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Yearly Review of Sports 2018 - Current Affairs Capsule in PDF

Yearly Review of Sports 2018 - Current Affairs Capsule in PDF

Yearly Review of Sports 2018 - Current Affairs Capsule in PDF

January 2018

• won TT Championship o Sharath Kamal beat top-seeded Anthony Amalraj to win the men singles title in the 79th edition of the 11Even Sports Senior Nationals in Ranchi, Jharkhand. o He won the championship for the eighth time, equalling the feat of Kamlesh Mehta. o Suthirta Mukherjee from emerged the new women champion, beating Nationals winner . • 1st Khelo School Games launched o Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the first Khelo India School Games at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New . o The Khelo India programme has been introduced to revive the sports culture in India at the grass-root level. o The Games are being held from 31st January to 8th February 2018. • Melbourne To Host Final Of 2020 WT20 o Melbourne Ground will host the final of both the men’s and women’s World when the tournaments come to in 2020. o It will mark the first time the tournaments are held as stand-alone events in the same year in the same country. o The women’s final will coincide with International Women’s Day (8th March). 1 | P a g e

• Prakash won Lifetime Achievement Award o Vice President Venkaiah Naidu conferred Association of India Lifetime Achievement Award to 1983 World Championship medallist . o Naidu termed Padukone a "grand legend of a great game", who inspired the nation through his "sheer passion, grit and determination". o The Mysuru-born had won gold medals at the 1978 & the All Championships in 1980. • 2018 , starts o The 2018 India Open, is a badminton tournament which will take place at Siri Fort Indoor Stadium in Delhi from 30 January to 4 February 2018. o The event will also feature 2014 champion Kidambi Srikanth beginning his new season after missing last week’s . o bagged silver medal at recently. Saina clinched the India Open Super Series in 2015. • Pak. became world number 1 T20I side o became the top-ranked T20I side in international cricket after beating in the third and final T20I to claim the three-match series 2-1. o This was Pakistan's sixth T20I series win on the trot. o Notably, New Zealand had whitewashed Pakistan in the five-match ODI series before the T20I series. • Tai Tzu Ying won Indonesian Masters o The world no.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan has defeated Saina Nehwal in the finals of the Indonesia Masters in . o Tai Tzu has now defeated the former world No.1 nine times in their last 10 meetings. o Saina had enjoyed early success against the Taiwanese till 2011 but the Nehwal has beaten her only once at the 2013 ever since. 2 | P a g e

• 2018, winners o Women's Singles - won by defeating . o Men's Doubles - and Mate Pavic won by defeating and J. Cabal. o Women's Doubles - and Tímea Babos won by defeating and . o Mixed Doubles - and Mate Pavic won by defeating Timea Babos and . • won Australian Open o World No. 2 Roger Federer defeated No. 6 Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3- 6, 6-1 to clinch his sixth Australian Open title. o This is Federer’s 20th title. o Roger Federer is from Switzerland and Marin Cilic from . • First Nepal player to get IPL contract o Sandeep Lamichhane has become the first cricketer from Nepal to land an IPL contract. o He was picked by Delhi Daredevils in the ongoing players auction at his base price of Rs 20 lakh. o The leg-spinner rose to prominence with a successful outing at the 2016 U- 19 World Cup where he guided Nepal to a creditable eighth place. • Caroline Wozniacki wins Australian Open o 's Caroline Wozniacki defeated Romanian Simona Halep to win her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. o Twice a runner-up at the US Open, Wozniacki becomes the first Dane to win a Grand Slam singles title.

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o With the win, Wozniacki will reclaim the WTA World No. 1 ranking exactly six years since she last held it. • India retain ICC Test Championship mace o India's win over in the 3rd & final Test helped it retain the ICC Test Championship mace. o Kohli will be presented with the mace, which is a symbol of excellence & a recognition of a side’s outstanding performance in the purest format of the game. o Kohli had become the 10th since 2002 to get his hands on the mace when he had received it from Sunil Gavaskar in 2016. • Babos, Mladenovic win Australian Open o The hungarian-french pairing of Timea Babos & Kristina Mladenovic have won the Australian Open women's doubles title. o They were crowned Grand Slam champions for the 1st time. o The duo battled past Russians Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-3 in the final. o Babos & Mladenovic have become the first players from their respective countries to lift the Australian Open women's doubles crown • Delhi lifts Trophy o Delhi lifted its maiden after defeating Rajasthan in the finals by 41 runs. o Chasing 154 for a win, Rajasthan were bundled out for 112 in a brilliant display by the Delhi bowlers. o The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a Twenty20 cricket domestic championship in India. It is named after a famous Indian cricketer, Syed Mushtaq Ali. • clinches men’s crown

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o Tamil Nadu beat Services by 94-86, in the final to emerge the men’s champion of the senior National basketball championship at the Nehru indoor stadium. o This is Tamil Nadu’s tenth title in the men’s category. o Railways beat Chhattisgarh 100-71 in the women’s final for its 28th title in 32 years. Captain P.U. Navaneetha top-scored with 30 points. • Rakhi Halder Creates New National Record o Lifter Rakhi Halder created a new national record in clean and jerk to a gold medal in the 63kg women’s category in the 33rd Women Senior National Weightlifting Championships, in Mangaluru, Karnataka. o Rakhi lifted 128kgs in the clean and jerk to create a new national record, bettering ’s feat (127kg) created in Athens in 1999. • West Indies to Host Women’s World T20 o The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced, the 2018 edition of the Women’s World T20 will be hosted by West Indies in November 2018. o Hosts Windies will defend the title they won over Australia in in 2016. o The three venues were selected by Cricket West Indies through a bidding process and have been ratified by the ICC. • Siddharth Singh won o Young Indian shuttler Siddharth Pratap Singh secured his maiden international title, bagging the Swedish Open Junior International Series. o He won by defeating Denmark’s Mads Christophersen in the finals in Uppsala in . o Playing his first career final, Siddharth defeated Christophersen in a 33- minute match to claim the men’s singles title. • India retains Blind World Cup title 5 | P a g e

o India defeated arch rivals Pakistan by two in a thrilling summit clash to retain the Blind Cricket World Cup title. o Sunil Ramesh was the star performer for India in the Blind World Cup 2018 final, scoring 93 runs. o It was India’s second title at the mega event as earlier they won World Cup, outclassing Pakistan at Cape Town, South Africa in December 2014. • Ronaldinho retires from football o Former and Barcelona midfielder Ronaldinho has retired from professional football. o Ronaldinho has not played for a professional team since leaving Brazilian side Fluminense in July 2015. o Ronaldinho was part of the triumphant Brazil 2002 World Cup squad, won the Champions League in 2006 with Barcelona and won the Balon d'Or in 2005. • India rises 3 places in FIFA rankings o India has jumped three ranks to be placed 102nd in the first FIFA rankings of the year. o India, which is just above Qatar (103rd), is ranked 14th among Asian countries. o The Indians remained unbeaten in 2017, having won seven of their nine matches while two ended in draws. o The top 14 spots remained unchanged with reigning World Champions at the top followed by Brazil, . • Kohli named ICC Cricketer of the Year o Indian Cricket Captain has been named as International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year 2017. o He was also named the ICC ODI Player of the Year & recipient of Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy.

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o Kohli had an outstanding year in the 50-over format where he scored 6 centuries at an astonishing average of 76.84. o He has also been named the captain of Men's ODI & Test Teams of the Year. • Assam wins 8th Sub-junior Hockey Champ. o Assam Hockey won the 8th Hockey India Sub Junior Men National Championship 2018 (B Division), at Hojai Hockey stadium, in Assam. o Assam Hockey beat Hockey Rajasthan 3-2 in the final and won the 8th Hockey India Sub Junior Men National Championship 2018 (B Division). o Hockey Rajasthan had a good start by scoring five goals. • Rathore launches ‘Khelo India’ Anthem o Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore made the announcement during the launch of the official anthem and mascot of Khelo India School Games, beginning January 31. o Now when an athlete wins a medal the coach gets the incentive. o The video features India's eminent sports personalities such as Sardar Singh, , , Baichung Bhutia, , Saina Nehwal etc. • Fastest T20 century by an Indian o Delhi's wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant blasted an unbeaten 116 off just 38 deliveries in a North Zone match against Himachal Pradesh. o This is the second quickest century in T20s and the fastest by an Indian. o Chris Gayle still holds the record for the fastest century in the format when he clubbed 100 off just 30 deliveries against Warriors in IPL.

• Hyderabad Hunters claim maiden title

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o Reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin led Hyderabad Hunters to their maiden . o The Hunters defeated -led Bengaluru Blasters by 4-3 in the final tie to clinch the glory. o A dominant display by Mixed Doubles pair of and Pia Bernadet helped the Hunters clinch the title. • Sarjubala wins National Championship o Former world silver medallist Sarjubala Devi representing claimed the gold in 48 kg category in the National Women's Boxing Championships. o Asian champion L Sarita Devi representing the All India Police, AIP picked up a gold medal in the 60 kg category. o Sarjubala Devi was also given the best boxer trophy. • Rabada becomes No. 1 Test bowler o Young pacer Kagiso Rabada has become the number one ranked bowler in the ICC Test Rankings. o Rabada returned with figures of three for 34 and two for 41 against a star- studded Indian line-up. o Rabada is the seventh South African bowler to top the ICC Test rankings after Aubrey Faulkner, Hugh Tayfield, Peter Pollock, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander. • Wins Kolkata Open 2018 o Veteran Aditya Mehta won the Kolkata Open 2018 International Invitation Championship at the Hindustan Club. o He edged out Englishman Alfie Burden 5-4 in a thrilling final. o This is his third Kolkata Open title since it’s inception. In the thrilling final he defeated Englishman Professional Player Alfie Burden.

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• Aanchal Thakur bags Bronze in Skiing o Aanchal Thakur made history as she won India's first ever international medal in skiing. o The 21-year-old Manali resident clinched bronze in the coveted Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup. o The Championship was organised by the Federation Internationale de Ski (skiing's international governing body) in Erzurum, . o She won the medal in the slalom race category. • National Boxing Championship begins o Over 300 top female boxers will be stepping into the ring during the second edition of the Elite Women's National Boxing Championship. o The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has indicated that the weeklong tournament will be seen as selection trials for 2018's biggest boxing events - the Common Wealth Games and the . o The championship is being organised in Haryana. • Elina won o Svitolina claimed the first WTA title of the year at the Brisbane International. o The Ukrainian beat surprises finalist 6-2 6-1. o Sasnovich, the world number 88, comes through qualifying. • Rathore Launches 'Khelo India' Logo o The Sports Minister, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore launched the Khelo India logo at the Nehru Stadium. Khelo India School Games will be staged from January 31. o The three-stroke Khelo India logo was designed by Ogilvy India and offers flexibility in adapting to numerous pictorial forms. o The logo also conveys an impression of fitness and competitiveness.

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• wins Tata Open title o Gilles Simon of has lifted the inaugural Tata Open Maharashtra trophy. o He defeated in straight sets 7-6, 6-2. o This tournament is India's only ATP event. o For the past 22 years, the tournament had been associated with the big metro cities, hosting the inaugural edition in 1996. • Colin Munro Hit Three T20I Centuries o New Zealand's Colin Munro slammed a belligerent century in the T20 international against the West Indians. o Munro hit as many as 10 sixes and three boundaries as he scored 104 runs off 53 deliveries to power New Zealand to their biggest ever T20 score. o Munro also became the first batsman in the history of T20 internationals to slam three centuries. • Shiv Kapur Wins Royal Cup at Pattaya o Indian golfer Shiv Kapur won the Royal Cup at Pattaya. o The 35-year-old, who had just one win in almost 11 years till April 2017, has now won three times in last eight months. o This latest title marks Shiv Kapur’s fourth Asian Tour win and sixth international title. • Vidarbha won their 1st ever o Vidarbha made history by winning their first ever Ranji Trophy title, beating Delhi by nine wickets in . o This was Nagpur-based Vidarbha's first ever appearance in a Ranji Trophy final. o Fast bowler Rajneesh Gurbani took 6 for 59, including a hat-trick.

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February 2018

• Karnataka won Trophy o Karnataka defeated Saurashtra by 41 runs in the final on Tuesday to win the tournament for the third time. o Batting first, Karnataka put up a total of 253/10 driven by Mayank Agarwal's 90(79), before Saurashtra were bowled out for 212 in 46.3 overs. o Agarwal hit 723 runs in eight matches in the tournament, including seven 80+ scores. • India got 11 Medals At Strandja Tournament o India has come up with best ever performance at the 69th Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament in Bulgaria. o At Sofia, the country ended with a whopping 11 medals – five from men and six from women boxers. o Overall, the contingent clinched two gold, three silver and six bronze medals. o Vikas Krishan, who claimed a gold medal in 75 kg category, was also adjudged the best boxer of the event. • Youngest captain in International Cricket o At 19 years of age, Afghanistan leg-spinner is set to become the youngest captain in the history of international cricket. o The World's No.1 ODI and bowler, Rashid will lead Afghanistan after regular skipper Asghar Stanikzai was diagnosed with appendicitis. o Rashid is also the youngest player to be ranked No.1 in the ICC's Player Rankings across formats.

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• appoint Courtney Walsh as coach o Bangladesh has named former West Indies cricketer Courtney Walsh as the interim coach for upcoming tri-nation Twenty20 series. o Walsh, who has been Bangladesh's bowling coach since 2016, takes over as interim coach from former Zimbabwean cricketer Richard Halsall. o Position of Bangladesh's head coach had been vacant since Oct, when Chandika Hathurusingha quit after three years at the helm. • Tejaswin broke his own high jump record o Competing for Kansas State University, 19-year-old Tejaswin Shankar broke his own national record by clearing a height of 2.28m. o Shankar had set the record at the 2.26m mark at the Junior National Championships in Coimbatore in 2016 when he was a schoolboy. o The height cleared by Shankar is the best this year amongst athletes from Commonwealth countries. • Sameer beats ex-world no. 2 to win Swiss Open o Indian shuttler beat former world number two Jan O Jorgensen and clinched the men's singles title at the $150,000 Swiss Open Super 300 tournament. o Verma, who joins Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy as the Indian shuttlers who have won the Swiss Open, had clinched the Grand Prix Gold last year. o He is presently world number 46. • PyeongChang Winter Olympics concludes o The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics concluded with a spectacular closing ceremony. o In the closing ceremony, the Olympic flag was handed over to Chinese organisers for the next Winter Games in Beijing in 2022.

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o With the 2022 Games, Beijing will become the first city in the world to host both the summer and winter editions of the Olympic Games after hosting the Summer Games in 2008. • Strandja Memorial Tournament o Amit Panghal claimed his second consecutive international gold but MC settled for silver in the 69th Strandja Memorial boxing tournament for men and women in Sofia, Bulgaria. o Amit (49kg), who fetched the top honours at last month's India Open, defeated 's Said Mordaji. o Seema Poonia (+81kg) also claimed silver by defeating Russia's Anna Ivanova. • wins Austrian Open o India's Parupalli Kashyap overcame ’s June Wei Cheam in straight games in the men’s singles final to clinch the Austrian Open International Challenge. o This is Kashyap's first international title in over 3 years. o Kashyap is the only male player from India to reach the Quarterfinals of men's singles at 2012 Olympics. o He was also awarded the Arjuna Award by Govt of India in 2012 • Aruna Reddy makes history o Aruna Budda Reddy created history by becoming the 1st Indian gymnast to win an individual medal at Gymnastics World Cup as she clinched a bronze in women's vault event. o She scored 13.649 average points to finish 3rd & claim the bronze medal. o This was Aruna's first international medal, though she has taken part at World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Commonwealth Games & Asian Games.

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• India presented with ICC Test mace o The International Cricket Council presented the ICC Test Championship Mace to Virat Kohli after the end of the final T20 International against South Africa. o Kohli received the ICC Test Championship mace on behalf of Team India for the second consecutive year for being the number one Test team. o This is the fourth time that India has been presented with the prestigious mace. • 1st Indian to be banned by NADA for drug o Athlete Jithin Paul became the first Indian athlete to be banned by the National Anti-Doping Agency for possession of a prohibited substance. o NADA has handed Paul a 4-year-ban for possession of a banned substance called 'Meldonium'. o The anti-doping authority also said that Paul had no justification for possession of the substance. • 1st Indian to cross 900 points in ICC ranking o Virat Kohli has become only the second batsman in the history of the game to cross 900-point mark concurrently in Tests & ODIs. o Kohli is only the 2nd batsman after AB de Villiers to attain the 900-point mark concurrently in both formats. o Kohli thus moved ahead of Brian Lara in the all-timers' list & ranks 7th in ODI list of all-time rankings that is led by Vivian Richards with 935 points. • Shoaib Akhtar named PCB brand ambassador o Former Pak pacer Shoaib Akhtar has been named as the brand ambassador of Pakistan Cricket Board. o He was also appointed as the advisor to chairman on cricket affairs.

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o Shoaib has represented Pakistan in 46 Tests, 163 ODIs & 15 T20Is picking 444 wickets in international cricket. o His career had been like a roller coaster ride as his journey was marred by controversies, struggles & injuries. • Roger Federer wins Open title o Roger Federer celebrated his return to the top of the world rankings by winning his 3rd . o Federer thrashed Bulgarian 6-2, 6-2 in a one-sided final that lasted less than an hour. o In the Open era, only American has won more titles than Federer, with 109. o Federer first became world number one in 2004, but has not topped the rankings since Oct 2012. • Sachin made T20 League's ambassador o has been made the brand ambassador of the upcoming T20 Mumbai League. o The league will be organised by Sports India Pvt Ltd, a consortium of IIFL Group as Lead Member and Wizcraft, with the approval and sanction of the Mumbai Cricket Association. o 6 teams from Mumbai North, North-West, North-East, North- Central, South-Central and South will participate in the League. • India's largest train the trainers programme o Pullela Gopichand has initiated country's largest train the trainers programme, inducting 1500 Physical Education teachers from across Gujarat for advanced training. o It aims to develop the skills of PE teachers so that they can impart the right techniques to children aspiring to make it big at sports.

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o It will look at all-round development in sports, targeting PE teachers, students & schools. • Yuzuru Hanyu retains gold medal o 's Yuzuru Hanyu has become the first figure skater in 66 years to win back-to-back Winter Olympic gold medals in the men's singles event. o Hanyu won the title with 317.85 points, beating compatriot Shoma Uno and multiple world champion Javier Fernandez of to the second and third spots. o He also became the 1,000th gold medal winner in the history of Winter Olympics. • Federer becomes oldest world No.1 in tennis o Roger Federer has become the oldest world number one after he defeated his Dutch opponent at Rotterdam's ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament. o He became the oldest No. 1 male player, surpassing eight-time Grand Slam winner , who holds the record at 33 yrs since September 2003. o Federer is back on top after winning 3 majors in 13 months, including another Australian Open. • Guptill becomes the highest run-scorer in T20 o Martin Guptill has become the leading run-scorer in T20 Internationals with his 2nd century against Australia. o It took Guptill's international T20 career total to 2,188 runs, surpassing Brendon McCullum's 2,140, Kohli is the next highest on the all-time list with 1,956. o Guptill’s century came off a mere 49 balls, which is also the record for fastest T20 hundred scored by any Nz batsman.

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• Odisha Govt to sponsor Indian hockey team o Indian hockey has got a new sponsor in state govt of Odisha, which has decided to support the game for next 5 years. o It is for the 1st time a state is sponsoring a national hockey team. o Odisha is regarded as the cradle of hockey & has produced greats like & . o Odisha has been supporting the game with various initiatives & also won the Kalinga Lancers in the HIL. • Indian boxers win 10 medals o Indian boxers have won 10 medals, including 5 gold, at the Asian Games Test event in Jakarta, Indonesia. o Manish Kaushik, K.Shyam Kumar, Shaikh Salman Anwar and Ashish won a gold each in their respective categories. o Pavitra was the lone Indian gold-winner in the 60-kilogram category of women's draw. • TN won Senior Women's Football Championship o Tamil Nadu has won the Senior Women's National Football Championship for the first time. o Tamil Nadu, which was playing its first-ever final, defeated Manipur, 2-1 at the in Cuttack, Odisha. o Skipper Indumathi and Indrani found the net for Tamil Nadu, while Ratanbala scored Manipur's only goal. • India To Host 8th Theatre Olympics o In an effort to put India firmly among the top nations in the world theatre map, the country will play host to the 8th Theatre Olympics, the greatest carnival of thespianism. o The 51-day theatre extravaganza which will be inaugurated at Red Fort

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o It will see 450 shows including 65 shows by international artistes, 600 ambient performances and 250 youth forum shows. • Ranking system for nat. sports federations o The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is planning a ranking system for National Sports Federations. o Aimed at inculcating healthy competition between sports bodies, the rankings will be based on the federations’ administrative capability, transparency, talent-spotting ability, and medal count of athletes. o The implementation of the sports code will bar officials over 70 years old. • Gangolli won Championship for the blind o Defending champion Karnataka’s Kishan Gangolli won the 13th edition of the National ‘A’ Chess Championship for the blind in Mumbai. o The championship was organised by All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB). o At the end of the 13th round, Asian Championship winner, Gangolli became the champion for the fifth consecutive time with 10.5 points. • Keshavan comes 34th at his 6th Olympics o Four-time Asian champion India's Shiva Keshavan on Sunday finished 34th out of 40 in the men's singles luge event at PyeongChang Games, his sixth Winter Olympics campaign. o The 36-year-old Himachal Pradesh-born athlete's best finish at the Games had come in 2006 in Turin when he finished 25th. o Shiva is one of the two Indians who qualified for the 2018 Games. • First Indian to qualify for LPGA o Sharmila Nicollet has become the first Indian golfer to qualify for the China Ladies PGA Tour. o China LPGA Tour is a professional golf tour for women organized by the China Ladies Professional Golfers' Association.

