Sports World: MI Rope In Kwena Maphaka As Injured Dilshan Madushanka's Replacement - As It Happened

Welcome to the highlights of the sports world news and events for 20 March 2024. Mumbai Indians have roped in ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2024 star pacer Kwena Maphaka as a replacement for the injured Dilshan Madushanka. Gujarat Titans have also got Sandeep Warrier as Mohammed Shami's replacement. Both players have come on their base price of INR 50 Lakh each. Catch the highlights of the world sports for 20 March 2024, here. (Cricket News | Football News)

Star batter Suryakumar Yadav is certain to miss Mumbai Indians' IPL opener against Gujarat Titans on March 24 as he is yet to get fitness clearance from the National Cricket Academy (NCA). The world No 1 T20 batter has been stationed at the NCA in Bengaluru for his recovery and rehabilitation following a surgery for sports hernia.

Indian tennis star Sumit Nagal failed to qualify for the main draw of the Miami Open 2024 after going down to Hong Kong's Chak Lam Coleman Wong. Nagal lost 6-3, 1-6, 5-7 in the second and final round of the Qualifiers.

Simona Halep was beaten on her return from a doping ban, going down in three sets to Paula Badosa at the Miami Open. The Romanian, a two-time grand slam winner who spent 64 weeks as world number one, was playing her first match since the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced her suspension from four years to nine months.

Halep looked like she had never been away as she raced away with the first set in just 38 minutes.

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Lyon and Chelsea underlined their status as two of the favorites for the Women's Champions League title by earning first-leg wins on the road in the quarterfinals. Lyon, the record eight-time champion, came from behind to beat Benfica 2-1, while Chelsea ultimately eased to a 3-0 victory at Ajax to close in on a second straight appearance in the last four of Europe's top competition. The second legs are on March 27. (AP)

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand advanced to the women's doubles second round of the Swiss Open Super 300 with a straight game win over USA's Annie Xu and Kerry Xu. Treesa and Gayatri, who made a first round exit at the All England Open last week, cruised past the American duo in 39 minutes with a 21-15, 21-12 win in the opening round on Tuesday. (PTI)

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has sustained another serious knee injury, just as he was close to returning from a torn ACL. Madrid said Courtois ruptured the meniscus in his right knee during Tuesday's training session. The Belgian has not played since tearing the ACL in his left knee in August, two days before Madrid's first game of the season. He just recently returned to training after recovering from surgery. Madrid did not give a timeline for how long Courtois will be out this time, saying only that “the injury will be monitored.” (AP)

South Korean police said they’ve found no explosives at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome after searching the site Wednesday following a reported bomb threat against Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani. About 150 police officers used sniffer dogs, X-ray detectors and other equipment to search through the stadium, but no suspicious objects were discovered, according to Seoul’s Guro police station. Police officers said they acted on a tip that there was a threat targeting the Japanese star but didn’t elaborate. (AP)

Indian football team, having progressed to the second round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, has set sights on reaching the third round for the first time ever. With the return of Jeakson Singh and Anwar Ali, the team stronger than before is gearing up to take on Afghanistan. Earning three points would enable India to lead group A's points table which is currently placed third, trailing behind Qatar and Kuwait.

Australia postponed their tour to Afghanistan for the T20I series citing the 'worsening' conditions of women in the country. Condemning Cricket Australia's decision, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) asked to have "politics-free cricket" across the globe.

"ACB advocates for keeping cricket distinct from political influence, considering the game's significance in Afghanistan and its connection to the happiness and joy of the Afghan nation" said the Afghan cricket board.

Ahead of the Indian Premier League 2024, MS Dhoni, the captain of Chennai Super Kings have been discussed and appreciated by former India teammate Zaheer Khan. He believes cricket is an integral part of the two-time World Cup-winning captain, but is "not everything" for him.

"Cricket is not everything. Every cricketer has to face this eventually" said Zaheer before claiming that "MS Dhoni understood this a long time ago".

Indian men's and women's hockey teams both occupied second place in the maiden Hockey 5s rankings issued recently by the International Hockey Federation. The men's team secured the second spot jointly with Oman and Malaysia following a three-way tie with 1400 points each.

Pakistan all-rounder, Imad Wasim announced his retirement from international cricket four months ago. However following the successful run at the Pakistan Super League T20 tournament playing for Islamabad United, who won the 2024 title, the 35-year-old made himself available for the national selections.

