My Science School

P.V. Sindhu represented India at the 2016 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach a final. She won the silver medal after losing out to Spain's Carolina Marin.

Along with wrestler Sakshi Malik, who won a bronze on Aug. 18, Sindhu is so far one of the only two medalists in this year’s Indian Olympic contingent, the largest the country has ever sent to the games. She’s also the youngest Indian to ever win an Olympic medal.

Her epic performance in Rio comes after years of training under 2001 All England Open Badminton champion Pullela Gopichand. Sindhu, who comes from a family of volleyball players, began playing badminton at the age of eight after discovering the sport by chance. Since then, she’s spent almost all her time training at Gopichand’s academy in Hyderabad. Over the years, she’s won medals at several domestic and international competitions, including a bronze at the 2013 World Badminton Championships in Guangzhou, China.

 

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Saina Nehwal's hard work over the years was rewarded by a perfectly-timed stroke of luck as she clinched a historic bronze medal in the London Olympics to cover new ground for Indian badminton in a mostly successful year.

After a rather subdued performance last year, Saina turned 2012 into a milestone year for Indian badminton when she fetched the country's first Olympic medal at the London Games, winning the bronze in August.

In the Olympic year, Saina won two Grand Prix Gold titles -- Swiss Open and Thailand Open -- besides winning the Indonesia Super Series and Denmark Super Series. She also reached the finals of the French Open.

Saina, as usual, was the brightest name in Indian badminton as she geared up for the Olympics with some stupendous performances early in the year.

She first defended her Swiss Open title by defeating then World No. 2 Wang Shixian of China, a day after she turned 22.

With the Olympics approaching, the Hyderabadi stepped up her performance and clinched the Thailand Open by defeating local talent Ratchanok in June.

 

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Indian weightlifter Karnam Malleswari holds the distinguished honour of being the first woman from India to win a medal at the Olympics.

Her career’s crowning achievement came at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Lifting 110kg and 130kg in the ‘snatch’ and ‘clean and jerk’ categories respectively to total 240kg, Karnam Malleswari became the first Indian woman to win a prestigious Olympic bronze medal.

Born in Andhra Pradesh’s Voosavanipeta hamlet, Karnam Malleswari began her training in the sport at the age of 12.

Before long, success came calling. Karnam Malleswari placed third in the World Championships in 1993 and then followed up with consecutive 54kg world titles in 1994 and 1995, before bookending her run with another third-place effort in 1996.

On two occasions, in 1994 and 1998, Karnam Malleswari narrowly missed on Asian Games gold medals, having to settle for silver instead.

The success built up momentum as she headed to Sydney for the Olympics. While she did her country proud by earning a bronze, Karnam Malleswari had mixed feelings. She felt she missed out on a gold due to a miscalculation within the Indian camp that suggested that she had to lift more than she needed for the top spot on the podium.

 

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Mary Kom became the first Indian woman boxer to win an Olympic medal, claiming bronze in the 51kg category.

Initially interested in athletics, Mary Kom switched to boxing as she found her inspiration from another Manipuri puglisit Dingko Singh who won gold at the 1998 Asian Games.

Her coach at the time, K Kosana Meitei noticed Mary’s spark and acumen to pick up the basics of boxing.

Mary Kom's love for the sport only grew deeper and she first created waves in 2000, winning both the Manipur State Boxing Championship and the West Bengal Regional Championship.

In 2001, at just 18 years old, Mary Kom won silver in the 48 kg category at the AIBA women’s World Boxing Championship in Scranton, USA.

Although she was easily outboxed in the final by Hulya Sahin, a much more experienced opponent, Mary Kom had announced her arrival on the international stage. 

It also began Mary’s well-documented love story with the boxing world championships.

 

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Men's field hockey was the only team-based sport in which India had its representation in these Olympic games. As a pleasant surprise, the shooting team came successful with a silver medal, the winner being Capt. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. He was the first Indian to win an individual silver medal.

Shooter Rathore finished second in the final of the men's double-trap shooting event. Rathore scored 44 out of 50 in the final round. His score of 179 gave him the silver medal, India first individual silver ever at the Olympics. Rathore, a post-graduate in Strategic Studies and a batch topper at the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun, has had only honours to his credit. He graduated as Cadets Sergeant Major (CSM) of Echo Squadron, ’77 Course in December 1989 and was known as a ‘leader with a mission’. Rathore created history by helping India in getting its first individual event silver medal in the Athens Olympic since independence. He by his determination, single goal dedication, mental toughness has achieved the height of glory and won the heart of every citizen of the country.

 

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Between 1928 and 1980, Indian hockey team won 8 gold medals (1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1964, 1980). These were the only medal for India during that period.

In the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, besides the gold from Indian men's hockey team, Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav won a bronze in men's wrestling freestyle bantamweight category.

India won silver in men's hockey in 1960.

In 1968 and 1972, men's hockey team managed to clinch bronze medals.

In 1996, Leander Paes won a bronze in tennis. > Read: The phenomenon that's Leander Paes

In 2000 and 2004 Karnam Malleswari (weightlifting – 69 kg category) and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (shooting – double trap) won bronze and silver medals respectively.

In 2008, Abhinav Bindra became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal. Vijender Singh (boxing) and Sushil Kumar won a bronze each at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The 2012 London Olympics was a good event for India, winning 6 individual medals.

 

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Sakshi Malik (born 3 September 1992) is an Indian freestyle wrestler. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the bronze medal in the 58 kg category, becoming the first Indian female wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics.

She was born in India's Haryana state, where women were for some time not allowed to take part in wrestling events.

The 23-year-old started training young, having gained support from her parents to pursue the sport. Media reports say locals initially berated her parents, telling them that their daughter would become undesirable to potential suitors.

But she went on to earn a silver medal at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and walked away with the bronze at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

She comes from the district of Rohtak, which gained notoriety in 2014, after two sisters fought back against a group of men who accosted them on a public bus. The state of Haryana is also known for having the most severe gender imbalance in India a sign, campaigners say, of high levels of female foeticide.

Women's wrestling really took off in India in the mid-1990s. But it was not until 2002 that girls were allowed to train with boys in Haryana.

Now all three of India's female wrestlers at the Olympics, a record for the country in any case, are from that state.

 

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Abhinav Bindra, an Indian businessman and retired sport shooter. He is currently India's only individual Olympic gold medalist. His gold in the 10-meter air rifle event at the 2008 Summer Olympics was also India's first Olympic gold medal since 1980. He is the first Indian to have held concurrently the world and Olympic titles for the men's 10-meter air rifle event, having earned those honors at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2006 ISSF World Shooting Championships. Bindra has also won nine medals at the Commonwealth Games and three gold medals at the Asian Games. Born on 28 September 1982 in Dehradun, the future Olympic champion began his sporting journey after taking inspiration from the shooters he saw on television.

Success soon came his way. The Indian shooter went to the 1998 Commonwealth Games as a 15-year-old and then travelled to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 as the youngest Indian participant.

It was a breakthrough year as he won six gold medals at various events and won bronze at the World Cup, setting a then-junior record score. He then won gold in the 10m air rifle pairs and silver in the singles at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

He started a non-profit organization called the Abhinav Bindra Foundation, an initiative whose aim was to make athletes stronger and more aware using sports science and technology. Apart from this, the ex-shooter has also given back to the sport in other ways.

He was part of the International Sport Shooting Federation (ISSF) and International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s Athlete Commissions where he has brought the participants’ issues to the fore and helped them in their development.

 

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Mahesh Bhupathi has 12 Majors to boast of and he is also the first Indian to bring home a Grand Slam, when he won the French Open Mixed Doubles Event in 1997 with Rika Hiraki.

Bhupathi has had more success in the mixed doules- winning 8 of his 12 Slams in the event. 3 of his 4 Men’s Doubles wins have been with Paes, while the 4th one (a win at the Arthur Ashe stadium) was way back in 2002 with Max Mirnyi. However, over the years, Bhupathi has emerged runners up on 6 occasions in the doubles competion.

He was won 8 mixed doubles titles with 7 different partners over the years- combining with fellow Indian Sania Mirza twice to win the Australain Open in 2009 (also Mirza’s first Grand Slam victory) and the French Open in 2012.

The Bangalorean partnered Martina Hingis in 2006 to claim the Australain Open, thereby completing his Career Grand Slam in Mixed Doubles.

Sania is the only Women tennis player in India ever to win a Grand Slam. She has so far won 6 Grand Slams in her career, 3 of which have come in doubles and 3 in mixed doubles.

In both the formats Sania managed to win 1 slam each at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open. In doubles she also managed to reach to the finals of the French Open. Sania has also climbed to the career high ranking of World Number 1 in doubles.

 

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The ATP Masters tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is a series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series is the most prestigious in men's tennis after the four Grand Slams. The series' event are held annually in Europe, North America and Asia since the debut of ATP Tour in 1990.

Currently, the following nine tournaments are part of the ATP Masters 1000: Canadian Open (alternating yearly between Montreal and Toronto), Italian Open (held in Rome), Indian Wells Masters, Miami Open, Monte-Carlo Masters, Madrid Open, Cincinnati Masters, Shanghai Masters and Paris Masters. Since 2009, five of the tournaments are held on outdoor hard courts, three on clay and one on indoor hard court whereas from 1987 until 2008 there were two indoor tournaments at the top-9 level.

In 2009, the Shanghai Masters replaced the Madrid Open, until then held as an indoor event, in the eighth slot of the year with the Madrid Open switched to clay courts replacing the Hamburg Open in the spring clay court season. The Shanghai Masters was designated as an outdoor event despite the facility having a retractable roof and having been used as the indoor venue for the ATP Finals from 2005 until 2008.

 

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Australian Margaret Smith Court became the second woman in history to secure titles in all four Grand Slam tournaments in a calendar year in 1970 after retiring temporarily for two years. She also won more titles—24 to be exact—than any other woman player on the pro tour after earning her first in 1960. She would earn five US Championships over her career.

