DAILY GK UPDATE 7-8TH JULY

1.    Andy Murray Murray: Wins Wimbledon Men's Singles trophy

i. Andy Murray on 7 July 2013 defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 at Center Court of London to become the first Briton in 77 years to win the Men’s Singles Title at Wimbledon 2013. 

ii. The 26-year-old became the Britain’s first male winner after almost eight decades, to win the championship. Earlier he was Fred Perry, who won his last Championship in 1936. 

iii. With this win, Murray became the most successful Briton in terms of grand slams 

iv. Wimbledon is Andy Murray’s second Grand Slam Title, earlier he captured the 2012 US open by defeating Novak Djokovic, 7-6 (12-10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 on 11 September 2012

2.    Marion Bartoli lifted Women's Singles title Wimbledon 2013

i. Marion Bartoli of France on 6 July 2013 won her maiden Grand Slam title by defeating Sabine Lisicki of Germany in straight sets, 1-6, 4-6.

ii. Marion Bartoli is a top-10 French professional tennis player and presently French no. 1.

iii. She has won one singles major, seven other Women's Tennis Association singles titles and three doubles titles.

iv. She had played her previous Wimbledon final in 2007 which she had lost to Venus Williams.

v. She is the fifth oldest woman to become a first time major winner in the Open Era.

3.    Mohamed ElBaradei named Caretaker PM of Egypt

i. Leading liberal opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei on 6 July 2013 was named as Egypt's new Prime Minister to head a caretaker government

ii. He was named Prime Minister after interim President Adly Mahmud Mansour held talks with the army chief and political leaders

iii. ElBaradei leads an alliance of liberal and left-wing parties, the National Salvation Front. 

iv. 71-year-old ElBaradei Mohamed Mustafa ElBaradei is an Egyptian law scholar. He was the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization under the auspices of the United Nations, from 1997 to 2009

4.    Rupee breaches 61 mark

i. The rupee on Monday fell by a massive 97 paise to 61.19, a new all-time low, against the dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, on heavy demand for the American currency amid capital outflows.

ii. The rupee had plunged to 60.76 intra-day on June 26.

iii. Forex dealers said the dollar firming up against other currencies in overseas markets, mainly put pressure on the domestic currency.

5.    Vidya Balan got the Best Actress Award at IIFA 2013

i. Vidya Balan on 6 July 2013 got the Best Actress award at 14th IIFA (International Indian Film Academy) awards 2013 held in Macau for Kahaani while Ranbir Kapoor was named Best Actor for Barfi.

ii. Barfi bagged the award for best film

iii. The best debut actors are Yami Gautam and Ayushmann Khurrana. 'English Vinglish' helmer Gauri Shinde bagged the best debut director award. 

iv. Former couple Ranbir and Deepika Padukone won best Jodi award. Deepika, on accepting the award, said, "I love Ranbir and (am) missing him."

Highlights of IIFA 2013

i. Gangs of Wasseypur won two awards, one for Best Action (Shyam Kaushal) and the other for Best Dialogue (Zeishan Quadri, Akhilesh, Sachin Ladia and Anurag Kashyap) was shared with Juhi Chaturvedi for Vicky Donor.

ii. The award for Best Editing was won by Kahaani (Namrata Rao) and Best Choreography went to Ganesh Acharya for Agneepath.

iii. Ek Tha Tiger won the award for Best Special Effects (Pankaj Khanopur, Sherry Bharda and Vishal Anand).

6.    Women to be inducted in BSF

i. The government of India for the first time has given its nod for recruitment and commissioning of women officers in BSF, the border guarding force.         

ii. As per the BSF, Young women under and up to the age of 25 years will be recruited as direct entry officers in the rank of Assistant Commandants (ACs), and these officers are expected to be posted to lead their troops along the two most crucial borders the BSF guards at present-- Pakistan and Bangladesh. 

iii. To the present time women could only get into the combat uniform in the officer cadre in two other central security forces, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)

iv. This first batch of women officers will be on ground by late 2014 and their recruitment will be completed by December 2013.

