APRIL 2013 SPORTS NEWS

AUSTRALIA CLINCHES ITS ICC WOMEN’S WORLD CUP TROPHY

Australia won the ICC Women's World Cup Trophy after defeating West Indies by 114 runs on February 17, 2013 at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Australia clinched the title for the sixth time in the history of Women's Cricket World Cup it last

won the title in 2005.

Australia scored 259 runs (this is the highest score in Women's World Cup Final) at the loss of 7 wickets in 50 overs and West Indies lost all its wickets at the score of 145.

Player of the tournament was New Zealand’s SUZIE BATES for scoring 407 runs with three half-centuries and a ton at an average of 67.83 in the Series. The Australian all rounder Lisa Sthalekar announced her retirement from International cricket after the Australian women’s cricket team won the World Cup title 2013. She made her debut in the international cricket in       2001 in an ODI match against England till her retirement she managed to play 125 one day internationals, 8 tests and 54 women T-20 international matches.

·        First World Cup was played in    the year 1973 at England, the final      was played between England and Australia, England won the match by 92 runs.

·        Second World Cup was played   in India in the year 1978 India, England and Australia were the teams in the finals, Australia won the match by 8 wickets.

·        Third World Cup was played in 1982 at New Zealand. England and Australia were the team in the final match; Australia won it by 3 wickets.

·        In 1988 venue for the Fourth        World  Cup  was  played  in           Australia. The final was played          between Australia and England;   Australia won it by 3 wickets.

Captain of England Women's Cricket  team,  Charlotte  Edwards became the first women to pass 5000 runs in one-day international after hitting 121 runs of 106 balls in the semi-final   match   against   New Zealand.

England Wins the Twenty-20 Cricket Series Against New Zealand England defeated host New Zealand in the third and last Twenty-20 Cricket match played at Wellington on Feb. 15, 2013 to win the Series 2-1. England bowled first and they restricted the Kiwis to 139-8 and later achieved the winning target with 44 balls remaining. The Second Twenty-20 was played at Hamilton on February 12, 2013 in which New Zealand defeated England by 55 runs to level the three matches Twenty-20 International Series at 1-1.

The First Twenty-20 was played at Auckland on February      9,      2013 which as  won by  England.  It defeated New Zealand by 40 runs. Sachin   Tendulkar   Equals Sunil Gavaskar's Record of 81 Centuries   in   First   Class Cricket Sachin Tendulkar on February 8, 2013        equaled the record of Sunil Gavaskar of 81 first class hundreds in first  class  cricket at  Mumbai.   He managed to equal Gavaskar's record after  scoring  an

unbeaten 140 runs in   Irani   Trophy against   Rest   of India in the first innings of the tournament of Mumbai team.

SOUTH AFRICA ACHIEVES THE TOP SPOT IN ICC RANKINGS FOR TEST CRICKET

International  Cricket  Council, ICC rankings for test cricket was released on February 4, 2013 in Dubai. South Africa emerged as the World Number One team in the category and is followed by England, Australia, Pakistan and India. In the latest rankings released by the ICC Hashim Amla,  the South African batsman has emerged as the best batsman in the category and with this he became the first batsman to hold the number one dice in both Test and One-Day format of the game since 2007, before this Ricky Ponting was the cricketer to hold this position. Michael Clarke, the Australian batsman was ranked at second position in the ranking.

INDIA MAINTAINS THEIR NUMBER ONE SPOT IN THE ICC ODI CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE

India maintained their number one spot in the ICC ODI Championship table  in the  latest  rankings issued in Dubai on February 11, 2013. Both India and England have same 119 rating points, but England lags behind on the basis of decimal points. Australia and South Africa follow the top two teams closely with 116 and 112 points respectively. Among   the   batsmen,   South African run machine Hashim Amla is at number one followed by fellow countryman A. B. Devilliers. India's Virat  Kohli  is  at  number  three followed  closely by  the  skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Among the bowlers, Pakistan off spinner Saeed Ajmal  maintains  his  top  billing

followed by Mohammad Hafeez. In the all rounder's category, Pakistan

skipper Mohammed Hafeez is the leader  followed  by  Bangladesh's

Shakib Al Hasan.

GLENN MCGRATH AND CHARLIE TURNER JOIN AUSTRALIAN CRICKET HALL OF FAME

Glenn  McGrath  and  Charlie Turner, the renowned fast bowlers were  unanimously  chosen to be inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame on February 3, 2013.

