SPORTS NEWS IN BRIEF: JULY 2011

ARCHERY

World Championship

The Indian trio of Deepika Kumari, Laishram B. Devi and Checkrovolu Swuro settled for a silver medal after losing the recurve event final to Italy.

ATHLETICS

Asian Championships, 19th

The 19th Asian Athletics Championships were held in Kobe from July 7-10, 2011. About 500 athletes from 45 member countries and regions of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) competed for the prestigious championship at Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium.

Japan topped the medals tally with 11 gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze medals, followed by China, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. India was eighth in the tally with 1 gold, 2 silver and 8 bronze medals.

Complete details of the winners can be read at www.asianathletics.org/AAC2011/home.html

BILLIARDS

National Billiards and Snooker championship

Five-time national champion Vidya Pillai Tilakraj of Tamil Nadu trounced Arantxa Sanchis to win the championship in the women’s section.

Pankaj Advani won the men’s title by beating B. Bhaskar of Karnataka. This was his fifth national title.

CHESS

World team championship

Armenia, with 14 points won the championship, held at Ningbo, China. China won the silver medal and Ukraine got the bronze. India could manage only the eighth spot with seven points.

CRICKET

West Indies-India Test Series

India did not push for victory despite having seven wickets in hand for what seemed like an exciting run chase, as their third and final cricket Test against the West Indies ended in a tame draw, giving the visitors a 1-0 series triumph. India clinched the three-match series 1-0 with the lone victory coming at Kingston, Jamaica in the opening Test. The second Test at Bridgetown, Barbados had also ended in a draw. With this, India recorded their third series victory in the Caribbeans, having achieved the feat in 1971 and 2006 under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar and Rahul Dravid, respectively.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side, however, missed out on a chance to beat West Indies 2-0 in their own backyard for the first time. The 1971 and 2006 series, victories by India were also by 1-0 margins.

England-India Test series

Suresh Raina’s fighting 78 went in vain as England scripted a resounding 196-run victory over India in the first Test.

England-Sri Lanka ODI Series

England beat Sri Lanka by 16 runs in the fifth and final ODI to win the series 3-2.

Harbhajan becomes third Indian to take 400 Test wickets

Harbhajan Singh has become the third Indian and 11th man in the history of Test cricket to reach 400 Test wickets mark. He took his 400th wicket when he bowled C.S. Baugh on the second day of the third and final Test against West Indies, played at Windsor Park, Roseau, Dominica.

Tendulkar, Kapil, Gavaskar, Sehwag named in All Time Test team

Four Indian cricketers, including batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, have been named in the Greatest All Time Test XI chosen in an online poll. The other two—Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag—beat a host of legendary cricketers to be named in the two openers’ slot.

Tendulkar occupied the number four batting spot, one slot down Australian legend Don Bradman and one above West Indian Brian Lara, who was chosen at number five.

The trio beat the likes of Greg Chappell, Wally Hammond, George Headley, Javed Miandad, Graeme Pollock, Ricky Ponting and Vivian Richards.

Kapil was chosen as the lone all-rounder ahead of the likes of Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee, Jacques Kallis, Imran Khan, Gary Sobers and Frank Worrell.

Australian Adam Gilchrist won the poll for wicket-keeper by beating the likes of Mark Boucher, Jeff Dujon and Rod Marsh while Shane Warne got the nod of online voters ahead of the likes of India's Bishen Bedi and Anil Kumble and Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan. 

The likes of Michael Holding, Dennis Lillee, Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh missed out.

Greatest All Time XI: Virender Sehwag, Sunil Gavaskar, Donald Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Kapil Dev, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Curtly Ambrose, Glenn McGrath. 

CYCLING

Tour-de-France

Cadel Evans has become the first Australian to win the championship. He is the oldest winner since 1923.

FOOTBALL

Women’s World Cup

Japan beat favourites USA to win the Women’s Football World Cup in Frankfurt, Germany.

Copa Title

Uruguay defeated Paraguay 3-0 to win a record 15th Copa America title.

GOLF

British Open, 2011

Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland held his nerve to clinch victory at the British Open, becoming the oldest winner of the championship in 44 years.

Women’s British Open, 2011

Taiwan’s Yani Tseng confirmed she is the best player in the world by staging a successful defence of the Women’s British Open title with a four-shot triumph.

TENNIS

Agassi in International Tennis Hall of Fame

Eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Aggassi has been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Wimbledon Championships, 2011

There were two new singles champions for the first time since 2002: Novak Djokovic won the men’s singles title and Petra Kvitová won the women’s singles title. By reaching the final Djokovic also claimed the world number one in the ATP rankings from Rafael Nadal, while Kvitová became the first Grand Slam event winner born in the 1990s. 

In the doubles the Bryan brothers claimed the men's title for a second time, and equalled the overall Grand Slam tournament record of 11 set by the Woodies, Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge. 

In the women's doubles Katarina Srebotnik won her first ladies major title after making four previous major finals. Srebotnik won alongside Kv?ta Peschke. This was Peschke's first major title. 

In the mixed doubles Jurgen Melzer won his second major title, and first in the mixed doubles as he partnered Iveta Benešová to her first major title. 

In total, three players from the Czech Republic (Kvitová, Peschke, and Benešová) were champions in three of the five main tour events in the tournament.