March 2020 Sports

Sakshi Education

Indian umpires Janani Narayanan and VrindaRathi named in ICC panel
The number of women matches officials across different International Cricket Council panels has gone up to 12 as Janani Narayanan, and VrindaRathi of India was named in the International Panel of ICC Development Umpires.

The announcement comes soon after the launch of 100% Cricket, a 12-month campaign anticipated building on the momentum of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020.

The campaign launched just before 86,174 people watched the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on International Women’s Day.
Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics to be postponed
Japanese authorities are planning to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The final decision will be announced soon. It was announced by Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee.

Highlights:
The game will not be cancelled but will be postponed. The organizers are still discussing if they could still secure the Olympic venues for all 33 sports, and for the Paralympics.

Japan's official budget for the Olympic Games is around $12.6 billion, so far. The Tokyo Olympic torch relay is due to start on 26 March in Fukushima in northeastern Japan. Recently, Canada and Australia have announced its pullout from the Tokyo Olympics due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Indian football skipper Sunil Chhetri has been named for FIFAs campaign to combat COVID-19 crisis
Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri has been picked among 28 players for the world governing body FIFA's campaign to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

He has been selected along with Lionel Messi, Philip Lahm, Iker Casillas, and CarlesPuyol.

Highlights:
FIFA and the World Health Organization (WHO) have partnered to combat the coronavirus and launched 'Pass the message to kick out coronavirus', a new awareness campaign, led by world-renowned footballers.

The campaign urges people to follow five key steps to stop the spread of the disease.

The five key steps as per the WHO guidance, is hand washing, coughing etiquette, not touching your face, physical distance and staying home if feeling unwell.

28 players are involved in the video campaign which will be published in 13 languages.
Tai Tzu Ying won 2020 All England Badminton Championships
Taiwan's Tai Tzu Ying won the third women's singles title in four years at the Yonex All England Badminton Championships 2020 in Birmingham, England. She defeated the defending champion, Chen Yu Fei, on 15 March.

Also, Viktor Axelsen won the All England title in the men's singles championship. He secured Denmark's first win in the event since Peter Gade's triumph in 1999.

Result:
Men's Singles: Viktor Axelsen
Women's Singles: Taipei Tai Tzu-Ying
Men's Doubles: Hiroyuki Endo, Yuta Watanabe
Women's Doubles: Yuki Fukushima, Sayaka Hirota
Mixed Doubles: Praveen Jordan, Melati Daeva Oktavianti

All England Open 2020:
Edition: 112th
Dates: 11-15 March
Location: Birmingham, England
Total prize money: $1,100,000
Amit Panghal, Lovlina Borgohain won bronze medal in the Asian Boxing Olympic qualifiers
Boxers Amit Panghal and Lovlina Borgohain won the bronze medal in the Asian Boxing Olympic qualifiers held in Amman, Jordan. Both the boxers had already claimed their place in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Borgohain secured 0-5 and lost to China's Hong Gu in the 69kg weight category. Pangal was defeated by China's Jianguan Hu in the 52 kg category.

In a total of five Indian boxers, namely VikasKrishan in 69kg category, Lovlina Borgohain in 69kg category, Pooja Rani in 75kg category, Ashish Kumar in 75kg category and Satish Kumar in +91kg category, secured their seats at the Olympics.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Qualification Tournaments:
Five qualification series of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Qualification Tournaments are conducted across all continents and 286 Olympic spots.

The qualification series is hosted at Dakar, Amman, London, Buenos Aires, and Paris.
Tiger Woods to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of fame
Tiger Woods is to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of fame in its class of 2021. He will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in December 2020, once the age of entry was lowered from 50 to 45.

Woods has won 15 majors and a joint record 82 times on the PGA Tour. The 44-year-old won the Masters at Augusta in April 2019 for his 15th major.

Tiger Woods:
EldrickTont Woods, nicknamed as Tiger, is a USA's professional golf player. He ranks second in both major championships and the Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA).

