Current Affairs June 2018 - Sports

1 - Virat Kohli won International Cricketer of Year at CEAT ratings

India skipper Virat Kohli emerged as the International Cricketer of the Year at the CEAT Cricket Ratings awards. Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan was presented the International Batsman of the Year Award, while New Zealand pace sensation Trent Boult won International Bowler of the Year Award.

Afghanistan leg spinner Rashid Khan, who impressed everyone with his skills in the recently concluded IPL grabbing 21 wickets, was presented with the T20 Bowler of the Year Award. Woman cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur won the Outstanding Innings of the Year Award. Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed on former India wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer.

2 - Archery World Cup Stage II 2018 began in Turkey

The stage II of Archery World Cup 2018 began in Antalya, Turkey. India bagged a silver and a bronze medal on the opening day. There are many teams participating in the Archery World Cup 2018 stage II, however Great Britain team is returning to World Cup podium after a gap of 6 years.

World Archery is the international governing body for the sport of archery. Its mission is to promote and regulate archery worldwide, developing the sport with over 160 member associations.

3 - Nepal, Netherlands, Scotland and UAE added to the expanded ICC ODI team rankings

Nepal, Scotland, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have joined the 12 leading ODI nations on the expanded MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings with effect from 1 June 2018.

Scotland have been ranked in 13^th place on 28 points. UAE are another 10 points behind on 18 in 14^th position. The Netherlands have 13 rating points and Nepal have 0 ratings point. The table is headed by England.

4 - India's Sanjana Ramesh won the MVP Award at Basketball Without Borders Asia 2018

Bengaluru’s Sanjana Ramesh and Rence Forthsky of Philippines emerged as the Most Valuable Players (MVP) of the four-day Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Asia camp.

The 10^th edition of the BWB Asia camp was conducted at the NBA Academy India in Greater Noida. 66 boys and girls from 16 countries of the Asia-Pacific region participated in the camp. Vaishnavi Yadav of Uttar Pradesh was bestowed with the Grit award.

5 - Kagiso Rabada won South Africa's Cricketer of the Year Award

Kagiso Rabada won outh Africa's Cricketer of the Year award. Rabada collected a total of six awards, including Test cricketer of the year, one-day international player of the year and players' player of the year.

Rabada had bagged the prestigious award in 2016 also. Veteran AB De Villiers was adjudged as T20 International Cricketer of the Year. While in women’s cricket, Dane van Niekerk was named the Cricketer of the Year.

6 - Mithali becomes first Indian to score 2000 T20I runs

Star batswoman Mithali Raj became the first Indian cricketer to amass 2000 runs in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I). She now has 2,015 runs in 75 matches.

Mithali is the seventh woman to reach 2,000-runs, a list which is being headed by Charlotte Edwards (2,605), followed by Stafanie Taylor (2,582) and Suzie Bates (2,515). India men's team captain Virat Kohli (1,983) is the next Indian on the list, followed by Rohit Sharma (1,852) and Suresh Raina (1,499).

7 - Kohli presented with Cricketer of the year award at BCCI annual gala

Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli was honoured with the Polly Umrigar award for international cricketer of the year for both 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons at the BCCI awards ceremony in Bengaluru. Smriti Mandhana was named the international cricketer of the year 2017-18 in the women's category.

The current women's team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was awarded the player of the year for her phenomenal performances in the 2016-17 season.

8 - India beat Kenya to win the Intercontinental Cup 2018

India defeated Kenya by 2-0 to lift the Intercontinental Cup 2018. The final was held at the Mumbai Football Arena. Skipper Sunil Chhetri scored both the goals and equalled Argentina's Lionel Messi's tally of 64 international goals, making him the joint-second active international goalscorer behind Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo (81 goals).

The 2018 Intercontinental Cup was a 4-team association football tournament. The other two teams who participated in the tournament were Chinese Taipei and New Zealand.

9 - French Open 2018

Rafael Nadal clinched a 11^th French Open title with a straight-sets win over Dominic Thiem of Austria. Nadal is only the second player in history to win the same Grand Slam on 11 occasions after Margaret Court, who won 11 Australian Open titles between 1960 and 1973.

