Nov-dec 2008

SPORTS NEWS IN BRIEF: NOV - DEC 2008

ATHLETICS Delhi Half Marathon, 2008: Olympian Deriba Merga of Ethiopia emerged as the fastest half marathon runner of the year in the fourth Airtel Delhi Half Marathon.

In the women’s section, Ethiopian Aselefech Mergia emerged winner.

Among the Indians, Sandeep Kumar was the winner. In the women’s section, defending Indian champion Kavitha Raut retained her title.

BILLIARDS National Championship, 75th: Pankaj Advani beat Geet Sethi 5-3 in the final. It was Advani’s third title having won in 2005 and 2007.

BOXING Marykom bags her fourth world championship gold: M.C. Marykom of India returned to the ring after a two-year self-imposed exile to clinched an unprecedented fourth gold medal in the AIBA World Championships at Ningbo city in China.

CRICKET India-Australia Test Series: India thrashed Aussies by 172 runs in the fourth and

final Test at Nagpur to win Test series 2-0 and regain Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a gap of four years.

This was the first time in nine years that Australia lost a series without winning a single Test.

Ishant Sharma was named Man of the Series. The last time an Indian fast bowler won the Player of the Series in India was Kapil Dev in 1983-84.

Sachin Tendulkar became the first man to score 12,000 and more runs in Test cricket during the series. Sourav Ganguly crossed the 7,000-run mark and Harbhajan Singh became the third Indian to take 300 Test wickets.

South Africa-Bangladesh Test Series: South Africa won the second Test against Bangladesh by an innings and 48 runs to win the series 2-0.

Australia-New Zealand Test Series: Brett Lee took five wickets as Australia beat New Zealand by an innings and 62 runs on the fourth day of the second and final cricket Test and bagged the series 2-0.

India-England One-Day Series: The seven-match series had to be suspended after the fifth match at Cuttack following the terrorist strike at Mumbai. But, before that India had already won the series by winning all the five matches played. India’s dominance in the series was complete. In the match played at Rajkot, India posted the second highest ODI total ever (387 for 5). Yuvraj Singh struck the

second fastest ODI century by an Indian, facing 64 balls. The record stands in the name of Mohammad Azharuddin, who took 62 balls to reach three-figure mark against New Zealand at Baroda in 1988.

Pakistan-West Indies One-Day Series: Pakistan blanked West Indies 3-0 in the series held at Abu Dhabi. ICL 20-20 Championship: After 37 days of action among nine teams, Lahore Badshah rode on Imran Nazir’s unbeaten swash buckling 44-ball 111 to rout Hyderabad Heroes by eight wickets in the high-voltage third final to lift the second edition of the ICL 20-20 championship Trophy.

GOLF Singapore Open, 2008: Jeev Milkha Singh held off Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els to win the $5 million Barclays Singapore Open. Hailed as Jeev’s arrival at golf’s biggest stage, the win makes him the first golfer to win more than $ 1 million in a single season on Asian tour.

Jeev breaks into top 50: Jeev Milkha Singh is back among the elites again with the latest world gold rankings putting the Indian pro on the 46th place after his sensational triumph in the Singapore Open. World Cup, 2008: Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson produced a magnificent three- stroke victory for Sweden. This was Sweden’s second World Cup triumph. Spain settled for the second place.

TENNIS Davis Cup, 2008: Spain won their third Davis Cup crown and their first away from home after defeating Argentina 4-1. Spain becomes the seventh nation in the Davis Cup’s 108-year history to win three or more titles.