Current Affairs February 2017 - Sports

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News 1 - Government Constituted Task Force for preparing Action Plan for Next three Olympic Games

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the constitution of the Task Force committee for preparing action plan for next three Olympic Games 2020, 2024 and 2028. The members of the Committee are – Shri Pulella Gopichand Olympian and Coach, Shri Abhinav Bindra Olympic Gold Medallist, Shri Rajesh Kalra Chief Editor, The Times Group Online, Shri Rajesh Kalra Chief Editor, Times Group Online, Shri Om Pathak School Sports Promotion foundation.

At the meeting, Shri Vijay Goel said, the Committee may invite other specific sports experts, if required. He said, the tenure of the committee will be for three months or till the time its submits its report, whichever is earlier.

News 2 - The 15-year-old Lakshya Sen became World’s No.1 Junior Badminton player

Lakshya, just 15 years old created history by becoming World No 1 junior badminton player in the world in the latest rankings of the Badminton World Federation. 15-year-old shuttler Lakshya Sen is the first shuttler from Uttarakhand to attain the number one ranking at the international level. Lakshya Sen backed Chia Hao Lee of the Chinese Taipei, to attain the top spot by scoring 16,903 points in eight tournaments.

He won the Senior India International Series Badminton Tournament and became the first ever from Uttarakhand to win the title at senior level.

News 3 - Pankaj Advani bagged the National Snooker Championship 2017

Indian National Snooker Championship was bagged by cueist Pankaj Advani beating Pandurangaiah of Railways. It was Pankaj’s 29^th national title overall. With this win, he became the only Indian men’s cueist to be the holder of all national billiards and snooker titles at the same time in Billiards, 6-red Snooker and 15-red Snooker.

At present, Pankaj Advani is topmost ranked in National Snooker Championship rankings, followed by Pandurangaiah at 2^nd spot and Malkeet Singh at the 3^rd spot.

News 4 - Sourabh Verma clinches the National Badminton Championship

Sourabh Verma clinched the Men’s Singles title defeating Lakshya Sen in the 81^st Senior National Badminton Championships tournament played in Patna. Rituparna Das claimed the Women's Singles title defeating Reshma Karthik in the tournament. Second seed Rituparna defeated 9^th seed Reshma.

In Women's doubles event, the pair of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant clinched the title defeating the pair of Shikha Gautam and Sanyogita Ghorpade. In the mixed doubles, the duo of Satwik Sai Raj and Maneesha K defeated Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan.

News 5 - Bengaluru to host FIBA Women's Asia Cup basketball tournament

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has allotted the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to host FIBA Women’s Asia Cup basketball tournament in July 2017. It will be held in Bengaluru. Fourteen teams have already confirmed their participation.

India is also set to host the FIBA U-16 Women’s Asia Cup in Telangana from October 22-28. The under-16 event was held in Pune back in 2009. The President of BFI is K Govindraj.

News 6 - Virat Kohli to feature on the Wisden 2017 cover

Virat Kohli will feature on the latest cover of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack 2017. A photograph of Kohli playing a reverse sweep in a Test match will be on the cover. The 154^th edition of the Wisden Almanack will be published on April 6.

The only other Indian to feature on the cover of ‘The Bible of Cricket’ was Sachin Tendulkar in 2014 following his retirement from the game.

As a sign of the changing times, the image used was Kohli playing a reverse-sweep in a Test match.

News 7 - India won the T20 Blind World Cup 2017

India beat Pakistan by 9-wickets to win T20 Blind World Cup at Bengaluru. India achieved the victory target of 198-runs in the 18^th over in the final of the tournament. Pakistan scored 197 for 8 in their 20 overs.

India had beaten Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the semi-final, while Pakistan defeated England by 147 runs.

This emphatic victory of India in the finals over Pakistan is significant as the visiting side enjoyed unbeatable record in the championship till their defeat in finals by India.

News 8 - Russia is banned from the 2017 London World Athletics Championships

Russia has been barred from World Athletics Championships to be held in London in the month of August by IAAF Council. Russia has been banned from international competition since November 2015 due to doping charges. This ban was earlier extended in March, followed by again in June 2016, preventing Russia’s athletes from competing at the Rio Olympics.

Russia has come up with solutions to reinstatement such as repeated testing of Russian athletes before final testing. 35 Russian athletes have applied to compete as neutral athletes in international competition.

