Weekly Digest (August 30-September 5): Medals galore for India at the Tokyo Paralympics; Ronaldo breaks Ali Daei's goal record
From Avani Lekhara's stellar Tokyo Paralympics campaign to Cristiano Ronaldo taking his international goal tally to 111 and breaking Ali Daei's record, a lot has happened in the world of sports. Here's a look at the major headlines in sport in the past week.
Published : Sep 05, 2021 22:04 IST
Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman to win gold at a Paralympic event after she equalled the world record with a score of 249.6 in the women's 10m air rifle standing finals (SH 1) at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace for Portugal in its 2-1 win against Ireland, which took his international goal tally to 111. He broke Iran's Ali Daei's long-standing record of 109 international goals.
CRICKET
Pakistan captain Babar Azam feels pressure will be more on India when the arch-rivals meet in the T20 World Cup on October 24. ( REPORT )
The Rajasthan Royals has signed West Indies opening batter Evin Lewis and fast bowler Oshane Thomas as replacements for Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, for the second leg of IPL 2021. ( REPORT )
South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn has announced his retirement from cricket after an 18-year career. ( REPORT )
The IPL will be a 10-team tournament from the 2022 season, with the BCCI inviting bids for the two new franchises. ( REPORT )
India's men's domestic calendar will begin with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on November 4. The Ranji Trophy starts on January 13, 2022. ( REPORT )
Renowned cricket coach Vasoo Paranjape, who mentored Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma, passed away on Monday. ( REPORT )
FOOTBALL
Arsenal has signed two-times World Cup winner Tobin Heath after her contract ended with Manchester United, the Women's Super League (WSL) club said. ( REPORT )
Sweden recovered from a goal down to hand Spain its first World Cup qualifying defeat for 28 years with a shock 2-1 victory. ( REPORT )
Italy made it 35 games unbeaten to equal the European record run set by Spain but were ultimately disappointed as they were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Bulgaria in their Group C World Cup qualifier. ( REPORT )
Romelu Lukaku scored twice as Belgium overcame an early scare to crush Estonia 5-2 away and solidify its position at the top of World Cup qualifying Group E. ( REPORT )
England eased to a comfortable 4-0 win over Hungary at the Puskas Arena on Thursday to move five points clear at the top of World Cup qualifying Group I. ( REPORT )
Asia's oldest football tournament - the Durand Cup -will be held in Kolkata for the next five years, Indian Army's Eastern Command chief Lt General KK Repswal said here on Thursday. ( REPORT )
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo went past Iran's Ali Daei (109) in the all-time men's international leading goal-scorer's list in the 2-1 win over Ireland. (REPORT)
Atletico Madrid sensationally announced it had re-signed France forward Antoine Griezmann on a season-long loan from Barcelona. ( REPORT )
Barcelona players Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba have agreed to salary reductions in order to get new signing Sergio Aguero registered and extend the club's limit with regards to financial fair play regulations. ( REPORT )
The Hero I-League Qualifiers 2021 will begin on October 4 at the Bangalore Football Stadium in Bengaluru and end on October 23 . ( REPORT )
Liverpool has extended captain Jordan Henderson's contract, the Premier League side said on Tuesday, putting an end to speculation over his future at the Merseyside club. ( REPORT )
TENNIS
World Number One, Ashleigh Barty suffered a shock third-round loss to Shelby Rogers in the U.S.Open as the American staged a comeback for the ages, shocking the world number one 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(5). ( REPORT )
After tackling two U.S. Open debutants, Novak Djokovic faced an old foe on Saturday, reaching the fourth round with a 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 win over Kei Nishikori to stay on course for a record 21st major title that would complete the calendar Grand Slam. ( REPORT )
Osaka's title defence at the US Open was over in the third round with a 5-7, 6-7 (2), 6-4 loss Friday night to Leylah Fernandez, an 18-year-old from Canada who is ranked 73rd and never had been this far in Grand Slam competition. ( REPORT ) . She also announced that she is taking a break from the sport , having lost her enthusiasm for the sport. She received support for her decision.
