General Awareness

SPORTS - February 0216

Feb 0216

Jul 26, 2019

Dhoni to undertake patrolling, guard duties in Army stint

Former Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in 2011, will join his battalion in Jammu and Kashmir at the end of July 2019 and carry out duties with the troops for 15 days.
The 38-year-old Indian cricketer, who is in the Parachute Regiment (106 Para TA battalion) of the Territorial Army, would be assigned routine patrolling and guard duties.
As requested by the officer and approved by army headquarters, he will be taking on duties of patrolling, guard and post duty and shall be staying with troops.
Dhoni, who made himself unavailable for the West Indies series to serve the regiment, had conveyed to the army that he would like to serve his battalion which is at present stationed in Kashmir valley as a part of Victor Force.
The veteran wicketkeeperbatsman was accorded the honour by the Indian Army in 2011, along with Abhinav Bindra and Deepak Rao.
In 2015, the Ranchi player became a qualified paratrooper after completing five parachute training jumps from Indian Army aircrafts in the Agra training camp.

New Shirt Sponsor for Team India

The Indian cricket team will have a new shirt sponsor starting from the September 15-October 23 home series against South Africa, with online tutorial firm BYJU's securing a transfer of sponsorship rights from Chinese mobile manufacturer Oppo, according to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The deal between the BCCI and Oppo, which was inked in 2017 for a five-year period, was reportedly worth ~1079 crore.
Oppo was paying BCCI ~4.61 crore per bilateral match and ~1.56 crore for an ICC hosted match.
Prior to that, STAR India used to pay BCCI ~1.92 crore per bilateral match and ~61 lakh for an ICC match.
The BCCI will be paid the same amount of money by BYJU's as Oppo. However, the financial details of the transfer have not been revealed.

Jul 25, 2019

Teen smashes Phelps record

Hungarian teenager Kristof Milak shattered Michael Phelps' 10-year-old world record in the 200 metres butterfly while Adam Peaty sewed up a third straight breaststroke double with victory in the 50 metres at the world championships.
Budapest-born Milak won gold in a time of 1:50.73, lopping 0.78 seconds off Phelps' 1:51.51 set in Rome in 2009.
At 19, Milak is the youngest winner of the 200 butterfly since Phelps triumphed as an 18-yearold in 2003, the second of the American great's five world titles in the event.Peaty, meanwhile, shattered a record of his own, becoming the first swimmer to go under 57 seconds in the 100 breaststroke semi-finals and while he could not repeat the feat in the 50 he was still streets ahead of his rivals.
The Briton posted 26.06, the third fastest 50 of all time and 0.6 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger, Brazilian Felipe Lima.

Messi suspended from opening World Cup qualifier

Argentina star Lionel Messi was hit with a one-game suspension over his dismissal during the Copa America thirdplace play-off against Chile earlier in July 2019.
It will see him miss the first of Argentina's qualification matches for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Tokyo Olympic medals unveiled

With exactly one year to go until the Tokyo Olympics open, organisers marked the day by unveiling the gold, silver, and bronze medals that will symbolize the 2020 Games.
Thousands of politicians, sponsors, and fans jammed a massive exhibition hall in central Tokyo, piling on speeches, musical interludes, and dancing performances to celebrate the one-year mark.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a cameo appearance to welcome the guests.
Despite all the talk and theatrics, the centre stage belonged to the medals by Japanese designer Junichi Kawanishi. He wrote that the medals are to "resemble rough stones that have been polished and which now shine with light and brilliance."
Tokyo is spending about $20 billion to prepare the city to host the Games. Five of the eight new venues are already finished, and the centrepiece, the $1.25 billion National Stadium, is to open by the end of 2019.

Day 1 of the four-day Test at Lord's: England loses to Ireland

Ireland bowled out the host nation England for a derisory 85 on the first day at Lord's as they eyed one of the biggest shocks in Test history.
Tim Murtagh took five wickets on a ground where he plays for Middlesex and at tea Ireland's batsmen were cruising at 127 for two in replay—a first innings lead of 42 runs.
Andrew Balbirnie and Paul Stirling, also both Middlesex players, were 51 and 35 not out in a match only scheduled to last four days rather than the usual five for a Test.
Just three England batsmen made it into double figures—Joe Denly, who top-scored with 23, Olly Stone and Sam Curran—in an innings that was over inside 24 overs on a baking day in London.