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o Sharmila is also the youngest Indian golfer to qualify for Ladies European Tour & the second Indian to earn a full card on the Ladies European Tour. • SA never lost ODI after wearing pink jersey o The South African cricket team has never lost an ODI while wearing pink jersey. o The team has appeared in five ODIs while dressed in pink to create awareness for breast cancer. o Interestingly, South Africa have scored over 340 runs in three Pink ODIs, with their highest total being 439/2. • 1,218 drones set record at Winter Olympics o As many as 1,218 drones outfitted with LED lights were used during a light show at the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. o This made a world record for the 'most unmanned aerial vehicles airborne simultaneously'. o The drones, controlled through an automated software program, flew in sync and created light-up images of Olympic sports and the Olympic rings. • India won medals at Asian Para-Cycling C'ship o The Indian contingent won a silver medal and two bronze medals at the Asian Para-Cycling Championships held in , . o Last year's silver medallist Divij Shah repeated his silver-winning performance while BSF soldier Harinder Singh won bronze adding to his bronze from the last year. o New entrant Bagri, meanwhile, won bronze in hand-cycling. • Winter Olympic Games Starts In Pyeongchang o The 23rd Olympic Winter Games officially kicked off at Pyeongchang in . 92 countries are participating in the event. o There will be 102 medals up for grabs in Pyeongchang, covering seven sports and 15 disciplines. 19 | P a g e

o The ceremony was directed by Song Seung-whan, a South Korean actor. o Hosts South Korea also produced a show of unity with neighbours North Korea during the ceremony. • Khelo India School Games Concludes o The first Khelo India School Games concluded in New Delhi with sports powerhouse Haryana topped the overall medal tally. o The state won 102 medals which include 38 gold and 26 silver. o Maharashtra with 110 medals (36 of them gold) finished second while Delhi with 94 medals came third. o Sports Minister, Col Rajyavardhan Rathore presented the top State Haryana with the glittering trophy. • takes 200 ODI Wickets o Indian women's cricket team pacer Jhulan Goswami has become the first woman in the world to take 200 wickets in ODI cricket. o Goswami achieved the feat playing in her 166th ODI against South Africa. o Goswami had become the leading -taker in women's ODI in May 2017, overtaking former Australian pacer Cathryn Fitzpatrick's record of 180 wickets. • Ormila Devi claims lift gold o Konsam Ormila Devi of Manipur lived up to her growing stature by winning gold in the 44kg category at the Khelo India School Games competition at the Indira Gandhi Stadium. o Ormila Devi, the Commonwealth Youth Championship winner, lifted a combined total of 137 kg – 59kg in snatch and 78 kg in clean and jerk. o It is 4 kg extra than what she achieved in the Commonwealth meet at Gold Coast.

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• Manav ends up with silver at WJC Finals o Indian paddler Manav Thakkar settled for silver after losing in the final of the 2018 ITTF World Junior Circuit Finals at . o The Indian failed to cash in on the close sixth game win as he ended with the junior boys silver medal on Sunday evening. o The No. 3 seeded Indian lost to top-seed Kanak Jha of the US by 3-4 (11-9, 3-11, 11-9. 6-11, 3-11, 11-9, 6-11). • won India Open badminton men’s title o Shi Yuqi won the India Open badminton tournament for the first time after having not won a single title in 2017. o Shi Yuqi, the current world number eight, defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien Chen in the badminton tournament 21-18,21-14. o won in the women's section. • Sindhu finishes as India Open runner-up o Rio Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu finished as runner-up after losing to America's Beiwen Zhang in the final on Sunday. o Zhang defeated world number four Sindhu with a scoreline of 18-21, 21-11, 22-20 and took her head-to-head record against the Indian to 2-3. o Sindhu had lifted the India Open title last year by defeating Olympic champion Carolina Marin. • Shubhankar Sharma won European Tour title o India's Shubhankar Sharma came back from a four-stroke deficit to claim a two-shot win at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia for his second European Tour title on Sunday. o Sharma had won his maiden title at the Joburg Open in December last year. o The Indian holed 10 birdies to claim the title ahead of Spain's 31-year-old Jorge Campillo. 21 | P a g e

• India lifts U-19 World Cup trophy o India lifted the ICC Under-19 World Cup trophy for the record fourth time by defeating Australia in the finals. o Coached by , the team had remained unbeaten in the tournament. o With a fourth crown, India surpassed Australia in the race of most U-19 World Cup titles. o India's star batsman Manjot Kalra led his team to the victory as he made a brilliant unbeaten century. • India won 7 golds at India Boxing Tournament o Seven Indian boxers, including five-time world champion Mary Kom, won gold medals in the India Open International Boxing Tournament. o Boxers Sanjeet, Manish Kaushik, Pwilao Basumatar, Lovlina Borgohain, Pinki Rani and Manisha emerged victorious at the event in Delhi. o Former world champion Sarita Devi lost to 's Marjut Mira Potkonan by a split decision in the lightweight category. • Srihari makes record in 100m backstroke o Karnataka’s Srihari Nataraj took the honours in the swimming pool on Day Two of the Khelo India School Games by winning the 100m backstroke gold in 56.90 seconds to set a new National mark in the event. o The previous record of 56.99s was set by him at the Asian age group championship in Tashkent last year. o Srihari also added the 4x100m freestyle gold to his kitty. • Mary Kom strikes gold o M C Mary Kom claimed a gold in the India Open boxing tournament. o Mary Kom won against Filipino Josie Gabuco by 4-1 and won her gold in the 48kg class among women.

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o Asian Games bronze-medallist Satish Kumar (+91kg), however, settled for a silver, outwitted by Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov in a split 4-1 decision.

March 2018

• Williamson announced Sunrisers captain o Kane Williamson, the New Zealand captain, will lead SunRisers Hyderabad in the 2018. o The decision comes in the wake of the recent ball-tampering controversy that led to bans for and Steven Smith from the 11th edition of IPL. o The franchise also later confirmed the appointment of Indian seamer as the vice-captain for the upcoming season. • Muskan Bhanwala wins gold in shooting o Indian shooter Muskan got gold medal in women's 25m pistol event at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney. o The team gold was won by Muskan, Manu Bhaker and Devanshi Rana, adding to India's rich medal haul. o Muskan's medal was India's fourth individual gold in the prestigious tournament. o Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Ayush Rudraraju and Gurnilal Singh Garcha got team silver in men's junior skeet. • Manu Bhaker-Anmol wins air pistol mixed gold o Manu Bhaker and Anmol secured the gold medal in the ISSF Junior World Cup by winning the mixed 10m air pistol event. o The silver and bronze medals were both awarded to China. o Genemat Sekhon bagged an individual bronze medal in the junior women's shooting.

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o Overall, India occupied the second placed with 17 medals, including seven gold. • Anish Bhanwala won gold in Shooting o Anish Bhanwala secured an individual gold medal at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney. o The bronze medal was awarded to another Indian team comprising Sandhu, Japtyesh Singh Jaspal and Mandeep Singh. o India is now placed second in the overall standings with 15 medals, comprising 6 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze. o China secured the gold medal and set a new junior world record with 1733 points. • Rashid Khan fastest to pick 100 ODI Wickets o Afghanistan legspinner Rashid Khan has become the fastest bowler to reach the milestone of 100 ODI wickets. o The previous record was by Australian left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc who broke the record in 2016. o Khan achieved the feat in just 44 ODI matches, surpassing Australian pacer Mitchell Starc who reached the landmark in 52 matches. • India U-16 won football tournament o The India U-16 team emerged champions in the "Jockey Cup International Youth Invitational Football Tournament" with a 4-2 victory over Hong Kong U-17 in the final in Hong Kong on 25th March. o The tournament was a U-17 event where India fielded their U-16 National Team. o This was the team's third consecutive victory in as many days. The Indians had earlier defeated Chinese and .

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• Punjab crowned National hockey champion o Punjab won its first National title in five years, after winning against Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) in the final of the "8th men’s National hockey championships" on 25th March. o In the Bronze medal match, Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) defeated Air India Sports Promotion Board. o Hockey Punjab defeated Petroleum Sports Promotion Board by 2-1. • Fastest fifty for India in women’s T20 cricket o Smriti Mandhana created history after smashing the fastest fifty by an Indian player in women’s T20I cricket. o Mandhana, who was opening the innings for India, achieved the feat in just 25 balls bettering her previous best in 30 balls. o The overall record for the fastest fifty in women’s T20Is belongs to Sophie Devine (18 balls) of New Zealand. • Vettel won Australian Grand Prix o Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel pipped the defending Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton to win the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. o It was the 100th podium of Vettel's career and it came in his 200th Formula One race. o He becomes the fourth driver to claim 100 podium finishes, joining Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost. • Ball Tampering Scandal o Australian skipper Steve Smith & batsman Cameron Bancroft have admitted to charges of ball-tampering during the 3rd day of the third Test match against South Africa in Cape Town. o Bancroft was on television cameras appearing to rub a yellow object on the ball during the match.

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o Australia captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner have decided to relinquish their leadership duties • Cricket returns to Karachi o Pakistan's biggest city 'Karachi' will stage a high-profile cricket match for the first time in nine years. o The final will be held amid heavy security at a newly renovated National Stadium in Karachi. o Karachi last saw a major game with international players in Feb 2009 when the terrorists attacked the team bus injuring 6 members of the Sri Lanka team. • Pankaj Advani retained his Asian title o Pankaj Advani defended his Asian Billiards Championships title in by demolishing his partner B Bhaskar 6-1. o With this win, Advani remains the reigning Indian, Asian & world champion in billiards for 2017-18. o This is Advani's 11th gold medal at Asian level of cue sports. o His continental billiards title tally has gone up to 7, in addition to back-to- back Asian Games gold medals in 2006 & 2010 • PV Sindhu to be India's flag-bearer o Olympic silver-medalist PV Sindhu will be the flag-bearer of Indian contingent for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. o It would be the first time in last 3 editions of Commonwealth Games that a badminton player would don the flag-bearer’s hat. o At 2014 CWG, Olympics silver medallist shooter Vijay Kumar was handed the responsibility of flag-bearer.

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• Manu Bhaker secures 10m Air Pistol gold o Manu Bhaker secured India’s second individual gold at the ISSF Junior World Cup. o India tasted success in the 10m air pistol men's event too with Gaurav Rana winning a silver medal. o Bhaker, Rana and Mahima Turhi Agrawal also brought India on top of the team podium • Vivaan Kapoor bagged two bronze medals o Vivaan Kapoor got his 1st Bronze medal in the men's trap event at International Shooting Sport Federation Junior World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Sydney, Australia. o He got his 2nd Bronze after winning the Team Bronze medal in the event along with Lakshay Sheoran and Ali Aman Elahi. o India has two gold and three bronze medals in the competition and is placed second behind China. • Elavenil Valarivan won gold for 10m Air Rifle o Indian shooter Elavenil Valarivan won the gold medal in 10m women’s air rifle event of the season’s first junior ISSF World Cup in Sydney. o Elavenil also combined with Shreya Agrawal and Zeena Khitta to claim the team gold medal. o Elavenil had also won a bronze medal at the FISU World Shooting Sports Championship. • won her first WTA Title o Naomi Osaka became the first Japanese player to win the Indian Wells final, beating Russian for her first WTA Tour title. o Osaka was only the fourth unseeded player to reach 'The Indian Wells' final.

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o Osaka captured the title on her first match point by blasting a backhand into the open side of the court. • Purva Barve wins title at Junior 2018 o Purva Barve won the women's singles (Under-19) title at the Israel Junior badminton tournament 2018 held in Rishon LeZion. o The title is her first in 2018 and third overall. o Earlier she won the Israel Junior 2017, Italian Junior International 2017 apart from a bronze at the Russian Junior White Nights 2017. • Juan Martin bags title o Juan Martin del Potro ended world number one Roger Federer's 17-match unbeaten run to claim the BNP Paribas Open title at Indian Wells. o Del Potro is the first player to beat Federer in 2018. o Naomi Osaka won her First Women's Tennis Association Title at Indian Wells. • Vidarbha clinched maiden title o Vidarbha has lifted their maiden Irani Trophy at Nagpur on 18th March after they beat 'Rest of India' by virtue of their massive first innings lead. o It is their second title in the domestic cricket season after they won Ranji Trophy. o Rest of India were bowled out for 390, falling short of Vidarbha's first- innings total by 410 runs. • Nepal cricket team gets ODI status o Nepal cricket team was given One-Day International (ODI) status for the first time ever after its six-wicket win over Papua New Guinea in the World Cup Qualifiers. o Nepal was given the Affiliate status by the ICC first in 1988 and was later promoted to the Associate rank in 1996. o In 2008, Nepal was included in World Cricket League Division 5, where it finished on the third spot. 28 | P a g e

• Chennaiyin FC won the second ISL title o Chennaiyin FC crushed Bengaluru FC 3-2 in the finals to clinch the title. o This was Chennaiyin FC's second title triumph in the ISL, tying them with ATK as the most successful team in the tournament. o The franchise is owned by Vita Dani, Abhishek Bachchan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. o The Indian Super League (ISL) is a men's professional football league in India. • FIFA lifted 30-year ban on Iraq o FIFA has lifted its three-decade ban on Iraq hosting international football with the cities of Arbil, Basra and Karbala given the go-ahead to stage matches. o The three cities selected are among the more secure in Iraq. o Iraq will host Qatar and Syria for a friendly tournament starting March 21 in Basra. o Iraq has not played full internationals on home turf since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. • India lost bid to host 2019 U-20 World Cup o pipped India in the race to host 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup after the members of FIFA Council voted in its favour. o With the tournament scheduled to be held around May to June, Poland emerged as the preferred choice as it will be difficult for the players to play in the scorching Indian summer. o India had submitted their bid after successfully hosting the U-17 FIFA World Cup last year.

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• KL Rahul is the 'Cricketer of the Year' o KL Rahul is the 'Cricketer of the Year' in the sixth edition of Wisden India Almanack. o The Almanack pays a tribute to India's women cricketers, with a wonderful cover picture of celebration at the World Cup. o Shantha Rangaswamy, India's first woman superstar, has been inducted into the Wisden India Hall of Fame. o Priyank Panchal, and are the other Cricketers of the Year. • Sanjivani Jadhav won bronze in China o India's long-distance athlete Sanjivani Jadhav bagged a bronze medal at the 14th Asian Cross Country Championship held at Guiyang in China. o Sanjivani clocked 28 minutes 19 sec in the senior women's 8 km event to finish 3rd. o In the team ranking, India finished 3rd in senior women's event and bagged bronze medal with 28 points, finishing behind 1st placed Japan (12) and 2nd placed China (14). • announced his retirement o Former world number two tennis player Tommy Haas officially announced his retirement from tennis. o Haas, who won the silver medal for Germany at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, finished his career with 569 wins. o His most recent singles titles came in 2013 when he won in Vienna and Munich. o Haas reached a career-high number two ranking in 2002, and finished eight seasons ranked in the top 20.

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• Nepal gains ODI status o A six-wicket win over Papua New Guinea has rewarded Nepal with One- Day International (ODI) status for the first time ever. o Nepal was awarded Affiliate status by the ICC in 1988, and was promoted to Associate rank in 1996. o After Afghanistan, Nepal are taking quick strides in terms of developments. • Baskaran Adhiban won o India's Baskaran Adhiban clinched the title in the 33rd Reykjavik Open with an impressive performance that saw him win five of the nine games. o Adhiban became only the second Indian after (in 2016) to win the prestigious Reykjavik Open. o He was the 2008 World Under-16 Champion and the 2009 Indian champion. • Indian football team re-enters in top-100 o The Indian football team has re-entered into the top-100 of the FIFA world rankings and is now placed at 99th. o In 2017 the Indian team broke into the top-100 three times, rising as high as 96th in July- the second best ever after the 94th place attained in February 1996. But it ended the year at the 105th spot. o Among Asian countries, the Indian team is at the 13th spot. • PM Modi to inaugurate Mary Kom's academy o Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 'Mary Kom Regional Boxing Foundation' in on March 16. o Mary Kom was christened 'Magnificent Mary' by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) a few years ago for her stellar career, which also includes an Asian Games gold medal. o Mary Kom is country's only woman boxer with an Olympic medal. 31 | P a g e

• Chandigarh to host Sports Literature Festival o Chandigarh will host Play Write 2018, India’s first of its kind "Sports Literature Festival" on March 17-18. o The "Sports Literature festival" will feature ten interesting sessions covering games like Hockey, Cricket, Marathon running, Soccer, Boxing, Women's Rugby and Kabaddi etc. o Play Write is being organised under the ambit of the Vibrant Networking Forum. • Wallace won Indian Open o Briton Matt Wallace won his second European Tour title at the Indian Open. o He beat compatriot Andrew Johnston in the first hole of their play-off. o Wallace attacked the first extra hole, the par-five 18th, and birdied to win the tournament after Johnston took a more conservative approach to finish on par. • Navjot Kaur climbs to World No. 2 o Navjot Kaur became World No. 2 in the 65 kg category as per the latest rankings released by United World . o The top position belongs to 2015 World Championship silver medallist Petra Olli of Finland though both have 18 points each. o Vinesh Phogat is No. 2 in the 50kg category behind Lei Chun of China, while is No. 4 in the 62 kg category. • Akhil Sheoran won gold in shooting o Akhil Sheoran clinched the gold medal in men's 50m rifle 3-position after he shot 455.6 in the final to pip 's Bernhard Pickl in second place with 452.

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o Sheoran, thus, became the fourth young Indian shooter to win a medal on ISSF World Cup debut. o This was India’s fourth gold medal at this World Cup and they sit at the top of the medals with a total of nine medals. • Australia lifted Sultan Azlan Shah cup o World champions Australia has lifted the coveted Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey title by outplaying England 2-1 in the finals. o Australia has now won the prestigious tournament for the 10th time. o England had to settle with the silver medal while claimed the bronze medal. o India finished a disappointed fifth in the six-nation tournament. • Winter Paralympics officially begin o The largest ever Winter Paralympics were officially inaugurated in freezing conditions at the Olympic Stadium in Pyeongchang, South Korea. o A record 567 athletes from 48 different nations paraded into the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium to officially commence the 10-day festival that runs till March 18. o A neutral Paralympic athletes team consisting of Russian competitors is also participating. • Anjum Moudgil won silver in shooting o Anjum Moudgil won her first International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup Silver medal in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) event at the Guadalajara, . o This was India’s eighth medal of the competition and the first silver after having won three Golds and four Bronze medals. o India still leads the medals tally with eight medals while China is in second place.

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• Gora Ho gets gold at Cup in o Gora Ho, a teenager from the tribal belt of Jharkhand, won gold partnering Akash and Gaurav Lambe in the team recurve event at the . o The trio beat Mongolia’s Adiyasuren Baasankhuu, Otgonbold Baatarkhuyag and Gantugs Jantsan by 27-26 in a tiebreaker match. o With this India finished with three gold and two bronze medals at the Asia Cup Archery Stage 1 meet in Bangkok. • Dharun breaks National record in hurdles o Ayyasamy Dharun broke the men’s 400m hurdles national record and in the process grabbed a Commonwealth Games ticket on the concluding day of the 22nd Federation Cup National Senior Championships. o Dharun erased Joseph G Abraham’s over 10-year-old earlier national record of 49.94 made in August 2007 in Osaka. o Dharun got his last medal at an Indian Grand Prix event in Bengaluru. • Tejaswin Shankar smashes national record o Tejaswin Shankar broke his own national record to claim the high jump gold at the 22nd Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championships. o Shankar crossed over the bar at 2.28m to beat his own national mark of 2.26m which he achieved in Coimbatore in 2016 at the junior level. o Shankar had earlier cleared 2.28m at a collegiate event but this was his first athletic federation of India event

• Muskan, Promila won gold at Archery

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o India's Muskan Kirar and Promila Daimary clinched gold medals in the women's compound and recurve events respectively at the Archery Asia Cup in Bangkok. o Kirar got the better of Malaysia's Zakaria Nadhirah 139-136 in the compound final. o Madhu Vedwan and Gaurav Trambak Lambe also added to India's tally by winning bronze medals in the women's and the men's recurve events. • Manu Bhaker won second gold at shooting o Manu Bhaker won the second successive gold medal in a mixed team event as India consolidated their position at the top in the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico. o Manu partnered Om Prakash Mitharval clinched the 10 metre air pistol mixed team title. o With this India's medal count stands at three gold and four bronze medals for a total of seven podium finishes. • Rashid became Youngest captain o The leg-spinner from Afghanistan, Rashid Khan (19-year-old) has become the youngest captain in international cricket history. o He now holds the ICC No. 1 rank for bowlers in both the ODIs and T20Is and also became the youngest player ever to hold the top spot for any form of ICC men's ranking. o England’s Arran Bindle is the youngest woman player at the age of 19 years.

• won Rapid event

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o Viswanathan Anand won the rapid event at the 11th Tal Memorial chess in Moscow. o Anand finished with six points out of a possible nine, scoring four wins and four draws. o Anand defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alexander Grischuk and Daniil Dubov of Russia and Hikaru Nakamura of United States en route to his final score. • Manu Bhaker won Gold at ISSF o India's Manu Bhaker won the gold medal in 10 metre Air Pistol Women event at the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico. o She defeated home-favourite Alejandra Zavala Vazquez by securing 237.5 points to bag top honour at the ongoing event. o India has so far bagged 4 medals - two gold and two bronze at the event. • Shahzar Rizvi sets world record o India's Shahzar Rizvi clinched the gold medal with a world record score in his maiden ISSF World Cup appearance. o Rizvi shot a world record 242.3 in the 10 metre air pistol event's final to beat reigning Olympic champion Christian Reitz to win the top prize. o The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup 2018 is being held at Guadalajara in Mexico. • India won Snooker Team World Cup o India defeated Pakistan in the inaugural IBSF Snooker Team World Cup in Doha. o The Indian combine of Pankaj Advani and Manan Chandra came back from 0-2 down in the best-of-five final to clinch it with a margin of 3-2. o The Indian team was awarded $15,000 (nearly ₹10 lakh) for winning the tournament.

