Category: Sports

India’s Sadia Tariq won a gold medal in Moscow Wushu Stars Championship that was held from February 22 to 28.

15-year-old, Sadia, a two-time gold medalist in the Junior National Wushu championship came up with a brilliant performance by defeating her Russian opponent in the Annual Calendar Training and Competition of the Sports Authority of India.

Hailing from Kashmir, Sadia took part in the championship along with the 38 players across India including 23 junior and 15 senior players. This is the first time India has sent a team. She recently won a Gold medal at the 20th Junior National Wushu Championship at the Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, in which the Jammu and Kashmir Wushu team placed third overall. A few weeks ago, she won gold medals at the 19th and 20th Junior National Championships in Haryana and Jalandhar, respectively.

India’s Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi congratulated her from his tweeter account, “Congratulation to Sadia Tariq on winning the Gold medal at the Moscow Wushu Stars Championship. Her success will inspire many budding athletes. Wishing her the very best for her future endeavors”.

She fulfilled her mother’s and her own dreams by securing a gold medal on an international platform to represent herself.

In an online championship, chess grandmaster from India, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is winning hearts for his stunning victory over world number one Magnus Carlsen. On Monday, he beats Carlsen at the Airthings Masters rapid chess tournament.

Earlier Carlsen lost against Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna from India. Praggnanandhaa came out as the youngest one to beat Carlsen since the Norwegian became the world champion in 2013.

Five-time world champion and one of the greatest chess players, Anand tweeted, “Always proud of our talents! Very good day for @rpragchess”.

After the 39-move victory, visibly calm Praggnanandhaa said, “It’s about time to go to bed as I don’t think I will have dinner at 2:30 in the morning”. At the age of 10, Praggnanandhaa created history by becoming the youngest international master.

On the other hand, 31-year-old Carlsen appeared to blunder in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour event that gave a total prize pool of more than $1.5 million. Carlsen said that he was not perfectly fine to post coronavirus caught him. He said, “It was better today, but the first couple of days, I was feeling like I am okay but I don’t have any energy and it was kind of hard to focus”.

Senegal defeated Egypt on penalty kicks in the Africa Cup of Nations championship match on Sunday at Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé, Cameroon, to win the continental championship for the first time.

Previously both nations had a history of winning the Africa Cup of Nations seven times. Egypt and Senegal both were not able to able to breakthrough in the first 90 minutes. Senegal appeared to be in control for the majority of the game ahead of Egypt gaining strength in the second half.

During the African Cup of Nations 2022’s final soccer match, Egypt’s Marwan Hamdi jumped for the ball with Senegal’s Abdou Diallo. In the early minutes of the match, the goal in regulation time came as the game’s best opportunity. Liverpool star Sadio Mane’s penalty kick was saved by the goalkeeper in the seventh minute of the Egypts foul in the penalty box.

Not scoring for more than 30 minutes in the extra time, the game went to penalty kicks and the pair saves from Gabaski and Senegalese keeper Edouard Mendy. With a chance at redemption, another clutch saved from Mendy at Mane and he buried a rocket in the back of the net saving championship for Senegal.

This season’s Asian Tour will launch a 10-event season called the International Series. The move is funded by Saudi Arabia and could put golf’s two major tours at risk. Former world No. 1 Greg Norman, who has been behind proposals for a breakaway super league, is fronting the project funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

The series was announced by Norman on Tuesday, just ahead of the Saudi International this week. A Centurion Club event will take place outside of London as part of the 10 events. Two more will take place in the Middle East.

According to Norman, the series will not be “geofenced,” which could mean raising the potential future event in the United States. In March, the series will begin in Thailand where the players from other tours will be allowed to compete. Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson are the two of golf’s top players chosen to play in Saudi Arabia – where appearance money is lucrative – rather than the US and European tours.

However, Rights groups have criticized Saudi Arabia for its human rights record for allowing players to appear at its events.

West Indies cricketer Jason Holder creates history by picking four wickets in four balls against England in the last over of the 5th and final T20I.

Holder produced a record-breaking performance to lead West Indies to a 17-run victory in the decider against England. He became the first West Indian male cricketer to take a hat-trick in T20Is.

Against South Africa in 2018, Anisa Mohammed became the first West Indian woman to take a hat-trick in a T20I. In 2021, Stafanie Taylor played brilliantly against Pakistan Women as well, so she has a T20I hat-trick on her resume.

Holder etched his name into the record books with his final over of the match, with England 20 runs to win, when he removed Chris Jordan, Sam Billings, Adil Rashid, and Saqib Mahmood off consecutive deliveries.

At the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, there was still a lot to play for after the series tied 2-2.

As the toss was won, West Indies elected to bat. Kyle Mayers and Brandon King got their team off to an excellent start. As a result, the hosts lost two quick wickets after the powerplay, reducing their scoring rate.

