Current Affairs March 2017 - Sports

News 1 - Rangaswamy became the First Woman to Be Honoured with the BCCI Lifetime Achievement Award

The Board of Control for Cricket in India introduced the separate category of Lifetime Achievement Awards for Women beginning this year as a recognition to Women's in India.

Former India captain Shantha Rangaswamy became the first woman to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. She received the C K Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award at the BCCI Annual Awards in Bengaluru. She represented India in 16 Tests and 19 ODIs. She has also been honoured with Arjuna Award. Under her leadership, India won a Test series for the first time.

News 2 - Tarun Kona and Alwin Francis won the Uganda International Series Doubles Title

India's men’s doubles pair of Tarun Kona and Alwin Francis won the 2017 Uganda International Series in Kampala. The top-seeded duo defeated second-seeded pair of Aatish Lubah and Georges Julien Paul of Mauritius, 21-8, 21-14 in the final.

This was the first title of the season for Kona and Francis. The pair have already won at three International Series events – in Guatemala, Peru and Botswana after teaming up at the end of the 2015 season. Currently they are ranked No 51 in the latest BWF rankings.

News 3 - Luis Norton de Matos appointed as the new Head Coach of India U-17 Football Team

The All India Football Federation has appointed Portugal's Luis Norton de Matos as the Head Coach of the India Under-17 team for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup. The tournament is scheduled to be held in October 2017.

De Matos replaces Nicolai Adam. He is a former manager with the Benfica Reserve side. He has had five appearances for the Portugal national side.

News 4 - India's Jitu Rai won the Gold Medal in the 50m Free Pistol event of the ISSF World Cup

Indian shooter Jitu Rai clinched a gold medal in 50 metre air pistol event in the ISSF World Cup. Jitu created a new world record with 230.1 points in final.

Another shooter of Indian team Amanpreet Singh won a silver medal in the same event.

Jitu Rai had also won a Bronze medal in 10m air pistol event of the ISSF World Cup. Earlier, Heena Sidhu and Jitu Rai clinched the gold medal in the 10m Air Pistol mixed team event.

News 5 - BCCI Annual Awards 2017 announced

The BCCI Annual Awards committee consisting N Ram, Ramachandra Guha and Diana Edulji have picked the winners for the prestigious awards. While Virat Kohli is set to receive the Polly Umrigar Award for the second year in a row, all-rounder R Ashwin will also receive the Dilip Sardesai Award for the second time.

For their consistent show in the 2015-16 season, Mumbai Cricket Association will receive the state association of the year award. The domestic giants not only won the Ranji Trophy but also had consistent performances in the junior age groups.

News 6 - Kripa Shankar Bishnoi appointed as the International Match Referee by UWW

Former India Wrestler Kripa Shankar Bishnoi has been appointed as international match referee by United World Wrestling (UWW). He was selected by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for the annual training course for match referees conducted by the UWW.

Bishnoi is an Arjuna Awardee. He cleared the examination for the Referees' Courses held at Dortmund, Germany. He had trained Bollywood star Aamir Khan and other actors for their roles in the wrestling-based film 'Dangal'.

News 7 - Sam Querrey won the ATP Mexico Open

Sam Querrey of the United States defeated Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) to win the ATP Mexico Open. It was the ninth ATP World Tour singles title for Querrey who is currently ranked World No. 40 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Nadal has previously own the title in 2005 and 2013.

On the women's side, the Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko won her third career title, beating second-seed Kristina Mladenovic of France 6 1, 7-5.

News 8 - India finished 5^th with five medals at ISSF 2017

India finished fifth in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup (Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun) with five medals, including one Gold, two Silver and two Bronze medals. China, Italy, Australia and Japan were the top four countries.

The list of medal winners:

Pooja Ghatkar in the Women`s Air Rifle (Bronze)
Ankur Mittal in Men`s Double Trap (Silver)
Amanpreet Singh in Men`s 50M Pistol (Silver)
Jitu Rai in the Men`s 10M Air Pistol and 50M Pistol (Bronze and Gold)

News 9 - Andy Murray wins the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship for the first title of 2017

Andy Murray defeated Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-2 to win the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. He became the first British champion of the tournament. It was his 45^th tour-level crown. Murray took home $523,330 in prize money and 500 Emirates ATP Rankings points.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free, and held under the patronage of H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

News 10 - OPPO won Team India sponsorship rights for Rs. 1,079 crores

Mobile manufacturing company OPPO has won the Indian team sponsorship rights for a five-year period, starting April 1 2017 for INR 1079 crore. The minimum reserve price was set by the BCCI at INR 538 crore (approx USD 81 million). It has replaced Star India.

