Correct Answer :   Spain

Sergio Ramos announced his retirement from the Spanish national team on Thursday (23rd Feb 2023).  Ending his 18-year old career with the Spanish National Team, where he won every possible silverwares.

* The 36-year old appeared in 180 matches, the most number of games played by any Spanish player and scored 23 goals.

* He was won the FIFA World Cup in 2010 and two back to back Euros in 2008 and 2012 and was the captain of the national team for 5 years.

* Ramos revealed that the current head coach Luis de la Fuente called him up and said that the former Real Madrid man will no longer be in his future plans regardless of his performance.

* The charismatic defender last featured for his nation back in 2021.

* The centre-back made his debut for Spain in 2005 and earned 180 caps for La Furia Roja.

Source : India

Correct Answer :   Carlos Alcaraz

Top-seeded Spanish player, Carlos Alcaraz, claimed his first title since his landmark U.S. Open win by defeating Cameron Norrie in straight sets at the Argentina Open tennis tournament 2023.

Argentina Open title 2023 :

* Argentina Open trophy at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club on Sunday (19th Feb 2023) evening.

* After missing the Australian Open due to injuries, Carlos Alcaraz returned to the court in style and won his seventh ATP title and his first since the US Open 2022.

* Alcaraz defeated Cameron Norrie in the final, marking his first ATP tournament since November 2022.

* The victory made Alcaraz the first Spanish player to win the title in Buenos Aires since Rafael Nadal in 2015.

Men's Doubles : In the men's doubles category, Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini won the title by defeating Nicolás Barrientos and Ariel Behar in straight sets with a score of 6–2, 6–4.

* Winner of Men's Singles : Carlos Alcaraz
* Runner-up of Men's Singles : Cameron Norrie

* Winner of Men's Doubles : Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini
* Runner-up of Men's Doubles : Nicolás Barrientos and Ariel Behar

Correct Answer :   Aiden Markram

* South African all-rounder Aiden Markram has been appointed as the new Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) Captain ahead of IPL 2023.

* He replaced Kane Williamson, who was released by Sunrisers Hyderabad, after which the franchise was looking for a new captain.

* Markram recently won the SA20 title to Sunrisers Eastern Cape in January 2022.

* IPL 2023 will start on March 31, in Ahmedabad. In the first match, the Gurjarat Titans will be facing the four-time champion Chennai Super Kings.

Correct Answer :   Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar

In Shooting, India's Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar on Wednesday (22nd Feb 2023) claimed the gold medal in the men's individual 50m rifle 3 positions competition at the ISSF World Cup 2023 in Cairo, Egypt.

The 22-year-old Tomar, who had also won a gold in the Chagwon World Cup last year(2022), won 16-6 in the gold medal contest to comfortably beat Austria's Alexander Schmirl.

* Earlier, India's Tilottama Sen had won a bronze medal in the women’s 10m Air Rifle.

* India is placed comfortably on top of the medal tally with four gold.

* Hungary is in second position with two gold medals.

* 10m air rifle mixed team : Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil and R Narmada Nithin

* 10m air pistol mixed team : Varun Tomar and Rhythm Sangwan

* Men's 10m air rifle : Rudrankksh Patil.

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   Tilottama Sen

* Indian teen "Tilottama Sen" has won bronze medal in the women’s 10m Air Rifle at ISSF World Cup 2023 at Cairo in Egypt.

* The 14-year-old Sen won second bronze for India, fifth overall after ending the top eight ranking round with a score of 262.

* She missed out on the gold medal match by the narrowest possible margin of 0.1.

* Great Britain’s "Seonaid Mcintosh" won gold and Switzerland’s Olympic Champion "Nina Christen" came second to win silver.

* The third day of the event was yet another profitable day for India with Rudrankksh Patil earlier winning gold in the men’s Air Rifle.

* India is placed comfortably on top of the medal tally with three golds, with Hungary, Britain and Slovakia winning the other three awarded. Four more finals are scheduled in the next couple of days..

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   Tata Group

Tata Group on Tuesday (21st Feb 2023) bagged the title rights for the inaugural Women's Premier League beginning in Mumbai on 4th March 2023.

* According to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the Tata Group has secured the title sponsorship rights for the Women’s Premier League (WPL) for five seasons (BCCI).

* From February 15, 2023, to July 31, 2027, or up until 30 days after the conclusion of the WPL Season 2027, the salt to software conglomerate will hold the title sponsorship rights. On January 28, the BCCI published the tender for the purchase of WPL title rights.

* The bidding paper could only be purchased until February 9; meanwhile, bids had to be submitted by February 11 to be considered.