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• Venkatesh quits as BCCI selection chairman o Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad submitted his resignation from the post of chairman of the junior national selection committee. o Prasad, who cited personal reasons for stepping down, has worked as the head of the committee for 30 months. o Acting president CK Khanna said that he tried convincing Prasad to stay but he had made up his mind. • Azlan Shah Cup Hockey Tournament Begins o The 27th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey tournament begins in the Malaysian city of Ipoh. o Six nations – India, hosts Malaysia, defending champions England, Australia, Argentina and Ireland – are taking part in the tournament. o India, currently the world number six side, will take on world number two Argentina in their opening round-robin match. • Bronze for Sakshi o Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik had to settle for a bronze medal in Asian championship. o She lost by 6-6 to eventual silver medallist Xiaojuan Luo of China in a 62kg first round bout. o In the repechage rounds, Sakshi defeated Jiae Choi of Korea 11-0 and Ayaulym Kassymova of 10-7 to bag the bronze. • Navjot Kaur wins 65kg Asian gold o Navjot Kaur became the first Indian woman to claim a gold medal in the Asian wrestling championships. o She defeated Imai Miyu of Japan in the final to win the 65kg title in the Kyrgyzstan capital. o Navjot, bagged Asian bronze (2011) and silver (2013) medals and a Commonwealth Games bronze medal (2014). 37 | P a g e

• Vinesh bags silver in Wrestling Championships o Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat won a silver medal at the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. o Phogat lost to Chinese wrestler Chun Lei by a margin of 2-3 in the women's 50kg freestyle final. o This is Phogat's second consecutive silver at the annual event, following her podium finish at the tournament in New Delhi in 2017. • Mascot chosen by children for 2020 Olympics o The mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics selected by elementary school kids were unveiled. o The Olympics mascot is a blue-checked, doe-eyed character with pointy ears and "special powers", while the Paralympics mascot sports pink checks and can "talk with stones and the wind". o A total of 6.5 million children cast their vote to select the mascots.

April 2018

• , Gaekwad to get Lifetime Award o Former India batsman and two-time national coach Anshuman Gaekwad and former opener, late Pankaj Roy, have been recommended for the prestigious Col. CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award by the Board of Control for (BCCI). o The cash prize for the award is ₹25 lakh each. o The BCCI Annual Awards will be held before the historic Test between India and Afghanistan in Bengaluru. • Prajnesh won maiden singles title o has clinched his first ever singles tennis title on the ATP Challenger circuit. 38 | P a g e

o The 28-year-old from , ranked 260, pocketed $21,600 and earned 125 points. o It was second final at the Challenger level for left-handed Prajnesh, who had lost the Pune summit clash to Sadio Doumbia in October 2016. • won tennis title o World number one Rafael Nadal lifted his 11th Barcelona Open tennis title with a win over Greek teenager . o Nadal, who won his 400th match on clay in the semifinal, needed the victory in Barcelona to secure his No. 1 ranking. o It was the 77th title overall for Nadal tying him with John McEnroe for fourth best in the Open Era. • Indian juniors won Youth Olympic Qualifiers o India's junior men's team held their nerves to beat Malaysia 2-1 in the shootout to win the Qualifiers. o The victory will give India a chance to participate in the Youth Olympic Games to be held in Buenos Aires in August. The tournament was played in new Hockey 5's format. o In the women's final, India lost to China & they ended their campaign as runners-up. • Indian fencer won silver medal at Reykjavik o India's CA Bhavani Devi won a silver medal in the sabre event of the Tournoi World Cup Satellite Fencing Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. o Bhavani Devi had won a gold medal at the Reykjavik tournament last year to become the first Indian to do so in an international fencing event. • Lewis Hamilton won Azerbaijan Grand Prix o Lewis Hamilton took his first victory of the season at a dramatic and chaotic Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.

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o Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas was forced to retire with just three laps to go. o It was the first victory of the season for champions Mercedes. • N Sikki Reddy recommended for Arjuna Award o Women’s doubles shuttler N Sikki Reddy has been recommended for Arjuna Award by the Badminton Association of India. o G Sudhakar Reddy, who coached Kidambi Srikanth in his early days, has been recommended for Dronacharya Award. o The 24-year-old Sikki had won the mixed team gold medal and the women’s doubles bronze at the recent Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast. • Sumit, Nikhat strike gold at Belgrade Boxing o Sumit Sangwan and Nikhat Zareen were among the three gold-medallists in India’s stupendous campaign at the 56th Belgrade International Boxing Tournament in . o Also claiming a gold was Himanshu Sharma, who defeated Algeria’s Mohammed Touareg 5-0 in his final bout. o India ended the tournament with three gold, five silver and five bronze medals in all. • India won South Asian U-12 Tennis Championship o India has won the South Asian Under-12 Qualifying Tennis Tournament, defeating host Nepal in the finals. o Indian girls and boys team defeated their Nepali opponents in the final by 2-0. o Now both the Indian teams will participate in ITF Asian 12 and Under Team Championship to be played in Kazakhstan later this year. • ICC scraped 50-over Champions Trophy o International Cricket Council has decided to convert the 2021 Champions Trophy, scheduled in India, into a World T20 event. 40 | P a g e

o Champions Trophy was the second-biggest 50-overs tournament after the World Cup. The number of teams competing varied over the years. o This means that there would now be two ICC World T20 events in 2 years — the 2020 edition in Australia and the 2021 edition in India. • Tennis: Ankita Raina included in TOPS o Tennis player Ankita Raina has been included in the government's Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). o She has displayed good form this season both in the Fed Cup and the professional circuit. o Ankita recently broke into the top-200, reaching a career-best 197 in the WTA rankings, becoming the third Indian to do so. o Before Ankita, Sania and Nirupama Vaidyanathan have made it to the top- 200. • Archery World Cup: India shines o India has won bronze in the compound mixed team event at the Archery World Cup. o Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam combined to beat the Turkish team of Yesim Bostan and Demir Elmaagacli by a score of 154- 148. o This win is Verma's seventh overall World Cup medal and India's second bronze in compound archery at the World Cups since the start of 2017. • Jeremy won 2 medals at Weightlifting C'ship o India's Jeremy Lalrinnunga (56 kg) broke two national records to win the silver in Youth section and bronze medal in Junior section at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championship at Urgench, Uzbekistan. o Jeremy created national records in youth boys and junior men during his lift of 250 kg.

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o Sidhant Gogoi finished with bronze medal with a lift of 243 kg in Youth Boys section. • India to host Asian Weightlifting C'ships o Indian will host the prestigious Asian Weightlifting Championship in 2019. o The Championship was awarded to India at the Executive Board Meeting and Congress of the Asian Weightlifting Federation held on April 22 at Urgench, Uzbekistan. o The last edition of the Asian Championship was held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, from April 23-29. • Rivzi gets silver at ISSF World Cup o Shahzar Rizvi on 24th April clinched India's first medal at the ISSF World Cup, winning a silver in the 10m air pistol event. o Rizvi had won the gold medal in the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico in March. o Russia clinched the gold medal while the bronze went to Bulgaria. • Mohamed Salah crowned PFA Player of the Year o Liverpool and Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah was named Player of the Year by England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA). o Salah was rewarded for his performances which have yielded 41 goals in all competitions since joining from AS Roma last year. o Salah has become the first person in Premier League history to claim three Player of the Month awards in the same season. • India won 10 gold medals o India has won 10 gold medals at 8th South Asian Judo Championship in Lalitpur, Nepal. o Indian women grabbed all 7 gold while men won 3 out of total 7 gold medals in the individual category.

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o Besides host Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka had participated in the 3 day championship. • Rafael Nadal won the Monte Carlo Masters Title o World Number 1 Rafael Nadal defeated Japan's by 6-3, 6-2 in the Monte Carlo Masters final to win his 31st Masters title. o Nadal also became the first man in the Open era to win the same title 11 times. o It gave him a 76th title overall and ensured the Spaniard keeps his top ranking ahead of Roger Federer. o World No. 36 Nishikori was chasing his first ever Masters title. • Barcelona won fourth Copa del Rey in a row o Barcelona became the first team in 85 years to win four straight Copa del Rey titles after defeating Sevilla 5-0 in the final. o Luis Suarez scored twice, and Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, and Philippe Coutinho also made the scoresheet for Barcelona's record-extending 30th Copa triumph. o No other team had won four Copa titles in a row since Athletic Bilbao from 1930-33. • Mumbai to host Intercontinental Cup o Mumbai Football Arena, the new hub of Indian football, will play host to the inaugural edition of the 4 nation Intercontinental Cup. o The tournament will see Indian national team competing with South Africa, New Zealand & Chinese Taipei. o Intercontinental Cup comes on back of Tri-nation series in Sept 2017 which was also held at the same venue with India eventually emerging champions. • TTFI recommended Manika Batra for Arjuna Award

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o Table Tennis Federation of India has recommended Manika Batra, country's only quadruple medallist at 21st Commonwealth Games, for the prestigious Arjuna Award. o Batra created history in Gold Coast, single-handedly taking India to a maiden team gold before winning a singles gold, another first. o She also secured a women's doubles silver alongside & mixed doubles bronze with G Sathiyan • Bengaluru FC won Super Cup Football tournament o Bengaluru FC have won the inaugural edition of Super Cup Football tournament. o In the final at the in Bhubaneswar, they defeated Kolkata football giants East Bengal by a convincing margin of 4-1. o Bengaluru thus maintained their record of winning a trophy in each of the five seasons they have been in existence. • India to bid for 2026 Youth Olympics o Indian Olympic Association has decided to bid for 2026 Youth Olympics as well as the 2032 Summer Olympics. o The bidding process for 2026 Youth Olympics is likely to start in early part of 2020. o Besides India, has also expressed interest to host the 2026 Youth Olympics. o IOC chief Thomas Bach, who is on a 2 day visit to India, said India has the capability to host big Olympic events. • Bihar, NE states recommended for Ranji Trophy o -led technical committee of BCCI has unanimously recommended reinstatement of Bihar & inclusion of northeastern states in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy. o The northeastern states played BCCI U-19 tournaments last season as the Board wanted to gradually integrate them into the system. 44 | P a g e

o Ranji Trophy 2018-19 season is proposed to have 4 Groups with the introduction of pre-quarterfinals. • back in top-100 o Tennis star Yuki Bhambri broke back into the top-100 for the first time since February 2016. o As per the latest rankings, he jumped 22 places to a career-best rank of 83. o This follows his title-winning performance at the Taipei Challenger. This is the best rank an Indian has achieved in ATP singles chart since touched a career-high 62 in July 2011. • Satwik, Chirag bag silver medal in Badminton o Shuttler duo Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty settled for silver medal in men's doubles badminton finals in the 21st Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast. o India has now won a total of 66 medals, 26 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze medals. o Host Australia and England occupy the top two spots in the medal tally with 198 and 136 medals respectively. • Sumit claimed men's 125 kg gold o Indian wrestler Sumit Malik claimed gold in the men's freestyle 125 kg after his opponent 's Sinivie Boltic was ruled out of the final bout due to injury at CWG 2018. o The 25-year-old, claimed silver at Asian and Commonwealth Championships last year. o He defeated Pakistan's Tayab Raza by 10-4 and 's Jarvis Korey by 6-4 in his last two bouts. • Kaushik won silver at CWG 2018 o Manish Kaushik became the first Indian boxer to win silver medal in the men's lightweight category (60 kg) at the Commonwealth Games. 45 | P a g e

o The 22-year-old boxer from Haryana settled for silver after losing to Australia's Harry Garside at Gold Coast. o India has won two gold, two silver and three bronze medals in boxing at the CWG 2018 so far. • Vinesh Phogat won her 2nd straight CWG gold o Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat claimed the top position in the women's freestyle 50 kg Nordic System event to win her second successive gold at the Commonwealth Games. o The gold is India's fifth in wrestling and 23rd overall at the CWG 2018. o Earlier, Vinesh's cousin Babita Kumari had claimed silver in the women's freestyle 53 kg event. • Sakshi Malik won bronze at CWG 2018 o Rio Olympics bronze medalist Sakshi Malik won a bronze at the , beating New Zealand's Tayla Ford in the women's freestyle 62 kg event in Gold Coast. o This is Sakshi's second medal at the CWG, after winning a silver in the 2014 Games. o India has won 11 medals in wrestling, including five golds. • Saina Nehwal won second CWG gold o Shuttler Saina Nehwal defeated world number three PV Sindhu by 21-18, 23-21 in the first-ever all-Indian women's singles final at the Commonwealth Games. o With this, Nehwal claimed her second Commonwealth Games singles gold medal after having won it at the 2010 Delhi Games. o Nehwal is the only Indian female badminton player to win singles gold in Commonwealth Games history. • India won CWG men's TT doubles silver o Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran won India its second successive Commonwealth Games silver medal in the men's table tennis 46 | P a g e

doubles event after losing to England's Paul Drinkhall and Liam Pitchford at Gold Coast. o India's Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shankar Shetty won bronze in the same event. o India has won six medals in TT at CWG 2018 so far. • Somveer won bronze medal at CWG 2018 o Indian wrestler Somveer won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games after defeating Canada's Alexander Moore in the men's freestyle 86 kg event. o This is India's 12th medal in wrestling at the 2018 Games which includes five golds. o Meanwhile, Pakistan's Muhammad Inam won the gold medal. • India won CWG mixed doubles silver o India clinched the silver in the squash mixed doubles event for the first time in the history of Commonwealth Games. o and lost to Australia's Cameron Pilley and Donna Urquhart 0-2 in the final at Gold Coast. o This was the fifth time Australia won the event at the Commonwealth Games. • Boxer Satish Kumar bags silver at CWG o Boxer Satish Kumar clinched silver after losing to England's Frazer Clarke in the men's super heavyweight category (+91 kg) to take India's medal tally to 59 at CWG 2018. o The 28-year-old became the first Indian to win silver in the men's super heavyweight category at CWG. o Paramjeet Samota had won gold in the category in the 2010 Games. • Rajput clinches gold in shooting at CWG 2018

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o Shooter Sanjeev Rajput won the men's 50 m Rifle 3 Positions with a Games record to take India's gold tally in shooting at the 2018 Commonwealth Games to seven. o The gold was Rajput's third successive medal at the CWG, after having bagged silver and bronze in the 2014 and 2010 editions respectively. o India's Chain Singh stood fifth in the same event. • Vikas Krishan won gold in boxing o Vikas Krishan won gold by defeating Cameroon's Dieudonne Ntsengue in men's 75 kg final. o The Asian Games 2010 gold medallist joined Mary Kom (women's 45-48 kg) and Gaurav Solanki (men's 52 kg) to win boxing gold at Gold Coast. o This was the first CWG gold for India in middleweight boxing category. • Manika Batra won CWG TT singles gold o Manika Batra became the first-ever Indian woman to bag gold in the women's table tennis singles' event in Commonwealth Games history. o The 22-year-old paddler from Delhi defeated Singapore's Mengyu Yu in the final to bag her third medal at CWG 2018. o Manika had earlier won the women's team gold and women's doubles' silver at the Games.

• 1st ever all-Indian badminton CWG final o PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal won their respective semi-finals on Saturday to set up the first-ever all-Indian women's badminton singles' final at the Commonwealth Games. o CWG 2010 gold medalist Saina defeated 's 21-14, 18-21, 21-17 while CWG 2014 bronze medalist Sindhu beat Canada's in straight sets.

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o The women's singles final will take place on Sunday. • Neeraj Chopra won javelin throw gold at CWG o Neeraj Chopra became the first-ever Indian to win gold in javelin throw at the Commonwealth Games. o The 20-year-old junior world record holder hurled the javelin to a distance of 86.47m to bag India's 21st gold at the Commonwealth Games 2018. o The medal was India's first gold and overall third in athletics at CWG 2018. • Boxer Gaurav Solanki won CWG flyweight gold o Gaurav Solanki has become the second Indian male boxer after Suranjoy Singh (2010) to win gold in the flyweight category (52kg) at the Commonwealth Games. o Solanki achieved the feat after defeating Northern Ireland's Brendan Irvine in the final at Gold Coast. o The gold was India's 2nd in boxing and 20th overall at CWG 2018. • Wrestler Mausam won silver medal at CWG 2018 o Mausam Khatri bagged silver after losing to South Africa's Martin Erasmus in the men's freestyle 97kg final to give India its 39th medal at the Commonwealth Games 2018. o Mausam, a two-time Commonwealth Championship winner, was featuring in his maiden CWG. o India has now bagged three gold, three silver and two bronze medals in wrestling at CWG 2018. • Manika Batra-Mouma Das settle for silver o India registered their best-ever finish in the women's table tennis doubles event at Commonwealth Games by clinching silver in Gold Coast.

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o Manika Batra and Mouma Das lost to Singapore's Tianwei Feng and Mengyu Yu 0-3 as Singapore won their fifth successive CWG gold in the event. o India's previous best performance was a bronze-medal finish in the 2010 edition. • Amit Panghal won silver medal in boxing o Boxer Amit Panghal clinched silver in the men's 46-49kg event to take India's medal tally in boxing at the CWG 2018 to five. o The 22-year-old, making his debut at the CWG, is among six Indian boxers who made it to the final in their respective categories. o Earlier, Mary Kom clinched India's first boxing gold at CWG 2018. • Pooja Dhanda won silver at CWG 2018 o Wrestler Pooja Dhanda won silver in the women's freestyle 57 kg event in the Commonwealth Games on Friday, giving India its sixth medal. o India had earlier won two golds and a silver in shooting, another gold in wrestling and a bronze in boxing. o India is third in the overall standings with 37 medals, which includes 17 gold medals. • Naman won India's 1st boxing medal at CWG o Nineteen-year-old Naman Tanwar won India its first boxing medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, winning a bronze in the men's 91 kg category. o Naman lost out to Australia's Jason Whateley in the semifinal of the event to secure the bronze. o India has won a total of 35 medals, including 16 golds, 8 silver and 11 bronze medals. • Mary Kom won boxing gold at CWG

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o Five-time world champion and Olympic bronze medallist MC Mary Kom has become the first Indian woman boxer to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. o Mary Kom achieved the feat after defeating Northern Ireland's Kristina O'Hara in the 45-48kg category final at Gold Coast. o The 35-year-old boxer from Manipur is participating in her maiden Commonwealth Games. • Bajrang won his 1st CWG gold o Wrestler won his first Commonwealth Games gold medal, defeating ' Kane Charig by technical superiority in the men's freestyle 65 kg final in Gold Coast. o This is India's fifth medal in wrestling in this edition, with Rahul Aware and registering gold wins earlier. o Bajrang had won a silver medal at the . • Discus thrower won silver medal o India's Seema Punia bagged her fourth successive medal at the Commonwealth Games by winning silver in women's final with a throw of 60.41m in Gold Coast. o The 34-year-old has now won three silver medals (2006, 2014 and 2018) and one bronze (2010) at the Games. o Another Indian athlete Navjeet Dhillon won bronze in the same event. • Kiran won bronze medal at CWG o Indian wrestler Kiran bagged a bronze medal in the women's Freestyle 76 kg event after finishing off ' Katouskia Pariadhaven 10-0 in the first round itself at the Commonwealth Games. o Earlier in the day, Indian wrestlers had won two medals – one silver medal through Babita Phogat and a gold medal through Rahul Aware. • Sushil Kumar won his 3rd straight CWG gold 51 | P a g e

o Indian wrestler and Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar bagged his third straight Commonwealth Games gold medal after winning the men's Freestyle 74 kg event. o The 34-year-old wrestler won the final 10-0, having dominated all previous opponents with scorelines of 11-0, 10-0, and 4-0. o Sushil has a silver and a bronze in Olympics and was crowned world champion in 2010. • Rahul won India's 1st wrestling gold at CWG o Rahul Aware bagged India's first wrestling gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2018. o He beat Canada's Steven Takahashi in the final of men's Freestyle 57 kg event. o Before the final, the 26-year-old had claimed two dominating victories with the scorelines 11-0 and 10-0, while he defeated Pakistan's Muhammad Bilal 12-8 in the semi-final. • Anish became India's youngest gold medalist o Fifteen-year-old shooter Anish Bhanwala became India's youngest gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games, winning the men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Finals with a record score at Gold Coast. o India's Neeraj Kumar stood fifth at the event. o Anish, who is participating in his first Commonwealth Games, won gold at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney earlier this year. • Tejaswini won gold at CWG o Tejaswini Sawant won India its fifth shooting gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, winning the women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Finals in Gold Coast. o This was 37-year-old Tejaswini's second medal at the 2018 edition, after winning silver at the women's 50m Rifle Prone.

