—India’s Thakur Anoop Singh on 28 November 2015 won gold medal in the 7th WBPF World Bodybuilding and Physique Championships. He won the medal in the fitness physique category.
Overall, India won 11 medals in the championships that saw participation from 47 nations. The championships were held in Bangkok, Thailand.
Along with him, Arambam Boby (Manipur) also won gold in the championship. For him, it was the 4th world title in his career.
Also, Thingbaijam Sarita who had won a silver medal in Asian Bodybuilding Championships 2015 also bagged a bronze medal in the event.
—Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA).
The announcement was made on 1 December 2015, three days after Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko met with WADA Director General David Howman in Frankfurt, Germany for talks on how to revamp Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA.
He declined to disclose details of the plan and said that information would be made public in the course of the roadmap’s implementation.
He, however, said that Russia is set to actively co-operate with foreign partners in the reform of the national anti-doping service.
Background
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) suspended Russia in third week of November 2015 following a report published by a WADA independent commission. The report issued on 9 November 2015 highlighted deficiencies and concerns with Russia’s anti-doping program relating to athletics.
WADA’s report accused Russia anti-doping agency RUSADA of routinely violating international testing standards and allowing athletes banned for doping to compete.
RUSADA said, it is addressing the deficiencies identified in the WADA report and was committed to fighting doping.
—Polish professional footballer Robert Lewandowski’s nine-minute, five-goal haul for German Football Club Bayern Munich against Wolfsburg was officially recognised on 30 November 2015 by Guinness World Record.
Lewandowski was presented with four separate official Guinness World Records certificates for his goal scoring spree during a special press conference which took place at Bayern Munich’s ground.
The record
• On 22 September 2015, the Polish star scored five goals during the league encounter with Wolfsburg in nine minutes, the fastest in any major European football league since records have been kept.
• He broke a series of records including Fastest Bundesliga hat-trick (3 minutes 22 seconds), Fastest Four Goals in a Bundesliga Match (5 minutes 42 seconds), Fastest Five Goals Scored in a Bundesliga Match (8 minutes 59 seconds), Most Goals Scored by a Substitute in a Bundesliga Match (5 goals).
Lewandowski started his career at Varsovia, where as a teen he played for seven years. Soon, he moved to Delta Warsaw where he managed to play in the first team, scoring four goals.
On 3 January 2015, he signed a five-year contract with Bayern Munich. He was officially presented as a Bayern Munich player on 9 July 2014.
—Anil Khanna was on 28 November 2015 re-elected as the president of Asian Tennis Federation (ATF). He was elected for four years in the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
At present, he is the president of the All India Tennis Association (AITA).
And, in September 2015, he was elected as the Vice President of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in the elections held in Santiago, Chile.
In the election, he missed out the chance of becoming the next ITF President by a margin of 8 votes.
Other appointees of ATF
• Sheikh Ahmad Al Sabah (Kuwait) – Honorary Life President
• Nasser Al Ghanim Al Khelaifi (Qatar) – Chairman
• Randy Villanueva (Philippines) – Treasurer
—Ethiopian Birhanu Legese and Kenyan Cynthia Limo on 29 November 2015 won the Delhi Half Marathon in the men and women categories respectively.
In the men’s category, Legese clocked 59.20 minutes to claim the first spot while Mosinet Geremew claimed the second spot. World record holder in half marathon Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadese finished third in 59.24 minutes.
It was the first time in the year that six men athletes completed the half marathon inside 60 minutes.
In the women’s category, Cynthia won the race in an hour, eight minutes and 35 seconds. World Championships marathon silver medallist Helah Kiprop who was back with fraction of a second won the silver title. Gladys Chesir claimed the third spot in an hour, eight minutes and 36 seconds.
Among the Indian runners Nitendra Singh Rawat and Lalita Babar topped in the men’s and women’s category.
The winners of the half marathon were felicitated by the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy-Chief-Minister-Manish-Sisodia.
The marathon saw participation of around 34000 athletes and amateur runners from different parts of the world.
—India on 29 November 2015 won the Under-19 one day tri series. In the final played at Kolkata, India defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, Bangladesh collapsed to 116 in 36.5 after which India reached the target in just 13.3 overs at the loss of 3 wickets.
Mumbai youngster Sarfaraz Khan was adjudged as the man of the match for smashing 59 in 27 balls.
Delhi left-hander Rishabh Pant was adjudged the man of the series for scoring 282 with a ton and two half-centuries from four matches.
Tri-Nation Under-19s Tournament in India, 2015/16
• Three participating nations of the tournament were India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
• First match of the tournament was played on 20 November 2015 and the last match was played on 29 November 2015.
—Indian cueist Pankaj Advani on 21 November 2015 won the IBSF World Snooker Championship held at Sunrise Crystal Bay resort in Hurghada, Egypt.
In the best-of-15 final, he defeated Zhua Xintong of China 8-6. This was the 15th World title for Advani.
Earlier, in September 2015 in Adelaide, he had won his 14th World title in the form of IBSF World Billiards Championship.
Advani is also the first person in history to take the short (6-Red) and the long snooker (15-Red) format in the same calendar year.
In August 2015 in Karachi, he had retained the World 6-Reds Snooker title and IBSF World Snooker Championship was his first 15-Red Snooker title since 2003 when he won the crown in China.
Women World Snooker Championship
Wendy Jans of Belgium won the Women World Snooker Championship. She defeated Anastasia Nechaeva (Russia). This was her 5th World title and 4th in a row.
Amee Kamani of India who defeated Wendy Jans in the group stage and Waratthanun Sukritthanes of Thailand shared the joint bronze.
World Snooker Masters title
Phisir Chandsri of Thailand successfully defended his World Snooker Masters title. He defeated defeating Jason Peplow 6-2 in the final. This was his third world title in a row from his début in snooker at Daugavpils (2013) followed by Bangalore (2014).
