1. Prologue to six part Article series
2. How much sports you need to prepare?
3. Sport Mascots
   1. #1: Commonwealth Games 2014 (Glasgow)
   2. #2: Asian Games 2014 (Incheon)
   3. #3: Sochi Winter Olympics 2014
   4. #4: London Olympic 2012
   5. #5: National games
4. Individual games
   1. #1: Tennis
   2. #2: Football FIFA 2014
   3. #3: Hockey: New format
   4. #4: Cricket
   5. #5: Badminton
   6. #6: Squash
   7. #7: Kabbadi
   8. #8: Shooting 2014
   9. #9: Chess
   10. #10: Billiards
5. Awards
   1. #1: Laurius world sport awards 2014
   2. #2: Arjuna Award 2013
6. National sports development code
7. Unfortunate incidents
8. Misc. sports

Prologue to six part Article series

Total six parts covering December 2013 to 8^th June 2014- nearly six months that is the usual time span for current affairs most non-UPSC competitive exams of India.

1. [PIN-2014] Part 1/6: National- Official Posts, Committees, Stamps-2014, Defense, Telengana & more
2. [PIN-2014] Part 2/6: International- Presidents, Prime ministers, Summits, bodies & Ukraine Crisis
3. [PIN-2014] Part 3/6: Sports, Mascots, Athletes, Awards, FIFA-2014, Sochi-2014, Grand Slams, Hockey, Kabbadi, Cricket & more
4. [PIN-2014] Part 4/6: Economic Regulators, Banking Sector CMDs, RBI monetary policy, RBI Committees, Business GK CEOs
5. [PIN-2014] Part 5/6: Books, Authors, Movies awards & Beauty Pageants
6. [PIN-2014] Part 6/6: Diaspora, Civilian awards & Dead in News, Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, Padma 2014, Able Prize & more

How much sports you need to prepare?

That depends on the level of exam. Observe the difference

Bank, SSC, Insurance, StatePSC exam	CDS or CAPF (by UPSC)
Q. Who won French Open 2014? Nadal Federer Wawrinka Djkovic	Q. Which of the following statement is / are correct about French open? in 2014, Rafael Nadal won this tournament by defeating David Ferrer After this victory, Nadal holds the record of highest grand slams. Both 1 and 2 Neither 1 nor 2.
ans 1	ans 4

• A weak husband always shows “mardaangi” by beating up his wife. Same way, examiners harass competitive aspirants by asking Non-cricket questions. As if it is our fault that Indian junta doesn’t watch/respect non-cricket athletes!  And as if an aspirant has (unwillingly) mugged up such list, he is a bigger patriot and better officer than cricket fans!
• Nonetheless, if you want the job, you’ve to study. Most candidates avoid / downplay the sport topic thinking this is boring, cost: benefit is bad.
• But if you prepare sports segment in a systematic manner, it is possible to tick atleast 1 MCQ in most (non-CSAT) exams without requiring much effort.

Just focus on the sport section in the monthly competitive magazines, and within that focus mainly on four areas:

1. Who defeated whom in the final match?
2. Current venue, and next venue
3. Mascot
4. Major Awards

Back in the 90s and upto mid-2000s, they even used to ask ‘theory’ question eg. which terms are associated with following game. although you can find such info in Lucent’s General knowledge book, but nowadays such sport-theory MCQs are not seen in most exams. so you may skip it.
Let’s start:

Sport Mascots

Game	mascot	venue
FIFA 2014	Fuleco, the Armadillo	Brazil
Rabobank Hockey World cup	Storkey the Stork	Netherlands
Winter Olympics 2014	Polar bear, Snow leopard and snow hare	Sochi, Russia
Common wealth games 2014	Clyde, a thistle man	Glasgow, Scotland
Asian games 2014	Light, Wind and Dance (Vichuon, Barame and Chumuro)	Incheon, S.Korea

#1: Commonwealth Games 2014 (Glasgow)

• will be held in July August
• Glasgow, Scotland
• Mascot: Clyde, a thistle man (thistle=one type of flowering plant)
• Motto: People, Place, Passion.
• Boxing: Mary Kom will not participate in this game because Pinki Jangra defeated her in selection match.
• Raj Singh (Dronacharya winner) will be Chef De Mission for CWG 2014
• Ravinder Singh Khaira- will participate in javelin throw.

