Weekly Digest (March 13-20): Neeraj Chopra wins Sportstar Aces award, Hyderabad FC clinches ISL title
From Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra winning the Sportstar of the Year (Male) award at the Sportstar Aces Awards 2022 to Hyderabad FC bagging its maiden Indian Super League title, here are the top headlines from the world of sports.
CRICKET
Ravichandran Ashwin on Saturday was adjudged Sportsman of the Year (Cricket) at the 2022 Sportstar Aces Awards. (REPORT)
Family, sportspeople and entertainers bid farewell to Australian cricketing legend Shane Warne at a private funeral held at his hometown in Melbourne on Sunday. (REPORT)
Australia made light work of its chase of 278 to beat India by six wickets and seal its semifinal berth in the ICC Women’s World Cup. (REPORT)
Indian pacer Jhulan Goswami became the first woman to take 250 ODI wickets. (REPORT)
India pacer Jhulan Goswami is also the highest wicket-taker in the history of the Women’s World Cup. – GETTY IMAGES
Pakistan captain Babar Azam hit a career-best 196 before the tailenders hung in to escape with a draw in the second Test against Australia on Wednesday. (REPORT)
FOOTBALL
The final of the Indian Super League 2021-22 saw a ‘yellow-turned’ Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda embrace a new champion on Sunday as Hyderabad FC beat Kerala Blasters 3-1 on penalties. (REPORT)
FIFA has sent medical supplies to the Ukrainian Football Association (UAF) and allocated $1 million to the FIFA Foundation for humanitarian aid in Ukraine, football’s world governing body said on Saturday. (REPORT)
Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold will be out for a few weeks with a hamstring issue that will rule him out of England’s games against Switzerland and Ivory Coast this month, manager Jurgen Klopp said on Friday. (REPORT)
Three late goals earned Villarreal a stunning 3-0 second-leg victory at Juventus on Wednesday to condemn the Serie A side to a 4-1 aggregate loss and a Champions League last-16 exit for the third successive season. (REPORT)
Atletico Madrid knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League and moved into the quarterfinals after a 41st minute header from Brazilian Renan Lodi gave the side a 1-0 (2-1 aggregate) win at Old Trafford on Tuesday. (REPORT)
AC Milan forward Olivier Giroud has been called up to France’s national squad for upcoming friendly matches as a replacement for the injured Karim Benzema. (REPORT)
Defending champion Chelsea was drawn on Friday to play record 13-time European champion Real Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals. (REPORT)
Manchester City produced a decisive late surge to crush Southampton 4-1 in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Sunday and stay in the hunt for a treble. (REPORT)
Barcelona’s losing run against Real Madrid finally ended on Sunday as the Catalan club enjoyed a stunning 4-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium and showed its title hopes in La-Liga may not be over yet. (REPORT)
Diogo Jota’s late winner earned Liverpool a 1-0 victory at a spirited Nottingham Forest on Sunday to book an FA Cup semifinal clash with Premier League title rivals Manchester City. (REPORT)
Chelsea continued to make light of its off-pitch turmoil with another impressive display on it as it reached the FA Cup semifinals with a 2-0 victory at Middlesbrough on Saturday. (REPORT)
TENNIS
Taylor Fritz stunned Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) on Sunday to win the ATP Indian Wells Masters and end the 21-time Grand Slam champion’s perfect 20-0 run to start 2022. (REPORT)
Taylor Fritz, ranked 20th in the world, claimed his second career title and his first at the elite Masters 1000 level while denying Nadal a record-equalling 37th Masters crown. – AP
Iga Swiatek defeated Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday in an error-filled final to win the BNP Paribas Open. Swiatek will rise from fourth to a career-best No. 2 in the world in Monday’s WTA Tour rankings, trailing top-ranked Ash Barty, who skipped Indian Wells. (REPORT)
All four Grand Slam tennis tournaments will now use a 10-point tiebreaker when matches reach 6-6 in the final set, the Grand Slam board announced on Wednesday. (REPORT)
Daniil Medvedev lost his world number one ranking after being defeated by Gael Monfils 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the third round of Indian Wells on Monday. (REPORT)
Novak Djokovic will be allowed to play at the French Open even if he is not vaccinated against COVID-19 as long as the coronavirus situation in France remains stable, organisers said on Wednesday. (REPORT)
Roger Federer will be donating $500,000 through his foundation to ensure children affected by the war in Ukraine are provided with care and access to education, the former world number one said on Friday. (REPORT)
