Current Affairs May 2016 - Sports

News 1 - English Premier League championship for Leicester City in the club’s 132-year history

Leicester City secured its first position in the Premier League without playing after the second-place based Tottenham drew 2-2 with Chelsea. The Premier League is an English professional league for men's association football clubs in which the 20 member clubs act as shareholders for promotion and relegation with the Football League.

This is the first time in the club’s 132-year history that Leicester is the Champion of England. Chelsea’s draw also ensured Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri became a league title winner for the first time in his career, 12 years after the 64-year-old Italian was fired by the Blues.

News 2 - Jamie Vardy from Leicester City honoured with the prestigious FWA accolade Footballer of the Year 2016

Leicester forward Jamie Vardy has been voted the 2016 Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers' Association with 36 percent of the vote. Vardy, 29, topped the poll of 290 journalists ahead of teammates Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kante. The 29-year-old striker scored 24 goals for club and country so far this season as the Foxes close in on what would be a remarkable Barclays Premier League title win.

Mahrez was named the PFA's Footballer of the Year last month, and it is the first time that two players from the same club have claimed both awards in the same season since Everton's Neville Southall and Peter Reid in 1985.

News 3 - 2016 Russian Grand Prix championship earned by Germany’s Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg from Germany won 2016 Russian Grand Prix by making it his fourth win in a row this season followed by Lewis Hamilton of United Kingdom at second position and Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen of Finland secured 3^rd place in the tournament held at Sochi, Russia. He joins Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Alberto Ascari as one of only four drivers to manage seven wins in a row.

Russia's Olympic city is set to host the Grand Prix for another four years, after securing the rights to the annual race from 2014-2020. Putin was on hand to present the trophy to the winner in 2014 and 2015, when he was infamously caught in the champagne crossfire as Lewis Hamilton celebrated his victory.

News 4 - Indian team bagged one silver, two bronze in Archery World Cup

Indian women's team settled for the silver after losing to Chinese Taipei in the final, while men's trio and mixed pair won their respective bronze playoffs in the first stage of Archery World Cup at Shanghai.

The Women's team players Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi Laishram and Laxmirani Majhi put up an effort to score five in the crucial third set by defeating Chinese Taipei 2-6 in the final. Later, the third seeded Indian men's recurve team of Atanu Das, Jayanta Talukdar and Mangal Singh Champia scored ninth seed British team 6-0 to bag the bronze medal. An improved performance which had two perfect 10s along with three 9s ensured that the Indians stayed alive to win by two points and level 2-2.

News 5 - The fifth consecutive knock-out win by boxing champion Vijendra Singh in Professional Boxing breaking records

Boxer champion Vijender Singh created records by marking his fifth consecutive victory in Professional Boxing by defeating Frenchman Matiouze Royer at London's Copper Box Arena via knock-out.

Royer has been Vijender's most experienced rival till date, with 44 bouts, including 14 wins, under his belt before the match. Boxing champion Vijender, whose last four wins were all knock-outs or technical knock-outs, was declared the winner in the fifth round of the six-round super middleweight contest.

News 6 - India finish fourth in the Junior Shooting World Cup

The Indian shooters ended their campaign at the International Shooting Sport Federation Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany at a respectable fourth position. The Indian team won three gold, four silver and three bronze medals. Rituraj Singh, Shivam Shukla and Arjun Das won Gold medals for India.

A total of 585 junior athletes from 48 countries participated but only 24 nations made it to the medals table. Italy, Russia and Germany topped the three places respectively. Italy won seven gold, four silver and one bronze. Russia won five gold, six silver and nine bronze and Germany won five gold, three silver and three bronze medals.

News 7 - Pakistan won 2016 Asia Kabaddi Championship Cup

Pakistan defended the Asian Kabaddi Championship (Circle Style) after they defeated India. The championship was held at Wah Cantonment in Pakistan. Pakistan had previously won the Asian Kabaddi title in 2012. The Pakistani team achieved 50 points against 31 by their opponents in the final of the tournament.

The Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) in collaboration with POF Sports Control Board under the banner of the Asian Kabaddi Federation organized the championship. Seven teams including India, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan participated in the international event.

News 8 - Mickey Arthur appointed as Pakistan's Head Coach

Mickey Arthur has been appointed as the head coach of Pakistan Cricket Team. A panel constituted by Pakistan Cricket Board, involving former greats of the game — Wasim Akram, Ramiz Raja, and Faisal Mirza — finalized Arthur's name. The 47-year-old South African will replace Waqar Younis, who resigned from the post last month.