The five year rights period starts on 1^st April 2017 and continues until 31^st March 2022, during which India play 14 home series and 20 overseas series, which also include the ICC Champions Trophy, ICC Cricket World Cup and the World T20 events.

News 11 - Pablo Cueves won the consecutive 3^rd Brazil Open title

Pablo Cuevas won his third consecutive Brazil Open tennis title by defeating Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain 6-7 (7-3), 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

He became the first player since the tournament began in 2001 to win three consecutive Brazil Open titles.

It was his sixth ATP singles title, all of which have been on clay and since 2014. Cueva will receive 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points and $81,220 in prize money.

News 12 - Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia won the Men's Singles Crown at the All England Open Badminton

Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia won the Men's Singles crown at the All England Open badminton championships after he defeated Shi Yuqi of China in straight games 21-12, 21-10. It is the fifth Singles title for Lee in seven finals of the prestigious championships.

Tai Tzu Ying of the Chinese Taipei won the women's singles final after she defeated Ratchanok Intanon. The Chinese pair of Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong won the Mixed Doubles title by defeating the Malaysian duo of Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goah.

News 13 - Chawrasia clinched the second successive Indian Open Title

SSP Chawrasia has become only the second Indian golfer to successfully defend the Hero Indian Open title. This was his sixth win on the Asian Tour and overall sixth international victory.

Chawrasia pocketed a winner's cheque of 291,660 US Dollars. Chawrasia is the third player to win back-to-back Indian Open. The other two golfers who did so earlier are Jyoti Randhawa who won in 2006 and 2007 and Japan's Kenji Hosoishi who won in 1967 and 1968.

News 14 - Punjab won the 2017 Santosh Trophy of Football

Punjab won the 71^st Santosh Trophy football tournament after defeating Railways by 2-1 goals in the final. It was Punjab’s overall ninth Santosh Trophy.

The Santosh Trophy is an association football knock-out competition contested by the regional state associations and government institutions under the All India Football Federation (AIFF). It was founded 1941. The runner-up trophy is known as the Kamla Gupta Trophy while the third-place trophy is called the Sampangi Cup.

News 15 - Hockey India brings on board four scientific Advisors

With eyes set on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the Senior Men and Women World Cups, Hockey India in pursuit of bigger accolades has appointed new Scientific Advisors for men and women, both senior and junior teams.

They are:

Senior men’s team: Australian Scott Conway
Junior men’s team: South African Robin Anthony Webster Arkell
Senior women’s team: South African Wayne Patrick Lombard
Junior women’s team: Australian Daniel Barry

News 16 - Babul Supriyo named Vice-president of FIFA U-17 World Cup

Union Minister Babul Supriyo has been appointed vice-president of the FIFA U-17 World Cup organizing committee.

The FIFA U-17 World Cup will be played from October 6 to 28. It will be hosted by India for the first time. The draw of the tournament will be held on July 7.

The host cities are Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Kochi, Margao and Guwahati.

News 17 - Jwala Gutta Appointed as a SAI Governing Body Member

India's Badminton Doubles specialist Jwala Gutta has been appointed a member of the governing body of Sports Authority of India (SAI).

The 14-time national champion and two-time Olympian Jwala won the bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships. She is also a 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games champion and a silver medallist at the 2014 Glasgow Games in women's doubles. Sports Authority of India looks into sporting affairs in the country and work towards enhancement of India’s performance on international stage.

News 18 - Mumbai lost its Permanent status in BCCI

Mumbai lost its permanent status in the Board of Control for Cricket in India, BCCI. The new constitution of the Indian Cricket Board, finalised by the Committee of Administrators appointed by the Supreme Court of India also granted full membership with voting rights to all the North-Eastern states, as recommended in the Lodha Panel reforms.

Uttarakhand, Telangana are also full members, while Bihar got back its voting right. The new rules clearly state, there could be only one full member from a state.

News 19 - K T Irfan won the bronze in the Asian 20 km Race Walk Championships

National record holder K T Irfan clocked an impressive timing to win a bronze in the 20 kilometre men's event in the Asian Race Walk Championships in Japan. Korea's Kim Hyun-Sub took the gold in while Georgiy Sheiko of Kazakhstan bagged the silver in the event.

In the women's 20 kilometre event, India's Priyanka failed to climb the podium as she finished fourth. China's Wang Na comfortably won the gold medal. Japan's walker Kumiko Okada finished second, while Yeongeun Jeon of Korea took the third place.

