Weekly Digest (August 10-16): From Dhoni and Raina's retirement to Bayern thumping Barca
From MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina announcing their international retirement to Bayern Munich blanking Barcelona 8-2, here are the top sports headlines from the week gone by.
Published : Aug 16, 2020 22:31 IST
Former India skipper and the only cricket captain ever to win all three ICC trophies and hold the Test mace, M. S. Dhoni, announced his international retirement on Saturday. His Chennai Super Kings (CSK) teammate Suresh Raina also hanged up his boots moments after him.
Hansi Flick's Bayern Munich side thrashed fellow five-time champion FC Barcelona 8-2 in a 2019-20 UEFA Champions League quarterfinal fixture in Lisbon on Thursday. Philippe Coutinho, who is on loan at Bayern from Barcelona, scored two goals and assisted one more in 17 minutes on the field.
Here's a wrap-up of all the major sports news and updates from the week (August 10 to 16) that passed:
CRICKET
Through an Instagram post, M. S. Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket. The emphatic message was that the legend from Ranchi will no longer turn out for India in limited-overs cricket. ( REPORT )
Vibrant, electric and match-winning he was on his day. Now, the mercurial Suresh Raina has decided to bid adieu to international cricket along with his friend and mentor, M. S. Dhoni. ( REPORT )
Dhoni's decision to hang up his boots shocked the Internet and in no time did the tributes start pouring in for the Ranchi rockstar. ( REPORT )
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Former India cricketer Chetan Chauhan, 73, passed away on Sunday after suffering a heart attack. He was admitted at the Medanta hospital in Gurgaon. ( REPORT )
Germany's Anuradha Doddaballapur became the first woman to take four wickets in four balls in T20Is with her spell of 5/1 against Austria on Friday. The skipper's exploits helped Germany to a 137-run victory over Austria in the fourth T20I of the bilateral series. ( REPORT )
The Australian Government on Friday cleared the decks for the men's limited-overs tour of England that will be played at bio-secure venues. Australia's tour of England, comprising of three ODIs and as many as T20I matches, was supposed to be held in July. However, the tour was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. ( REPORT )
Off-spinner Laura Marsh, who helped England to Women's World Cup titles in 2009 and 2017, has said that she is retiring from all forms of cricket. ( REPORT )
Sri Lanka Cricket has postponed the Lanka Premier League, which was scheduled to begin from August 28, until November. ( REPORT )
FOOTBALL
Lyon stunned favourite Manchester City in the quarterfinal of the Champions League with a 3-1 win. Substitute Moussa Dembele scored twice to seal the French club’s progress. ( REPORT )
Bayern Munich utterly humiliated Barcelona with a stunning 8-2 victory that sent the club through into the semifinals of the Champions League. ( REPORT )
All matches of the upcoming I-League season and second division qualifiers will be held in Kolkata with strict health and safety measures in place to deal with the COVID-19 threat, the All India Football Federation said. ( REPORT )
Netherlands women's football team manager Sarina Wiegman will succeed Phil Neville as England Women's head coach from next year after signing a four-year deal, the English FA announced. ( REPORT )
Brazilian midfielder Willian has signed for Arsenal after having spent seven years at London rival Chelsea. ( REPORT )
RB Leipzig stunned Atletico Madrid, with a 2-1 victory in its 2019-20 UEFA Champions League quarterfinal, to reach the competition's last-four for the first time in the club's short history. ( REPORT )
The FA Cup will not have replays for the 2020-21 season to help ease fixture congestion caused by the COVID-19 crisis, England's FA has confirmed. ( REPORT )
Paris Saint-Germain scored two late goals, including a stoppage-time winner from substitute Eric Choupo-Moting, to beat Atalanta 2-1 and end the Serie A side's Champions League dream in the quarterfinals. ( REPORT )
The Indian football team's remaining qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar have been postponed as FIFA and AFC announced that the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup and the 2023 Asian Cup have been pushed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. ( REPORT )
Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku scored the winner in a 2-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen as he tormented the German team to lead his side into the Europa League semifinals. ( REPORT )
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TENNIS
France's Fiona Ferro won the Palermo Ladies Open to become the first WTA champion in five months. ( REPORT )
Australian Open organisers are confident of hosting the Grand Slam in its usual January slot with full prize money and fans in the stands. ( REPORT )
