Weekly Digest (April 12-18): From Mirabai Chanu's World Record lift to European Super League looming large

From Mirabai Chanu setting a new World Record in the women's 49kg Clean and Jerk to the European Super League looming large, here are the major sporting headlines from the week gone by.

Published : Apr 18, 2021 23:57 IST

Mirabai Chanu's Clean and Jerk lift of 119kg at the Asian Championships on Saturday set a new world record, going past Chinese lifter Jiang Huihua's previous record of 118kg.
Mirabai Chanu's Clean and Jerk lift of 119kg at the Asian Championships on Saturday set a new world record, going past Chinese lifter Jiang Huihua's previous record of 118kg.
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Mirabai Chanu's Clean and Jerk lift of 119kg at the Asian Championships on Saturday set a new world record, going past Chinese lifter Jiang Huihua's previous record of 118kg.

From Mirabai Chanu setting a new World Record in the women's 49kg Clean and Jerk to the European Super League looming large, here are the major sporting headlines from the week gone by.

CRICKET

Shikhar Dhawan's 92 off 49 balls helped Delhi Capitals beat Punjab Kings by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday. ( REPORT )

Former Zimbabwe captain and coach Heath Streak has been banned from cricket for eight years after being charged with multiple breaches of ICC's anti-corruption code. ( REPORT )

Virat Kohli's long reign at the top of the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen was on Wednesday brought to an end by Pakistan's Babar Azam. ( REPORT )

Rajasthan Royals suffered a major blow on Tuesday after all-rounder Ben Stokes was ruled out of IPL 2021 with a broken finger. ( REPORT )

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Ben Stokes injured himself while taking a catch to dismiss West Indies batsman Chris Gayle during a match against the Punjab Kings.
 

India A's tour of England this summer has been postponed and the senior team will now have an integrated jumbo squad for the five-match Test series in England later this year, the ECB and the BCCI agreed on Tuesday. ( REPORT )

England women will play India in a multi-format series across June and July this year with a Test match at Bristol kicking off the summer on June 16. ( REPORT )

M. S. Dhoni played his 200th Twenty20 match for Chennai Super Kings when he took to the field against Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. CSK won by six wickets. ( REPORT )

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M. S. Dhoni became only the second player after Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli to play 200 Twenty20 matches for a single team.
 

The BCCI plans to start its domestic season with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, beginning in September. And the tournament will be followed by Vijay Hazare Trophy in November, while the Ranji Trophy will be held in December. In the apex council meeting on Friday, it was decided that the Deodhar Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Cup will be scrapped this season keeping in mind the COVID-19 pandemic. ( REPORT )

Virat Kohli was named Wisden Almanack's ODI player of the 2010s, while England all-rounder Ben Stokes was declared the 'Cricketer of the Year' for a second successive time by the annual publication. ( REPORT )

FOOTBALL

European football's governing body UEFA and its member associations expressed its strong opposition surrounding reports that several high profile teams had signed up to a breakaway European Super League. ( REPORT )

Mason Greenwood continued his fine run of form with a second-half brace which helped Manchester United to a 3-1 home win over Burnley in the Premier League on Sunday. ( REPORT )

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Manchester United players celebrate after scoring a goal against Burnley in the Premier League on Sunday. -AP
 

Paris Saint-Germain ended Olympique Lyonnais' five-year reign as European champion, progressing to the women's Champions League semi-finals on away goals after securing a 2-1 win on Sunday. ( REPORT )

Juventus slipped to a last-gasp 1-0 defeat at Atalanta on Sunday as Gian Piero Gasperini's side leapfrogged the champions into third place in the Serie A standings. ( REPORT )

Lionel Messi scored two goals in another masterful performance to brush aside Athletic Bilbao and win the Copa del Rey. ( REPORT )

Norwich City clinched promotion to the Premier League with five games to spare, guaranteeing Daniel Farke's league leader one of the automatic promotion places. ( REPORT ). Meanwhile, Sheffield United’s relegation to the Championship was confirmed with a defeat to Wolves. ( REPORT )

Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick said on Saturday he had told the team and club bosses that he wanted to leave the German champion at the end of the season. ( REPORT )

Manchester City's quadruple dream has been extinguished by Chelsea. Chelsea will be back at Wembley Stadium next month for the FA Cup final after a 1-0 victory over City. ( REPORT )

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Chelsea's Hakim Ziyech (left) celebrates with team-mate Timo Werner during the win over Manchester City.
 

FC Goa goalkeeper Dheeraj Singh denied 2017 Asian Player of the Year Award Omar Khribin in the 90th and 93rd minute to earn a precious point for his team. ( REPORT ) This was Goa’s second point from two matches after another goalless draw in the week against Al Rayyan.

Slavia Prague defender Ondrej Kudela was banned for 10 games by UEFA on Wednesday for racially abusing Rangers' Glen Kamara in the Europa League. ( REPORT )

Real Madrid moved into the semifinals of the Champions League after its makeshift defence held on for a 0-0 second-leg draw with Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday to complete a 3-1 aggregate win. The Spanish team will face Chelsea in the last four. ( REPORT )

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Real Madrid’s Eder Militao celebrates victory with team-mate Nacho following the goalless draw at Anfield on Wednesday.
 