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o India's Anjum Moudgil won silver at the event, after having topped qualification. • Babita won silver medal at CWG o Babita Phogat won the silver medal in wrestling at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. o Babita claimed a silver in the 2010 edition before a gold in Glasgow. o Her medal opened India's account in the wrestling competition of the Games. • Kidambi Srikanth Becomes World No.1 o Indian badminton star Kidambi Srikanth became world No. 1 in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings. o Srikanth has moved to the top of the men’s singles rankings with 76895 points. o In 2017, he became the first Indian to win back-to-back Super Series titles. o In October 2017, Srikanth became the second Indian after Prakash Padukone to win the . • Silver medal for Tejaswini Sawant in shooting o Tejaswini Sawant has won silver medal in the finals of the women’s 50m rifle prone at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. o This is the sixth CWG medal for Tejaswini, following two golds in 2006 and a pair of silvers and a bronze in 2010. o Anjum Moudgil, the other Indian to reach the women’s 50m rifle prone finals, finished 16th. • Kohli and Mithali voted world’s best o Indian captains Virat Kohli and were named as the leading men’s and women’s cricketers in the world respectively by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

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o Kohli won his award for the 2nd year in a row after again starring in all formats. o Raj was acknowledged after a year in which she became the leading run- scorer in women’s One-Day Internationals during India’s run to the World Cup final. • Ankur Mittal grabs bronze medal in shooting o Shooter Ankur Mittal won a bronze medal in the men's double trap finals at the ongoing 21st Commonwealth Games. o Ankur won the silver medal in the World Championships in Moscow 2017 and he also won silver and gold medal in the ISSF World Cup. o India's tally at the Games has now increased to a total of 24, including 12 gold, four silver and eight bronze. • Shreyasi Singh won Double Trap Gold o Shooter Shreyasi Singh won the gold medal in women’s double trap event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. o The bronze medal went to Scotland. o She had won a Bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon in the double trap team event. o She won the silver medal in double trap event at the 2017 Commonwealth Shooting Championships. • Om Mitharval won bronze in 50m Pistol event o Om Prakash Mitharval won the bronze medal in the men's 50m pistol event at Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. o It was Mitharwal's second medal in the ongoing prestigious event. o Australia won the gold medal and the silver medal went to Bangladesh. o India is currently standing at the third spot with 22 medals, including eleven gold, four silver and seven bronze. • Sachin bags bronze in para power lifting

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o India's Sachin Chaudhary bagged a bronze medal in the Men's Heavyweight Para Powerlifting at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. o Nigeria got the gold medal and the silver medal was won by Malaysia. o India's medals tally currently stands at 11 gold, 4 silver and 6 bronze for a third position on the table. • 2018 Asia Cup moved out from India to UAE o The 2018 Asia Cup, that was earlier scheduled to be held in India, has now been moved out to the . o The decision was taken following a meeting of the executive board of the held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. o India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and the winner of Asia Cup qualifier will compete in the 50-overs format event. • Heena Sidhu won gold medal in 25m Pistol o Heena Sidhu won India’s 11th gold medal in pistol shooting at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. o Heena Sidhu has become the first Indian athlete to win two medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. o India has so far won 20 medals, including eleven gold, four silver and five bronze. • Indian men's table tennis team strike gold o The men's Table tennis team won the gold medal by beating Nigeria Table tennis team in Commonwealth Games 2018 at gold Coast. o India put themselves ahead with the help of Sharath Achanta's win over Bode Abiodun of Nigeria in the men's singles event. o This is India's ninth gold medal at the Games. o India is now standing at the 3rd spot on the points table with 18 medals in total. • India baged first-ever gold in badminton 55 | P a g e

o Indian mixed badminton team claimed the gold medal on day five of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. o India beat Malaysia on the back of strong shuttle play from , Satwik Rankireddy, Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal. o This is the country's first mixed team badminton gold at any edition of the Commonwealth Games. • Sebastian Vettel won Bahrain GP o Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel won Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix in his 200th race start. o It was Vettel's second win in as many races this season, the 49th of his career. o Lewis Hamilton got the 3rd position. • Mehuli Ghosh clinched silver in shooting o Indian shooters Mehuli Ghosh and Apurvi Chandela bagged silver and bronze respectively in the Women's 10m Air Rifle competition at Commonwealth Games 2018. o Singapore bagged the gold medal. o With this feat, India now stands third on the points table with 17 medals in total, including seven in shooting alone. • Weightlifter Pardeep claimed silver at CWG o Indian weightlifter Pardeep Singh won a silver medal in the sport at Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018. o Last year, Pardeep had claimed a surprise gold medal in his first senior competition in the 105kg category. o Pardeep's feat now takes India's medal count to 13 at the Games and 9th in weightlifting alone. • Shooters bag gold, bronze for India o Indian shooters and Om Prakash Mitharwal won gold and bronze medals respectively at Commonwealth Games 2018. 56 | P a g e

o In the men's 10m air pistol event at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018, Rai shot a total of 235.1 points, thus, registering a new Games record. o Mitharwal bagged the Bronze medal after shooting a total of 214.3 points. o India has won five medals so far in shooting alone. • India clinched gold medal in table tennis o Indian women tennis team staged a winning show at Gold Coast Commonwealth Games as they defeated defending champions Singapore 3-1 to claim gold. o India took the lead with the help of Manika Batra. o This is India's first ever gold at the multi-sport event. o It was only the second table tennis team gold for India at the Games with the men achieving the feat in the 2006 Melbourne edition. • India continues to shine in Commonwealth o India continued to bag gold medals in Commonwealth Games 2018, with weightlifter Punam Yadav and 16-year-old shooter Manu Bhaker winning a gold medal each. o Yadav bagged hers in women's 69kg weightlifting, while Bhaker's came in 10-metre air pistol event. o Shooter Heena Sidhu won the silver medal in the 10-m air pistol event at 21st Commonwealth Games being held in Gold Coast, Australia. • Bayern Munich won Bundesliga title o German giants Bayern Munich win sixth successive Bundesliga title after hitting Augsburg 4-1 at the Augsburg Arena. o The also means that Bayern is the German league champion for the 28th time in its history. o The result leaves Bayern 20 points clear with five league games left and underlined their absolute dominance of the Bundesliga. 57 | P a g e

• Ravi Kumar won a bronze medal o Indian shooter Ravi Kumar won the bronze medal in the men’s 10m air rifle event at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. o Ravi acquired the third spot with a score of 224.1 after 22 shots. o Australia’s Dane Sampson won the gold while Bangladesh’s Abdullah Hel Baki claimed silver. o India are now third in the Games' medal tally with 10 medals including 6 gold, 2 silver & 2 bronze • Most Capped Women's ODI Cricketer o Indian women's cricket team captain Mithali Raj has become the most capped player in women's One-Day International (ODI) cricket. o She achieved the feat (192 matches) during the first ODI against the England women at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. o Mithali surpassed England's Charlotte Edwards, who retired in September 2017 with 191 ODIs under her belt. • Paes becomes most successful doubles player o created a new world record by becoming the most successful doubles player in history after winning his 43rd such match. o Paes combined with Rohan Bopanna to create the new record. o He made his Davis Cup debut in 1990 alongside Zeeshan Ali. o Leander Paes and weaved the longest unbeaten winning streak of 24 matches. • Sathish Sivalingam won Gold medal at CWG 2018 o Weightlifter Sathish Sivalingam won the gold medal by winning the men's 77kg event at Commonwealth Games 2018. o In the previous Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Sathish had won gold. Hence he became the first ever male Indian weightlifter to win gold in two different editions of the Commonwealth Games.

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o In 2017, Sathish won gold at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships. • Weightlifter Deepak Lather got bronze medal o Indian weightlifter Deepak Lather won the bronze medal in the men's 69 kg category on the Day 2 of the Commonwealth Games. o Gareth Evans of Wales claimed gold medal while Sri Lanka's Indika won the silver medal. o India till now has four medals at the Gold Coast Games and all four have come from weightlifting. • India won Women Handball Championship o India defeated Bangladesh to win the fifth South East Asian Women Handball Championship at . o A total of five countries participated in the tournament. o While Nepal finished as runner-ups in the five-country tournament, Bangladesh settled for the third spot and a bronze medal. • Sanjita Chanu won gold medal at CWG 2018 o Weightlifter Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu won India its second gold medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games by outshining in the women's 53 kg category event. o She set a new record in the game by lifting a total of 192 kgs which includes 84 kgs in a snatch and 108 kgs in clean and jerk. o Papua New Guinea got the silver medal while Canada won the bronze medal. • Mirabai won gold in women’s weightlifting o Mirabai Chanu secured India’s first gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games when she finished first in the women’s 48 kg weightlifting event at Gold Coast.

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o Mirabai Chanu broke the Commonwealth Games’ weightlifting record by lifting 196 kg. o The previous Games’ record was 175 kg set by Augustine Nwaokolo of Nigeria in 2010. o This is her 2nd CWG medal following the silver she won in Glasgow. • Weight Lifter P.Gururaja won Silver medal o Weightlifter P Gururaja opened India's medal account on the first competition day of the 21st Commonwealth Games by winning the silver medal in Weightlifting. o In the 56 kilogram category, P Gururaja lifted a total weight of 249 kg to finish second in the event. o Malaysia took the Gold medal, while Sri Lanka got the Bronze medal. • Aussie boxer becomes first CWG 2018 medallist o Australian boxer Taylah Robertson has become the first medallist of the 21st Commonwealth Games without even stepping into the ring. o She got a bye straight into the 51-kilogram category women's semifinals scheduled for April 13. o The 19-year-old Taylah got the lucky Bronze medal due to the small size of her draw. • CWG 2018 inaugurated in Australia o The 21st edition of the Commonwealth Games commenced in Gold Coast, Australia. o The inaugural ceremony was held at the Carrara Stadium, Gold Coast. o For the first time, there will be the same number of men's and women's medal events at the Games. o The Indian contingent at the ceremony, which consists of over 200 athletes, was led by flag-bearer P V Sindhu, the Rio Olympic silver medallist. • India's Selena, Shreya clinched bronze in TT 60 | P a g e

o India's Selena Selvakumar and Shreya Shivakumar clinched two bronze medals at the 2018 Ivory Coast Junior and Cadet Open Table Tennis Tournament in Abidjan, Africa. o Selena settled for the bronze in the junior girls' singles. o Shreya teamed up with China's Yininghua Hu got a medal in the junior girls' doubles category of the event which is part of the International Table Tennis Federation. • won title o In Tennis, John Isner has lifted the Men's Singles trophy of the Miami Open. o John Isner defeated German's . o Following the win, 32-year old Isner, the world number 17, will now move back into the top 10 next week. • won o Kerala won its sixth Santosh Trophy title in Kolkata on 1st April. o Kerala had beaten Bengal in the tie-breaker to claim its sixth Santosh Trophy title. o The Santosh Trophy is an knock-out competition contested by the regional state associations and government institutions under the All India Football Federation. • Pathan joins J&K in player-cum-mentor role o Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association has appointed former India all- rounder Irfan Pathan as the coach-cum-mentor of its senior state side for 2018-19 season. o He will be the coach-cum-mentor of J&K team for a period of 1 year. o Pathan played 29 Tests, 120 ODIs & 24 T20 for India b/w 2003 & 2012. o He will also be holding coaching clinics in various parts of J&K for the development of the game. 61 | P a g e

• won Miami Open o US Open champion Sloane Stephens defeated Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 7- 6 (7-5) 6-1 to win her first Miami Open title. o Sloane Stephens has now won 6 WTA titles & has never lost in a final. o This win will move Stephens into world top 10 for the 1st time. o Stephens had beaten 3 former Grand Slam champs - Garbine Muguruza, , and to make the final.

May 2018

• Chennai Super Kings lift their 3rd IPL title o Chennai Super Kings lifted their third Indian Premier League title after defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in Mumbai. o Shane Watson's century helped Chennai to defeat Hyderabad. o Shane Watson was declared as Man of the Match. • Pant named Emerging Player of IPL 11 o Delhi Daredevils wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant was named Emerging Player of IPL 11. o Sunil Narine also picked up two awards -- Super Striker and Valuable Player. o Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson (735 runs) got the Orange Cap while Kings XI pacer Andrew Tye (24 wickets) got the Purple Cap. • Japan's women clinch o Japan's women clinched the Uber Cup, the Womens World Badminton Championship, defeating Thailand 3-0 in Bangkok. o It ends an Uber Cup drought for Japan that stretches back to 1981. o The Uber Cup is second in prestige only to the Olympics as a national team event.

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o As of the 2018, China is the most successful team, having won fourteen times. Japan is second, having won it six times. • Real Madrid won the 2017–18 Champions League o Real Madrid have claimed yet another Champions League title by beating Liverpool FC 3-1 in the final. o It is the third consecutive year that Real Madrid have won the tournament and the fourth such in five years, taking their total tally to a record 13 titles. o Madrid's Gareth Bale became the first player ever to come on as a substitute and score twice in a European Cup/Champions League final. • First national sports university in Manipur o The Union Cabinet has approved an ordinance to set up the country's first national sports university in Manipur. o The varsity will be spread over 325 acres in Imphal West district with a cost of Rs 524 crore. o The proposal to set up the national sports university in Manipur was initially announced by PM Modi, while Rs 100 crore funds for it were allocated in the 2014-15 budget. • World's most popular athlete o Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo was named the most popular athlete in the world as he topped the ESPN World Fame 100 list for a third straight year. o Three-time NBA champion Lebron James retained his second spot on the list, while Messi came third. o 11 Indian athletes including Virat Kohli, Saina Nehwal and Saina Mirza have made it to the list of ESPN World Fame 100 of 2018. • Elina Svitolina won 2018

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o Elina Svitolina defeated Simona Halep 6-0, 6-4 in the finals to successfully defend her Italian Open crown. o The win marked Elina Svitolina's 12th career title on what was her eighth final in succession. o Svitolina, the world number 4, has now successfully defended 3 career titles, in Baku, Dubai and also Rome. o She also won in Brisbane and Dubai this season to take her 2018 title total to 3. • 1st international football tournament in Iraq o Iraq will host a West Asia Football Federation championship in Basra in November 2018, the first international tournament to be staged in the country since the 1990s. o Iraq has not played competitive internationals on home turf since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. o In March 2018, FIFA decided to lift a 30-year-old ban from Iraq on hosting the international football. • Messi won European Golden Shoe o Barcelona striker Lionel Messi has won his 5th European Golden Shoe after his team defeated Real Sociedad in their final La Liga match of the season. o Messi won the award with 34 goals, for a total of 68 points during the 2017-18 season. o Messi is the only player to have won the European Golden Shoe 5 times. o 4-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo finished 9th after scoring 26 goals for Real Madrid. • Nadal won 8th Rome Masters 2018 o Rafael Nadal won the Rome Masters for the 8th time after he defeated the defending champion Alexander Zverev 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in the finals. o The win is Nadal's 78th ATP Tour title and takes him clear of John McEnroe into 4th place in the list of most men's titles won in the Open era. 64 | P a g e

o The victory means Nadal will reclaim the Number 1 ranking from Federer. • South Korea won Asian Champions Trophy 2018 o Defending champions Indian Women's Hockey Team lost to hosts South Korea 0-1 in the final match of the Women's Asian Champions Trophy 2018. o The win for South Korea saw them lift the title for the third time after having won in the 2010 and 2011 editions of the tournaments. o India's Vandana Katariya was declared the player of the tournament. • Simona Halep retained top spot in WTA rankings o Romanian tennis star Simona Halep has retained her numero-uno spot in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Rankings. o Halep maintains a lead of 425 points over second-placed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. o After the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, Simona Halep became the active player with the most consecutive weeks within the Top 10. o Halep started her 2018 season by winning the Shenzhen Open. • Para-National Games under Khelo India Scheme o The inaugural National Para Games, on the lines of National Games for able-bodied athletes, will be held under the Khelo India Scheme in June- July in Bengaluru. o The Paralympic Committee of India will be responsible for the technical conduct of the Games. o All the funding will be done by the Sports Ministry under the Khelo India Scheme. • Heena Sidhu clinched gold o Indian Shooter Heena Sidhu clinched the gold medal in the women's 10m air pistol at the International Shooting Competitions 2018 in Hannover, Germany. 65 | P a g e

o Heena was in a rollicking form in the final where she was tied with France's Mathilde Lamolle on 239.8 points. She won the tie to win the gold ahead of Mathilde. o The finish marks a strong build-up to next week's ISSF World Cup in Munich. • Lewis Hamilton wins Spanish Grand Prix o Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton has extended his lead at the summit of the Formula One championship after a crushing win at the Spanish Grand Prix. o Finland's Valtteri Bottas was second while the Dutch Max Verstappen stood third. o It was the first one-two of the season for Mercedes, which had been slower than Ferrari in the past few races. • Kvitova won third title o Petra Kvitova outlasted her Dutch opponent 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-3 in the finals to clinch the third Madrid Open title. o Kvitova, the victor in Spain in 2011 and 2015, becomes the first woman to win the tournament three times. o Kvitova has now claimed four titles in 2018 after triumphs in St Petersburg, Doha and Prague. • Indian judokas win 3 medals o Indian judokas won 3 medals on the opening day of Asian Cadet Judo Championships in Lebanon. o Rohini S Mohite from Maharashtra won a gold medal in the 40kg category while Tababi Devi Thanjam of Manipur emerged as a champion in the 44kg category. o India has sent a 40-member team for the 12th Asian Cadet Judo Championships. • Nadal breaks record 66 | P a g e

o Spanish world number one Rafael Nadal broke a 34-year-old record by winning his 50th straight set on clay, the most consecutive sets won by a player on a surface. o Nadal eased past Argentine 6-3 6-4 in the round of 16 of Madrid Open to storm into the quarter-final round and broke John McEnroe's long-standing record in Open Era. o Nadal is a Spanish professional tennis player. • Six CWG stars join TOPS o Six Commonwealth Games medallists from the , shooting and weightlifting disciplines were inducted into the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) o The objective of TOPS, launched by Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, is to identify & support the potential medal prospects for 2020 Olympic Games. o The selected athletes are provided financial assistance for their training. • Aditi finishes T-6th at the Texas Classic o Indian golfer Aditi Ashok has notched up her second successive top-10 finish by finishing Tied-sixth at the Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic. o This was Aditi's second top-10 in a row after her Tied-seventh at LPGA Mediheal last week. o Aditi is the youngest and first Indian to win the Lalla Aicha Tour School. • Narang-Ghatkar win silver medal in shooting o combined with Pooja Ghatkar to win the mixed team silver medal in the Grand Prix of Liberation international shooting competition in Pilsen, . o Earlier in the tournament, Mihika Poore bagged the women's air rifle gold.

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o Nivetha Paramanantham clinched the gold medal in the women's air pistol after topping the qualification. • Ramit Tandon wins Open squash title o India's Ramit Tandon has won the Abu Dhabi Open squash title. o Ramit toppled number one seed Omar Abdel Meguid of Egypt. o This is Ramit's third title on Professional Squash Association (PSA) tour. In world rankings, the Indian holds the 65th position, while the Egyptian is placed higher at the 41st spot. • India won 20 gold at junior athletics meet o India finished on top in the seven-nation competition with 20 gold, 22 silver and eight bronze medals at the 3rd South Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Colombo. o Host Sri Lanka bagged rest of the 12 gold medals in the competition along with 10 silver and 19 bronze. o The juniors will next represent India at the 18th Asian Junior Athletics Championships to be held in Gifu, Japan. • Neeraj breaks own National record o Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has broke his own national record by clearing a distance of 87.43m to finish 4th at the Diamond League series. o Chopra, who recently won a gold at Commonwealth Games was up against the likes of Olympic champion Thomas Rohler & World champion Johannes Vetter. o Chopra had set the earlier record of 86.48m when he won a gold medal in 2016 World Junior Championships. • ‘Star Khel Mahakumbh’ Launched At HP o BJP MP Anurag Thakur and cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar has launched 'Star Khel Mahakumbh' at Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh.

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o The initiative has been designed in a manner as to attract participation of at least one lakh youth from across 5000 villages and 800 panchayats. o The athletes will compete in volleyball, basketball, cricket, football, kabaddi and athletics. • Saina returns to top 10 o Commonwealth gold medalist Saina Nehwal climbed up to return into the top-10 of the Badminton World Federation women's singles rankings. o Commonwealth mixed team gold medalist Kidambi Srikanth climbed from fifth to the third spot, while HS Prannoy jumped to a career-best eighth spot. o Meanwhile, Rio Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu retained the third spot. • England jump up to number one in ODI rankings o England has replaced India at the top of International Cricket Council one- day rankings. o England, who last topped the ODI rankings in Jan 2013, has gained 8 points & moved to 125 points. o India with 122 points is at the 2nd position followed by South Africa & New Zealand. o England's rise up the table is because the forgettable 2014-15 season was dropped from the latest calculations. • Harendra Singh to coach men’s hockey team o Hockey India has appointed Harendra Singh as coach of India's men's team, while Sjoerd Marijne will take over as chief coach of women's side. o Harendra led the junior men’s hockey team to the World Cup title in 2016. o Before joining the Indian women’s team, Marijne had a successful tenure with the ’ women’s team. • Salah named writers' Footballer of the Year

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o Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has been named the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year. o The Egypt star - the first African winner of the award - also won the Professional Footballers' Association player of the year award in April. o Salah has scored 31 goals in 34 league appearances for Liverpool this season. • Rizvi claims No.1 spot pistol rankings o Indian shooter Shahzar Rizvi grabbed the number one spot in 10m air pistol rankings by ISSF. o He won the silver medal in the just-concluded World Cup in Changwon, Korea. o Rizvi had previously won a gold medal with a world record score at the World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico in March. o The other Indians in the top-10 are Jitu Rai and Om Prakash Mitharval who are at 6th & 12th spot.