News 9 - The official mascot of FIFA U-17 World Cup 'Kheleo' unveiled

The Official Mascot of the FIFA U-17 World Cup to be held in India was revealed today at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The young and charismatic face of the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017, a clouded leopard called “Kheleo”, was introduced.

The clouded leopard is a vulnerable wild cat whose habitat extends from the Himalayan foothills to mainland Southeast Asia. The tournament will be played from 6 to 28 October 2017.

News 10 - Cheteshwar Pujara broke a 52-year-old batting record

Cheteshwar Pujara broke a 52-year-old Indian batting record during first day’s play of the one-off Test against Bangaldesh. He broke the long-standing record of most runs by a batsman in an Indian first-class season.

Pujara, who has now scored 1,605 runs in 21 innings (13 matches) in the 2016-17 season broke the record of Chandu Borde, who had scored 1,604 runs in 28 innings (21 matches) in the 1964-65 season.

News 11 - Ravichandran Ashwin became the fastest bowler to claim 250 wickets

Ravichandran Ashwin became the fastest bowler to claim 250 Test wickets. Ashwin achieved the feat in his 45^th test match. He surpassed Australian fast-bowler Dennis Lillee's record, who had achieved the milestone in 48 matches.

Ashwin dismissed Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim to reach the milestone. He is the highest wicket-taker in the world for the second consecutive year. He was also the second fastest bowler to take 200 Test wickets in his 37^th test match.

News 12 - Jehan Daruvala wins the New Zealand GP, finishes fifth in the Toyota series

Jehan Daruvala won the final race of the 2017 Toyota Racing Series’ New Zealand Grand Prix at the Chris Amon Circuit in Manfeild, New Zealand. Prior to this, Jehan had nine podiums in the Toyota Racing Series this year. He has ended the 2017 Toyota Racing Series in fifth position overall.

Thomas Randle of New Zealand, with 855 points, was crowned champion. Brazilian Pedro Piquet (850 pts) stood second ahead of Dutch driver Richard Verschoor (843).

News 13 - Kush Bhagat awarded the CM Title by the World Chess Federation

Kush Bhagat from Mumbai has been awarded the title of Candidate Master (CM) by the World Chess Federation body. He is a secondgrade student from the Hill Spring International School.

Kush was honoured for his three-gold medal wins at the first ever Western Youth Chess Championship 2016 at UAE. He has also won the U-7 Maharashtra State Championship 2016 title and the World Schools Under 7 Blitz champion in Sochi (Russia).

News 14 - Usain Bolt awarded the Laureus ‘Sportsman of the Year’ award

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt was honoured as the sportsman of the year at the Laureus Sports Awards while gymnast Simone Biles clinched the top honour in the women's category. Bolt joined Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Kelly Slater as four-time Laureus award winner.

Michael Phelps bagged the 'Comeback of the Year' award. Nico Roseberg claimed the 'Breakthrough of the Year' award. Italy's Beatrice Vioclinched the disability award. The Olympic refugee team won the Laureus Sport for Good award.

News 15 - FIBA Appoints Norman Isaac as its First Indian Technical Delegate

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has promoted Norman Isaac as Technical Delegate (TD). He, thus, became the first Indian to be appointed a TD.

Isaac was appointed after he successfully cleared a battery of tests at Doha, Qatar. He has been assigned to prepare for the preliminary rounds of matches in the qualifiers to kick off in November this year towards the first ever FIBA World Cup in China in 2019. In 2006, FIBA had appointed him as the FIBA Commissioner at Muscat, Oman.

News 16 - PV Sindhu jumped to a career-best number 5 in the BWF rankings

India's star shuttler PV Sindhu has risen to a career best BWF ranking of number five. She overtook Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, as per the latest rankings released. This is the first time that Sindhu has broken into the top five.

Saina Nehwal, who is ranked ninth, is the other Indian in the top 10, while Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying continues to lead the rankings. Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal this year.

News 17 - India won a silver medal at the Asian Women's Rugby Sevens Trophy

The Indian Women's team won a silver at the Asian Rugby Sevens Trophy tournament at Vientiane, Laos. A total of seven countries from across Asia including South Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, India and hosts Laos participated in the tournament. All the seven teams played on a Round Robin basis.