Arthur had previously coached South Africa from 2005 to 2010, and Australia from 2011 to 2013. He is slated to join the team at the end of May. He will oversee the Pakistan's tour of England in his first assignment with the team.

News 9 - Women singles of Madrid Open championship won by Simona Halep

Mutua Madrileña sponsored Madrid Open, held in Madrid, Spain was won by Simona Halep in women’s category defeating Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, creating her rank at No.5 in WTA Top 5 players.

Halep then had to fend off three break points on her way to sealing the set 6-2, but immediately took control of the second by breaking in the opening game. It is one of her first title in 14 months. This win is a booster to her upcoming French open.

News 10 - Men singles of 2016 Madrid Open championship claimed by Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic's dominant hold over Andy Murray continued as the world No 1 claimed his 12^th win in their last 13 meetings to win a record 29^th Masters title at the Madrid Open.

Ever since beating Djokovic in the Wimbledon final in 2013, Murray has struggled to get the better of his arch-rival – his one victory coming in Montreal last August – and the trend continued on Sunday night as Djokovic saw off another spirited challenge from the Brit, triumphing 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in two hours and six minutes.

The quirks of the ranking system mean that Murray now drops below Roger Federer – who did not even compete in Madrid due to a back injury - to world No 3 after failing to defend his title.

News 11 - Indian boxers fetch four medals from Asian Youth Championships

Indian boxers bagged three silver and a bronze medal, to finish third in the overall standings, in the 7^th Asian Youth Championships held in Kazakhstan.

National Champion Ankush Dahiya in 60 Kilograms, Ashish Kulhirya in 64 Kilograms and Reyal Puri in 81 Kilograms categories fetched silver medals for the contingent, while Manjeet Singh contributed the solitary bronze to the tally. India was placed behind Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the medals tally. The tournament featured more than 150 boxers from 23 countries.

News 12 - Hockey India recommended Ritu Rani and VR Raghunath for Arjuna Award

Hockey India has recommended Indian women’s team captain Ritu Rani and senior’s men’s team drag-flicker V.R. Raghunath and Dharamvir Singh for the Arjuna Award. Former player Sylvanus Dung Dung has been recommended for the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award and veteran Coach CR Kumar recommended for the Dronacharya Award.

VR Ragunath and Dharamvir Singh helped Indian team to win gold in the 2007 Asia Cup. Ritu Rani led the team from the front and helped achieve the much-awaited Rio Olympic berth.

News 13 - Stephen Curry named NBA’s Most Valuable Player

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors became the first unanimous selection and the 11^th player in the NBA history to win back-toback Most Valuable Player's Awards after he won the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the 2015-16 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player.

He swept away all the 131 votes. San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard was second in the voting, followed by Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James. He secured 1310 points to top in the list.

News 14 - Shashank Manohar elected unopposed as independent ICC Chairman

Mr. Shashank Manohar has been elected by the Board unanimously and unopposed as the as the first independent Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) following the ICC Full Council’s approval of constitutional amendments proposed by the Board following its April meeting. He will commence his twoyear term with immediate effect. The Chairman’s role is an honorary one. The ICC’s Full Council comprises 10 Full Members, 38 Associate Members and 57 Affiliate Members (who are collectively represented by five regional Affiliate Member representatives).

Manohar has served two terms as BCCI president - from 2008 to 2011, and from October 2015 to May 2016. During his second term, he had also served as ICC chairman by virtue of being the Indian board's nominee to the ICC.

News 15 - ICC lifts suspension on Sri Lankan Batsman Kusal Perera

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that it has withdrawn disciplinary charges against Sri Lanka batsman Kusal Perera and lifted the provisional suspension previously imposed on him in December 2015. Perera is now free to return to domestic and international cricket without restriction and with immediate effect.

The ICC has made the decision after the WADA-accredited laboratory in Qatar today withdrew its original Adverse Analytical Finding following further investigations. The laboratory earlier had reported to the ICC in November 2015 about the presence of 19Norandrostenedione, an anabolic steroid prohibited by WADA in his urine samples.

News 16 - England Women’s Cricket Captain Charlotte Edwards Retires from International Cricket

England Women’s Captain, Charlotte Edwards, has announced her retirement from international cricket with immediate effect. The 36-year-old is the only player - man or woman - to captain England in 200 internationals. She made her international debut in 1996, becoming the youngest player to represent England. During her captaincy Charlotte led England to victory in every major women’s competition, whether it was the ICC Women’s World Cup, the ICC World Twenty20 or the Women’s Ashes which England won thrice.