#2: Asian Games 2014 (Incheon)

• Incheon, South Korea
• Theme “Diversity shines here”

Mascots

Vichuon	light
Barame	Wind
Chumuro	dance

#3: Sochi Winter Olympics 2014

• 22nd winter Olympics + 11^th Winter Paralympics.
• Slogan– Hot cool yours.
• Venue: Sochi resort, Russia, near black sea coast.
• Mascots– Polar bear, Snow leopard and snow hare
• maximum gold medals: Russia> Norway> Canada
• Highest total medals: Russia > US > Norway
• Next Winter Olympic 2018: PyeongChang, South Korea. Motto New horizons.

India competed in three events but (As you can guess correctly) we won nothing:

Winter Olympic event	Indian athlete who failed
Alpine skiing	Himanshu Thakur
Cross-country skiing	Nadeem Iqbal
Luge	Shiva Kesavan

#4: London Olympic 2012

• 2020 (summer) Olympics will be held in Tokyo, Japan. Motto: Discover Tomorrow. and Wrestling is included.
• 2012 London Olympic topic is beyond expiry date but nonetheless we must remember the Indian winners

Gagan Narang	Bronze. 10 air-rifle
Mary Kom	Bronze. Women flywt. Boxing
Saina Nehwal	Bronze. Single badminton
Sushil Kumar	Silver Wrestle 66kg. He was flag-bearer. He got bronze in 2008 Beijing.
Vijay Kumar	Silver. 25 rapid fire pistol. Rajiv G.Khel ratna
Yogeshwar Dutt	Bronze. 60kg wrestle. Rajiv G.Khel ratna.

Indian Olympic Association

• Chairman N Ramachandran
• Secretary General Rajeev Mehta.
• 2019 Asian games Vietnam declined to host. Hence India interested to host this event

#5: National games

• National games are held once in every two years.
• 2009: 35th National games were to be held @Kerala
• but postponed because Kerala yet to finish building stadiums.
• In this context, SAI suggested two things to India Olympic Association

1. scrap the national games altogether OR
2. Hold this 35^th tournament @SAI centers.

anyways, finally its decided to

Individual games

#1: Tennis

• Highest Grand Slams: Roger Federer (17); Nadal (14); Sampras (14); Paes: 8 doubles, 14 overall.
• Babolat Racquet: it has microchip & sensors to record player’s wrist movement. Nadal uses this hi-fi racquet to analyse his performance after match.

2014 Grand Slams

in chronological order:

Open	Won	defeated
Australian	Man: Stanislas Wawrinka (Swiz)	Rafael Nadal (Spain)
	Woman: Li Na (China)	some Slovakian girl, not important
French (Red clay)	Rafael Nadal (Spain) won nine times. Stadium Roland Garros.	Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
	Maria Sharapova (Rus) fifth slam.	some Romanian girl, not important
Wimbledon (UK)	Yet to be held (23 June). prize increased to 25 million pounds	2013’s winner/losers not important. Non-UPSC exams don’t drag current affairs that far.
US	Yet to be held (26 Aug.)	same as above.

Vijay Amritraj: Davis Cup commitment award.

Misc. Tennis Championships:

(less important than grand slams)

Open 2014	Won	defeated
Dubai Open	Federer	some chillar party, not important.Important: Mahesh / Sania was 2013’s record. They won nothing in Dubai Open 2014.
	Venus Williams
	male Doubles: Rohan Bopanna + Aisam Qureshi (Paki)
Monte Carlo	Wawrinka, Swiz	Federer, Swiz
Chennai Open 2014	Wawrinka, Swiz	some guy from France not important
Qatar Open 2014	Nadal	not important
Shenzhen Open	Li Na, China	not important
Madrid Masters	Nadal	Nishikori stopped playing because his back injury.

#2: Football FIFA 2014

11 players each side. Yellow card = warning; Red card = Player dismissed.

Year	Place	Mascot	Official Football	Official Song
2010	S.Africa	Spain had defeated Netherlands in South Africa. other details not important.
2014	Brazil (June-July)	Fuleco, the Armadillo	Brazuca	We Are One (Ole Ola)
2018	Russia	yet to decide
2022	Qatar	allegations that Qatar paid bribes to win this nomination

• Fifa 2014: Total 32 nations participating, 12 stadiums (India not included)
• Will use Goal line technology to determine ball had passed through goal line or not. Hawkeye Camera takes 500 pictures per second. Computer processes this data and if goal is made, message on Referee’s watch. German company “Goalcontrol” provides this service. (Hawk eye is separate company, photo below is only for showing concept).

football related current affairs

Bhaichung Bhutiya	Contested Lok Shabha election from Trniamool ticket in Darjeeling but defeated.
Duran Cup	India’s oldest football tournament. Will be held in September 2014, Delhi. Last year’s champion not important.
Federation cup	Churchill brothers defeated Club de Goa, in Kochi.
Golden Boot	2012: Lionel Messi (Barcelona);  2013: Ronaldo and Suarez have combinedly won. 2014= somewhere in Nov/December.
Santosh trophy 2014	Mizoram defeated railways. First victory by Mizoram. Santosh trophy named after king of Santosh region in Bangladesh.
Shilton Paul	Captain of Mohan Bagan team
Sunil Chhetri	AIFF player of 2013.

