Category: Sports

Lionel Messi on Tuesday became the first Argentina player to score in four FIFA World Cup tournaments. The forward accomplished the feat in the FIFA World Cup 2022 match against Saudi Arabia at the Lusail Stadium on Tuesday.

The 35-year-old Argentine has also become the fifth player to score in four different World Cups (2006, 2014, 2018 and 2022) after Brazil’s Pele, Germany’s Uwe Seeler and Miroslav Klose, and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi has now scored seven goals in four different World Cups and has been involved in 14 of Argentina’s last 20 goals in all competitions.

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, who is taking part in his fifth World Cup this year, opened the scoring from 12 yards for Argentina at the Lusail Stadium after Saud Abdulhamid hauled down Leandro Paredes in the box.

Saudi Arabia defeated the two-time champions, Argentina 2-1 during the pair’s first match at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday. Argentina got off to a great start as Messi converted a penalty in the 10^th minute to give his side a 1-0 lead. The two second-half goals by Saudi Arabia came from Saleh Al-Shehri and Salem Al-Dawsari.

Indian table tennis player Manika Batra has become the first Indian female to win a medal at the ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup at Huamark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. The star paddler Batra beat three-time Asian champion Hina Hayata 4-2 to clinch the bronze medal.

With the win, she also became the first Indian to beat two top-10 players in the same competition, after defeating world number 7 Chen Xingtong of China in the pre-quarterfinals on November 17. Manika won the match 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9. It was also the third Chinese opponent she defeated in her career. The 27-year-old Indian player went down against Japan’s Mima Ito in the semi-final stage 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 6-11, 11-8, 7-11, losing the encounter by 2-4.

Batra, currently ranked No.44 in the world, has become the only Indian woman to qualify for the semis of the tournament. She also became the second Indian after Chetan Baboor to reach the last four of the championship. She ensured the best finish by an Indian in the 39-year-old history of the competition. Achanta Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan had finished sixth in the 2015 and 2019 Asian Cup editions, respectively.

Former world no.1 tennis player Novak Djokovic will be granted a visa to play at the Australian Open in January 2023, as the Australian government plans to overturn the three-year ban imposed on the unvaccinated Serbian player.

Djokovic’s visa was cancelled in January 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic amidst Australia’s strict vaccination protocols. The unvaccinated Serb, who was already in Melbourne for his 10th Australian Open title, was deported after losing court appeals to stay and play.

The Australian government said that a COVID-19 diagnosis did not justify Djokovic’s medical exemption from the rules that insisted all visitors be vaccinated. The international player was barred from the country until 2025.

According to media reports, Australian Immigration Minister Andrew Giles had overturned the three-year ban on the unvaccinated Serb, allowing him to compete in the Grand Slam tournament.

In July, the Australian government scrapped a rule that required international travellers to declare their COVID-19 vaccination status. The player also said in October that he had received “positive signs” about the efforts made to overturn his ban.

If Djokovic manages to play in Australia this time, he will be chasing the title win to match Rafael Nadal’s record 22 Grand Slam titles.

President of India Droupadi Murmu will award Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award for 2022 to table tennis legend Achanta Sharath Kamal at a specially organised function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on November 30.

The country’s highest sporting honour, Khel Ratna, and other National Sports Awards, including the Arjuna Award, are given out by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports annually. This year, Kamal, the Commonwealth Games 2022 table tennis champion, will be the only recipient of the Khel Ratna. The Arjuna Awards will be given to 25 sportspersons. The winners include shuttlers Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy, boxers Nikhat Zareen and Amit Panghal, triple jumper Eldhose Paul, steeplechaser Avinash Sable, and chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa.

The Dronacharya Award, which honours notable coaches, will go to cricket coach Dinesh Lad in the lifetime category, and wrestling coach Sujit Mann, boxing coach Mohammad Ali Qamar, archery coach Jiwanjot Singh Teja, and rifle coach Suma Shirur (para shooting) in the regular category.

Awards will also be given in the three other categories of the National Sports Awards, Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sports and Games, Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy.

World champion boxer MC Mary Kom, Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan were among the 10 distinguished sportspersons elected unopposed as members of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Athletes Commission in the polls held in New Delhi on Monday.

The other seven members of the apex body are Tokyo Olympics silver medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, 2012 Olympics bronze winner shooter Gagan Narang, ace table tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal, hockey player Rani Rampal, fencer Bhavani Devi, rower Bajrang Lal and former shot putter OP Karhana.

The 12-member athletes commission will have India’s first individual Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra and former India hockey team captain Sardar Singh in their capacity as members of the corresponding bodies of the International Olympic Committee and Olympic Council of Asia, respectively. Both of them will have voting rights.

Bindra was appointed as member of IOC Athletes Commission in 2018 for an eight-year term, while Sardar was made OCA Athletes Committee member in 2019 for a four-year term. Under the new constitution of the Indian Olympic Association which was adopted on November 10, the athletes’ commission is to have equal representation of male and female members.

Two members of the athlete commission — one male and one female — will be part of the IOA Executive Council, which will be elected on December 10 on the orders of the Supreme Court.