Kohli in Instagram's top-10 list for sportspersons

Virat Kohli's most recent post, of him dead-lifting mega-weights has received 6.2 million views (and counting).
The Indian cricket captain also has 38.1 million followers on this video-sharing platform.
Kohli is paid $196,000 per promoted post on average, according to a survey conducted by HopperHQ.com. In Indian money that is ~1.35 crore every single time Kohli tells which shoes he likes or which headphones everyone should wear.
This puts him 23rd on the list of global influencers, behind only one other Indian (or Asian), 19th-placed Priyanka Chopra, who charges on average $271,000 per branded post.
While Kohli was the only sportsperson from the continent of Asia to feature in the list's top-100, his Instagram earnings was ranked ninth across sports from around the world.
Topping the sportspersons section was Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo, whose $975,000 per Insta-post put him at No.3 on the over-all list, behind only Kylie Jenner ($1,266,000) and singer Ariana Grande ($996,000).
The next highest paid sportsperson on Instagram after Ronaldo is Brazil's Neymar ($722,000), and the difference in their pay per post is almost as much as the sportsperson in the sixth spot— Ronaldinho ($256,000).
Ronaldinho isn't the only retired footballer in the upper reaches of this list; David Beckham, at $357,000 per post, clocks in at No.4 in sports and seventeenth over all.
LA Lakers' LeBron James is the highest paid non-footballer on the list with $272,000 per post.
And in the seven nonfootballers that sprinkle the sixteen sportspersons in the over-all top-100, UFC legend Conor McGregor and Kohli are the only two non-American sports stars to feature in it.

Jul 24, 2019

Mayweather Takes up Advisory Role

Retired superstar Floyd Mayweather has been named "special advisor" to China's boxing team as they look to improve their medal count at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
American legend Mayweather had pledged to go all-out to use his influence and resources to support the Chinese boxing project in achieving excellent results at the Tokyo Olympics.
Boxing legend Mayweather had a perfect 50-0 record in the ring with 27 knockouts.
He won world titles in five different weight divisions and was considered the best pound-for-pound boxer in the sport.

Malinga to Retire from ODIs

Sri Lanka fast bowling ace Lasith Malinga will retire from 50-over internationals after first match against Bangladesh.
Malinga played his last Test in 2010 but continued playing the shorter formats and has taken 335 wickets from 225 One-Day Internationals for Sri Lanka, the third highest for the island country behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas.

BCCI Approves Players' Body

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has approved the Indian Cricketers Association (ICA), the body formed as per the board's new constitution to look after the interest of former players.
Former India cricketers Kapil Dev, Ajit Agarkar and Shantha Rangaswamy are the directors at ICA and will hold their positions until elections are held.

Russian Boxer Dies after Bout

Russian boxer Maxim Dadashev has died from injuries sustained in a fight in Maryland.Maxim Dadashev has died in the United States following injuries sustained during his fight with Subriel Matias.
The 28-year-old underwent emergency brain surgery in Washington after his superlightweight bout with Puerto Rican Matias was stopped in the 11th round by his cornerman James "Buddy" McGirt.
Dadashev, known as "Mad Max", was unable to walk to the dressing room and was immediately hospitalised.

Narine, Pollard Recalled for First Two T20Is vs India

The veteran duo of Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard were recalled to a 14-member West Indies squad for the first two games of the three-match T20 International series against India, beginning on August 3 in Florida.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Anthony Bramble is the only uncapped player in the squad selected. The first two T20Is will be played on August 3 and 4, 2019 at the Broward County Stadium, Lauderhill, Florida.
The selection panel could make changes to the squad for the third T20I on August 6, 2019 at the Guyana National Stadium.
The squad, to be led by captain Carlos Brathwaite, also includes all-rounder Andre Russell subject to passing a fitness assessment prior to the series. Russell had made an early exit from the World Cup to undergo an operation on his troublesome left knee.
hris Gayle had notified that he was unavailable for the series due to playing commitments at the GT20 in Canada. This has given the opportunity for left-handed compatriot John Campbell to fill the slot.
Left-handed opener John Campbell and left-arm spinner Khary Pierre have also been included alongside a number of regulars, as the interim selection panel seeks to explore options with the ICC T20 World Cup looming next year in Australia.

