National and International Sports Current Affairs of Last 6 Months (March - September)
National and International Sports Current Affairs:
- India won the 5-match One-Day International (ODI) series played against England by 3-1. The first match of the series was washed out due to rain without a ball being bowled. However, India won the second, third and fourth matches of the series but suffered a defeat by the hands of England in the fifth and the final match.
- Jaipur Pink Panther (JPP) owned by Abhisek Bachchan on 31 August 2014 won the inaugural title of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League. To win its first title of the tournament, Jaipur Pink Panther defeated U Mumba 35-24 at the NSCI Stadium in Mumbai.
- World number three tennis player, Roger Federer of Switzerland on 17 August 2014 won Cincinnati Tennis Open, also called Western & Southern Open. He defeated David Ferrer of Spain 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 in the final played in Cincinnati, US. This was sixth Cincinnati title for 33-year-old Federer and was the first Masters title for Federer since 2012.
- Rafael Nadal (rank no. 1) of Spain won the French Open title 2014 for the ninth time on 8 June 2014. He is the first men to win five French Open titles in a row. He won against Novak Djokovic (rank no. 2) of Yugoslavia with 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, and 6-4 in the final.
- Germany was ranked number One in the latest release of the FIFA's world rankings released on 17 July 2014. Germany improved its position by one places as it was ranked number two behind Spain until now.
- Australia won the 2014 edition of Men’s Hockey World Cup for second successive time. Australia won against the Netherlands with 6-1 in the final held at Kyocera Stadium in The Hague, Netherlands on 15 June 2014.
- The International Cricket Council (ICC) on 9 September 2014 suspended Saeed Ajmal, the off-spinner of Pakistan, from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect for illegal bowling action.
- Former Captain of Bangladesh Mohammad Ashraful on 18 June 2014 was banned for eight years by the disciplinary panel set up by the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
- Zimbabwe on 31 August 2014 defeated Australia for the first time in 31 years in the one-day match played at the Harare Sports Club. This was the first win for Zimbabwe since 1983 World Cup of Cricket in Trent Bridge.
- Kush Kumar on 13 August 2014 became the first Indian player to reach the semi-final of World Junior Squash Championship. The championship is being held in Windhoek, Namibia.
- Parupalli Kashyap on 3 August 2014 became the third Indian to win Gold medal in Badminton at Commonwealth Games (CWG). He achieved the feat at the 2014 CWG in Glasgow, Scotland when he defeated Derek Wong of Singapore. This was also his first Gold medal in any international tournament.
- Saina Nehwal, Indian badminton ace, on 29 June 2014 won 750000 US dollar Australian Open Super Series by defeating Carolina Marin of Spain in straight-game 21-18, 21-11 in final played at Sydney.
- Pankaj Advani, the Indian cueist on 29 June 2014 won his maiden IBSF 6-Red World snooker title at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. To win the title, he defeated Kacper Flilpiak of Poland in a game that lasted for an hour.
- Vikas Gowda of Karnataka on 31 July 2014 won a gold medal in discus throw in Men's Track events at 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow, Scotland.
- Dipa Karmakar on 31 July 2014 became the first Indian woman gymnast and second person of the country to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games. She bagged a bronze in the vault event and scripted history for and in India.
- Sim Bhullar became the first basketball player of Indian origin to join the National Basketball Association (NBA). He signed a summer contract in second week of July 2014 with the Sacramento Kings, a professional basketball team in the US.
- Wrestlers Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil Kumar on 1 June 2014 won Gold and Silver respectively at the International wrestling tournament held in Sassari city of Italy.
- Paralympic swimmer Sharath Gayakwad won two Bronze and one Silver at the IDM Berlin 2014. He won Bronze Medals in the 200m Individual Medley (2:44.06 seconds) and the 100m Butterfly (1:09.67 seconds) and won the Silver Medal in the 100m Breaststroke.
- The 151st edition of the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack published on 9 April 2014 carries a picture of Sachin Tendulkar on its cover page. With this Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian cricketer, who retired from International cricket in November 2013 and ended his glorious 24-year long career, became the 1st Indian cricketer to be featured on the cover page of the Almanack.
