Sports Highlights: Iga Swiatek Pips Emma Raducanu, Enters Stuttgart Open Final

Welcome to the highlights of our coverage of sports news from across the globe on Friday, April 19, 2024. In cricket, the ACC Men's T20I Premier Cup, first semi-final saw Nepal lose to UAE, whereas Oman beat Hong Kong in the other last-four clash. In Indian Premier League 2024, Lucknow Super Giants thrashed the mighty Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets courtesy KL Rahul's match-winning knock. In football, the build-up to the FA Cup semi-final between Manchester City and Chelsea gained steam while reactions followed to Aston Villa's qualification for the Europa Conference League last-four stage. In tennis, Iga Swiatek defeated Emma Raducanu to enter the Stuttgart Open semis, while Casper Ruud advanced to the Barcelona Open penultimate round. Catch the highlights of sports news and events on April 19 2024, right here. (Cricket News | Football News)

Liverpool's hopes of winning a European trophy in Jurgen Klopp's final season as manager have been dashed. This comes after they failed to overcome a first-leg deficit against Atalanta.

After a 3-0 loss at Anfield in the first leg, the Reds travelled to Italy in hopes of a comeback. Despite controlling the majority of the game, they were unable to score the required goals and lost 3-1 on aggregate.

An early penalty by Mohamed Salah scored in the seventh minute after a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross was handled, gave Liverpool a glimmer of hope. However, as the first half came to a close, Salah missed a chance to equalise when he lofted the ball wide after being put through one-on-one. In the second half, Klopp's side struggled to create any meaningful scoring opportunities.

Fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina battled her way into the Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinals in a roller coaster 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-4 victory over Veronika Kudermetova on Thursday, according to AP reports.

Rybakina managed to stave off three break points towards the end of the opening set and then took control of the tiebreak. But her errors mounted in the second set as Kudermetova began to dominate.

West Ham was knocked out of the Europa League after Jeremie Frimpong scored a late goal, denying them the consolation of being the first team to beat Bayer Leverkusen this season. David Moyes' side made a perfect start when Michail Antonio scored a header in the 13th minute, giving them a chance to overturn a two-goal deficit from the first leg.

Despite dominating the opening period, they were unable to score another goal against the Leverkusen defence. Jarrod Bowen came closest to scoring when his far-post effort was saved by Matej Kovar. Xabi Alonso's side improved significantly after the break, ultimately leading to Jeremie Frimpong's goal.

Fast bowler Mohammad Amir's return to international cricket was put on hold after the first Twenty20 between Pakistan and New Zealand was a washout on Thursday, according to AP reports.

Shaheen Shah Afridi clean-bowled debutant Tim Robinson for a duck and New Zealand was 2-1 after two balls before rain denied further play in a reduced five-over-a-side game.

Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya has been fined Rs 12 lakhs for his team maintaining a slow over-rate during their thrilling nine-run victory over Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League, according to PTI reports.

Mumbai Indians, thanks to Suryakumar Yadav's blazing 78 off 53 deliveries, posted a competitive 192/7 and then dismissed PBKS, despite Ashutosh Sharma's stunning 28-ball 61 and Shashank Singh's 41, for 183 in 19.1 overs.

In a huge setback for the Indian wrestling contingent at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek, two of the country's best wrestlers, Deepak Punia and Sujeet Kalakal, will miss the continental event as they could not report for the weigh-in on time as their flight arrived late in the Kyrgyzstan capital owing to bad weather in Dubai, according to PTI reports.

Playing XIs:

United Arab Emirates: Muhammad Waseem(c), Alishan Sharafu, Vishnu Sukumaran, Asif Khan, Syed Haider Shah(w), Basil Hameed, Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Muhammad Farooq, Junaid Siddique, Omid Rahman

Nepal: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh(w), Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulsan Jha, Rohit Paudel(c), Karan KC, Sundeep Jora, Sompal Kami, Lalit Rajbanshi, Abinash Bohara

The director of a group that advocates for female sports fans says she and other Paris Saint-Germain supporters were subjected to “abusive” searches while entering Barcelona's stadium for a Champions League match earlier this week, according to AP reports.

Anoush Morel, the director of Her Game Too France, told L'Equipe and RMC Sport that her breasts, buttocks and groin were touched by a female security officer during a pat-down at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium on Tuesday night. Other women reported similarly aggressive searches, she said.

