Weekly digest (Dec 9 to Dec 15): West Indies' win at Chepauk to USA lifting the Presidents Cup

A round-up of all that happened in the world of sport during the last week.

Published : Dec 16, 2019 00:47 IST

West Indies players celebrating their during the first ODI against Indian at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai

CRICKET:

A total of 332 players have been shortlisted for the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction to be held in Kolkata on December 19. ( Report )

Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon wrapped up a dominant victory for Australia as it took a 1-0 lead in the three-match Test series with New Zealand, which crumbled to defeat by 296 runs.

(Report)

Former West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo announced his return to T20 Internationals in Chennai on Friday. Reversing his decision, he has now made himself available for the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia. ( Report )

Former South Africa wicketkeeper Mark Boucher has been appointed as Proteas head coach. Boucher will be assisted by Enoch Nkwe, the team director]. ( Report )

Enoch Nkwe(L), the South African Cricket assistant coach, Graeme Smith(C), Cricket South Africa interim director of cricket and former Test captain, and Mark Boucher(R), the South African Cricket coach, speak during a press conference at the Newlands Cricket grounds in Newlands, on December 14, 2019. (Photo by Brenton Geach  / AFP) (Photo by BRENTON GEACH /AFP via Getty Images)
 

Former Test captain Graeme Smith on Wednesday agreed to become Cricket South Africa's director of cricket - but only in an acting capacity. ( Report )

The Cricket Australia CEO Kevin Roberts says his team hopes to create an environment where players feel comfortable to talk about mental health problems. “Importantly we are working on education, resourcing and research to better understand how we do this,” he said in a chat with Sportstar . ( Report )

Australia paceman Josh Hazlewood will miss the Boxing Day Test after injuring his hamstring in Perth after suffering a low-grade tear during his opening spell on the second day of the first Test against New Zealand. ( Report )

England opted to limit the workload of some of its World Cup winners when it announced the squads on Friday for one-day and T20 series in South Africa in February. Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Mark Wood will all be rested when England plays its first ODIs since beating New Zealand at Lord's on July 14. ( Report )

Blind women cricketers of India will get to play a domestic national league for the first time when the Blind Cricket Nationals begins here on December 16. Seven teams from across the country will participate in the four-day T20 tournament which will culminate with the final at the Siri Fort Sports Complex. ( Report )

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 13 : Monty Panesar with his new book on the training ground before the second Specsavers test match between England and Australia at Lord's on August 13, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Philip Brown/Popperfoto via Getty Images)
 

Former England spinner Monty Panesar is back and raring to go after battling depression for a “long, long time”. The 37-year-old has set a plethora of short and long term goals, which includes playing county cricket again, becoming the Mayor of London in a “few years” time and if that can’t happen, he would like to follow Katrina Kaif’s footsteps to make it big in Bollywood. ( Report )

FOOTBALL:

Inspired by midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City strolled to a 3-0 win over a lacklustre Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday. (Report)

Gennaro Gattuso has taken over at Napoli, replacing fellow Italian Carlo Ancelotti who was dismissed after the Champions League win against Genk. (Report)

Bayern Munich's Philippe Coutinho scored a hat-trick and Robert Lewandowski added two more goals as the champion demolished Werder Bremen 6-1 on Saturday to impressively bounce back from two straight league defeats. (Report)

20-year-old Sarpreet Singh became the first player of Indian descent to play in the Bundesliga on Saturday after the New Zealand international came on for the final eight minutes of Bayern Munich's 6-1 win over Werder Bremen. (Report)

MUNICH, GERMANY - DECEMBER 14: Sarpreet Singh of FC Bayern Muenchen runs with the ball during the Bundesliga match between FC Bayern Muenchen and SV Werder Bremen at Allianz Arena on December 14, 2019 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images)
 

Leonel Vangioni's superb goal sent Monterrey on its way to a 3-2 Club World Cup quarterfinal victory over Al Sadd that sealed a last-four tie against Liverpool . (Report)

After spending two years trying to return from injuries sustained in the Chapecoense plane crash, Neto has decided to hang up his boots. (Report)

