SPORTS

Andy Murray won his first title of 2015 after Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Mubadala World Tennis
Championship final in Abu Dhabi because of illness.
Bhakti Sharma, the open water swimming champion of India set a world record by swimming 1.4 miles in 52
minutes in one degree temperature in the Antarctic Ocean.
Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo won the 2014 FIFA Ballon d'Or award for the best footballer of the year
in the world.
Former Dutch National Hockey team coach Paul van Ass was appointed as the head Coach of Indian men's
hockey team. He succeeded Terry Walsh of Australia.
Weightlifter Jimjang Deru created a national record in weightlifting by lifting 238 kilograms under the 56
kilograms category at 10th Youth National Weightlifting Championship held in Yamuna Nagar, Haryana.
Pankaj Advani won National Billiards title for seventh time. This was his seventh Senior National Billiards
Championship. Advani, the 12-time world champion won the previous six titles in 2012, 2011, 2009, 2008, 2007
and 2005.
South Africa batsman and ODI captain AB de Villiers hit a century off 31 balls to record the fastest ever one-day
international ton. He surpassed Corey Anderson's record of a century off 36 balls.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that following remedial work and retests, the bowling actions
of Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal and Sohag Gazi of Bangladesh had been found to be legal, and the players can now
resume bowling in international cricket.
Malaysia's female professional squash player Nicol David has set a new record by topping the world squash
rankings for 106th month. She is first Asian to achieve this milestone and has overtaken previous 105th month
record set by four time world champion Susan Devoy from New Zealand which was set in February 1993.
South Africa captain AB de Villiers smashed the second fastest World Cup century and fastest ever 150 in ODIs,
against West Indies in a Pool B match of ICC World Cup 2015 at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). He set a new
record in ODI history, scoring 150 off just 64 balls. He now owns records of fastest 50 (16 balls), 100 (31) and
150 (64) in 50-over international cricket. The previous fastest 150 was in the name of Australia's Shane
Watson, off 83 deliveries, against Bangladesh in 2011.
West Indies opener Chris Gayle became the first batsman to score a double century in a World Cup innings
when he reached the landmark against Zimbabwe. It was also only the fifth double century in all ODI cricket
and the first by a non-Indian, with Rohit Sharma (two), Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag the only other
batsmen to achieve the feat.
Martin Crowe, former New Zealand captain and player of the ICC Cricket World Cup 1992, was inducted into
the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. Crowe became the third New Zealander, after Sir Richard Hadlee and Debbie
Hockley, and the 79th overall to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Carolina Marin Martin of Spain has won the prestigious Women's Singles Title in the All England Open
Badminton Championships 2015, when she defeated India's Saina Nehwal in the final match. With this
victory, Carolina Marin became the first Spanish player to win this prestigious title.
Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara became the first player to score four successive one-day international
centuries, setting a new record in a World Cup match against Scotland. The left-hander surpassed six
players who had scored three ODI centuries in a row. They were Zaheer Abbas and Saeed Anwar of
Pakistan, the South African trio of Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock, and Ross Taylor
of New Zealand.
Former Sri Lankan cricket captain and batsman Kumar Sangakkara announced his retirement from Test
cricket. He will retire after playing the three-match Test series against India in August 2015.Sangakkara
had already taken retirement from One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty-20 cricket. He retired from
Twenty-20 cricket format after Sri Lanka won the T20 World cup in 2014. While, he had announced to
retire from ODI cricket format after the ongoing ICC World Cup 2015. Presently, Sangakkara is fifth
highest run scorer in Test cricket. He has scored 12203 runs in 130 Test matches at an average of 58.66.
India's ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth won badminton's prestigious $120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold
title in Men's singles category after defeating Denmark's defending champion Viktor Axelsen . With this
victory, Kidambi Srikanth became the first Indian to win this prestigious title in Men's singles category.
Australia won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 for the record fifth time. In the final match Australia
defeated cohosts of the tournament, New Zealand by 7 wickets. Previously, Australia had won the
Cricket World Cup in 1987, 1999, 2003 and 2007.It was first time of New Zealand to enter final of Cricket
World Cup.
The legendary Balbir Singh Senior, member of three Olympic gold medal winning teams, was honoured
with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural Hockey India Awards. The 90-year-old received the
trophy for Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award along with a cheque of Rs 30 lakh. Balbir
Singh was part of the famous gold winning teams from 1948 to 1956 Olympics. His 1952 record of most
goals (five) in an Olympic final still stands and he also figures in the list of 16 iconic Olympians of alltime.
A two-year-old girl archery prodigy Cherukuli Dalli Shivani from Vijaywada achieved a stunning feat by
setting a new record and entering her name into the India Book of Records. Shivani, the kid sister of late
Indian coach and international archer Cherukuri Lenin who died in a road accident soon after 2010 Delhi

