1) Gurpreet makes history, plays in Europa League.
- Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s ground-breaking journey through uncharted territory reached the most important milestone as he became the first Indian footballer to play for the first team in the top-flight Europa League.
- The Indian national team goalkeeper started for Norwegian Tippeligaen club Stabaek FC in an Europa League qualifier against Welsh side Connah’s Quay Nomads FC in an away match in Rhyl, Wales.
- Sandhu, who signed for Stabaek in 2014, made headlines in May when he became the first Indian to start in the first team in a top-division league of Europe.
- Mohammed Salim, former captain Bhaichung Bhutia and current national skipper Sunil Chhetri have all played abroad, but they were never able to break into the first team.
2) Sameer emerges fastest athlete of 56th National Inter-state Athletics.
- Veteran sprinter Sameer Mon, representing Manipur, emerged as the fastest male athlete as he won the gold in 100m dash in 10.60secs on the third day of 56th National Inter-state Senior Championships which was held in Hyderabad.
- In spite of his late start, Mon, who had represented Kerala and Services in his career earlier, pulled a surprise by surging ahead of his fellow competitors in the last few metres to finish first at GMC Balayogi Stadium.
- 32-year-old Sameer, a member of the bronze winning Indian 4x100m relay quartet in Delhi Commonwealth Games six years ago, had earlier won the Inter-state titles in 2008 and 2011.
3) Cricket will be part of 2024 Olympics if Rome wins bid: Italy.
- Cricket will be part of the 2024 Olympics if Rome wins the bid to host the mega event, Italian cricket board chief Simone Gambino.
- Rome is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Games alongside Paris, Los Angeles and Budapest. The host city will have the opportunity to add five sports to the Olympics provided they fall under the regulations.
- If Rome does end up hosting the Games, the most likely location for cricket would be Bologna, where World Cricket League Division Four matches were held in 2010.
4) Saina moves up to fifth, Jwala-Ashwini slip four places.
- Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal moved one place up to occupy the fifth spot while P.V. Sindhu remained unchanged at 10th in the latest Badminton World Federation Rankings.
- In the men’s singles rankings, Srikanth Kidambi, Ajay Jayaram and H.S. Prannoy were unchanged at 11th, 24th and 28th respectively.
- In the women’s doubles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa slipped four places to be at 20th spot.
5) ICC relaxes Decision Review System for LBWs.
- The ICC has approved change in rules in the LBW decisions of the umpires concerning the controversial Decision Review System.
- This will benefit the bowlers, while deferring plans for a radical shake-up of international cricket, including on the proposed creation of two divisions in Test and a new one day league.
- The global governing body’s annual meeting concluded with the ICC, IDI and IBC Board deliberating over several issues.
6) Nirmala qualifies for Rio Olympics in 400m.
- Indian quarter-miler Nirmala Sheoran made the cut for next month’s Rio Olympics after clocking 51.48 secs in 400m at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics championships.
- Nirmala had revealed her Rio ambitions when she improved her previous best by a huge margin clocking 52.35 secs of 400m heats at GMC Balayogi Stadium.
- Nirmala became the 24th track and field athlete from India to qualify for the Rio Olympics after she surpassed the Olympic qualification mark of 52.20 secs.
7) Javeline thrower Annu Rani sets national mark at National Inter-state Athletics C`ships.
- Javeline thrower Annu Rani, the Incheon Asian Games bronze medalist, has snapped her own national record with a massive 59.87m throw at the recently-concluded 56th National inter-state Senior Athletics Championships.
- The 23-year-old Annu Rai hails from meerut in Uttar Pradesh,bettered her previous meet mark with her first round 59.06m at G.M.C. Balayogi Stadium.
- Team-mate Suman Devi, who led with a season best 59.45m registered during her gold winning throw in South Asian Games at Guwahati earlier this year, could log only 55.88m to finish in the second place.
- Only the top-16 teams at the end of qualification period will be considered for participation in Rio Olympic Games.
8) India to host world`s first MMA `Super Fight League`.
- India will be hosting the world`s first Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) `Super Fight League` from August.
- The franchise-based league will feature eight teams - DELHI, Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai, Haryana, Bangalore, Punjab, Pune and Goa.
- The league will be a platform for Indian MMA players like Anup Kumar, CJ Singh, Amit Roy, Dhruv Chaudhary to showcase their skills. Each team will constitute nine Indian fighters and three international ones.