Spanish youngster Carlos Alcaraz was not distracted by another mid-match bathroom break from Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday, holding focus to upset the Greek third seed 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 0-6, 7-6 (5) and advance to the fourth round of the U.S. Open. ( REPORT )
The sports minister for Victoria state says tennis players at January's Australian Open can expect fewer restrictions on their movements around Melbourne if they are vaccinated for COVID-19. ( REPORT )
BOXING
India boxers Bishwamitra Chongtham and Vishal put up a splendid show to clinch the gold medals at the 2021 ASBC Asian Youth Boxing Championships in Dubai. (REPORT)
Britain-based Brain injury association Headway has again called for a ban on boxing after the death of Mexican teenager Jeanette Zacarias Zapata following a bout in Canada last weekend. (REPORT)
Preeti Dahiya and three other youth women boxers emerged champions on the final day of the 2021 ASBC Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships. India concluded its successful campaign with 39 medals, including 14 gold, in Dubai. (REPORT)
WRESTLING
The trials for the World Championship opened with confusion, anguish and hesitancy when WFI President Brijbhushan Sharan Singh announced that only those wrestlers will be allowed to compete who will submit a hard copy of their contracts with private sponsors. (REPORT)
Star wrestler Vinesh Phogat met with disappointment, while her cousin Sangeeta Phogat sprung a surprise in the selection trials for the World Wrestling Championships, to be held in Oslo, Norway from October 2 to 10. (REPORT)
Star Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia said he may seek re-trials in his category close to the World Championship if he recovers from his injury and also revealed that he had hurt not only his knee but also pulled his hamstring before the Tokyo Olympics. (REPORT)
TABLE TENNIS
Manika Batra, India’s top woman paddler, is clear that she wants her personal coach Sanmay Paranjape to be at the court-side during the Asian table tennis championships in Doha from September 28 to October 5. ( REPORT )
She also accused national team coach Soumyadeep Roy of pressurising her into conceding the Olympic qualification match to his personal ward (Sutirtha Mukherjee) in Doha in March.
India's star paddler G. Sathiyan has informed the Table Tennis Federation of India that he would take part in the National camp in Sonepat (Haryana) from September 11, while Manika is unlikely to participate . ( REPORT )
MOTORSPORT
Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen announced that he will retire at the end of the current Formula One season concluding a career that spanned two decades and the 2007 World Championship. ( REPORT ). The driver also announced that he will miss the Dutch Grand Prix after testing positive for Covid-19.
Formula One will review the rules on how long a race needs to run before points can be awarded after bad weather turned the Belgian Grand Prix into a three-lap farce with no overtaking allowed. ( REPORT )
Valtteri Bottas played down hopes of an imminent announcement about his Formula One future on Thursday after fellow-Finn Kimi Raikkonen announced his retirement at the end of the season, creating a vacancy at Alfa Romeo. ( REPORT )
HOCKEY
The Indian hockey teams are unlikely to participate in next year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to ensure that they hit peak form during the Asian Game , which is a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Indian Olympic Association President Narinder Batra said on Friday. ( REPORT )
The much-awaited domestic hockey season is set to resume in October this year with the first sub-junior men's national academy championship in Bhopal after a hiatus of seven months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ( REPORT )
ATHLETICS
India's Sumit Antil won gold in the men's javelin F64/44 final with a world record throw of 68.55m at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games on Monday. ( REPORT )
India's Devendra Jhajharia and Sundar Singh Gurjar won silver and bronze in javelin throw F46 event at the Tokyo Paralympics. ( REPORT )
Praveen Kumar won silver in the men's high jump T64 event at the Tokyo Paralympics with a new Asian record jump of 2.07m. ( REPORT )
Malaysian shot putter Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli appeared to have won gold in the shot put in the F20 class at the Tokyo Paralympics. But after the victory on Tuesday, he was disqualified because he had shown up late for the competition. ( REPORT )
Army's Abhinand Sundaresan clocked a personal best of 3:45.83s and won the 1500m gold in the 70th Services athletics championships at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar on Saturday. ( REPORT )
Army's Krishan Kumar, the National inter-State champion, broke international Jinson Johnson's 800m meet record as he won the gold with a personal best 1:48.02s in the 70th Services Athletics Championships at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar. ( REPORT )
ARCHERY
Harvinder Singh beat South Korea's Kim Min Su 6-5 and won the bronze medal in the men's individual recurve event at the Tokyo Paralympics. ( REPORT )
SHOOTING
Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold medal after she equalled the world record with a score of 249.6 in the women's 10m air rifle standing final (SH 1) ( REPORT )
Avani also won bronze, to become the first Indian woman to win two medals at the Paralympics. ( REPORT )
Manish Narwal and Singhraj Adhana won gold and silver respectively in the mixed 50m pistol SH1 event at the Tokyo Paralympics on Saturday. ( REPORT )
Singhraj Adana won bronze in the Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1 Final at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics on Tuesday. ( REPORT )
BADMINTON
Pramod Bhagat won the gold medal after beating Daniel Bethell 21-14, 21-17 in the men's singles SL3 event at the Tokyo Paralympics on Saturday. ( REPORT )
Manoj Sarkar won the bronze medal after beating Daisuke Fujihara 22-20, 21-13 in the same event (Men's Singles SL3). ( REPORT )
Krishna Nagar won India’s second gold in badminton after beating Chu Man Kai from Hong Kong, China in the men's SH6 final at the Tokyo Paralympics on Sunday. ( REPORT )
Suhas Yathiraj won silver after he lost to Lucas Mazur of France in the badminton Men's singles SL4 Gold Medal Match. ( REPORT )