Current Affairs December 2016 - Sports

News 1 - Magnus Carlsen won the 2016 World Chess Championship

Magnus Carlsen won the World Chess Championship as he defeated Sergey Karjakin in Game 10. It’s the third time that Carlsen has won the championship.

Magnus Carlsen became a chess Grandmaster in 2004, at the age of 13 years. He became World Champion by defeating Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship in 2013. In 2014, he also won the World Rapid Championship and the World Blitz Championship, thus holding all three world championship titles.

News 2 - Indian Women’s Cricket Team won the Asia Cup

India women’s Cricket Team won the Asia Cup T20. They defeated Pakistan in the final by 17 runs. India had scored 121/5 in 20 overs, batting first. With this, they also successfully defended the title which they won in 2012 in Guangzhou. This is India's sixth Asia Cup crown.

Mithali Raj of India was adjudged the Player of the Match and the Player of the Tournament. This win also stretched India’s unbeaten run in the Asia Cup to 32 matches.

News 3 - All India Football Federation won the AFC Developing Member Association Award

The All India Football Federation won the AFC Developing Member Association of the year Award at the Asian Football Confederation’s Annual Awards Night.

The award is given to a member association for its professional administration and governance as well its exceptional contribution to the development and promotion of the game at all levels within the country. In 2014, AIFF had won the AFC President’s Recognition Award for grassroots football.

News 4 - Pankaj Advani claimed the bronze medal at the IBSF World Snooker Championship

India's Pankaj Advani won a bronze medal at the IBSF World Snooker Championship at Doha, Qatar. He suffered a 2-7 loss in the semi-finals against Andrew Pagett of Wales. His opponent Andrew kept the pressure and reached the final after notching up a 14-74, 8-71, 0-87, 78-64, 0-81, 7037, 7-80, 37-68, 19-74 win.

Pankaj is a fifteen-time world champion and is the only player in the world to compete at the world championship level in both sports and be successful in all the formats of both billiards and snooker.

News 5 - Usain Bolt and Almaz Ayana win IAAF World Athlete of the Year Award

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt and Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana have been named the male and female World Athletes of the Year at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2016.

Other awards:

MALE RISING STAR − Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse
FEMALE RISING STAR − Belgian Nafissatou Thiam
COACHING ACHIEVEMENT − The US coach Harry Marra
PRESIDENTS AWARD − Tegla Loroupe (Chef de Mission for the Refugee Olympic Team in Rio)
WOMEN IN ATHLETICS − Former Greek champion Polyxeni Argeitaki

News 6 - Praful Patel appointed as the Senior VP of AFC

All India Football Federation President Praful Patel has been appointed as the Senior VicePresident of the Asian Football Confederation.

Patel helped India won the rights to host the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 and hosted the AFC U-16 Championship in September 2016. The AIFF has also won the AFC Developing Member Association of the Year Award. The prestigious award is given to a Member Association in recognition of its professional administration and governance.

News 7 - Mukesh Kumar made history in Golf Asia Tour

Indian Golfer Mukesh Kumar became the oldest golfer to win an Asian Tour title at Delhi Golf Club (DGC) after winning the Panasonic Open India. Mukesh closed with a two-underpar 70 for a winning total of 10-under-par 206 at the US$400,000 Asian Tour event. The 51year-old Mukesh has won 123 PGTI titles.

Jyoti Randhawa and Rashid Khan shared second place. For the record, this is the first time in an Asian Tour event where nine out of the top-10 finishers are Indians.

News 8 - MCC Committee recommended limiting bat size edges and red card suspension

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) committee has recommended limiting the bat size depths and edges. The Cricket's law making body also recommended the introduction of 'Red-Cards' for players like in football or hockey to punish disciplinary breaches.

The committee is headed by former England player and Chairman of MCC, Mike Brearly and includes former Australian Captain Ricky Ponting, former Pakistani batsman Rameez Raja and MCC's head of cricket – John Stephenson. The committee met in Mumbai.

News 9 - PR Sreejesh appointed as the Goalkeeping Coach of India Under-21 Hockey team

Indian senior men’s hockey team captain PR Sreejesh was appointed as the goalkeeping coach of the India Under-21 team which begins its Junior Hockey World Cup campaign against Canada, in Lucknow.

Sreejesh will take over the charge of from South Africa’s Dave Staniforth. Sreejesh has also been nominated for FIH Goalkeeper of the Year 2016. The head coach of the junior team is Harendra Singh.

News 10 - Jehan Daruvala signs up for Formula 3

The 18-year-old Mumbai-based racer, Jehan Daruvala, has been signed up by Carlin, one of the most renowned teams outside Formula One, in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship.

The Sahara Force India Academy racer will participate in the 2017 season. Formula 3 considered to be one of the most important steps on the ladder to F1.

Jehan started his racing career in karting in 2009 and won his first national title in 2010 aged 11.

News 11 - Peter Gilchrist won his 3^rd IBSF World title

Former World Champion Peter Gilchrist of Singapore won the 2016 IBSF World Billiards Long Up title held at Bengaluru, India after he defeated Sourav Kothari of India by nearly 900 points (1500-617). Rupesh Shah and Dhvaj Haria of India shared the joint Bronze.

The IBSF World Billiards Championship (previously known as the World Amateur Billiards Championship) is the premier, international, non-professional tournament for the game of English billiards.

News 12 - L&T to convert Sardar Patel Stadium to the world’s biggest cricket stadium

Larsen & Turbo (L&T) has bagged a contract from Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) to make Sardar Patel Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad, the biggest stadium in the world.

The new stadium will house 1,10,000 people, the biggest in terms of seating capacity. The new stadium will also be made to meet all the latest the international standards. Motera Stadium will surpass the Melbourne Cricket Ground which can hold 100,024 people.

News 13 - Virat Kohli became the first Indian Captain to score 3 double centuries

Indian skipper Virat Kohli became the first Indian captain to score three double centuries. His score of 235 is also the highest by an Indian skipper, surpassing Dhoni's 224.

Kohli is also the first Indian and the fifth batsman overall to score three double tons in a calendar year. During the process he also got past 1,000 Test runs for 2016 and 4,000 for his career. He has 2580 runs in international cricket this year.

News 14 - Pankaj Advani bagged his 11^th World Billiards Championship

Veteran player Pankaj Advani has bagged his 11^th World Billiards Championship by defeating Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist. With this win, he became winner of the 16^th world title. The winner defeated Myanmar's Aung Htay in the semi-finals.

Advani scored the first two games by 150 points against 33 and 150 against 95 and further he posted his only century break of 110 in the eighth game of the match, which almost declared the clear winner of the title.

News 15 - Cristiano Ronaldo wins Ballon d'Or’ for the 4^th time

Ballon d'Or honoured veteran football player Cristiano Ronaldo for the fourth time as best player in the world. This announcement came as earlier this year, he bagged Champions League for the second time and led Portugal win first major title at Euro 2016.

Ronaldo is now one Ballon d'Or after Messi, who was second this time with French striker Antoine Griezmann at third spot. The Ballon d'Or is decided on the basis of vote of 173 journalists.

News 16 - ITF announced players of the year 2016 in different categories

Britain’s Andy Murray and Germany’s Angelique Kerber won 2016 ITF World Champions title. It’s been first such honour to both the players. Other players who were honoured in different categories were Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares under category Men’s Doubles World Champions and Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic under category Women’s Doubles World Champions.

Gordon Reid won ITF Wheelchair World Championship whereas ITF Junior World Championship titlw was bagged by Miomir Kecmanovic and Anastasia Potapova. Award ceremony will take place in Paris in June 2017.

News 17 - Badminton World Federation honoured PV Sindhu with the Most Improved Player award

Veteran Badminton player PV Sindhu was honoured with the ‘Most Improved Player of the Year award’ by Badminton World Federation (BWF) in Dubai. Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei won the title of ‘Male Player of the Year award’ and Japanese pair Misaki Matsutomo and and Ayaka Takahashi won the Female Player of the Year award.

China’s Chen Qingchen was honoured with the Eddy Choong Award for the most promising player. He Bingjiao, Li Junhui, Liu Yuchen and Goh Jin Wei won the coveted prize.

News 18 - Russian City, Sochi, lost right to host Bobsleigh & Skeleton World Championships 2017

The Russian city of Sochi will not host the 2017 Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Championships.

The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation will announce a new host city for the February event. The IBSF decision comes after Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren released the second part of a World AntiDoping Agency (WADA) report, which made further claims that Russia operated a statesponsored doping program for its athletes between 2011 and 2015.

News 19 - Smriti Mandhana named in ICC Women’s Team of the Year

International Cricket Council (ICC) announced India batswoman Smriti Mandhana in the Women’s Team of the Year 2016. West Indies’ Stafanie Taylor was named the Captain of the team.

ICC announced the list to acknowledge and appreciate outstanding performances of women’s cricketers over a 12-month period. This is the first time that the ICC has named a women’s team of the year. Suzie Bates clinched both the ICC Women’s ODI and T20I Player of the Year awards, thus becoming the first women cricketer to achieve this feat.