- Renowned British boxer Amir Khan, who is the chairman of the league wished to bring the `spice` of MMA to India.
9) Lewis Hamilton wins 2016 Austrian Grand Prix.
- Lewis Hamilton survived a collision with his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in a wild final lap as he claimed a dramatic victory in a pulsating Austrian Grand Prix. It was the 46th win of his career.
- Hamilton’s win ended Rosberg`s hopes of a third consecutive victory and cut the German’s lead in the title race from 24 points to 11 ahead of next weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
- Teenager Max Verstappen claimed his second podium, finishing second for Red Bull ahead of third placed Kimi Raikkonen for Ferrari.
10) India as Praneeth, Manu-Sumeeth win titles Canada Open 2016.
- It was double bonanza for India at the Canada Open as B Sai Praneeth and Rio-bound men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy clinched twin crowns after winning their respective title clash at the USD 55,000 Grand Prix badminton tournament.
- The 23-year-old Praneeth, seeded fourth, dished out a dominating game to defeat Korea’s Lee Hyun in the men’s singles final that lasted less than half an hour at the Markin MacPhail Centre.
- Top seed Manu and Sumeeth Reddy, who became the first Indian men’s doubles pair to qualify for the Rio Olympics, received a big boost when they defeated local combo of Adrian Liu and Toby Ng.
11) Para-swimmer Niranjan Mukundan wins eight medals in IWAS World Games.
- Bengaluru Para-swimmer Niranjan Mukundan has won eight medals, including three golds, at the recently-concluded IWAS (International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports) U-23 World Games in Prague, Czech Republic.
- Niranjan, who is born with a medical condition called Spina Bifida and clubbed feet and competes in the S-8 category, also had the honour of delivering the athletes` oath on behalf of 35 competing countries.
- In last year`s edition of the Games, he had created a record for highest number of individual medals, raking in 10 medals in all the events that he participated in.
12) Olympians Association of India launched.
- The Olympians Association of India (OAI) was launched with an aim to look after the welfare of former and current athletes from across the country. It is a representative body of Olympians in India.
- The first and only non-profit organisation by Olympians for Olympians in India, the OAI is directly affiliated to the World Olympians Association (WOA) under the International Olympic Committee.
- The welfare of former and current Olympians through their careers and beyond and has been founded by acclaimed Olympians Shiva Keshavan (luge), Viren Rasquinha (hockey), Malav Shroff (sailing), Adille Sumariwalla (athletics), Ashwini Nachappa (athletics), Saina Nehwal (badminton), Hakimuddin Habibulla (swimming) and MC Mary Kom (boxing).
- All Indian Olympians will be registered members and will contribute for the cause and at the same time mutually benefit from projects initiated by the OAI.
13) Phelps books third Rio berth with 100m fly win.
- Michael Phelps booked a shot at a fourth straight 100m butterfly gold at the Rio Games with his third triumph at the US Olympic swimming trials.
- Phelps, fourth at the turn, came off the wall strong and powered home to win in 51.00 seconds making good on his desire to make his last race in a US pool a victory.
- Phelps never threatened his world record of 49.82, set in 2009 at the tail end of the bodysuit era. But he got the job done in booking a third individual event in Rio, where he`ll become the first US man to swim in a fifth Olympic Games.
14) Haryana govt to set up Satkar Bhojan canteens across state.
- The Satkar Bhojan opened by Haryana government provides a hearty north Indian meal for Rs. 25.
- After the ``success`` of the subsidised public canteen in Kurukshetra, the Haryana government now plans to set up such canteens across the state. The government has set itself a target of November 1 for the purpose.
- Nestled among over 30 community rest houses along the banks of the Brahma Sarovar. The Satkar Bhojan is Haryana government’s pilot project towards providing subsidised food to people, especially pilgrims and tourists.
15) Phelps books third Rio berth with 100m fly win.
- Michael Phelps booked a shot at a fourth straight 100m butterfly gold at the Rio Games with his third triumph at the US Olympic swimming trials.
- Phelps, fourth at the turn, came off the wall strong and powered home to win in 51.00 seconds making good on his desire to make his last race in a US pool a victory.
- Phelps never threatened his world record of 49.82, set in 2009 at the tail end of the bodysuit era. But he got the job done in booking a third individual event in Rio, where he`ll become the first US man to swim in a fifth Olympic Games.