BADMINTON:

India’s P V Sindhu, who crashed out out of the  BWF World Tour Finals in Guangzhou , recorded a consolation win over China’s He Bingjiao in the third Group A match to end her campaign on a positive note. (Report)

Fast-rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen notched up his fifth title of the season, claiming the men’s singles crown at the Bangladesh International Challenger with a straight game win over Malaysia’s Leong Jun Hao in the final here on Sunday. (Report)

World number one Kento Momota fought back from a game down to win his 11th badminton title of the year Sunday with victory at the BWF World Tour Finals. (Report)

KABADDI:

It's a double delight for Indian Kabaddi at the South Asian Games, as the men's and women's team bagged gold beating Sri Lanka and Nepal respectively in the finals at Kathmandu. (Report)

BOXING:

World silver-medallist Amit Panghal’s absence hurt table-topper Gujarat Giants as it was stunned 3-4 by Bombay Bullets in an Indian Boxing League showdown here on Friday. (Report)

GUANGZHOU, CHINA - DECEMBER 15: Kento Momota of Japan reacts with trophy during award ceremony after winning the men's singles final match against Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia on day 5 of the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2019 at Tianhe Sports Center on December 15, 2019 in Guangzhou, China. (Photo by Zhong Zhi/Getty Images)
 

Amit Panghal is using the inaugural Big Bout Indian Boxing League as a preparatory event for the Asian Olympic qualifier to be held in Wuhan, China, in February . (Report)

The Boxing Federation of India (BFI), on Thursday, directed its High Performance Directors and coaches to step up the vigil to ensure that dope cheats are weeded out from national camps and called for quarterly awareness sessions on the anti-doping code . (Report)

MOTORSPORT 

Louis Camilleri confirmed Ferrari chairman John Elkann has spoken to Lewis Hamilton, though he insisted those discussions have been "blown somewhat out of proportion". (Report)

Formula One teams have unanimously voted against introducing new tyres for 2020, with the 2019 specification tyres to be used instead. (Report)

SHOOTING:

Aayushi Gupta and Vikrant Sharma paced themselves through two spells of qualification to eventually strike gold for Uttar Pradesh in mixed air rifle in the 63rd National shooting championship on Saturday. (Report)

Earlier, on Friday, Divyansh Singh Panwar, who has qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, was able to assert himself as the World No.1 in commendable fashion, as he won the gold in the men’s, junior and youth sections of the tournament. (Report)

World Cup medal-winning rifle shooter Ravi Kumar, who has failed a dope test, says his is a case of inadvertent intake, an explanation he hopes would fetch him a lighter-than-expected punishment from the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). (Report)

The Commonwealth Games Federation, on Monday, said there is no plan to have a Commonwealth Championship of shooting in India during the 2022 Birmingham Games to make up for the sport’s axing from the multi-sport showpiece. (Read)

TENNIS:

Australian Ashleigh Barty, whose breakout 2019 campaign included a French Open crown and world number one ranking, was named the WTA Player of the Year. (Report)

Grand slam winner Francesca Schiavone has revealed she has been given the all-clear after being diagnosed with cancer. (Report)

ATHLETICS:

Kenyan Leonard Barsoton and Ethiopian Guteni Shone won the men and women’s titles respectively with new event records on an altered course in the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K. ( Report )

The International Olympic Committee has reiterated its support for Russia's four-year ban from major international sporting events imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency. ( Report )

GOLF:

The United States completed a record comeback to clinch an eighth consecutive Presidents Cup at the expense of the Internationals following a lopsided singles session . (Report)

Overnight joint leader Mithun Perera’s even-par showing enabled him to gather a four-round total of 280 and register a one-stroke win in the inaugural Rs 40 lakh ICC RCGC Open at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club course in Kolkata on Sunday . (Report)

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 15: Assistant Captain Steve Stricker, Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson, Playing Captain Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar, Gary Woodland, Dustin Johnson, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, Assistant Captain Fred Couples, Assistant Captain Zach Johnson, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler of the United States team celebrate with the cup after winning 16-14 on day four of the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Course on December 15, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)