Court holds an amazing record of having won every possible title, women’s singles, mixed doubles and women’s doubles, in all four Grand Slams in a calendar year, giving her the far reaching “Boxed-set” title. Only one of three players to ever achieve this, she is the only one to manage it twice—an extraordinary feat.

At age 55 former world No. 1 male pro Bobby Riggs was engaged in a match with Court in 1973 and defeated her easily. It was said she thought the match was a given win for her and as a result did not take it seriously.

She was on and off the court over the course of her marriage and child bearing years. Margaret Smith Court made her last Grand Slam final appearance in 1975 and retired after giving birth to her fourth child in 1977.

 

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You might have followed the US Open that was held recently - the first Grand Slam tournament to take place since tennis got back after the coronavinus-forced break. If you had tracked it closely, you must be knowing that Dominic Thiem won the men's singles and Naomi Osaka won the women's singles. But even otherwise, you might have noticed that the event is played in the blue hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at New York.

If you were under the impression that the US Open has always been played on hard courts, you are mistaken. In fact, the US Open has been played in three different surfaces. From 1881-1974, the tournament was played in grass courts. For three years after that from 1975-1977, it was played in day. The event has been held in hard courts since then.

These changes in surfaces have led to unique feats that will probably never be repeated - unless surfaces are changed again in such quick succession. Jimmy Connors is the only male player who has won the US Open men's singles title on all three playing surfaces - grass, day and hard. Similarly, in the women's section, Chris Evert is the only one to win the US Open women's singles title in two different surfaces - day and hard. The names of Connors and Evert might forever be enshrined in this rather unique manner.

 

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Guptil went on to set a new ODI record for New Zealand when he made the highest score of his career, 237 not out in the 2015 World Cup against West Indies at Wellington.[29] The innings was the second highest scoring individual innings in ODI history and remains Guptill's highest score in any form of cricket.

He broke many records during his innings. Apart from being the fifth person to score 200 in One-Day Internationals (ODIs), second to do in World Cups, first for New Zealand let’s list the other records he went past. 

Guptill became only the second batsman from New Zealand to score a century in knockout stage of World Cups. The first was Chris Harris, who had scored 130 against Australia at Chennai in the quarter-final of 1996 World Cup. New Zealand had lost that match.

Guptill now has the top two highest individual score for New Zealand in ODIs. He is the only one to have this record at present from the Test teams.

 

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The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 Final was played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on 3 April 2016 to determine the winners of the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 between England and the West Indies. The West Indies won the match by 4 wickets, thus becoming the first team to win the ICC World Twenty20 twice. The match recorded the highest attendance ever for an ICC World T20 Finals.

Before this match England and the West Indies had played each other in two ICC finals – the final of the 1979 World Cup at Lord's and the final of the 2004 Champions Trophy final at the Oval – both of which the West Indies won. This was also the first final between two previous champions – England won the 2010 World T20 for their first ICC world championship while the West Indies won the 2012 World T20.

Both teams were drawn into Super 10s Group 1 alongside Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and South Africa. They played each other in their opening game on 16 March at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, with the West Indies winning by six wickets with 11 balls to spare. West Indian opener Chris Gayle scored an unbeaten 100 runs off 47 balls, including 11 sixes, becoming the first player to hit two T20 International centuries.

Immediately before the men's final, the West Indies won the women's tournament with an eight-wicket victory over three-time defending champions Australia, also at Eden Gardens, which gave them the chance to be the first to win both the men's and women's World Twenty20 on the same day.

 

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Former Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath was nicknamed 'Pigeon' because of his thin legs as a youngster. McGrath's New South Wales teammate Brad McNamara gave him the nickname when he said, "You've stolen a pigeon's legs, McGrath." The pacer, who was born on February 9, 1970, is the most successful fast bowler in cricket history with 949 wickets across formats.

Glenn McGrath wasn't the quickest or the canniest ever, but in a career spanning over 14 years, he had the simplest of tool kits for menacing returns - scalping a staggering tally of 563 Test wickets to end up statistically, if not otherwise, as the greatest ever fast bowler. His famous partnership with Shane Warne bullied oppositions, crippling them mentally to engineer improbable victories that helped an all-time great Australian side sustain its warfare.



McGrath's genius wasn't derived from his pin-like long legs that conspired his nickname Pigeon, and not from his lanky physique that hardly bordered on athletic either; McGrath's selling point was his metronome precision: tidy lines and lengths boringly hurled in an infinite loop outside off, rivaling an all-devouring bowling machine, until either the batsman's technique or his temperament yielded.



Born in Dubbo to Beverly and Kevin McGrath, Glenn Donald McGrath was spotted by Doug Walters at New South Wales. He eventually debuted at the age of 23, against New Zealand at Perth in 1993, after only eight First Class matches. A month later, he made his ODI debut against South Africa at the MCG. As soon as 1995, he graduated to become Australia's bowling leader, snaffling 17 wickets during their tour of West Indies. In the return tour by Courtney Walsh's men, McGrath followed up his performance by taking away the series honours in a 3-2 win.

 

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