She also won the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award in 2008. She is also only the second woman ever to be named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year, and was the first female cricketer to be nominated for the coveted ICC LG People’s Choice Award. With 5,992 runs, she is the current all-time leading ODI run-scorer in women’s cricket, and has scored more T20I runs (2,605) than any other player in the world (man or woman).

News 17 - Anil Kumble reappointed as the ICC Cricket Committee head, Rahul Dravid made a member

Anil Kumble has been re-appointed as the Chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee for a three-year term. The former India captain was appointed as the Chair in 2012 and will now continue to head the group until 2018. Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid was named member of the top panel along with Mahela Jayawardena.

Dravid has been elected as current player representatives and will replace Kumar Sangakkara. Similarly, Former Australia offspinner and ex-Chief Executive of Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA), Tim May, has also been elected as current player representative, replacing Laxman Sivaramakrishnan. Jayawardene has been appointed as a past player representative and takes over from former Australia captain Mark Taylor. Richard Kettleborough, three-time ICC Umpire of the Year, has been appointed as umpires’ representative in the committee and replaces Steve Davis, who retired last year.

News 18 - Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura appointed as the First Female Secretary General of FIFA

The FIFA Council appointed Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura of Senegal as FIFA Secretary General (SG). She is the first female to be appointed for the position. The announcement was made by FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the 66^th FIFA Congress in Mexico City. She will assume the role of FIFA Secretary General before mid-June. Ms. Samoura will undergo an eligibility check administered by the independent Review Committee, per Article 37 of the FIFA Statutes.

She is a 21-year veteran of United Nations Programs and is currently the UN’s Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria.

News 19 - FIFA appoints Justice Mukul Mudgal as deputy chairman of its Governance Committee

FIFA has appointed Justice Mukul Mudgal as deputy chairman of its governance committee. Mudgal hinted that he would take up the offer.

Portuguese Luis Miguel Maduro, who is a former European Court of Justice Advocate General, will head FIFA's governance committee. Mudgal and Maduro will also head FIFA's International Review Committee, which will assess all major decisions. Mexico City hosted the 66^th FIFA Congress where newly elected president Gianni Infantino moved a slew of resolutions and promised massive reforms.

News 20 - Indian women win Silver Medal in the Asian Team Squash Championships

Indian women's squash team have won the Silver medal in the Asian Team Squash Championships. In the final played at Taipei in Chinese Taipei, they lost to Malaysia by a 0-2 margin. India had finished with a bronze-medal in the earlier edition of the Championship.

Sachika Ingale lost in straight games 7-11, 611,10-12 to Sivasangari Subramaniam in the first match. Later, Delia Arnold prevailed over India's top player Joshna Chinappa 9-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-9.

News 21 - Max Verstappen becomes the youngest Formula 1 Winner

Max Verstappen of Holland, became Formula One's youngest race winner in a sensational Spanish Grand Prix, as Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg crashed out of the race.

Red Bull's Verstappen, still only 18 years old and making his debut for the former world champions after being promoted from Toro Rosso a week earlier, beat Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, at 36 twice his age, by 0.616 seconds.

News 22 - Andy Murray wins first Italian Open title, beats Novak Djokovic

Britain’s Andy Murray defeated Novak Djokovic to win his maiden Italian Open Men's Singles Tennis title. Third-ranked Murray defeated the top-ranked Djokovic 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

Andy Murray is the first British singles champion in Rome since Virginia Wade in 1971. It was a first win on clay against Djokovic in five attempts and second only in 14 matches altogether. He will return to second in the world rankings before the French Open, which begins on 22 May. The event is also known as the Rome Masters and the Italian Championships.

News 23 - Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis win Italian Open title

The World No. 1 Women's Doubles Team of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won the Italian Open Women's Double title by beating their Russian opponents Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 6(5)-7, 10-3 in the final.

The duo has now won more than two dozen titles. The Rome Master's title is their fifth title for the year, and their first on clay court. The pair will now play at the French Open.

News 24 - Serena Williams wins Italian Open title

Serena Williams of the United States won the Italian Open Women's singles final after defeating compatriot Madison Keys 7-6 (5), 63 in the final. It was her first WTA title in nine months and the fourth Rome Masters title since 2002. She will now begin the defence of her French Open title.

Serena Williams became just the fifth woman to win 70 WTA titles, following Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Margaret Court.

News 25 - Sudha Singh creates a new national record in 3,000m steeplechase

Sudha Singh has created a new national record in women’s 3000m steeplechase event at the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) Diamond League Meet in Shanghai.