June 2018

• Dutee Chand sets new national record in 100m o Dutee Chand broke her 100m national record at 58th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships at Guwahati. o The 22-year-old Dutee, representing Odisha, ran 11.29 sec in the semifinal race to better her national record of 11.30sec and later clinched the gold in 11.32sec. o She has already qualified the 2018 Asian games which will be held in Jakarta and . • Chaudhary sets world record at ISSF 2018

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o Indian shooter Saurabh Chaudhary set a new world record on the way to winning a gold medal in the ISSF Junior World Cup 2018 in Suhl, Germany. o Saurabh shot a total of 243.7 in the 10m air pistol event at International Shooting Sports Federation tournament. o The junior world record prior to this was 242.5 by Chinese shooter Wang Zhehao at the first ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney. • Lewis Hamilton won French Grand Prix 2018 o Lewis Hamilton reclaimed the world championship lead with a victory in the French Grand Prix 2018. o Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton MBE (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who races in Formula One for Mercedes AMG Petronas. o The Mercedes driver led from start to finish other than one lap around his pit stop to move 14 points ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who finished fifth. • Sejwal won gold at Singapore Championships o Indian swimmer Sandeep Sejwal put up an impressive performance to clinch the gold medal in men’s 50m breaststroke event at the Singapore National Swimming Championships in Singapore. o Sandeep broke the Singapore meet record with a timing of 27:59 sec to win the gold. He bettered his own time of 27.68 seconds in the semi-final by 0.09 sec. o The SCNS was organized between 20 to 23rd June 2018. • Mandeep Jangra won gold at Ulaanbaatar Cup o Mandeep Jangra has won the boxing gold at the Ulaanbaatar Cup 2018 in Mongolia. o The Indian contingent amassed a total of 9 medals - 1 gold, 4 silver, and 4 bronze medals. 71 | P a g e

o Himanshu Sharma and Sonia Lather won the silver medal in their respective events. o Mandeep Jangra earlier had won Commonwealth Games silver medal in 2014. • Borna Coric wins 2018 o Crotia's Borna Coric defeated Swiss tennis Roger Federer in the final of the Halle Open 2018. o Coric, 21, won 7-6 (8-6) 3-6 6-2 to end the Wimbledon champion - Roger Federer's run of 20 consecutive victories on grass. o With this Spainard, Rafael Nadal took over as World No. 1 o Coric became only the sixth player to defeat Federer in a final. • Deepika won gold at Salt Lake World Cup o Archer won her first individual gold medal in six years at the Salt Lake World Cup following a 7-3 win over Germany’s Michelle Kroppen in the recurve final. o The last time she won at a stage event on the international circuit goes back to Antalya in 2012. o She had won a gold medal in the in the women's individual recurve event. • Amit wins gold at World Para Athletics o India's Amit Kumar Saroha has clinched the gold medal in the men's club throw F51 event at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Tunisia. o The wheelchair-bound Indian athlete produced the season's best performance of 29.42m to bag the gold. o Amit Saroha is an medalist and an Arjuna Awardee, competing in the F51 category in Discus throw and Club throw. • England women make highest T20 total o England made the highest total of 250-3 in women's Twenty20 internationals as they beat South Africa by 121 runs. 72 | P a g e

o They overtook the previous record set by New Zealand of 216-1 against South Africa a day before. o Tammy Beaumont hit 116 off 52 balls and made the second fastest century off 47 balls. • England set a new ODI world record with 481/6 o England made the highest one-day international total of 481-6 as they defeated Australia by 242 runs at Trent Bridge. The England broke their own record of 444-3 set against Pakistan in 2016 at same venue. o With this the England captain, Eoin Morgan became the highest ODI run scorer for his country. o This is England's biggest ODI win and Australia's heaviest defeat in terms of runs. • Brooks Koepka wins US open 2018 o Brooks Koepka wins US Open 2018 by defeating Tommy Fleetwood at Shinnecock Hills becoming first player in 3 decades to successfully defend his title. o Earlier the record was in name of Curtis Strange who won back to back titles in 1988 and 1989. o The victory comes less than 2 months after Koepka returned from left wrist injury that kept him out of action since Jan 2018. • Roger Federer wins Mercedes Cup o Roger Federer wins Mercedes Cup 2018 in Stuttgart by beating of Canada. o He had already secured number one in the world ranking by defeating in the semi- final and this is his 98th tour title. o He will be competing at Halle Open in June 2018 • Chess player withdraws from competition

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o Indian Soumya Swaminathan has withdrawn from the Asian Team Chess Championship to be held in Hamadan, due to its hijab policy. o According to country's hijab policy, women are required to cover their head in public places, including at a sporting event. o Previously, Indian pistol shooter Heena Sidhu had boycotted sporting championships due to the hijab law. • 2018 FIFA World Cup o The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Russia on June 14. o Thirty-two teams from around the world will compete in the month-long tournament that concludes on July 15. o Qatar will be the next host nation in 2022, a highly contested choice. o This year's World Cup mascot is a soccer-playing wolf named Zabivaka. • India bagged 3 Medals At Boxing Tournament o Indian boxers bagged one Gold and two Silver medals at the Umakhanov Memorial Tournament in the Russian city of Kaspiysk. o Saweety Boora won the coveted yellow metal in the Women’s 75 kg category after beating Anna Anfinogenova (Russia) in the Final. o In the Men’s section, Brijesh Yadav in the 81 kg division and Virender Kumar in 91 kgs lost their Final bouts to settle for Silver medals. • Murali became 2nd fastest Indian in 10,000 m o Young long-distance runner Gavit Murali Kumar bagged a gold in men's 10,000 m race at the Gouden Spike meeting in Leiden, Netherlands. o He became the second fastest Indian in this event. o The 21-year-old Kumar, a bright talent from Gujarat, clocked a personal best of 28 minutes 43.34 seconds, the best by an Indian in the ongoing season. • Simran-Ritika win Mauritius Open

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o India’s young women’s doubles pair of Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker won the title. o This was just the second international tournament that Singhi and Thaker had participated in this year. o Singhi and Thaker had won the All India Junior Ranking Tournament in Tirupur, which secured them a spot in India’s squad for the Badminton Asia Junior Championships. • India win 2018 Intercontinental Cup o The Indian national team lifted the 2018 Intercontinental football Cup by defeating Kenya 2-0. o Both the goals were scored by India skipper Sunil Chhetri. o Organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), the quadrangular tournament also featured New Zealand and Chinese Taipei. • Nadal won 11th title in 14 yrs o World number one Rafael Nadal defeated world number eight in the men's singles final to clinch his record-extending 11th French Open title in 14 years. o With this, Nadal equalled former world number one female player 's record of winning a single Grand Slam singles title 11 times. o Overall, it was Nadal's 17th Grand Slam title. • Anu Kumar wins men's 800m at o Middle distance runner Anu Kumar claimed a gold in the men's 800m and Arpandeep Kaur Bajwa grabbed a bronze in the women's discus throw at the Junior Asian Athletics Championships. o Indian athletes have already won three gold medals, one silver and nine bronze medals at the event.

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o India won their third gold of the competition through Uttarakhand based runner Anu. • New Zealand women make record ODI score o New Zealand women's cricket team posted the highest ever total in One- day cricket by scoring an incredible 490 for four against Ireland in the first match in Dublin. o The total posted by the women's team is the highest ever in ODIs including men's matches. o In men's cricket, the highest total in ODI is 444 for three, made by England against Pakistan in August 2016 at Nottingham. • Simona Halep beats Sloane Stephens o World number one Simona Halep has claimed her maiden grand slam title winning the French Open. o She is the second Romanian woman to win a Grand Slam title, after Virginia Ruzici's victory at Roland Garros in 1978. o Halep won the Roland Garros girls' singles in 2008 and is only the sixth player to do so, then win the women's title. • Jakhar claimed hammer gold o India won four medals a gold, a silver and two bronze on the first day of the four-day event in Gifu, Japan at the 2018 Asian Junior Athletics Championships. o Ashish Jakhar set a new national record en route to winning a gold medal in the men's hammer throw event. o Jakhar, a former gold medalist at the 2016 Asian Junior Championships, threw the 6kg iron ball and chain to a distance of 76.86m. • Mithali becomes 1st to score 2000 runs in T20 o Star batswoman Mithali Raj became the first Indian cricketer to amass 2000 runs in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I).

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o Mithali is the seventh woman to reach 2,000-runs, a list which is being headed by Charlotte Edwards, followed by Stafanie Taylor and Suzie Bates. o India men's team captain Virat Kohli is the next Indian on the list, followed by and Suresh Raina. • ICC added 4 teams to the ODI Team Rankings o Netherlands, Nepal, UAE and Scotland have been added by ICC to the list of ODI-Test playing nations, expanding the teams from 12 to 16. o Netherlands secured its ODI status by winning the ICC World Cricket League Championship last year. o Whereas, UAE, Nepal and Scotland earned it in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018, by finishing as the three leading Associates. • FIFA lifts suspension on o FIFA lifted a suspension imposed on Guatemala over its failure to comply with anti-corruption rules. o The suspension prevented Guatemalan teams from participating in international competitions such as the Gold Cup, the Central American Games and the CONCACAF Champions League. o FIFA imposed ban on Guatemala in October 2016.

July 2018

• Smriti equals fastest T20 half-century o India’s batswoman Smriti Mandhana equalled the record for the fastest half-century in women’s T20 cricket during a Kia Super League. o Mandhana equalled New Zealand’s Sophie Devine’s record of a half- century off 18 balls, set against India during a T20 International in 2015. o Mandhana also smashed the tournament record for the fastest fifty.

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• Britain's Thomas wins maiden Tour de France o Britain's Geraint Thomas has won his maiden 2018 Tour de France. o Thomas beat Tom Dumoulin of Team Sunweb by one minute and 51 seconds. o Geraint Thomas became the third Briton to win the Tour de France when he crossed the finish line in Paris. o The Tour de France is an annual men's multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in France. • Neeraj Chopra won gold in Javelin o Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra won a gold in the Savo Games in Finland, beating his Chinese Taipei rival Chao-Tsun Cheng. o Neeraj threw 85.69m in the event held at Lapinlahti, Finland, where he is undergoing training as part of preparations for the Asian Games. o Cheng managed 82.52m to take the second place. • won o Sourabh Verma lifted the 2018 Russian Open Badminton trophy at Vladivostok on o In the title clash, Sourabh beat Japan's Koki Watanabe and won his first title of the season. o Sourabh Verma had recently won the All India senior ranking tournament in to qualify for the Asian Games squad. • Bajrang Punia, Pinki win gold in wrestling o In Wrestling, Bajrang Punia has won his second consecutive international gold while Sandeep Tomar won silver medal at the Yasar Dogu International in Istanbul, Turkey. o Indian wrestlers returned with 10 medals, including seven by women, from the ranking event. o In the women's competition, Pinki was the lone gold medallist in the 55kg category. 78 | P a g e

• Sourabh lifts Russian Open Badminton trophy o Ace Indian shuttler Sourabh Verma lifted the Russian Open Badminton trophy at Vladivostok. o In the title clash, Sourabh came back from a game behind to beat Japan's Koki Watanabe, 18-21, 21-12, 21-17, and win his first title of the season. o He had clinched the Chinese Taipei Grand Pri Gold and finished runners- up at the Bitburger Open in 2016. • India secures top position in archery o The Indian women's compound archery team has been ranked as the No. 1 team in the latest world rankings. o The team, which comprises of V. Jyothi Surekha, Trisha Deb, P. Lily Chanu, Muskan Kirar, Divya Dhayal, and Madhumita, reached the top spot with 342.6 points. o World Archery Association also announced the rank in compound mixed team and India bagged fifth rank in world rankings. • Floyd Pinto is Indian Arrow head coach o All India Football Federation (AIFF) appointed Floyd Pinto as the head coach of the Delhi-based Indian Arrow football club. o The decision was taken unanimously at AIFF's technical committee meeting, headed by the chairman of the committee, Shyam Thapa. o The committee confirmed that the deputy coach of the Indian Arrow will be appointed later. • Pawan smashes second highest individual score o Pawan Shah created history as the Indian U-19 cricket team player slammed the second highest individual score in Youth Tests against Sri Lanka.

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o The record of scoring highest individual runs currently belongs to Australia’s Clinton Peake who scored an unbeaten 304 against India in March 1995. o Pawan Shah also became the second Indian batsman to score a double century in Youth Tests. • Virat receives Int Player of the Year award o Virat Kohli received the International Player of the Year award for 2017- 2018 from England’s Barmy Army. o Barmy Army is a popular fan club of English cricket supporters. o In 2018, Kohli has played a total of 19 matches across formats and has scored 1181 runs with an average of 65.61. He has scored four hundred and four half-centuries. • Pavard won World Cup goal of the tournament o France's Benjamin Pavard has won the 2018 World Cup goal of the tournament award for his stunning strike against Argentina. o France defender Pavard's spinning right-foot shot against Argentina in the round of 16 came top out of 18 candidates for the award. o Luka Modric's long-range goal for Croatia against Argentina was voted into third place. • Dhanvir Singh wins gold in shotput o Indian shot-putter Dhanvir Singh bagged a gold medal in the ongoing 15th National Youth Athletics Championship. o While Adish Ghildiyal of Uttarakhand won the silver medal with a throw of 18.23 metre. o Meanwhile, Dhanvir Singh and the winner of Women's 100-metre hurdle race, Aparna Roy, were declared the 'Best Athletes' of the National Youth Athletics Championship. • Manu-Sumeeth Retain title

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o The senior national badminton champions and Sumeeth Reddy won the men's doubles title at Lagos International Badminton. o The defending champions retained the title after thrashing their Indian counterpart S. Vaibhav and Prakash Raj 21-12, 22-12 in the final match. o In women's singles, Sree Krishina Priya had to settle for a silver medal. • India bags 8 medals at Jr Asian Ch'ship o India won 8 medals in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship. o The medals comprised 2 gold, 3 silver and as many bronze. Sachin Rathi won the gold after winning the bout in the 74 kilogram category. o Deepak Punia then won the gold in the 86 kilogram category. o Suraj Rajkumar Kokate won a bronze in the 61 kilogram category while Mohit won bronze in the 125 kilogram category. • Johnson captures at Newport o In tennis, beat first-time ATP finalist Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan 7-5 3-6 6-2 at the Hall of Fame Open in Newport for his fourth career title and second of 2018. o Now, Johnson, who reached as high as No. 21 in the world in 2016, will be ranked 34th. • Sen clinches Asia Junior C'ship title o Indian badminton player Lakshaya Sen bagged the gold medal after defeating world no. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsaran in the final match of the Badminton Asia Junior Championship held in Jakarata. o The Indian shuttler created history by beating the top-seed 21-19 and 21- 18, thus clinching the championship. o He was previously the runners-up in Tata Open India International, 2017. • Mohd Anas breaks own national record in 400m o Indian sprinter broke his own national record to win the 400 metres race at the Cena Noveho Mesta meet in Czech Republic. 81 | P a g e

o Anas set a time of 45.24 seconds to break his own record of 45.31 seconds which he had set during the Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast. o He is the third Indian track athlete to qualify for the event at the Olympics, after & K. M. Binu. • Mascots for Olympics & Paralympics unveiled o Japan has unveiled the names of its mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. o The mascot for Olympics is "MIraitowa" which means 'eternal future'. o The mascot for Paralympics is "Someity" which means 'so mighty'. o The Tokyo Olympics are set to begin on July 24, 2020, and run through until August 9. o The Paralympics will take place between August 25 and September 6 2020. • Mansi settles for silver at Junior Wrestling o India won two medals with Mansi claiming silver and Swati winning bronze in their respective weight categories in women’s freestyle in the Junior Asian Wrestling Championships, 2018. o In the 57 kilogram category, Mansi had to settle for a Silver after she lost to Japan's Akie Hanai in the Final. o The overall trophy went to Japan, who finished with seven gold medals. • Alisson is world's most expensive goalie o Brazil goalkeeper Alisson Becker became the world’s most expensive goalkeeper when he joined Liverpool from Roma. o Roma said the deal for Brazil’s starting goalkeeper at the World Cup in Russia “could be worth up to 72.5 million euros” ($84.5 million). o He has been at Roma for two years, playing 37 Serie A games in 2017-18. o Alisson became Brazil’s starting goalkeeper in 2016. • IOC adds 7 medal events to 2022 Winter Games

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o The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has added seven medal events to the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. o The next Winter Olympics will now include: women’s monobob, Big Air freestyle skiing for men and women, plus mixed team events in short track speed skating, ski jumping, ski aerials and snowboardcross. o Women’s ice hockey will grow by two teams to become a 10-nation lineup. • Chopra wins Gold at Sotteville Athletics Meet o Neeraj Chopra, India's javelin star, struck Gold in the Meeting International de Sotteville-les-Rouen in France. o Chopra's throw of 85.17m was enough to clinch the top spot on the podium. o The winning distance from Chopra was, however, less than the 86.47m he achieved for gold at Gold Coast CWG. o Neeraj is a part of India's squad for the Asian Games 2018. • Marc Marquez Wins German Grand Prix o Marc Marquez cruised to his ninth consecutive German Grand Prix win to extend his MotoGP lead at Sachsenring. o The Marc Marquez has won in the top category for the last six years and before that won three times in the smaller classes. o Rossi finished second and Maverick Vinales coming third. • Vinesh grabs gold at Grand Prix of Spain o Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat grabbed a gold at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid. o Vinesh won the gold medal in the women’s freestyle 50kg category. o Vinesh outclassed Canada's Natasha Fox in the final to claim her second consecutive gold. o She had won a gold at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in the 50kg category. 83 | P a g e

• wins Thailand Open 2018 o Nozomi Okuhara of Japan wins Thailand Open 2018 which was held in Bangkok. o She defeated PV Sindhu 21-15, 21-18 in 50 minutes match. By virtue of this win, Okuhara has taken a 6-5 head-to-head win-loss record over Sindhu. o The last time the duo met at the All England Championships earlier this year, it was Sindhu who prevailed over the Okuhara. • Awards at FIFA World Cup 2018 o Croatia captain Luka Modric has won the FIFA Golden Ball for the best player at the World Cup 2018. o England national football captain Harry Kane was awarded the Golden Boot for scoring most goals (6) in FIFA World Cup 2018. o Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois won the Golden Glove as the best goalkeeper of FIFA World Cup 2018. • France brings FIFA world cup o France lifted the FIFA World Cup 2018 for the second time by defeating Croatia with a 4-2 victory. o Didier Deschamps, the captain of the 1998 French side, became the third man to win the World Cup as player and coach after Brazil’s Mario Zagallo and Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer. o Belgium won the 2nd runners-up position defeating England. • Brij Bhushan to be Chef de Mission o Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Saran Singh is set to be named the Chef de Mission of the Asian Games-bound Indian contingent. o The four deputy Chefs de Mission are set to be be appointed. o The IOA has announced a 524-member contingent of athletes for the August 18-September 2 Asian Games in Indonesia. • Djokovic clinches fourth Wimbledon title 84 | P a g e

o defeated South Africa's Kevin Anderson to clinch his fourth Wimbledon title. o This is Djokovic's first Grand Slam victory in more than two years. o With 13 major titles, Djokovic now stands in fourth place in the all-time Grand Slam singles final list, behind Roger Federer (20), Rafael Nadal (17) and (14). • Mike & Jack win 2018 Wimbledon men's double o teamed with US compatriot to beat of South Africa and New Zealand's in the final of Wimbledon 2018. o Bryan is the oldest man in the Open Era to win the Wimbledon title and it is his 17th Grand Slam title. o Bryan had also won the doubles title in 2006, 2011 and 2013 alongside brother Bob. • Angelique Kerber wins Wimbledon 2018 o Angelique Kerber became the first German woman to win Wimbledon in 22 years since after she defeated in the finals. o Kerber is just the second player to beat Serena in multiple Major finals after . o It was Kerber’s third title at the majors to add to her Australian Open and US Open triumphs in 2016. • Elevanil wins gold in junior shooting meet o Young Indian shooter Elavenil Valarivan claimed the women's air rifle gold medal in the 28th Meeting of Shooting Hopes junior international championship in Plzen, Czech Republic. o She shot 250.8 in the final to get the better of 's Nicole Gabrielli (249.7). She had also topped the qualification with 628.0. o Aleksandra Szutko of Poland won the bronze with 228.2. 85 | P a g e

• Hima Das scripts history, wins gold in 400m o Hima Das has scripted history by becoming the 1st Indian woman to win a gold at the IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championships. o Das clocked 51.46 secs in the 400m final to clinch the gold medal. o She is also the first Indian track athlete to have won a medal in the history of this competition. o Das now joins Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who won a gold in Poland in the last edition in 2016. • Olympic torch relay to start in Fukushima o Organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics say the torch relay will start in Fukushima, an area hit by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. o The relay will start on March 26, 2020 in Fukushima and will head southward to Okinawa before making its way north again and arriving in Tokyo on July 10. o The route was approved by the organizing committee. • India bag four medals at Asian Archery o India has bagged four medals in the Asia Cup World Archery Ranking Tournament Stage 3 in Taipei. o The feat comprised 3 silver medals and a bronze. India finished joint third with Iran in the championship. o India ended their campaign behind toppers Korea and hosts Chinese Taipei. • PR Sreejesh to lead Indian hockey team o Goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh will lead the 18-member Indian Men's Hockey Team at the 18th Asian Games, slated to be held in Jakarta and Palembang from August 18. o Midfielder Chinglensana Singh Kangujam has been named the Vice Captain for the tournament. 86 | P a g e

o Indian forward Akashdeep Singh has returned to the Indian squad. • Dhoni played 500 international matches o The Indian team's senior-most player Mahendra Singh Dhoni reached the coveted milestone of playing 500 international matches during the second T20 International against England. o In doing so, Dhoni became the third Indian after Sachin Tendulkar (664) and Rahul Dravid (509) to breach the 500 match barrier in international cricket. o He has played 90 Test matches and 318 One Day Internationals. • Dalabehera bags bronze in World Weightlifting o Indian lifter Jhilli Dalabehera has bagged the bronze medal in the 2018 IWF Junior World Weightlifting Championships at Tashkent. o She lifted 167 kg in the 48 kg category to finish third on the podium. o According to Indian Weightlifting Federation Secretary General Sahdev Yadav, Jhilli is the 2nd woman lifter after in 2013 to win a medal in the Junior World Championships. • clinches gold medal o India's premier gymnast Dipa Karmakar clinched a gold medal in the vault event of FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup at Mersin in Turkey. o Karmakar who had finished fourth in the vault event at the 2016 Rio Olympics, scored 14.150 to win gold. o This is Dipa's first medal in a World Challenge Cup. She had topped the qualification also with a score of 13.400. • Anju Khosla completed Ironman Triathlon o Anju Khosla, aged 52 became the oldest Indian woman to complete an Ironman Triathlon, which is one of the toughest one-day sporting events.

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o She completed the event in Carinthia, Austria in 15 hours, 54 minutes and 54 seconds. o The event comprised 3.86 km of swimming leg, 180.25 km bike leg, and a 42.2km marathon to be completed without any break. • Sports Authority of India’s name changed o Union Ministers of Youth Affairs and Sports Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore announced that Sports Authority of India (SAI), will now be known as 'Sports India'. o SAI is a successor organization of the IXth Asian Games held in New Delhi in 1982. o It aims at the joint preparation of long term sports-specific development plans by National Sports governing bodies and federations of India (NSFs). • Australia wins Champions Trophy 2018 o World Champions Australia defeated India 3-1 via shoot-off after both teams were locked at 1-1 in regulation time to clinch its 2nd consecutive Champions Trophy hockey title. o It was the 37th and final edition of the tournament with Australia winning 15th Champions Trophy title. It was being held at Breda. o India won their consecutive silver medal while the Netherlands won the bronze medal. • wins 12th Malaysia Open title o Malaysian Lee Chong Wei beat Japanese shuttler 21-17, 23-21 to grab the Malaysia Open title for a historic 12th time. o In the women's singles final, top seed Tai Tzu Ying from Taiwan saw off China's . o Indian campaign had ended with the defeat of PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth in their semi-finals. o Lee Chong Wei is currently world number 6. 88 | P a g e

• India clinch Kabaddi Masters title o Putting up yet another superlative show, India thrashed Iran 44-26 to emerge champions of the six-nation Kabaddi Masters Dubai. o India is the reigning world champions and has won gold medals in all the Asian Games to date, and all World Cup events so far. o The six-nation invitational tournament was organised by International Kabaddi Federation.

August 2018

• India won 4x400m women’s relay team gold o The Indian women's relay quartet of Hima Das, M. Poovamma, Saritaben Gayakwad and V. Vismaya won a gold medal in the women's 4x400 relay at the Asian Games 2018. o Bahrain won the silver medal while won the bronze medal. o This was India's fifth gold medal in a row in the women's 4x400m relay. • Jinson Johnson won gold in men’s 1500m event o India’s Jinson Johnson won gold medal in the men’s 1500m event in the Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta on 30th August, 2018. o Jinson Johnson earlier won a silver medal in the 800m event. o Johnson became the first Indian in 56 years to win this event at the Asian Games, following Mohinder Singh's gold at the 1962 Games. • Swapna won first Asiad gold in Heptathlon o Swapna Barman created history by becoming the first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold medal. o The 21-year-old Barman logged 6026 points from the seven events competed for two days in women's heptathlon.

