1) United Arab Emirates won the bid to host AFC Asian Cup 2019.
- United Arab Emirates (UAE) won the bid to host Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup 2019. The AFC Asian Cup 2019 will be the 17th edition of the games.
- The announcement was made by the AFC Executive Committee in a meeting at Manama, Bahrain.
- The UAE defeated Iran Football Federation (IFC) to win the hosting rights by unanimous vote. Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Oman and Kuwait had all bid for the event, with China and Bahrain withdrawing after showing initial interest.
- The UAE bid proposed to organize the tournament in three cities: Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Al-Ain. These all cities have stadiums that could host the games. It will be the second time that the UAE will host the Asian Cup. Earlier, UAE had held the AFC Asian Cup in 1996.
- AFC Asian Cup is an international football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
2) 1998 Asian Games gold-medalist Dingko Singh included in National Boxing Selection panel.
- 1998 Asian Games gold-medallist Dingko Singh on 10 March 2015 was included in National Boxing Selection panel. The goal of the panel will be to pick a bunch that can deliver medals at the Olympics.
- Currently, Dingko Singh is working as a coach at the Imphal centre of the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
- The 10-member selection panel will be headed by Arjuna awardees Gopal N Devang and it comprises of few Boxing India officials and all the national coaches as additional invitees. The selection panel will remain in office till 2016.
The other members of the National Boxing Selection panel are:
- Padam Bahadur Mall: India`s first Asian Games gold-medalist has been appointed Vice-President. He won the Gold medal in boxing at Jakarta Asian Games in 1962.
- Mohammad Ali Qamar: The country`s first Commonwealth Games gold-medalist has been named the Convener. He won the Gold Medal at 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
- Manoj Pingale: Named Joint Secretary of the panel. He won the Gold medal at the Junior Asian Boxing Championship in 1985.
- V. Devarajan: Former World Cup bronze-medalist named Joint Secretary. He won the Bronze medal in the 1994 World Boxing Championship in Bangkok. He was the second Indian to win a medal at the Boxing World Cup after Pu Zoramthanga, from Mizoram.
- Boxing India Vice-Presidents Kishen Narsi and Jaipal Singh are among the invited members of the committee.
3) Kumara Sangakkara creats record by scoring four consecutive ODI centuries.
- Sri Lankan cricketer kumara Sangakkara became first batsman to score four consecutive one-day international (ODI) centuries in a Cricket World Cup.
- He achieved this feat by hitting 4th century by scoring 124 runs in a match against Scotland in the Pool A of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in Hobart, New Zealand.
- Previous three consecutive centuries of Kumara Sangakkara are
- First Century: Scored 105 runs against Bangladesh at Melborne Cricket Ground.
Second Century:
- Scored 117 runs against England at Westpac Stadium, Wellington.
- Third Century: Scored 104 runs against Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground.
4) Karnataka wins Ranji Trophi 2015.
- Defending champion Karnataka won Ranji Trophy for season 2014-2015.
- Karnataka defeated Tamil Nadu by an innings and 217 runs in the final day of match played at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.
- With this victory, Karnataka clinched eight Ranji title.
- The man of the match was Karnataka’s Karun Nair who had scored 338 runs. The captain of Karnataka team was R Vinay and of Tamil Nadu team was Abhinav Mukund.
Karnataka’s previous Ranji Trophy wins:
- First Ranji title won by Karnataka was in season 1973-74. Later, they had won the championship title in 1977-78, 1982-83, 1995-96, 1997-98, 1998-99, 2013-14 and 2014-15.
- In Ranji title season 2013-2014, they had defeated Mumbai.
About Ranji Trophy:
- Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship in India. It played between teams representing regional cricket associations.
- At present, the championship is played between 27 teams which include 21 states (of the 29 Indian states) and Delhi (UT). The tournament format of Ranji Trophy is Round-robin then knockout.
- The trophy is named after England and Sussex cricketer Kumar Shri Ranjitsinghji and was first played in 1934.
- In the history of Ranji Trophy, Mumbai (formerly Bombay) has recorded most wins (i.e. 40 wins).
5) Saina rises to 2nd, Kashyap in top-10 of BWF rankings.
- Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal attained a new high as she climbed to a career-best second in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings.
- The Indian, who is currently competing in the Malaysia Open Super Series, is a distant second to top-placed Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China who has 94626.7153 points.
- In the men’s list, Olympic quarter-finalist Parupalli Kashyap also headed northwards as he reached a career-high 10th.
- P Kashyap, who was 11th in the previous rankings, has 51986.6900 points and is the only Indian in the top-25 of the BWF list.
6) Union Government appoints MC Kom as Brand Ambassador for the North East.
- Union Government has selected legendary boxer and five-time world boxing champion MC Kom as Brand Ambassador for the North East Region.
- It was announced by Union Minister of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh at a two day business summit in New Delhi.
- MC Mary Kom was selected to showcase the potential of the North East region which can offer Rs. 2.4 trillion business opportunities across various sectors.
- About MC Mary Kom
- Mary Kom full name is Magte Chungeijang Mary Kom and belongs Kom tribal community of the North-Eastern state of Manipur.
- Mary Kom is nicknamed Magnificent Mary. She is Five-time World Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships.
- She had won a bronze medal in 2012 London Olympics in the flyweight (51 kg) category and was only Indian boxer to qualify for this category.
- She is also first Indian woman to get a Gold Medal in the 2014 Asian Games held at Incheon, South Korea.
- Award: For her precious contribution to the sport of boxing (sports), she has been conferred with Padma Bhushan (2013), Padma Shree (2010) and Arjuna Award for Boxing (2003).
- Autobiography: Unbreakable.
7) Kidambi Srikanth wins Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold 2015.
- India’s ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth won badminton’s prestigious $1,20,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold title in Men’s singles category.
- In the final match he defeated Denmark’s defending champion Viktor Axelsen. With this victory, Kidambi Srikanth became first Indian to win this prestigious title in Men’s singles category.
Other Winner in Swiss Open Grand prix Gold 2015:
- Women’s Singles title: China’s Sun Yu defeated Thailand’s Busanan Ongbumrungpan.
- Men’s Doubles title: China’s Cai Yun and Lu Kai pair defeated Malaysia’s Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong pair.
- Women’s doubles title: China’s Bao Yixin and Tang Yuanting pair defeated Japan’s Ayane Kurihara and Naru Shinoya.
- Mixed doubles title: China’s Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong pair defeated China’s Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin pair.