the final of the Archery World Cup (Stage II) at Antalya in Kolkata.
• The Indian trio of Rahul Banerjee, Mangal Singh Champia and Jayanta Talukdar, showed steel like nerves to keep the lead throughout the 24-arrow each side final to win the first gold medal of the series. India had lost the gold medal to Italy at the Porec World Cup (Stage I) in May.
• Interestingly, both India and the U.S. had met for the sixth time in World Cup competition and each time the Indian team came out victorious. The U.S. had Brady Ellison, Richard Johnson and Vic Wunderle in their team.

Sample Content: "Sports"

Saina Nehwal rallies to clinch title

• India’s Saina Nehwal kept her growing legion of fans at the Nehru indoor stadium (CHENNAI )on tenterhooks, teasing and taunting them before emerging triumphant in the $1,20,000 Yonex Sunrise-India Open Grand Prix gold badminton championships .
• The women’s top seed and World No.6 overcame a stiff challenge from Choo Wong Mew of Malaysia, the second seed, to win 20-22, 21-14, 21-12 in 56 minutes in the singles final.
• While Jwala Gutta (with Ashwini Ponnappa) lost in the women’s doubles summit clash, she made it up with a victory in the mixed doubles final (with V. Diju).
• The results (finals, Indians unless otherwise mentioned):
• Men: Yunus Alamsyah (Ina) bt 7-Gurusaidutt 21-13, 21-18; doubles: Fairuzizuan Mohd. & Zakari Abdul Latif Mohd (Sin) bt Rupesh Kumar & Sanave Thomas 21-12, 22-20.
• Women: 1-Saina Nehwal bt 2-Choo Wong Mew (Mas) 20-22, 21-14, 21-2; Doubles: Yao Lei/Mulia Sari Shinta (Sin) bt Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa 21-11, 9-21, 21-15.
• Mixed doubles: Jwala Gutta/V. Diju bt Yao Lei/Triyachart Chayat (Sin) 23-21, 20-22, 21-7 .

Saina clinches Singapore Open title

• Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal clinched the second Super Series title of her career by winning the Singapore Open with a straight-game win over qualifier Tzu Ying Tai in the final in Singapore.
• Top-seeded Saina took just 33 minutes to beat Chinese Taipei’s Tai 21-18, 21-15 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
• The World No. 6 bagged her maiden Super Series title in June last year when she claimed the top honours at the Indonesian Open.
• In the men’s singles, India’s P. Kashyap lost to seventh-seeded Indonesian Sony Kuncoro 19-21, 20-22 in a hard-fought semifinal that lasted 48 minutes. Sony went on to beat Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana 21-16, 21-16 in the final.

India clinches series

• Skipper Surinder Kaur led from the front, converting two penalty corners as India trounced Canada 4-1 in the third hockey Test to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series at Tamanawis Park.
• India thus won the India-Canada Cup having beaten the host in the opening game while the second match was drawn.

World champion knocked out

• Italy exited the 2010 World Cup after suffering a 3-2 defeat to Slovakia in a pulsating Group F game at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
• This is the second time Italy has crashed out at the first round as defending champion. The 2006 champion also exited at this stage in 1950. The other two teams that share this dubious distinction are Brazil (1966) and France (2002). Italy finished last in Group F, with only two points from three games. The last time the Azzurri went out at the first hurdle was in 1974.

Saina completes a hat-trick

• Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal continued her rampaging form as she completed a spectacular hat-trick of titles by clinching the Indonesia Open Super Series with a three-game triumph over Japan’s Sayaka Sato.
• Unbeaten for the past three weeks, the top-seeded defending champion defeated her unseeded, but resolute rival 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 in a rollercoaster encounter that lasted 45 minutes.
• This was Saina’s third successive title, having won the Indian Open Grand Prix at home and the Singapore Open Super Series tournament. This is also the 20-year-old World No. 3’s third Super Series title overall.

Pawar takes charge as ICC President

• Sharad Pawar assumed office as President of the International Cricket Council (ICC) at its annual conference in Singapore. The Union Agriculture Minister and former President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India succeeded David Morgan after serving as the ICC Vice-President since 2008.
• Mr. Pawar is only the second Indian, after Jagmohan Dalmiya, to have become the highest executive of the world cricket body.
• Soon after taking over as the seventh President of the ICC for a two-year term, Mr. Pawar said at a press conference that he was “chosen” for this post during a “challenging” period.
• Serena Williams reigns supreme
• Defending champion Serena Williams won her fourth women’s singles title at Wimbledon with a crushing 6-3, 6-2 victory over Russian 21st seed Vera Zvonareva in the final.
• Serena, who pocketed £1million ($1.5million) in prize money, has been by far the most impressive performer in the women’s event this year and is now just one Wimbledon title behind Venus.