7.    India at 2nd spot in ICC Test rankings

i. India moved a rung to second spot, ahead of England, in the latest ICC Test rankings, while South Africa strengthened its position on the top

ii. However, Alastair Cook's team can reclaim the number two spot by winning the upcoming Ashes series, starting on July 10 

iii. At the recent ICC Board meeting, it was decided that the annual update to the Test, ODI and T20I rankings would now take place on 1st May each year, rather than 1st August, since it aligns better with the current international calendar.

8.    China's ex-minister sentenced to death for graft, power misuse

i. China's former Railways Minister Liu Zhijun was given a suspended death sentence on Monday by a court here for corruption and abuse of power.

ii. The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, which is conducting the trial, announced the stiff verdict handing down death sentence to 60-year-old Liu

iii. He was accused of accepting bribes to the tune of USD 10.53 million over 25 years.

iv. Liu was also sentenced to 10 years in jail for abuse of power, according to the court verdict. He headed the railways from 2003 to 2011, during whose tenure China had embarked on the high speed network linking different parts of the country.

9.    Asian Athletics: Indian women clinch gold in 4x400m relay

i. India clinched a gold medal in women's 400m relay in a sensational race to finish sixth overall as the curtains were drawn on the 20th Asian Athletics Championships with China confirming their supreme status in the continent in Pune on Sunday.

ii. The home team came up with a rich haul of eight medals, one gold, two silver and five bronze on the fifth and final day to give the housefull Shivchhatrapati Stadium crowd a lot to cheer.

iii. India ended the Championships with two gold, five silver and 10 bronze, a much improved performance than the last edition in 2011 in Kobe, Japan where they had finished seventh with one gold, three silver and eight bronze.

10.  3 Indians in Asian Boxing Ch'ships finals

i. The young Indian troika of L Devendro Singh (49kg), Shiva Thapa (56kg) and Mandeep Jangra (69kg) continued their fine form to enter the finals of the Asian Boxing Championships in Amman and assured at least a silver medal finish from the tournament.

ii. The World Championship quarter-finalist will now look better the colour of his first medal when he takes on Temertas Zhussupov of Kazakhstan.

11.  India enters final of U-19 Tri-nation cricket tournament

i. India have sailed into the final of the Under-19 Tri-nation cricket tournament. At Darwin today, they beat Australia by a convincingly by seven-wickets. 

ii. Opting to bowl, India restricted Australia to 191 for six in the allotted 50 overs and then chased down the target in 45.4 overs.

iii. The Kiwis will have an opportunity to overtake Australia when they play India in the last round match of the series on Wednesday.

12.  Federer ranked No. 5 for first time in decade

i. Roger Federer has fallen to No. 5 in the new ATP rankings, the first time in a decade he’s been that low.

ii. Federer’s second-round loss at Wimbledon, a year after taking the title, drops him from No. 3. 

iii. Wimbledon champion Andy Murray remains at No. 2 on Monday, behind the runner-up, Novak Djokovic.

iv. Quarterfinalist David Ferrer rises one spot to a career-high No. 3, with Rafael Nadal fourth.

v. Marion Bartoli, who won Wimbledon for her first Grand Slam title, moves from No. 15 to No. 7 in the WTA rankings.

vi. Serena Williams stays at No. 1 despite her fourth-round loss at Wimbledon.

13.  Bopanna attains career-best fifth rank

i. Rohan Bopanna on Monday became the highest-ranked Indian in the world, as he achieved career-best rank of five in the ATP doubles charts.

ii. Bopanna with French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin reached the semifinals at the Wimbledon, losing to eventual winners Mike and Bob Bryan.

iii. Following Bopanna at number six is his regular partner for 2013 season Mahesh Bhupathi. Leander Paes (9) was also back in the top-10.

iv. In the singles, Somdev Devvarman continued to be country’s number singles player at 131, followed by Saketh Myneni (131).

v. In the women’s ranking, Sania Mirza slid to No. 19 in doubles, after a loss of four positions.