She clocked 9 minute 26.55 seconds to better the earlier national record of 9:27.09 set by Lalita Babar at the Federation Cup at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. Sudha finished eighth in the second leg of the IAAF Diamond League Meet while Babar came 13^th. Sudha as well as Babar have already booked their berth for Rio Olympics. Their Coach is Belarusian Nikolai Snesarev.

News 26 - FC Barcelona Crowned La Liga Champions

Barcelona sealed their 24^th La Liga Title. Barca won the La Liga for the second consecutive season. Real Madrid lost out to the arch rivals by 1 point. Real won their last 12 league games, but Barca ended with five victories in a row. Barca have won six of the last eight titles. Luis Enrique won the title in both his seasons in charge of Barcelona. Similarly, Captain Andres Iniesta has now won eight La Liga titles.

The title triump for Barcelona was motivated by a hatrick from Luis Suarez against Granada. Suarez took his tally to 40 goals and won the Pichichi award for most number of goals in the season.

News 27 - Joe Root bags top three England cricket awards

England Cricketer Joe Root won the Test Cricketer of the Year, the Limited-overs Cricketer of the Year, and the Fans’ Player of the Year awards for 2015. The 25-year old posted a whopping 2,228 runs in 2015, which is the most by an English batsman in a calendar year. Root stands second in the ICC Test rankings.

Anya Shrubsole bagged the England women's cricketer of the year and Callum Flynn was named the best cricketer with a disability. The ECB's special achievement award was given to David Lloyd for his 50-year stint as a player, umpire, commentator and coach.

News 28 - Sevilla wins the Third Consecutive Europa League Crown

Sevilla won for the third straight year the UEFA Europa League champions. In the final, they defeated Liverpool 3-1 at the St. Jakob-Park in Basel.

Liverpool secured the lead with a goal from Daniel Sturridge in the first half before Sevilla stormed back in the second half to score three goals and defend their title. The first goal for Sevilla was scored by Kévin Gameiro while the second and the third goals were scored by Captain of the team, Coke. Daniel Sturridge who was the only scorer for Liverpool also became the first English player to score in the Europa League final since 2001.

News 29 - Indian Women's 4 × 100m Relay national record broken at IAAF World Challenge

The Indian women’s 4×100 relay team broke an 18-year-old national record of 44.43s created by the quartet of Saraswati Dey, Rachita Mistry, EB Shyla and PT Usha on July 22, 1998 in Fukuoka, Japan.

The team of Dutee Chand, Srabani Nanda, HM Jyoti and Merlin Joseph clocked 44.03s to achieve fourth position at the IAAF World Challenge. China A Team and China B Team won the Gold and Bronze award while Japan won the Silver award.

News 30 - Uber Cup 2016, India lose to China in semi-finals

China defeated India in the semi-finals of the Uber Cup. China are set to face the winner of the other semi-final between Korea and Japan. Indian women's team settled for a bronze medal after losing semi-finals.

After the top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu went down narrowly against their respective opponents in the two singles match, Jwala Gutta and N Sikki Reddy also bit the dust in the first doubles, ending India's campaign.

News 31 - Mohun Bagan becomes Champion of the 14^th Federation Cup Title 2016

Mohun Bagan defeated Aizawl FC by a record 5-0 margin and won the Federation Cup football title after eight years, at the Indira Gandhi Stadium. The Kolkata giant extended the record of winning the title to 14.

The last time this club had won the title was in 2008, when it beat Dempo. The winner of the Federation Cup gets a chance to compete in the continental level in AFC Cup.

News 32 - Uber Cup Badminton Championship won by China for the 14^th time

Chinese women won the title by defeating South Korea 3-1 in the final and retained their Uber Cup Title. The Chinese won the championship for the 14^th time in front of their home crowd in the Kunshan Sports Centre Gymnasium in Beijing.

Olympic champion Li Xuerui and former world number one Wang Shixian won their singles matches before Cheng Qingchen partnered Tang Yuanting to win the second doubles and secure China’s third successive Uber Cup triumph. The Indian team won the bronze medal of the tournament for the second consecutive time.

News 33 - Thomas Cup Badminton Championship’s First Time Winners: Denmark

The Thomas Cup also known as Men’s World Team Championships is an international badminton competition. Denmark created history by winning the Thomas Cup Finals for the first time beating Indonesia 3-2 in the final and become the first European country to win the World Team Title.