The second edition of the ATP Cup is still scheduled to go ahead in January and Tennis Australia is considering adding more events alongside it to allow players to prepare for the Australian Open. ( REPORT )
World number one Novak Djokovic has announced that he will compete at the U.S. Open and the Western & Southern Open curtain-raiser. ( REPORT )
Bianca Andreescu will not defend her title at the US Open in New York this year. ( REPORT )
Next month's Italian Open in Rome will be held a week earlier than scheduled following the cancellation of the Madrid Open. ( REPORT )
Top-seeded Simona Halep defeated third-seeded Elise Mertens 6-2, 7-5 in the Prague Open final on Sunday to claim her 21st WTA title. ( REPORT )
American Jennifer Brady clinched her first career WTA title on Sunday, defeating Switzerland's Jil Teichmann 6-3, 6-4 in the Top Seed Open final. ( REPORT )
World number eight Belinda Bencic has also withdrawn from this year's U.S. Open. ( REPORT )
HOCKEY
Indian men’s hockey striker Mandeep Singh was shifted to the hospital after his blood oxygen level dropped following a positive COVID-19 test along with five other players in the team who arrived at the SAI campus in Bengaluru for the national camp. ( REPORT )
The Sports Authority of India has decided to go-ahead with both the men’s and women’s hockey camps from August 19th by observing the SOP and social distancing norms, despite the positive coronavirus tests among men. ( REPORT )
TABLE TENNIS
The fourth edition of Ultimate Table Tennis, scheduled from August 14 to 31, has been indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ( REPORT )
BADMINTON
There is huge relief for Indian shuttler N. Sikki Reddy and her physiotherapist Dr. Ch. Kiran, attached to the SAI-Gopichand Academy, as they have tested COVID-19 negative after undergoing a second test at a private hospital on Friday. ( REPORT )
They had initially tested positive for coronavirus, two days earlier. ( REPORT )
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Olympic probables including the likes of PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth and support staff at SAI-Gopichand Academy underwent COVID-19 tests on Tuesday. ( REPORT )
UFC
Stipe Miocic defeated Daniel Cormier by unanimous decision in a five-round bout to win the rubber match in a fantastic trilogy between the fighters and retain his heavyweight championship at UFC 252. ( REPORT )
Putting aside a loss to Francis Ngannou at UFC 249 in May, Jairzinho Rozenstruik claimed a second-round TKO win over former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos at UFC 252 in Las Vegas, Nevada. ( REPORT )
SWIMMING
Three Indian Olympic probable swimmers -- Virdhawal Khade, Srihari Nataraj and Kushagra Rawat -- have been granted permission to train in Dubai for two months in national coach Pradeep Kumar’s Aqua Nation Swimming Academy. ( REPORT )
WRESTLING
Top Indian wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Pooja Dhanda confirmed that the national camp for Olympic weight-category wrestlers will start from September 1. The men's camp will be held in Sonepat, while the women will train in Lucknow. (REPORT)
MOTORSPORT
Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton won the Spanish Grand Prix for the fourth year in a row on Sunday to take a record 156th career podium finish and stretch his championship lead to 37 points. Red Bull's Max Verstappen finished second with Valtteri Bottas taking the third spot. ( REPORT )
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso won an action-packed Austrian Grand Prix which was halted for 20 minutes after Franco Morbidelli’s Yamaha collided with the Avintia Ducati of Johann Zarco in Spielberg. The cartwheeling bikes nearly took out Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales as the two Yamahas navigated the turn. ( REPORT )
Williams and McLaren dropped plans to appeal a stewards decision against Formula One rival Racing Point. The matter will still go to the governing FIA's International Court of Appeal after Ferrari and Renault confirmed their intention to take the matter forward. The FIA confirmed Racing Point was also appealing. ( REPORT )
ATHLETICS
The Paris Marathon has been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic after repeated attempts to find a new date. The race was originally scheduled to take place in April but was then moved to October. ( REPORT )
The INOX Group will be the official sponsor of the Indian team for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics, the Indian Olympic Association announced. ( REPORT )
Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda was the standout star of the first full Diamond League meet winning the 5,000 meters in 12 minutes, 35.36 seconds. ( REPORT )
Russia's suspended athletics federation said it has paid a multi-million-dollar fine to World Athletics in a move that could help it avoid expulsion. ( REPORT )