Commonwealth Games, became the youngest Indian to score 200 points over five and seven-metre
distances.She shot 36 arrows each from five metres and seven metres to score 388 points at a show in
the presence of senior sports personalities and India Book of Records officials.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni became first Indian Cricket team Captain to register the 100 One Day
International (ODI) match wins.He was able to achieve this feat after Indian team defeated Bangladesh
in the 2015 ICC World Cup quarter-final match. He is the third captain in the history of the cricket to
record 100 wins. Other two captains to achieve this feat are - Australians Allan Border and Ricky Ponting.
New Zealand's Martin Guptill created a Cricket World Cup record by scoring highest score of 237 runs
not out. He achieved this feat in match against West Indies in the 2015 ICC World Cup quarter-final.
Martin Guptill also became the first New Zealand cricketer to score double century in One Day
Internationals (ODIs). He also broke the previous record of Chris Gayle (West Indies) who had scored
first double century in Cricket World Cup 2015. Guptill is 5th cricketer to score double century in ODI's.
Others are Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma and West Indies Chris
Gayle.
Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman player to attain a rare feat of becoming the World No 1
player after Carolina Marin lost her match to Ratchanok Intanon in the second semi-final of the India
Open Super Series badminton tournament. Prakash Padukone is the only other India player who had the
distinction of being the No. 1 men's badminton player. Saina is first Indian to win Olympics medal in
Badminton and had won Bronze medal at the London Olympics 2012. She has been conferred with the
prestigious Arjuna Award (2009), Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2009-2010) and Padma Shri (2010) for her
contribution to sports.
Indian chess Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika won the bronze medal in the World Women's chess
championships along with Swedish Grandmaster Pia Cramling. Ace Indian shooter Jitu Rai won a bronze
medal in the 10m air pistol event at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in
Changwon, South Korea.
New Zealand won the 24th edition of Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament 2015 for second time. In
the final match, New Zealand defeated World Champions Australia. Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament is
an annual tournament held in Malaysia and was established in 1983.
Former Australia captain and legendary cricket commentator Richie Benaud passed away at the age of
84.

Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar was inducted as one of the five new members into the prestigious
Laureus Sports Academy. Besides Tendulkar, retired Chinese professional basketball player Yao Ming,
Kenyan long-distance runner Tegla Loroupe, Chinese gymnast Li Xiaopeng and former Chinese short
track speed skater Yang Yang were the other athletes to be inducted into the Laureus academy.
Arguably the greatest batsman in contemporary cricket, Tendulkar had walked into international sunset
after a glorious career spanning 24 years, in front of his home crowd at the Wankhede Stadium
following a Test series against the West Indies in November 2013. In his over two-decade international
career, Tendulkar amassed 18,426 runs in 463 one-dayers at an average of 44.83, while in Tests, he has
15,645 runs at an average of 54.32 in 194 matches. The tally includes 51 hundreds and 66 half-centuries.
Three Indian race walkers Khushbir Kaur, Manish Rawat and Sandeep Kumar have qualified for 2016 Rio
Olympics.
Mercedes Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton from Britain won the Bahrain Grand Prix of Formula One on
the Sakhir Grand Prix Circuit.
World champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway won the Shamkir Chess tournament by defeating Rauf
Mamedov of Azerbaijan. Former world champion Viswanathan Anand finished second in this
tournament.
India's Shamjetsabam Sarjubala and Pinki Jangra clinched gold medals at the 22nd President's Cup Open
International Boxing Tournament held in Indonesia.
India's Y Pranjala won the Asian Junior Tennis championship title by defeating China's Zheng Wushuang
in the final match.
India's lead shooter Gagan Narang won the bronze medal in the 50m Rifle Prone Event of the
International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup. With this win he qualified for the 2016 Rio
Olympics.
India's top rifle shooters won a rich haul of three gold and two bronze medals at the International
Shooting Competition of Hannover. Beijing Games gold medallist Bindra won both the individual and
team gold in his pet 10m air rifle event, while upcoming talent Chain Singh added the 50m men's rifle
prone yellow metal to his 10m air rifle team gold, which he won alongside Bindra and London Olympics
bronze medallist Gagan Narang.
Maniram Patel from Gujarat won Gold medal in the men's 20 kilometre walk in the 19th Federation Cup
senior athletics championship held at Mangaluru, Karnataka.