#3: Hockey: New format

• by International Hockey Federation
• To make the game more interesting and attract young audience.

before reform	after reform
11 players	same
2 x 35 minutes	4 x 15 minutes
total 70 minutes	total 60 minutes

• 40-second break after every penalty corner and a goal
• Will be applicable to Champions trophy, world league, 2016 Rio Olympics and all other major tournaments.

Hockey related Current Affairs

Hero hockey world cup league	Netherlands defeated NZ in New Delhi.
Azlan Shah Cup 2014	Australia defeated Malaysia in Malaysia
Hockey India League second edition	Delhi defeated Punjab at Ranchi stadium. Jan 2014
Hockey world cup 2014	Venue: The Hague, Netherlands. May June 2014 Mascot: Stockey the stork Final match yet to come. Indian captain: Sardar Singh; unlikely to reach semi-finals because other teams scored higher.
India’s coach	National coach: Terry Walsh (Gets 12500$ salary per month) Jude Felix, former captain of Indian hockey team will assit him.
Indian female team	Captain Ritu Rani (for Malaysia tour)
Junior Hockey world cup	Germany defeated France in Delhi Dec 2013.
Sportcode	Software used to analyses performance of Indian hockey players.

#4: Cricket

ICC T20 world cup 2014

• theme song Char Chokka Hoi Hoi
• Venue Bangladesh
• March-April 2014

series	won	defeated
Men’s	Sri Lanka Captain Dinesh Chandimal (later injured so Lasit Malinga became captain).	India Captain Dhoni (coach Duncan Fletcher)
Women’s	Aus. captain Meg Lanning	England captain Charlotte Edwards

ICC T20 Man of the series award

Male	Virat Kohli, India. (and Man of the match was Sangakara)
Female	Anya Shrubsole, England

For this ICC-T20 series, Indian Women’s team captain was Mithali Raj (and not Joolan Goswami)

Anyways, let’s move on:

Ashes	Jan 2014: Australia defeated England in Australia
Asia Cup 2014	Srilanka defeated Pakistan. Held at Bangladesh
BCCI	President Shivlal Yadav (interim) President Sunil Gavaskar (For IPL);
Brijesh Patel	director of national cricket academy .
century	Fastest century in Oneday=Corey Anderson, NZ (just 36 balls)
Col.CK Naidu lifetime achievement	Kapil Dev. Award by BCCI
ICC	chairman N Srinivasan. HQ: Dubai
ICC 2013 award	For records made up to August 2013 .Australian Cpt.Michael Clerk both Player of the year and Test cricketer of the year. Cheteswar Pujara: Emerging player. Sangakara ODI player.
ICC 2014 awards	Yet to come.
ICC under 19	Africa defeated Pakistan
IPL -7 (2014)	Held at UAE and India. Kolkata defeated Punjab.
Irani Cup	Karnataka Defeated Rest of India.
Justice Mudgal panel	IPL spot fixing. now Saurav Ganguly also joined the panel.
Kathy Cross	first lady umpire to be named in ICC umpires panel.
MAdav Mantri	India’s oldest cricketer at 92. Died in May 2013. (maternal uncle of Sunil Gavaskar)
Ranji 2014	Karnataka defeated Maharashtra at Hyderabad.
Under Asia 19 cricket cup	India defeated Pakistan
Vijay Hazare 2014	Karnataka defeated railways. At kolkata.
World Cup 2015	Jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand in February 2015. Two groups of Seven Teams Both India and Pakistan are in pool-B. India had won world cup 2011.

#5: Badminton

German Open	Arvind Bhat, First Indian to win. Earlier gopichand only reached upto finals.
Indian Badminton League	2014 will be held in Sep-October 2013: Hyderabad hotshots defeated Awadh warriors.
Malaysian Grand prix	2013: PV Sindhu had won women’s single 2014: no Indian player won anything. all medals to Indonesia, China and Singapore.
PV Sindhu	Macau open badminton. Dec 2013 Won Arjuna award 2013 won nothing in 2014-इसके सितारे अभी गर्दिश में है.
Saina Nehwal	won Syed Modi badminton won India Open Grand Prix  2014 by defeating PV Sadhu.
Thomas Cup 2014 (men only)	Held in Delhi. Japan won first time. Japan is the fourth Asian country  to win (Indonesia, China, Malayasia are the other three.)
Uber Cup Badminton	Held in Delhi. China won against Japan.

