CURRENT AFFAIRS 2011 SPORTS

CURRENT AFFAIRS 2011 SPORTS

JUNE

• Defending champion Saina Nehwal failed to complete the hat-trick of titles at the Indonesian Open Super Series after losing to Chinese World No. 3 Wang Yihan in the final. Fourth seed Saina, who won the title in 2009 and 2010, suffered a 21-12, 21-23, 14-21 loss to Wang yihan of China. 
• Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland captured his first Major golf title with his victory inthe 111th U.S. Open on 19 June 2011.The 22-year-old McIlroy became the youngest US Open winner in 88 years. This victory made him become the youngest Major winner since Woods at the 1997 Masters and the youngest US Open winner since Bobby Jones in 1923. 
• Kerala won the overall trophy in the National Senior Athletic Meet held at Bangalore. Kerala became the champion in both categories i.e.men and women getting past Tamil Nadu and Punjab respectively. Meet record holder Mayookha Johny and Sajeesh Josephwere selected best athletes of the meet. Kerala improved its medal tally bagging 27 medals overall; out of which 13 were gold. 
• Shyam Sundar of Chennai retained his Asian junior title, in the Asian Chess championship which concluded in Sri Lanka on 8 June 2011. He scored 7.5 points out of 9 rounds in the championship.IM Srinath won the silver medal. In the girl’s section R Bharathi and J Saranya won the silver and bronze medals by scoring 7 points each. 
• World No. 1 Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-1 at Roland Garros (French Open) and won the title for the sixth time on 5 June 2011. With the victory, the reigning U.S. Open, Wimbledon champ Nadal equaled former tennis great Bjorn Borg’s six titles at Roland Garros. The French Open final victory on 5 June 2011 enabled the Spaniard to move to an astounding 45-1 mark at the world’s lone clay-court major.Rafael is a Spanish professional tennis player currently ranked No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). 
• Chinese tennis palyer Li Na’s won the French Open women singles title on 4 June 2011 by defeating defending champion Francesca Schiavone. She became the first Asian to win grand slam singles title. She had reached the Australian Open final in January 2011 but was defeated by Belgian Kim Clijsters. The Chinese professional tennis player has won 5 WTA and 19 ITF singles titles. She is currently ranked World No. 4 by World tennis Association (WTA). 
• Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel won the Monaco Grand Prix for Red Bull on 29 May 2011. The victory marked his fifth victory in six races. Vettel now has a 58-point lead over McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who scrambled to sixth place. Ferrari's double world champion Fernando Alonso finished second and ahead of McLaren's 2009 winner Jenson Button in third. 
• Spanish soccer club Barcelona led by Lionel Messi defeated Manchester United 3-1 to emerge winners of the Champions League on 28 May 2011. With the victory Barcelona claimed the most prestigious club title in the world, and fuelled a debate about whether they are one of the best teams in soccer history. It was Barcelona’s third Champions League title in six seasons and No. 4 overall. 
• MS Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore to winIndian Premier League (IPL) season 4 title. The comprehensive 58-run victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) was attained at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on 28 May 2011.MS Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore to win Indian Premier League (IPL) season 4 title. The comprehensive 58-run victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) was attained at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on 28 May 2011. 
  The winners of the first three seasons of IPL are as follows: 
  Season 1: Rajasthan Royals 
  Season 2: Deccan Chargers 
  Season 3: Chennai Super Kings

