Weekly Digest (July 4-July 10): Djokovic beats Kyrgios, India seals T20 series in England

From Djokovic’s 7th Wimbledon title to India’s T20 series win against England, here are all the other major developments in sports this week.

Novak Djokovic celebrating the Wimbledon (left) win while India’s captain Rohit Sharma in action against England in the T20 series.

Novak Djokovic beat Nick Kyrgios in a tense contest at the Men’s singles final of Wimbledon 2022 to win his seventh title at the Centre Court. Meanwhile, the Indian men’s cricket team sealed the T20 series against England winning the first two games comfortably by 50 runs and 49 runs respectively.

Here are all the other major developments in the world of sports this week.

CRICKET

Wriddhiman Saha has taken up a role as Tripura’s player-cum-mentor for the upcoming domestic season. (REPORT)

Harmanpreet Kaur and Pooja Vastrakar’s all-round brilliance helped India beat Sri Lanka by 39 runs in the third ODI to complete a 3-0 whitewash. ( REPORT)

South Africa batter Lizelle Lee has announced her retirement from international cricket. ( REPORT)

Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow shredded India with unbeaten centuries as England rewrote history by winning its series-deciding Test by seven wickets on the last day of the fifth Test at Edgbaston. ( REPORT)

Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow of England in action during Day Five of the Fifth Test Match at Edgbaston on July 05, 2022 in Birmingham, England.

FOOTBALL

The women’s European Championship got underway with pre-game fireworks for a tournament-record crowd as host England laboured to a 1-0 win over Austria at Old Trafford on Wednesday. ( REPORT)

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and France footballing legend Michel Platini were both cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court on Friday. ( REPORT)

Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo will not travel with the squad for their pre-season tour to Thailand and Australia after being given time off to deal with a family issue. (REPORT)

Ronaldo’s future at Old Trafford has been uncertain after he reportedly told the club of his desire to leave to play the Champions League next season (File Photo)

Qatar’s World Cup stadiums are set to be alcohol-free, with beer sales outside arenas only allowed before and after some matches. ( REPORT)

Sacked for alleged “sexual misconduct” during the India U-17 women football team’s tour of Europe, former assistant coach Alex Ambrose has denied any wrongdoing and sent a legal notice to the All India Football Federation for “tarnishing his reputation by levelling frivolous charges”. ( REPORT)

Four months before competing at the FIFA World Cup 2022, Ghana’s national team added five new recruits who are now eligible to play in Qatar, which includes Brighton defender Tariq Lamptey and Athletic Bilbao forward Inaki Williams. ( REPORT)

Gokulam Kerala signed Cameroonian Richard Towa as new coach after Italian Vincenzo Alberto Annese left the club after leading it to successive I-League titles. ( REPORT)

Spain midfielder and women’s Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas injured her knee ahead of the women’s EURO 2022, with Real Sociedad forward Amaiur Sarriegi replacing her in the squad. ( REPORT)

Spain’s Alexia Putellas watches on crutches in the stands before the EURO 2022 match.

A Premier League footballer, who was due to play for his country at the upcoming Qatar World Cup 2022, was arrested in London  on Monday on suspicion of rape. ( REPORT)

Paris St. Germain announced Christophe Galtier as its new manager on Tuesday, shortly after the Ligue 1 champion parted ways with Mauricio Pochettino. ( REPORT)

Dadra and Nagar Haveli basked in reflected glory as a team composed entirely of Haryana and Delhi players ended up winning U-17 football nationals. ( REPORT)

The Indian eFIFA team has been drawn in Group D in the FIFAe Nations Cup set to happen from July 27-30 in Copenhagen. A total of 24 teams will compete in the FIFAe Nations Cup set to take place at the Bella Arena in Denmark. ( REPORT)

HOCKEY

The Indian team, captained by Savita Punia, lost 3-4 to New Zealand on Thursday and retained its third spot in Pool B. In three games, India drew the first two followed by the defeat at the hands of the Kiwis. ( REPORT) 

India in action at the World Hockey Championships at Wagener Stadium, in Amsterdam..