Hupi Majhi from Odisha, India was the joint top try scorer of the tournament and Meerarani Hembram was the third highest in conversions.

News 18 - Sandeep Kumar breaks his own national record in the 50-km race walk

Sandeep Kumar of Haryana won the men's 50 kilometre event of the National Race Walking Championships in New Delhi. He smashed his own national record, clocking 3 hours, 55 minutes and 59.05 seconds. Services athlete Jitender Singh won the silver, while his compatriot Chandan Singh bagged the bronze.

With his brilliant performance, Sandeep also qualified for London World Championships in August. His earlier national record was 3 hour, 56 minutes and 22 seconds.

News 19 - India to host Uzbekistan in the next Davis Cup tie in Bangalore

India will host Uzbekistan in Bangalore for the Asia Oceania Zone group I Davis Cup tie in April 2017. The game will be played on the hard courts of Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA).

The last time Bengaluru hosted a Davis Cup tie was a World Group play-off against Serbia in 2014.

The winner of the tie will advance to the World Group Play-offs, to be held in September.

News 20 - Akhil, Jitender Kumar and 13 other boxers sign a deal to turn professional boxers

Indian boxers Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar including 13 more boxers have signed a multi-year professional boxing agreement with IOS Boxing promotions.

Akhil and Jitender turned professional earlier and are now set to make their pro debuts on April 1, 2017 in Mumbai. The others to have joined includes Olympian Diwakar Prasad, Commonwealth Games medallist Amandeep Singh, WBC Asia Welter Weight Champion Neeraj Goyat and MMA champion fighter (SFL) Pawan Mann.

News 21 - Afghan players Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan create IPL history

Afghan cricketers Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan became the first from the war-torn nation to be picked in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction for Rs. 30 lakh and Rs. 4 crore respectively. Both the players were bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Nabi has represented his country in 72 ODIs and 52 T20 Internationals. He has also played in Pakistan Super League (PSL) and Sylhet Royals in Bangladesh. Khan has 62 international wickets, 31 each in ODIs and T20 Internationals.

News 22 - Tsonga defeated Goffin to win the Rotterdam tennis title

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has claimed the Rotterdam tennis title. In the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament final in Rotterdam, sixth seeded Tsonga defeated third seeded David Goffin of Belgium 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

It is the first title for 31-year old Tsonga since 2015. It was his 13^th career single title. The 26-year-old Goffin, without a title since 2014, become the first Belgian man to break into the top 10.

News 23 - India defeat South Africa in the final of the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier 2017

India beat South Africa by one wicket in the final of ICC Women World Cup Qualifier 2017 at Colombo. India achieved the target of 245 runs on the last ball of the 50^th over.

Deepti Sharma was awarded the Player of the Match award. This was India's highest successful run-chase in a WODI.

Along with the two finalists, both Sri Lanka and Pakistan have qualified for the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup.

News 24 - Dustin Johnson ranked world No. 1 in the World Gulf Ranking

Dustin Johnson of the United States was ranked world number one after he won the Genesis Open. Johnson became the 20^th player to reach No. 1.

Johnson replaced Jason Day's 47-week stay at the top. The other four players in the top five include −

• Jason Day − 2^nd Rank

• Rory McIlroy − 3^rd Rank

• Henrik Stenson − 4^th Rank

• Hideki Matsuyama − 5^th Rank

News 25 - Haryana CM gave away Bhim Awards to 42 sportspersons

The Haryana government conferred the Bhim award to 42 outstanding sportspersons of the state which included Sakshi Malik, Babita Phogat, Vinesh Phogat for wrestling, Sardara Singh and Rani Rampal for hockey.

Each recipient of Bhim award would get Rs five lakh in cash, a memento, citation, blazer, tie and a scarf. This award was given for the players' performances in the year 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-2016.

News 26 - The ISSF World Cup tournament began in New Delhi

The first leg of the 2017 International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Series kicked-off at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi. Around 452 athletes from 50 nations will compete in the 15 Olympic events in the disciplines of Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun shooting, from the 23^rd of February through the 4^th of March.

The competition was officially opened by the ISSF President Olegario Vazquez Raña. India will also host the 2017 edition of the World Cup Finals in October 2017.

