Current Affair - 16 March/17 March/18 March

Sports –

·       Diksha Dagar became only the second Indian woman golfer to win the Ladies European Tour.

·       China’s Badminton player Shi Yuqi won the Swiss Open Badminton Tournament in Basel on 17 March 2019.

·       Javelin thrower Annu Rani qualified for the Asian Championships to be held in Doha next month.

KT Irfan qualified for Tokyo Olympics –

·       A 29-year-old Indian athlete from Kerala, K.T Irfan qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.

·       He finished fourth in the men’s 20-kilometer category at the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi, Japan.

·       He got qualified for next years Tokyo Olympics.

·       The 2 other Indian race walkers. Who qualified for the World Championship are Devinder and Ganapati.

India signed agreement with Maldives –

·       External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met her Maldivian counterpart Abdullah Shahid and had a joint ministerial meeting.

·       Se had an agreement for further collaboration, including development cooperation and enhancing people to contact.

·       Three agreements were exchanged on Visa facilitation for diplomatic and official passport holders, development cooperation and renewable energy.

India came second at Asian Youth C’ships –

·       In Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Hong Kong, boys medley relay team won a gold medal for India.

·       Indian youth team finished second in the overall medals tally with a total of 26 medals including eight gold, nine silver, and nine bronze medals.

·       China topped the overall medals tally with 31 medals that include 12 gold, 11 silver, and 8 bronze medals.

Kohli retains top spot in ICC ODI rankings –

·       Indian skipper Virat Kohli and pacer Jasprit Bumrah have retained top positions in the latest ICC ODI rankings.

·       Kohli remained at the number one spot in the list of batsman.

·       Rohit Sharma remained number two.

·       In the team rankings, India is second, behind England.

Persons in News –

·       AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes has quit Facebook following the live-streaming of terror attack on two mosque’s in New Zealand Christ Church.

·       Former IAS officer Shah Faesal, who became the first IAS topper from J&K in 2009, has launched a political party named ‘Jammu and Kashmir People’s’ Movement’ in Srinagar.

Thiem won his Maiden Masters Title –

·       Dominic Thiem claimed the biggest title of his career by defeating Roger Federer in the BNP Paribas Open final.

·       He secured his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy in his third final appearance.

·       Thiem denied Roger Federer a record sixth BNP Paribas Open crown.

India ranks 11^th in gold holding  -

·       As per the latest report by the World Gold Council (WGC), India has the 11^th largest gold reserve, with the current holding pegged at 607 tonnes.

·       The US is ranked firstwhich boasts of gold reserves of 8,133.5 tonnes, followed by Germany with 3,369.7 tonnes.

·       Italy and France complete the top five list with reserves of a little over 2,400 tonnes each.

Dream11 to be official partner for IPL –

·       On 15 March 2019, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced Dream11, India’s Biggest Sports Game, as the official partner for the Indian Premier League (IPL).

·       This four-year exclusive partnership will begin with the upcoming IPL 2019 season.

·       Additionally, the ‘Officially Fantasy Game’ of IPL will also be powered by Dream11.

First BRICS Sherpa meeting concludes –

·       The first BRICS Sherpa meeting under the presidency of Brazil conclude on 15 March 2019 at Curitibia in Brazil.

·       T S Trimurti, Secretary of Economic Relations in the Ministry of External Affairs, led the Indian delegation at the two-day meeting.

·       Brazil has identified countering terrorism as one of its priority areas for BRICS under its presidency.

India pavilion inaugurated at London Book Affair –

·       The India Pavilion at London Book Affair was inaugurated on 12 March 2019.

·       The Fair was held in the London Olympia from 12 to 14 March 2019.

·       The Indian Pavilion lays special focus on 150^th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

·       It displays the digital version of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi.

Awards and Honours –

·       Swati Shingade of Pune, Mahharashtra won the first price of DD Mahila Kisan Award for 2018-19.

·       Reowned Kathak dancer Seema Mehta was given the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar’ award for her contribution towards women empowerment over the last 15 years.

India to host U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2020 –

·       On 15 March 2019, International Football Federation (FIFA) President Gianni Infantino announced that India will host the U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2020.

·       This will be the second FIFA tournament India will be hosting, after the U-17 Men’s World Cup in 2017.

·       As the host country, India automatically qualified for the U-17 Women’s World Cup event.

General Wolters new NATO supreme commander –

·       US Air Force General Tod Wolters was nominated to become the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) Chief.

·       The North Atlantic council has approved the nomination of General Tod Wolters.

·       General Wolters is currently serving as Commander, United States Air Forces Europe, United States Air Forces Africa and Allied Air Command.

New Guidelines on price-sensitive information –

·       On 15 March 2019, the Reserve Bank of India came out with guidelines to prevent misuse of price-sensitive information by participants in market for financial instruments.

·       Market participants shall not undertaken any action with the intention to manipulate the calculation of a benchmark rate or a reference rate.

·       The Guidelines have come into effect from 15 March 2019.

Asian Youth Athletics Championship –

·       India bagged 5 medals, including 2 gold, on the Opening Day of the Asian Youth Athletics Championship in Hong Kong.

·       Philip Maheswaran Thabitha grabbed the first gold for India by winning the boys’ 110 meters hurdles.

·       Vipin Kumar added the second gold medal for India in the boys’ hammer throw.

·       Harshita Sherawat, Deepak Yadav, and Ajay are the other three who won silver and bronze medals.

Australia to launch Military exercise –

·       Australia will launch a seven-nation Indian Ocean military exercise from 18 March 2019.

·       The exercise will start in Sri Lanka.

·       Some 1,000 Australian security personnel in four naval ships and a military aircraft will participate in the biggest joint exercise yet with their Sri Lankan counterparts.

President gives National Grassroots Awards –

·       President Ramnath Kovind on 15^th March 2019, awarded National Grassroots Innovators at Grambharti near Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

·       Prakash Singh Raghuvanshi from UP has been awarded lifetime achievement award for his innovations in new varieties of agriculture crops.

·       The first prize in Veterinary, Herbal medication for coccidiosis was presented to Periyasami Ramasami of Salem, Tamil Nadu.

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