In the Australia Open final, Rafel Nadal won a record-breaking 21st grand slam title after beating Daniil Medvedev 2-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.

The player had earlier missed the second half of 2021 due to a foot injury and was not considered fit enough to play at the Australian Open. However, Nadal returned at the beginning of January at the Melbourne Summer Set tournament and won his first ATP title in May 2021.

Post winning the match against Matteo Berrettini in a semifinal at the Australian Open, Nadal said that he was happy to be back after being beset by injuries. In an interview post-match he said, “It has been one of the most emotional matched in my tennis career and to share the court with Medvedev was an honor. I don’t even know what to say, guys, for me it’s just amazing”.

The tennis player played his best tennis in the final and took this chance where he wouldn’t squander again and hold his nerve expertly to etch his name in the tennis history.

It was the Spaniard’s first record of more than 20 points since he shared the previous record with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, who was refused entry after his visa was revoked.

On Saturday, Barty, the first Australian woman recovered from 5-1 down in the second set to beat Danielle Collins 6-3, 7-2 (2) in the final ending a 44-year drought from Australian women at their home Grand Slam tournament.

Since Wendy Turnbull in 1980, Barty is the first homegrown player to reach the final. The 25-year-old Australian has made a remarkable comeback after taking time off, she missed every Grand Slam event for two years in 2015 and 2016, and thought of a cricketing career after losing in the first round at three majors in 2014.

Barty said, “This is just a dream come true for me. I am just so proud to be an Aussie”. She further thanked her coach and support team saying that she feels extremely fortunate and lucky to have so much love in her life. Now, Barty has won a Grand Slam singles title on three surfaces: grass at Wimbledon last year, clay at this year’s French Open, and hard court at Melbourne Park. In addition to Serena Williams, she is the only active women’s tennis player who has won majors on all three surfaces.

On Wednesday, Indian tennis star Sania Mirza announces her retirement and will hang up her racquet at the end of the 2022 season.

Winner of six Grand Slam titles, three mixed double trophies makes the announcement after losing the Australian Open women’s double first round with partner Nadiia Kichenok. The duo lost the match to Slovenia’s Tamara Zadansek and Kaja Juvan.

In a press conference, post-match Sania Mirza said, “There’s a bunch of reason for it. I do feel my recovery is taking longer and considering he is three years old, I do feel I am putting him at risk by traveling so much with him. Unfortunately, the pandemic is making is take certain decisions for the well-being of ourselves and our family. My knee was hurting today and I’m not saying that’s the reason we lost but I do think that it is taking time to recover as I am getting older”. She further added that her body is “wearing down”.

The 35-year-old will retire as India’s most accomplished woman tennis player. The former world number one in doubles who teamed up with Swiss legend Martina Hingis said a few factors influenced her decision.

On Monday, Serbian tennis player Novak could be barred from playing in the French Open as there would be no exemption from France’s new vaccine pass law.

Djokovic chases his record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title, some tournaments are considering exempting him or reducing the number of exemptions for travelers who aren’t immunized against COVID-19. Novak was forced to leave Australia before the year’s first Grand Slam tournament after losing a court case to reverse the visa cancellation.

The new French vaccine pass approved by the parliament will require people to have a certificate of vaccination to enter all the public places including cafes, restaurants, long-distance trains, cinemas.

The ministry said, “The rule is simple. The vaccine pass will be imposed, as soon as the law is promulgated, in establishments that were already subject to the health pass. This will apply to everyone who is a spectator or a professional sportsperson, and this until further notice.

Djokovic was barred from bidding to win a record 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. earlier he had refused to get vaccinated and was criticized for making public appearances and attending events last month after testing positive for the coronavirus.

On Sunday, at the IG stadium, Lakshya Sen beat Singapore Loh Kean Yew to claim India Open Super 500 title, tempting instinct to match the world champion’s showboating.

A pair of men in their early 20s, both of whom possess exuberant attack capabilities, could have come to a point when the Almora man’s life was at risk as they got into a race to see who hit harder and faster. However, Sen showed maturity and control, putting to shade the just-crowned world champion. Having won the world championships bronze medal, Sen became the first opponent to defeat Kean Yew on the circuit, with a 24-22, 21-17 victory.

Rankireddy and Shetty’s victory against Hendra Setiawan and Mohamad Ahsan, who had won three world championships earlier in the day, was proof that the age of the well-seasoned Indian men’s badminton players, who are not a one-off like Prakash Padukone and P Gopichand, is here.

Sen said, “It feels nice to win. In the end I was a little anxious to win. But I am happy I pulled off the win”. Sen was under pressure at the end of both the semifinals and the finals. Having the confidence and momentum to hold his own under pressure makes Sen the most anticipated player of 2022 in Indian badminton.