Sports

CRICKET

Indian Women Cricket Team defeated Bangladesh Women 3-0

Indian Women made a clean sweep in the three-match Bangladesh Women in India One Day International Cricket Series, 2012/13 against Bangladesh on 12 April 2013 after winning the third and the final match at Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad. India defeated Bangladesh by 58 runs in the third match.

Scores of the third Match India Women: 154 all out in 48.3 overs

Highest run getters from India were Swagatika Rath scored 30 runs and Harmanpreet Kaur scored 29 runs

Bangladesh Women: 96 all out in 41.1 overs

Highest Run getter from Bangladesh was Salma Khatun scored 22 runs

Before the ODI series, the Indian women also made a clean sweep T20 international series against Bangladesh Women with 3-0 on 5 April 2013.

Indian Women’s Cricket Team Won the Twenty20 International Series against Bangladesh

The Indian women’s cricket team finished the Twenty20 International series against Bangladesh Women with 3-0 clean sweep in Vadodara in the final match on 5 April 2013. India won the final match by 10 runs against Bangladesh. The second game was won by India by seven wickets, thereby winning the series already. The T-20 International series against Bangladesh began on 2 April 2013. India and Bangladesh women’s cricket team will now play three One-Day Internationals. The first ODI will be played on 8 April 2013 in Ahmadabad.

Facts about India and Bangladesh Twenty20 International series

• The first match was played on 2 April 2013 at Vadodra. The score was- India Women 143/3 (20/20 ov); Bangladesh Women 94/7 (20/20 ov).
• The second match was played on 4 April 2013 at Vadodra. The score was- Bangladesh Women 88/4 (20/20 ov); India Women 91/3 (18/20 ov).
• The third match was played on 5 April 2013 at Vadodra. The score was- India Women 123/9 (20/20 ov); Bangladesh Women 113/7 (20/20 ov).

ICC Test Rankings

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin are the only two Indian Cricketers to figure out among the top-10 in the latest ICC Test Rankings in batting and bowling respectively released on 21 April 2013. Pujara with 777 ranking points retained his position at number seven in the batting chart of the ICC rankings released. Ashwin was static at the sixth position in the list of top ten bowlers with 757 points. Hashim Amla, the South African batsman was listed as the top ranking batsman in the list and is followed by Shivnarine Chanderpaul of West Indies and A B de Villiers of South Africa. While in the rankings of bowlers, Dale Steyn, the South African pace spearhead was ranked as the best bowler with 905 ranking points. Dale Steyn is followed by his teammate Vernon Philander and Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath. In context of the test-playing all-rounder’s there was no change in the ranking. Jacques Kallis of South Africa remained at first position and is followed by Shakib. The gap between the points of these two increased by 35 points. The Captain of Zimbabwe, Brendan Taylor earned his career best 29th position in the rankings with his undefeated feat of 171 and 102 not out against Bangladesh. He jumped 49 positions to grab this position.

Shane Watson Stepped Down as Vice-Captain

The Australian Cricketer and all-rounder player, Shane Watson on 20 April 2013 stepped down from the position of Vice-Captain of the Australian International test Cricket team. His decision came up before the Champions League and the Ashes Series that is scheduled to be organized in England in July 2013.

TENNIS

India completed a 5-0 Whitewash of Indonesia

India completed a 5-0 whitewash of Indonesia in the Asia-Oceania Group I Davis Cup relegation play-off tie in Bangalore on 7 April 2013 as Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri posted straight-set wins in their respective reverse singles. Somdev outplayed David Agung Susant 6-3 6-1 in little over an hour while Yuki Bhambari registered a thumping 6-0 6-1 victory over Wisnu Adi Nugroho. India stay in Asia Oceania Group-I and will strive to qualify for the World Group in 2014. India had already retained their place in the group, after they took a lead of 3-0 on 6 April 2013.

Women’s Tennis Ranking

American Serena Williams was ranked number one in an unchanged top 10 issued on 8 April 2013 by the WTA(Women Tennis Association). Williams has 11,115 points to her credit while Russia’s Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus got 10240 and 9325 points respectively. WTA top 10 women tennis players are as following: (1) Serena Williams, United States, 11115 points (2) Maria Sharapova, Russia, 10240 (3) Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 9325 (4) Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland, 6845 (5) Li Na, China, 5880 (6) Angelique Kerber, Germany, 5500 (7) Sara Errani, Italy, 5405 (8) Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic, 5225 (9) Samantha Stosur, Australia, 3790 (10) Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark, 3760.

