Weekly Digest (August 17-23): From Bayern becoming European champion to Koeman's appointment at Barca

Bayern Munich won the UEFA Champions League for the sixth time, beating Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in Sunday's final. Barcelona began its overhaul, appointing Ronald Koeman as replacement.

Bayern Munich won its sixth Champions League title beating PSG 1-0 at Estadio da Luz. Also, Wimbledon champion Simona Halep added her name to the growing list of absentees at this year's U.S. Open which begins next week in New York. Meanwhile, Barcelona began its overhaul following the demoralising UCL exit in the quarterfinals with the appointment of Dutch coach Ronald Koeman this week.

Here is the weekly wrap of sports around the world.

CRICKET

James Anderson claimed his fifth wicket as England enforced the follow-on against Pakistan on the third day of the final Test at the Rose Bowl on Sunday, despite a battling century by visiting skipper Azhar Ali. ( REPORT )

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said it would be a “terrible atmosphere” to play a bilateral cricket series with India given the current tense relations between the two countries. Speaking on a Sky Sports documentary, former captain Khan, who is also the patron-in-chief of the country’s cricket board, said it will not be conducive to play bilateral cricket at present. ( REPORT )

Legendary South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis, Pakistan batting great Zaheer Abbas and Pune-born former Australian captain Lisa Sthalekar were, on Sunday, inducted into the International Cricket Council’s Hall of Fame. ( REPORT )

Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal on Thursday filed an appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Lausanne to overturn his 18-month ban for not reporting corrupt approaches. The development comes right after the Pakistan Cricket Board appealed in the CAS against the reduction of a three-year ban on Akmal by an independent adjudicator. ( REPORT )

Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab arrived in the UAE on Thursday for the Indian Premier League, which begins on September 19. The other franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, also reached Abu Dhabi later on Thursday. Royals and KXIP landed in Dubai via a chartered flight, which will be the norm this IPL due to the coronavirus pandemic. ( REPORT )

Former Mysore state cricketer and reputed pitch curator G. Kasturirangan passed away on Wednesday. He was 89. ( REPORT )

Cricket South Africa on Tuesday named Beresford Williams as its acting president while also confirming that interim Chief Executive Officer Jacques Faul has stepped down from his post. The developments came after Chris Nenzani resigned as president with immediate effect on August 15. ( REPORT )

FOOTBALL

Bayern Munich won the UEFA Champions League for the sixth time, beating Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in Sunday's final thanks to a goal from former PSG youth academy graduate Kingsley Coman. ( REPORT )

Miralem Pjanic tested positive for COVID-19, Barcelona confirmed on Monday. ( REPORT )

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin will hold talks about retaining the single-game eliminator format that has been used to complete the pandemic-disrupted Champions League and Europa League seasons. ( REPORT )

Holder Olympique Lyonnais edged out Bayern Munich 2-1 in their UEFA Women's Champions League quarterfinal in Bilbao to set up an all-French clash in the semis against Paris-Saint Germain , which beat Arsenal by the same scoreline in San Sebastian. ( REPORT )

Pernille Harder scored four goals as Wolfsburg routed Glasgow City 9-1, while Barcelona got past a strong defence to beat Atletico Madrid 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Women's Champions League. ( REPORT )

Sevilla clinched the Europa League title with a 3-2 win over Inter Milan after an overhead-kick by defender Diego Carlos deflected by the Italian side's top scorer Romelu Lukaku settled a thrilling contest. ( REPORT )

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire was released by a Greek prosecutor on Saturday after two days in detention over a brawl on the island of Mykonos. ( REPORT )

Indian Super League (ISL) club Bengaluru FC completed the signing of left-back Ajith Kumar from Chennai City FC on a three-year deal. ( REPORT )

Nerijus Valskis, the top scorer of previous season’s Indian Super League, will be turning out for Jamshedpur FC in the seventh edition of the tournament scheduled to be held in Goa later this year. ( REPORT )

Boris Singh Thangjam on Thursday tested positive for COVID-19 in a first such case involving an active Indian footballer. ( REPORT )

