| |
Read More
- India captain Virat Kohli bagged the International Cricketer and Batsman of the Year award during the CEAT Cricket Rating (CCR) International awards 2019.
- The ceremony held in Mumbai on 13th May in presence of a galaxy of past and present cricketers. Pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who made a mark for India and IPL franchise Mumbai Indians, was adjudged as International Bowler of the Year.
- Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan was awarded for outstanding bowling and Australian batsman Aaron Finch for his exceptional performance in T20.
- Young prodigy Yashasvi Jaiswal, who performed exceptionally over the year was awarded Junior Cricketer of the Year, while chinaman Kuldeep Yadav took the home outstanding performance of the year award.
- Ashutosh Aman was awarded Domestic Cricketer of the Year. Legendary Mohinder Amarnath, who played a key role in India's 1983 World Cup triumph, was bestowed with the 'CCR International Lifetime Achievement Award'.
- Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar, former Australian batsman Dean Jones, former India stumper Saba Karim were present on the occasion among others.
|
Read More
- Top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-3, 6-4 on 13th May to win his third Madrid Open title.
- The world number one was able to improve on his epic 7-6, 7-6 semifinal win over Dominic Thiem of Austria for a more straightforward victory over Tsitsipas, who is still searching for his first Masters 1000 title.
- Djokovic lifted the title in Madrid after progressing through the week without losing a set and has now won 33 Masters 1000 titles - the same number as Rafael Nadal and five more than Roger Federer.
- Djokovic got the decisive break in the ninth game of the set to move 5-4 up and then held his serve to add the 2019 Madrid Open title to those he won in 2011 and 2016.
|
Read More
- London Olympic bronze medallist Mary Kom will make her competitive debut at home in 51kg in the second edition of the India Open boxing tournament, to be held in Guwahati from 20th to 24th of this month.
- With Olympic qualification round the corner, India Open will witness 35 men and 37 women boxers from India vying for glory, even as close to 200 pugilists from 16 boxing powerhouses will participate in the tournament.
- Keeping in mind the approved weight categories for Olympic qualification, some of the Indian pugilists have changed their weight divisions.
- After her stunning performance at the Asian Championships, where she became the first Indian to win a gold in 81kg, Pooja Rani has gone back to her original weight category of 75kg.
- Assam's Bhagyabati Kachari too has made a similar change while Asian Championships bronze medallist Manisha Moun will be fighting it out in 57kg for the very first time.
- Simranjit Kaur, a silver medallist at the continental tournament in 64kg, has switched to 60kg and will be competing with former world champion Sarita Devi, who added her eighth Asian medal this year.
- While the six-time world champion will be India's biggest medal hope yet again, Amit Panghal (52kg) will be looking to continue his dominance after conquering the Asian Championships gold.
- Assam's Shiva Thapa (60kg), who created a record by winning medals in four consecutive Asian Championships, will be aiming to impress the home crowd, and so will Ankushita Boro (64kg), a gold medallist at the 2017 World Youth Championship.
|
Read More
- GS Lakshmi has become the first female match referee after the International Cricket Council (ICC) named the 51-year-old in its list of elite match officials on 14th May.
- Earlier this month Australian, Claire Polosak became the first woman to officiate a men's One-Day International (ODI) in the World Cricket League Division 2 finals in Windhoek
- “We are committed to ensuring greater gender parity among our officials, but all appointments are made purely on merit,” said Adrian Griffith, ICC Senior Manager - Umpires and Referees.
- Eloise Sheridan of Australia, who was the reserve umpire for two matches in the men's Big Bash League 2018-19, has joined Polosak on the ICC Development Panel of Umpires as its eighth member, the world governing body said.
- “Elevation is as a result of a thorough evaluation process that identifies the most talented match officials breaking through to an international level,” Griffth added.
|
Read More
- Former Croatia international and manager Igor Stimac will be appointed as the Indian men’s team coach after the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) technical committee recommended him for the post.
