Sports News Highlights: Nishant Dev Qualifies For Paris Olympics; Treesa-Gayatri Enter Singapore Open SFs

Today's Sports News Highlights May 31, 2024: French Open day 6 action saw Iga Swiatek, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz register victories however, Andrey Rublev was ousted by Italian Matteo Arnaldi. In T20 World Cup warm-ups, Namibia beat Papua New Guinea in a close game while Netherlands and Canada could not play each other due to bad weather. In international cricket, England defeated Pakistan in 4th T20i to complete a 2-0 series win. Badminton fans have Singapore Open quarters lined up today with the Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand pairing only Indians left in fray. Follow live scores and updates from all sports right here

Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka stayed out of the rain and moved into the third round of the French Open on Thursday.

The second-seeded Sabalenka beat Japanese qualifier Moyuka Uchijima 6-2 6-2 on Court Philippe Chatrier as showers again affected play at Roland Garros.

The inclement weather, which is expected to last for much of the day, halted play on all courts not equipped with a roof for the third consecutive day. (AP)

West Indies posting a massive 257/4 (20) won their first warm-up match by 35 runs against Australia (222/7), thanks to Nicholas Pooran's 27-ball 75.

Brief Score

West Indies:

Nicholas Pooran 75 (25 balls)
Rovman Powell 52 (25 balls)
Adam Zampa 4-62-2
Tim David 4-40-1

Australia:

Josh Inglis 55 (30 balls)
Nathan Ellis 39 (22 balls)
Gudakesh Motie 4-31-2
Alzarri Joseph 4-44-2

India women's cricket team will host South Africa for a multi-format series, including a Test match after almost a decade, from June 16 and July 9, 2024.

India's ODI squad for three-match ODI series:

Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues *, Richa Ghosh (WK), Uma Chetry (WK), Dayalan Hemalatha, Radha Yadav, Asha Sobhana, Shreyanka Patil, Saika Ishaque, Pooja Vastrakar *, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Priya Punia

India's Test squad for one-off Test:

Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Shubha Satheesh, Jemimah Rodrigues *, Richa Ghosh (WK), Uma Chetry (WK), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Saika Ishaque, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar *, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Meghna Singh, Priya Punia

India's squad for three-match T20I series:

Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Dayalan Hemalatha, Uma Chetry (WK), Richa Ghosh (WK), Jemimah Rodrigues *, Sajana Sajeevan, Deepti Sharma, Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Asha Sobhana, Pooja Vastrakar *, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy

The Brazilian Football Association (CBF) confirmed Lucas Paqueta will remain in Brazil’s Copa America squad despite being charged over alleged breaches of betting rules by the English Football Association (FA).

Last August, it was reported the FA had opened an investigation into suspicious betting activity surrounding Paqueta, who said he was cooperating with the FA’s probe in March. (Stats Perform)

Luka Dončić scored 20 of his 36 points in the first quarter and Kyrie Irving also scored 36 as the Dallas Mavericks cruised to the finals of the NBA with a 124-103 rout of the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night.

India's Rathika Suthanthira went down meekly to Malaysian third seed Sehveetrraa Kumar in the quarterfinals of the Hong Kong PSA Challenge Cup.

The sixth-seeded Rathika, who won her maiden Professional Squash Association Tour title at the HCL Squash Tour at Indore last weekend, lost 11-6, 11-8, 11-6 to her higher-ranked opponent in the fourth leg of this tournament. (PTI)

Indian Grandmaster R Vaishali continued her dream run as she defeated the veteran GM Pia Cramling of Sweden in the in the fourth round of the Norway chess tournament, while her brother R Praggnanandhaa went down fighting against Hikaru Nakamura of USA.

Away from the oppressive Indian summer, the country's shooters would be hoping to further fortify their preparations ahead of the Paris Olympics when the ISSF World Cup (Pistol/Rifle) commences in Munich on Saturday.

Several shooters, who recently appeared in the gruelling nearly month-long trials in New Delhi and Bhopal, were keen to skip the World Cup because of "fatigue" and to focus on their Olympic preparations. (PTI)

The women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand shocked the South Korean world No 6 duo of Kim So Yeong and Kong Ho Yong in an astonishing come from behind victory to reach the semifinal of the Singapore Open 2024.