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o China’s Qingling Wang (5954) won the silver and Japan’s Yuki Yamasaki won the bronze medal with 5873 points. • Dutee Chand won silver in women’s 200m o India's Dutee Chand won the Silver medal in the women's 200m event at the 18th Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta. o She crossed the finishing line in 23.20s behind Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong who clinched the gold in 22.96s and the bronze went to China’s Wei Yongli (23.27s). o She won two medals at the Asian Games as she won silver earlier in the women’s 100m. • Arpinder Singh clinches gold o Arpinder Singh clinched India’s first men’s triple jump gold in 48 years, with a jump of 16.77m in the Asian Games. o India’s last Asian Games gold medal in men’s triple jump had come in 1970 from Mohinder Singh Gill. o Ruslan Kurbanov of Uzbekistan took the silver with a best jump of 16.62m, while Shuo Cao of China was third with an effort of 16.56m. • N Korea to host Asian Youth Championships o The 2019 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships will be held in the North Korean capital Pyongyang. o At the Asian Games weightlifting in Jakarta, which North Korea has dominated winning seven golds. o The Asian Weightlifting Federation and North Korea's Sports Minister Kim Il Guk signed an agreement for North Korea to hold the championships from October 27, 2019. • Historic bronze in men's TT at Asiad o The Indian table tennis men's team won a historic bronze medal after losing against South Korea in Asian Games 2018. o This is the first first-ever bronze medal in Table Tennis at Asian Games. 90 | P a g e

o The team comprising G Sathiyan, Achanta Sharath Kamal and A Amalraj fight against the lopsided Koreans and lose the game by 0-3. • India won silver and bronze in Kurash o India bagged two medals at Asian games 2018 in Kurash, a form of wrestling indigenous to Central Asia. o Pincky Balhara and Malaprabha Yallappa Jadhav won silver and bronze respectively in debut of Kurash at Asian Games 2018. o The 19 year old Pincky lost 0-10 to favourite Gulnor Sulaymova of Uzbekistan in the gold medal clash. • Manjit Singh won gold in men’s 800 m o Manjit Singh clinched gold in men’s 800 m track and field event at Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta. o This is Manjit’s first major international medal, he completed the 800 m race in 1 min and 46.15 seconds. o In the event Jinson Johnson of India and Abubaker Abdalla of Qatar won Silver and Bronze respectively. • Sindhu won silver in badminton at Asian Games o PV Sindhu won silver medal in badminton at the Asian Games 2018. o PV Sindhu was defeated by Taiwan's Tai Tzu Ying. o It was for the first time that an Indian had ever reached the finals of a badminton singles event at the Asian Games. o It is the first time that India has won two individual medals at the Asian Games with Saina Nehwal clinching a bronze earlier. • Women's compound archery team won silver medal o Indian women's team won silver medal in the compound archery team event at the 2018 Asian Games. o The Indian team comprised Muskan Kirar, Madhumita Kumari and Jyothi Surekha Vennam. 91 | P a g e

o The Indian team was defeated by South Korea in the finals at the 18th Asian Games. • Dharun won silver medal in 400m hurdles o Dharun Ayyasamy broke the national record in the men's 400 metres hurdles to claim the silver medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta. o It is India’s first medal in the hurdles event since Joseph Abraham won a gold in Asian Games 2010. o Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba won the gold medal at the Asian Games 2018. • won silver in women’s steeplechase o Sudha Singh clinched the silver in women’s 3000m steeplechase event in the Asian Games in Jakarta. o Bahrain won the gold medal, while Vietnam won the bronze medal. o Sudha won a gold medal when women’s 3000m steeplechase was introduced in the Asian Games in 2010. • Neena Varakil wins silver in women’s long jump o Neena Varakil won a silver medal in the women's long jump event at the ongoing Asian Games in Indonesia. o Vietnam won the gold medal and the bronze medal was won by China. o Varakil’s best jump of 6.51m came in the fourth attempt, which was enough to fetch her the silver. • Neeraj won gold medal in javelin throw o Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian javelin thrower to win an Asian Games gold medal. o Neeraj Chopra's gold is India's only second medal in javelin throw in Asian Games history after Gurtej Singh won a bronze in 1982 in New Delhi. o He won a gold in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018. • Saina Nehwal won bronze in Badminton

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o Saina Nehwal won a bronze medal in the women’s singles semifinals of the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta on 27th August 2018. o She was defeated by Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei. o Last time an Indian, who won a singles medal in men’s singles was Syed Modi in the 1982 Asian Games. • Tajinder Pal Singh won gold in shotput o Tajinderpal Singh Toor won the men's gold medal at the Asian Games 2018. o He threw the iron ball to 20.75m to win the gold and set a national record as well. o China's Liu Yang won the silver medal while Ivan Ivanov of Kazakhstan won the bronze medal. • Muhammad Anas won silver medal o Muhammad Anas won a silver medal in the men’s 400m race in Asian Games 2018. o The gold medal was won by Qatar. o India’s who was also in the final finished fourth. o It was also the first time since 1982 that India won a medal in the men’s and women’s 400 metres since 1982. • Fouaad won equestrian silver at Asian Games o Fouaad Mirza became the first Indian to win an individual medal in the equestrian event at the Asian Games in Jakarta on 26th August 2018. o He won the silver medal in the Eventing competition, while Japan won the gold medal. o The last individual medal in Eventing competition, however, came in 1982. • Dutee Chand won Silver medal in 100m race o Dutee Chand won silver medal in women's 100m on 26th August, 2018 at the Asian Games in Indonesia. 93 | P a g e

o It was India's first medal in 20 years in this event. o India's last medal in this event was the bronze won by Rachita Mistry in 1998 Asian Games. o Bahrain won the gold medal while China took the bronze medal. • Joshna won bronze medal medal in squash o bagged bronze medal in squash women's singles at the Asian Games 2018 after losing her semi-final tie. o She was defeated by Malaysia's . o It is the first individual medal for Joshna at the Asian Games. o Joshna secured a medal despite losing her match as both the losing semi- finalists in squash get the bronze medal without any bronze medal play- off. • Dipika won bronze in women’s squash o India’s squash player Dipika Pallikal won a bronze medal at the Asian Games on August 25, 2018. o She was defeated by Malaysia’s Nicole David. o Dipika had won a bronze at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon. o This was her second medal at the Asian Games. • Heena Sidhu won bronze medal o Heena Sidhu won a bronze medal in women's 10m Air Pistol final of the Asian Games 2018 on 24th August 2018. o Wang Qian of China won the gold medal while South Korea's Kim Minjung got the silver medal. o Heena had won the gold medal in shooting at Common Wealth Games 2018 in Austrailia. • Prajnesh won bronze medal in tennis o Prajnesh Gunneswaran won a bronze medal in men's singles tennis event at Asian Games 2018. o Prajnesh Gunneswaran was defeated by Uzbekistan's . 94 | P a g e

o Prajnesh became sixth Indian to win a men's singles medal at the Asian Games. • Indian women's kabaddi team won silver medal o Indian women's kabaddi team won a silver medal at the Asian Games 2018. o Indian team was defeated by Iran in the final match. o Thailand and Chinese Taipei bagged a bronze medal each in the kabaddi women's team event. o Indian women's kabaddi team won the gold medal at the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games each. • Jhulan Goswami retires from Twenty20 Int o Jhulan Goswami has announced her retirement from Twenty20 Internationals (T20I). o In her T20I career she took 56 wickets from 68 matches at an average of 21.94. o She made her T20I debut in August 2006 against England. o She is the first woman to take 200 wickets in the 50-over format. • Rohan, Divij won gold in men's doubles tennis o India's Rohan Bopanna and won the gold medal in the men's doubles tennis event at the ongoing 18th Asian Games 2018. o India's Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan defeated Kazakhstan's Aleksandr and Denis to win the gold medal. o This is India's second tennis medal at the Asian Games in Indonesia after Ankita Raina won bronze medal. • Indian rowing team won gold medal o The Indian rowing team won the gold medal in the Men's Quadruple Sculls at the ongoing Asian Games in Indonesia.

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o The Indian rowing team comprised of Sawarn Singh, Dattu Bhokanal, Om Prakash and Sukhmeet Singh. o This was India's first gold medal in rowing. o Indonesia bagged the silver medal while Thailand won the bronze medal. • Rohit and Bhagwan won bronze in rowing o India bagged two bronze medals in rowing through Rohit Kumar and Bhagwan Singh in lightweight double sculls at the Asian Games 2018. o Japan won the gold medal while Korea bagged the silver medal. o This was India's 20th medal at the ongoing Games and 12th bronze. • Dushyant won bronze medal in rowing o Dushyant Chauhan won the bronze medal in the Men's Lightweight Single Sculls at the Asian Games in Jakarta. o Korea and Hong Kong won the gold and silver medals respectively. o Dushyant's previous international medals for India were silver and a bronze in Italian Regatta Championships in 2014. • Indian men's kabaddi team got bronze o The Indian men's kabaddi team got the bronze medal in the 2018 Asian Games. o India was defeated by Iran. o India had won the men's kabaddi gold in all the earlier seven Asiad games since the sport was introduced in 1990. • Shardul wins silver in men’s double trap o Shardul Vihan clinched the silver medal in the men’s double trap shooting event at the 18th Asian Games on 23rd August, 2018. o Korea’s Shin Hyunwoo clinched the gold medal while Qatar’s Al Marri Hamad Ali bagged the bronze medal. o Vihan had grabbed four gold medals at Shotgun Nationals Championship in 2017. 96 | P a g e

• India clinches 4 medals in wushu o All four Indian wushu players won bronze medals at the Asian Games on 22 August 2018. o Naorem Roshibini Devi, Santosh Kumar, Surya Bhanu Partap Singh and Narender Grewal won the bronze medal in Wushu. o Before this edition, India had taken part in the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Asian Games. o In 2014 Incheon Asian Games, India had won two bronze medals. • Ankita Raina won bronze at Asian Games o Indian tennis player Ankita Raina won the bronze medal at the Asian Games after losing to China's Zhang Shuai in the women's singles semifinal. o With this bronze medal, Ankita became second Indian woman to have her name in the Asian Games' singles medallist list. o This is India's first tennis medal in this edition and 16th overall - 4 gold, 3 silver, 9 bronze. • Rahi Sarnobat won gold in shooting o Rahi Sarnobat won the gold medal in in Women’s 25m Pistol shooting at the Asian Games 2018. o She also became the first Indian woman shooter to win an Asian Games gold medal. o Sarnobat won bronze in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon. o In the Commonwealth Games, she has won three medals till date – gold (2010, 2014) and silver (2010). • FIFA takes charge of FA o Football's world governing body FIFA has taken control of the Uruguayan Football Association (UFA)

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o The FIFA committee would be responsible for managing the affairs of the UFA through to February 28, 2019 and would revise the organisation's statues and arrange new elections. o Uruguayan football has been in crisis since July 30, after the sudden resignation of its chief. • India clinch bronze in sepak takraw o The Indian men's Sepak takraw team secured their maiden bronze medal after losing to Thailand at the ongoing 18th edition of Asian Games in Indonesia. o Sepak takraw is a traditional sport of the nations in Southeast Asia. o Sepak takraw has been part of the Asian Games since the 11th edition in Beijing 1990. o A match is played by two Regus (teams) each made up of three players. • Wrestler Divya Kakran bags bronze o Indian wrestler Divya Kakran won the bronze medal in women's 68 kg freestyle wrestling category at the 18th edition of the Asian games. o This is India’s third medal in wrestling after Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat claimed gold in their respective categories. o India's total medal tally at the Asian Games now stands at ten with three gold, three silver and four bronze. • Odisha to launch Hockey World Cup campaign o Ahead of the 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup Tournament in the state, Odisha government has decided to launch a build-up campaign in 17 cities from August 29, 2018. o Odisha is organising the Men's Hockey World Cup tournament for the first time. o The tournament will begin on November 28, 2018, and will continue till December 16, 2018, at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. • Sanjeev Rajput wins silver in Rifle shooting 98 | P a g e

o Indian shooter Sanjeev Rajput clinched a silver medal in the men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions event at the 18th Asian Games on 21st August, 2018. o China won the gold medal with a score of 453.3 while Japan bagged the bronze medal with 441.4. o Rajput had won the gold medal at the 50m rifle 3 positions in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018. • Saurabh Chaudhary wins 10m air pistol gold o Saurabh Chaudhary won the gold medal in pistol shooting at the Asian Games 2018 on 21st August 2018. o Saurabh Chaudhary became only the fifth Indian shooter to claim a gold in the Asian Games history. o Shooters have won 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze of the 7 medals India has won so far. • Vinesh Phogat wins India's second gold o Vinesh Phogat won a gold medal in wrestling at the Asian Games 2018. o This is Vinesh's second medal at the Asian Games, having picked up the bronze medal at Incheon in 2014. o She also became the fifth Indian woman to win an Asian Games medal in wrestling, and the first among those to clinch gold. • Rishabh Pant creates history on debut o Rishabh Pant became the fourth Indian wicket-keeper to take five catches on debut. o He achieved this feat on Day 2 of the third Test against England at Trent Bridge. o He also became the third in the world to take five catches in an innings on Test debut. o Besides Rishab, the two other cricketers to achieve this feat are – Australia’s Brian Taber and his compatriot John Maclean. 99 | P a g e

• Djokovic beats Federer in Cincinnati final o Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in the finals to win his first title of . o Novak Djokovic won the Wimbledon Championships in July 2018, was the runner-up of the Cincinnati Masters on five occasions. o Novak Djokovic became the first player to win all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. • India opens medal count with bronze in Rifle o Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar won the bronze medal in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event at the Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta on 19th August 2018. o Chinese Taipei won the gold medal while China won the silver medal. o Kumar had earlier won team gold at the 2014 Asian Games and individual bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games while Chandela won gold in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. • Bajrang Punia won gold in wrestling o Bajrang Punia won the gold medal in the 65 kg freestyle wrestling event at Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta on 19th August 2018. o Bajrang Punia beat Japan’s Daichi Takatani. o This is India’s first gold medal of the 2018 Asian Games. o He had won a silver medal in the 61 kg category in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon. • Deepak Kumar wins silver medal o Deepak Kumar clinched India’s third medal at the Asian Games 2018 by winning the silver medal in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle category in Jakarta on 20th August 2018. o Deepak Kumar had earlier won the bronze medal at the 2018 ISSF World Cup in Mexico in the 10-metre air rifle mixed team event. o China’s Haoran Yang won the gold with an Asian Games. 100 | P a g e

• UAE all set to host Asia Cup 2018 o The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) signed an agreement for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to host the prestigious Asia Cup. o The Asia Cup 2018 will have cricket teams from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. o The tournament will be held from September 15 to September 28 in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. • India won silver medal at cycling C'ship o Teen cyclist Esow Alben won the silver medal at the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Switzerland. o This is India’s first-ever medal at any cycling World Championships. o Alban became the Junior World No. 1 this July 2018 after becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal at the Asian Junior Track Cycling Championships. • Asian Games begin in Jakarta o The 18th edition of the Asian Games officially kicked off in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on 18th August 2018. o Asian Games 2018, also known as Jakarta Palembang 2018, starting from August 18 will end on September 2, 2018, in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang. o It is the second time for Jakarta to host the sports games after 1962. • India rise to 96th spot in FIFA Ranking o India's football team have jumped one spot higher to take the 96th spot in the latest FIFA World Rankings. o The improvement came in the ranking after FIFA implemented a new ranking system called 'Elo' where points are added and subtracted to the team's existing tally before every match. 101 | P a g e

o France clinched the number one FIFA ranking followed by Belgium, Brazil, Croatia and Uruguay. • becomes India’s 53rd Grandmaster o Nihal Sarin became India’s 53rd Grandmaster after attaining his third and final Grand Master-norm in the Abu Dhabi Masters. o He is only the third grandmaster from Kerala after GN Gopal and SL Narayanan. o He is the twelfth youngest grandmaster in chess history. o Earlier in June 2018, Chennai-born R Praggnanandhaa secured the title of the grandmaster and became India’s 52nd grandmaster. • Ramesh appointed women's team head coach o The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed Ramesh Powar as the Head Coach of Indian Women’s Cricket Team. o Powar's term will include a tour to Sri Lanka, a bilateral series in the West Indies in October 2018 followed by the ICC Women's World T20 in West Indies in November 2018. o Powar has played 31 ODIs and two Tests from 2004 to 2007 for India. • Anderson 1st to took 100 wickets at Lord's o England fast bowler James Anderson became the first bowler to take 100 Test wickets at the Lord's Cricket Ground. o Anderson achieved the feat on day four of the second Test in the ongoing five-match Test series against India. o It was India's opening batsman Murali Vijay who became his 100th Test wicket. • Rafael Nadal wins fourth Rogers Cup o Rafael Nadal won his 80th Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour title on August 12, 2018. o Nadal beat Stefanos Tsitsipas for his fourth Rogers Cup crown and fifth victory of the year. 102 | P a g e

o Nadal also won the Rogers Cup in Toronto in 2008 and in Montreal in 2005 and 2013. • Messi is Barcelona’s most decorated player o Lionel Messi won his 33rd title to become the most successful player of Barcelona on August 12, 2018. o Messi is the Barcelona's new captain. o Barcelona beat Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup as Messi overtook Andres Iniesta, who had 32 titles when he left for the Japanese league. • Gerard Pique confirms retirement from team o Barcelona defender Gerard Pique confirmed on Saturday that he has retired from Spain’s national team. o Pique had announced before the World Cup that he did not plan on returning to the national team after the tournament in Russia. o Pique was an indisputable starter when Spain won the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 European Championship. • Lionel Messi named Barcelona's captain o Lionel Messi will replace Andrés Iniesta as Barcelona's captain for the new season, after the latter ended his 22-year stint at the Spanish club. o Messi, who already wears the armband for Argentina, has previously led Barça in Iniesta's absence. o Lionel Messi is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Barcelona and the Argentine national team. • Kohli became 2018's highest int run-scorer o During his 23-run knock against England at Lord's, Team India captain Virat Kohli overtook England's Jonny Bairstow to become this year's highest run-scorer in international cricket. o Kohli has scored 1,404 runs in 25 innings this year, 15 more than the English wicketkeeper-batsman. 103 | P a g e

o , who has scored 1,055 runs, is the second highest run- scorer among Indians in 2018. • Neeraj Chopra to be India’s flag-bearer o Javelin thrower star Neeraj Chopra will be India’s flag bearer in the opening ceremony of the Asian Games 2018. o Chopra, who won the gold medal in Commonwealth Games 2018 event in Gold Coast, will lead India’s contingent in the multi-sport event. o The 2018 Asian Games will take place from August 18 to September 2 and will be held in Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang. • Tokyo 2020 to use facial recognition o A facial recognition system using artificial intelligence will be used at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. o The Tokyo Olympics will be the first games to have this kind of security system using facial recognition technology. o It is aimed at strengthening security and preventing terrorism, as well as shortening waiting times to lower athlete stress. • Indian Men's hockey team rises to 5th rank o Indian men's hockey team jump one spot to fifth in the latest FIH rankings chart. o India is the only team which registered an upward movement among the top 10 teams. o The Indian team, which now has 1484 points in its kitty, is above the likes of 2012 Olympic champions Germany, England and Spain. o World champion Australia maintained its top spot with 1906 points. • Momota 1st Japanese man to win Gold at BWF o Kento Momota became the first Japanese man to win the Badminton World Championships. o Kento Momota of Japan defeated Shi Yuqi of China in the men’s final at the Badminton World Championships. 104 | P a g e

o Momota has won nine of 13 tournaments he has entered since returning from a 15-month gambling-related suspension. • Kuznetsova wins Washington WTA title o defeated Croatia's Donna Vekic and won her 18th career Women's Tennis Association (WTA) title at the . o Svetlana Kuznetsova is ranked 128th in the world. o Kuznetsova, the winner of the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open, claimed a second Washington title to go with the one she won in 2014. • Netherlands won women's hockey world cup o In Women's hockey world cup, the Netherlands have been crowned the world champions for a record eighth time. o Spain won the third-place match by beating Australia to claim their first ever World Cup medal. o India finished the tournament at the 8th spot. • topples Juan Martin o Fabio Fognini defeated Juan Martin Del Potro in final of Los Cabos Open. o Fabio Fognini captured his first career title on Saturday, surprising Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-2, in the final of the ATP Los Cabos Open. o It is the 31-year-old Fognini’s eighth ATP Tour victory. o This is his third title of 2018 to go with wins in Sao Paulo and Bastad. • Kolesnikov win European Title at Glasglow. o Kliment Kolesnikov of Russia set a world record for the 50 metres backstroke while winning the European Championship title in Glasgow on Saturday. o The teenager clocked 24.00 seconds to take 0.04 seconds off the record set by Britain’s Liam Tancock at the world championships in Rome in 2009.

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o He defeated Silver medallist Robert-Andrei Glinta, a former world junior champion, by 0.55 seconds. • Sindhu takes silver in Badminton Champ o Carolina Marin became the first woman shuttler to win the world championships thrice.She had won the title in 2014 and the 2015 Jakarta edition. o Sindhu settled for another white metal following a 19-21, 10-21 loss to Marin of Spain in World Badminton Championship. o Sindhu's second successive silver at the World Championships and had won a silver medal in 2017 and bronze medals in 2013,2014. • Virat Kohli is the No.1 Test batsman o India captain Virat Kohli topped the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen. o Kohli thus became the seventh India batsman, and first since Sachin Tendulkar (in June 2011) to be ranked the number one Test batsman in the latest ICC rankings. o At 934 points,Kohli has become India’s highest-ranked batsman, 14th overall, on the all-time tally of points. • Rohit Kumar Becomes Fourth Youngest Player o Nepal's Rohit Kumar Paudel, at 15 years and 335 days, became the fourth youngest One-day International (ODI) cricket debutant. o Pakistan's Hasan Raza remains the youngest to play an ODI. Raza made his debut against in 1996 aged just 14 years and 233 days. o Canada's Nitish Kumar is third on the list – he was 15 years and 273 days when he played Afghanistan in Sharjah in 2010. • Virat Kohli completes 7000 runs as captain o Virat Kohli became the fastest captain to reach 7000 international runs. o Brian Lara was the fastest among the previous 14 players who scored 7000 International runs as captain. 106 | P a g e

o Kohli is the 4th Indian after , Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni to complete 7000 runs as captain in International cricket.