- The committee, headed by Shyam Thapa, interviewed the four candidates for the post Stimac, Albert Roca, Hakan Ericson and Lee on Thursday and zeroed in on Stimac. The Croat was the only candidate who flew to New Delhi to give the interview in person.
- “The technical committee has chosen Igor Stimac as the Indian football coach. He gave a splendid presentation and his experience speaks volumes. Stimac has an impressive knowledge of Indian football and we found him as the perfect choice,” Thapa told Sportstar.
- In his 14-year managerial career, Stimac coached the Croatian national team between 2012 and 2013, and has also worked with clubs like Hajduk Split, Cibalia, NK Zagreb and Zadar, Iranian club Sepahan and Qatari club Al-Shahania.
|
Read More
- Dairy major Amul will be the principal sponsor of the Afghanistan cricket team for the upcoming ICC World Cup hosted by England and Wales, its Managing Director R S Sodhi said on 7th May.
- Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets dairy products under Amul brand, exports around ₹200 crore worth of products annually to the neighbouring country.
- “Amul will be the principal sponsor of Afghanistan cricket team in the coming ICC World Cup. We believe that Afghanistan will be a strong contender as it is fastest-growing team,” Sodhi said.
- This is the third time that Amul is sponsoring a cricket team in the World Cup, he said adding that the company had associated with New Zealand and Holland teams in earlier World Cup tournaments.
- When asked about the sponsorship deal with the Afghanistan cricket team, he declined to comment.However, Sodhi said the company annually spends only 0.8 per cent of its annual turnover on advertisements.
- GCMMF posted a 13 per cent increase in turnover at Rs 33,150 crore during the last fiscal year driven by strong growth in volume.
- Elaborating more on the tie-up, Sodhi said the logo of brand Amul will appear on the team jerseys as well as on training kits throughout the World Cup.
|
Read More
- US President Donald Trump on 6th May bestowed Tiger Woods with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honour, describing the golfer as "one of the greatest athletes in the history of sports."
- Woods, 43, is only the fourth and the youngest golfer ever to have received the highest American civilian award. Calling Woods, "a global symbol of American excellence, devotion and drive," the president said, "Tiger's determination and work ethic drove golf to new heights of athletic competition and popularity."
- In his remarks, Trump praised Woods as "one of the greatest athletes in the history of sports." Trump said, "we were in the presence of a true legend" who is "also a great person, a great guy". "We can't wait to see what's next, Tiger," said Trump, an avid golfer and owner of several golf courses around the world.
- Woods choked up as he thanked his mother, his two children, his girlfriend and his caddy during the ceremony on Monday in the White House Rose Garden.
- Woods's Masters victory was his 15th major championship, during which he weathered a marital infidelity scandal that ended in divorce, a debilitating spine injury, an addiction to prescription painkillers and grave doubts about his athletic longevity.
- Trump has long been a fan and recently, a business partner of Woods. He announced his decision to give the award to Woods in a tweet, after Woods won the Masters tournament last month, his first major title since the 2008 US Open, capping a remarkable comeback from personal turmoil and physical injuries.
- Trump praised Woods' "relentless will to win, win, win". "These qualities embody the American spirit of pushing boundaries and defying limits," Trump said.
|
Read More
- An Indian student trio has emerged the first runner-up in Microsoft's prestigious Imagine Cup World Championship final held in Seattle for their innovative smart automated anti-pollution and drug delivery mask.
- Aakash Bhadana and his friends Vasu Kaushik and Bharat Sundal developed "Caeli", the world's first smart automated anti-pollution and drug delivery mask specifically designed for asthmatic and chronic respiratory patients, which won the first position in the Asia Regional Final contest held in Sydney in February.
- The championship was won by the Team EasyGlucose from the United States which won USD 100,000 and a mentoring session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
- "Huge congratulations to team EasyGlucose from the USA, our 2019 ImagineCup World Champion! His DeepLearning non-invasive blood glucose level monitor won USD 100K and a mentoring session with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella," Microsoft Imagine Cup tweeted.