Indian batter Virat Kohli scripted history on Thursday to become the first cricketer to score 4,000 runs in T20 Internationals. He made the record during his 40-ball 50-run performance in the T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final against England in Adelaide on Thursday. The cricketer has now hit 38 50-plus scores in 107 innings in T20I cricket.

Kohli needed 42 runs to complete 4000 T20I runs. He accomplished the landmark in the 15th over of India’s innings with a boundary off Adil Rashid.

Earlier, in a match against Bangladesh in Adelaide, Kohli became the all-time leading run-scorer in the men’s T20 World Cups. He overtook Mahela Jayawardene’s score of 1016 runs, a record set in 2014. With a strike rate of nearly 140 and an average of more than 50, Kohli is also the top scorer in the T20 World Cup 2022 with over 270 runs in 6 matches.

Virat Kohli was named Player of the Tournament in both the 2014 and 2016 T20 World Cups. He is also the highest run-scorer in the T20I cricket history, and is ahead of Indian captain Rohit Sharma, Martin Guptill, Babar Azam, and Paul Stirling.

Virat Kohli has won the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Player of the Month Award for October 22 for his outstanding performance at the T20 World Cup in Australia. The Indian cricketer was nominated for the title for the first time in his career. The International Cricket Council (ICC) also announced Pakistan’s veteran all-rounder Nida Dar as the ICC Women’s Player of the Month acknowledging her sensational form in their Women’s Asia Cup campaign.

Virat Kohli beat David Miller of South Africa and Sikandar Raza of Zimbabwe for the honour. The batter scored 205 runs, including two fifties at a stunning strike rate of 150, in four T20is in October 2022. He scored an astounding 82 not out versus Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Virat Kohli’s winning knock against Pakistan is being hailed as one of the greatest in the shortest format of the game. India were reduced to 31 for 4 in their chase of 160, but the batter put up a magical knock, hitting 4 sixes in his 53-ball 82 not out. He did not lose his composure when the country needed 28 off the last 8 balls and delivered a spectacular ultimate punch.

Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav on Sunday became the first Indian player to score 1,000 T20I runs in a calendar year.

The 32-year-old cricketer created history in India’s final Super 12 stage match against Zimbabwe at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). In the match, the batter scored 61 (not out) in just 25 balls, with six fours and four sixes, at a strike rate of 244.00.

Suryakumar has so far scored 1,026 runs in 28 innings this calendar year, at an average of 44.60. He has registered one century and nine half-centuries. His best score has been 117 and strike rate 186.24. He has scored 59 sixes and 93 fours so far this year. His six tally is the most by any batter in T20Is in a calendar year.

Suryakumar is only the second player in T20I history to score 1,000 runs in a calendar year. Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan scored 1,326 runs at an average of 73.66 in 2021. He recorded a century and 12 half-centuries last year, with 104* as his best score.

Suryakumar Yadav made his T20I debut for India against England in March in 2021. He has played 39 T20I matches for India, in which he has scored 1,270 runs.

India beat Zimbabwe by 71 runs in their last T20 World Cup 2022 Super 12 stage match on Sunday. With the win, India recorded most victories in the Super 12 stage of the tournament across both the groups – four wins in five matches. India finished top of the Group 2 points table, followed by Pakistan, South Africa, Netherlands, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

The Super 12 stage came to an end on Sunday, when three matches of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 were played to decide two semi-final fixtures.

The day started with a shock, as South Africa lost to the Netherlands, exiting the tournament to allow Pakistan or Bangladesh to qualify. In the next match, Pakistan beat Bangladesh to confirm their entry into the semi-final. India’s excellent all-round performance against Zimbabwe was the highlight of the day. Zimbabwe were bowled out for 115, handing over a 71-run victory to India.

Group 2 teams, New Zealand and England had qualified for the semi-finals on Saturday.

India will now face England in the second semi-final on November 10 at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide. The first semi-final will be between New Zealand and Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney on November 9.

Bengaluru boy Samarth Manchali, 9, has become the best under-10 player in World Youth Scrabble Tournament 2022. In a tweet, the Scrabble Association of India also announced that two other Indian players, Madhav Gopal Kamath and Pramit Rao, made it into the top 10 players’ list of the global virtual tournament.

A resident of Bengaluru’s Vidyaranyapura, Samarth is a student of MES Kishorekendra School. Like his elder brother Suyash, he was also trained by his mother Subha Shivashankar, who was a professional scrabble player. Suyash too has represented India in the World Youth Scrabble Championship five times.

The World Youth Scrabble Tournament 2022 was Samarth’s first venture into a global tournament. In 2020, when COVID-19 stopped children from playing outside, Samarth, while being confined in his home, developed an interest for scrabble. He initially participated in online competitions.

Both Samarth and Suyash have qualified for the finals of the Collins National Scrabble Championship, to be held in New Delhi this weekend. The young champions are also looking forward to next year’s World Youth Scrabble Championship. 

Scrabble is a crossword game where the tiles with letters are placed on a board. The tiles are supposed to form English words that can be read from left to right in rows or downward in columns.