Rohan Bopanna in partnership with Denis Shapovalov was beaten 6-4, 4-6, 10-4 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals by Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger Vasselin at the ATP Indian Wells Masters. (REPORT)
US Open champion Daniil Medvedev may have to provide assurances that he does not support Russian president Vladimir Putin if he is to compete at this year’s Wimbledon, British Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said on Tuesday. (REPORT)
BADMINTON
Lakshya Sen’s dream run at the All England Championships ended with a heartbreaking straight-games loss against world number one and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the men’s singles final, continuing India’s 21-year-long agonising wait for the coveted trophy. (REPORT)
Viktor Axelsen of Denmark (left) talks on the podium with runner-up Lakshya Sen after their men’s singles final match at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham on Sunday. – AP
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand’s splendid run at the All England Championship ended with a straight game defeat against Shu Xian Zhang and Yu Zheng in the women’s doubles event. (REPORT)
Ace shuttler P V Sindhu was adjudged Sportswoman of the Year (Racquet Sports) at the 2022 Sportstar Aces Awards. (REPORT)
Indian para-shuttler Pramod Bhagat was awarded Special Recognition at the 2022 Sportstar Aces Awards. (REPORT)
Former shuttler Uday Pawar was named the ‘Best Grassroots Coach’ at the 2022 Sportstar Aces Awards. (REPORT)
HOCKEY
Mandeep Singh scored a last-minute decisive goal after drag-flicker Jugraj Singh’s two powerful penalty corner strikes as the Indian men’s hockey team beat Argentina 4-3 in a drama-filled second match of its FIH Pro League tie and avenge its first leg shoot-out defeat here. (REPORT)
Ajit Pal Singh won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2022 Sportstar Aces Awards, which was held at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. (REPORT)
World Cup winner and Olympian Ajit Pal Singh speaks after being honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by Olympic gold medallist MM Somaya during the Sportstar Aces Awards in Mumbai on Saturday. – THE HINDU
The Indian men’s hockey team’s bronze medal-winning feat at the Tokyo Olympics won Moment of the Year at the 2022 Sportstar Aces Awards, which was held at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. (REPORT)
Sportstar on Saturday recognised the stellar run of the Indian Women’s Hockey Team and golfer Aditi Ashok at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics by awarding them with the ‘Breakthrough Performance of the Year’ award during the 2022 Aces Awards at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai. (REPORT)
Midfielder Salima Tete was on Thursday named captain of the 20-member Indian team for the FIH Women’s Junior World Cup, starting in Potchefstroom, South Africa on April 1. (REPORT)
MOTORSPORT
Charles Leclerc embarked on Formula One’s new era in triumphant style, leading teammate Carlos Sainz in a one-two for a resurgent Ferrari in Sunday’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. (REPORT)
KTM rider Miguel Oliveira put on a wet-weather masterclass and held off reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo in a close competition to win the Indonesia Grand Prix in Mandalika on Sunday as Moto GP returned to the country after a 25-year absence. (REPORT)
Indian racer Jehan Daruvala opened his bid for his first Formula 2 title with a second-placed finish in the sprint race of the championship’s first round. (REPORT)
The governing FIA, in a revision of the safety car rules, spelled out that ‘all’, rather than the more ambiguous ‘any’, lapped cars must unlap themselves before a re-start. (REPORT)
Seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton said on Monday he planned to add his mother’s maiden name Larbalestier to his. (REPORT)
BOXING
Olympic bronze-medallist Lovlina Borgohain and former junior world champion Nikhat Zareen on Monday secured their places in the Indian women’s boxing team for this year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou, China after winning their selection trial finals. (REPORT)
Five Indian women boxers – Shaheen Gill (60kg), Nivedita Karki (48kg), Tamanna (50kg), Ravina (63kg) and Muskan (75kg) – won the gold medal at the ASBC Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan. (REPORT)
Chennai boy Vishwanath (48kg) and Vanshaj (63.5 kg) from Sonipat clinched gold at the Asian Youth and Junior Boxing Championships as India ended the tournament in second position with 39 medals, behind topper Uzbekistan. (REPORT)
WRESTLING
Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya on Saturday was adjudged Sportsman of the Year (Individual sports) at the 2022 Sportstar Aces Awards, which was held in Mumbai on Saturday. (REPORT)
ATHLETICS