- "Congratulations to our 2019 ImagineCup 2nd place winners, Team Caeli from India, who developed a smart automated anti-pollution drug delivery mask and won Surface laptops and USD 40,000 in Azure Grants. We can't wait to see what you do next!," it said
- "This year's 3rd place ImagineCup winner was team Finderr from the UK for their solution to empower visually impaired users to find lost items with a phone. They won USD 30,000 in Azure Grants. Keep on innovating," it said.
- Every year, Imagine Cup celebrates the top student teams that bring their biggest, boldest ideas to life. Each team creates an original technology project from start to finish while competing on a global stage for the title of World Champion.
|
Read More
- Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has been appointed as the first non-British president of the Marylebone Cricket Club.
- The wicketkeeper-batsman, whose nomination was announced by current president Anthony Wreford on 1st May, will begin his one-year tenure in October.
- The 41-year-old, who is already an honorary life member of MCC and has sat on its influential world cricket committee for the past seven years, said: “It is a huge honour to be named the next president of MCC and it is a role that I am thoroughly looking forward to.
- “For me, MCC is the greatest cricket club in the world, with its global reach and continued progress for cricket on and off the pitch.”
- MCC, which owns Lord's and acts as the guardian of the laws of the game, was founded in 1787 and lists 168 presidents in its history.
|
Read More
- Indian shooting ace Apurvi Chandela 1st May attained the world number one position in the women’s 10m air rifle event while compatriot Anjum Moudgil rose to number two after consistent performances in recent years.
- The rifle ace from Jaipur is among the five Indian shooters to have already secured 2020 Olympics quotas for the country.
- Chandela shot a world record score of 252.9 to clinch gold at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in February. She is a gold medallist at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Game and a bronze winner in the next edition at Gold Coast.
- In the 2018 Asian Games, Chandela had won a bronze medal in the 10m mixed rifle event. The shooter took to twitter to share her joy on achieving the feat.
- “World Number 1 Touched a milestone in my shooting career today,” Chandela wrote on her twitter handle.
- While the 26-year-old Chandela has already booked a Tokyo Olympics berth, she narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth with a total score of 207.8, at the recently-concluded ISSF World Cup in Beijing.
|
Read More
- Valtteri Bottas won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday (April 28) to retake the Formula One world championship lead from team mate Lewis Hamilton after a stunning fourth successive one-two finish for Mercedes.
- The Finn, who started on pole position, crossed the line 1.524 seconds ahead of Hamilton to make up for the agony of 2018 when he was denied victory in Baku by a late puncture.
- The pair are now separated by just one point with 17 races remaining, with Mercedes 70 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' standings.
- Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari was a distant third as the Italian pre-season favourites again failed to convert their promise into a result.
- The win around the streets of capital Baku was the fifth of Bottas' career and he became the first driver this season to win from pole.
- Like Hamilton, he now has two wins and two second places from the first four races but is ahead thanks to the extra point he scored for setting the fastest lap on his way to victory in the Australian season opener.
- Mercedes are the first two-car team in Formula One's 70-year history to open a season with four straight one-twos.
- Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
- The Monegasque, the pole-position favourite who started eighth after crashing in qualifying, led the race at one point after staying out longer than rivals on softer tyres.
|
Read More
- Stephanie Frappart became the first woman to referee a French Ligue 1 match on Sunday (April 28).
- The 35-year-old Frappart took charge as Amiens hosted Strasbourg, where she was called into action numerous times, handing out yellow cards to the likes of Strasbourg's Ibrahima Sissoko and Ludovic Ajorque.
- Frappart is not the first woman to officiate a top-flight men's game in Europe's top leagues.
- Germany's Bibiana Steinhaus became the first woman to officiate a Bundesliga match in 2017 when Hertha Berlin drew 1-1 with Werder Bremen.
|
Read More
- World number three Petra Kvitova beat Estonian Anett Kontaveit 6-3 7-6(2) to win Stuttgart's Porsche Grand Prix on Sunday (April 28) for her second title of the year as she prepares for next month's French Open.
- Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon champion, broke her opponent to go 4-2 up in the first set and served out the set a little later on the quick indoor clay courts in Stuttgart.
- The Czech had to work much harder in the second set as she had to save two set points at 5-4 as Kontaveit had her pinned to the baseline.
- However, the Estonian, who received a walkover into the final after top seed Naomi Osaka pulled out from their last four clash due to injury,missed her chances and allowed Kvitova to come back.
- Kvitova raced to a 6-0 lead in the tiebreak before sealing victory two points later.
|
Read More
- Lebanon's capital Beirut has set a new Guinness World Record for the number of national flags raised in a city for 24 hours.
- The Beirut Alive Association in the national capital on 28th April raised a total of 26,852 Lebanese flags breaking New York's Waterloo record of 25,599 flags, Xinhua reported.
- The event was organised under the patronage of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, represented by MP Rola Tabsh, at the Nejmeh Square in downtown Beirut, in the presence of Economic and Social Council Member Mohammed Al-Jouzou and independent witnesses from "Al-Ittihad Law firms" and various prominent figures.
- After raising the flag that broke the world record, MP Tabsh congratulated the Beirut Alive Association for this remarkable individual and national initiative by excellence, adorning Beirut with thousands of Lebanese flags and entering the Book of Guinness.
- "Today they were capable of raising thousands of Lebanese flags to enter the Guinness book.
- This is a national initiative which reflects Beirut's role and which implicates no flag other than the Lebanese will be raised in Beirut," Tabsh said.
|
Read More
- Lionel Messi fittingly sealed Barcelona’s 26th La Liga title on 27 April by coming off the bench to score the goal in a 1-0 win over Levante in front of a jubilant Nou Camp crowd, who celebrated a remarkable eighth league crown in 11 years.
- Barca’s captain decided the game and the title in the 61st minute as he received a header from Arturo Vidal, effortlessly freeing himself from two defenders with his right foot before using his left to plant the ball into the far bottom corner.
- He had started on the bench along with Sergio Busquets as Ernesto Valverde had one eye on Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg at home to Liverpool.
- But the coach inevitably turned to his talisman with the game goalless at halftime, despite the best efforts of Philippe Coutinho, who had numerous attempts on goal and clanged the crossbar before being withdrawn for Messi.
- The Argentine needed just over a quarter of an hour to have the desired effect, lighting up the stadium with his 34th league goal of the season in 32 appearances.
- With 13 assists to his name as well he has his footprints on more than half his side’s 86 goals.
- “Messi was always ready to come on and I always knew he was going to play but we also have a game on 25 April. He has to stay active and he scores goals everywhere he goes and he has won us this title,” Valverde told reporters.
|
Read More
- Indian wrestling's poster boy Bajrang Punia will soon walk the famed hallways of the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York, US. Bajrang is the first Indian to be invited by USA Wrestling, the national governing body for the sport in the US, to participate in the "Grapple at the Garden - Beat the Streets" fight night, scheduled on May 6.
- Bajrang will take on two-time US national champion Yianni Diakomihalis in the 65kg category. The Indian, who won gold in the Asian championship recently, is world No. 1 in his weight category.
- While Diakomihalis is on a 47-match unbeaten streak, Bajrang too has had a golden run. The 25-year-old has bagged eight gold medals in his last nine international tournaments, including first-place finishes at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2018 Asiad.
- "Madison Square Garden is one of the biggest and most famous arenas of the world and I am very excited. This exposure will help me become a better wrestler," Bajrang told TOI. In 2014, PM Narendra Modi addressed the Indian diaspora from the venue.
|
Read More
- Indian duo of Anjum Moudgil and Divyansh Panwar win Gold in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event in the ISSF Shooting World Cup in China.
