Sports Events 2008

Events in January 2008

Jan. 6 Mikhail Youzhny wins the Chennai Open ATP championship.

India’s Harbhajan Singh is banned for three Test for making a racist remark during the

second Test against Australia in Sydney.

Jan. 9 Gujarat is the Ranji Trophy Plate champion.

Jan. 11 Bangalore Hi-Fliers defeats Chandigarh Dynamos 2-1 in the three-match final of the

Premier Hockey league at Chandigarh.

Jan. 15 Viren Rasquinha, India’s hockey player, announces his retirement from international

hockey.

Jan. 18 Bobby Fischer, chess genius, passes away in Reykjavik.

Jan. 19 India defeats Australia in the third cricket Test at Perth in four days.

Delhi clinches the Ranji Trophy Elite title in Mumbai.

Jan. 22 Petroleum Sports Promotion Board wins the men’s and women’s titles in the National

and inter-state badminton championship in Panaji.

Jan. 24 Sachin Tendulkar scores his 39th Test century in the fourth Test against Australia in

Adelaide.

Jan. 26 Maria Sharapova wins the Australia Open women’s tennis championship in

Melbourne.

Adam Gilchrist announces his retirement from International Test and ODI cricket.

Jan. 27 Djokovic clinches the Australian Open men’s tennis championship in Melbourne.

Chetan Anand and Saina Nehwal clinch the men’s and women’s titles in the National

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and inter-state badminton championship in Panaji.

Jan. 30 Justice John Hansen gives his verdict on the three-match ban imposed on Harbhajan

Singh.

Events in February 2008

Feb. 2 Sharath Kamal and Poulomi Ghatak clinch the men’s and women’s titles in the

National table tennis championship at Siliguri.

Feb. 9 Railways wins the National women’s hockey championship in Jalandhar.

Feb. 10 S.S.P. Chowrasia wins the Indian Masters golf championship in New Delhi.

India edges out Uzbekistan 3-2 in the Asia-Oceania Davis Cup tie in New Delhi.

Feb. 14 New Zealand cricketer Stephen Fleming announces his retirement from international

cricket.

Former World No.1 tennis player Monica Seles officially calls it a day.

Feb. 15 Surya Shekar Ganguly claims the National ‘A’ chess championship title in Chennai.

Feb. 17 Yelena Isinbayeva wins the world indoor pole vault championship with a record leap

of 4.95m in Donetsk (Ukraine).

India’s I. Ilavazhagi bagged her maiden women’s title in the fifth World carrom

championship at Palais Des Festivals, Cannes, France.

Feb. 19 England and New Zealand play out a thrilling tie in their fourth One Day International

in Napier.

Feb. 23 Dempo SC wins the ONGC-I league football championship in Kozhikode.

Feb. 24 Anand Pawar wins the Austrian Open badminton championship.

Events in March 2008

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 Sports Events 2008

Mar. 1 South Africa’s Neil. Mckenzie and Graeme Smith break the world record of 413 runs

for the opening wicket. The pair puts on 415 against Bangladesh at Chittagong.

Mar. 2 Indian cricket team lifts the World under-19 Cup in Kuala Lumpur.

Sachin Tendulkar scores his 42nd ODI century against Australia in Sydney.

Mar. 3 Norm O’Neill, one of the leading Australian batsmen in the 1960s, passes away.

Mar. 4 India wins the tri-series cricket final against host Australia 2-0.

Mar. 7 Mahindra United retains the IFA Shield title in Barasat.

Viswanathan Anand wins the Linares chess tournament.

Mar. 9 Arjun Atwal wins the Malaysian Open golf championship in Kuala Lumpur.

Mar. 10 Indian hockey team fails to qualify for the Beijing Olympics in the qualification

tournament in Santiago.

Mar. 16 Anand Pawar triumphs in the Portugese international badminton championship.

Mar. 26 England completes a 2-1 win over host New Zealand in the three Test series.

Mar. 29 Rahul Dravid completes 10,000 Test runs in the match against South Africa in

Chennai.

Events in April 2008

Apr. 1 Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar is banned for five years by the country’s cricket

board for violating the players’ code of conduct.

Apr. 7 Host West Indies and Sri Lanka share honours in the two-Test series.

Apr. 12 India blanks Japan 3-0 in the Asia Oceania Group I tie and qualify for the Davis Cup

play-offs.

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Apr. 13 Pankaj Advani wins the Asian billiards crown in Myanmar.

Trevor Immelman becomes the first South African in 30 years to win the US Masters

golf championship in Augusta.

Events in May 2008

May. 5 England’s Ronnie O’Sullivan wins the World snooker title in Sheffield.

May. 10 Indian football star Baichung Bhutia receives the Padma Shri award in New Delhi.

May. 11 Manchester United wins its 10th Premier League Title.

Indian women’s cricket team wins fourth successive Asia Cup in Colombo.

May. 18 India loses in the final of the Azlan Shah international hockey tournament in Kuala

Lumpur.

May. 22 Manan Chandra wins the National 8-ball pool championship in Kolkata.

Ricky Ponting’s century against West Indies in the first Test at Kingston carried him

past Sunil Gavaskar’s 34 Test centuries.

Manchester United clinches the European championship league title in Moscow.

May. 25 Chetan Anand wins the Spanish Open badminton championship.

May. 26 Davis Cupper Somdev K Dev Varman wins the NCAA tennis title in Oklahoma.

Events in June 2008

Jun. 1 Rajasthan Royals wins the inaugural Indian Premier league in Mumbai.

Jun. 7 Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic wins the women’s title of the French Open in Paris.

Jun. 8 Rafael Nadal is crowned the men’s French Open champion in Paris.

Jeev Milkha Singh wins the Austrian Open golf championship in Vienna.

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 Sports Events 2008

England completes a 2-0- Test series over host New Zealand.

Jun. 14 Eesha Karvade wins the National women’s ‘B’ chess championship in Kozhikode.

Jun. 15 Punjab retains the Santosh Trophy football championship in Srinagar.

Jun. 29 Spain wins the Euro Cup football championship in Vienna.

Events in July 2008

Jul. 5 Venus Williams claims the women’s Wimbledon crown.

Jul. 6 Rafael Nadal wins the men’s Wimbledon title.

Sri Lanka defeats India in the final of the STAR Asia Cup cricket tournament in

Karachi.

Jul. 7 Australia blanks host West Indies 5-0 in the ODI following a 2-0 victory in Test

series.

Jul. 10 Virdhawal Khade sets two National records in the 100m and 200m freestyle events

in the FINA Youth swimming championship in Mexico.

Jul. 14 Prakash Amritraj loses in the singles final of the ATP tournament in Newport.

BCCI confirms that Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Asif has tested positive for a

banned drug in the Indian Premier League.

Jul. 18 India lifts the junior Asia Cup hockey tournament in Hyderabad.

Jul. 27 Spain’s Carlos Sastre wins the Tour de France, the world’s biggest cycle race.

Events in August 2008

Aug. 3 Michael Vaughan, steps down as England cricket team’s captain.

Aug. 4 Viswanathan Anand retains title in the world rapid chess championship in Mainz.

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 Sports Events 2008

Aug. 11 Host Sri Lanka wins the three Test series 2-1 over India.

Abinav Bindra becomes India’s first-ever individual Olympic gold medallist,

winning the 10m air rifle competition at Beijing.

Aug. 13 India emerges victorious in the AFC Challenge football Cup in New Delhi.

Aug. 16 Jamaica’s Usain Bolt creates a new World record (9.69 sec) in the men’s 100m final

in the Beijing Olympic Games.

Aug. 17 American swimmer Michael Phelps overtakes Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold

medals in a single Olympics, with eight in Beijing.

Aug. 20 Boxer Vijender Singh wins bronze medal in the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Wrestler Sushil Kumar wins bronze medal in the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Usain Bolt clinches a double winning the 200m in a World record time (19.32s),

thereby becoming the first athlete to bag a sprint double since Carl Lewis in 1984.

Events in September 2008

Sep. 5 The Cara Black-Leander Paes pair wins the mixed doubles of the US Open tennis

championship in New York.

Pankaj Advani wins the ONGC-IBSF world billiards (points format) championship

in Bangalore.

Sep. 7 Mahindra United dethrones Churchill Brothers to win the Durand Cup in New Delhi.

Sep. 8 Serena Williams claims the women’s crown in the US Open tennis championship in

New York.

Sep. 9 Roger Federer wins the men’s title in the US Open tennis championship in New

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York.

Sep. 10 Pankaj Advani wins the ONGC-IBSF world billiards (time format) championship in

Bangalore.

Sep. 14 Saina Nehwal becomes the first-ever Indian woman shuttler to win two Grand Prix

singles titles by winning the Yonex Chinese Taipei Grand Prix gold badminton

championship in Taiwan.

Air India captures Murugappa Gold cup all-india hockey tournament in Chennai.

Sep. 25 B. Adhiban (16 years) becomes the youngest to win the National ‘B’ chess

championship in Zambaulim (Goa).

Sep. 27 K. Srikkanth is appointed Chairman of the Selection Committee at the BCCI’s AGM

in Mumbai.

Sep. 28 Chetan Anand rounds off a fantastic year for him by wwins the Czech Open

badminton tournament.

Khaled Mashud, former Bangaldesh cricket team captain, and the country’s

successful wicket-keeper announces his retirement.

Events in October 2008

Oct. 2 Weightlifting Federation of India imposes a life ban on lifter Satish Rai.

Oct. 5 Chetan Anand becomes the first Indian to win the men’s singles title in a Grand Prix

badminton event. He achieved the feat in Germany.

Oct. 6 Nigel Short wins the Commonwealth chess championship crown in Nagpur.

Oct. 7 Sourav Ganguly announces in Bangalore that the home Test series against Australia

will be his last.

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Oct. 9 Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting gets his first century on Indian soil in the first

Test in Bangalore.

Oct. 12 Commonwealth Youth Games begins in Pune.

Oct. 17 Sachin Tendulkar goes past Brian Lara’s mark—11953 runs—to become the highest

run-getter in Tests. He achieves the feat in the second Test against Australia in

Mohali.

Oct. 29 Viswanathan Anand wins the World chess championship in Bonn.

Events in November 2008

Nov. 1 Saina Nehwal wins World junior badminton title in Pune.

Nov. 2 Anil Kumble announces his retirement from Test cricket during the third Test against

Australia in New Delhi.

Britain’s Lewis Hamilton becomes the youngest ever Formula One champion at the

age of 23.

Nov. 5 Gagan Narang equals the World record (600/600 in the preliminaries) to win the

men’s 10m air rifle gold in the shooting World Cup finals in Bangkok.

Nov. 10 Host India regains the Border-Gavaskar Test Series Trophy defeating Australia 2-0.

Rehan Poncha and Richa Mishra are adjudged the best men’s and women’s

swimmers in the National championship held in Hyderabad.

Nov. 16 Novak Djokovic claims the Masters Cup in Shanghai.

Jeev Milkha Singh wins the Singapore Open golf championship.

Nov. 17 Pakistan blanks West Indies 3-0 in the ODI series in Abu Dhabi.

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 Sports Events 2008

Nov. 20 Pankaj Advani wins the men’s National billiards title in Indore.

Nov. 21 Joshna Chinappa wins her maiden WISPA squash title in the NSC Super Satellite

tournament in Kuala Lumpur.

Nov. 23 Spain defeats host Argentina 3-1 in the Davis Cup final in Mar Del Plata.

Nov. 25 Peter Thangaraj, one of India’s best goalkeepers passes away.

Umadevi wins the women’s National billiards title in Indore.

Nov. 26 Terror attacks in Mumbai force the cancellation of the remaining ODIs between

India and England.

Nov. 29 M.C. Marykom wins her fourth successive World boxing championship in China.

Nov. 30 Pankaj Advani and Vidya Pillai win the men’s and women’s title in the Senior

National snooker championship in Indore.

Events in December 2008

Dec. 6 Football legend Diego Maradona visits Kolkata on a private tour.

Dec. 7 Jeev Milkha Singh wins the Nippon Series JT Cup in Tokyo.

Dec. 13 Indian boxers Akhil Kumar, Jitender Kumar, A.L. Lakra and Dinesh Kumar win

bronze medals at the International Boxing Association’s World Cup in Moscow.

Dec. 15 India wins the first Test in its two-Test series against England at Chennai. Sachin

Tendulkar makes his 41st Test hundred in guiding India home.

Dec. 21 Mohun Bagan bags Federation Cup football championship in Kolkata.

South Africa wins the first Test against Australia at Perth, chasing 414 in the fourth

innings – the second highest ever successful chase.

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 Sports Events 2008

The Indian women’s hockey team wins bronze at the Under-21 Women’s Junior

Asia Cup at Kuala Lumpur.

Manchester United wins the Club World Cup at Yokohama, beating Liga de Quito 1-

0 in the final.

Dec. 23 India seals a 1-0 win in the Test series against England, and moves to No. 2 in the

ICC Test rankings, with a draw at Mohali in the second test.

The Test series between New Zealand and West Indies ends in a 0-0 draw.

Dec. 26 Sahu Mewalal, 82, two-time football Olympian, dies in Kolkata.

Dec. 28 Railways wins both the men’s and women’s titles at the National Volleyball

Championships in Visakhapatnam.

Golfer Jyoti Randhawa wins the BILT Open in Noida.

Kruttika Nadig wins the National ‘A’ Women’s Chess title at Delhi.

Dec. 30 South Africa seals the Test series in Australia, winning the second Test at Melbourne

by nine wickets.

Surya Shekhar Ganguly wins the National ‘A’ Men’s Chess title, for the sixth year

running, at Mangalore.

Dec. 31 Former Indian Davis Cupper Premjit Lall (68) dies in Kolkata.

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