News 20 - Tamil Nadu won Vijay Hazare Trophy

Tamil Nadu has won the domestic 50-over competition, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, for the fifth time. In the Final played at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi, they defeated Bengal by 37 runs.

Dinesh Karthik who scored 112 for Tamil Nadu was declared Man-of-the-Match. It was Tamil Nadu's third victory over Bengal in the final of this competition. Karthik also emerged as the highest run-getter in the tournament.

Aswin Crist (Tamil Nadu) was the highest wicket-taker.

News 21 - Ravindra Jadeja topped ICC's test bowler’s rankings

Ravindra Jadeja topped the ICC's test bowler’s rankings leaving behind Ravichandran Ashwin in the latest list of bowlers after the nine wickets haul in the drawn third Test against Australia at Ranchi. Cheteshwar Pujara gets career-high second rank among test batsmen.

Jadeja became only the third Indian player after Ashwin and Bishan Singh Bedi to top the bowling charts. Top-ranked Australian captain Steve Smith has reached a career-high rating of 941 points after scores of 178 not out and 21.

News 22 - Shahid Afridi selected as the Ambassador of Blind Cricket World Cup

Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi has been selected as brand ambassador of Blind Cricket World Cup’s first edition, to be played in ODI format. Blind Cricket World Cup will be hosted by Pakistan Blind Cricket Council in the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan in January 2018.

Shahid Afridi recently announced his retirement from international cricket. Afridi has played 27 Test matches and 398 ODIs. He took 97 wickets and scored 1,405 runs during his T20I international career.

News 23 - Roger Federer won the ATP Indian Wells Masters title

Roger Federer won the ATP Indian Wells Masters title. Federer claimed a record-equalling fifth title at Indian Wells with a victory over Stan Wawrinka.

With this win in the all-Swiss final, Federer joined Novak Djokovic as the only man to win five Indian Wells titles. At 35, Federer is the oldest ATP player to win one of the elite Masters titles, replacing Andre Agassi who was 34 when he won in Cincinnati in 2004. Federer won his 18^th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.

News 24 - Union Government designated 12 Olympians as National Observers to assist the Government, SAI, NSFs

The Union Government has designated 12 Olympians as National Observers in their respective disciplines to assist the Government, Sports Authority of India, and National Sports Federations (NSFs) concerned in the preparation and implementation of the long-term development plan with respect to high priority and priority sports.

Those named as National Observers are Abhinav Bindra (Shooting), P T Usha and Anju Bobby George (Athletics), Sanjeev Kumar Singh (Archery), Aparna Popat (Badminton), MC Mary Kom and Akhil Kumar (Boxing), Jagbir Singh (Hockey), Somdev Devvarman (Tennis), Karnam Malleshwari (Weightlifting), Sushil Kumar (Wrestling), I M Vijayan (Football), Khajan Singh (Swimming) and Kamlesh Mehta (Table Tennis).

News 25 - Cheteshwar Pujara played India's longest innings

Cheteshwar Pujara created a national record after he registered the longest Test innings for any Indian in Test cricket, in terms of balls faced. He faced 525 balls while batting in the first innings of the third test match against Australia in Ranchi. The previous record was Rahul Dravid's 495 deliveries for his career-best 270 in Rawalpindi in 2004.

Pujara is thus the first Indian to face 500 and more deliveries in a Test innings. However, he is the 41^st batsman in the history of Test cricket to have consumed 500 and more balls in a Test innings.

News 26 - Ankur Mittal won the Gold Medal in the Double Trap at the ISSF World Cup

India's Ankur Mittal won the gold medal at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in the double trap event after he defeated Australian rival James Willet in the final. It was the first World Cup gold medal of his career in double trap.

Mittal ended with 75 points out of possible 80 while Willet managed 73. China's Qi Ying finished third to take bronze. The event was held in Acapulco, Mexico.

Mittal had settled for a silver at the recent International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in New Delhi, where Willet had won the gold.

News 27 - Vettel won the Australian Grand Prix 2017

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel won the season opening Australian Grand Prix after leapfrogging pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton of the Mercedes in the first round of pit stops. Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas stood third in the race.

Top Six:

Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
Felipe Massa (Williams)

News 28 - Cheteshwar Pujara sets a record for most runs in a Test season by an Indian

India's prolific test batsman, Cheteshwar Pujara, broke an eight-year record set by Gautam Gambhir, for scoring the most runs in a Test season. Pujara has scored 1316 runs at an average of 65.8 in the season surpassing the mark of 1269 by Gautam Gambhir which he achieved in the 2008/09 season.

Ricky Ponting holds the world record for the most runs ever by a batsman in a season, with 1483 runs at an average of 78.05.