Manchester City beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 on Wednesday to reach the Champions League semifinals for the first time in six years. City will face last season’s finalist Paris Saint-Germain in the semis. ( REPORT )

TENNIS

Roger Federer will kickstart his claycourt campaign at next month's Geneva Open as he steps up his preparations for the French Open, the 39-year-old Swiss wrote on Twitter on Sunday. ( REPORT )

Stefanos Tsitsipas won the Monte Carlo Masters without dropping a set, beating Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday for his first title this year and sixth overall. ( REPORT )

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“It is incredible that I am able to be in the position that I am. I would consider it as the best week of my life so far," Stefanos Tsitsipas said.
 

The Netherlands and Poland both needed deciding doubles wins to battle through their Billie Jean King Cup playoffs on Saturday but Britain, Italy and Canada all enjoyed easier passages. ( REPORT )

World number one Novak Djokovic will relaunch the Serbia Open tournament in Belgrade on Monday, less than a year after a charity event he organised in the city ended in fiasco. ( REPORT )

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Thursday said the qualification period for this year's Tokyo Olympics would be extended by a week until June 14 to accommodate the postponement of the French Open due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ( REPORT )

Rafael Nadal suffered a shock quarterfinal defeat by Russian Andrey Rublev at the Monte Carlo Masters on Friday as he was overpowered 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, only his sixth ever loss at the tournament he has won 11 times. ( REPORT )

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic lost 6-4, 7-5 to Dan Evans on Thursday in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters for his first defeat of the year. ( REPORT )

WRESTLING

World championships bronze medallist Ravi Kumar Dahiya became the third Indian male wrestler to secure a second Asian championships gold medal in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Saturday. ( REPORT )

Sarita Mor became the first Indian woman to win two consecutive gold medals in the Asian championships as she defended her women's 59kg title in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Thursday. ( REPORT )

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Sarita Mor became the first Indian woman to win two consecutive gold medals in the Asian championships.
 

World championships silver medallist Deepak Punia lost to World and Olympic champion Hassan Yazdani in the 86kg freestyle summit clash to settle for the silver medal in the Asian wrestling championships on Sunday. ( REPORT )

Divya Kakran emerged as the second Indian woman to secure two gold medals in the Asian wrestling championships on Friday as the Indian women wrestlers returned with a four-medal haul. ( REPORT )

WEIGHTLIFTING

Mirabai Chanu set a new World Record in the women's 49kg Clean and Jerk with a massive 119kg lift on Saturday. She also recorded a new personal best of 205kg (86+119) to clinch the bronze at the Asian Weightlifting Championship in Tashkent. This was her first competition in over a year. ( REPORT )

BOXING

Five Indian boxers advanced to the quarterfinals of the Youth World Championships after clinching comfortable victories in their last-16 stage bouts. ( REPORT )

Two assistant coaches at the national camp for Indian women's boxers have tested positive for COVID-19 and quarantined with mild symptoms. ( REPORT )

TABLE TENNIS

G. Sathiyan, India’s second highest-ranked paddler, will spar with Anirban Ghosh from April 23 to July 11 at the Raman High Performance TT Centre in Chennai as part of his preparation for the Tokyo Olympics.( REPORT )

In a bid to start preparations for the mixed doubles table tennis event at the Tokyo Olympics, Manika Batra will train with Sharath Kamal and a few others in Chennai from April 20 to 25. ( REPORT )

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File picture of Manika Batra (right) and Sharath Kamal.
 

Payas Jain has jumped to the second spot in boys’ (under-17) world table tennis age-group rankings. ( REPORT )

The World Table Tennis Championships will be held as per schedule from November 23 to 29 in Houston. ( REPORT )

HOCKEY

The 25-member women's hockey core probable group for the Tokyo Olympic Games will return to training at the Sports Authority of India, Bengaluru after a 10-day break. ( REPORT )

India ended its tour of Argentina with a commendable 4-2 victory in the final practice game on Wednesday. ( REPORT )

Balbir Singh Junior, who was a member of the silver medal-winning 1958 Asian Games Indian hockey team, died at the age of 88 on Tuesday. ( REPORT )

The Indian men's hockey team dropped one place to fifth in the FIH world rankings issued on Monday, despite two wins against Olympic champion Argentina in the Pro League matches. ( REPORT )

BADMINTON

In spite of alarmingly rising cases of COVID-19, the Badminton Association of India has announced plans to hold the India Open badminton championship in-camera at the K.D. Jadhav Indoor hall at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, as rescheduled from May 11 to 16. ( REPORT )

KABADDI

Star India’s has retained the media rights for the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL). Star India will hold the media rights for the PKL, India’s second most-watched sporting league, for the next five seasons (2021-2025). ( REPORT )

MOTORSPORT

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won a chaotic and crash-halted Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Sunday with Lewis Hamilton second for Mercedes and retaining the lead in the championship by a single point. ( REPORT )

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