Category: Sports

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.

The former Brazilian defender and a Real Madrid star-player Roberto Carlos reinforced the close ties between Brazil and the UAE with his attendance at the concluding night of the fourth Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Ramadan Sports Tournament. Carlos was a special guest at the final of Futsal competition in Dubai where Al Joker was crowned as the winner.

Carlos was excited to be present at the nail-biting finale of the Futsal competition and asserted that he is a keen follower of the Futsal games. He emphasized on the development of Futsal at the foundation level among the young players as it can improve their skills a lot. “Nearly every great footballer has played futsal at some point of his life. Futsal gives you the basics and we need to encourage our youngsters to play futsal during their growing years. Futsal is the right sport that can only be helpful in aiding the development of players,” the ace footballer insisted.

He also acknowledges football as the biggest bond connecting the two nations. “Football and football players have long been the biggest ambassadors for Brazil all over the world. I feel proud to be at this wonderful sports complex and witness such an exciting and close final between two great teams,” Carlos said during an interview at the event. “One of the salient points in developing football has been this Brazilian connection with countries all over the world, and I am pleased to see this close connection between the UAE and Brazil,” he added.

In an 11 year long club career with the Real Madris, Carlos played a total of 584 matches matches in all competitions and scored 71 goals, in the process winning for La Liga titles and three Uefa Champions League crowns. The annual Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament takes place during Ramadan each year. A number of exciting sports competitions like paddle tennis, archery, volleyball, and running are organized to celebrate the spirit of Ramadan as developing the mind and body are integral parts of the month. The tournament this year was held under a new theme ‘Limitless Abilities’ in keeping with the aim to encourage sports for special needs athletes.

Keeping the increasing popularity of Badminton in the region in view, the UAE formed a new governing body to oversee the ongoing development of the game. The UAE Tennis Association now rechristened as the UAE Table Tennis and Badminton Association will enhance the governance, administration, grassroots development and event delivery for both sports by sharing the resources.

The formation of the governing body, facilitated by Falcon and Associates, was announced by His Excellency Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council, and His Excellency Dawood Al Hajri, President of the UAE Table Tennis Association, with the Badminton World Federation President Poul-Erik Hoyer witnessing this important event.

His Excellency Saeed Hareb, who is also Chairman of the BWF Dubai World Superseries Finals Organising Committee, commented on the announcement by saying, “The formation of the UAE Badminton and Table Tennis Association is a fantastic milestone for the growth and development of the sport.” He further added, “The creation of this national association will no doubt increase participation in the UAE and further enhance the governance, development and administration structures currently in place. This is certainly an exciting time for badminton in the UAE and Dubai Sports Council looks forward to working very closely with the UAE Table Tennis and Badminton Association to promote badminton to an ever wider audience.”

Dawood Al Hajri’s name was announced as the new President of the Association, with Hassan Al-Zarouni appointed as Secretary General, Abdulrahman Al-Menhali as Treasurer and Ghazi Al Madani as a board member.
Accepting the position of the President of the Association, Al Hajri said, “The growth trajectory of badminton over the past two years has been nothing short of remarkable since the Shuttle Time Dubai programme was introduced as part of the agreement to host the BWF World Superseries Finals in Dubai. The association will further promote the growth of the sport in the region by developing a strategic and coordinated approach to the long-term development and sustainability of badminton in the UAE.”

Nico Rosberg has won a fourth time this season after winning the Russian Grand Prix, which he dominated since the start. At the same time, it wasn’t easy for Lewis Hamilton as he had an engine failure in the qualifying round and consequently had to start at 10th position. However, as expected Hamilton was the best in the race, fighting back hard to gain 8 positions and finishing second. Now, Rosberg is leading with 43 points after his victory.

Other happenings at the Grand Prix include Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel’s crashing out on the first lap after being hit twice by Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat. Hamilton was impressive, but had bad luck when he closed dramatically on Rosberg in the mid-part of the race, however had to back off to protect his engine.

After Hamilton overtook Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen on lap seven and Williams driver Valtteri Bottas on lap 19, he came to second position right behind Rosberg. Though the Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived late, he watched Rosberg and Hamilton finishing the race.

Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy has been voted Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association (FWA). He is 29 years old and has scored 22 league goals so far. His achievement that propelled his selection was to help his team become an odds-on favourite as they won the Premier League title for the first time this season.

He has also become the first player to score in 11 consecutive Premier League matches earlier this season.
Consequently, his record-breaking feat has captured the imagination of several writers. Another fact loved by the writers is his remarkable journey from non-league to the international stage.

Vardy won 36 percent of the vote, and beat team mates Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante, who finished second and third. He is the first Leicester player to win the Award since it was started in 1948.

Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 34, died recently due to a heart attack. He was the eldest son of Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai, and UAE’s Vice President and Prime Minister. He was a graduate from the Sandhurst Military Academy, Berkshire. An enthusiastic sportsperson, he was a founding member of Dubai Sports and Cultural Club; and had earned two gold medals in horse endurance races at the Asian Games 2006, Doha, Qatar. Besides sports, he was also actively involved in charitable activities: he regularly contributed to Dubai Cares, which aims to take care of child poverty.

Martina-Sania pair – the world’s number one women’s doubles tennis team – recently won the Guangzhou Open, defeating Shilin Xu and Xiaodi You of China with a score of 6-3 and 6-1. They did not lose even a single set in the entire championship. This was Sania Mirza’s seventh title of the season. They have also won two Grand Slams (Wimbledon and the US Open) this year. Sania Mirza has been recently conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna – the highest sporting honour of India.

Manchester United has recently become the world’s first billion dollar football brand. A recent evaluation by Brand Finance, Manchester United (MU) shows that Manchester City and Chelsea are performing better than Arsenal. Brand Finance is a leading brand valuation and strategy consultancy. It calculates both the strength and the value of a brand. Brand strength reflects the notional potential of the brand, and its value is calculated based on its ability to generate income. For that, the team or the club must have star players and it must prove itself a tactically brilliant team on the ground. The German brand will now be able to produce their kits for the next decade seized in a deal worth $1.1 billion. This savvy business operation is the key reason why Barcelona, the club with the strongest brand in the world, is only rated sixth. Manchester United’s business power is why it is on top of the list.