New Delhi’s first I-League team, Sudeva FC, will be fielding an “all Indian XI” in its maiden appearance in top-flight football, club president Anuj Gupta has confirmed. ( REPORT )

Barcelona has appointed Ronald Koeman as its next coach as the Catalan looks to rebuild after its 8-2 thrashing by Bayern Munich in the Champions League last week. ( REPORT )

Real Sociedad has signed former Manchester City midfielder David Silva as a free agent. ( REPORT )

TENNIS

Simona Halep has pulled out of the US Open due to COVID-19 concerns. ( REPORT )

Forty “social distance ambassadors” will monitor the US Open grounds to make sure players and others are avoiding close contact and wearing face coverings. ( REPORT )

Kim Clijsters has withdrawn from the Western & Southern Open, a tournament that will serve as a warm-up event for players ahead of the US Open. ( REPORT )

Kei Nishikori has tested positive for COVID-19 a second time. ( REPORT )  

BADMINTON

Next to cricketers, shuttlers from India have been hogging the limelight in the last decade or so which is evident by a cursory look at the National Sports Awards 2020. For the first time in history, badminton has bagged six awards in the National Awards. ( REPORT )

World champion P. V. Sindhu, Sai Praneeth and Kidambi Srikanth resumed training at the SAI-Gopichand academy in Hyderabad on Monday. The academy was shut for four days after N. Sikki Reddy and physio Kiran tested positive for Covid-19. ( REPORT )

Japan's Olympic badminton champion Ayaka Takahashi will not defend her doubles crown with Misaki Matsutomo at next year's Tokyo Games after announcing she will retire at the end of the month. ( REPORT )

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to restart international badminton, which has been suspended since mid-March because of the Covid-19 pandemic. ( REPORT )

HOCKEY

Women’s team captain Rani Rampal, winner of Khel Ratna Award and Akashdeep Singh, winner of the Arjuna Award, expressed their delight at winning the National Sports Awards. ( REPORT )

Hockey India has accepted the resignation of High Performance Director David John who cited health as the official reason for his resignation. ( REPORT )

Indian hockey team defender Surender Kumar was readmitted in a Bengaluru hospital after he developed swelling on his left arm, just a few days after recovering from COVID-19. ( REPORT )

Six Indian men’s hockey team players, including skipper Manpreet Singh, were discharged from a Bengaluru hospital after recovering from COVID-19. ( REPORT )

BOXING 

Former world boxing champion, Laishram Sarita Devi, and her husband, Chongtham Thoiba Singh, have tested positive for COVID-19. ( REPORT )

The Asian Boxing Championships, which was to be held in India in November-December, has been postponed to next year owing to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. ( REPORT )

Two-time Commonwealth Games medal-winning boxer Manoj Kumar has written to Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, requesting him to consider his brother and personal coach Rajesh Kumar Rajound for the Dronacharya award after he was overlooked by the selection committee. ( REPORT )

SHOOTING

Pistol guru Jaspal Rana was recommended for this year’s Dronacharya award by the sports ministry’s selection committee. Additionally, Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker have also made it to the list of Arjuna awardees for the National Sports Awards 2020.

WRESTLING

The women’s national wrestling camp, which was scheduled to start from September 1 in Lucknow, was on Saturday postponed after top players expressed apprehensions about travelling amidst rising cases of coronavirus. ( REPORT)

World championships bronze medallist and Asian Games and Commonwealth Games champion wrestler Vinesh Phogat is thrilled to be recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and feels that the national honour will motivate her to shine in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. ( REPORT)

MOTOR SPORT

F1 team Williams was bought by an American-based investment firm Dorilton Capital after it was put up for sale in May. The team will continue to race under the Williams name and remain at its English base in Oxfordshire. ( REPORT )

Formula One's 10 teams have committed to the sport until at least the end of 2025 by putting their signatures to a new commercial 'Concorde Agreement'. ( REPORT )

ATHLETICS

Will the games happen next year? The unprecedented postponement of the Tokyo Olympics has left buyers of millions of tickets in a quandary. ( REPORT )

With its scheduled September 12 start to the competition season looking doubtful, the Athletics Federation of India is working on other options to keep athletes in shape. ( REPORT )