- Iwao Hakamada, the Japanese boxer on 6 April 2014 was awarded with an honorary championship belt by World Boxing Council (WBC). Hakamada was freed from death row on 27 March 2014 after 48 years in prison following a murder conviction.
- Heena Sindhu, the Indian shooter on 7 April 2014 clinched the World’s Number One spot in 10 meters air pistol event. By achieving this fete, she became the first Indian pistol shooter to be ranked at the top position in the list.
- Heena Sidhu on 10 March 2014 won the Gold medal in the Women’s Air pistol event at the 7th Asian Air Gun Championship in Kuwait.
- Pooja Ghatkar, Indian shooter on 9 March 2014 won the Gold medal in women’s air rifle event at the 7th Asian Air Gun Championship in Kuwait.
- Sachin Tendulkar on 14 March 2014 was voted as the Cricketer of the Generation by a 50-member jury that comprised current and former cricketers and journalists. To win the award, Sachin defeated his competitors spin legend Shane Warne and all-rounder Jacques Kallis.
- Indian shuttler, Arvind Bhat won the men’s singles German Open Grand Prix title against Danish Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 24-22 19-21 21-11 in Mulheim an der Ruhr, Germany on 3 March 2014.
Commonwealth Games:
- 20th Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2014 concluded at Hampden Park stadium in Glasgow, Scotland on 3 August 2014 at. The game that saw 17 sports in a competition of 11 days was held from 23 July to 3 August 2014.
- Olympic Gold medalist Abhinav Bindra on 25 July 2014 won the Gold medal in Men’s 10-m Air Rifle event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland He shot 205.3 points to win the Gold.
- Weightlifters Sukhen Dey and K Sanjita Chanu on 24 July 2014 clinched a Gold Medal each in weightlifting in the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. In all, India won seven medals on the first day of Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
US Open:
- Croatia’s Marin Cilic on 8 September 2014 won the Men’s Singles title of the US Open of Tennis. To win his first Grand Slam title, the 14th seed Cilic defeated 10th seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. The final match of the title was played at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.
- World number one Serena Williams on 7 September 2014 won her third consecutive Tennis US Open trophy. To win her third consecutive title and to secure a record-equaling sixth US Open title in US Open, Williams defeated Caroline Wozniazki of Denmark in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
- India’s Sania Mirza and her Brazilian teammate Bruno Soares on 5 September 2014 won the Mixed Doubles trophy of the US Open Tennis. In the title clash, the top seeded, Indo-Brazilian pair defeated the American-Mexican team of Abigail Spears and Santiago Gonzalez, 6-1, 2-6, 11-9. The US Open is the fourth and final Grand Slam of the season.
- American twin brothers Mike and Bob Bryan on 7 September 2014 won the men’s doubles titles of the US Tennis Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, USA.
Wimbledon Tennis:
- Petra Kvitova of Czechslovakia on 5 July 2014 won the women’s single of Wimbledon Tennis Open of 2014. To win her second title, she defeated the Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0.
- Novak Djokovic of Serbia on 6 July 2014 won the Men’s Wimbledon Tennis Open defeating Roger Federer of Switzerland. This is the second Wimbledon title for 27-year-old, Djokovic and seventh career Grand Slam. Djokovic won his first Wimbledon title in 2011.
- Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock won the Men's Doubles of Wimbledon Tennis Open of 2014.
- Sara Errani and Roberta Vinvi won the Women's Doubles of Wimbledon Tennis Open of 2014.
- Nanad Zimonjic and Samantha Stosur won the Mixed Double's of Wimbledon Tennis Open of 2014.
Appointments:
- Adille Sumariwala, President of Athletics Federation of India (AFI), was appointed as the Chef-de-Mission for Asian Games on 18 August 2014. He was appointed by Indian Olympic Association to represent India in the Asian Games 2014.
- Midfielder Ritu Rani was selected to lead Indian women's hockey team in Asian Games 2014. It was announced by a panel comprising B P Govinda, Harbinder Singh and Surinder Kaur along with Director High Performance Roelant Oltmans and chief coach Neil Hawgood on 3 September 2014.
- The Board of Cricket Control India (BCCI) appointed Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri as the Director of Indian Cricket Team on 19 August 2014. The decision came after seeing defeat of Indian Cricket Team in Test series against England.