Neeraj Chopra on Saturday was adjudged Sportstar of the Year (Male) at the 2022 Sportstar Aces Awards, which was held at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. (REPORT)
Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra being honoured with Sportstar of the Year (Male) by Abhinav Bindra and The Hindu Group chairperson Malini Parthasarathy during the Sportstar Aces Awards in Mumbai on Saturday. – THE HINDU
Sweden’s Armand Duplantis bettered his own pole vault world record as he cleared 6.20 metres and clinched the gold at the World Indoor Championships. (REPORT)
Dutee Chand, the country’s fastest woman, crashed out of the World Indoor Athletics Championships after finishing sixth in her 60m heat in 7.35s at the Stark Arena, Belgrade. (REPORT)
Asian record holder shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor failed to produce any valid throw in all his three attempts as Indian athletes ended their campaign without any impact at the World Indoor Athletics Championships. (REPORT)
Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas bettered her own women’s triple jump world record with a leap of 15.74 metres to win gold at the World Indoor Championships. (REPORT)
Italy’s double Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs overtook Christian Coleman to win gold by three thousandths of a second in the 60 metres at the World Indoor Championships. (REPORT)
The Diamond League of track and field competitions has banned Russian Authorised Neutral Athletes (ANA) and Belarusian athletes from its events “for the foreseeable future”, organisers said, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (REPORT)
TABLE TENNIS
Sixth seed Manika Batra and Archana Kamath lost to Hina Hayata and Mima Ito of Japan in the women’s doubles quarterfinals of the WTT-Singapore Smash. (REPORT)
India’s top paddler G. Sathiyan went down to Lim Jonghoon of Korea 3-11, 11-5, 8-11, 4-11 in the men’s singles second round of the WTT-Singapore Smash. (REPORT)
SHOOTING
Avani Lekhara’s record-breaking Tokyo outing earned her the ‘Para athlete of the Year (Female)’ award at the Sportstar Aces Awards 2022. (REPORT)
Pistol prodigy Esha Singh was on Saturday adjudged the BYJU’s ‘Young Athlete of the Year (Female)’ at the Sportstar Aces Awards 2022. (REPORT)
The trio of Prithviraj Tondaiman, Zoravar Singh Sandhu and Vivaan Kapoor lost 2-6 to Kuwait in the men’s trap final to clinch a silver as India finished a disappointing ninth in the year’s first International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup for Shotgun in Nicosia, Cyprus. (REPORT)
Manu Bhaker was a cut above the rest as she shot 589 in qualifying for the final stage in women’s 25-metre sports pistol in the National shooting selection trials at the Madhya Pradesh Academy. (REPORT)
CHESS
Vidit Gujrathi scored two important victories to hold the fourth position behind Eric Hansen, Le Quang Liem and Ding Liren in the USD 150,000 Charity Cup online rapid chess tournament on Saturday. (REPORT)
Prodigious chess player Nihal Sarin has been named the BYJU’s ‘Young Athlete of the Year (Male)’ at the Sportstar Aces Awards 2022. (REPORT)
Grandmaster Nihal Sarin being honoured with the Byju’s Young Athlete of the Year (Male) Award by grandmaster and jury member Viswanathan Anand and Siddesh Joglekar, Vice president, Marketing, Byjus, at the Sportstar Aces Awards in Mumbai on Saturday. – THE HINDU
V.Prraneeth of Telangana became the latest International Master when he achieved the mandatory third IM norm in the final round of the First Saturday round-robin tournament in Budapest (Hungary) on Tuesday. (REPORT)
Chennai will host the 44th Chess Olympiad, the biggest congregation of players in the game, in July-August this year. (REPORT)
WEIGHTLIFTING
The absence of Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu and Youth Olympics gold medallist Jeremy Lalrinnunga will take the gloss off the National weightlifting championships, starting at the KITT University campus from Sunday. (REPORT)
GOLF
India’s Shubhankar Sharma missed the cut by one shot at the Steyn City Golf Championship, despite producing sub-par cards in the first two rounds. (REPORT)
Indian golfers Tvesa Malik and Diksha Dagar produced a better show in the second round but still missed the cut at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International being organised in the King Abdullah Economic City. (REPORT)
Overnight leader Yuvraj Singh Sandhu’s four-under 66 in the last round helped him record a total of 259 and lift the title in the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship at the Tollygunge Club course on Friday. (REPORT)
Cameron Smith survived a wild week and a rollercoaster final round to claim a one-shot victory over Anirban Lahiri at the Players Championship on Monday and collect the PGA Tour’s biggest payout, pocketing the winner’s cheque of $3.6 million. (REPORT)