JULY

• Five-time national champion Vidya Pillai Tilakraj of Tamil Nadu defeated Arantxa Sanchis 3-1 (53-34, 43-53, 92-15, 54-15) in the final of the National billiards and snooker championship on 25 July 2011. 
• America’s Michael Phelps won gold in the 200m butterfly event in the World Swimming Championship in Shanghai on 27 July 2011.
• Uruguay won the Copa América foot ball cup for a record 15th time on 24 July 2011 by defeating Paraguay, 3-0, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. With the victory, Uruguay became the competition's most successful team. 
• Former India striker Shabbir Ali, who took up full-time coaching after retirement on 26 June 2011, became the first footballer to win the prestigious Dhyan Chand awardas recognition for his lifetime achievement in sports. 
• Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was honoured posthumously with the highest Bangladesh award — the Bangladesh Swadhinata Sammanona (Bangladesh Freedom Honour ) on 25 July 2011. The award was meant to honour Indira Gandhi’s for her outstanding contributions to Bangladesh's Liberation War fought in 1971. The award was received by her daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi who visited Bangladesh at the invitation of Sheikh Hasina. 
• The Union Sports Ministry had announced the Arjuna and Dronacharya awards for the year 2010. The Dinesh Khanna-led Arjuna award panel had recommended increasing the number of Arjuna awards to 19 instead of the normal 15. The selection of cricketer Zaheer Khan and Ashish Kumar, who bagged the first medals for the country in gymnastics in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, Swimmer Virdhawal Khade, Swimmer( paralympic category)Prasanta Karmakar , The captains of the men's and women's kabaddi teams, Rakesh Kumar and Tejaswini Bai, shooter Tejaswini Sawant, Archer Rahul Banerjee, boxer Suranjoy Singh, Greco-Roman wrestler Ravinder Singh, weightlifter K. Ravi Kumar, Hockey captain Rajpal Singh, badminton ace Jwala Gutta, volleyball player Sanjay Kumar, footballer Sunil Chetri, and wushu silver medallist in the Asian Games, Sandhya Rani Devi, were the others to be chosen for the Arjuna award.Five coaches were chosen for the Dronacharya award. The awardees are as follows: Ram Phal (wrestling), Devendra Kumar Rathore (gymnastics), I. Venkateswara Rao (boxing), Rajender Singh (hockey) and Kunthal Kumar Roy (athletics).Yashvir Singh, long-time coach of world champion and Olympic bronze medalist wrestler Sushil Kumar, withdrew his nomination on 21 July evening thereby clearing the route for Ram Phal, coach of Yogeshwar Dutt. 
• Ace Indian shooter Gagan Narang, who won four gold medals at last year's Commonwealth Games, is selected for the country's highest sporting honour – the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. He also won the bronze medal in the World Championships last year. Gagan becomes the fifth shooter to be nominated for the Khel Ratna award which is the highest honour given for achievement in sports. He won two silver medals in the Asian Games in Guangzhou and is the first shooter from India to qualify for the London Olympics. 
• The International Cricket Council (ICC) released the list of All time Greatest Test team. The ICC’s list includes four Indian cricketers namely- batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag. Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag were included for opening slot while Indian batting maestro, Sachin Tendulkar found the place in middle order. Four Australians, two West Indians and one Pakistani also made it to Peoples' Dream XI as more than a quarter of million people voted on ICC's official website.Sir Don Bradman, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Brian Lara, Curtly Ambrose and Wasim Akram are the other players in the list. 
• Japan lifted the women's football World Cup by defeating USA in a dramatic final in Frankfurt, Germany. Homare Sawa, is the captain for the team Japan. 
• Karnataka's Uma Devi Nagaraj on 21 July deafeted the defending champion Meenal Thakur in a final, and won the women's billiards title at the Hash10-National championships in Chennai. This was Uma Devi's third National billiards title. She had earlier won in 2002 and 2008. 
• The Indian trio of Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Chekrovolu Swuro settled for a silver medal in the Archery World Championship at Turin on 10 July 2011. This was the best finish by the women in the history of the Championships. Their previous best was a fourth place at Madrid in 2005, where they had lost to Russia in the bronze medal play-off. 
• Fernando Alonso of Spain won the formula one British Grand Prix. The 29-year-old Spaniard had in the past won the British race for Renault in 2006. The victory marked Alonso’s 27th career victory and it drew him closer to three-time winner of the British Grand Prix, Jackie Stewart’s record world champion Vettel finished second. 
• Jack Nicklaus was chosen as the greatest golf player of the last 100 years by the Golf monthly magazine’s reader’s poll. Nicklaus, whose 18 major titles are a record, won 58 per cent of the votes from a list of 20 golfers with nearest challenger Tiger Woods who won 16 percent. Third in the list was Spanish star Seve Ballesteros who won 8 per cent vote. Woods, won the greatest shot of the last 100 years for his chip-in from beside the 16th green at August National as he won the 2005 Masters. 
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on 6 July 2011 that Pyeongchang(South Korea) would be the host city for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Pyeongchang is the ski resort area located 180km east of Seol. The Winter Olympics will likely put South Korea on the map as a winter sports hot spot. Only two of 21 previous Winter Games have been in Asia after Japan hosted the event in Sapporo in 1972 and again in Nagano in 1998.
• Fabiano Caruana of Italy by defeating Filipino Wesley emerged as the winner of the AAI International Grandmasters chess tournament on 2 July 2011.india’s Sasikiran, finished runner-up in this tournament and another Indian Parimarjan Negi, was positioned on fifth. 
• The ATP rankings released conferred the World No.1 position Novak Djokovic of Serbia who defeated Nadal in the Wimbledon final. His rise to the World No. 1 position was confirmed after he defeated Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in the Wimbledon semi-final. 
• The Sports Ministry sacked India's athletics coach, Yuri Ogrodnik of Ukrain. Sports Minister Ajay Maken asked Sports Authority of India, SAI, to immediately relieve coaches attached to the Indian athletes who failed in the Dope test. An inquiry was also ordered into the whole doping episode. Measures were being taken by the National Anti Dope Agency (NADA) to prevent the occurrence of dope in sports and the agency decided to increase the frequency of the dope tests. Seven of the eight athletes tested positive for methandienone or methandrostenolone in the dope tests conducted at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala and the National Anti-Doping Agency approved the suspension of the guilty athletes. 
• Australian Michael Jack Nobbs was appointed India's new hockey coach for five-year period. He succeeded Spaniard Jose Brasa. Nobb is a 57-year-old from the part of Australia's Hockey team for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. He also coached the Japan women's team. Nobbs' contract is set to run till the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and his pay cheque is fixed to start at 10,000 Australian dollars per month. 
• Serbia's Novak Djokovic won his first Wimbledon title by defeating Rafael Nadal with 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-3. It was his 50th win in 51 matches and his fifth win over Nadal this year .He becomes the first Serbian man to win Wimbledon. It is his third Grand Slam title after two Australian Open victories. 
• Petra Kvitova won her first Grand Slam title by beating Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4 in the Wimbledon final. Kvitova was playing in her first major final and she is the first left-handed woman to win the Wimbledon title since Martina Navratilova in 1990. 
• American twins Bob and Mike Bryan won a record-tying 11th Grand Slam men’s doubles title together, beating Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Horia Tecau of Romania 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the Wimbledon final. The Bryan brothers won at Wimbledon for the second time and matched Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge’s Open era record of 11 major titles. Kevita pesky(Chek republic) and Katarina Srebotnik(Slovekia) won the womens doubles title. In the mixed doubles final event, Miljar(Australia) and Iveta Bensova(Chek republic) defeated Mahesh Bhupathi(india) and Velina Veniva(Russia).