Monterrey Open Tennis Tournament 2013

Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won final of the Monterrey Open Tennis Tournament after defeating Germany’s top-seeded Angelique Kerber 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 on 7 April 2013. With this, her International-level tournament record remained intact with 15-0. She won the Monterrey Open Tennis Tournament all the three times she played it. She played the Monterrey Open in 2010, 2011 and 2013. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has overall four WTA titles of her career. The doubles title of Monterrey Open Tennis Tournament was won by Kimiko Date-Krumm and Timea Babos, who defeated Tamarine Tanasugarn and Eva Birnarova 6-1 6-4.

After the victory, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won a cheque of 40000 US dollar as well as 280 ranking points. Angelique Kerber on the other hand got a cheque of 20000 US dollar and 200 ranking points. Monterrey Open Tennis Tournament is one among the main tennis tournaments of Mexico. Other important Mexican tennis tournament is Acapulco Open which was won by Italy’s Sara Errani and Spain’s Rafael Nadal in March 2013.

Miami Masters open Tennis Tournament 2013

World No. 1 Serena Williams on 30 March 2013 won Miami masters open Tennis Tournament for record sixth time in Key Biscayne. Serena Williams claimed the record equaling sixth title by winning the last 10 games to sweep by Maria Sharapova 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. By winning the title, Serena Williams joined Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova as the only women to have won the same event six times.

Miami Masters 2013 Men’s

British second seed Andy Murray on 31 March 2013 won the ATP Miami Masters by defeating Spanish third seed David Ferrer by 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/1) in Miami, Florida. It was Andy Murray’s 26th career tour title, and second of the year after having wining the Brisbane International in a tough two hours and 45 minutes. David Ferrer collapsed with a cramp two points from the finish and Murray took a stagger earlier in the final set.

Family Circle Cup 2013

Current women’s world No. 1 Serena Williams won the Family Circle Cup, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 in Charleston, S.C. on 7 April 2013. She defeated Jelena Jankovic in three sets of the final match. This is the second straight title of Serena Williams at WTA event and third overall.
Serena Williams, 31, won her two straight singles tournament after defeating Maria Sharapova at the Sony Tennis Open in Miami. In all, she has three single titles in 2013 along with 49 of her career. In January 2013, she won WTA Brisbane International and Sony Tennis Open in Miami for sixth time in March 2013.
She is a 15-time Grand Slam champion. She will play for European clay-court season as well as the year’s second Slam event, the 2013 French Open that will commence in late May 2013.

Indian Tennis Players Association

The Indian Tennis Players Association (ITPA) Secretary, Karti P Chidambaram on 14 April 2013 announced that the tennis star player, Sania Mirza became one of the Vice-Presidents of ITPA. Sania Mirza now became one of the four Vice-Presidents of Indian Tennis Players Association, which is a newly-formed body.
Other three Vice-Presidents of the body are Somdev Devvarman, Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes. Former Davis Cup captain Jaideep Mukherjea is the President of the Association. Sania Mirza is the first female player from India who won a Grand Slam. She now plays in doubles only.

Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Tournament

Novak Djokovic on 21 April 2013 defeated Rafekl Nadal in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tournament at Monte-Carlo, Monaco. With this win in the Monte-Carlo Tournament, Djokovic ended Nadal’s eight-year reign in the tournament as well as 46 match winning streak in the Monte-Carlo Clay Court Masters tournament.

Djokovic defeated Nadal with 6-2, 7-6 (1) in the game that lasted for 1 hour and 52 minutes and for Djokovic. He lost to Nadal in Monte Carlo 2009 and 2012 tournament and became the first player to defeat the king of clay court Nadal in three different finals on clay; previously he defeated Nadal in Madrid and Rome in 2011.

Nadal’s eight straight titles in the row is the record for the tournament in ATP. Djokovic also ended the 81 match winning streak of Nadal on the clay court in April 2013, before this Nadal last lost a match on clay court on 8 April 2005 in the Valencia quarter finals to Igor Andreev.
This is the first Monte-Carlo title and 14th ATP world Masters 1000 titles with overall 37 trophies for Djokovic. With this win, he has won every ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title except the Western and Southern Open Cincinnati.

Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters

The Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters is also known as the Gem of the Mediterranean. The event celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2006 and is first among all the three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments that are played on the clay court.