Hall of fame Chairman David Crow declared that these two pace bowlers were inducted officially at Allan Border Medal ceremonies on Feb. 4, 2013. McGrath has a test career spanning 14 years over 124         matches.  The highest   tally   of McGrath   is       563 wickets at    21.64. This is the fourth highest tally of all times. McGrath was also the winner of Allan Border Medal in 2000. He was inducted in ICC Hall of Fame in December 2012.
          Charlie Turner, on the other hand, took 6-15 on test debut at Sydney in 1887. He died in 1944.

Turner took 101 wickets at 16.53 in 17 test matches between the time period of 1887 and 1895.

FOOTBALL

FIFA CONFIRMS USE OF GOAL LINE TECHNOLOGY AT THE 2014 WORLD CUP

Federation  Internationale  de Football  Association (FIFA)   on February 19, 2013 confirmed the use of goal-line technology during the 2014 FIFA World Cup to be organised in Brazil. It also stated that the technology could be introduced in the next seasons Premier League. FIFA had invited tenders from more service providers of the technology to conduct an official bidding ahead of the Confederations Cup to be held in June 2013.

GOAL-LINE TECHNOLOGY (GLT)

Goal-Line Technology is a technology that is used to determine the fact that has the ball passed the goal line or not with the support of an electronic device to help the referee decided to take a call that either it

was a goal or not.

TENNIS

RAFAEL  NADAL  WINS  BRAZIL OPEN 2013

Rafael Nadal on February 17, 2013 won the finals of Brazil Open 2013 by defeating Argentinean David Nalbandian in straight sets by 6-2, 6-3 in Sao Paolo. He won the tournament for the second time; he won it for the first time in 2005.

This was the second tournament for the former World Number 1 Spanish tennis star after returning back from to the game after seven months. He was absent from the game due to the knee injury that he suffered from.

SERENA WILLIAMS BECOMES THE NEW WORLD NUMBER ONE

WOMEN'S TENNIS PLAYER

Serena Williams became the new World Number One women's tennis player. Serena Williams who is aged 31 years thrashed Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 and reached Semifinals of Qatar Open Tennis Championship in Doha.

On entering the semi-finals, she achieved the top position after a period of two and a half years.

Serena   Williams will compete against Maria Sharapova in the Semi-finals on Feb. 16, 2013. Maria Sharapova reached semi finals after defeating Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-4.

Serena Williams (31 years, 4 months, 24 days) is now the oldest woman tennis player to hold number 1 ranking. She broke the record of Chris Evert (30 years, 11 months, 3 days) of USA.

MILOS RAONIC WINS THIRD CONSECUTIVE SAP OPEN 2013 SINGLES TITLE

Milos Raonic on February 17, 2013 won SAP Open 2013 at San Jose defeating Tommy Haas in the championship match. Milos Raonic completed the tournament with 6-4, 6-3 victory over Haas. Raonic  won third straight  SAP  Open singles titles. With this victory, he became first player   to   grab   the trophy for three years consecutively,   since Tony Trabert in 1953-55.

On the other hand, in   SAP Open         2013doubles  final,  Xavier Malisse  and   Frank Moser beat Lleyton Hewitt and Marinko Matosevic 6-0, 6-7(5), 10-4 to lift the trophy.

MARINA ERAKOVIC WINS HER FIRST W.T.A. TITLE IN US NATIONAL INDOOR TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP 2013

Marina Erakovic won her first Women's Tennis Association title, US National Indoor Tennis Championship        2013 after beating Germany's Sabine Lisicki in Memphis on February 23, 2013. The match merely took place for one set with Marina Erakovic winning 6-1 and Sabine Lisicki unable to begin due to illness.

·        With  this   victory,  Erakovic          became the first women from New Zealand to win WTA Title since Belinda Cordwell in Singapore in 1989.

·        This is her first career victory.

HORACIO ZEBAIIOSS WINS VTR OPEN 2013

World No. 73      Horacio Zeballos defeated Rafael Nadal 6-7(2), 7-6(6), 6-4 to win his first ATP World Tour trophy in VTR Open 2013 on Feb. 10, 2013 in Vina del Mar, Chile in Men's Singles. Horacio  Zeballos became the second first-time winner in ATP World Tour 2013. The first one was Australian Bernard Tomic who won at Apia International Sydney.  27-year-old   Horacio  Zeballos knocked all the four seeded opponents to grab the title. Apart from Nadal, he defeated fourth seed Pablo Andujar, fifth seed Albert Ramos and eighth seed Carlos Berlocq.

Rafael Nadal, additionally also lost in Men's Doubles after he and Juan Monaco of Argentina lost to Italians Paolo Lorenzi and Potito Starace (6-2, 6-4).