AUGUST

• In the 13th World Championships in Athletics that started in Daegu, South Korea on 27 August 2011, Jamaican Yohan Blake emerged as the new world champion in men's 100m after Usain Bolt crashed out of the final with a foul start. Jason Richardson (USA) won gold in the 110m hurdle on 29 August. In the Women’s 100m, Carmelita Jeter (USA) won the gold. Veronica Campbell-Brown and Kelly-Ann Baptiste won the silver and bronze medals respectively. In the 400m event of the women’s category, Amantle Montsho was placed first followed by Allyson Felix and Anastasiya Kapachinskaya. Olympic champion Olga Kaniskina of Russia won her third consecutive World women's 20km walk title on 31 August 2011.Kaniskina's three consecutive world titles matched the feat of Jefferson Perez of Ecuador, who won the men's 20km titles in 2003, 2005 and 2007. 
• Sebastian Vettel of Red Bul has won the Belgian Grand Prix on 28 August 2011. With the victory, Vettel’s number of victories in 2011 moved to seven.His teammate at Red Bull, Mark Webber finished in second, 3.7 seconds behind, while Jenson Button, who won the previous race, the Hungarian Grand Prix finished third .
• Top-seeded International Master Rahul Sangma of Delhi won the Sunita Singh Memorial National youth (under-25) chess championship at Indore on 27 August 2011.The championship was a 50-player event. Sangma scored a final round victory with black over Sai Agni Jeevitesh of Andhra. The event was organised by S.K.M. Chess Academy and J.J. Public School, Indore, from 21 to 27. August 2011. Pranesh Yadav of Shivamogga, Karnataka was the chief arbiter. 
• Veteran Indian footballer Baichung Bhutia announced his retirement from international soccer on 24 August 2011. In his career spread over 16 years he scored 42 goals in 107 international appearances. Nicknamed the Sikkimese Sniper, he is currently contracted by the club he owns, United Sikkim. He has thrice in the past been named Indian Player of the Year. When he signed up to play for the English club Bury F.C. in 1999 he became the first Indian footballer to play professional football in Europe. He was honoured with the Arjuna award in 1995 and Padma Shri in 2008.
• World No. 4 Andy Murray won the ATP's Cincinnati Masters title for the second time on 21 August 2011 after defeating World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Fourth-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova defeated Serbia's Jelena Jankovic to win the women's title. In the doubles final,Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won their third title of 2011 and first at Cincinnati after 10 years, following a hard-fought win over French-Serbian combination Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic. 
• Ace Indian discus thrower Krishna Poonia won the Gold medal in the Annual Athletic Meet at Portland in the United States.
• Novak Djokovic defeated American Mardy Fish 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to win the Montreal Mastersthereby winning his ninth ATP title of 2011. The win also made him the first to capture an ATP tournament on debut as number one since Pete Sampras in 1993. 
• Veteran Indian batsman Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from both the Tests and ODIs. He announced his retirement after he was chosen for the ODI and T20 series in England. He became the second highest run-getter in Test cricket-12576 runs from 155 matches during the India-England test series. Dravid also equaled Sunil Gavaskar's record of 34 Test tons during the ongoing Test series against England. Dravid has to his credit over 10000 runs in both the Test and ODI cricket, with 10765 runs in 339 one-dayers who is the seventh highest scorer in that format. 
• Aditya Mehta claimed his maiden National snooker title by defeating Alok Kumar 6-2 the best-of-eleven frame final at the Hash10 World Sim championships on 9 August 2011. 
• McLaren's Jenson Button won the Hungarian Grand Prix on 31 July 2011. He has 11 Grand Prix races in a career that started with team Williams in 2000.Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was placed second in this event. 
• The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) set up an eight member Indian Court of Arbitration for Sports (ICAS). ICAS was set up under the Chairmanship of Dr. AR. Lakshmanan, former Supreme Court Judge and former Law Commission chairperson to resolve all sports related disputes in India. All sports related the International Court of Arbitration settles disputes in the whole world for Sports situated at Lausanne, Switzerland through a panel of eminent experts in the field of law, medicine, sports and others. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had given directions to the IOA to constitute the Indian court of Arbitration for Sports in order to resolve all sports related disputes within the territory of India. 
• India’s double-trap shooter and Asian Games gold medalist Ronjan Sodhi was ranked No.1 in the world, as per the latest rankings released by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) on 1 August 2011. Double trap marksman Ronjan Sodhi won gold in the World Cup Finals in Turkey in 2010. He had recently won the silver medal in the Beijing World Cup to clinch the Olympic quota place. After the Beijing World Cup he went on to win a bronze medal in the next World Cup in Maribor.Ronjan Sodhi from Punjab lad had won the World Cup gold medals in Belgrade in 2008 (with two world records to boot) and Lonato in 2010.

