Week In Review, June 10-16: Pakistan Exit T20 World Cup; Nagal Attains Career-High Ranking

'Tis bumper season for sports fans. The ICC T20 World Cup 2024 is alive and kicking, the UEFA European Championship has commenced with a goal frenzy and Copa America is round the corner. With the Paris Olympics just a month away, every day in July-August will bring along something of note and/or delight from one or more arenas. (More Sports News)

Let us recap all that went down across sporting disciplines between June 10 and 16, 2024.

Cricket

Despite a few hiccups, it was largely smooth sailing for the Indian cricket team at the T20 World Cup group stage. Rohit Sharma and Co sealed their passage to the Super Eight with a win over United States, before their game against Canada was abandoned due to wet patches on the ground in Florida. Many, including batting coach Vikram Rathour, expressed their disappointment at the missed opportunity ahead of the next round.

But the big story from Group A was USA's historic advancement, ahead of Pakistan. Monank Patel's side topped off last week's victory over Babar Azam's men with qualification in their maiden World Cup appearance. Meanwhile, the now familiar discontent in Pakistan cricket again came to the fore with their early exit. Changes are sought and expected in the team as well as cricket board - time will tell how it really unfolds.

New Zealand were the other heavyweight to be ousted, as back-to-back defeats to Afghanistan and West Indies signalled their surprise early departure. This is the first time that the BlackCaps won't be part of a limited-overs World Cup semi-final since 2014.

The Super Eight line-up was finalized later, with England scraping through after beating Namibia and Bangladesh prevailing over Nepal to take the last two available spots.

Back home, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian women kick-started their ODI series against South Africa in emphatic fashion, crushing the Proteas by 143 runs in Bengaluru. A century by Smriti Mandhana and four-wicket haul by Asha Sobhana were the cornerstones of this triumph.

Football

The much-awaited UEFA European Championship 2024 began with a bang. Hosts Germany thrashed Scotland 5-1 in the opener, making it their biggest-ever victory at the Euros.

Spain blanked Croatia 3-0 in Group B, with Lamine Yamal becoming the youngest-ever player to appear in a European Championships game, at 16 years and 338 days old. Meanwhile, defending champions Italy came from behind to pip Albania 2-1, but not before Nedim Bajrami scored the fastest goal in Euros history (23 seconds).

Later, England began their campaign with a 1-0 win over Serbia, and Netherlands found a late winner to trump Poland 2-1.

As for Indian football, the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers journey ended with a 1-2 defeat to reigning Asian champions Qatar in Doha. The Sunil Chhetri-less India suffered victims to a controversial goal from Qatar's Yousef Aymen. The All India Football Federation has since written to FIFA to seek an investigation over it.

Other Sports

Indian tennis ace Sumit Nagal rounded off a manic fortnight, in which he played 10 matches in 12 days, to finish runners-up at the ATP Perugia Challenger. The result was followed by Nagal rising to a career-high ranking of 71, which makes him the joint fourth-highest ranked Indian singles player of all time, alongside Sashi Menon and after Vijay Amritraj (18), Ramesh Krishnan (23) and his mentor Somdev Devvarman. Nagal will next compete at grass court Major Wimbledon.

At the BWF 500 Australian Open, HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma and Aakarshi Kashyap also crashed out in the quarter-finals is slated to compete at the event and will be India's highest-ranked participant at the event, which ends on Sunday.

And in archery, India's Bhajan Kaur bagged an Olympic quota in the women's individual recurve category after clinching gold at the Final Olympic Qualifier in Antalya, Turkey.