September 2018

• India lift Asia Cup for 7th time o Indian team has lifted the Asia Cup for the 7th time by defeated Bangladesh by 3 wickets in the final match played at Dubai . o was named the man of the match for scoring 121 runs off 117 balls. o Player of the series: Shikhar Dhawan (342) o Participants: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Hong Kong. • 2nd Hornbill's Flight International Race o The 2nd edition of the cycle race, 'Dalmia MTB Arunachal; Hornbill's Flight International Race' will be held on 14-22 November. o The cycling track extends from Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh to Mechuka in the West Siang district about 650 km away. o More than 100 cyclists from over 10 countries will participate. o The total prize money for the race is of Rs 22.5 lakhs. • Asian Yoga Sports Championship in Kerala o The 8th Asian Yoga Sports Championship organised by Asian Yoga Federation was inaugurated on 27 September 2018 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. o The event have around 500 participants representing 14 Asian countries showcasing their yoga skills. o Yogaratna Awards will be given away to foreign delegates who were instrumental in popularising yoga in their respective countries.

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• Arjuna Awards for the year 2018 The Arjuna Awards are given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to recognize outstanding achievement in sports. The award was presented to 20 peoples, some winners of Arjuna Awards 2018 are as follows-

o Neeraj Chopra- Athletics o Hima Das- Athletics o Smriti Mandhana- Cricket o Manpreet Singh- Hockey o Ankur Mittal- Shooting o Shreyasi Singh- Shooting o Manika Batra- Table Tennis • Dronacharya Awards for the year 2018 The Dronacharya Award is a sports coaching honor of India. Following sportspersons were conferred with Dronacharya Awards for the year 2018:

o Subedar Chenanda Achaiah- Boxing o Vijay Sharma- Weightlifting o Srinivasa Rao- Table Tennis o Sukhdev Singh- Athletics o Clarence Lobo- Hockey (Life Time) o Tarak Sinha- Cricket (Life Time) o Jiwan Sharma- Judo (Life Time) o V.R. Beedu- Athletics (Life Time) • Sharmila won gold in women's javelin's throw o Sharmila Kumari clinched a gold medal at the 58th National Open athletics championships in the women's javelin throw at Bhubaneshwar, Orissa.

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o Sharmila threw a personal best throw of 54.81m to beat former Asian Games bronze medallist Annu Rani. o Kumari improved on her previous personal best of 54.21m that she had registered at the National Inter-State Championships in Guwahati. • Sinisuka and Carolina Won o Indonesia's defeated Japan's Kento Momota to win the Men's singles China Open title. o Spain's Carolina Marin defeated China's to win the Women's singles title. o The men's doubles title won by the Danish duo of and Anders Skaarup, who defeated Chinese duo of and Zhou Haodong. • India won medals in Serbia Junior & Cadet Open o In Table Tennis, India won the team titles in the girls and cadet boys category at the 2018 Serbia Junior and Cadet Open. o India won gold in the Cadet Boys' singles, Cadet Boys' Team and Junior Girls' Team events. o India won the silver medal in the Cadet Boys and Girls' team, the Cadet Boys' Doubles and Girls' Doubles categories. o Payas Jain won the gold medal in Serbia Junior and Cadet Open • India won silver in Snooker Championship o India won the silver medal in the final of the Asian Team Snooker Championship. o India was defeated by Pakistan in final. o The team India consisted of Pankaj Advani and Malkeet Singh. o Pankaj Advani is a 19-time World Champion English billiards and snooker player from India. o He was awarded in 2018. 109 | P a g e

• Deepak Punia won silver medal in wrestling o India's Deepak Punia won a silver medal at the junior world wrestling championship in . o He was defeated by Turkey's Arif Ozen. o India ended the championship with six medals, including three silvers and three bronze medals. • India to host the Women’s Boxing World C'ship o India will host the Women’s Boxing World Championships after more than a decade from November 15-24, 2018, in New Delhi. o The marquee tournament was last held in India in 2006 and remains the best for the country in terms of performance. o The first edition of the women’s world championship was held in the Unites States in Scranton in 2001. • Eliud Kipchoge sets new marathon world record o Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge has set a new world record, winning the Berlin marathon in 2 hours, 1 minute and 39 seconds. o The Olympic champion broke the record set by fellow Kenyan Dennis Kimetto in 2014 by 1 minute and 18 seconds. o Acclaimed as the greatest marathon runner of the modern era, Kipchoge has dominated marathon racing since making his debut in Hamburg in 2013. • Track Asia Cup starts o India won 3 Gold, 3 Silver and a Bronze on the opening day of the 5th Track Asia Cup Cycling in New Delhi. o Mayuri Lute won the country's first Gold in the Women's Junior 500 metres race. o Another Gold came after the Indian men's junior team performed as expected in the team sprint event, by defeating Kazakhstan. • to host 110 | P a g e

o Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) confirmed that Hangzhou in China will host the fourth edition of the Asian Para Games in 2022. o Hangzhou will now be represented at the Closing Ceremony of this year's Asian Para Games, which will begin in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on October 6. o Beijing will also host the Winter Olympics in 2022. • Silver medal at Medved Intl Wrestling o Sakshi Malik settled for a Silver medal at the Medved International Wrestling tournament at Minsk, . o In the Final of the 62 kg category, Sakshi lost to 's Marianna Sastin, 2-6 to finish second best. o Indian grappler Pooja Dhanda also bagged a Bronze medal in the 57 kg category. • IOC won MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup o Indian Oil Corporation defeated Indian Railways by 4-0 in the final to win the 92nd All-India MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup tournament. o Murugappa Gold Cup is one of India’s premier Hockey leagues and has been home to some of the top teams and shining talent in the sport. o The former chairman of Murugappa Group MA Alagappan was the chief guest in the final. • Indian boxers won 3 gold medals in Turkey o Boxers Simranjit Kaur (64kg), Monika (48kg) and Bhagyabati Kachari (81kg) won gold medals at the Ahmet Comert Tournament in Istanbul, Turkey. o Simranjit, a former national medallist, defeated Turkey’s Sema Caliskan. o Bhagyabati was declared the most scientific boxer of the tournament, and the Indian women’s team finished third. 111 | P a g e

• MC Mary Kom won gold medal in boxing o MC Mary Kom won gold medal in boxing at Silesian Open Boxing Tournament for women in Gliwice, Poland. o Jyoti Gulia won the gold medal in the youth category of the Silesian Open Boxing Tournament for women in Gliwice, Poland. o MC Mary Kom has won gold medal in the India Open in Delhi and the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. • Gurpreet won senior silver at ISSF WC o Gurpreet Singh clinched a silver medal in the senior men's standard pistol event at ISSF World Championships. o Vijayveer Sidhu, Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu and Adarsh Singh to claim the team gold 25m standard pistol event for junior men in International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) competition. o India was placed third in the medals tally with 11 gold, 9 silver and 7 bronze medals. • 2 gold for India at Shooting Championship o India won 2 junior gold medals at Shooting World Championship in Changwon. o Udhayveer Singh, all of 16, shone bright with an individual gold in the junior men’s 25m pistol, Singh shot a score of 587 (291 in precision and 296 in rapid) in the individual competition to grab the gold. o Compatriot Vijayveer Sidhu finished fourth with a score of 581. • Sardar Singh set to retire from Int. hockey o Sardar Singh, who was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna last year and is one of the most decorated stars of Indian hockey has announced his retirement from International Hockey. o The former India captain made the decision after a disappointing Asian Games 2018.

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o Sardar was part of the Indian team at the recent Asian Games where it finished third. • ICC Test rankings: India still on No. 1 o India continued to be at the No.1 position in the ICC Test Team Rankings in September, after completing a 1-4 series against England at The Oval. o The Virat Kohli-led side had started the series at 125 points but after the series loss, it is now on 115 points followed by South Africa. o England improved its ranking to the fourth spot in the ICC Test Team Rankings after a series win over India. • Anderson becomes highest Test wicket taker o James Anderson has become the highest wicket-taker among seamers in Test matches. o He took 564 wickets and surpassed Australian great Glenn McGrath’s 563 to become the most successful fast bowler in Test history. o The list of highest wicket takers in Tests, however, is led by spinners – Muttiah Muralitharan (800 wickets), (708 wickets) and (609 wickets). • Junior men's skeet team won silver at ISSF WC o The Indian junior men's skeet team won the silver medal at the ISSF World Championships. o Indian junior men's skeet team consisted Gurnihal Singh Garcha, Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Ayush Rudraraju. o The gold medal was won by the Czech Republic, while the bronze medal was won by Italy at the premier International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) event. • Murray, Mattek won US mixed doubles title

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o Bethanie Mattek-Sands and won the US Open mixed doubles title. o For Murray, it was a second successive mixed title in New York has teamed up with in 2017. o Murray has now won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. o Murray and Mattek-Sands received $155,000 for winning the championship. • Djokovic wins men's title in US open Tennis o In the US Open Tennis, Novak Djokovic of Serbia won the Men's singles final. o He defeated Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. o It was Djokovic's 14th Grand Slam title and the third US Open title. o With this win, he has equalled Pete Sampras's mark of 14 Grand Slams. • Naomi lifted Women's singles title of US Open o In tennis, Naomi Osaka of Japan has won the Women's singles title of US Open 2018. o She won the Grand Slam by defeating Serena Williams of US. o Osaka became the first Japanese to win a Grand Slam. • Arpinder won medal at IAAF in Triple Jump o Arpinder Singh became the first Indian to win a medal in the IAAF Continental Cup in Triple Jump event at Ostrava, Czech Republic. o Arpinder clinched a bronze when he was representing the Asia-Pacific team in the event which is held once every four years. o Reigning Olympic and world champion Christian Taylor of the United States took the gold with a jump of 17.59 meters. • Ankur Mittal Won Gold in ISSF Championship o Ankur Mittal claimed the men’s double trap gold medal in the ISSF World Championship in Changwon on Saturday. 114 | P a g e

o The 26-year-old overcame the Chinese 4-3 to emerge triumphant after the Slovakian had missed his second shoot-off clay target to settle for bronze. o After the seventh day of competition, India has 20 medals - seven gold, seven silver, and six bronze. • Hriday Hazarika won gold in 10m air rifle o Hriday Hazarika won gold medal for India in the Men's 10m Air Rifle Junior event at the ongoing International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Championship. o Mohammed Amir from Iran won the silver medal and Russia's Grigorii Shamakov won bronze medal. o Hriday Hazarika was the only Indian to qualify for the men’s final. • Saurabh won gold medal in Shooting o Saurabh Chaudhary won gold medal in 10m Air Pistol shooting at the ISSF Shooting World Championship in South Korea on 6th September, 2018. o Saurabh Chaudhary has won gold medal in shooting at Asian Games 2018. o Arjun Singh Cheema claimed bronze medal in the same event while Korea’s Hojin Lim clinched silver medal. • Divyansh and Shreya won bronze in shooting o Divyansh Singh Panwar and Shreya Agarwal won bronze medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team junior event at ISSF World Championships. o The Italian pair of Sofia Benetti and Marco Suppini won gold, while Iran's Sadeghian Armina and Mohammed Amir Nekounam claimed the silver in the event. o The championship is the first qualifying event for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. • Om Prakash won gold medal at ISSF Championship

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o Om Prakash Mitharwal won the gold medal in the men's 50m Pistol event of the ISSF World Championship at Changwon in South Korea on 4th September 2018. o He has won a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol and the 50m pistol events of the Commonwealth Games 2018. o Since 50m pistol shooting is no longer an Olympic event, Mitharwal cannot qualify for Tokyo 2020. • Indian shuttlers won titles in Ukraine o Young Indian shuttlers clinched the mixed doubles and men's doubles titles at the RSL Kharkiv International challenge in Kharkiv, Ukraine. o The duo of Anoushka Parikh and Saurabh Sharma defeated Poland's Pawel Smilowski and Magdalena Swierczynska, in the Mixed Doubles clash. o The pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Dhruv Kapila defeated Germany's duo in Men's Doubles event. • Anjum Moudgil won silver medal in shooting o India's Anjum Moudgil won silver medal in the women's 10m air rifle event at the ongoing ISSF Shooting World Championships in Changwon, South Korea on September 3, 2018. o Apurvi Chandela finished fourth in the women's 10m Air Rifle event of the ISSF World Championship. o Anjum and Apurvi became the first Indian shooters to win a quota for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. • Indian men's hockey team won bronze o The Indian men's hockey team beat Pakistan by 2-1 to clinch a bronze medal on the 14th day of Asian Games 2018. o Akashdeep Singh (3rd minute) and Harmanpreet Singh (50th minute) scored two goals for India in the match. o It was India's 69th medal at the Asian Games 2018. 116 | P a g e

• Ikee Rikako named as MVP of Asian Games o Japanese swimmer Ikee Rikako has been named as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 18th edition of Asian Games. o She became the first female athlete to win the MVP title. o Rikako bagged six gold and two silver medals in the tournament. She received $50,000 as prize money. • Amit Panghal won gold in Boxing o Amit Panghal won gold in men's Light Fly (49kg) boxing event at Asian games 2018. o He defeated 2016 Olympic champion and world championships silver- medallist Dusmatov of Uzbekistan by 3-2. o Amit also won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games 2018 earlier this year. • India clinch three medals in sailing o India clinched silver medal and bronze medal, in the sailing events of the ongoing 18th edition of the Asian Games. o In 49er sailing event, the Indian pair of Varsha Gautham and Sweta Shervegar bagged the silver medal in the women's category. o Varun Thakkar and Ganapathy Chengappa won the bronze medal in the men's category. o Harshita Tomar won bronze medal in sailing. • Indian women's hockey team won silver medal o In Asian Games, Women's hockey team settled for silver medal after losing to Japan in the final. o Japan defeated India by 2-1. o It was India's second silver medal in women's hockey in Asian Games history.

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o The only time India won the gold medal was in the 1982 Games in New Delhi. • Sakshi won gold medal in boxing o In boxing, Sakshi Choudhary won the gold medal at the World Youth Boxing in Budapest on 31st August 2018. o Sakshi won the gold medal in the 57-kilogram category. o She beat Croatia's Nikolina Cacic. o However, Asian champions Manisha (64kg) and Anamika (51kg) settled for silver medals.

October 2018

• North East Olympic Games concluded o The 1st edition of 'North East Olympic Games' concluded in Imphal on 28th October 2018. o Manipur secured the top spot in the medal tally followed by Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. o Athletes from the eight northeastern states competed in 12 different disciplines at the sporting event that began on October 24. o The 2nd edition of North East Olympic Games will be held in Arunachal Pradesh in 2019. • Roger Federer won o Roger Federer won Swiss Indoors title in Basel on 28th October 2018. o He defeated Marius Copil in the final. o It is his 99th career title. o The Swiss Indoors is a professional men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. o Since 2009 it has been part of the World Tour 500 Series of the ATP Tour. • Khalin Joshi won Panasonic Open

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o Indian golfer Khalin Joshi clinched the Panasonic Open India title at the Delhi Golf Club on 28th October 2018. o Joshi became the seventh Indian to win the Panasonic Open India. o It was also his maiden Asian Tour title. o With this success, Joshi joined the list of 25 Indians who have so far accounted for 87 international titles. • India & Pakistan declared joint winners o In Men's Hockey, India and Pakistan were declared joint winners of the Asian Champions Trophy at Muscat in Oman on 28th October 2018. o The tournament director declared both teams as winners after the match was called off due to heavy rain. o Before this edition, both India and Pakistan had won the tournament twice each. • Ayhika Mukherjee won silver medal o Indian table tennis player Ayhika Mukherjee won the silver medal in the under-21 women's singles category of the ITTF Challenge Belgium Open. o She lost to Korea's Youjin Kim in the final. o In the semifinals, Ayhika had defeated Hong Kong's Chengzhu Zhu to enter the finals. • Sourav Kothari clinched World Billiards C’ship o India's Sourav Kothari defeated Peter Gilchrist of Singapore 1134-944 to clinch the 2018 World Billiards Championship title at Leeds in the UK. o The former national and Asian Billiards champion Kothari was pipped at the post for the coveted World Billiards crown on two occasions in the last two years. • Belgium topped in latest FIFA rankings o According to the latest FIFA rankings, Belgium is the number one ranked football team in the world. 119 | P a g e

o France is on the second rank. o 4 times FIFA World Cup winner, Germany got 14th rank. o India was ranked 97th in the latest rankings. o Tunisia (22nd) was the highest ranked African team. o The latest FIFA rankings were released on 25 October 2018. • Pooja Danda won bronze medal in wrestling o Wrestler Pooja Dhanda won a bronze medal at World Wrestling Championship 2018 in Budapest, Hungary. o She won a silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. o Pooja is only the fourth Indian woman to win a World Championship medal. o Prior to Pooja, only Alka Tomar (2006) and Geeta and Babita Phogat (2012) have won bronze medals for India at the World Championship. • Virat Kohli becomes fastest to 10,000 ODI runs o India cricket captain Virat Kohli became the fastest batsman to reach 10,000 one-day international runs. o Kohli made 10,000 ODI runs in 205 innings while Sachin Tendulkar took 259 innings. o Kohli became the fifth Indian batsman and 13th ever to reach 10000 ODI runs. o Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni have scored over 10,000 runs in ODIs. • Marc Marquez clinched fifth MotoGP title o Spain's Marc Marquez clinched MotoGP world champion title for the fifth time with a victory in the Japanese MotoGP on 21 October 2018. o Marquez is the youngest-ever rider to win five premier class titles. o Marquez has joined Valentino Rossi, Mick Doohan and Giacomo Agostini as one of only four riders to have taken five or more premier-class World Championships. 120 | P a g e

• Bajrang Punia won silver medal in wrestling o Bajrang Punia won silver medal in the 65 kg category of the World Wrestling Championship 2018 in Budapest on 22 October 2018. o He was defeated by Japanese Takuto Otoguro in the final. o Bajrang Punia also won gold medal in wrestling at Commonwealth Games 2018 and Asian Games 2018. o Sushil Kumar is the lone Indian to win a gold medal at the World Wrestling Championships in 2010. • Mumbai won Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018 o Mumbai won their third Vijay Hazare Trophy title at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on 20 October 2018. o Mumbai defeated Delhi by 4 wickets in the final. o Mumbai last won the trophy way back in 2006-07. o The Vijay Hazare Trophy is also known as the Ranji One Day Trophy and was started in 2002–03. • Saina Nehwal won silver medal in Denmark Open o Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal won the silver medal in Denmark Open 2018 on 21 October 2018. o She was defeated by Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying in the final. o Saina Nehwal won the Denmark Open in 2012. o According to the Badminton World Federation, the current ranking of Saina Nehwal is 10. • Wimbledon to introduce final-set tiebreaks o The organisers of Wimbledon have introduced a final set tie-breaker in all the events in the championship. o A tiebreaker match will be played when the score reaches 12-12 in the final set.

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o The first player or team to score seven points, with an advantage of two or more points, will be declared the winner. o The new method will be applicable from 2019 Wimbledon Championship to all the events. • Akash Malik won Archery silver medal o Akash Malik became the first Indian to win a silver medal in archery at the 2018 Youth Olympics. o Akash finished second in the men’s recurve category after losing to USA’s Trenton Cowles. o India ended their Youth Olympics campaign in the 16th spot with 13 medals (three gold, nine silver and one bronze). o India stood in the 14th position in the rankings. • Praveen won bronze in Men’s Triple Jump o Praveen Chitravel won the bronze medal in triple jump at the Youth Olympics 2018 Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. o ’s Alejandro Diaz won the gold medal and silver medal went to Emmeanuel of Nigeria. o Chitravel is the 2nd individual from India to bag a medal in athletics. o Suraj Panwar had won India’s first athletics medal as he bagged a silver in the men’s 5,000m race walk. • Suraj won silver medal at Youth Olympics o Suraj Panwar won a silver medal in men's 5000m race walk event in the ongoing Youth Olympic Games at Buenos Aires in Argentina. o Patin Oscar of Equador won the gold medal and Puerto Rico's Jan Moreu won the bronze medal. o This is India’s first athletics medal in this edition and third overall. • India men, women hockey teams won silver medal o India men’s and women’s team won silver medals each in the Hockey competition at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 122 | P a g e

o Men's hockey team was defeated by Malaysia and Women's hockey team was defeated by Argentina. o India are 10th in the medals tally with Russia leading the way (43) ahead of Hungary (21) and China (25). • Great Britain won Sultan Johar Cup o In Hockey, Great Britain won the 2018 Sultan of Johor Cup in Johar Bahru, Malaysia. o Great Britain defeated India in the final. o India settled for the silver medal at the eighth Sultan of Johor Cup U-18 hockey tournament. o The other teams in the tournament were Japan, Australia, Malaysia and New Zealand. • Novak Djokovic won Shanghai Masters title o Tennis player Novak Djokovic won the Shanghai Masters title on 14 October 2018. o Novak Djokovic defeated Croatia's Borna Coric in the final match. o Djokovic has won all four Shanghai finals he has s contested in his career (2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018). o He previously shared the record of winning three Shanghai titles with . • Leander Paes won Open trophy o Tennis player Leander Paes won the Santo Domingo Open trophy with partner Miguel Angel Reyyes-Varela on 14 October 2018. o Paes, who is ranked 69, added 110 ranking points to his tally and shared a prize purse of $7750 with his partner. o Paes also ended runner-up at Chicago, Dallas on the ATP Challenger circuit. • Archer Harvinder Singh clinched gold 123 | P a g e

o Archer Harvinder Singh notched up the men's individual recurve gold, while track-and-field athletes added a silver and a bronze to India's tally in the Asian Para-Games in Jakarta. o Harvinder defeated China's Zhao Lixue 6-0 in the W2/ST category final to claim the top honours and take India's gold tally to seven. o Monu Ghangas claimed the silver in the men's discus throw F11 category. o Pistol shooter Saurabh Chaudhary bagged the Gold Medal in the 10-metre air pistol event in the ongoing Youth Olympic Games in Argentina. o In Buenos Aires, the 16-year old blew the field away in the final as he finished a massive Seven and a half points ahead of his closest rival. o It is India’s 3rd gold in the history of Youth Olympic Games and all 3 have come in this edition in Buenos Aires. • Deepa clinched bronze in Asian Para Games o At the Asian Para Games in Jakarta, Rio Paralympics medallist bagged her second medal as she clinched a bronze in the women’s F51/52/53 discus throw event. o Deepa produced her best effort in her fourth attempt, a 9.67 metre to claim the third spot. o Elnaz Darabian of Iran took home the gold and set a new Asian record with her best throw of 10.71 meters. • ICC launched women's T20I ranking o In the newly launched ICC global Women's T20I Team Rankings, India is placed fifth while three-time champions Australia topped the 46-team table. o The ICC's move to launch the women's T20I rankings follows its decision earlier this year to award international status to all T20 matches. o An ICC release in Dubai said all women's T20 matches between members have international status. • 5 gold for India on penultimate day 124 | P a g e

o India grabbed 5 gold medals on the penultimate day of the Asian Para Games at Jakarta. o K Jennitha Anto clinched the gold in women's individual rapid P1 chess event while Kishan Gangolli got the better of Majid Bagheri in the men's individual event to claim the top spot. o In para-badminton, Parul Parmar notched up a victory over Wandee Kamtam to win the gold medal in the women's singles event. • ‘Olly’ made Hockey World Cup mascot o Turtle ‘Olly’ has been declared as the official mascot for the Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup. o Hockey World Cup is scheduled to be held at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar from November 28 to December 16, 2018. o ‘Olly’ represents the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles. o Olly was also the mascot for Asian Athletics Championships held in 2017. • Sundar Singh won silver in javelin throw o Indian javelin thrower Sundar Singh Gurjar won a silver medal in the men’s F46 category of the Asian Para Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. o The F46 category of disability covers upper limb deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired range of movement. o Gurjar won the silver medal with an effort of 61.33m in his fifth attempt. • Saurabh Chaudhary won gold in 10m air pistol o Indian shooter Saurabh Chaudhary clinched the gold medal in the 10m air pistol event at the Youth Olympic Games on 10 October 2018. o Saurabh also won gold medal in the Asian Games and Junior ISSF World Championship. o This is India’s third gold medal in Buenos Aires and the fourth medal overall for the shooting contingent. • IOC creates refugee team for Tokyo 2020 125 | P a g e

o The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced there will be an Olympic team made up of refugees at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. o In the 2016 Rio Olympics, a refugee team was created which comprised ten refugee athletes from Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. o The 32nd Summer Olympic Games will take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020 in Tokyo. • Senegal will host the youth Olympics in 2022 o In 2022, Senegal will host the fourth summer youth Olympic games. o Senegal has thus become the first African country to host an Olympic event. o The International Olympic Committee (IOC) unanimously made the decision in Buenos Aires. o The 2022 Youth Olympics will take place in Senegal between May and June. • Manu Bhaker won gold in shooting o Manu Bhaker won gold medal in 10m Air Pistol shooting at the Youth Olympic Games on 9 October 2018. o She became India’s first Youth Olympic Games Gold medalist in the sport of shooting. o This was India’s third medal from shooting in three days, with Shahu Mane and Mehuli Ghosh bagging silver medals on the first two days. • India's first Olympic medal in judo o Thangjam Tababi Devi became India's first judo medallist at the Olympic level in Youth Olympic Games 2018 at Buenos Aires, Argentina. o She won a silver medal after losing to 's Maria Giminez in the finals of the women's 44kg event.

