Real Madrid’s Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema has joined Saudi Arabia club Al Ittihad. On a three-year contract, the soccer star is set to earn more than €400 million (over ₹3,500 crore). He also has an option of extending the contract for a further season. Earlier, it was expected that Lionel Messi, who is leaving Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) after two seasons, will also move to another Saudi Arabian club, Al Hilal. However, on June 8, the 35-year-old Argentine confirmed he plans to join MLS side Inter Miami, snubbing Barcelona and Al-Hilal. Al Ittihad is the rival club of Benzem
World number three tennis player Novak Djokovic has broken the record for reaching most quarter-finals in the history of French Open. The 36-year-old Serb beat Peruvian tennis player Juan Pablo Varillas 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 57 minutes to reach his 17th Roland Garros quarter-final on June 4. The 14-time champion Nadal, who held the previous record with 16 French Open quarter-finals, has just undergone psoas surgery. He revealed the usual recovery time for psoas surgery is five months, and Djokovic spoke of how he hoped to see ‘one of the greatest legends of tennis’ return healt
Max Verstappen recorded his third consecutive victory to win the Spanish Grand Prix on June 4 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, clinching the pole position and extending his lead in the Formula One championship by 53 points. The Red Bull driver has now registered his fifth win in seven races. He was followed by Lewis Hamilton who ranked second, equalling his best finish of the season. Verstappen led home the Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, with team mate Sergio Perez at fourth. He controlled the race from the beginning. This is his third triumph at the Circuit de B
In the IPL 2023, though MS Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings picked the trophy, the opponent team of Gujarat Titans last week ended up bagging the most number of awards and titles This IPL season belonged to the rising star of Gujarat Titans, Shubman Gill, who ended up winning the Orange Cap. He walked away with the most awards and cash prizes this IPL season, with four titles and Rs 40 lakh. His team mate Mohammed Shami won the Purple Cap in IPL 2023 after the CSK versus GT final. Interestingly, for Purple Cap, there was a tie among Gujarat Titans players Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, and Mohi
MS Dhoni scripted Indian Premier League (IPL) history on Monday, May 29, as he became the first cricketer to play 250 matches. He also became the first player to play 11 finals in IPL history - 10th with Chennai Super Kings and one with Rising Pune SuperGiant. The cricketer played under Steve Smith in the IPL 2017 final. MS Dhoni made the records in the IPL 2023 final on the Reserve Day at the Narendra Modi Stadium as his team Chennai Super Kings faced Gujarat Titans in the summit clash. The final, which was scheduled to be held on May 28, was postponed to the next day due to consistent ra
Indian badminton player HS Prannoy sealed the Malaysia Masters 2023 after winning the final against China’s Weng Hong Yang on May 28. Prannoy won the match 21-19, 13-21, 21-18. With this, the 30-year-old shuttler won his first-ever BWF World Tour title in the final of the men's singles event. Prannoy won a cash prize of $31,500 with his victory. Playing at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Prannoy and Weng Hongyang went toe-to-toe early on in the final game. Prannoy had made it to the final after Indonesia's Christian Adinata withdrew with an injury in the semi-finals. In the earlier mat
Ganemat Sekhon has become the first Indian woman skeet shooter to win a medal in the junior world championships and the first to win a World Cup medal (bronze). In the shotgun World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan on May 23, the 22-year-old sports star won silver. India’s Darshna Rathore also won a bronze in the event. A special day for Indian shooting, the world championship witnessed the country picking two senior individual medals in women’s skeet. Kazakhstan’s Assem Orynbay won the gold. Orynbay and Ganemat ended the 60-shot final with 50 hits each. Ganemat missed one of the first t
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League claiming a five-wicket win over Gujarat Titans (GT) in a rain-affected, but thrilling final on May 29 at a packed Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. B. Sai Sudharsan slammed 96 in 47 balls as Gujarat Titans posted 214 for four after being asked to bat first. The winning team was given a revised target of 171 in 15 overs after rain interrupted play at the start of the second innings of a final, which had already pushed to the reserve day owing to heavy downpour on May 28. CSK completed the task in the last ball. Ra
Manchester City will face Inter Milan in the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League final at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey on June 10. It is the first competitive match between the two sides as they aim to lift the most coveted European sports title. Man City confirmed its place in this season’s showpiece event with a splendid 4-0 win over Real Madrid in the semi-final second leg at Etihad on May 17, with a 5-1 aggregate win. Inter Milan had already secured its spot in the final by beating AC Milan 3-0 on aggregate in their semi-final clash a day before. It will be the second
India’s Olympic gold medal-winning javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra won the Doha Diamond League by a margin of 0.04 metres on May 5. The 25-year-old posted a best throw of 88.67 metres. Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Jakub Vadlejch ranked at the second spot in the League with a best throw of 88.63m, while world Champion Anderson Peters finished third with a best throw of 85.88m. The Indian Olympian began his 2023 season on a high, finishing first in the highly-competitive 10-man men’s javelin field. He kickstarted the tournament by registering a javelin throw of 88.67 m. The first Indian