Sports World: Advantage IND In Historic PAK Davis Cup Tie; Kolkata Derby Ends In Thrilling Draw

The day was a highly fruitful one for the Indian sports faithful. While India took charge of proceedings against England on home soil in cricket, miles away, the Indian tennis contingent raced to a 2-0 lead against arch-rivals Pakistan in their historic Davis Cup 2024 tie at Islamabad. Meanwhile, Pakistan joined India in the semi-finals of the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup.

In football, Japan were knocked out of the AFC Asian Cup 2023 and East Bengal and Mohun Bagan played an entertaining 2-2 draw in their famed Kolkata Derby at Salt Lake Stadium. Catch all the highlights from the sports world on Saturday, February 3, here. (Cricket News | Football News)

Skipper Maninder Singh grabbed 11 points and his protege Nitin Kumar earned 13 to help Bengal Warriors beat Dabang Delhi 45-38 in a Pro Kabaddi League match in New Delhi on Friday, according to PTI reports. A strong start for the home team saw them take the lead in the first half, but they were pegged back by an all-round Bengal Warriors performance despite Ashu Malik's own Super 10.

The Confederation of African Football is taking steps to tackle what it calls the “escalating unbecoming and unprofessional” conduct of journalists at the Africa Cup of Nations, according to reports from AP. It comes after several incidents, including reporters fighting among each other and celebrating in the stands.

CAF said Friday it met with the local organizing committee and police to find workable solutions, and that it had raised its concerns with several organizations representing journalists at the tournament.

Son Heung-min hit a magnificent extra-time free kick to take South Korea into the Asian Cup semi-finals, despite being seconds away from defeat to Australia. Craig Goodwin's volley from Nathaniel Atkinson's cross appeared to have sealed Australia's victory.

But Son was fouled by Lewis Miller, and Hwang Hee-chan's 96th-minute penalty took the game into overtime. Tottenham's Son made the difference in the extra 30 minutes, curling a free kick past Mat Ryan in Qatar.

Ireland opened their Six Nations championship defence with a historic away victory over 14-man France in Marseille.

After 30 minutes, Ireland held a big lead because to tries from Jamison Gibson-Park and Tadhg Beirne, as well as France's Paul Willemse's red card.

Damian Penaud's attempt gave France new energy right before halftime.

Despite captain Peter O'Mahony's yellow card, Ireland defeated their opponents to secure a statement victory.

Ademola Lookman's first-half goal was enough to propel Nigeria over Angola and into the semi-finals of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. Four minutes before halftime in Abidjan, the former England Under-21 winger smashed home a cut-back from Moses Simon.

In another clash, DR Congo came from behind to defeat Guinea 3-1, securing a semi-final position in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. Mohamed Bayo put Guinea ahead with a penalty in the 20th minute after being fouled by Chancel Mbemba, who equalised seven minutes later from a tight angle at the other end.

DR Congo received a penalty of their own in the second half after Julian Jeanvier clipped Silas' legs, which Brentford forward Yoane Wissa converted to give the Leopards the lead with 25 minutes remaining.

Yashasvi Jaiswal completed his double century in style on Day 2 of the first Test match in Visakhapatnam against England. He smashed a six and a four against Shoaib Bashir to bring up his first double-ton in Test cricket.

Afghanistan struck early in the morning. Naveed Zadran had Nishan Madushka (37 off 53) caught by Noor Ali for the second wicket, then Nijat Masood claimed the wicket of Kusal Mendis (10 off 22). Sri Lanka were 118/2 in 23 overs with Dimuth Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews unbeaten on 62 off 54 and 2 off 10, still trailing by 80 runs.

India women's Hockey team will be clashing with China women's team in the FIH Pro League 2024 match at Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, February 3, 2024. The match will start at 7:30 PM IST.

Australian Open Doubles champion Rohan Bopanna met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday and presented him with his Grand-Slam winning racket. Bopanna recently achieved the No. 1 ranking in Tennis doubles along with his partner Matthew Ebden.

It was raining in Islamabad and the ground was wet. Covers were applied on the Tennis court and the highly anticipated India vs Pakistan match is scheduled to be abandoned. However, the match started a bit late.

Ramkumar Ramanathan vs Aisham-Ul-Haq Qureshi

Aisham Qureshi will serve to stay in the game as Ramkumar Ramanathan makes it 6-5. All this in just 29 minutes as the court is favouring the servers!

Indian shuttler Ashmita Chaliha lost to local player Supanida Katethong in the Thailand Masters Badminton Super 300 semifinal match. Supanida took an early lead of 8-3 in the first game. Chaliha lost thegame with two straight sets 13-21 and 12-21.

Ramkumar Ramanathan overcame a fighting Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in a tight opening singles to hand India a 1-0 lead over Pakistan in the Davis Cup World Group I play-off in Islamabad on Saturday, as per reports from PTI.

Ramkumar lost the first set after battling hard against a fired-up Aisam, much to the delight of a partisan crowd, but bounced back to emerge a 6-7(3) 7-6(4), 6-0 winner at Islamabad Sports Complex in freezing cold conditions.