THE RESULTS

• Women’s singles: Final: 1-Serena Williams bt 21-Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-2.
• Doubles: semifinals: Vania King & Yaroslava Shvedova bt 5-Liezel Huber & Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 6-4.
• Men’s doubles: Final: Juergen Melzer & Philipp Petzschner bt 16-Robert Lindstedt and Romania’s Horia Tecau 6-1, 7-5, 7-5;
• Girls singles: final: 9-Kristyna Pliskova bt 10-Sachie Ishizu 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 .

Nadal reclaims Wimbledon crown in style

• Rafael Nadal reclaimed the Wimbledon men’s singles title, putting in a classy performance to beat Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in the final.
• In securing his eighth Grand Slam, Nadal went level with Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Fred Perry and Ken Rosewall.
• Finals: Men: 2-Rafael Nadal bt 12-Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.
• Doubles: Jurgen Melzer & Philipp Petzschner bt 16-Robert Lindstedt & Horia Tecau 6-1, 7-5, 7-5.
• Women: Doubles: Vania King & Yaroslava Shvedova bt Elena Vesnina & Vera Zvonareva 7-6(6), 6-2.
• Boys: 13-Marton Fucsovics bt Benjamin Mitchell 6-4, 6-4.
• Girls: 9-Kristyna Pliskova bt 10-Sachie Ishizu 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 .

Paes, Cara win mixed doubles title

• Leander Paes and Cara Black won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title, beating South African-American pair of Wesley Moodie and Lisa Raymond in the final.

Germany regains Hockey Masters

• With a display that reflected authority and an intelligent professional approach work, Germany regained the Masters Trophy-last won in 2008- with a convincing 5-1 victory over the Netherlands. The home team led 3-0 at half-time.
• The three match victory sweep gave Germany the top spot with nine points, The outcome helped Japan to finish with a silver in its first ever appearance in the competition after accruing four points followed by the Netherlands with three, and India one.

The results:

• Germany 5 (Florian Fuchs 2 Moritz Furste 2, Christopher Zeller,) beat Netherlands 1 (Tim Jenniskens). HT 3-0
• India 4 (Amir Khan, Danish Mujtaba, Sandeep Singh, Bharat Chikkara) drew with Japan 4 (Hiroki Sakamoto, Kazuhiro Tsubochi 2, Nagasawa). HT 2-1.
• Final positions: 1. Germany, 2. Japan, 3 The Netherlands, 4. India.
• Special awards: Player of the tournament: Maxmillan Mueller;
• Top scorer: Christopher Zeller;
• Most Promising player: Florian Fuchs (all from Germany);
• Best goal-keeper: Katsuya Takase (Japan) .

SPAIN CROWNED WORLD CHAMPION

• A late goal from Andres Iniesta gave Spain victory over the Netherlands at the death of a cynical and ill-tempered final.

Mark Webber wins British Grand Prix

• Australian Mark Webber cruised to his third win of the season when he dominated the British Grand Prix for Red Bull.
• It was a special win for Webber, not only the fifth victory of his career, but coming after an in-team row over favouritism when Vettel was given a special front wing part taken from his car.
• Home-favourite Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 champion, finished second for McLaren ahead of third-placed German Nico Rosberg in a Mercedes.
• Hamilton’s McLaren teammate and fellow Briton, defending champion Jenson Button, came home fourth after starting 14th on the grid.

Dinesh beats Jasveer in thriller

• In a fascinating battle of equals, World Cup medallist and Commonwealth champion Dinesh Kumar beat former National champion Jasveer to regain the 81kg title in the 57th Sahara National boxing championship at the Talkatora Stadium.

Murali scales Mount 800

• Muttiah Muralitharan ended his Test career in a blaze of glory. The off-spinning legend reached an astonishing 800 wickets while playing a crucial role in Sri Lanka’s emphatic 10-wicket victory over India on the final day of the first Test.
• The 38-year-old Muralitharan began his Test career against Australia in Colombo in 1992. The man with dexterous wrists, supple fingers and enormous strength of mind is the highest wicket-taker in Tests with 800 scalps in 133 matches at an average of 22.72 with an incredible 67 five-wicket hauls.
• The bowler with flight, dip and vicious turn is also the foremost wicket-taker in the ODIs, with 515 victims in 337 matches at 23.07.