HOCKEY

RANCHI RHINOS WINS INAUGURAL HOCKEY INDIA LEAGUE

Ranchi Rhinos  Beat  Delhi Waveriders 2-1 to win the inaugural Hockey India League (HIL) in the match at Astroturf Hockey Stadium on February 10, 2013. Apart from winning the trophy, Ranchi Rhinos took away Rs. 2.5 crore. Runners-up Delhi Waveriders on the other hand, pocketed? 1.25 crore. Uttar Pradesh Wizards that completed in the third place took away Rs.75 lakh. Uttar Pradesh Wizards defeated Punjab Warriors 4-3 to claim third position. Mumbai Magicians player Sandeep  Singh hit maximum goals (11) in the tournament.

The awards given away in the Hockey India League (HIL) were as

follows :

•  Hero Goal of the Day : Manpreet        Singh

•  Man of the  Match : Mauritz        Furtse

•  Winners  (Prize         Money Rs. 25000000) : Ranchi Rhinos

•  Runners-up     (Prize   Money Rs. 12500000) : Delhi Waveriders

•  Third Place      (Prize  Money Rs. 7500000)          :         Uttar   Pradesh Wizards

•  Fair-Play Award : Ranchi Rhinos

•  Hero Player of the Tournament (Rs. 2500000) : Sardar Singh

•   Pority Chadha Trophy for Up-   coming Player of the Tournament          (Rs.          2000000) :  Mandeep Singh

•   Airtel Award for Most Goals in the Tournament   (Rs.   1000000) Delhi Waveriders

CHESS

VISWANATHAN  ANAND  WINS GRENKE CHESS CLASSIC TROPHY

Viswanathan Anand, the World Champion in Chess from India won the Grenke Chess Classic Trophy of 2013 after defeating Arkadij Naiditsch from Germany on February 17, 2013. To secure his win in the Grenke Chess Classic, Anand also defeated  Fabiano Caruana from Italy. This was his first title of the year. The   43-year-old Anand, managed to take a 49 move win against Arkadij with his black pieces to claim the title for his all tournament title in five years. Anand last won a title in March 2008 at Linares, when he topped the field with 8.5 points in the eight player field. In January 2013, Anand finished at third position in the Tata Steel at Wijkaan Zee in although he lost the first round to Wang Hao from China.

PSPB MEN RETAIN THEIR CROWN

Petroleum Sports   Promotion Board (PSPB) men retained the title while Air India emerged champion in the women's section of the National Team Chess Championship on Feb. 26,2013.

In the final round, PSPB, coached by D. V. Prasad and with all the Grandmasters-Abhijeet Gupta, B. Adhiban, S. P. Sethuraman and M. R. Lalith Babu-in action, made short work of Air India to record a 3.5-0-5 victory  to  keep  its  slate  clean, winning all the nine matches. PSPB finished with   18     points.  Indian Railways 'B' and 'A' teams took the second and third place respectively.

In the women's section, favourite Air India, comprising WGMs  S. Vijayalakshmi, S. Meenakshi. Tania Sachdev and Bhakti   Kulkarni, ensured that there were no dramatic twists in the final round when it scored an easy 3.5-0.5 win over a relatively inexperienced Tamil Nadu to finish with 14 points. For the latter, the only consolation was when Vaishali held Bhakti to a draw. On the second table, defending champion Airports Authority of India posted a convincing 4-0 win over a young AP side to finish second.

GOLF

TIGER WOODS WINS HIS 75TH PGA TOUR TITLE

Tiger Woods on January 29, 2013 won his 75th PGA Tour title in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Woods entered into the fifth day of play with a six-shot lead over his closest competitors, Brandt Snedeker   and   Nick Watney. Although, he was far from his fluent best and he dropped four strokes in three holes from the 15th, it did not stop his progress to victory and he finished on 14 under par. He parred his first five holes without any problem before birdieing the 13th after two putting from 52 feet.

Woods dropped another shot on the 17th and missed a 15ft birdie putt on the last, however, his level par 72 was enough to secure him victory.

Snedeker had just five holes to try and put any type of pressure on Woods, but he could produce no late wonderful stint and had to settle for a final-round 69 and a tie for second place alongwith Josh Teater, who also

carded a three-under-par round.

Watney was placed at the best position to challenge Woods but four

bogeys in 10 holes undermined his effort and he finished in joint fourth, alongside Jimmy Walker on nine under.

American duo Rickie Fowler and Robert Garrigus and Australia's Aaron Baddeley finished a shot further back.

INDIA CLINHES 46 MEDALS IN 2013 PYEONGCHANG SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD WINTER GAMES