He holds numerous records in golf and is considered one of the greatest golfers of all time.
First KIU Games concludes in Bhubaneswar Chandigarh tops medals tally
Khelo India University Games ended in Bhubaneswar, Odisha Punjab University Chandigarh took home the champions trophy-winning 46 medals, including 17 gold 19 silver and ten bronze.

Savitribai Phule Pune University
Savitribai Phule Pune University claimed the second position and Punjabi University, Patiala declared as the second runners up.

Punjab University won a total of 46 medals while Savitribai Phule Pune University won 37 medals, including 17 gold, 11 silver, and nine bronze medals.

Punjabi University, Patiala won 33 medals, including 13 gold, six silver, and 14 bronze medals. A total of 113 universities took part in the games.

India's fastest woman Dutee Chand representing Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology clinched the gold medal with a timing of 23.66 seconds in the 200m final.

Kirti Vijay Bhoite from the University of Mumbai settled for silver with a schedule of 24.98 seconds while Deepali Mahapatra from Utkal University won the bronze, clocking 25.19 seconds
Mexican Open 2020 Highlights
Rafael Nadal won the Mexican Open 2020 championship at Acapulco. He defeated Taylor Fritz to claim the title. With this win, he defeated the World No.1 Novak Djokovic in the ATP Rankings.

Mexican Open 2020:
2020 Mexican Open is the 27th edition of the men's Mexican Open and 20th for the women. The tournament is a part of the 2020 ATP Tour.

The championship was held at Princess Mundo Imperial from 22-29 February 2020.

Result:
- Men's Singles: Rafael Nadal (Spain)
- Women's Singles: Heather Watson (Britain)
- Men's Doubles: Marcelo Melo (Brazil), LukaszKubot (Poland)
- Women's Doubles: Giuliana Olmos (Mexico), DesiraeKrawczyk (US)
The 68th All India Police Athletic Championship began in Haryana
The 68th All India Police Athletic Championship 2019-20 began at Bhanu in Panchkula District of Haryana on 3rd March.

The event was inaugurated by the Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju, who declared the meet open at the Basic Training Centre of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

68th All India Police Athletic Championship 2019-20:
The Athletic Championship will be held from 3-7 March.

The championship aims to bring India in the top 10 in the Olympics scheduled in 2028. The efforts of ITBP is to promote adventure and sports activities in the force. ITBP is to made the nodal agency for the conduct of these games.

GoI, so far, has identified more than 15,000 children and started their training across 284 Sports Authority of India (SAI) training centres across the country. Efforts shall be made to assign a few games to each force so that we can get good results in the Olympics after 8 years.

Government is to establish Sports training centres in the forces. Also, centre is to handover a few of the SAI extension to the State Governments. SAI can now focus more on the National centres of excellence.
Mumbai to host 2023 IOC session
Mumbai will be hosting the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) session in 2023. The announcement was passed by IOC president Thomas Bach.

Highlights:
The committee chose India to encourage and support the National Olympic Committee of India and all the National Federations to promote and strengthen Olympic sport in the country.

The decision by IOC committee is yet to be ratified at the 136th IOC session in Tokyo in July 2020.

Also, the year 2023 will be a significant year for India as it coincides with the 75th anniversary of Indian independence.

India last hosted an IOC session in 1983 in New Delhi.
SAI announced first edition of Khelo India Womens Hockey League
Sports Authority of India (SAI) has announced the first edition of the Khelo India Women's Hockey League (Under 21) will be held at three different venues across the country in three phases between March-November 2020.

Highlights:
Phase 1 will be held from 23-29 March 2020 at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh.

Phase 2 will be held from 13-19 July 2020 at the SAI Center in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Phase 3 from 22-29 November 2020 at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

The government aims to create talent identification platforms for athletes from multiple sports through the Khelo India Scheme.

Various academies registered under Hockey India and Public Sector Units' teams will play in the League.