* The Tata Group is also the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League (IPL). It bagged the rights for Rs 600 crore for two years. Earlier, the title sponsorship rights were held by Chinese cell phone maker Vivo for two years.

* The sale of media rights had fetched BCCI Rs 951 crore and the five teams were sold for Rs 4700 crore...

Source : Economic Times

Correct Answer :   Vignesh NR

India’s 24-year-old chess player Vignesh NR has become India’s 80th Grandmaster after he defeated Germany’s IM Ilja Schneider and won the 24th NordWest Cup 2023 at Bad Zwischenahn in Germany.

* The Chennai boy reached the milestone after crossing 2500 in the live ratings. Vignesh’s elder brother Visakh NR had become India’s 59th GM in 2019. Thus, Visakh and Vignesh become India’s first brothers who are Grandmasters.

* Congratulating his brother on his outstanding feat, Visakh was quoted as saying by Chessbase India, “It’s really nice to see my brother finally made GM title requirements. Maybe it’s just the first step towards a higher level. We will be looking forward to improving more and playing good games and to impact positivity to the world.”

* The Southern Railway employee immediately had to leave for his next tournament 8th Noisiel Open 2023 in France.

* Vignesh earned his first GM-norm at Qatar Masters in 2015 at the age of 17 years. A little over one and a half years later, he scored his second GM-norm at 24th Abu Dhabi Masters in 2017. He secured his final GM-norm at 1st Gujarat GM Open 2018. A fourth GM-norm was scored at Asian Continental 2019 at Xingtai, China..

Source : Indian Express

Correct Answer :   Dubai

India’s Sania Mirza didn’t have a memorable ending to her career after she lost her doubles match to the Russian pair of Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova.

* Mirza lost her final career game on Tuesday (22nd Feb 2023) at the Dubai Tennis Championship.

* After performing her heart out in the Australian Open where she finished as the runner-up in the mixed doubles along with her childhood doubles partner Rohan Bopanna, all eyes were on Sania Mirza about how she would bring her career to an end.

Correct Answer :   Two

India clinched two gold medals on the second day of the ongoing ISSF Shooting World Cup at Cairo in Egypt on Monday (20th Feb 2023).

* Indian 10m Air Rifle Mixed team of Narmada Nithin Raju and Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil and 10m Air Pistol Mixed team of Rhythm Sangwan and Varun Tomar have bagged the yellow metals.

* Indian rifle team trounced Hungary’s Eszter Denes and Istvan Peni 16-6 in the gold medal play-off to bag the top spot on the podium.

* In the bronze medal contest, the German combination of Lisa Mueller and Maximilian Dallinger got better of Switzerland’s Nina Christen and Christoph Duerr 16-12.

* In the 10m Air Pistol Mixed team event, the pair of Varun Tomar and Rhythm Sangwan routed Serbian pair Zorana Arunovic and Damir Mikec 16-10 to win the gold medal.

* Germany took third place after beating France 16-6 in the bronze medal play-off. Another Indian team of Divya Subbaraju and Sarabjot Singh missed out on a medal round after finishing fifth.

* The 19-year-old Varun also won bronze in the 10m Air Pistol Men event after beating compatriot Sarabjot on Sunday (19th Feb 2023).

* India has so far won three medals in the competition with 2 golds and 1 bronze..

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   Virat Kohli

Star Indian batter Virat Kohli made history on Sunday (February 19, 2023) as he became the sixth batter in history to score 25,000 or more runs in international cricket.

* Virat was 52 runs short of achieving the milestone before the start of the second Test between India and Australia, which is being played at his home ground in Delhi.

* He had scored 44 runs in the first innings on Saturday (February 18, 2023), and by making eight more runs in the second, he joined the elite list of batters who have managed to score 25,000 plus runs in international matches.

* The ongoing Delhi Test is Virat’s 491st international match, and in 549 innings, he has completed 25,000 international runs.

* He broke the legendary Sachin Tendulkar's record to become the fastest batter in international cricket history to score 25K runs.

* Sachin took 577 innings to complete 25,000 runs. Virat is the second Indian after Sachin who has joined this elite club.

Top 5 Cricketers in 25000 runs :

* Sachin holds the record for scoring the highest number of runs in international cricket. In 664 matches, he has scored a total of 34357 runs.

* Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (28016 runs in 594 matches).

* Australia’s Ricky Ponting (27483 runs in 560 matches).

* Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene (25957 runs in 652 games).

* South Africa’s Jacques Kallis (25534 runs in 519 matches).

Source : Times Now News