Simona Halep defeated Sloane Stephens to win the women's singles title at the French Open 2018. Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert won the men's doubles title while Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková won the women's doubles title. The mixed doubles champions were Latisha Chan and Ivan Dodig.

10 - Indian boxers won 3 medals at Umakhanov Memorial Boxing Tournament

Umakhanov Memorial Tournament was organized in Russia. Indian boxers bagged one Gold and two Silver medals in the Women’s 75 kg category, Men’s 81 kg division and Men’s 91 kg division respectively. India’s Saweety Boora won gold medal beating Russia’s Anna Anfinogenova whereas Brijesh Yadav and Virender Kumar won silver medals in 81 kg division and 91 kg division respectively.

Earlier world youth champions were Gaurav Bidhuri, Shashi Chopra, Pinki Jangra and Pavitra.

11 - United States, Mexico and Canada bagged rights to host 2026 World Cup

Canada, Mexico and the United States have been granted the honor of hosting the world’s most extraordinary sporting event 2026 World Cup. Around 16 cities in three North American countries will host 60 matches. With this hosting status, Mexico became the first country to host all or part of three men's World Cups.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23^rd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The 2026 World Cup has been extended from 32 to 48 teams.

12 - Ronda Rousey became first woman to be inducted in Hall of Fame by UFC

Veteran American fighter Ronda Rousey became first woman to be inducted in Ultimate Fighting Championship Hall of Fame. Ronda is an American professional wrestler, former mixed martial artist and judoka. She plays for World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. She is champion of 12 consecutive MMA fights including 6 in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Famous MMA fighter has also been first American woman to medal in the Olympics in judo.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts organization based in Las Vegas.

13 - Brooks Koepka won the 2018 U.S. Open

Brooks Koepka won the U.S. Open 2018 at the Shinnecock Hills course in New York. Tommy Fleetwood was second. Koepka becomes the seventh player to go back-to-back and the first since Curtis Strange in 1988 and 1989.

The World number one Dustin Johnson finished third at plus-three on account of a 70. Koepka is projected to move up 33 spots, to 13^th, in the FedExCup, and to ascend to 4^th in the Official World Golf Ranking. The 2018 United States Open Championship was the 118^th U.S. Open.

14 - Sandeep Sejwal clinched gold at Singapore National Swimming Championships

Indian swimmer Sandeep Sejwal put up an impressive performance to clinch the gold medal in men's 50 meter breaststroke event at the Singapore National Swimming Championships in Singapore. Virdhawal Khade grabbed a creditable silver medal in the 50 meter freestyle event with a timing of 22.68 seconds.

Sandeep broke the Singapore meet record with a timing of 27:59 seconds to win the gold. He bettered his own time of 27.68 seconds in the semi-final by 0.09 seconds.

15 - Deepika Kumari clinched gold medal in women's recurve event in Archery World Cup

Deepika Kumari clinched a gold medal in the women's recurve event at stage three of Archery World Cup in Salt Lake City of US. Deepika defeated Michelle Kroppen of Germany 7-3. Tan Ya-Ting of Chinese Taipei won bronze medal.

With the win, the four-time World Cup final silver medalist has automatically qualified for the Archery World Cup Final to be held in Samsun of Turkey. In the medal standings, India finished fourth behind US, Colombia and Chinese Taipei with a gold, silver and bronze each in the penultimate stage of the World Cup.

16 - Saurabh Chaudhary won Gold at the ISSF Junior World Cup

Indian shooter Saurabh Chaudhary won a gold medal in the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany. He shot a total of 243.7 in the 10 m air pistol event and created a new world record. He earned the eighth gold medal for India in the tournament. Korean shooter Lim Hojin (239.6) won the silver.

ISSF Junior World Cup 2 concluded in Suhl, Germany. India topped the medal's tally with 26 total medals: 15 golds, two silvers and nine bronzes. People’s Republic of China took 2^nd place with 21 podiums: six golds, nine silvers and six bronzes.

17 - Lewis Hamilton won French Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton won the first French Grand Prix in a decade. He has reclaimed the world championship lead. He now leads Vettel by 14 points after eight of 21 races. It was the 65^th win of Hamilton's F1 career. Max Verstappen was second in the race while Kimi Raikkonen was third.

The championship standings after the French Grand Prix: