From the postponement of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) to Lewis Hamilton’s fifth successive Spanish GP title, here are the main sporting headlines from the week gone by.
CRICKET
The BCCI indefinitely postponed the Indian Premier League on Tuesday after several players and support staff tested positive for COVID-19. (REPORT)
Ravindra Jadeja, Hanuma Vihari and Mohammed Shami returned to the Indian squad for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand and the subsequent five-Test series in England. (FULL SQUAD)
Ravindra Jadeja returned to India’s Test squad for the WTC final against New Zealand and the five-match Test series versus England. – GETTY IMAGES
The Indian team will complete an eight-day hard quarantine in Mumbai before leaving on June 2 for a marathon tour of the United Kingdom. (REPORT)
New Zealand batsman Tim Seifert, who plays for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, tested positive for COVID-19 and has been refused permission to board a repatriation flight from India to New Zealand. Later on Saturday, bowler Prasidh Krishna tested positive, bringing the tally of cricketers contracting COVID-19 in the KKR camp to four. (REPORT)
Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd has extended support to the people of Tamil Nadu in the fight against the surging COVID-19 second wave by arranging the delivery of 450 Oxygen concentrators in the State. (REPORT)
The fifth edition of the Abu Dhabi T10 league will be held in Abu Dhabi from November 19 to December 2, the tournament organisers said on Thursday. (REPORT)
The Mumbai police arrested three bookies – Parvesh Bafna, Ayushi Kesarkar and Chetan Salecha – for running a betting syndicate from a team hotel following a tip off from the BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit. The three were staying in a plush South Mumbai hotel in April where Rajasthan Royals was camped during the Mumbai leg of the Indian Premier League. (REPORT)
BADMINTON
In a massive blow to Indian shuttlers’ Olympics qualification chances, The Badminton Association of Malaysia and the Badminton World Federation have jointly agreed to postpone the Celcom Axiata Malaysia Open championship scheduled to start from May 25 to 30. (REPORT)
Some of India’s top shuttlers, including the likes of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, were expected to feature in the Malaysia Open. – PTI
Top para shuttlers Pramod Bhagat and Sukant Kadam’s preparation for the Tokyo Paralympics suffered a blow due to the Indian team not being able to compete at the Spanish International because of new quarantine rules imposed in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. (REPORT)
World champion P.V. Sindhu has been nominated as athlete ambassador alongside Canada’s Michelle Li for the International Olympic Committee’s ‘Believe in Sport’ campaign aimed at preventing competition manipulation. (REPORT)
Legendary Indian badminton player Prakash Padukone has tested positive for COVID-19 and is recovering from the infection at a hospital in Bengaluru. (REPORT)
TENNIS
Alexander Zverev followed his triumph over Rafael Nadal with a win over Dominic Thiem to reach another Madrid Open final on Saturday. (REPORT)
Twenty-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal, who won his fourth Laureus Award this week, says he is not thinking about retirement at all. (REPORT)
Rafael Nadal won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award this week. – GETTY IMAGES
Britain’s Andy Murray will practise with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Argentine Diego Schwartzman in Rome on Sunday as part of plans to return to the ATP Tour after an injury lay-off. (REPORT)
Rafael Nadal’s bid to reach a 75th semifinal at a Masters event ended on Friday with a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Alexander Zverev in the Madrid Open. (REPORT)
Former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt’s induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame will be deferred by a year due to COVID-19 travel restrictions from Australia to the United States, the Hall of Fame said on Thursday. (REPORT)
SHOOTING
The Sports Authority of India will bear the expenses incurred during the Olympic-bound shooting team’s upcoming competition-cum-training tour of Croatia. (REPORT)
The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) has announced that Osjek, Croatia, will host the last World Cup before the Tokyo Olympics. (REPORT)
BOXING
India’s Mandeep Jangra made a winning start to his career in the pro circuit, beating Argentina’s Luciano Ramos in his debut bout in Florida, U.S. (REPORT)
Floyd Mayweather will face Logan Paul in a pay-per-view event on June 6 at Hard Rock Stadium in Florida. (REPORT)
Floyd Mayweather and Logan Paul at a news conference on Thursday.
HOCKEY
Olympic gold medallist, former India coach, Arjuna and Dronacharya awardee Maharaj Kishen Kaushik passed away at a city hospital on Saturday. He was 66. He is survived by his wife and two sons. (REPORT)
M K Kaushik was awarded the Arjuna Award in 1998, before being bestowed with the Dronacharya award in 2002. – SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
Former Indian hockey player and member of the 1980 Moscow Olympics winning side Ravinderpal Singh passed away at a Lucknow hospital early on Saturday. He was 61. (REPORT)
Indian women’s hockey captain Rani Rampal, her six team-mates and two support staff members have recovered from COVID-19 after spending two weeks in quarantine at the Sports Authority of India’s centre in Bengaluru. (REPORT)
Hockey India on Wednesday mourned the death of former India junior player Sanjib Barla, who died in Rourkela due to COVID-19 related complications. He was 34 and died on Sunday. (REPORT)
The Indian men’s hockey team’s competitive international assignments ahead of the Tokyo Olympics are effectively over after its upcoming FIH Hockey Pro League away matches against Spain and Germany, scheduled on May 15-16 and May 22-23 respectively, got postponed due to the COVID-induced travel restrictions. (REPORT)
WRESTLING
Sumit Malik booked a 125kg freestyle berth in the Tokyo Olympics on the opening day of the World Olympic Games wrestling qualifier in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Thursday. (REPORT)
Indian wrestler Seema Bisla punched her ticket to the Tokyo Olympics as she got the better of Poland’s Anna Lukasiak at the World Olympic Wrestling Qualifiers in the 50kg semifinal in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Friday. (REPORT)
A 23-year-old wrestler died and his two friends were injured after they were allegedly assaulted by other wrestlers inside the Chhatrasal Stadium complex in north Delhi. (REPORT)
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