News 20 - Vijender Singh beats Francis Cheka to retain the WBO Asia Pacific Title

Indian boxer Vijender Singh retained his WBO Asia Pacific Super-middleweight crown by a TKO victory over Francis Cheka of Tanzania at the packed Thyagraj Stadium in New Delhi. He won it in the third round of what was to be a 10-round contest.

With this win, Vijender successfully defended his title. He also extended his unbeaten streak to eight bouts since turning professional. Cheka is the current African champion in the International Boxing Federation (IBF) Super Middleweight division.

News 21 - India beat Belgium to lift Men's Junior Hockey World Cup

India has lifted Men's Junior Hockey World Cup, in the final match played at Lucknow after they defeated Belgium by 2-1. India took home their second title after a span of 15 years. Earlier, India won the trophy in 2001 in Hobart, Australia. In 1997 they had finished runners-up.

Awards:

Up and Coming Player of the tournament − Timm Herzbruch of Germany
Goalkeeper of the tournament − Loic van Doren of Belgium
Top scorer of the tournament − Edward Horler of England with 8 goals
Player of the tournament − Enrique Gonzalez de Castejon from Spain

News 22 - Atletico De Kolkata won the ISL title for the 2^nd time in three years

Atletico De Kolkata created history after winning Indian Super League football tournament for the second time in three years.

Kolkata defeated Kerala Blasters 4-3 in a penalty shootout in Kochi. Both teams were one goal each in the stipulated time. In the penalty shootout, the Kolkata team scored four goals against the three by Kerala Blasters. Kerala made a double replacement in the 77^th minute with Antonio German and Mohammed Rafique coming in for Duckens Nazon and Rafi.

News 23 - Andy Murray named BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Andy Murray has been voted as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for a record third time after he had been voted in 2013 and 2015. Triathlete Alistair Brownlee was came second and show jumper Nick Skelton stood third.

2016 has been a remarkable year for Andy Murray as he took Olympic gold, claimed his second Wimbledon title and became tennis' world number one. He reached the final of 13 of the 17 tournaments he entered in 2016.

News 24 - Karun Nair becomes the second Indian to score a triple century in a test match

Karun Nair created history by becoming the only second Indian batsman to hit a triple hundred in a Test match. He smashed an unbeaten 303 runs off just 381 balls and powered India to their highest ever team total in the Tests. Virender Sehwag got two triple hundreds: 319 against South Africa and 309 against Pakistan.

He also became the third batsman in the world to convert his first Test century into a triple ton. Nair took three innings to hit his first triple-hundred in Tests - the least by any batsman.

News 25 - AIBA granted full membership to the Boxing Federation of India

AIBA unanimously granted full membership to the recently-formed Boxing Federation of India, BFI. The BFI was voted to office in September earlier this year, ending four years of administrative logjam in the sport.

The BFI President is Ajay Singh. India's international suspension for the past four years had resulted in the isolation of the country's boxers, who were deprived of foreign exposure for most part.

News 26 - Ashwin, Jadeja occupy the top two spots in the ICC Test bowling chart

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have made it a rare instance of two India bowlers topping the ICC Test rankings. The pair has emulated left-arm spinner Bishan Singh Bedi and leg-spinner Bhagwath Chandrasekhar who were ranked one and two in 1974.

The all-rounders list is headed by Ashwin and Jadeja at his career-best third rank. Team India also ended the year as the No.1 ranked Test side after winning the five-Test series against England 4-0. Australia ranks second.

News 27 - Arjun Bhati bagged the Kids Golf World Championship 2016

Out of the 21 counties that participated in the Kids Golf World Championship 2016, Arjun Bhati from Noida bagged the first position by defeating South Africa's Methu Denish. He won by scores of total 234 points followed by South Africa and Malayasia at 2^nd and 3^rd position with 236 and 239 points respectively.

The competition was held for the 4^th consecutive year in Malaysia and is the international version of the US Kids Golf tournament.

News 28 - Ashwin won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the year

Ravichandran Ashwin has become only the third Indian player ever to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy after being named the ICC Cricketer of the Year. The other two Indians who won the Award earlier were Rahul Dravid in 2004 and Sachin Tendulkar in 2010.

Other awardees were as follows −

Quinton de Kock (SA) − ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year.
Carlos Brathwaite (West Indies) − ICC T20 International Performance of the Year award
Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh) − ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year award
Mohammad Shahzad (Afghanistan) − ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year

News 29 - CSA introduced Proteas milestone program to honour players

Cricket South Africa has introduced a new Proteas player milestone program that will recognize the players for their achievements across all three formats of the game.

The milestone program is inclusive of both Proteas men and women players and will honour players dating back to South Africa's re-admission into international cricket in 1991. This Program will highlight the excellent achievements of men and women national players. The first milestone awards will be presented during the upcoming series against Sri Lanka.