Jul 23, 2019

India bows out of Asia Junior C'ships

Maisnam Meiraba put up a brave effort before India bowed out of the Asia Junior Championships after suffering a 0-3 loss to Indonesia in the quarterfinals of the Mixed Team event in Suzhou, China.
In an absorbing battle between two top 20 junior players, World No. 14 Meiraba managed to take a game off his 17th ranked opponent, Bobby Setiabudi but the Indonesian proved too strong in the end with a 21-17, 15-21, 21-11 win in 59 minutes.
In girls' singles, Malvika Bansod was unlucky to miss out on winning a tight first game and eventually went down fighting 20-22, 7-21 to junior World No. 4 Putri Kusuma Wardani.
Tanisha Crasto and Sathish Kumar Karunakaran suffered a 15-21, 18-21 defeat to Leo Rolly Carnando and Indah Cahya Sari Jamil in mixed doubles.
India had beaten Mongolia and Macau China by an identical score of 5-0 while they lost to Korea 1-4 in the round-robin. Finishing second to Korea in the group stage had confirmed their quarterfinal berth.

Fraser-Pryce Blazes to 100m Glory

Shelly-Ann FraserPryce produced a superb display to outclass local favourite Dina Asher-Smith and Ivory Coast's Marie-Josee Ta Lou as she won the women's 100 metres in 10.78 seconds at the London Diamond League.
The 32-year-old double Olympic champion dominated the race from start to finish, giving AsherSmith (10.92) and Ta Lou (10.98) no chance of catching her.
Hellen Obiri sealed the women's 5,000m in a time of 14:20.36 while fellow Kenyan Agnes Tirop also finished ahead of new mile world record holder Sifan Hassan who was third.
Akeem Bloomfield won the men's 400m race with his season's best of 44.40 seconds, ahead of Barbados's Jonathan Jones and Jamaican compatriot Nathon Allen. Swede Daniel Stahl surpassed Gerd Kanter's 2010 record in discus with a 68.56m effort.

Australia Retain Women's Ashes

Australia retained the women's Ashes after the only Test in the series played across multiple formats ended in a draw at Taunton.
After Australia had declared their first innings on 420/8, England avoided the follow-on and asked Australia to bat again, declaring at 275/9. However, the visitors elected not to set a victory target and had reached 230/7.
Elysse Perry was again the pick of the Australian batters, following up her first innings 116 with an unbeaten 76.
The result means Ashes holders Australia, who lead England 8-2 on points having won all three of the ODIs, will retain the trophy. England can only level the series if they win the three remaining T20 international games.

India Wrap Series with Eight-Wicket Win

India A's top-order, led by opener Ruturaj Gaikwad, fired in unison to steer the team to a convincing eight-wicket win in the fifth and final unofficial one-dayer against the West Indies A, completing a 4-1 series triumph.

Jul 22, 2019

Sathiyan-Archana Win Mixed Gold

India added another golden chapter to the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships when its mixed doubles pair of G Sathiyan and Archana Kamath defeated Singapore's Peng Yu En Koen–Goi Rui Xuan 3-0 in the final.
The gold count, on the penultimate day of the championships, stood at three.
This had, in a way, avenged the earlier loss of A. Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula in the semi-final by the same Singaporean pair as well as the defeat of Sharath in the quarter-finals by Peng.
The Indian pair was on top in the final as they piled on the agony of their rivals, particularly on a tired Peng who could not cope with the pressure applied by the topseeded duo.
But the second-seeded Sharath Kamal squandered three match points and then the quarter-final, shattering his hope.
Though Sharath failed to go past the semifinals in mixed doubles, he would definitely rue the loss to the younger Peng in the quarters.
The other Indians that made the grade included top-seeded G Sathiyan, who beat Nigerian Bode Abiodun 4-0 and Harmeet Desai who beat Sushmit Sriram 4-1.
Sanil Shetty joined Sharath when he went down to England's Thomas Jarvis 1-4.
Earlier, the top-seeded Ho TinTin of England beat the unseeded Archana Kamath, the reigning national champion, 4-1 to enter the women's semi-finals.
But the second-seeded Madhurika Patkar and fourth seed Ayhika Mukerjee easily followed the English woman in the last-four stages while Sreeja Akula defeated Sutirtha Mukherjee 4-2 even as Madhurika downed Krittiwika Sinha Roy 4-1 and Ayhika beat Mousumi Paul in straight games.

Netherlands Wins 'Mini Worlds Chennai' title

A team of school students from the Netherlands won the Mini Worlds Chennai 2019 tournament in the Tamil Nadu capital by defeating a team from Hong Kong.
The three-day tournament, held by the Indian Schools Debating Society (ISDS) with sponsorship from the Ramco Group of companies, was India's first international debating tournament in the World Schools format.
A total of 15 teams — from 12 nations and three from India— participated in the tournament. The Indian team was knocked out in the semi-finals by Hong Kong. The 90-minute final was adjudicated on the motion.

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