The Indian government has finally recognized motor sports as a sport by including governing body FMSCI
in the list of sports ministry-backed National Sports Federations (NSF). The ministry has included motor
sports in its latest revision of sports disciplines, albeit in the 'Others' category, meaning no financial
assistance will be provided to the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI).
Talented Indian youngster Tejaswini Sagar won her maiden world title bagging the gold in the under-15
category of World School Chess Championship at Pattaya, Thailand.
Abhinav Bindra became the fourth Indian shooter to win a quota place for the 2016 Rio Olympics. He got
qualified to 2016 Olympics after finishing sixth in the Men's 10 metre Air Rifle final at the International
Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Shooting World Cup held in Munich, Germany.
Ace Indian archer Deepika Kumari outclassed Chang Hye Jin of Korea in straight sets to clinch the bronze
medal in the women's individual recurve event of the World Cup.
Mumbai Indians (MI) won the eight edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 by defeating Chennai
Super Kings (CSK).
India's ace discus thrower Vikas Gowda won a bronze medal in the second leg of the prestigious
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Diamond League series in Shanghai, China.
Cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the only Indian among Forbes magazine's 100 highest-paid athletes in
the world. American boxer Floyd Mayweather tops the list, which also includes golfer Tiger Woods,
tennis star Roger Federer and Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo. Dhoni has been ranked 23rd,
dropping a notch from his ranking of 22 last year. Dhoni's total earnings stood at $31 million, including
amount from salary/winnings at $4 million and endorsements worth $27 million. The 33-year old
cricketer retired from Test cricket at the end of 2014, but remains India's skipper at the One Day
International and T20 levels.
President of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Sepp Blatter resigned amid a
corruption scandal which is under investigation in United States. Earlier on 30 May 2015, he was reelected as the FIFA President for a fifth term by defeating his rival candidate Prince Ali bins Al Hussein of
Jordan.
Serena Williams of United States won French Open women's single title after defeating Lucie Safarova of
Czechoslovakia. This was her third French Open title and overall 20th Grand Slam title.

Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland won his first French Open Men's single title of Tennis. After defeating
Novak Djokovic of Serbia. It his first his first French Open title and second grand slam title.
India's Sundaram Ravi was inducted into the Elite Panel of International Cricket Council (ICC) Umpires for
year 2015-2016.With this appointment, Sundaram Ravi became second Indian umpire after S
Venkataraghavan to be inducted into the ICC's elite panel. S Venkataraghavan was inducted in this panel
in 2004.
Astronomers named a newly discovered galaxy as CR7 (COSMOS Redshift 7) after Portuguese footballer
Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo is famously known as CR7 after his initials and his jersey number. He had
won Fifa's Ballon d'Or award consecutively for two years in 2013 and 2014.
Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwni Ponappa won the women's doubles title of the Canada Open
Badminton tournament when they defeated Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek in the finals.
India's legendary batsman and Bharat Ratna recipient Sachin Tendulkar was voted the 'Best Test player'
of the 21st century in an online poll conducted by Cricket Australia's website for the list of the 100 best
Test players since 2000.
Satnam Singh Bhamara became the first Indian basketball player to be drafted in the National Basketball
Association (NBA) after being picked by Dallas Mavericks. The 19-year-old, who hails from a remote
village in Punjab and stands 7 feet 2 inches tall, was the 52nd pick in the NBA Draft.
Tennis legend Steffi Graf was appointed the Ayurveda brand ambassador of God's Own Country Kerala.
The 46- year-old Graf, who retired in 1999, married former World No. 1 men's tennis player Andre
Agassi. Kerala's Ayurveda, an ancient system of health care which is famous for its holistic effect on body
and mind, attracts large number of people from the country and abroad every year.
Sunil Chhetri became the first Indian footballer to score 50 international goals. He achieved this feat in
his 87th match i.e. during 2018 World Cup qualifying match between India and Guam.
Former Pakistan cricket team captain Zaheer Abbas was selected the new President of International
Cricket Council (ICC) for one year term. He will be the 13th President of ICC and succeeds Mustafa Kamal
of Bangladesh.
Chile wins Copa America Crown after 99 years
Chile defeated Argentina in the finals of Copa America in a dramatic penalty shoot out (4-1), dashing
hopes of star footballer Lionel Messi of his first international title.

Sunil Chhetri, most expensive

Mumbai City got Sunil Chhetri, for Rs. 1.2 crore, spending the most on a single player, at the Hero Indian
Super League 2015' s first player auction.
Wimbledon Results
Men's Singles - World No. 1 Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer to win his third Wimbledon Crown
Women's Singles - World no 1 Serena Williams won her 21st singles grand slam by beating Garbine
Muguruza from Spain.
Mixed Doubles - Won by Leander Paes and
Martina Hingis
Women's Doubles - Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis
Sumit Nagpal brought glory for the country by winning the Boys' Doubles crown with Nam Hoang Ly of
Vietnam. CSK, RR owners out of IPL for 2 years
The R.M. Lodha Committee on the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting scandal, appointed by the SC,
suspended India Cements Ltd. (ICL) and Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt. Ltd. (JIPL) from the League for 2 years. The
ICL owned Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the JIPL owned the Rajasthan Royals (RR). Gurunath
Meiyappan, CSK official was suspended for life for being involved in and type of cricket matches. Also,
Raj Kundra, former RR part-owner was suspended for life from being involved with the BCCI in any type
of cricket matches.
BCCI constitutes committee to study Lodha Committee Report
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) constituted a working group to study the verdict of the
Supreme Court appointed RM Lodha Committee on the IPL 2013 scandal. The four-member group
includes IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, BCCI treasurer Anirudh Choudhury
and former India captain Sourav Ganguly.
All India Council of Sports established
The Government of India announced the formation of All India Council of Sports as an advisory body for
the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The Council will have recommendatory powers and the
advice rendered by it will not be binding on the ministry or the government.

Chris Froome of Britain wins the 102nd Tour de France

Chris Froome from Team Sky of Britain won the 102nd Tour de France in a three-week long race around
the Champs Elysees, Paris. With this, Froome became the first Briton to win the Tour de France twice.
Beijing to host 2022 Winter Olympics
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Beijing will host the 2022 Winter Olympics
and Paralympics. The Chinese capital was chosen ahead of Almaty, Kazakshtan.
Prabhroop Sekhon wins two gold medals Special Olympics World Summer Games
14 year old Master Prabhroop Sekhon won two gold medals in 300 metre and 500 metre in Roller
Skating at the Special Olympics World Summer Games. The event was held at Los Angeles, USA.
Indian women's recurve win a silver at the World Archery Championships
Indian women's recurve team of Deepika Kumari, Laxmirani Majhi and Rimil Buriuly won a silver medal
at the World Archery Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark. In the Summit clash, the Indian trio lost
the World Championship final to top seeded Russians 4-5 to settle for the silver.
Dipa Karmakar wins bronze in gymnastics
Ace Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar clinched the women's vault bronze medal at the 6th Senior ART
Gymnastics Asian Championships at Hiroshima, Japan.
U Mumba wins Kabaddi League 2015
Anup Kumar led U Mumbai won the Pro Kabaddi League 2015 title by defeating Bengaluru Bulls 36-30 in
the final match held in Mumbai. While the winners got one crore rupees as prize money, the Bengaluru
Bulls won 50 lakh rupees.
Indian women hockey team qualifies for Olympics after 36 years
Indian women hockey team qualified for Olympics after 36 years. Indian women last qualified in
Moscow Olympics held in 1980. The present qualification will allow India to participate in the 2016
Summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Bolt wins 200 m world title
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won the 200-meter title at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics held
at Beijing in China. Bolt completed the race in 19.55 seconds surpassing his American rival Justin Gatlin
who completed the race in 19.74 seconds.

