The organising committee of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games announced on 28 February, 2018 that two futuristic figures, inspired by anime, have been chosen as mascots following voting by thousands of Japanese children.

The voting to choose the mascot was conducted across thousands of schools in Japan.

The mascots are aimed at boosting children’s participation in the Games.

The International Cricket Council presented the ICC Test Championship Mace to Virat Kohli after the end of the final T20 International against South Africa.

Kohli received the ICC Test Championship mace on behalf of Team India for the second consecutive year for being the number one Test team.

This is the fourth time that India has been presented with the prestigious mace.

Reigning Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap overcame Malaysia’s June Wei Cheam in straight games in the men’s singles final to clinch the Austrian Open International Challenge, his first international title in over three years.

The Indian looked in good touch throughout the tournament as he didn’t drop a single game en route to his title win.

The US won the gold medal of Women’s Ice Hockey at 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, thus breaking the 20-year medal drought.

They last won the medal in 1998 Nagano Games.

To win the medal, the women team defeated Canada in the final in dramatic shootout.

Canada had won four straight Olympic Golds, three times beating the United States in the final including twice in overtime.

Virat Kohli has become only the second batsman in the history of the game to cross 900-point mark concurrently in Tests & ODIs.

Kohli is only the 2^nd batsman after AB de Villiers to attain the 900-point mark concurrently in both formats.

Kohli thus moved ahead of Brian Lara in the all-timers’ list & ranks 7^th in ODI list of all-time rankings that is led by Vivian Richards with 935 points.

Fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar has become the first Indian bowler to take a five-wicket haul in all three formats in international cricket.

Bhuvneshwar achieved the feat by taking his first T20I five-wicket haul against South Africa.

Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu has become the first figure skater in 66 years to win back-to-back Winter Olympic gold medals in the men’s singles event.

Hanyu won the title with 317.85 points, beating compatriot Shoma Uno and multiple world champion Javier Fernandez of Spain to the second and third spots.

He also became the 1,000^th gold medal winner in the history of Winter Olympics.

Twenty-time Grand slam winner, Roger Federer became the oldest world number one after he defeated his Dutch opponent Robin Haase in Rotterdam at the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament.

The Swiss champion once again claimed the top spot after dispatching Haase 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals in Rotterdam.

In the semi-finals, he would be playing against the winner from the Andreas Seppi and Daniil Medvedev quarterfinal match.

Martin Guptill has become the leading run-scorer in T20 Internationals with his 2^nd century against Australia.

It took Guptill’s international T20 career total to 2,188 runs, surpassing Brendon McCullum’s 2,140, Kohli is the next highest on the all-time list with 1,956.

Guptill’s century came off a mere 49 balls, which is also the record for fastest T20 hundred scored by any New Zealand batsman.

The Indian cricket team rose to the top of the ICC ODI Team Rankings with 122 points after they took a 4-1 lead in the six-match ODI series against South Africa.

The men in blue were placed second in the ICC team rankings chart with 119 points when they came into the series, two points behind top-ranked South Africa who had 121 points.

However, India moved to 122 points after it won the fifth ODI at Port Elizabeth by 73 runs, sealing a series win, while South Africa fell to 118 points.

Defending champion Karnataka’s Kishan Gangolli won the 13^th edition of the National ‘A’ Chess Championship for the blind in Mumbai.

The championship was organised by All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB).

At the end of the 13th round, Asian Championship winner, Gangolli became the champion for the fifth consecutive time with 10.5 points.

Gujarat’s Ashvin Makwana stood second with 9.5 points, Soundarya Kumar Pradhan of Orissa with 9 points came third.

In a landmark moment, Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan became the first Indian batsman to score a century in his 100^th One-day International.

Dhawan reached the historic mark during the fourth ODI of India’s six-match series against South Africa at the Wanderers.

This was the batsman’s first century in South Africa.

His score total included two sixes and 10 fours.

The first Khelo India School Games concluded in New Delhi with sports powerhouse Haryana topped the overall medal tally.

The state won 102 medals which include 38 gold and 26 silver.

Maharashtra with 110 medals (36 of them gold) finished second while Delhi with 94 medals came third.

Sports Minister, Col Rajyavardhan Rathore presented the top State Haryana with the glittering trophy.

Indian cricketers Jasprit Bumrah and Harmanpreet Kaur as well India women’s hockey team goalkeeper Savita Punia and shooter Heena Sidhu are among Forbes India 30 Under 30 list.

Bumrah finished the year 2017 as the third highest wicket-taker in ODIs with 39 scalps in 23 matches, whereas in T20Is he grabbed 12 wickets in 11 outings.

In December 2016, Harmanpreet became the first Indian woman cricketer to play in Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL).