SPORTS NEWS IN BRIEF: DEC 2008 - JAN 2009

ATHLETICS
Indian Open Marathon: Binning Lyngkhoi of Maharashtra gave a boost to his
2010 Commonwealth Games dream winning the men’s title of the Mawana
Sugars Indian Open Marathon, while Uttar Pradesh’s Shastri Devi emerged fastest
among women.

BOXING
World Cup: Indian pugilists have created another piece of history. All four boxers,
who went for the AIBA World Cup in Moscow came home with medals. Akhil
Kumar (54 kg) fought hard but fell short of luck, losing on count-back to Olympic
silver medallist Yankiel Leon Alarcon in the semifinals to settle for a bronze medal,
along with Jitender Kumar (51 kg), A.L. Lakra (57 kg) and Dinesh Kumar (81 kg)
who also ended winning bronze medals.

CHESS
National ‘A’ Championship: Surya Sekhar Ganguly broke Manuel Aaron’s record
of five straight National ‘A’ crowns when he won the 2008 championship for the
record sixth time. Kruttika Nadig of Maharashtra won the title in the women’s
section.

CRICKET
Australia-South Africa Test series: South Africa ended nearly a century-old
drought to register their first-ever series win in Australia when they crushed hosts
Australia by nine wickets in the historic second Test. Since touring Australia for
the first time in 1910-11, this was the maiden series win for South Africa, playing
down under, their previous best performance being a 1-1 drawback in 1963-64.
This was Australia’s first series defeat at home since they lost 2-1 to the West
Indies in 1992-93. This was also Australia’s first series defeat to South Africa since
they lost 4-0 in South Africa in 1969-70, and Australia’s 18th series defeat at home
in 131 years.

South Africa ended the series on a 2-1 winning note. The first Test was also won
by South Africa while the third Test was a consolation victory for Australia.

India-England Test series: India took the two-Test series 1-0. The first Test in
Chennai was won by India by six wickets after a successful and highest-run chase
on Indian soil. This was also second highest successful run chase by India, after
406/4 vs West Indies at Port of Spain (1976). Also, this was the highest total ever
scored in fourth innings in India, beating 364/6 by India at Delhi to draw against
Pakistan in 1979. M.S. Dhoni became the first Indian skipper to win the first four
Tests under his leadership. The second Test at Mohali ended in a draw.

Bangladesh-Sri Lanka Test series: Bangladesh put on one of their best batting
performances before suffering a 107-run defeat in the opening Test against Sri
Lanka. Chasing an unlikely 521-run target, the Bangladesh batsmen were bowled
out for 413.
ICC Hall of Fame: Three Indian cricketing legends, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and
Bishan Singh Bedi figure among the 55 former players named in the ICC’s
inaugural Hall of Fame list as part of its centenary celebrations.

The inductees are: Sydney Barnes, Bishan Bedi, Alec Bedser, Richie Benaud, Allan
Border, Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott, Donald Bradman, Greg Chappell, Ian
Chappell, Denis Compton, Colin Cowdrey, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Lance Gibbs,
Graham Gooch, David Gower, WG Grace, Tom Graveney, Gordon Greenidge,
Richard Hadlee, Walter Hammond, Neil Harvey, Ron Headley, Jack Hobbs, Michael
Holding, Leonard Hutton, Rohan Kanhai, Imran Khan, Alan Knott, Jim Laker,
Harold Larwood, Dennis Lillee, Ray Lindwall, Clive Lloyd, Hanif Mohammad,
Rodney Marsh, Malcolm Marshall, Peter May, Javed Miandad, Keith Miller, Bill
O’Reilly, Graeme Pollock, Wilfred Rhodes, Barry Richards, Vivian Richards, Andy
Roberts, Garfield Sobers, Brian Statham, Fred Trueman, Derek Underwood, Clyde
Walcott, Everton Weekes, Frank Woolley, Frank Worrell.

GOLF
Jeev Milkha Singh wins Japan Open: Days after losing his first child, who was
delivered stillborn by his wife Kudrat in a Tokyo hospital, Jeev displayed
tremendous inner strength to win the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup in Tokyo. He
dedicated the Tournament of Champions triumph to his wife, who had persuaded
him to play despite the bereavement.