The Indian men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh on Thursday said they are well prepared to give six-time champion Australia a run for its money in this year’s Commonwealth Games, despite not playing against the current world no.1 side for over a year. ( REPORT)

BADMINTON

A long-time advocate for women’s representation in sports, Manasi Joshi, India’s top para badminton player, is shocked by recent developments of sexual misconduct across sporting disciplines. ( REPORT)

Star Indian shuttler H. S. Prannoy’s rampaging run at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament hit a roadblock as he slipped to a narrow three-game loss against Hong Kong’s NG Ka Long Angus in a mistake-filled men’s singles semifinal in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. ( REPORT)

India’s H. S. Prannoy in action against Angus Ng Ka Long during the men’s singles semifinal match at the Malaysia Masters badminton tournament.

P.V. Sindhu went all out but couldn’t find a way to get past Tai Tzu Ying in the quarterfinals to bow out of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. ( REPORT)

ATHLETICS

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) announced on Sunday that long jumper Jeswin Aldrin has been included in the athletics squad for the World Championships. ( REPORT)

South Africa’s Olympic champion Caster Semenya has been included on the entry list for the 5,000m event at the World Championships in Oregon. ( REPORT)

Norway’s Olympic champion Karsten Warholm said he has not been operating at 100% after injuring his hamstring at a Diamond League meet in June, but added that he is in good shape ahead of next week’s World Championships in Oregon ( REPORT)

A day after the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) announced that it had included Tejaswin Shankar in the Indian team for the Commonwealth Games, IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta told Sportstar that the high jumper’s name had not been accepted by the Commonwealth Games Working (CWG) Committee. ( REPORT) 

The news comes as a blow to Tejaswin, who had earlier expressed joy at being included in the squad. (File Photo)

Russian athletes will not be allowed to compete in this month’s world championships due to the war in Ukraine. ( REPORT) 

Olympian Johannes Vetter will not be participating in the upcoming World Athletics Championships due to a shoulder injury ( REPORT)

Seven-time Olympic gold medallist Allyson Felix will contend in her final world championships this month after the United States named her to their relay pool for Eugene, Oregon, Tuesday. ( REPORT)

Venezuelan triple jump world record-holder Yulimar Rojas will not compete in the long jump at this month’s world championships after her qualifying mark of 6.93 metres was deemed invalid due to unapproved shoes ( REPORT).

MOTORSPORTS

Charles Leclerc overcame a late throttle scare to win the Austrian Grand Prix for Ferrari on Sunday and become Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen’s closest rival. ( REPORT)

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc celebrates on the podium after winning the Austrian Grand Prix.

Four time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel was handed a suspended 25,000 euro ($25,457) fine on Saturday for walking out of an Austrian Grand Prix drivers’ briefing. ( REPORT)

Formula E’s entry into India next year will mark the return of a major motorsport event in the country and the development has already started to draw an ‘unfair’ comparison with the Formula 1 cars that last raced on the outskirts of the national capital in 2013. ( REPORT)

Formula One approved a small increase to its $140 million per team annual budget cap on Friday to help with the burden of inflation and rising energy and freight bills. ( REPORT)

Williams driver Alex Albon said he felt fine for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix after being taken to hospital for checks following a big crash at Silverstone last weekend. ( REPORT)

WRESTLING

Bajrang, who won gold in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, will now leave for US this weekend from India.