- Anjum Moudgil and Divyansh Singh Panwar on 25th April won the 10 m air rifle mixed team gold medal for India in the ISSF World Cup finals, Beijing.
- The Indian pair beat Chinese pair of Liu Ruxuan and Yang Haoran. This is Panwar's first gold medal at the World Cup while Moudgil had earlier missed out on a podium finish in the women's 10m air rifle event.
- Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary got India another gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. The pair finished with a score of 16-6.
|
Read More
- Ace cricketer Mithali Raj has been named as the goodwill ambassador of the Indian team for the Street Child Cricket World Cup.
- Captain of India's woman ODI side, Mithali joins former captain Saurav Ganguly and IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals in supporting the team.
- Mithali said, "I am excited to join the Street Child Cricket World Cup as a goodwill ambassador for Team India. As an athlete, I know the true potential that sports can play in not just changing a child's reality, but also garnering public support for children who live on the streets.
- "India has over 20 lakh street connected children and there lies our nation's untapped potential. As a woman cricketer, I am super thrilled to see that this tournament is gender equal - boys and girls will play together."
- Earlier, PTC India Financial Services Ltd. announced its support for the team to create national and international visibility of children.
|
Read More
- Virat Kohli was named the leading cricketer of the year for the third consecutive year. Virat Kohli scored 2,735 runs across the international formats in 2018.
- Indian captain Virat Kohli has been named the 'Leading Cricketer in the World' for the third time in a row in this year's edition of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.
- Kohli, however, was the sport's dominant figure in 2018, making 2735 international runs at 68.37 across all formats, more than 700 more than his nearest challenger, England's Joe Root.
- Kohli's fellow Indian, Smriti Mandhana, is the Leading Cricketer in the women's game, after racking up 1291 runs across limited-overs formats, including 13 half-centuries, while Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan leg-spinner, is the Leading Twenty-20 Cricketer for the second year in a row.
|
Read More
- Rio Paralympics silver medallist Deepa Malik was 11th April named as the recipient of the New Zealand Prime Minister's Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship for 2019 in recognition of her "inspiring achievements".
- The 48-year-old Deepa, who won the silver medal in shot put F53 event in Rio in 2016, will work to promote sporting, cultural as well people-to-people relationship between India and New Zealand.
- Athletes in F53 category can do only seated throws and they have full muscle power on their shoulder, elbow and wrist in the throwing arm.
- "We are very pleased to announce that the New Zealand Prime Minister's Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship for 2019 has been awarded to Indian Paralympic athlete Deepa Malik
- The fellowship, awarded by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, aims to strengthen the ties between India and New Zealand," a New Zealand High Commission release said.
- "It gives us great pleasure to award this fellowship to someone who exemplifies two values that make a great sportsperson: courage and a can-do attitude.
- In Deepa, we see an inspiring achiever who can confidently and proudly carry forward our message of inclusivity and the pursuit of excellence," it added.
|
Read More
- Spain’s Garbine Muguruza successfully defended her Monterrey Open title on 7th April when Victoria Azarenka retired injured from her first WTA singles final in three years.
- Second seed Muguruza was leading the match between the two former world number ones 6-1 3-1 when Azarenka decided she was unable to continue because of an injury to her right leg.
- “It’s unfortunate I couldn’t give my best today, but I tried my hardest,” a tearful Azarenka, who had not previously reached final since the birth of her first child in December 2016, said at the presentation.
- Muguruza’s victory never looked in doubt and ensured that the record run of different women winning WTA titles this season would be extended to 16 tournaments.
- The former French Open and Wimbledon champion broke the pained Belarusian three times in the first set and again in the fourth game of the second.
- “It’s a great feeling to come back and defend a title,” Muguruza said in a courtside interview. “It’s never easy.”