News 30 - India jumped to two places reaching 135 in FIFA football rankings

In the FIFA football rankings, India jumped two places at 135. It is their best in the last six years. In 2009, India had finished at 134. National coach Stephen Constantine attributed the upsurge to all his players and the staff.

The draw for the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers UAE 2017 will be held on January 23, 2017 and India would be playing their first match in the Qualifiers on March 28.

News 31 - Maharashtra women’s team bagged the National Shooting Championship

Maharashtra won the team title in the women's 50-meter rifle prone event at the 60^th National Shooting Championships in Pune. Maharashtra team comprised of former world champion and double Commonwealth Games gold medalist Tejaswini Sawant, Dipali Deshpande and Shweta Dvivedi.

The Railways team which had Tejasvini Mule, Ruchira Lawand and Jayashri Das got the Silver. BSF team won the Bronze. In the women's 50-meter rifle 3 position event Gayatri N of Tamilnadu won the Gold.

News 32 - Argentina bagged the top position in the FIFA Team of the Year list

As per FIFA’s latest rankings, Argentina replaced Belgium to gain topmost position with 1634 points. Argentina’s total 10 wins from 15 games has earned them 179 points to end 2016. Brazil finished at 2^nd place followed by Germany at 3^rd place and Chile at 4^th place. Belgium was ranked at 5^th position.

India has moved up from 137^th ranking to 135^th rank. The SAFF cup victory in January remains India’s most remarkable achievement of 2016.

News 33 - India bagged bronze medal at women's U18 Hockey Asia Cup

India gave bronze-winning performance at women’s U18 Hockey Asia Cup. Sangita Kumari contributed by scoring twice and let India defeat Korea by 3-0. Ritu Rani put India ahead in the 45^th minute in the bronze-medal play-off.

Despite a late Korean penalty corner, India maintained its control over the game to clinch medal. Hockey India announced prize money of Rs 1 lakh for each player and Rs 50,000 for each of the support staff.

News 34 - Shiva Keshavan clinched gold at the Asian Luge Championships

India's seasoned Winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan clinched a gold medal at the Asian Luge Championships after finishing the 2-heat race with a time of 1 minute, 39.962 seconds at Nagano in Japan.

Japan's Tanaka Shohei came in second for the Silver. The bronze medal was claimed by Chinese Taipei's Lien Te-An. Shiva is slated to take part in the 2017 World Championship in Innsbruck, Austria, and will compete in the World Cup circuit.

News 35 - Virat Kohli leads Lord's Cricket Ground list of top 20 players of 2016

Lord's Cricket Ground have released the list of best players of 2016 and selected top 20 players for this calendar year.

Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli was placed in the No.1 spot in the list on the back of an astounding run in 2016 across all three formats of the game. Three other Indians including R Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane have also found themselves into the list. Jonny Bairstow of England was ranked 2^nd while the ICC No. 1 Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin came in third.

News 36 - Kohli nominated as Cricket Australia's 'ODI Captain of Year'

India's Test captain Virat Kohli was named skipper of Cricket Australia's ODI team of the year. Kohli was earlier also picked captain of the ICC's ODI team of the year. Australia's Steve Smith was picked in the 'All-Star' team.

Cricket Australia's ODI Team of Year: Virat Kohli (India, captain), David Warner (Australia), Quinton de Kock (wk) (South Africa), Steve Smith (Australia), Babar Azam (Pakistan), Mitchell Marsh (Australia), Jos Buttler (England), Jasprit Bumrah (India), Imran Tahir (South Africa).

News 37 - Meghalaya to host the 2022 National Games

Meghalaya will host the 2022 National Games coinciding with its 50 years of statehood. IOA accepted Meghalaya's bid to host the National Games overshadowing four other bidders Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.

Meghalaya had successfully hosted the South Asian Games earlier in 2016. Meghalaya had pledged 5 crore rupees as the bid amount for the game. It will be the third north-eastern state after Manipur and Assam to host the National Games. Goa will host the next National Games in November 2017.

News 38 - Government Suspends the Deemed Recognition of the Indian Olympic Association

Government has suspended the deemed recognition to the IOA until the IOA reverses its decision to appoint Shri Suresh Kalmadi and Shri Abhay Chautala as Life Presidents. Following the suspension, IOA will cease to enjoy the privileges and prerogatives bestowed on it by the Government.

Government has issued a show cause notice to IOA regarding the non-eligibility of Suresh Kalmadi and Abhay Chautala. Since the Government is not satisfied with the response of IOA, it has been decided to suspend the deemed recognition granted by the Government to IOA.