The National Anti-Doping Agency's appeals panel has exonerated middle-distance runner Shalu Chaudhary of doping charges and lifted her four-year ban after DNA testing revealed that her urine sample had either been tampered with or contaminated at the time of collection, according to PTI reports.

The 30-year-old Chaudhary was banned last year after she lost her appeal to NADA's disciplinary panel. She was suspended for the alleged use of two substances including a stimulant and peptide hormones.

Imad Wasim’s omission has been questioned by former players after the all-rounder was left out of the Pakistan team for the first T20I against New Zealand, having come out of retirement to play international cricket again, according to PTI reports.

Wasim and left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir came out of retirement ahead of the T20 World Cup in June this year after much convincing, but the spin-bowling all-rounder did not find a place in the eleven on Thursday.

Teenaged Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh produced another fantastic performance to crash through the defences of Azerbaijan's Nijat Abasov and regain a share of the lead but R Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi bowed out of contention after the 12th round of the Candidates chess tournament in Toronto, according to PTI reports.

With American Hikaru Nakamura scoring a victory over Firouza Alireza of France, it is now a three-way lead at the top.

Punjab Kings' batting sensation Ashutosh Sharma said he lived a "dream" when he swept "world's best fast bowler" Jasprit Bumrah during his team's IPL clash against Mumbai Indians, according to PTI reports.

The 25-year-old Ashutosh put the Bumrah-led Mumbai Indians' bowling to the sword in Mullanpur on Thursday when he hammered seven sixes and two fours to make 61 off a mere 28 balls, a knock which brought PBKS back from the brink after an early collapse.

In today's IPL match Prediction, the playing XI of LSG and CSK are;

LSG Vs CSK, Predicted Playing XIs:

LSG: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul(w/c), Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Yash Thakur, Manimaran Siddharth

CSK: Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni(w), Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana

Former India goalkeeper Bharat Chetri on Friday praised Hockey India (HI) for emphasizing nurturing drag-flickers and goalkeepers at the grassroots level, according to PTI reports.

In that regard, former India goalkeepers and drag-flickers, including Chetri, have been selected to lead a three-day training session at national academies across the country.

The United Arab Emirates defeated Nepal by six wickets in the semi-final clash between the two teams in the ACC Men's T20I Premier Cup 2024 in Al Amerat, Oman. UAE invited Nepal to bat first after winning the toss and restricted them to 119/9 in 20 overs. In response, they chased down the target with 16 balls and six wickets in hand. They entered the final of the tournament and will clash with the winner of the second semi-final between Oman and Hong Kong on Sunday at the same venue.

The Chinese Grand Prix could deliver some much-needed drama to Formula One, meaning Red Bull's Max Verstappen can't be pencilled in as the almost-certain winner on Sunday, according to AP reports.

The three-time world champion has won 22 of the last 26 GPs and three of the first four this season. Only brake failure in Australia kept him from possibly sweeping the first four races.

Pakistan will announce a new set of coaches for red and white ball formats for the national team by the end of this month, a Cricket Board (PCB) official said on Friday, according to PTI reports.

The PCB also confirmed that besides South Africa's Gary Kirsten and Australia's Jason Gillispie, the board had received applications from a couple of reputed coaches by the April 15 deadline.

The PCB official said that while they are interested in Kirsten and Gillispie, the new applicants are also in the fray.

Indian squash player Akanksha Salunkhe bowed out in the women's singles quarterfinals of the World Championship Asian Qualifying event in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. Salunkhe, 2023 National Games champion, was shown the door by lower-ranked Sehveetrraa Kumar of Malaysia.

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann has extended his contract by two years, taking him beyond the upcoming European Championship and through the 2026 World Cup.

Read more about it here:

Oman defeated Hong Kong by five wickets to claim a spot in the final of the ACC Men's T20I Premier Cup 2024. They will play UAE, who earlier defeated Nepal.