SEPTEMBER

• Russian grandmaster Peter Svidler won the Chess World Cup title on 20 September after winning over Alexander Grischuk. Russia hosted this event. Russia holds the No.1 spot on the World Chess Federation's top-10 list, followed by Ukraine.
• Salgaocar defeated East Bengal 3-1 in the final of the 33rd Federation Cup at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on 29 September 2011. Salgaocar became the first non-Kolkata club to win the premier domestic cup competition in Indian football since Mahindra United in 2005.
• The Indian kabaddi team lifted its first-ever Circle Style Asian kabaddi title by defeating arch-rivals Pakistan 53-38 at Tabriz in Iran on 27 September 2011.It is for the first time that the championship was played outside India. Eight nations participated in the championship. 
• India’s Deepika Kumari got silver after being defeated by China’s Cheng Ming 5-6 in the tie-breaker of the women’s individual recurve summit clash at the World Cup archery finals in Istanbul on 25 September 2011. 
• Novak Djokovic defeated the 10-time Grand Slam champion Nadal and won his first career US Open crown and fourth Grand Slam title.
• Australia’s Samantha Stosur defeated Serena Williams to win the US Open crown and her first grand slam singles title. Stosur became the first Australian woman in 38 years to win the title when she beat Williams 6-2 6-3.
• India defeated Pakistan in the penalty shoot-out in the final to clinch the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament on 11 September 2011. Goalkeeper S. Sreejesh played a crucial role in securing victory as he managed two crucial saves for India. Indian hockey team is coached by Michael Nobbs. Malaysia bagged bronze by defeating Japan.
• Durgesh Kumar Pal of Army Sports Institute (ASI), Pune won the gold medal in the 400m hurdles in the Commonwealth Youth Games at Isle of Man on 12 September 2011.
• Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Olympic gold medalist shooter Abhinav Bindrawere conferred with the rank of honorary Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army by President Pratibha Patil. The honour was bestowed on Dhoni and Bindra for their outstanding contribution in the field of cricket and shooting respectively, and their commitment to the Army on various occasions. Bindra and Dhoni joined the ranks of senior cricketers Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar who have been conferred with honorary ranks in the armed forces. Kapil Dev is an Honorary Lt Col in the Territorial Army, while Tendulkar is an honorary Group Captain in the Indian Air Force. 
• Sai Praneeth defeated Saurabh Varma 21-13, 10-21, 21-16 to win the men's singles crown in the IFCI all-India ranking senior badminton championship on 5 September 2011. Sai Praneeth also won the men's doubles collaborating Nanda Gopal (AAI). They defeated top seeds Pranav Chopra (PSPB) and Akshay Dewalkar (AI). In the women's singles, Sayali Gokhale won over Tanvi Lad .In the mixed doubles category, Pranav Chopra and Prajakta Sawant clinched the mixed doubles title by defeating Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan.
• Star Indian boxer Vijender Singh won gold and also bagged the Best Boxer award at the World Police and Fire Games in New York. Indian pugilists finished off a reasonably successful campaign with two golds, two silvers and a bronze at the World Police and Fire Games in New York. Both Vijender (75kg), an Olympic and World championship bronze medallist and Dinesh Kumar (81kg) won gold.
• Jamaica's Usain Bolt won the Men's 4x100 Relay final and set a world record at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea on 4 September 2011

OCTOBER

• Churchill Brothers won the 2011 Durand Cup at the Ambedkar Stadium with a 5-4 tiebreak wins over Prayag United on 15 October 2011 by defeating Prayag United.
• Five-time world champion MC Mary Kom won gold in the 51kg category by defeating Pinki Jangra in the summit clash on the final day of the 12th Senior Women's National BoxingChampionships in Bhopal on 16 October 2011. In the featherweight division, bronze medalist at the Women's Youth World Championship, Pwilao Basumatary of Assam settled for a silver medal after losing to Mandakini Chann of AIP who won gold. Haryana bagged the overall title with three gold medals, two silver and two bronze. Manipur came second with two gold medals, silver and a bronze while Railways finished third with two gold and three bronze medals. 
• Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on 9 October 2011 launched the nationwide Come and Play scheme in New Delhi. Through this scheme, the ministry aims at opening SAI’s sporting infrastructure for the youth across India. The scheme is targeted at the 8-17 age groups. The main objective of the scheme is to provide coaching primarily to sportspersons of young age. Under the Come and Play Scheme, competitions related to various age categories would be conducted twice a year and the top three position holders in the relevant age group would be permitted for admission to boarding scheme in SAI (Sports Authority of India) training centers.
• McLaren’s Jenson Button won the Japanese Grand Prix in his adopted homeland, Japan on 9 October 2011. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel who stood third in the Formula 1 race became the youngest double world champion with four races to spare. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel made his way to the record books as Formula One’s youngest double world champion after finishing third in a Japanese Grand Prix. Ferrari’s Fernando Alons had become the previous youngest double world champion when he had won for Renault aged 25 in 2006. 
• The ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports on 1 October 2011 announced the decision to set up the National Institute of Sports Science and Medicine (NISSM). NISSM will have its premises at the Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium in New Delhi. The institute will aim at fostering disciplines like Physiology, Nutrition, Psychology, Anthropometry, Nutrition, Biochemistry and Sports medicine. NISSM is modeled on the lines of China Institute of Sports Sciences (CISS). The decision to set up the institute was taken during the visit of Indian President to China on 27 May 2010.NISSM will function under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

