1) Australia won 2016 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
- Australia defeated India 4-0 in the final to win the 25th edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup held in Ipoh, Malaysia.
- This was Australia’s ninth title win as they continued their stranglehold over the tournament. India last won the tournament in 2010, their fifth title, when they were jointly declared winners with South Korea.
- New Zealand, the winner of 2015 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, acquired the third place in the 25th edition of the tournament.
2) Dipa Karmakar became first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for Olympics.
- Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar has become the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for Olympics.
- She achieved this feat after her strong performance at the final qualifying which helped her to book 2016 Rio Olympics Games berth.
- In the test event, she earned a total score of 52.698 points in the artistic gymnastics event. She has been listed as the 79th gymnast in the list of women’s artistic gymnasts who have qualified for the Rio Olympics.
3) WADA revoked accreditation of Moscow Antidoping Center.
- World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) revoked the accreditation of the Moscow Antidoping Center of Russia.
- The laboratory was suspended on 10 November 2015 as recommended in the WADA independent commission report that laid bare evidence of state-sponsored doping and corruption in sport in Russia.
4) Nico Rosberg wins 2016 Chinese Grand Prix.
- German Formula 1 Mercedes Driver Nico Rosberg won 2016 Formula 1 Pirelli Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai International Circuit.
- He won all three Grand Prix that were held in 2016. The other Grand Prix include Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix and Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.
- It was Rosberg’s overall seventeenth championship title of F1 in his career.
- Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany stood 2nd and Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat secured 3rd place where as Lewis Hamilton finished at 7th.
5) Rafael Nadal wins ninth Monte Carlo Masters title.
- Rafael Nadal defeated Frenchman Gael Monfils to grab the 2016 Monte Carlo Masters title.
- Nadal, in 100th Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour final, won 7-5 5-7 6-0 to claim his ninth title.
- Rafael Nadal has won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, 28 titles in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and 16 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments.
6) Bengaluru FC became Indian football champions.
- The club from Bengaluru defeated Salgaocar FC to take an unassailable lead at the top of the I-League. Bengaluru FC won the I-League title with a 2-0 victory over Salgaocar FC.
- Bengaluru FC waltzed to their second I-League title in three seasons with a game to spare, easily sweeping past Salgaocar FC to give themselves an unassailable lead on top of the table.
- English Snooker legend Steve Davis retired.
- England’s snooker legend Steve Davis has retired from the game after 38-year career at the age of 58.
- Davis began his career in 1978 and dominated the sport in the 1980s, winning six world titles and was world number one from 1983 to 1990.
- He also won 28 ranking titles, putting him joint second on the all-time list with Ronnie O`Sullivan and John Higgins.
- In his last match he lost against Fergal O`Brien and failed to qualify for 2016 World Championship.
7) India`s Durga Thakur promoted as FIH international umpire.
- India`s Durga Thakur has been promoted to international outdoor umpire by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) following her good performance at the Hawkes Bay Cup in Hastings, New Zealand.
Durga Thakur:
- Thakur started her career as an umpire from the third Hockey India Sub-Junior Men & Women National Championship (Finals) in Bhopal in 2013.
- A physical education teacher at Modern School, New Delhi, Thakur has represented Himachal Pradesh in the National Championships in three sporting disciplines - handball, basketball and hockey. She was one of the umpires in the finals of National Games.
8) ICC and Emirates Airline renewed deal for additional seven years.
- The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Emirates Airline renewed their deal for an additional seven years. With this, Emirates Airlines became the Global Partner for all ICC events from 2016-2023.
- This new deal is an extension and expansion of previous partnership as Emirates will continue its sponsorship of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Match Referees. The partnership was strengthened with Emirates becoming the ICC’s official partner for the 2007-2015 events cycle.
9) Hong Kong`s Irfan Ahmed suspended after ICC a.nti-corruption breach.
- Irfan Ahmed, the Hong Kong all-rounder, has been suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for two and a half years for breaching the anti-corruption code of conduct.
- Ahmed failed to report suspect approaches made to him to the ICC. During the hearing, he accepted the charges laid against him and decided not to appeal against the decision.
- He has played six One-Day Internationals and eight Twenty20 Internationals for Hong Kong.
10) Vishnu Vardhan becomes the first champion of the Asian Tennis Tour (ATT).
- Former national champion Vishnu Vardhanhan has become the first champion of at the Asian Tennis Tour (ATT) after he beat Sidharth Rawat 7-6 (7), 6-3 in the final event at the DLTA Complex.
Asian Tennis Tour (ATT)
- With an aim to provide young tennis players a "developmental pathway", the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) has launched an exclusive Asian Tennis Tour (ATT) for the players in the Asian region on 27th Feb, at Doha.
- The tournaments are in two categories. In the first category, the event prize money is USD 5000 plus USD 2000 as travel/ support allowance. In the second category, the event prize money purse is USD 7500 apart from USD 2000 as travel/ support allowance.
- A similar Tour will be launched for women in 2018.
11) Seema Antil finishes second at the Hartnell Spring Fling Throwers championship.
- Asian Games discus throw champion Seema Punia Antil finishes second at the Hartnell Spring Fling Throwers Meet at Salinas, California (US).
- She threw to a distance of 58.86m and took the silver behind American Stephanie Brown Trafton (60.12). Another American, Rachel Varner (57.58), was third.
12) Jitu Rai finishes sixth at shooting World Cup.
- pistol ace Jitu Rai finished sixth in the Men`s 50M Pistol AT the lnternational Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup (Rifle/ Pistol/ Shotgun) being held in Rio De Janerio`s Olympic Shooting Centre.
- Jitu, who is the world number one in the event, qualified for the finals in fourth position, shooting a score of 563.
- In the other event, the men`s Double Trap, Indian youngster Ankur Mittal led the qualifications till the third round with 30 shots each, only to see his hopes of making the finals fade away after shooting scores of 23 and 24 in the last two rounds.
- Australia`s James Willett won the Gold in Double Trap Men event while Russia`s Vasily Mosin won the silver and USA`s Walton Eller secured the bronze medal.
13) BCCI to Host First Day-Night Test against New Zealand.
- BCCI is all set to host it’s first-ever day/night cricket Test match with pink ball during New Zealand tour to India.
- Before that Duleep Trophy will act as a dress rehearsal for the day-night Test match. The main objective of the Duleep Trophy will be to check how the pink kookaburra behaves under the light in sub-continental conditions.
- India will host New Zealand in a day-night Test match to be played with a pink ball.