Nepal's ace leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane has been ruled out of the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup on Friday as his US visa application faced rejected for the second time.

The Nepalese government and its cricket authorities is focused on Lamichhane's case after his visa was first rejected last week. However they stated, "despite taking necessary initiatives ... the US Embassy has expressed its inability to give travel permission (visa) to national player Lamichhane to play the World Cup.”

Australia skipper Mitchell Marsh will not bowl in their T20 World Cup opener against Oman on June 6 and will play only as a batter as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury sustained during the IPL, said head coach Andrew McDonald on Friday according to PTI reports.

Marsh played both the World Cup warm-up games against Namibia and co-hosts West Indies in Trinidad, scoring 18 and 4 respectively.

The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) on Friday parted ways with the suspended IBA and joined the breakaway World Boxing in a bid to counter the threat to the sport's Olympic future, according to PTI reports.

The move comes months after the International Olympic Committee reiterated its threat to leave boxing out of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics if national federations continued to align themselves with the International Boxing Association (IBA).

The Pakistani wicketkeeper batter had a disappointing showdown in the T20I series against England. He was dismissed for a duck with 5 deliveries and later dropped some easy catches while fielding.

Veteran table tennis player A Sharath Kamal on Friday said he was "pretty surprised" at being named India's flagbearer at the Paris Olympics ahead of people like Tokyo Games gold-winner Neeraj Chopra and described the honour as a recognition of his years of toil.

"Yes, I was pretty much surprised at first. When I was the the flagbearer at Commonwealth Games, there was immense joy and so much of pride," the 41-year-old Kamal said during an online media interaction.

"When it was announced first, it was a bit hard to believe because there are people like Neeraj Chopra who have won medals at the Olympics or who are expected to win... Beyond all of them, they thought about me," he added. (PTI)

Amit Panghal has stormed into the quarter-finals with a 5-0 win over South Korea's Kim

An upset at French Open 2024 as Italian Matteo Arnaldi has ousted no 6 seed, Andrey Rublev in the 3rd Round.

Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Maheta Molango is of the opinion that players are now at breaking point and could on an indefinite strike if their well-being is not looked at.

"I can tell you a situation not even 10 days ago where I went to a dressing room directly affected and I said: 'I’m happy to be here and bark a bit but ultimately it’s down to you. How far would you like to go?" said Molango, speaking at the PFA and world players' union Fifpro’s end-of-season review of player workload and recovery.

"Some of them said: 'I’m not having it, we may as well strike.' Some said: 'what’s the point? Yes I’m a millionaire but I don’t even have time to spend the money'.

"It’s not even the union who has said it, it has been Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. We have reached a point where we cannot discount any action."

India's premier batter Virat Kohli arrived on Friday for the T20 World Cup, five days after his other team members but it is still not clear if he would be playing the warm-up game against Bangladesh on Saturday. "Virat Kohli has checked in at the team hotel and after a long flight, he would be taking rest," a senior BCCI source confirmed his arrival. (PTI)

German tennis player Alexander Zverev's trial for allegedly causing bodily harm to a woman began on Friday, German news agency DPA reported.

The court heard from a prosecutor that Zverev pushed his ex-girlfriend against a wall and strangled her with both hands. Patea, his ex-girlfriend, had difficulty swallowing and breathing and suffered throat pain.

Zverev's defence lawyer, Alfred Dierlamm told the accusations were 'unfounded and contradictor'.

The Indian women's football team conceded three second-half goals to suffer a 0-3 loss to Uzbekistan in the first international friendly at the Bunyodkor Stadium on Friday. (PTI)

N Sriram Balaji made a strong case for his inclusion in the Indian men's doubles team for the Paris Olympics along with Rohan Bopanna by logging his maiden win at the French Open but Yuki Bhambri, the other contender for the berth, made a first round exit on Friday. (PTI)

Jaismine Lamboria (Women's 57kg, round of 16) and Sachin Siwach (men's 57kg semis) are in action tomorrow.