Professional franchise cricket team Royal Challengers Bengaluru has restored three lakes in Bengaluru, a city grappling with a severe water crisis. RCB launched the Lake Improvement Works Project in October 2023 as part of the "RCB Go Green Initiative". The project focused on desilting and developing the Ittgalpura and Sadenahalli lakes, located in highly water-stressed areas. (PTI)

India's star gymnast Dipa Karmakar has signed off with a creditable fourth-place finish in the women's vault final at the FIG Apparatus World Cup, a Paris Olympics qualifying event in Doha. The 30-year-old, who had finished fourth at the Baku Apparatus World Cup in Azerbaijan last month, once again missed out on a medal by a whisker after coming up with a score of 13.333.

In a major setback for Indian wrestling, Aman Sehrawat has missed out on securing a berth for the Paris Olympic Games 2024 after losing his semifinal at the Asian Olympic Qualifier, while Deepak Punia and Sujeet Kalkal were not allowed to compete after they reported late for weigh-in in Bishek, Kyrgyzstan.

Competing in 57kg category, Aman began in tremendous fashion, trampling his first two rivals -- Yerassyl Mukhtaruly and Sunggwon Kim -- by technical superiority but was pinned by Uzbekistan's Gulomjon Abdullaev after falling behind by 10 points.

Alejandro Garnacho has apologized for liking social media posts criticizing Erik ten Hag, the Manchester United manager said, Associated Press reports. Garnacho 'liked' comments on X (formerly Twitter) that called into question Ten Hag's handling of the Argentine forward. He later 'unliked' them, but not before his actions were screen-grabbed and shared on the platform.

“Alejandro is a young player, he has to learn a lot. He apologized for it and after that, we move on,” Ten Hag said at the news conference ahead of United's FA Cup semi-final against Coventry City on Sunday.

Star India golfers Shubhankar Sharma and Diksha Dagar will get substantial assistance from the Union sports ministry's Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) for their preparations in the run-up to the Paris Olympics, PTI reports. In its meeting on Thursday, the ministry's Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) also decided to move Sharma, ranked 46th in the men's Olympic Golf Ranking (OGR), from the TOPS development group to the core group.

Asian Games silver medallist and 11-time Asian Tour champion Gaganjeet Bhullar was directly inducted into TOPS core group due to his recent form. He is currently ranked 52nd in the OGR.

Two weeks after crashing heavily in Spain, two-time world champion Remco Evenepoel has said that he's on track to race again in June ahead of the Tour de France and Paris Olympics, Associated Press reports. The Belgian needed surgery after breaking a collar bone and shoulder blade in a crash while descending in the Tour of Basque Country.

Evenepoel will train at high altitude before a planned return to racing at the Critérium du Dauphiné in France from June 2-9 or the week after at the Tour de Suisse, he said in an interview broadcast by his team Soudal–Quick-Step.

Casper Ruud has defeated Matteo Arnaldi in straight sets to progress to the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open and notch his season-leading 27th win. The sixth-ranked Norwegian won 6-4 6-3 on the outdoor clay to give him two more wins than Jannik Sinner.

Ruud is trying to reach his fourth final this year having lost in Los Cabos, Acapulco and Monte Carlo. Ruud will face Tomas Martin Etcheverry on Saturday after the Argentine defeated Cameron Norrie 7-6 (4) 7-6 (1).

Chasing Chennai Super King's target of 177 runs, Lucknow Super Giants romped home with eight wickets and six balls to spare in match 34 of Indian Premier League 2024. The foundation was laid by skipper KL Rahul (82 off 53 balls) and Quinton de Kock (54 off 43 balls) at the top, and before that, it was set up by the LSG bowlers. A target of 177 proved woefully inadequate for CSK, and though Ravindra Jadeja pulled off a blinder to dismiss Rahul, the damage had been done by then.

Lucknow clinch a win after two back-to-back losses, while CSK face defeat after two consecutive victories. Both sides now have eight points from seven games, and are placed fifth (LSG with an inferior net run rate of 0.123) and third in the IPL 2024 points table respectively.

Emma Raducanu’s progress in the Stuttgart Open was halted in straight sets by world number one Iga Swiatek. The Polish four-time grand slam champion, in her 100th week on top of the ATP world rankings, prevailed 7-6 (2) 6-3 to set up a semi-final showdown with Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina.

It was, however, an encouraging quarter-final performance from Raducanu, who has slipped to 303 in the world rankings after a torrid 2023.

That's a wrap of our sports news coverage tonight. We will be back tomorrow with all that is current in the field of play and beyond. Until then, goodbye.