The 30-year-old Vittinghus stayed calm throughout the match to beat an inexperienced 21-year-old Ihsan Maulana Mustofa 21-15, 217 in the decider. Earlier, Denmark had won two points through Viktor Axelsen and Jan O Jorgensen. Indonesia's two points came through their doubles players - Mohd AhsanHendra Setiawan and Angga Pratama-Ricky Karanda Suwardi.

News 34 - Anurag Thakur to take charge as the new BCCI president

Anurag Thakur became the 34^th BCCI President, unanimously elected at the board’s Special General Meeting (SGM) in Mumbai. The Maharashtra Cricket Association chief and business magnate Shirke expectedly filled in the secretary's post which was left vacant by Thakur's resignation.

The Supreme Court had asked BCCI to follow all Lodha Panel recommendations, but the Board feels many of those are impractical, one of them being the suggestion of removing advertisements in between overs. The newly-elected BCCI president explained that taking away advertisement from in between the overs during a cricket match will have an impact on revenue generation of Indian cricket.

News 35 - Pankaj Advani created history by winning the Asian 6-Red Snooker title championship

India’s Pankaj Advani became the first in the world to hold both world and continental titles in 6-Red snooker at the same time by clinching the Asian 6-Red snooker title, thus creating history. The double International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) World Six-Red Snooker Champion proved his talent again in the short format of the game, defeating top seeded Malaysian Keen Hoh Moh by 7-5

Advani will now spearhead the Indian challenge in the team event with Aditya Mehta, Manan Chandra and Kamal Chawla.

News 36 - Indian boxer Sonia won the silver medal at the AIBA Women's World Championships

Indian boxer Sonia Lather (57kg) settled for a silver medal at the AIBA Women's World Championships after going down to top seed Alessia Mesiano of Italy. India's last gold at the prestigious tournament came in 2010 when M C Mary Kom had finished on top in the 48kg category to clinch her fifth world title.

In the 2014 game played in South Korea, India had won two silver medals through Sarjubala Devi (48kg) and Saweety (81kg), both of whom lost in the quarterfinals this time. The low medal counts aside, none from the country could qualify for the Rio Games in the three Olympic categories of 51kg, 60kg, 75kg.

News 37 - Indian Para Athlete Saroha wins gold in 2016 French Ope

At the 2016 French Open Athletics Championship held in Paris on May 23 and 24, one of the Indian Para Athlete Amit Kumar Saroha from Haryana won the gold medal in men's club throw (F-51). His effort of 26.58m broke the Asian record which he had himself set at last year's World Championships in Doha on way to winning a silver medal.

The player has already qualified for the 2016 Rio Paralympics scheduled to be held this September and one of 15 Indian para athletes currently being supported by the GoSports Foundation through the Para Champions Program.

News 38 - SRH win their maiden Indian Premier League title

Sunrisers Hyderabad clinched the IPL title for the first time after they defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by eight runs at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.

List of Awards and Winners:

Best Batsman Award (Orange Cap) - Virat Kohli (973 runs with 4 centuries)
Best Bowler Award (Purple Cap)- Bhuvneswar Kumar (Total 23 wickets )
Man of the Match in Final - Ben Cutting (39 runs and 2 wickets)
Vitara Brezza Glam- David Warner
Emerging Player - Mustafizur Rahman
Most Valuable Player- Virat Kohli

News 39 - Kohli named T20 Player of Year in CEAT Award event

Virat Kohli has been named 'CEAT T20 Player of the Year' during the CEAT Awards Event 2016 in Mumbai. He was announced the Player-of-the-Tournament in the recently concluded IPL after scoring 973 runs in 16 matches. Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award. One special award was handed over to Ajinkya Rahane, who has become the fifth Indian Cricketer to score a century in each inning of a Test Match.

The Young Player of the Year award: Rishabh Pant
Domestic Cricketer of the Year award: Shreyas Iyer
CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: Joe Root
CEAT International Batsman of the Year: Joe Root
CEAT International Bowler of the Year: R Ashwin
CEAT Indian Cricketer of the Year: Rohit Sharma
CEAT Test Cricketer of the Year: Kane Williamson
CEAT ODI Cricketer of the Year: Martin Guptill

News 40 - Alastair Cook becomes Youngest Cricketer to score 10000 Test runs

England captain Alastair Cook became the youngest batsman to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket. He also joined the elite 10,000-run club in Test cricket and is the 12^th batsman in the list. Cook achieved the landmark on Day 4 of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Chesterle-Street. He is also the first Englishman to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket.

Cook, who is 31 years and five months old, beat Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar's record, who was 31 years and 10 months old when he crossed 10,000 runs.