Weekly digest (June 7-13): Djokovic wins French Open, Chhetri overtakes Messi

This week, Novak Djokovic claimed his second French Open title, defeating Rafael Nadal en route. In Euro 2020, which began this week, Denmark's Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch during a contest against Finland. Here are some of the headlines of the week gone by.

Novak Djokovic with his winner's trophy, after defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final, on Sunday, June 13. This was Djokovic's 19th Grand Slam title. - AP

Tennis

Novak Djokovic fought back from two sets down to beat Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7 (6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to win the French Open title for the second time on Sunday. ( REPORT )

Djokovic also became  the third man in tennis history after Roy Emerson and Rod Laver with at least two titles from each of the four Grand Slam events. ( READ )

Barbora Krejcikova won her maiden Grand Slam singles title at the French Open on Saturday, beating Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to become the first Czech woman in 40 years to conquer Roland Garros. ( READ )

Czech Barbora Krejcikova completed a singles-doubles title sweep at the French Open on Sunday when she lifted the women's doubles trophy with compatriot Katerina Siniakova, beating Iga Swiatek and Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 6-2. ( READ )

Novak Djokovic with his winner's trophy, alongside runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas. - AP

 

Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from the Queen's Club Championships, which is a build-up event to Wimbledon, due to neck pain. ( READ )

Ankita Raina took to Instagram to announce that she would be competing in the Tokyo Olympics doubles event with six-time Grand Slam champion Sania Mirza. ( READ )

Roger Federer says he has seen "improvement and no setbacks'' since returning to the Tour in March after over a year out due to two knee operations. And with his grasscourt season kicking off in Halle next week, it's "go time." ( READ )

Football

Christian Eriksen collapsed during Denmark's Euro 2020 game against Finland on Saturday and was taken to hospital after receiving CPR on the pitch. He is currently stable and remains hospitalised. ( REPORT )

The European Championship (Euro 2020) got underway on Saturday as Italy thumped three goals past Turkey in the opening encounter. ( REPORT )

Alexis Sanchez will not travel to Brazil with the rest of the Chile squad and will miss at least the group stage of Copa America due to a calf injury. ( REPORT )

Twelve members of the Venezuelan national football team, including players and staff, have tested positive for Covid-19. The news came a day before Venezuela plays Brazil in the opening match of the Copa America. ( REPORT )

Captain Riyad Mahrez scored as Algeria defeated Tunisia 2-0 in an international friendly this weekend to create a record 27-match unbeaten run by an African national team. ( REPORT )

India men's football team captain Sunil Chhetri overtook Ali Mabkhout and Lionel Messi to become the second-highest international goalscorer among active men's players. Chhetri struck a brace against Bangladesh in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers match in Qatar. ( REPORT )

Jorge Mas, the co-owner of Major League Soccer team Inter Miami, said he is confident Lionel Messi will join it if he decides to leave Barcelona. ( REPORT )

Players from Brazil's women's team protested against sexual harassment on Friday, days after the president of the national federation was suspended for allegations of the same thing. ( REPORT )

Ukraine's football association agreed on Friday to make the phrase "Glory to the heroes" an official slogan, even though its use on the national team's shirt has been banned by UEFA. ( REPORT )

Denmark's Christian Eriksen controls the ball during the Euro 2020 soccer championship group B match between Denmark and Finland at Parken stadium in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Saturday, June 12. Eriksen collapsed on the pitch and received medical assistance before being taken to hospital. - AP

 

The next season of the Indian Super League will witness an increase in the number of Indian players in the playing XI as the latest amendment in the rule mandates clubs to have a minimum of seven Indian players on the field at any point of time. ( REPORT )

Shubho Paul, a 17-year-old Indian footballer, has been named in Bayern Munich U-19 World squad. ( REPORT )

David Moyes has been rewarded for guiding West Ham to sixth place in the Premier League with a new three-year contract. ( REPORT )

East Bengal club found itself in bigger trouble after a letter from the FIFA players' status committee barred it from signing Indian players in the upcoming season. With the club already embroiled in a dispute with its investor, the ban will stop its team-building process ahead of the new ISL season. ( REPORT )

Cricket

New Zealand overpowered England by eight wickets in the second Test at Edgbaston on Sunday, sealing a 1-0 series win with more than a day to spare. ( REPORT )

The members of the Indian team, which will tour Sri Lanka for a limited-overs series, will start their two-week quarantine in Mumbai from June 14. ( REPORT )