NOVEMBER

• Swiss tennis star Roger Federer defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in their singles final tennis match at the Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals, in in London on 27 November 2011. The victory earned him a record sixth ATP World Tour Finals title. Federer has won 70 trophies in his career and has also equalled Lendl's record of 39 match wins in the end-of-season event. 
• Karnataka emerged the overall champion of the five-day 65th National aquatics meet that concluded on 20 November 2011 in Ranchi. Karnataka won men’s team championship (swimming) and the women’s team championship. Karnataka swimmers won a whopping 23 gold, 11 silver and nine bronze medals. Aaron D'Souza and Richa Mishra of Police were crowned the best swimmers of the meet. Both won five individual gold medals and broke three records. Karnataka emerged the overall champion by collecting 327 points. Maharashtra ended second with 176 points and Railways (143) third.
• Hyderabad wicketkeeper Ibrahim Khaleel created a record for the most dismissals in a first-class cricket match during his side's victory over Assam in a Ranji Trophy Plate Group ‘B' contest. The 29-year-old Khaleel took seven catches in Assam's second innings to finish with 14 victims (11 catches, 3 stumping) in the match. The previous mark of 13 dismissals was set by Zimbabwe's Wayne James, who claimed 11 catches and effected two stumpings when playing for Matabeleland against Mashonaland in 1995-96.
• India wins the title for both men and women in kabaddi world championship held in Bhatinda. Indian men’s team defeated Canada easily by 59-25 while women team beat U.K. The prize money for men was 20 million. The CM Punjab has announced government jobs for Indian women team for winning the trophy. 
• Jamaican sprint icon Usain Bolt and Australian hurdler Sally Pearson won ’Athlete of the Year' awards in Monaco. They were named athletes of the year by athletics' governing body, the IAAF.
• Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova was voted WTA's Player of the Year. In 2011, she claimed her debut grand slam title. In the 2011 season, she steered the Czech Republic to Fed Cup glory. Kvitova also bagged the Most Improved Player award and the fair play prize, while fans voted her the Breakthrough Player of the Year.
• Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi won their first ever ATP Masters tournament by beating Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut 6-2, 6-4 in the final of Paris Masters on 13 November 2011.Bopanna and Qureshi had earlier won the Gerry Weber Open at Halle and the Stockholm Open.
• McLaren Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain won the Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix at Yas Marina circuit in Abu. The victory at Abu Dhabi marked Hamilton’s third win of 2011 and 17th of his career.
• Richa Mishra became the first woman to clock the best Indian time in 800m freestyle. On 17 November 2011, she won three gold medals at the 65th National aquatic championships (meet) at the Veer Budhu Bhagat Stadium. She became the first to win three gold medals of the meet and set two senior championship marks (800m & 200m freestyle). 
• Ace shooter and silver medal winner at Asiad-2010, Gagan Narang, inaugurated the annual sports and games meet of Hyderabad police at Shiv Kumar Lal police stadium.
• Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsman to cross the 15000 run mark in test cricket when he reached 28 during his unbeaten 33 run knock on the third day of the first test match against West Indies at Feroz Shah Kotla. Tendulkar was playing his 300th innings in his 182nd Test match. 
• Three Pakistan cricketers and an agent were sentenced imprisonment in Britain for their involvement in one of the biggest fixing scandals. Former captain Salman Butt received two and a half years, Mohammad Asif was sentenced to 1 year, while 19-year-old Mohammad Amir will serve six months. Agent Mazhar Majeed was sentenced to 2 years, 8 months. Butt, Asif and Majeed are expected to begin their sentences at Wandsworth prison in south London, Amir is due to be sent to Feltham young offenders' institute in west London. The players were found guilty of conspiring with Majeed to bowl deliberate no-balls as part of a betting scam during the test match against England at Lord's in August 2010.The scandal is being described as the biggest fixing scandal in cricket since South Africa captain Hansie Cronje was banned for life in 2000 for taking bribes from bookmakers.
• India's Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi won the Stockholm Open men's doubles title by defeating Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares 6-1, 6-3 on 23 October 2011. The Stockholm Open was top-seeded India-Pakistan pair's second ATP World Tour title of 2011. They had earlier won on grass at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle in June 2011. 
• Mary Ann Gomes of Airports Authority of India(AAI) emerged winner of the Velammal Educational Trust National Premier women's chess championship on 9 November 2011. Mary became the 17th player to win this event. She received a trophy and Rs.75000 from D.V. Sundar, vice-president, FIDE (World Chess Federation).Eesha Karavade finished second after defeating Padmini Rout.
• Malaysian squash superstar Nicol David won a record sixth women's World Open title on 6 November 2011 by defeating England's Jenny Duncalf at Luxor Theatre, Rotterdam. With this victory, David surpassed Sarah Fitz-gerald's record five world titles. She won her first world title in Hong Kong in 2005.
• Cricket personality M.S. Dhoni and Shooting personality Abhinav Bindra were commissioned as Honorary Lieutenant Colonels in the Territorial Army on 1 November 2011.The honour was bestowed upon Dhoni and Bindra for their outstanding contribution to sports and their commitment to the Indian Army on various occasions. They were pipped-in by Army chief General V K Singh. Dhoni was chosen to represent the Parachute Regiment of the Indian Army while Bindra joined a TA battalion of the Sikh Regiment.