- Former Indian cricketer Kapil Dev Nikhanj was selected as the Chairperson of the Arjuna Awards Selection Committee on 7 August 2014. This Committee will choose outstanding sportspersons for 2014 of the Country. This Committees will have 15 members which includes12 sportspersons and 3 officials
- Indian tennis star Sania Mirza was appointment as Brand Ambassador of Telangana on 22 July 2014. Sania Mirza will promote the new state’s interests in India and abroad.
- Sachin Tendulkar on 27 May 2014 was selected as the goodwill ambassador of 35th National Games that is scheduled to be held in Kerala from January-February 2015. The games will be held in seven cities of the state.
- Hockey India on 19 April 2014 appointed former senior coach Harendra Singh as the coach of the junior men's team. Harendra will join the training camp of the team on 25 April 2014.
- Cheteshwar Pujara, the middle order batsman of Indian cricket team on 20 February 2014 was appointed as the brand ambassador of the Gujarat State Election Commission.
- Three-time Olympian and former Hockey Captain Ajitpal Singh was selected as the Chairman of the Dronacharya Award Selection Committee on 7 August 2014.
Records:
- Yohann Diniz of France broke the 50-km Walk World Record at the European Athletics Championship held in Zurich, Switzerland. He broke the record with a timing of 3 Hours 32 Minutes and 33 Seconds.
- Katie Ledecky, an American distance swimmer on 23 August 2014 created a World Record in Women’s 1500 Meter Freestyle at the 2014 Pan Pac Championships on the Gold Coast, Australia. To create the new record Ledecky swam the distance in 15 minutes 28.36 seconds.
- Jo Pavey of Great Britain became the oldest-ever woman to win a Gold medal in European Championships. She achieved this feat when she won Gold medal in 10000 meter running at European Championship 2014 in Zurich, Switzerland on 12 August 2014.
- German Sabine Lisicki on 30 June 2014 created a record of fastest serve in the women’s tennis. The world No29 Lisicki set the record by serving at 131 miles per hour during the first-round loss in the Bank of the West Classic Stanford, USA. However, she lost the game played against Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (7-2) 6-1.
Retirements:
- Pankaj Advani on 5 September 2014 announced to retire from the professional snooker tour. He decided to retire as he was finding it difficult to divide the time between billiards and snooker. However, he will continue to participate in Billiards.
- Miroslav Klose of Germany announced his retirement from international football on 11 August 2014. He was the part of Germany team that won the FIFA World Cup 2014 held in Brazil.
- Didier Drogba, the striker of Ivory Coast announced retirement from international football on 8 August 2014. The 36-year-old Drogba played in three World Cups for his country and made 104 appearances and scored 65 goals, over a 12-year period.
- Jacques Kallis, the South African all-rounder on 30 July 2014 announced his retirement from all-formats of International cricket, viz., One Day Internationals and T20s. In December 2013, he had announced his retirement from Test cricket after playing the Test series against India. But he would continue to play further for club cricket like Sydney Thunder and Kolkata Knight Riders.
- Philipp Lahm, the captain of Germany’s football team announced his retirement from international game on 18 July 2014. He announced his retirement just five days after Germany led by him won its fourth football World Cup beating Argentina 1-0 in the final of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
- Mahela Jayawardene, the former skipper of Sri Lankan cricket team, announced his retirement from Test cricket on 14 July 2014. He will retire from Test Cricket after the home series against Pakistan in August 2014.
- Gareth Hopkins the former New Zealand wicketkeeper on 11 April 2014 announced his retirement from cricket. He announced his retirement after a career spanning over 17 years.
- Graeme Smith, the South African cricket team Captain on 4 March 2014 announced that he will retire from international cricket at the end of the test match against Australia at Newlands. Smith is the longest serving captain for South Africa in international cricket.
Deaths:
- Sir Jack Brabham, the three-time Formula One world champion died on 19 May 2014 at his home in Australia after a long illness. He was 88.
- Former British No 1 tennis player, Elena Baltacha died on 4 May 2014 due to liver cancer at the age of 30. She was diagnosed of liver cancer in January 2014.
- Rusi Dinshaw, the only Parsi Community cricketer of Pakistan died on 24 March 2014 in Karachi. He was 86 and was suffering from schizophrenia.
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