Current Affairs June 2018 - Persons in NEWS

1 - French swimmer Ben Lecomte began record attempt to cross Pacific

French swimmer, Ben Lecomte, has set off from Choshi, Chiba Prefecture in Japan in an attempt to become the first person to swim across the Pacific Ocean. His journey will end in San Francisco. By then he would have swam 9,100 km, which is expected to take more than six months.

Lecomte is hoping to raise awareness for climate change, and a team of scientists will conduct research during the swim. Lecomte swam across the Atlantic Ocean in 1998 covering 6,400 km in 73 days.

2 - Virat Kohli only Indian to feature in the Forbes' 100 Highest-paid Athletes List

Virat Kohli is the only Indian to feature in the list of the world’s highest-paid athletes published by Forbes. he has been ranked 83^rd on the list with a salary/winning of $4m and endorsements worth $20m.

The list is topped by boxing champ Floyd Mayweather with USD 285 million earnings. Lionel Messi is ranked second in the list, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo. The others in the top-ten are: Conor McGregor, Neymar, LeBron James, Roger Federer, Stephen Curry, Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford.

3 - Smriti Mandhana became first Indian to compete for Kia Super League

India Women's Cricket team opener Smriti Mandhana became first Indian to compete for Kia T20 Super League in July 2018. The Women's Cricket Super League, known as the Kia Super League is a semi-professional women's cricket competition in England. Western Storm won the second Kia Super League in 2017. Smriti Mandhana is a competitive player who has scored over 826 runs with a highest score of 76 in the 40 T20 Internationals.

Smriti has competed for Brisbane Heat in the Women's Big Bash League in Australia.

4 - Anukreethy Vas of Tamil Nadu crowned Femina Miss India 2018

Anukreethy Vas of Tamil Nadu has been crowned Femina Miss India 2018. She was previously crowned fbb Colours Femina Miss Tamil Nadu. Meenakshi Chaudhary from Haryana was the first runner-up while Shreya Rao Kamavarapu from Andhra Pradesh secured the second runner-up position.

Anukreethy Vas will now represent India at Miss World 2018. She became the 55^th winner of Miss India since its inception.

5 - R Praggnanandhaa becomes world’s 2^nd youngest Chess Grand Master

India’s R Praggnanandhaa has become the country’s youngest and the world’s second youngest Grand Master at the age of 12 years, 10 months and 13 days after he reached the final round of the Grendine Open in Italy.

Ukraine’s Sergey Karjakin remains the youngest ever GM, having achieved the feat at the age of 12 years and 7 months in 2002. In 2016, Praggnanandhaa became the youngest International Master at the age of 10 years, 10 months and 19 days.

6 - Pallavi Durua crowned as India's first 'Tribal Queen'

Pallavi Durua was crowned as the first Tribal Queen of India at the Adi Rani Kalinga Tribal Queen competition. She belongs to Odisha's Koraput district. Panchami Majhi of Titlagarh and Rashmirekha Hansdah of Mayurbhanj were declared as the first and second runners-up of the beauty pageant respectively.

The prime objective of the event was to promote tribal art and culture. The jury was headed by Padma Shri Tulasi Munda. She is also the ambassador of the event.

7 - Kalki Koechlin conferred with Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France

Actor Kalki Koechlin was conferred with the French distinction of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) for her contribution in enhancing Indo-French ties in cinema.

Kalki has done films such as Dev D, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Shanghai and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani to name a few. The award was presented by the Ambassador of France to India, Alexandre Ziegler.