1. Therese Johaug of Norway win the first gold medal of Beijing Winter Olympics
Tags: Person in news Sports News
The first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics was won by Norwegian Therese Johaug in the 15-kilometer women skiathlon cross country race.
The silver medal was won by the Russian Natalya Nepryayeva and the Bronze medal was won by Teresa Stadlober of Austria.
2. Beijing the first city in the world to host both Winter and Summer Olympics
Tags: Sports News
With the inauguration of the 24th Winter Olympics 2022 in Beijing by the Chinese President Xi Jingping on 4 February,Beijing became the only city in the world to host Summer and Winter Olympics .
It hosted the 29th Summer Olympics 2008.
The opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium also called the Birds Nest which incidentally also hosted the 2008 summer olympics .
The opening ceremony was attended by 22 world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The Indian flag was carried by the lone Indian participant Arif Khan who will compete in the Slalom and Giant Slalom event .
Points to remember
It is 24th Winter Olympics Games
The 23rd game was held in Tokyo, Japan in 2018.
The 25 th Winter games will be held in the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in 2026.
The Mascot of the Beijing Olympics : Bing Dwen Dwen -- a panda dressed in a full-body "shell" made out of ice.
Motto of the games : Together for a shared future
Total participating country : 91
Closing ceremony on 20 February 2022.
3. Inaugural World Legends Cricket League won by World Giants
Tags: Sports News
The inaugural World Legends League was organised for the retired cricketers of the world who were grouped in 3 teams. The Indian player played under the Indian Maharaja team and there were Asian Lions and World Giants teams.
- Muhammad Kaif was the captain of Indian Maharaja team.
- The matches were played in the T 20 format from 20 to 29 January 2022 at the Al Amerat Cricket stadium in Muscat, in Oman.
- The final was played on 29 January 2022 and World Giants defeated Asain Lions by 25 runs
- Morne Morkel of World Giants was declared as the Player of the series and Corey Anderson of World Giants was declared the Man of the Match of the final.
4. Odisha open Badminton Championship 2022
Tags: Sports News
For the first time, Odisha hosted a BWF(Badminton World Federation ) 100 tournament . It was held from 25-30 January 2022 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor stadium Cuttack, Odisha .
Winners of the Odisha open 2022:
Male singles:
Kiran George of India defeated Priyanshu Rajawat of India .
Female Singles:
Unnati Hooda defeated Smit Toshniwal (both are Indians).
Mens Double:
Nur Mohammed Ayub and Lim Khim Wah (both Malaysian) defeated Ravikrishnan PS and Shankar Prasad Udaykumar(both Indian).
Women’s Double:
Sanyogita Ghorpade and Shruti Mishra (both are Indians ) defeated Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly (both are Indians).
Mixed Doubles:
Arjun M.R and Treesa Jolly(both are Indian) defeated Sachin Dias and Thilini Pramodika Hendahewa(both are Sri Lankan).
5. Australian Open Grand Slam Tennis Tournament 2022
Tags: Sports News
The Australian Open is the first of the four annual grand slam tennis tournaments held in a calendar year . The Australian open is followed by the French open ,Wmbledon(played in England) and the U.S open.
- The Australian Open was held from 9 January to 30 January 2022.
- It is always held at the Australian city of Melbourne and it is now played on a Hard Court.
The winners of 2022
Men's Singles Title
The winner of the men’s singles is given Norman Brookes Challenge Cup
This year winner
Rafeal Nadal of Spain defeated Danill Medvedev of Russia
Women Single Title
The winner of the single’s open is given Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup
This year winner
Ashleigh Barty of Australia defeated Daneille Rose Collins of the United States in the final.
Men’s Doubles winner
Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nicholas Hilmy Nicholas defeated Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell (all the four players are from Australia)
Women’s Doubles winner
Barbara Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova (both from Czech Republic ) defeated Anna Danilina (Kazakhstan) and Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil.
Mixed Doubles
Kristina Mladenovic(France )/Ivan Dodig of Croatia defeated Jaimee Fourlis(Australia)/Jason Murray Kubler(Australia)
Records of Rafael Nadael
- This was the second singles Australian open title for Nadal(2009,2022)
- He has become the first male player to win 21 singles Grand slam titles.
- He is the second player after Novak Djokovic to win all the four grand slam singles titles twice in the open era and fourth in history after Rod Laver(Australia) and Roy Emerson(Australia) and Novak Djokovic.
- He has won a record 13 singles titles at the French Open .
NOTE :
In Tennis or sports “ OPEN” means that any player can play in the tournament regardless whether the player is a professional or an amateure.
- Before 1968 only mature players were allowed to participate in the tennis grand slam tournament . Since 1968 professional players have also been allowed to participate in the tournament, hence now they use the word” OPEN”.
- Professional player means players who play for money and that sport is their profession. Amateure means they donot play for money and sport is not their profession.
6. ICC Awards 2021 announced
Tags: Sports News
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced its 2021 awards winners. The performance of the players and umpires in the 2021 year has been taken into account.
Cricketer of Year
Men
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year -Shaheen Afridi of Pakistan
Women
The Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Smriti Mandhana of India.
Test Cricketer of the Year Award
Men:
Joe Roots captain of English Cricket Team.
He is only the third player in history to aggregate over 1700 runs in Test cricket in a calendar year after Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan and Sir Vivian Richards of West Indies.
ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year
Men
Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam .
Women
Lizelle Lee of South Africa
ICC T-20 Cricketer of the Year
Men
Md. Rizwan of Pakistan
Women
Tammy Beaumont of England
Emerging Cricketer of the Year
Men
Janneman Malan of South Africa
Women
Fatima Sana of Pakistan
ICC Associate Cricketer of the Year
Men
Zeeshan Maqsood of Oman
Women
Andrea-Mae Zepeda of Austria
ICC Umpire of the Year
The best umpire of the year is given the David Shepherd Trophy.
This year it was given to Marais Erasmus of South Africa.
Spirit of the Cricket Award
Daryl Mitchell of New Zealand.
The ICC is the global governing body for cricket.
The Headquarters of the ICC is at Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Chairman of ICC: Greg Barclay of New Zealand
7. P.V. Sindhu wins Syed Modi International Badminton Title
Tags: Sports News
P. V. Sindhu, without a Badminton World Federation (BWF) title since the world crown in 2019, ended the title drought by winning Syed Modi International Badminton title.
- $ 150,000 Syed Modi International Badminton Championships is an international badminton tournament, which is held annually in India.
- World No.7 Sindhu defeated Malvika Bansod of India in the final match held in Lucknow at the Baba Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium.
- The all-French men’s final was a non-starter after Arnaud Merkle tested positive for Covid.Since the other finalist,compatriot Lucas Claerbout was also his roommate,he was also withdrawn from the final for being a primary contact of Merkle.
- As per the BWF guidelines,the final was declared a ’ No match.’The finalist will get the ranking points and the prize money assigned for reaching the final.
The results
Men:
Arnaud Merkle(France) versus Lucas Claerbout(France)- No match
Doubles: Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee(Malaysia) beat Krishna Prasad and Vishnuvardhan Goud (India).
Women: P.V.Sindhu (india) beat Malvika Bansod (India).
Doubles:Anna Ching Yik Cheong and Teoh Mei Xing(Malaysia) beat Treesa Jolly and P.Gayatri (India).
Mixed Doubles: Ishan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto(India) beat Nagendra Babu and G.Srividya (India) .
8. Three Indians in ICC Test Team of the Year
Tags: Sports News
In the recently released ICC Test Team of the Year, Rohit Sharma features as the opener, Rishabh Pant as wicketkeeper and R. Ashwin as the only specialist spinner.
- No Indian player is included in the men’s ODI XI.
- Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami feature in the women’s ODI XI.
The ICC teams of 2021:
Test:
- Dimuth Karunaratne (SL), Rohit Sharma, Marnus Labuschagne (Aus), Joe Root (Eng), Kane Williamson (Capt. NZ), Fawad Alam (Pak), Rishabh Pant (wk), R. Ashwin, Kyle Jamison (NZ), Hasan Ali (Pak) and Shaheen Afridi (Pak).
Women’s ODI:
- Lizelle Lee (SA), Alyssa Healy (Aus), Tammy Beaumont (Eng), Mithali Raj, Heather Knight (Capt., Eng), Hayley Matthews (WI), Marizanne Kapp (SA), Shabnim Ismail (SA), Fatima Sana (Pak), Jhulan Goswami and Anisa Mohammed (WI).
Men’s ODI:
- Babar Azam (Capt.,) and Fakhar Zaman (Pak), Janneman Malan and Rassie van der Dussen (SA), Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk) and Mustafizur Rahaman (Ban), Wanindu Hasaranga and Dishmantha Chameera (SL), Paul Stirling and Simi Singh (Irl)
International Cricket Council (ICC)
The International Cricket Council, founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa is the world governing body of cricket.
- Founded: 15 June 1909
- Headquarters: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- CEO: Geoff Allardice
- Chairman: Greg Barclay
- Currently, there are 12 full members of ICC.
- In 2017, Afghanistan and Ireland were admitted as the eleventh and twelfth Full Members of the International Cricket Council.
9. Smriti Mandhana only Indian in the ICC T-20 team
Tags: Sports News
The International Cricket Council (ICC) on 19th January 2022 named the Women's T20I Team of the Year (2021), and India opening batter Smriti Mandana has been named in the XI.
- With 255 runs at an average of 31.87, Smriti was India’s highest scorer in the format in 2021.
- It is also the third time Smriti has made the cut for the T20I team of the year after 2018 (opener) and 2019 (number three).
10. First Indian Male Player to Play in BBL
Tags: Sports News
Former Under-19 World Cup-winning captain Unmukt Chand became the first Indian male cricketer to play in Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL).
- He made his debut for Melbourne Renegades against Hobart Hurricanes.
- Chand, a former India A skipper, had never played for the Indian senior team but was part of three IPL franchises — Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians, and Rajasthan Royals.
Meanwhile, eight Indians were selected in the last edition of the Women’s Big Bash League.
- T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur and the second leading run-scorer in the inaugural edition of The Hundred, Jemimah Rodrigues have been signed by Melbourne Renegades.
- The ICC T20I top-ranked batter, Shafali Verma was signed by Sydney Sixers along with bowler Radha Yadav.
- Opener Smriti Mandhana, the one who became India’s first woman to score a century in the Pink Ball Test, and her teammate all-rounder Deepti Sharma were signed by Sydney Thunder.
- Wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh was signed by Hobart Hurricanes.
- The eighth and the last overseas player is bowler Poonam Yadav who was signed by Brisbane Heat.