Rishabh Pant took his senior bowling colleagues to the cleaners with an unbeaten century while opener Shubman Gill also warmed up with a polished 85 during the Indian team's intra-squad match simulation on 11 and 12 June, in Southampton. ( REPORT )

Ahead of the World Test Championship final, R. Ashwin reflects on his 10-year journey in Test cricket. ( FULL INTERVIEW )

The participation of India's top women players in The Hundred in England will give them much-needed exposure to elite opposition ahead of the 50-overs World Cup in New Zealand next year, the BCCI has said. ( REPORT )

Kagiso Rabada took five wickets as South Africa cruised to victory over West Indies by an innings and 63 runs before lunch on Day Three of the first Test in Saint Lucia on Saturday. ( REPORT )

Kagiso Rabada took five wickets as South Africa cruised to victory over West Indies by an innings and 63 runs.

 

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has been suspended for three matches and fined USD 5,900 following his on-field meltdown during a  Dhaka T20 Premier League match between Mohammedan Sporting and Abahani Limited. ( REPORT )

Kusal Janith Perera will lead a 24-member Sri Lanka squad which will play an ODI and T20I series against England. Sri Lanka announced the squad for the series even though the players' contract dispute remains unresolved. ( REPORT )

The ECB has vowed to take "relevant and appropriate action" after questions were raised publicly about historical tweets from several England players. ( REPORT )

Badminton

B. Sai Praneeth, who leads the men’s singles challenge in badminton the next month at the Tokyo Olympics, and the men’s doubles pair of R. Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty shifted base from the Gopi Chand Academy to the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad to train under their coaches Agus Dwi Santoso and Mathias Boe. ( REPORT )

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has written to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for sanction of four travelling coaches, including chief national coach Pullela Gopichand, and two physios to travel with the Indian badminton contingent to the Tokyo Olympics. ( REPORT )

Three Indian para shuttlers, including world number one Pramod Bhagat, have officially qualified for the Paralympics, scheduled to be held from August 25 to September 5. ( REPORT )

Table Tennis

India’s star paddler Manika Batra has agreed to join the national camp in Sonepat to train with mixed doubles partner and veteran Sharath Kamal ahead of the Olympics. ( REPORT )

Shooting

Ace shooter Manu Bhaker feels preparations "cannot get better" than the ongoing training-cum-competition tour of Croatia as she works on her consistency ahead of the Tokyo Games. ( READ )

1998 Asian Games gold medallist Dingko Singh died aged 42.

 

The members of the Indian shooting squad, which is currently in Zagreb, were inoculated against COVID-19 in a vaccine drive. ( READ )

Refugee athletes Luna Solomon and Mahdi have been selected to shoot in the Tokyo Olympics. ( READ )

Boxing

Asian Games gold medallist Dingko Singh, who inspired a generation of Indian boxers with his feat in Bangkok in 1998, passed away at Imphal on Thursday after a prolonged battle with cancer. ( READ )

Olympic-bound Indian boxer Pooja Rani (75kg) said she can visualise herself winning a medal at the Tokyo Games next month. ( READ )

Though disappointed and aggrieved at being denied a gold medal at the recently concluded Asian Boxing Championships in Dubai, Amit Panghal has vowed to leave no stone unturned to ensure he never has to face such a situation again. ( READ )

Wrestling

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat won the 53kg gold at the Poland Open in Warsaw on Friday, giving herself some crucial practice ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. (READ)

Delhi court has extended the judicial custody of Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar till June 25 in connection with the alleged brawl at Chhatrasal Stadium in which a young wrestler died. (READ)

The Sports Authority of India has decided not to extend the contract of India's foreign wrestling coach Temo Kazarashvili. ( READ )

Hockey

Forward Ramandeep Singh says the Indian men's team is simulating the Olympics at its training base in Bengaluru to prepare for the Games.  ( READ )

Athletics

Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra opened his international season with a promising 83.18m effort that fetched him the gold in the City of Lisbon athletics meet. ( READ )

IOA has decided that India's athletes will wear unbranded sports apparel in the Tokyo Olympics to be held from July 23 to August 8. ( READ )

High jumper Tejaswin Shankar took silver at the American NCAA athletics championships with 2.23m at Eugene, Oregon, on Friday. ( READ )

Indian Olympian Surat Singh Mathur, the first athlete from independent India to complete a marathon at the Olympic Games, passed away in Delhi on Friday. He was 90 years old. ( READ )