Khel Ratna for Saina Nehwal

• Khel Ratna for badminton star Saina Nehwal and recognition for football after eight years were the highlights of the recommendations for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Awards made by two specially-constituted panels.
• Hockey coach A.K. Bansal was recommended for the Dronacharya Award.
• Saina’s was obviously a popular choice as she edged out Ramesh Kumar and shooter Gagan Narang. Among the titles Saina won in the last three years were the Indonesian Open (2009), Syed Modi Grand Prix (2009) and World junior title (2009). She climbed to No. 2 in world rankings recently following three major titles in a row in Chennai, Singapore and Indonesia.
• She also became the first Indian woman to reach the semifinals of the All England and Asian championships.
• Deepak Mondal is the footballer recommended along with two athletes, Krishna Poonia and Joseph Abraham. Hockey also has two awardees in Sandeep Singh and Jasjit Kaur. Others recommended by the panel headed by athletics legend P.T. Usha are Dinesh (kabaddi), Rehan Poncha (swimming), Sanjeev Rajput (shooting), Kapil Dev (volleyball), Dinesh Kumar (boxing), Parimarjan Negi (chess), Jhulan Goswami, Rajesh Choudhary (yachting) and Jagseer Singh (Paralympics).
• In boxing, the verdict went in favour of Dinesh Kumar ahead of Suranjoy Singh and Jitender Kumar. Dinesh won a World Cup bronze in 2008 and made the quarterfinals of the World championships next year. He also won an Asian championship bronze the same year.
• The recommendations for Dhyan Chand awards were Satish Pal (athletics), Kuldeep Singh (wrestling) and Anita Chanu (weightlifting).

Sachin make a new record

• The year was 1989 when a precociously talented 16-year-old made his Test debut in Karachi against a fast and furious Pakistani pace attack. Sachin Tendulkar did not flinch.
• Now, the little big man with phenomenal achievements is poised to become the most-capped cricketer in Tests. Sachin Tendulkar will surpass Australian great Steve Waugh’s mark of 168 Test appearances when the third Test between India and Sri Lanka gets underway at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium.
• Along the way, Tendulkar has built monumental edifices. In 168 Tests, the legend has 13,742 runs at a stunning average of 56.08 with 48 hundreds. No cricketer has made more runs in Tests, no one has notched up more centuries. The multi-dimensional Tendulkar has also scalped 44 batsmen with his assorted spin.
• Steve Waugh scored 10,927 runs at 51.06 with 32 hundreds. Beginning his career essentially as an all-rounder who could send down clever medium pace, the Aussie picked up 97 wickets in his long and illustrious career.

Tyson Gay outruns Bolt

• Tyson Gay beat Usain Bolt in the 100 metres at the DN Galan meet in 9.84 seconds at the same stadium where Bolt last lost a race two years ago.
• The American always looked in complete control against World record holder Bolt, who was second in 9.97s.

Bengal rallies to win Santosh Trophy

• Denson Devadas did the star turn for Bengal with two brilliant goals to help the host overhaul a goal’s deficit and beat Punjab 2-1 in the final of the 64th senior National football championship at the Salt Lake Stadium.
• Bengal fired up an inspired performance to regain the Santosh Trophy after a break of 11 years. This was the 30th occasion the State had registered its supremacy in the championship.

Sports Ministry asks FIH to recognise IHF, not HI

• The Union Sports Ministry reiterated its appeal to the International Hockey Federation (FIH) to recognise Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) as the National Sports Federation (NSF) for hockey in India.
• The Ministry’s plea came following FIH’s continued support to Hockey India as the “sole and only body compliant with FIH statutes.”

India triumphs in Asia zone qualifier

• India swamped Sri Lanka 84-44 to win the four-team Middle Asia Zone qualifying round for the 21st FIBA Asia Cup basketball championship to be held at Sana’a (Yemen).

Matt Kuchar tops the leaderboard

• In his mind’s eye, Matt Kuchar is still the same fresh-faced kid that graduated from the US college ranks full of promise and eager to learn the ropes on the PGA Tour.
• “It is going by so fast,” said Kuchar, who shot a three-under 69 to seize the clubhouse lead in the second round of the 92nd PGA Championship.

Kaymer pips Watson to title

• Germany’s Martin Kaymer beat Bubba Watson in a three-hole play-off to capture the 92nd PGA Championship after a shocking penalty knocked Dustin Johnson out of contention.
• The 25-year-old made a two-foot bogey on the final hole to win his first Major championship.

Murray retains Toronto Masters title

• Scotsman Andy Murray showed steely nerve to shatter a career finals jinx against Roger Federer, defeating the stylish Swiss 7-5, 7-5 to defend his title at the ATP Rogers Cup.
• Murray, who remains fourth in the ATP rankings while Federer moves back to second behind Rafael Nadal, had lost to Federer during prior trophy bids in 2005 at Bangkok, the 2008 U.S. Open and last January’s Australian Open final.

The results:

• At Toronto (ATP Rogers Cup): Final: Singles: Andy Murray bt Roger Federer 7-5, 7-5; Doubles: Bob & Mike Bryan bt Julien Benneteau & Michael Llodra 7-5, 6-3.
• At Cincinnati (WTA Cincinnati Open): Final: Kim Clijsters bt Maria Sharapova 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2.
• Western & Southern Financial Group Masters: First round: Marcos Baghdatis bt Marin Cilic 6-4, 7-5 .

SC permits HI to send women’s team for World Cup in Argentina

• The Supreme Court permitted Hockey India (HI) and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to send the women’s hockey team to take part in the World Cup in Argentina beginning on August 26.