News 29 - R Ashwin broke the record of most wickets in a Test season

Ace India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin broke South Africa paceman Dale Steyn's record of most number of Test wickets taken by an international cricketer in a single season of Test cricket.

Dale Steyn had taken 78 wickets in the 2007/08 season. Ashwin picked up his 79^th wicket of the season, when he removed Australian skipper Steve Smith during the fourth test.

He reached the mark in his 13 Test matches and at an average of 25.64.

News 30 - Bhubaneswar to host the 2017 Men's Hockey World League final

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has confirmed that Bhubaneswar will host 2017 Men’s Hockey World League final and the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup. The official event titles will be the Odisha Men's Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017 and the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018.

The Men’s Hockey World League Final, involving eight of World’s best teams including hosts India, will be played between December 1 to December 10, 2017. The World Cup is scheduled between November 28 to December 16, 2018 and will see 15 teams in action.

News 31 - Satwiksairaj & Chirag clinched Vietnam Open International challenger badminton men's doubles title

Promising Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has clinched the 20,000 US Dollar Vietnam Open International challenger badminton title. In the summit clash at Hanoi, the sixth seeded Indian pair defeated the fifth seeded Thai duo of Trawut Potieng and Nanthakam Yordphaisong in three games 17-21, 21-9, 21-15.

For the young Indian pair, it was their maiden title this season, while fifth victory overall. They had won the Mauritius International Series, the India International Series, the India International Challenge and the Bangladesh International Challenge last season.

News 32 - West Bengal won Santosh Trophy for the 32^nd time

West Bengal have lifted the Santosh Trophy for the 32^nd time by defeating Goa 1-0 in the final of the premier domestic football tournament at Bambolim.

News 33 - Kolkata Salt Lake Stadium to stage the final of FIFA U-17 World Cup

Kolkata's iconic Salt Lake Stadium will stage the final of the FIFA U-17 World Cup Soccer on 28^th of October. Navi Mumbai and Guwahati have been selected to host the semi-finals of the prestigious tournament which India is hosting for the first time.

The schedules were announced after a week-long inspection tour of the six venues chosen for the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 by FIFA and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC). The tournament will start in New Delhi and Navi Mumbai while the four quarter-finals will be held in Goa, Guwahati, Kochi and Kolkata.

News 34 - Srinagar to get a Football Stadium as per FIFA norms

The Bakshi Stadium will be developed as a modern football stadium as per the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) norms in 12 working months at an estimated cost of Rs 48 crore. The stadium will have flood lights, six entry and exit points, modern pavilion, food court and other state of art facilities.

The Bakshi Stadium is a stadium in Srinagar, Kashmir. The current capacity of the stadium is 30,000 people.

News 35 - Ashwin presented the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy

R Ashwin was awarded the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy in Dharamsala for being named the ICC Cricketer of the Year 2016. Ashwin is the third Indian, and the 12^th player overall to win the award. He was presented the honour by Kapil Dev.

Ashwin took 48 wickets and scored 336 runs against his name in eight Tests, and 27 wickets in 19 Twenty20 Internationals during the voting period. The award was judged by a voting academy. They took into consideration performances between September 14, 2015, and September 20, 2016.

News 36 - Srinath Narayanan set to become India's 46^th Grandmaster

Chennai's Srinath Narayanan is set to become India's 46^th Grandmaster after he defeated Spanish GM David Anton Guijarro at the ongoing Sharjah Masters 2017 chess tournament.

The 23-year-old, who had become India's youngest FIDE-rated player in 2002 when he was just eight, also finished as joint winner in the Under-12 World Championship in 2005 in France. Srinath became an International Master at the age of 14 and crossed the 2500 Elo rating a few months back.

News 37 - Tamil Nadu won the Deodhar Trophy

Tamil Nadu became the first state side to win the Deodhar trophy after they defeated India 'B' or India "Red" by 42 runs in the final in Vizag.

Tamil Nadu scored 303/9 with the help of a scintillating century by Dinesh Karthik and bowled out India "B" for just 261 runs. Karthik scored 126 off 91 balls.

Tamil Nadu completed a domestic double of winning the Deodhar Trophy as well as the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

News 38 - Lionel Messi suspended for four matches

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee handed a four-match ban to Lionel Messi after ruling that the Argentina forward verbally abused a match official in a World Cup qualifying game against Chile. Messi was also fined for 10,000 Swiss francs ($10,160).

Lionel Messi was found guilty of violating article 57 of the FDC for having directed insulting words at an assistant referee. The first match for which the sanction applied was the fixture in the preliminary competition of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia between Bolivia and Argentina played on March 28.