Month: July 2016

India’s star boxer Vijender Singh added another feather to his cap of achievements by clinching the WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title. The 30-year-old player defeated the former WBC European champion Kerry Hope at Delhi’s Thyagraj Stadium and recorded his seventh straight win in the circuit.

Vijender, who has won India’s first Olympic medal for boxing, took all 10 rounds to dismantle the Welsh-born Australian Hope. He scored 98-92, 98-92, 100-90 to be the unanimous winner. He is now ranked 15th in the WBO rankings.

“This comes after a lot of hard work put in by me, my trainer, my team,” an emotional Vijender said after the win I thank my coach, my promoter and my team who have done a fantastic job.” He further added, “It’s not about myself, it’s about my nation, my country.”

An ecstatic Lee Beard who coached Vijender Singh showed his appreciation for the world champion, “When I first saw him, it took just 15 minutes for me to gauge that he will win a world title. I looked into his eyes and I saw a fire. Whatever he seems to focus on, he gets it. Of all the fighters I have trained, he is one of the best when it comes to learning; he is an extremely quick learner.”

It was Vijender’s first bout in his homeland after he turned professional last year. Delhi’s Thyagraj stadium was jam-packed with his fans cheering for him. Many celebrities like Randeep Hooda, Mary Kom, Virender Sehawag, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, and Rahul Gandhi were also present in the stadium to witness the epic win. As soon as the results were announced, Twitter flooded with congratulatory messages for the champion. Prime Minister and the President also congratulated Vijender for his classic win.

With a perfect finish in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie, the Indian Davis Cup team made its way to the World Group play-offs of the Davis Cup. The host nation’s team defeated its Korean rivals with a 4-1 lead.

Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna had already sealed the deal by taking a lead of 3-0, winning the only doubles-match against Seong Chan Hong and Hong Chung by 6-3 6-4 6-4. Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan had already won their respective singles.

The final day matches were played in Chandigarh where the humid climate proved to be a hassle for both the teams. While Yong-Kyu Lim prevented a Korean whitewash with a gritty 3-6 6-4 6-7(2) win over Ramkumar Ramanathan, Rohan Bopanna aced the match defeating Chung by 3-6 6-4 6-4. Despite losing the tie, the Koreans have to be credited for giving a tough fight to the Indians. Even though they were playing on a foreign land, they gave their best shot in every game.

After the final win, the Indian team celebrated by dancing on popular Bollywood number, much to the delight of their fans. This is the third time that Indian team has reached this stage in the game, they have lost play-offs twice – against Serbia (in 2014, Bangalore) and Czech Republic (in 2015, New Delhi). The team is all set to secure its position in the elite 16-nation World Group.

The one month long football festival, Euro Cup as always was a vivacious, dynamic and throbbing experience for the football fans all across the globe. Hosted by France from 10 June to 10 July, the fifteenth Euro Cup was an exciting event. It was for the first time that 24 teams participated in the event (only 16 teams used to participate earlier).

The final of the game showed that it is not necessary that the team with finest style of the play will win the tournament but the one which can survive against the odds. Portugal was not the best team contesting in the tournament and did not have a very strong team to support its bid for the cup. The team rode its luck all along the way with Ronaldo leading the team single handedly to the finale.

Ronaldo’s injury during the match came out as a soul-crushing shock for his fans. But Ronaldo’s exit from the field fared well for the team as the French team was proving quite menacing for them before that. And the change in field position got them into a stronger position to fight.

Cristiano Ronaldo was super excited about lifting the cup for the first time. He expressed his happiness by saying, “I am very happy. I have been looking for this for a long time, since 2004. I asked God for another chance at this because we deserved it,”

The Player of the Tournament award was given to the French player Antoine Griezmann and the Young Player of the Tournament award was conferred to Portugal Renato Sanches.

For his 6 goals and 2 assists, Antoine Griezmann was awarded with the Golden Boot too. The Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo was given the Silver Boot for his 3 goals and 3 assits while the Bronze Boot was given to French player Olivier Giroud for 3 goals and 2 assists. Hungarian player Zoltán Gera’s goal against Portugal was named as the goal of the tournament based on online voting.

The Indian Cricket Board has entrusted former skipper and ace spinner Anil Kumble with the responsibility to lead team India as head coach. Former Indian captain Anil Kumble will hold the post for one year. It is after 16 years that an Indian player is appointed as the head-coach of the team after Kapil Dev resigned in September 2000.

Kumble’s first assignment as the Head-coach of the blue-army will be to lead them for four-Test tour of the West Indies. “I have an opportunity to make a difference. I have an opportunity to be part of the journey and if I can be part of the journey where we see Indian cricket rise to where we all want it to be, then I think it’s wonderful. I feel privileged, like I already mentioned. It is an honor, again to be a part of the team.” Kumble said expressing his delight.

Announcing his appointment, the BCCI showed its immense belief in the caliber of the star cricketer and said, “As for the one-year period, Kumble is now transforming himself from being a great on the cricketing field to probably becoming a great coach that we expect him to be.”

Anil Kumble is one legendary cricketer. In a fabulous international career of 18 years, Kumble picked up 956 international scalps. He played 132 Tests taking 619 wickets at an average of 29.65 and was made the captain of test team in 2007. He is known for his best figures of 10 for 74 against Pakistan in Delhi in 1999. He is the highest Indian wicket taker in both Test matches and One-Day Internationals and is third in the international list behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne.

Even after his retirement from the field in 2008, Kumble’s connection with the cricket continued as he took up administrative roles. He was selected as president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association in November 2010. He also served as the chairman of National Cricket Academy in Bangalore and also got the privilege to head the BCCI’s technical committee.