Category: Sports

Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi became the fourth Indian to stun Norwegian chess wizard Magnus Carlsen, in a Pro Chess League online match on February 21.

Playing for team Indian Yogis, Gujrathi made the most of a mistake committed by world number one Carlsen, who missed a checkmate late. Carlsen was playing for Canada Chessbrahs in the online tournament for teams from all over the world. The Pro Chess League features 16 teams playing rapid games and has a $150,000 prize fund.

With the victory over Carlsen, the 28-year-old Gujrathi has joined the likes of fellow Indian Grandmasters R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi. “It is an amazing feeling to defeat the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) of chess and I couldn’t have asked for a better moment,” Gujrathi said.

In the Pro Chess League match, the Indian team led by Gujrathi and Vaishali, Raunak and Aronyak won against Carslen, Aryan Tari, Razvan Preotu and Jennifer Yu to go into the final round with deficit of just one point. As per the format, the team that scores 8.5 first wins the game. The Yogis simply turned the tables by winning on all the four board with Gujrathi leading the pack on the top board.

Sania Mirza has retired from international tennis after accomplishing the success not seen by many and setting a high bar for the next generation.

The Indian tennis player bid farewell to her 20-year professional tennis career on February 21. She lost her first-round women’s doubles match at the Dubai Tennis Championships alongside US’ Madison Keys. Sania and Madison lost the match 4-6, 0-6 against the Russian pair of Viktoria Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova. In January, Sania played a Grand Slam tournament, with Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna as partner; the pair was placed second in the Australian Open 2023.

Sania finished her career with 43 WTA doubles championships and one singles trophy. The tennis ace, who went pro in 2003, retired from tennis at 36, winning six Grand Slam championships, including three women’s doubles titles with Swiss star Martina Hingis. Two of her three mixed doubles matches (the 2009 Australian Open and the 2012 French Open) came with fellow Indian player Mahesh Bhupathi; her third title win, the US Open championship, was with Brazilian champion Bruno Soares. She almost won bronze in the 2016 Rio Olympics, but ultimately lost to Bopanna in a playoff.

A consortium led by Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), announced on February 17 that it had submitted an offer to take over English Premier League club Manchester United Football Club.

“Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani today confirmed his submission of a bid for 100 per cent of Manchester United Football Club,” the press release issued by the consortium said. The statement did not give any details on the amount proposed in the bid for the club but the price could reach a record 6 billion euros, according to reports. It added that the bid “will be completely debt free” via Sheikh Jassim’s Nine Two Foundation, which will “look to invest in the football teams, the training centre, the stadium and wider infrastructure, the fan experience and the communities the club supports.”

The vision of the bid is for Manchester United Football Club to be renowned for footballing excellence, and regarded as the greatest football club in the world, the consortium added.

The American Glazer family, who completed their takeover of the 20-times English champions in 2005, announced in November that they were open to a sale or investment. British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group officially joined the race to buy the club in January.

The 66-year-old Singaporean wheelchair-racer, William Tan on February 6 became the first person to complete seven marathons across seven continents in seven days in a wheelchair. The Paralympian and neuroscientist raced alongside 48 participants in the 2023 World Marathon Challenge, which had circuits in Antarctica, South Africa, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Brazil and the United States from January 31 to February 6.

Tan completed the last two marathons in Fortaleza, Brazil, and Miami in his everyday wheelchair. It took him five hours to complete each race instead of the usual two. His racing wheelchair, which has a single front wheel and two at the rear, allows him to be in a horizontal position to reduce wind resistance. It also has larger wheels and a lighter frame than an everyday wheelchair.

Covering a total distance of 295km within a week was physically challenging for Tan, as he spent most nights in the plane and struggled with jet lag. He also had to race through harsh weather conditions, with the temperature in Antarctica dipping to minus-20 deg C as he battled head winds of 97kmh. But the physician, who was diagnosed with stage 4 leukemia in 2009, was determined to tick this off his bucket list.

Tan, who represented Singapore in the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, has been wheelchair racing for 50 years. He has competed in over 100 races, with the previous in Boston in 2019. He also raced in the Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon in 2018. In 2007, he set the world record for the fastest person in a wheelchair to complete seven marathons across seven continents in 26 days. With this latest record-breaking feat, he aims to raise $77,000 for seven charities – five local and two overseas.

The French leg of the Olympic torch relay for the Paris 2024 Summer Games will start from the port city of Marseille, said the organisers on February 3.

The flame will be lit in Olympia, Greece — in tribute to the ancient Olympic Games — and travel across the Mediterranean Sea on the Belem, a majestic three-masted sailing ship. It will arrive in France at the famous Old Port of Marseille, the starting point for the Olympic Torch Relay. From Marseille, the torch will begin its journey through the host country to the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony, which is scheduled to take place on 26 July 2024 in France’s capital. The Torch Relay route will be revealed in May 2023.

Marseille, France’s second most populous city, will host sailing and football events during the Games. The port city has a rich nautical history, and will welcome Belem with a festival on the quays. It was an obvious choice for the Olympic Torch Relay, as the cities of Athens and Marseille have been linked throughout history, with the latter being both a former Greek colony (Massalia) and the oldest city in France. Marseille also has a rich tradition in sport, with the remains of a stadium built by the Greeks in ancient times found here.