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o India has never won an Olympic medal in judo either at the senior or the youth level. • Jeremy Lalrinnunga won gold in weightlifting o Weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga won gold medal in the men's 62 kg category at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina. o The silver medal was won Turkey while won the bronze medal. o In early 2018, Lalrinnunga claimed a silver medal (youth) and a bronze medal (junior) in the Asian Championships. • Javelin thrower Sandeep won gold medal o Javelin thrower Sandeep Chaudhary won India's first gold medal at the Asian Para Games in Indonesia. o Sri Lanka won silver medal while Iran won bronze medal. o Chaudhary's disability falls in the F42-44/61-64 category, which relates to limb deficiency, leg length difference, impaired muscle power or impaired range of movement. o The athletes in this category compete without prosthesis. • Keerthana won girls' title in IBSF World U-16 o India's Keerthana Pandian has won the girls' title in the IBSF World Under-16 Snooker Championships. o In the final match played at St Petersburg, Russia she defeated her Belarussian rival Albina Leschuk by 3-1. o It is the Indian girl's maiden international crown. o In the corresponding boys' category, Ben Martens of Belgium won the title. • Caroline Wozniacki won China Open o In tennis, Caroline Wozniacki won the China Open on 7 October 2018. o She defeated Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova in the final match of China Open. 127 | P a g e

o It is her third WTA title of the year. o Wozniacki won her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open 2018. o It is her second China Open title as she also won it in 2010. • Five medals in Asia Junior Championships o Meghana Reddy and Tasnim Mir won the girls doubles crown at the Badminton Asia Junior (U-17 and U-15) Championships at Mandalay, Myanmar. o Indian shuttlers also bagged four bronze, to bring their overall medal tally to five in the championships. o In the final match, the Indian pair defeated the Korean duo of Yeo Jin Gong and Da Yeon Jeong. • India won U19 Asia Cup 2018 title o India beat Sri Lanka by 144 runs to clinch the Under-19 Asia Cup 2018 title in . o India is the most successful team in the youth Asia Cup history winning 6 titles. o Indian bowler Harsh Tyagi's won the Man of the Match award in the final played at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium. o Indian opener, Yashasvi Jaiswal (318 runs) won the man-of-the- tournament award. • Shooter Tushar Mane won silver medal o Tushar Mane won silver medal in the men's 10m air rifle in Youth Olympic Games on 7 October 2018. o Russia won the gold medal and Serbia won the bronze medal at the event. o India is being represented by 46 athletes in 13 sports in the prestigious event. o This is India's largest ever contingent at the Youth Olympics. • 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games began

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o The third edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games was inaugurated in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 6th October 2018. o The event will conclude on 18 October 2018. o It is the first time Summer Youth Olympic Games are being held outside of Asia. o The previous two summer events held in Singapore (2010) and , China (2014). • Youngest Indian to score century on Test debut o scored a century in the first Test against West Indies at Rajkot to become the youngest Indian to score a century on debut. o Shaw surpassed the record set by Abbas Ali Baig who had scored a fifty against England in 1959 when he was 20 years and 126 days old. o He also became the second youngest Indian to score a Test century after the Sachin Tendulkar. • Manipur clinch National Football Championship o Manipur claimed victory in the final of the 24th Senior Women’s National Football Championships, defeating hosts Odisha by 2-1. o It was the 19th occasion when a state from the northeast of India won the trophy. o Manipur captain Bala Devi scored the first goal in the 45th minute. o The final match was held at the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack, Odisha. • India's flag-bearer at Youth Olympic Games o 16-year-old shooting star Manu Bhaker is named as the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent for the 3rd Youth Olympic Games at Buenos Aires. o A contingent of 68 members, including 46 athletes, departed for Argentina to take part in games from October 6-18. o Bhaker had won gold in 10m air pistol at Guadalajara World Cup as well as Commonwealth Games. 129 | P a g e

• Yuvraj Wadhwani won Asian Junior Squash title o India's Yuvraj Wadhwani won Asian Junior Squash Championship title on 30 September, 2018. o Yuvraj has become the second Indian to win the Under-13 title after Veer Chotrani, who had won the title in 2014 in Iran. o Overall, Indian squash players won one gold, one silver and four bronze medals.

November 2018

• Manav Thakkar won TT o Table tennis player Manav Thakkar won the singles and doubles titles at the Portugal Junior and Cadet Open on 29 November 2018. o Manav defeated Jeet Chandra in the singles final match. o Manav partnered with Manush Shah to win the doubles title. o Previously, he won the bronze medal in the U-21 singles category in the ITTF Challenge Belarus Open on 16 November 2018. • Magnus won the 'World Chess Championship 2018' o World number one Norwegian Magnus Carlsen has won the 'World Chess Championship' title on 28 November 2018. o He defeated Fabiano Caruana from the United States in a tie-breaker event. o He won the 'World Chess Championship' title for the fourth time. o He won his first 'World Chess Championship' title in 2013 by beating Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. • Varsha Varman won women’s trap gold o Varsha Varman won the women's trap gold medal at the '62nd National Championship for Shotgun' on 26 November 2018. o She represented Madhya Pradesh at the event.

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o She won the bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games at Incheon in the women's double trap team event. • Manu won double gold in shooting o Manu Bhaker of Haryana won a double gold in junior sports pistol at the National Shooting Championship on 25 November 2018. o Ravi and Rahi Sarnobat were crowned national champions in the men's 10m air rifle and women's 25m pistol events respectively at National Shooting Championship on 25 November 2018. o In the 25m junior girl's pistol event, Bhaker, Tanu Rawal and Tejaswani won a gold medal. • Harmanpreet is the captain of Twenty20 XI o Indian cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur was named the captain of the ICC Women's World Twenty20 XI. o A selection panel of International Cricket Council (ICC) picked up the team on the basis of the players' performances in the Women's World T20 tournament. o 3 players from England, 2 from Australia and one each from Pakistan, New Zealand, and the West Indies are also part of the team. • Australia won 'Women's World Twenty-20' title o Australia cricket team has won the 'Women's World Twenty-20' title. o It was their fourth World Twenty-20 title. o They defeated England in the final match. o Austrailia's Ashleigh Gardner was named 'Player of the Match'. o Austrailia's Alyssa Healy was named 'Player of the tournament'. • Sameer Verma won the Badminton Championship o Badminton player Sameer Verma won the 'Syed Modi International Badminton Championship' on 25 November 2018. o He defeated China's Guangzu Lu in the men's singles final. 131 | P a g e

o Men’s doubles pair of Satwik Rankireddy and and women’s doubles players Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy also won silver in their respective finals. • Bhavani Devi won gold in Fencing Championship o India's Bhavani Devi won the gold medal in the Sabre event in the 'Senior Commonwealth Fencing Championship' held in Australia on 25 November 2018. o She defeated England's Emily Ruaux in the final. o Bhavani Devi is the first Indian to win a gold medal in the Commonwealth Fencing Championship. o Earlier, Bhavani Devi won a silver medal in the Tournoi Satellite Fencing Championship in Iceland. • Mary Kom won gold in boxing championship o MC Mary Kom won the gold medal in Women's World Boxing Championship in New Delhi on 24 November 2018. o She defeated Ukraine's Hanna Okhota in the final match. o She became the first female boxer to win six gold medals at World Boxing Championships. o She previously won the gold medal in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 editions of the World Boxing Championships. • to host 2019 'Laureus Awards' o The 19th edition of the prestigious 'Laureus World Sports Awards' will be held in Monaco on 18 February 2019. o 'Laureus World Sports Awards' are considered as the 'Oscars of sports'. o Tennis player Roger Federer won the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award for 2017. o Former India cricket captains , Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar are members of the Laureus Academy. • First batsman to score 11,000 runs in Ranji 132 | P a g e

o On 21 November 2018, Veteran cricketer Wasim Jaffer became the first batsman to score 11,000 runs in Ranji Trophy. o Jaffer, who plays for Vidarbha, achieved the feat on day two of the Ranji Trophy match against Baroda. o He has played 31 Tests and two One-Day Internationals for India. o He last played for India in April 2008. • Mary Kom made history at Boxing Championships o On 20 November 2018, India's Mary Kom defeated China's Wu Yu 5-0 in the 48kg quarterfinals of the women's World Boxing Championships in New Delhi. o She is assured of a medal. o Mary has become the most successful medal winner in the Championship's history with seven medals across different weight categories. • Indian gymnasts won two bronze medals o Indian gymnasts won two bronze medals in the men's and women's group events of the FIG Acrobatic World Cup in Baku. o Prins Aris and Rejilesh Suribabu won bronze medals in the men's and women's group events on 20 November 2018. o Russian gymnasts won both the gold and silver. • Bangladesh team won Subroto Cup o Bangladesh Krida Shiksha Prothishtan (BKSP) won the 59th edition of the junior boys Subroto Cup International Football Tournament on 20 November 2018. o The team defeated Amini School, Afghanistan in the final match. o The final match was held at New Delhi. o A total of 95 teams and 1500 players participated in the tournament. • Alexander Zverev won ATP Finals in London

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o Tennis player Alexander Zverev won the ATP Finals in London on 19 November 2018. o He defeated Novak Djokovic in the finals o Alexander Zverev became only the fourth player to beat Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic back-to-back in the semi-final and final of the same tournament. o He also became the youngest winner of the ATP title. • Shubhankar won 'Rookie of the year' honours o Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma became the first Indian to emerge as the 'Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year 2018' on the European Tour. o He follows Jon Rahm (2017), Wang Jeunghun (2016), Byeong Hun An (2015) and Brooks Koepka (2014) who have been the four Rookies before him. o He is the third Asian in last four years to get this honour, after Byeong Hun An (2015) and Wang Jeunghun (2016). • Lakshya won bronze medal in badminton o India's settled for a bronze medal in the World Junior Badminton Championship on 17 November 2018. o He was defeated by Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the men's singles semifinals. o Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to have won a gold in the 'World Junior Badminton Championship' during the 2008 Pune edition. • Gukesh, Savitha won gold medals in Chess o and Savitha Shri B won gold medals in U-12 Open and girls category respectively at the World Cadets Chess Championship in Spain on 16 November 2018. o The Championship was held for the age groups U-8, U-10 and U-12, girls and Open.

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o The 2nd and 3rd places were won by Murzin Volodor of Russia and Chasin Nico of the USA in the open category. • Lewis Hamilton won Brazil Grand Prix o Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton won the Brazilian Grand Prix on 11 November 2018. o The win was Hamilton's 10th of the season and 72nd of his career. o Hamilton's win helped Mercedes secure the constructors' championship. o Verstappen finished second while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took third. • 11th Asian Shooting Championship 2018 winners o Divyansh Singh won the silver medal in 10m Air Rifle Junior Men's event. o Elavenil Valarivan won the bronze medal in 10m Air Rifle Junior Women's event. o Elavenil & Hriday won the gold medal in 10m Air Rifle Junior mixed event. o Saurabh Chaudhary won the gold medal in the 10m Air pistol junior men's event. o Manu Bhaker & Saurabh won the gold medal in the 10m Air pistol mixed team event • ATP World Tour Awards 2018 announced o The 2018 ATP World Tour Awards were announced on 9 November 2018. o Novak Djokovic won the 'Comeback Player of the Year Award'. o Djokovic’s coach Marian Vajda was also named ATP Coach of the Year. o Rafael Nadal won the ' Sportsmanship Award' for his fair play, professionalism and integrity on and off the . o Roger Federer won the Fans’ Favourite player Award. • Manu-Saurabh won gold in shooting

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o Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary won the gold medal in the 10- meter air pistol mixed team event at the 11th Asian Airgun Championships on 9 November 2018. o This was also Saurabh's third gold medal in two days, having won the team and individual 10m Air Pistol events on 8 November 2018 o India's junior shooting squad thus ended the championship with a tally of 11 medals, including four gold. • Saurabh won gold at Asian Airgun Championships o Saurabh Chaudhary won the gold medal in the 10m air pistol junior men's event of the Asian Airgun Championship held in Kuwait city, Kuwait on 8 November 2018. o He won the gold medal in shooting at the Asian Games in August 2018. o He also won gold medal at the World Shooting Championships in September 2018 and the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina in October 2018. • Elavenil-Hriday won gold in shooting o India’s Air Rifle mixed team junior pairing of Elavenil Valarivan and Hriday Hazarika won the gold medal at the 11th Asian Championship in Kuwait City on 6 November 2018. o A second Indian pair of Mehuli Ghosh and Arjun Babuta also won bronze in the same event. o The silver medal was won Chinese pair of Shi Mengyao and Wang Yuefeng. • Angad Vir Singh won gold medal in shooting o Angad Vir Singh Bajwa won the gold medal in the men's skeet final of the 8th Asian Shotgun Championship on 6 November 2018. o He became the first Indian skeet shooter to win a gold medal at any continental or world level event. o Di Jin of China won the silver medal while Saeed Al Maktoum of UAE won the bronze medal. 136 | P a g e

• Rohit is India’s highest run-scorer in T20Is o Rohit Sharma has become India's highest run-scorer in T20 international cricket. o He has scored 2203 runs in 86 T20 matches. o Virat Kohli, who has scored 2102 runs in 62 T20 matches, held the record previously. o Rohit Sharma has also scored 4 centuries in T20I format. o He also scored three double hundreds in one-day internationals. • Elavenil Valarivan won bronze medal o Elavenil Valarivan won the bronze medal at the 11th Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait on 6 November 2018. o Elavenil shot 227.9 in the corresponding Women’s event to claim the bronze medal. o Shi Mengyao of China won the gold medal while Xu Hong won the silver medal at the event. • Divyansh won silver medal in men's shooting o India’s junior shooter Divyansh Singh Panwar won a silver medal in the 11th Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait city on 6 November 2018. o Divyansh shot 251.4 in the final of 10m Air Rifle Junior Men’s event. o Wang Yuefeng from China won the gold medal, who shot a Junior World and Asian record score of 252.3. • Subhankar Dey won SaarLorLux Open o In Badminton, Subhankar Dey has won the SaarLorLux Open at Saarbrucken in Germany on 5 November 2018. o He defeated of Britain in finals. o This is Subhankar's first title of 2018. o In March 2018, he had finished runner-up in the Kabal International tournament at the Czech Republic. 137 | P a g e

• won title o Russia's tennis player Karen Khachanov won the Paris Masters title on 4 November 2018. o He defeated Novak Djokovic in the finals. o He also won the in Moscow in October 2018. o He is currently ranked at 18. • Luksika Kumkhum won first WTA title o Tennis player Luksika Kumkhum from Thailand won the L&T Mumbai Open on 4 November 2018. o She defeated from Russia in the finals. o It was her maiden Women's Tennis Association (WTA) title. o She received a cash prize of US$ 20000. • Mary Kom is the brand ambassador o Boxer Mary Kom was named as the brand ambassador of the 10th edition of the Women's World Boxing Championship on 31 October 2018. o India is hosting the 10th edition of the Women's World Boxing Championship from 15 November 2018. o Since the inception of the Women’s World Championship in 2001, India had hosted the tournament once in 2006. • Vietnam will host the F1 race in 2020 o Vietnam will host a Formula One race in April 2020. o The race will be hosted in the capital . o Vietnam will be the third Southeast Asian country to host a Formula One race in history after Malaysia and Singapore. o Hanoi will be the second Southeast Asian city to host a race in 2020 along with Singapore. • 2019 World Corporate Games in Qatar o Qatar will host the 23rd edition of the World Corporate Games in 2019.

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o The games will provide an opportunity for corporations around the world to showcase their competitive prowess through sports. o The World Corportate Games aims to bring together, the local, regional and international business sporting community. o The last edition was held in Houston in the US in 2017. • TATA steel is the partner for hockey world cup o Steel manufacturing giant Tata Steel was named as an official partner for the 2018 Men's hockey World Cup on 29 October 2018. o The hockey world cup will be held here from 28 November 2018 to 16 December 2018 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. o Tata Steel is the 10th-largest steel producer in the world. • Arunachal to host 'Rally Championships' o The third round of the Indian National Rally Championships, the country's premier motorsports event, will be held in Arunachal Pradesh. o The event will be organised from 2 November 2018 to 4 November 2018. o The rally that is being hosted by the Motorsports Club of Arunachal Pradesh. o The rally teams from major automotive companies will be participating in the race. • Pankaj Advani won Asian Snooker Tour title o Pankaj Advani won the Asian Snooker Tour on 31 October 2018 in Jinan, China. o He defeated China’s Ju Reti 6-1 in the final. o He became the first Indian to win an Asian Snooker Tour event. o The Government of India has awarded him Padma Bhushan in 2018.

December 2018

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• Novak & Simona named 2018 ITF world champions o Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep were named as the '2018 ITF World Champions' by the governing body of global tennis. o Djokovic received the honour from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for the sixth time. o It is the first time that ’s top-ranked Halep has been named for '2018 ITF World Champions'. • Virat: 2nd fastest to score 25th Test century o Virat Kohli became the second fastest batsman to score 25 Test centuries. o He reached the milestone in 127 innings on Day 3 of the Perth Test, between India and Australia on 16 December 2018. o Sachin Tendulkar is at the third position, as he achieved the mile stone in 130 innings. o Don Bradman took mere 68 innings to score 25 Test hundreds. • Belgium won the 'Hockey World Cup 2018' o Belgium won the 'Hockey World Cup 2018' in Bhubaneswar on 16 December 2018. o They defeated the Netherlands in a shoot-out in the final of the Men's Hockey World Cup. o The 'Hockey World Cup 2018' was held in Bhubaneswar, India from 28 November 2018 to 16 December 2018 o The 2014 Hockey World Cup was won by Australia. • Senior National Rowing Championship begins o The 37th Senior National Rowing Championship began in the Army Rowing Node in Pune on 17 December 2018. o Around 500 rowers and coaches from various rowing associations across the country will take part in the Championship. o The Rowers for the World Championships - 2019 will be selected from this event. 140 | P a g e

o World Championship - 2019 is the first qualifying Championship for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. • PV Sindhu won the BWF World Tour Finals o PV Sindhu won the season-ending Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals tournament on 16 December 2018. o She is the first Indian to win the gold medal in BWF World Tour Finals tournament. o She defeated the Nozomi Okuhara in the final match. • ICC ropes in Royal Stag as official sponsor o The International Cricket Council (ICC) has roped in Royal Stag as the official sponsor for the next five years. o The partnership, which runs through 2023, will cover international events, including the ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC T20 World Cup and ICC World Test Championship. o ICC currently also has Nissan, Oppo, MRF Tyres and Emirates as global partners. • Manika won 'Breakthrough Star award' o India's Manika Batra became the first Indian Table Tennis player to be decorated with the 'Breakthrough Table Tennis Star' award. o She was honoured at the prestigious 'International Table Tennis Federation Star Awards' in Incheon. o Manika started the year on a high at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, guiding India to it's first-ever gold medal in the Women's Team category. • Sascha Bajin named WTA 'Coach of the Year' o Tennis coach Sascha Bajin was chosen as the first winner of the Women's Tennis Association's (WTA) 'Coach of the Year' award on 10 December 2018. o Sascha Bajin is the coach of tennis player Naomi Osaka. 141 | P a g e

o According to the WTA, the award is given to the coach with not only success on the court, but also one who serves as an ambassador of the sport. • SAIL Hockey Academy won 'Aga Khan Gold Cup' o Steel Authority of India's Hockey Academy won the 115th 'All India Aga Khan Gold Cup' hockey tournament 2018 in Delhi on 10 December 2018. o They defeated the Army XI Danapur in the final match. o SAIL's Hockey Academy is run SAIL's Steel Plant. o Aga Khan Gold Cup is one of the oldest hockey tournaments in the country.

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