#6: Squash

Joshna chinappa (Tamil)	won Winnipeg open squash 2014 Richmond Open 2014 also got Arjun Ratna 2013
Saurav Ghosal	won Dato Alex Lee award for best Asian player 2013

#7: Kabbadi

Kabbadi league	Players from Iran, Bangla, Japan, S.Korea, UK  and India.Highest price: Rakesh Kumar. Patna Franchise bought him for 12.8 lakh rupees.
Kabbadi World cup 2013	India defeated Pakistan in Ludhiana. Dec 2013

#8: Shooting 2014

Asian Championship 2014, Kuwait	Hina Siddhu won gold in Air pistol. womenChain Singh won gold in Air Rifle. men
ISSF world cup, Tucson USA	Manavjeet Sandhu won gold

#9: Chess

FIDE World Chess Championship	Norway’s Magnus Carlsen defeated Vishwanath Anand in Chennai. Nov 2013
Asian continental	B.Adhiban
Candidates chess title,	Anand won. held in Russia 2014.
Kolkata open chess title	Oliver Barbossa
Zurich Chess challenge	Magnus carlsen

#10: Billiards

• Saurav Kothari: national championship
• Pankaj Advani has failed to win any major game in 2013-14 so far. उसके सितारे भी गर्दिश में है.
• Chitra Magimairaj won World women’s snooker
• Geet Sethi: 6 time world champion billiards player from Gujarat. Retired and runs NGO “Olympic Gold quest” to help Indian athletes along with Prakash Padukone.

Awards

#1: Laurius world sport awards 2014

• Sebatsian Vettel (German, race car driver)
• Missy Franklin (USA, swimmer)
• spirit of the sport: Afghan criket team
• come back: Nadal
• many other categories ignore for bad cost : benefit.

#2: Arjuna Award 2013

Many, but only listing important

1. PV Sandhu: Badminton
2. Gagan Jeet Bhullar: golf
3. Joshna Chinnapa: Squash
4. Amit Saroha: Para-athletics
5. Anjum Saba: hockey

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna	Trap Shooter Ronjon Sodhi.
Dronacharya 2013	for coaches. cost : benefit bad hence not listing name- except one “Raj Singh” (wrestling coach) will be chef de mission for CWG 2014, Glasgow.

National sports development code

Delhi High court upheld this code while IOA was opposing it. (It diluted the autonomy of IOA)

Features:

• Sports bodies will come under RTI.
• more regulation and transparency .President of any NSF can hold office for a max period of 12 years (3 terms of 4 years).
• Secretary / treasurer for max of 2 successive terms of 4 years(min cooling period of 4 years).

Unfortunate incidents

Michel Schumacher	Formula one race driver from Germany. Retired from game but in medical coma after skiing accident (2013)
Ian Thorpe	Olympic winner swimmer from Australia. Shoulder infection, may have to cut down the arm (2014)
Amy Van Dyken	American Olympic gold medalist swimmer. Paralyzed after a vehicle accident (June 2014).

Misc. sports

• Indian Golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar won Indonesia Open.
• Grand Prix: UK’s Lewis Hamilton won GP in China, Bahrain and Malaysia; Nico Rosber won Canadian prix.
• Renjith Maheshwary- Triple jump athlete. He was declared for Arjuna award but before prize ceremony Govt. Refused him to confer Arjuna award. Supreme court refused to interfere in the matter.
• Mangyogdae: North Korea’s annual marathon. This time opened for entire world to participate.
• Boxing India: got provisional membership in International boxing federation. Vijender Singh and Mary Kom in the panel.
• Cycling:
  • India’s first cycling championship: Northern Escape’s Manali Khardungla (July 2014)
  • National Cycling academy: SAI opened at New Delhi.
• Oscar Pistorius: first disabled athlete to compete in regular Olympics (2012). Arrested for killing girlfriend in South Africa. Ball by ball commentary in newspapers not important.
• Los Angeles Clippers: this is a basketball team (similar to our IPL teams.) but its owner asked his girlfriend not to bring black people in the stadium. Hence racial-controversy, then owner’s wife sells the team to Microsoft ex-CEO Steve Ballmer.

For more current affairs, visit Mrunal.org/Current

Any updates, corrections please do post in the comments but with reference except wikipedia

Inputs from Mr. Chandradeo.