The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will take place between 26 July and 11 August. The Paralympic Games will take place from 28 August until 8 September.

India defeated New Zealand by 168 runs in the third T20I at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to record its biggest-ever victory by runs in T20I cricket history. This is also the biggest victory margin in T20Is involving two full-member teams. With the win on February 1, India clinched the three-match series 2-1. India’s previous biggest win in T20I cricket came on June 29, 2018, when it defeated Ireland by 143 runs.

With his first T20I century, Indian opener Shubman Gill on Wednesday became the youngest cricketer in history to smash a hundred in all three formats of international cricket. He achieved the feat at the age of 23 years and 146 days. He has now become the fifth Indian batter to complete the set of hundreds across all three formats after Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli.

Gill also became the youngest Indian cricketer to slam a T20I hundred. The batter also recorded the highest-ever score by an Indian in T20I cricket after scoring 126 (not out) off 63 deliveries against New Zealand in the third T20I. He broke the previous record held by Virat Kohli, who had slammed 122 (not out) (61) against Afghanistan on September 8, 2022.

India beat England in the first-ever ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup final on Sunday in Potchefstroom, South Africa with an all-round show.

Shefali Verma led Indian women’s team chased a target of 69. India won the match with seven wickets in hand and six overs to spare. The team won the toss and decided to put England in to bat. Opening bowlers Titas Sadhu and Archana Devi ripped through the England top order, confining them to 22/4 after six overs; key batter Grace Scrivens was one of those to fall. Sadhu bowled her four overs straight through, going for just six runs and picking up two wickets. Devi’s 2/17 included the vital dismissals of Scrivens and Niamh Holland. The final wicket fell with 17 balls still remaining, leaving India a target of only 69 runs to win.

Shafali Verma’s aggressive 15 from 11 balls cut into the target early on, but Soumya Tiwari and Gongadi Trisha settled things down with an excellent and composed partnership. But, the winning moment of the thrilling match came with Soumya Tiwari’s single, to see it through with an unbeaten 24* from 37 balls.

World number five Novak Djokovic defeated world number four Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) to win Australian Open 2023 men’s singles title. Djokovic became the first man to win 10 Australian Open singles titles. He also equalled Rafael Nadal’s record tally of 22 Grand Slam titles. The Serb will become world number one men’s tennis player on Monday when the rankings will be updated.

In the women’s singles title, world number five Aryna Sabalenka defeated Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to win the Australian Open 2023. It’s the 24-year-old Belarusian tennis player’s maiden Grand Slam title. Sabalenka has become the 58th different woman to win a Grand Slam singles title in Open Era. She won a prize money of AU$2,975,000 (more than ₹17 crore) for her victory. The 24-year-old from Belarus had previously won the US Open title in 2019 and the Australian Open title in 2021 in the doubles category along with Elise Mertens.

An emotional Novak Djokovic, the King of Melbourne Park, continued his reign over Melbourne Park in a one-sided final. He now has more Australian Open titles than any other tennis player, male or female. He has won the title a year after being deported from Australia for not being vaccinated against COVID-19.

The unseeded tennis Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna reached the Australian Open Mixed Doubles final after beating third seed American-British pair Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 10-6 in the semifinal in Melbourne on Wednesday. The final will take place on Saturday, January 28.

The semifinal match lasted one hour and 52 minutes. After splitting a set each, the Indian duo accomplished a strong lead in the super tie-breaker. Mirza found a stunning backhand winner to earn three match points and won the contest with a drive volley that Krawczyk could not return.

The victory is special for Mirza, who is playing the last Grand Slam tournament of her career. She has won three women’s doubles and as many mixed doubles titles in her career, while Bopanna has won one mixed doubles title. Mirza had won the Australian Open mixed doubles trophy in 2009 with Mahesh Bhupathi. With the latest semifinal win, she has earned the chance to win her seventh major title. Earlier this month, she said that she would end her career as a professional tennis player at the WTA 1000 tournament, the Dubai Tennis Championships, which starts on February 19.

Fifth seed Aryna Sabalenka reached her maiden Women’s Singles quarter-final at the Australian Open, defeating Olympic champion Belinda Bencic 7-5, 6-2 in the fourth round on Monday. Sabalenka now faces unseeded Donna Vekic.

The Belarusian fifth seed won 7-5, 6-2 in 1hr 27min on Rod Laver Arena to set up a last-eight clash against Donna Vekic. Sabalenka reached the US Open semifinals in both 2022 and 2021 seasons and the final four of Wimbledon 2021, but had never been beyond the fourth round at Melbourne Park before. Aryna Sabalenka said she was reaping the benefits of a more positive mindset.

Sabalenka and Bencic have both been on a roll this year in Australia, and came into the first Grand Slam of the year as the form players. Both of them won titles in Adelaide this month and were yet to drop a set in Melbourne before their last-16 showdown. The players were on seven-match unbeaten runs. The pair exchanged early breaks in a high-quality first set, which ended on a sour note for Bencic, who was defeated after a brutal display of power-hitting by Sabalenka.