The never ending ordeal of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) continued as the cash-strapped national body has not paid its employees for the last six months, according to reports from PTI. According to details, all the employees of PHF at its headquarters in Lahore and the sub-office in Karachi are still waiting to get their salaries for the last six months.

Dimuth Karunaratne scored his 35th test half-century but Afghanistan's bowlers picked up three important wickets to keep Sri Lanka in check at 177-3 at lunch on the second day of the one-off test, according to reports from AP. Sri Lanka resumed on Saturday at 80 without loss in reply to Afghanistan's first innings of 198 all out, with Karunaratne batting on 42 with Nishan Madushka on 36, at the Sinhalese Sports Club.

Having been a pillar of support for Afghanistan cricket for close to a decade now, the BCCI is set to extend infrastructure and exposure-related assistance to Nepal's talented players to maintain a robust cricketing ecosystem in the South Asian region, according to reports from PTI. If all goes well, there is a strong possibility that the senior national team of Nepal could train in Delhi and play some warm-up games before leaving for the United States to play the T20 World Cup in June.

Lionel Messi's record-breaking career with Barcelona started with a contract written on a napkin. It's up for auction with a starting price of 300,000 pounds (USD 379,000), according to AP reports. British auction house Bonhams is selling the napkin in an online auction from March 18-27 on behalf of Horacio Gaggioli, an agent from Messi's home country of Argentina who was part of the deal.

Needing a result to secure their spot in the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2024 semi-finals, Pakistan are struggling with the bat against fellow hopefuls Bangladesh at the time of writing. They have lost eight wickets for just 138 runs, with 12 more overs left of play.

Should they avoid defeat or keep the margin in a loss to minimal, Pakistan will qualify for the semi-finals at the expense of Bangladesh, who are hoping to leapfrog them into second-place in Group 1 of the Super Six.

Two of the tournament's former winners, IR Iran and Japan, will contest the penultimate quarter-final of the AFC Asian Cup 2023, with the winner joining the already qualified Jordan and Korea Republic in the next round. With the action kicking off at 5 PM IST, fans can watch the match live on JioCinema or follow the sporadic updates from the proceedings here.

With both teams chasing a spot in the semi-finals, here's the deal:

Bangladesh, who have managed to restrict Pakistan to just 155 runs, will need to chase down the total inside 38.1 overs to edge past their opponents on Net Run Rate and qualify for the semis, where Australia await!

A goal, shortly before the half-hour mark, by Sporting Club's Hidemasa Morita has Japan in the lead over IR Iran in the AFC Asian Cup 2023 quarter-finals. Should the scoreline stay the same, Japan will advance to the semis, where they will face the winner of the bout between reigning champions Qatar and Uzbekistan.

It's a real nail-biter, this one. Chasing 15, albeit with the added caveat of doing so in 38 overs to secure a place in the next round, Bangladesh have lost five wickets for a total of 83 at the time of writing. With wickets falling fast, the former champions must chase the remaining 73 runs in little less than 20 overs to leapfrog Pakistan into second position.

IR Iran, while no minnows, have caused a massive upset at the AFC Asian Cup 2023 by eliminating record champions, 2019 runners-up, and heavy favourites, Japan! Iran trailed early, but hit back through two goals in the second half, with the latter arriving from the spot in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time.

Pakistan need one wicket, Bangladesh 23 runs in five overs to confirm their semi-final slot! What a game this has been, with the advantage ebbing and flowing between the two teams. Bangladesh are 133/9 (33).

Despite putting in maximum effort, Bangladesh fall six runs short of the target that would have, if completed within the limit, taken them to the semi-finals. Pakistan, despite a poor batting performance, made amends with the ball, bowling their opponents out for 150. With that, Pakistan are through to the semi-finals of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2024 alongside India from Group 1.

Top Indian wrestlers Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat hit out at the suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), saying the national championships organised by them in Pune had "no value" and the certificates handed out were "fake", PTI reports. The affairs of wrestling sport are being run by the Indian Olympic Association-constituted ad-hoc body, while the newly-elected WFI, led by Sanjay Singh, has been suspended by the sports ministry for violating its own constitution. The suspended WFI, despite being warned of legal action by the ministry for organising the 'nationals', went ahead with the tournament in Pune from January 29-31.

Mohun Bagan Super Giant drew 2-2 with East Bengal FC as the first Kolkata Derby of the 10th season of the Indian Super League presented an all-time classic at the Salt Lake Stadium, PTI reports. Antonio Lopez Habas, head coach of the Mariners, had predicted before the game that a match like this could swing different ways in 90 minutes, and so it did with both sides netting once each in either half to walk away with a point to their names.

Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) grapplers held sway, winning six greco-roman gold, on the opening day of the 2023 senior National Wrestling Championships being organised by the IOA ad-hoc committee in Jaipur, PTI reports. Kuldeep Malik (RSPB) took the top position in the 72kg greco-roman category, defeating Sameer of Maharashtra 5-1 in the title bout. The other RSPB gold-medal winners in the greco-roman category were: Nitesh (97kg), Vikas (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Ashu (67kg) and Rahit Dahiya (82kg).