- Azarenka received treatment on her leg during a medical time-out between sets, but it became apparent as the second set began that her movement had become significantly hampered.
|
Read More
- India continued their dominance in the longest format after finishing at the top of the ICC Test Team Rankings on the cut-off date of 1 April, the International Cricket Council announced on 1st April. Meanwhile, New Zealand ended at the second place in this list.
- A top place finish was never in doubt for India, captained by Virat Kohli, the number one Test batsman in the world while New Zealand’s consistent performances over the past year saw them climb from third position, needing them to only avoid losing the home series against Bangladesh last month to finish at the same position.
- “Retaining the ICC Test Championship Mace once again is something we are all really proud of. Our team has been doing well across formats but it gives us extra pleasure to come out on top of the Test rankings.
- We all know of the importance of Test cricket and of how only the best can prosper in the format,” skipper Virat Kohli was quoted as saying in the statement released by ICC.
- “Our team has a lot of depth and I am sure this will stand us in good stead once the ICC World Test Championship commences later this year. That is again something we are really looking forward to as it adds more context to Test match cricket.”
- New Zealand, who also had the satisfaction of seeing their captain get the ICC Spirit of Cricket award for 2018, after finishing with 108 points, eight behind India.
- South Africa, who had finished second the previous two times, will now get a prize money of $200,000 for finishing third with 105 points while Australia who edged out England on decimal points at 104 points bag $100,000.
|
Read More
- The All India Football Federation President Praful Patel is set to become first Indian to be elected as a member in the FIFA Executive Council for a four-year term.
- According to AIFF sources, Patel is all but sure to be a part of the five FIFA Council members from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) when the regional body holds its elections in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on April 6.
- The election will be for the term 2019 to 2023 and will be held during the 29th AFC Congress.
- “Out of eight candidates, five will be selected and Patel is sure to be one of them. He has 90 per cent chance of becoming a FIFA Executive Council member. It will be the first time an Indian will be in the top committee of the world body,” a top AIFF official said.
- December 6, 2018 was the deadline for the member associations to submit their nominations.
- The AFC Electoral Committee carried out eligibility checks on the candidates running for the positions and the FIFA Review Committee conducted eligibility checks on candidates running for FIFA Council positions
- The AFC Electoral Committee will be responsible for all tasks relating to the organisation, running and supervision of the elections.
|
Read More
- Indian shooters continued their dominance claiming half a dozen gold medals on the final day of the Asian Airgun Championships to sign off with a total of 25 medals in Taoyuan, Taipei
- India finished with 16 gold, five silver and four bronze.
- On the last day of the competition, Yash Vardhan and Shreya Agrawal bagged three gold medals each.
- Yash finished on top in 10m Air Rifle men’s junior event. He then clinched the yellow metal in Team competition with his partners Keval Prajpati and Aishwary Tomar.
- Earlier Vardhan and Shreya combined to win the Mixed Team Rifle junior event.
Shreya won the gold in the 10m Air Rifle women’s junior event. She also won the Team gold along with Mehuli Ghosh and Kavi Chakkaravarthy.
- Shreya’s gold winning 24-shots ended on an impressive 252.5, while Mehuli settled for individual bronze with an effort of 228.3. Kavi was fourth.
- Indian shooting’s next assignment is scheduled at Al Ain, UAE where the ISSF Shotgun World Cup stage two commences on April 5.
|
Read More
- Switzerland's Roger Federer defeats USA's John Isner 6-1, 6-4 in straight sets to lift his 101th career title at the Miami Open; Federer is now behind only America's Jimmy Connors with 109 career singles titles.
- Roger Federer has lifted his fourth title at the Miami Open with an emphatic 6-1, 6-4 win over defending champion USA's John Isner on Sunday.
- The 37-year-old world number five took the first set in 24 minutes. In his 50th Masters final, the Swiss fourth seed produced some typically sublime groundstrokes and wrapped up the match in an hour and three minutes.
- It is Swiss player's 28th Masters title and the 101st overall for a player who has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles. Federer is now behind only America's Jimmy Connors with 109 career singles titles.
|