Kumar Sangakkara retires from international cricket

Former Sri Lankan cricket captain and batsman Kumar Sangakkara retired from International Cricket. He
played his last match against India as part of three match test series held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Sangakkara had already taken retirement from One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty-20 cricket. He
retired from Twenty-20 cricket format after Sri Lanka won the T20 World cup in 2014. He retired from
ODI cricket format after the ICC World Cup 2015.
De Villiers break Ganguly's Record
South African skipper AB de Villiers became the fastest batsman to reach 8000 One Day International
(ODI) runs. He went past 8000 runs in just 182 innings, surpassing the previous record held by former
Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, who achieved the fete in 200 innings.
Abhishek Verma clinches gold in Archery
India's Abhishek Verma won the gold medal in the compound men's individual section in the Archery
World Cup Stage 3 competition at Wroclaw, Poland.
Saina Nehwal is the first Indian to win silver in the World Badminton Championship
India's ace shuttler SainaNehwal became the first Indian to win silver in the World Badminton
Championship. She lost the women's singles summit clash to Spain's Carolina Marin 16-21, 19-21 in
Jakarta, Indonesia. The Olympic bronze medallist had reached the finals of the event on 15 August 2015
by defeating Indonesia's Lindaweni Fanetri.
Ace golfer Anirban Lahiri became the first Indian to qualify for the prestigious President's Cup. He will be
part of the International Team in the 2015 championship. The championship is scheduled to be held at
Incheon in South Korea between 2 October and 4 October 2015.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) General Assembly selected South African city Durban as
the host for the XXII Commonwealth Games. With this, South Africa became the first country from Africa
to host the games in its 85 years history.
Flavia Pennetta of Italy won the US Open Women's Singles title by defeating Roberta Vinci in the finals.
With this win, Pennetta became the oldest woman in the Open era to become a Grand Slam champion
for the first time.
Leander Paes and Swiss Martina Hingis won the US Open Mixed Doubles Title 2015.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia won the US Open Men's Singles title when he defeated Roger Federer in the
finals. For Djokovic, it was a second US Open singles title and a 10th Grand Slam singles title.
India's tennis star Sania Mirza bagged her second consecutive Grand Slam title of the season, and fifth
overall, as she won the US Open women's doubles with Swiss partner Martina Hingis. The top-seeded
Indo-Swiss team outplayed the fourth seed team of Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova in the final.
Virat Kohli, the Indian cricket team's Test captain, was named co-owner of International Premier Tennis
League (IPTL) franchise UAE Royals. UAE Royals was set up last year as one of IPTL's franchises by a
group of investors called Ace Ventures. The group was led by "passionate tennis fans" including Sachin
Gadoya, co-founder and managing director of travel website Musafir.com, and his friends Sawan Ravani,
Rahul Saharia, Kaushal Majithia, Chirag Vora and Kunal Bansal. IPTL, promoted by tennis ace Mahesh
Bhupathi, will be played across five countries in Asia. The other teams are Manila Mavericks, Singapore
Slammers, Micromax Indian Aces and Japan Warriors. The tournament will be played between 2
December and 20 December this year.
India's Ajay Jayaram won silver medal in 2015 Korea Open Badminton tournament in the Men's singles
category, when he lost to World no. one Cheng Long of China. Ajay Jayaram is currently ranked 32nd in
the world.
India's ace cueist Pankaj Advani won 2015 IBSF World Billiards Championship in Adelaide, Australia. It
was his overall 14th World title.
Former Indian Cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly was appointed as President of Cricket Association of
Bengal (CAB).
Ace Indian shuttler, Ajay Jayaram won the 2015 Dutch Open Grand Prix badminton tournament.
India's ace shooter Heena Sidhu clinched a Gold medal in the 10-metre air pistol event of the Asian Air
Gun Championships in New Delhi.
Punjab National Bank (PNB) won the 2015 Beighton Cup hockey tournament by defeating Indian Oil
Corporation (IOC) in the finals.
Sergey Karjakin of Russia won the 2015 World Cup Chess Championship by defeating Peter Svidler
(Russia).
India seamer Zaheer Khan announced his retirement from international and first-class cricket. He will,
however, continue to play in the IPL for one more season. With 610 international wickets, Zaheer

finishes as one of India's most successful bowlers, being the fourth-highest wicket-taker for India across
formats. He has the second-highest wickets tally - 311 - for an India seamer in Tests, behind Kapil Dev's
434. Zaheer, though, played few international matches in recent years after being dogged by injuries.
Ace Indian archer Abhishek Verma won Silver medal in the 2015 Archery World Cup Final in the men's
individual compound section. It was India's first ever 'Archery World Cup Final' medal in the compound
section in this edition of World Cup.
India's ace women archer Deepika Kumari won the Silver medal in recurve event at the 2015 Archery
World Cup Final held in Mexico City. In the final match, South Korea's Choi Misun defeated Deepika
Kumari and won the gold medal.
Hockey India (HI) signed a three-year partnership with Sports Authority of India (SAI), extending its
commitment towards helping hockey regain its position as the country's top sport. This would mark the
beginning of a new era for Indian hockey, enabling SAI to invest in innovative programmes, developing
India as a world class hockey nation. The three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
acknowledges hockey as a medium for the development and promotion of values in the youth of the
nation
Himachal Pradesh's Bir-Billing in the picturesque Kangra Valley - voted the second best flying site in the
world after Lake Como in Italy - hosted India's first AAI Paragliding World Cup 2015.
Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag announced his retirement from international cricket. He had started
his international cricket career in 1999 after he played his first One Day International (ODI) against
Pakistan and later in 2001 joined the Indian Test team. In his career, he scored 17,253 international runs
across all formats.
China's Xuerui Li won the prestigious 2015 Denmark Open Badminton Title in the women's single
category by defeating P V Sindhu of India in the final match.