News 27 - ICC batswomen’s rankings placed Indian batswomen in the top slot

ICC batswomen’s rankings were released by International Cricket Council, which placed Indian batswomen Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur at 2^nd and 10^th spot respectively. Rankings were topped by Australia’s Meg Lanning with 804 points. In the women’s bowlers list, list was topped by Marizanne Kapp of South Africa, followed by Stefanie Taylor of West Indies and Jhulan Goswami of India.

Indian women players placed among the top 20 ‘ICC All-rounder’ list were: Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma.

News 28 - Adidas announced as the performance partner of FIFA U-17 World Cup

German Sportswear giant Adidas announced its partnership with FIFA U-17 World Cup Local Organising Committee as exclusive performance partner for the Mission XI Million programme. Mission XI Million is an initiative to millions of youth across India to motivate youth in football and train them.

Adidas, as exclusive performance partner will conduct master-classes for the players at the Mission XI Million festivals to improve their technical skills in the sport.

News 29 - 2019 Combined World Cup to be held in India

The 2019 Combined World Cup for shooting is to be organized in India, which is to be 2020 Tokyo Olympics. India has been awarded the hosting rights of the 2019 Combined World Cup by the ISSF Executive Board.

In the upcoming tournament, a total of 50 countries will be represented by 452 athletes and among them will be reigning and former Olympic champions, world champions and continental champions lining up against India's top guns.

News 30 - Hockey Federation's Player of the Year awards announced

Belgium's John-John Dohmen and Netherlands' Naomi Van were named as male and female Hockey Federation's Player of the Year award. Great Britain's Olympic gold medallist Maddie Hinch won the Hockey Stars 2016 female Goalkeeper of the Year award.

Ireland's David Harte was crowned the best in the world for the second year in a row as he received the male Goalkeeper of the Year award. Belgium's Arthur Van Doren was named male Rising Star of the Year. Maria Granatto from Argentina picked up the female Rising Star of the Year.

News 31 - Ravichandran Ashwin broke Kapil Dev's record of most wickets in a home season

Ravichandran Ashwin broke Kapil Dev’s 37year-old Indian record of most Test wickets in a domestic season during the second day of the first Test against Australia in Pune.

Ashwin has taken 64 wickets in 10 test matches in the current home season. Kapil Dev had taken 63 wickets in 13 Tests. During the home season, this year, Ashwin took 27 wickets in 3 Test matches against New Zealand, 28 in 5 against England and 6 in 1 against Bangladesh.

News 32 - Pooja Ghatkar won bronze in the ISSF World Cup

Pooja Ghatkar won the women's 10m air rifle bronze medal in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup. Ghatkar clinched bronze with a score of 228.8 in the final round. It was India’s first medal at the ongoing ISSF World Cup. This was Ghatkar’s first World Cup medal. Earlier, she has won gold in the Asian Air Gun Championship in 2014.

China's Mengyao Shi won the gold medal with a score of 252.1. Dong Lijie of China bagged the silver with a score of 248.9.

News 33 - HIL 2017: Kalinga Lancers beat Dabang Mumbai to lift title

Kalinga Lancers have lifted the fifth edition Hockey India League Title. In the final in Chandigarh, they defeated Dabang Mumbai by four goals to one. The Bhubaneswar-based Lancers also bagged the ‘fair play trophy’.

Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Wizards claimed the bronze medal. In the encounter between the two losing semi-finalists, they beat Delhi Waveriders 5-4. Mumbai Dabang’s Harmanpreet Singh bagged the award for emerging player of the league, which carries a cash award of Rs 20 lakh.

News 34 - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won the 2017 Open 13

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France won the final of the 2017 Open 13 after defeating fellow Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-4.

It was the 14^th career title at the indoor event for the 11^th-ranked Tsonga. It was the 3^rd Open 13 trophy to his collection after victories in 2009 and 2013.

Tsonga had recently won the Rotterdam title. Tsonga is expected to return to the top 10 at No. 7 when the new ATP rankings are revealed.

News 35 - Rs. 350 crores Central fund to provide high-quality facilities to sportspersons

The Centre would spend 350 crore rupees for providing high-quality facilities to sports persons and 200 trainers will be recruited soon in the Sports Authority of India. Recovery physiotherapy centre would be established at the Centre for helping sports persons recover from injuries. The government would also provide all possible help for laying Astroturf for hockey in the premises of the Training Centre.

The Central Government has also approved CSR fund with budget of about 6,500 crore rupees to involve companies in the promotion of sports and sports persons.