DECEMBER

• China won the gold medal in the World Women's Team Chess Championship at Mardin, Turkey. The Russians claimed the silver while Georgia got the bronze. 
• Indonesia’s shuttler, Taufik Hidayat, won the Syed Modi India Open Grand Prix Gold badminton championship by defeating Sourabh Verma of India. The women's singles was won by Inthanon Ratchanok of Thailand. 
• Mumbai skipper Wasim Jaffer overtook former teammate Amol Muzumdar (8237 runs) as thehighest run-getter in Ranji Trophy. He scored 8242 runs a against Muzumdar’s 8237 runs. 
• India striker Sunil Chhetri was on 20 December 2011 voted Player of the Year by the All India Football Federation. He will receive a cash award of Rs 2 lakh and a silver plaque.The criteria of selection were Performance for India and general conduct on and off the field. Chhetri scored 13 goals in 17 internationals in 2011, which was the highest the by an Indian. He has also been awarded the prestigious Arjuna Award in the past. I.M.Vijayan was the first recipient of the award in 1992. In 2010 the award was bestowed on Gouramangi Singh
• Indian ace badminton player and World No. 4 Saina Nehwal of India was defeated by World No. 1 Wang Yihan 18-21, 21-13, 21-13 in the women’s singles final of the $500000 BWF World Super Series badminton championship in China on 18 December 2011. Saina Nehwal had created history by becoming the first ever Indian to enter the singles final of the World Super Series. . In 2011, Saina won only the Swiss Open Super Series title. 
• Indian Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta won the London Chess Classic's open section, with a victory over Grandmaster Keith Arkell of England. Abhijeet, a former world junior champion and reigning national champion, scored eight points in all. 
• Iran's teenage sensation Hossein Vafaei Ayouri won the IBSF World Snooker Championship for the first time beating Wales star Lee Walker 10-9 in the best of 19 frames final held in Bangalore.
• Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal, the two highest-ranked Indians in the world, won the senior National squash championships at the Indian Squash Academy, Chennai. Saurav defeated Harinder Pal Sandhu, while Dipika defeated Anaka Alankamony. 
• The defending champion India retained the SAFF football championship against Afghanistan during the final match played in New Delhi. This is the sixth time for India to won the SAFF football championship. 
• Legendary weightlifter Karnam Malleswari resigned as vice-president of the national body, Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) on 1 December 2011 citing unconstitutional functioning of the body as the reason for her resignation. Malleswari was appointed vice-president in December 2009. 
• Spain won its fifth Davis Cup title after Rafael Nadal defeated Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro. Nadal with the victory stretched his record on clay to 16-0. Nadal earned his 20th straight victory since debuting in the competition in 2004.Argentina remained the only nation to play in four Davis Cup finals and never win one.
• India won its 6th SAFF Championship title against Afghanistan on 11 December 2011. India's star striker Sunil Chhetri won all the individual awards in the tournament. India was a five-time SAFF champion before it won the 2011 SAFF. The other participating nations in the 2011 South Asian Football Federation Championship (SAFF) were Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan.
• Belgium defeated India 4-3 in the final of the Champions Challenge hockey tournament in Johannesburg, South Africa on 4 December 2011. Sandeep Singh finished the tournament with seven goals, all through penalty corners, and won the Player of the Tournament award. 
• India's opening batsman Virender Sehwag made a world-record 219 runs out of 149 balls against West Indies in their 4th One Day International being played at Indore. Virender Sehwag is the second batsman to do double century in ODIs after Sachin Tendulkar's unbeaten 200 against South Africa in Gwaliar in 2010.