Bajrang Punia has received his UK visa for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, which will allow him to leave for the United States for a training stint there ahead of the Birmingham CWG, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) said on Saturday. ( REPORT)

BOXING

The Sports Ministry has cleared an international training camp for the Indian men’s and women’s boxing teams in Ireland from July 10 to 24 in the run-up to the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. ( REPORT)

World champion Nikhat ‘Monk’ Zareen is calmly focused on achieving her target of winning the Commonwealth Games gold medal. ( REPORT)

TENNIS

Novak Djokovic beat Nick Kyrgios 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the men’s singles final on Sunday to win his 21st Grand Slam title and a seventh silverware at the Wimbledon. ( REPORT)

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic celebrates with the trophy after winning the men’s singles final against Australia’s Nick Kyrgios.

Elena Rybakina beat Ons Jabeur 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the Wimbledon final on Saturday to become the first tennis player from Kazakhstan to win a Grand Slam singles championship. ( REPORT)

Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan kisses the trophy after victory against Ons Jabeur of Tunisia during the Ladies’ Singles Final match on day thirteen of The Championships Wimbledon 2022.

Australia’s Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell prevented the Croatian duo of Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic from winning back-to-back men’s doubles titles at Wimbledon with a 7-6(5) 6-7(3) 4-6 6-4 7-6(10-2) victory in the final on Saturday. (REPORT)

With just about every Grand Slam tournament on the calendar, Diede de Groot wins Wimbledon women’s wheelchair singles for seventh straight Grand Slam title closes in on compatriot Esther Vergeer’s records in women’s wheelchair tennis. ( REPORT)

Rafa Nadal’s hopes of completing a rare calendar year Grand Slam ended on Thursday when the Spaniard pulled out of his highly-anticipated Wimbledon semi-final showdown with Australian Nick Kyrgios with an abdominal strain. ( REPORT)

American-British duo Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski clinched their second straight Wimbledon mixed doubles title on Thursday after sweeping aside Australia’s Matthew Ebden and Sam Stosur 6-4 6-3 on Centre Court. ( REPORT)

Sania Mirza and her Croatian partner Mate Pavic lost their mixed doubles semifinal at Wimbledon 6-4, 5-7, 4-6 to defending champions Desirae Krawczyk of the US and Neal Skupski of UK on Wednesday, bringing the Indian’s journey at the grasscourt Major to a close. ( REPORT)

For Sania, this was her best mixed doubles performance at Wimbledon, having previously reached the quarterfinals in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

CHESS

India’s teenage Grandmaster P Iniyan finished second in the La Plagne International Open Chess Tournament 2022 in La Plagne in France. ( REPORT) 

India’s D. Gukesh won the Gijon Chess Masters on Friday, with eight points out of nine rounds. ( REPORT) 

With the Chess Olympiad around the corner, the Indian team members are working individually, and collectively, to give their best ever. As part of the preparation, a few key members of the women’s teams got busy sharpening their skills in Chennai recently in a camp under the 2012 World Championship runner-up Boris Gelfand. ( REPORT) 

Ian Nepomniachtchi will take on champion Magnus Carlsen for the world title in 2023 after the Russian secured victory in the Candidates Tournament in Madrid with a round to spare. ( REPORT) 

Magnus Carlsen, right, in action against Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, during the FIDE World Championship.

GOLF

Indian golfer Amandeep Drall continued her steady run at the Estrella Damm Ladies Open as she carded a 1-under 71 to move up to T-32 after the third round of the Ladies European Tour event. ( REPORT)

India’s Arjun Atwal made the cut and was 2-under through seven holes when play was suspended following extensive rain at the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky. ( REPORT)

Two-time Open champion Greg Norman has not been invited to the celebrations at the 150th edition of the championship, organisers Royal & Ancient (R&A) said on Saturday. ( REPORT)

SHOOTING

The Indian shooting contingent has been hit by a COVID-19 scare in Changwon, Korea, after two officials accompanying the team tested positive for the virus on arrival ahead of the upcoming ISSF World Cup. ( REPORT)

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) on Tuesday appointed two-time Olympic medallist shooter Munkhbayar Dorjsuren  as the chief foreign coach of the national pistol team. ( REPORT)