The tournament is a player and fan favourite due to its magnificent location and long tradition of champions. Rafael Nadal of Spain won an Open Era record eight successive title from 2005-2012 and has a staggering event record of 48-2.

HOCKEY

Gregg Clark as the Coach of the Junior Men’s National Team

Hockey India on 7 April 2013 named South African Gregg Clark as the chief coach of the junior men’s national team. He had coached the South African senior men’s team for seven years including the 2008 and 2012 Olympics earlier. He also coached the title-winning Ranchi Rhinos in the inaugural edition of the Hockey India League (HIL) in 2013. Clark was appointed for a period of one year but the contract can be renewed. The junior Hockey World Cup will be held in India in December 2013.

Hockey India formed a High Performance and Development Committee for 2013-14

Hockey India on 9 April 2013 announced its High Performance and Development Committee for 2013-14.
The 15 member committee will be headed by Dr Narinder Batra Secretary General of Hockey India and High Performance Director, Hockey India Roelant Oltmans will be the Vice-Chairman. The committee has Ajit Pal Singh (former Captain of 1975 World Cup winning team), Col. Balbir Singh (former Olympian and National Selector), Dilip Tirkey (former Captain and Member Rajya Sabha), Sukhvir Singh Grewal, Thoiba Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Dr RP Singh, Surinder Kaur, Saba Anjum, Michael Nobbs (Chief Coach, National Senior Men Hockey Team), Neil Hawgood (Chief Coach, National Senior Women Hockey Team) and Gregg Clark (Coach, National Junior Men Hockey Team) as its members. Ms Elena Norman, CEO, Hockey India will be the Convenor of this Committee. The Sports Authority of India will be the Invitee Members of this Committee.

This committee will work on the high performance and development of hockey at grassroot level in the country. Committee will prepare blueprints and ensures that same pattern of coaching will be followed in the country at all levels. Since the appointment of Roelant Oltmans as Director, High Performance by Hockey India it was a necessary step to form this Committee so as to ensure that the game of hockey progresses in the country at all levels. Dr Narinder Batra, Chairman, High Performance and Development Committee and Secretary General, Hockey India said that the idea of involving former Olympians, International players and Chief Coaches in this Committee is to get more and more ideas for proper planning in the development of the game.The Committee will meet quarterly to discuss the progress and share new ideas.

North Zone Sub-Junior National Championship

Chandigarh on 15 April 2013 defeated Punjab by 2-1 to lift the third Hockey India Sub-Junior Men National Championship (North Zone) title in the final match held at Sonepat. Harmeet Singh and Manjinder Singh scored one goal each for Chandigarh, whereas Kawaljit Singh scored one goal for Punjab. Meanwhile, Haryana women won the 3rd Hockey India Sub-Junior Women National Championship (North Zone) title. The Women team of Haryana defeated Chandigarh by 3-1 in the final to capture the title. Udita scored two goals and Navpreet Kaur scored one for Haryana to win the title. Navneet Kaur of Haryana scored maximum 9 goals in the complete tournament to stay at the top in the list.

F1/MOTOR SPORTS

Mercedes-Benz and Sahara Force India Signed a Long-Term Agreement

Mercedes-Benz and Sahara Force India signed a long-term agreement for the Silverstone-based team on 28 March 2013 in order to make use of the full powertrain of Mercedes-Benz from 2014 season onwards. According to the agreement, Mercedes-Benz will facilitate Force India with the complete Power Unit, all associated ancillary systems as well as transmission, in accordance with the new regulations for 2014. Power Unit refers to internal combustion engine plus energy recovery system. Mercedes-Benz started supplying customer engine in 2009 with Silverstone-based team. This engine-supplying relationship has now entered the fifth season. Force India announced that long-term agreement with Mercedes-Benz would also include supplying gearboxes and hydraulic systems. The gearboxes and hydraulic systems are, as of now being provided by McLaren Applied Technologies.

Bahrain Grand Prix 2013

Sebastian Vettel, the three times World Formulae One champion from Germany won the Bahrain Grand Prix 2013 on 21 April 2013 by defeating Lotus drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. The Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel started the race from second position but successfully grabbed the first position in the 17th Lap to beat the two Kimi Raikkonen by 9 seconds and Grosjean by 20 seconds. He crossed Paul di Resta of Force India for third with five laps. Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes took fifth position and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, who suffered a rear wing failure, was successful in grabbing the eighth position in the listings.