Category: Sports

Odisha Chief Secretary S C Mohapatra on Monday said that India’s biggest hockey stadium and an airport in the steel city of Rourkela have been completed to host the upcoming Men’s Hockey World Cup. The airport will be operationalised in a few days.

Mohapatra said this while inspecting the newly built facilities. With a few formalities remaining to be completed, after which regular flight services between Bhubaneswar and Rourkela will begin, he said. The State Chief Secretary said Alliance Air will run four daily flights between Bhubaneswar and Rourkela during the World Cup. The state government will also fly chartered flights between the two cities to transport hockey players, he added.

The Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium — the largest hockey stadium in India with a seating capacity of 20,000 — has also been completed. The FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 will be held from January 13 to 29 at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar and Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela. Practice matches will start on December 24. Three practice matches, the first between India and Spain, will be played at the stadium from December 24. Based on players’ feedback, necessary changes will be made, said Mohapatra.

India has won the inaugural FIH Women’s Nations Cup title with a 1-0 win over Spain in the summit clash on December 17, sealing a berth in the FIH 2023-24 Pro League. The FIH Pro League is a key event ahead of next year’s Asian Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In Saturday’s FIH Women’s Nations Cup title match, it was Spain who first earned an early penalty corner but Indian captain and goalkeeper Savita Punia made an excellent save. India, the Commonwealth Games bronze medalists, earned their first penalty corner in the sixth minute and converted it to take the lead. Gurjit Kaur scored the goal in the sixth minute from the penalty corner, ending the eight-nation tournament with five wins. The team coached by former Dutch field hockey player, Janneke Schopman had beaten Ireland 2-1 via shootout in the semifinals earlier.

On account of winning the Nations Cup, the Indian team has been promoted to the 2023-24 FIH Hockey Women’s Pro League, a key event ahead of next year’s Asian Games and 2024 Paris Olympics.

Hockey India has announced a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh for each player of the India women’s team and Rs 1 lakh for each member of the Indian support staff.

The Indian national blind cricket team made history on Saturday as they won the T20 World Cup for the Blind for the third consecutive time. The Indian team beat Bangladesh by an impressive margin of 120 runs at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

India captain Ajay Kumar Reddy won the toss and elected to bat. The team set a target of 278 runs for Bangladesh. Bangladesh, in response, could only manage to reach 157 in 20 overs. India’s Sunil Ramesh scored 136 runs off just 63 balls. He was named both Man of the Match and Man of the Series in the B3 category. Reddy reached the three-digit mark in just 50 deliveries.

The Indian national blind cricket team is affiliated with the Cricket Association for the Blind, a body independent of the BCCI. The rules of blind cricket are formed by the World Blind Cricket Council. In blind cricket, a team has 11 players, comprising four B1 players (fully blind), three B2 players (partially blind), and four B3 players (partially sighted). The game is played using a plastic ball that is larger than a standard cricket ball and fitted with ball bearings that make a noise when it is moved. The wickets are made of fluorescent metal tubes and all three wickets are attached together. Another important rule is that the bowler shouts “Play” before throwing the ball.

South American giants Argentina won the FIFA World Cup 2022 on Sunday in Qatar after beating defending champions France 4-2 on penalties, following a dramatic 3-3 draw after extra time. Argentina goal keeper Emiliano Martinez saved Kingsley Coman’s penalty and Aurelien Tchouameni fired wide to take Argentina to their third world title.

After winning the 2022 World Cup final, Lionel Messi has surpassed Lothar Matthäus (Germany) for the record of most FIFA World Cup matches played by a player (26). Argentina extended their record for the most penalty shoot-out victories in FIFA World Cup tournaments by a team (6).

Messi set four other Guinness World Records during the tournament. He won the titles of Most Man of the Match awards won at the FIFA World Cup (11), First person to assist at five different FIFA World Cups, Most FIFA World Cup appearances as captain (19), and Most appearances in FIFA World Cup tournaments by a player (male) (5).

Messi made his World Cup debut at Germany 2006, where he came on as a late substitute in Argentina’s group-stage game against Serbia and Montenegro. Within minutes, he assisted Hernán Crespo before scoring the final goal himself in a 6-0 victory.

France ended Morocco’s historic run at the FIFA World Cup 2022 on Wednesday, defeating the team by 2-0 in the semi-final. The defending champions will now face heavyweights Argentina in the final on Sunday in Qatar.

Goals from Theo Hernandez in the fifth minute and substitute Randal Kolo Muani in the 79th minute helped French beat Morocco, the first African and Arab country to get this far at the World Cup. The team knocked out three of the of the world’s top 10 ranked teams, Morocco will now face Croatia on Saturday December 17 at Khalifa International Stadium in the World Cup third place play-off on Saturday. Argentina beat Croatia 3-0 in the first semi-final.

The semi-final win on Wednesday has given France the chance to become the first team to retain the title since Brazil 60 years ago. This will be the second final for Argentina and France in recent memory with Argentina losing to Germany in 2014 and France beating Croatia in the final in 2018. Both national teams have won two World Cups. The match will also be France’s chance to become only the third team to repeat as World Cup champions.

Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan on Saturday launched a $75 million global investment fund to invest in sportstech start-ups with an initial corpus of $75 million and a greenshoe option of $25 million. A multi-stage fund, it is the first organised venture capital fund by an Asian sportsperson and the first by an Indian celebrity.

The 37-year-old opener, his partners and team announced the fund, Da One Global Ventures (DOGV), at the LP-GP Summit by 256 Network (a private, invite-only organisation of asset allocators) during the annual Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Finance Week. Global financial market leaders from a wide array of backgrounds gathered at the ADGM to focus on strategic macroeconomic and financial matters that shape global, regional and industry perspectives and themes for future.

Through a unique network of general partners (GPs) and limited partners (LPs), DOGV will provide access to a global ecosystem accelerating and mobilising new propositions with unique positioning. The deployment of funds will be global in nature. The fund will also have other prominent sporting personalities from across the globe representing multiple sports as LP ambassadors.

DOGV is in active discussions with various relevant stakeholders across the world. It will also incubate a SportsTech Accelerator and eSports Venture studio as verticals within its platform, say reports.

England Test captain Ben Stokes on Sunday matched the world record for smashing most sixes in Test cricket. With his only six in the second innings of the second Test against Pakistan, the all rounder levelled the record of former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum of 107 sixes.

Currently the head coach of England team in Test cricket, Brendon McCullum retired as New Zealand’s most destructive batter across formats. He scored over 14,000 international runs. He finished his career with 398 international sixes, 107 of which came in Test cricket.

Stokes played an important knock of 41 runs in 51 balls in the Sunday’s match in Multan. The left-handed batter smashed one boundary and a six. While McCullum took 176 innings to score 107 sixes, Stokes managed the feat with 16 innings fewer than his coach.

Stokes is one of the few England players to have registered over 1,000 runs, 50 wickets, and 50 catches in Test cricket. The England all-rounder has taken over 90 catches in the format to date. Over the years, he has emerged as a match-winner across formats. An all-format specialist, Stokes has scored 5,541 Test runs at 35.98. He has 12 tons and 28 fifties. He has featured in 14 Tests this year so far.

Track and field legend PT Usha was elected as the first woman president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Saturday, ushering in a new era in the country’s sports administration.

The 58-year-old sportsperson, a multiple Asian Games gold medallist and fourth place finisher in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics 400m hurdles final, was declared unopposed for the top post in the polls. She emerged as the lone candidate for the top post, as nobody was willing to fight against her. The athlete was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by Bharatiya Janata Party in July.

With the election, PT Usha has become the first Olympian and first international medallist to head the IOA in its 95-year-old history. This is another feather in her cap after exemplary performance in Indian and Asian athletics for two decades before retiring in 2000. She is the first sportsperson to have represented the country and also become IOA chief since Maharaja Yadavindra Singh, who headed IOA from 1938 to 1960. At least five of the 14 executive council members (including International Olympic Committee member in India, Nita Ambani), are former sports persons, which is a record in the IOA history.

Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won a silver medal at the World Championships with a total lift of 200 kg in Bogota, Colombia, on Wednesday. It is her second World Championships’ medal after the gold medal in 2017.

The Tokyo Olympic silver medallist, competing in 49 kg category, lifted 87 kg in snatch, and in clean and jerk her best effort was a lift of 113 kg.

China’s Jiang Huihua won the gold with a total effort of 206 kg (93 kg and 113 kg). Her compatriot and Tokyo Olympics champion Hou Zhihua took home the bronze medal after listing 198 kg (89 kg and 109 kg).

The 27-year-old world champion, Chanu, hurt her wrist during a training session in September. She had also participated in the National Games with the injury in October. Competing in her first international tournament since the Commonwealth Games, Chanu had a disappointing snatch session. She started with an 84 kg lift, but her second attempt of 87 kg was deemed a no lift. The star Indian weightlifter did not go for the 90 kg lift. In the final attempt, the champion, despite a bandaged wrist, hoisted the 87 kg barbell, which is a kilogram less than her personal best in the section.

Brazil trounced South Korea by 4-1 in the round of 16 on Monday in Doha, Qatar to enter the FIFA World Cup 2022 quarterfinals. Brazil will next play Croatia on Friday.

Ace player Neymar returned from injury and converted a first-half penalty in Brazil’s win. He now has 76 goals with the national team, one short of the record set by Brazilian legend Pele, who is recovering from a respiratory infection in Sao Paulo, Brazil. On Monday, he joined Pele and Ronaldo to register goals for Brazil in three different World Cups.

Brazil gained an early 4-0 lead over South Korea in the first half with goals from Vinícius Júnior, Neymar, Richarlison and Lucas Paquetá.

Paik Seung-ho scored South Korea’s goal in the 76th minute. The Asian team was aiming to advance past the round of 16 for the first time since its historic run to the semifinals as a co-host in 2002.

Monday’ match was the last World Cup match at Stadium 974, which is expected to be fully dismantled. The port-side structure with seating capacity of more than 40,000 was partially built from recycled shipping containers and could be shipped to other countries that need the infrastructure.