A Spanish court has decided to release Brazilian football star Dani Alves if he pays a bail of a million euros (USD 1.1 million) and hands over his passports while awaiting the appeal of his conviction for raping a woman in Barcelona, according to AP reports. The court issued the ruling on Wednesday.

Suryakumar Yadav maintained his numero uno position among batters despite being out of competitive cricket for the past three months while ace spinner Rashid Khan, back in an Afghan jersey after an injury lay-off, is back among the top-10 in bowlers' list in the latest ICC T20I rankings published on Wednesday, according to PTI reports.

She was the cynosure of all eyes on Sunday having played a massive role in RCB's WPL triumph but Tuesday night gave 'Purple Cap' winner Shreyanka Patil a chance to enjoy a rare 'Fan Girl' moment with none other than Virat Kohli, according to PTI reports.

The 21-year-old off-spinner, who had been a revelation in both the eliminator and final with her match-winning performances at the death, couldn't stop gushing on social media when she realised that her childhood idol actually knew her name.

Liverpool's restructuring of its technical staff continued on Wednesday when the club hired Richard Hughes as sporting director starting June 1, according to AP reports.

Hughes is leaving his role as technical director at Bournemouth to take up the post at Liverpool after previously working with Michael Edwards, who was hired last week as chief executive of football at Fenway Sports Group — the US-based conglomerate whose portfolio of sports teams includes Liverpool.

Focussed on setting its house in order, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) will ensure that Sports Code is followed in the upcoming state association elections in Gujarat, Telangana and Uttarakhand and is set to resume National Camp from March 27, according to PTI reports.

The WFI will resume national camp on March 27, after almost 16 months with Sonepat and Gandhinagar in Gujarat to be the likely venues for men and women respectively, according to PTI reports.

The WFI-organised national camps have been on hold since January 2023 when the country's three elite wrestlers accused then WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment, a controversy that pegged back Indian wrestling.

England captain Harry Kane was among a number of players to train indoors away from the main group at St George’s Park on Wednesday.

Kane, England’s all-time leading goalscorer, suffered an ankle injury in Bayern Munich’s 5-2 Bundesliga win over Darmstadt on Sunday but joined up with Gareth Southgate’s squad as planned.

South Africa great AB de Villiers has backed his former Royal Challengers Bengaluru teammate Virat Kohli to be at his usual best in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League, starting in Chennai on Friday, according to PTI reports.

The 35-year-old Kohli has not played competitive cricket in almost two months after opting out of the recently concluded Test series against England at home, which India won 4-1 because of the birth of his son, Akaay.

Bayern Munich sports director Max Eberl says the club has made its final offer to Canada left-back Alphonso Davies to extend his contract amid reported interest from Real Madrid, according to AP reports.

Carlos Sainz Jr. is expected to return for Ferrari at this weekend's Australian Grand Prix after undergoing surgery for appendicitis, according to AP reports.

Sainz was ruled out after feeling unwell at the Saudi Arabian GP, prompting Ferrari to hand 18-year-old Oliver Bearman his Formula 1 debut hours before qualifying.

A second runner on the Olympic refugee team has been implicated in doping while preparing for the Paris Games, according to AP reports.

Dominic Lokolong Atiol has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for trimetazidine, track and field's Athletics Integrity Unit said on Wednesday.

Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, in-form Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth produced impressive performances to progress to the second round of the Swiss Open super 300 badminton tournament here on Wednesday, according to PTI reports.

Mumbai Indians on Wednesday named uncapped South African medium-pacer Kwena Maphaka as injured Sri Lankan pacer Dilshan Madushanka's replacement for the upcoming IPL season, according to PTI reports.

The 23-year-old Lankan pacer suffered a hamstring injury in the just-concluded ODI series in Bangladesh, which the visitors lost 1-2.

Gujarat Titans have roped in Kerala medium-pacer Sandeep Warrier as a replacement for injured senior Indian seamer Mohammed Shami, the Indian Premier League said on Wednesday, according to PTI reports.

Shami recently underwent a successful Achilles heel surgery in London for his right heel problem.

Kerala's Nayana James registered a personal best mark en route to the women's long jump gold medal at the third Indian Open Jumps Competition here on Wednesday, according to PTI reports.

The 28-year-old Nayana leapt 6.67m to secure the gold. She improved her personal best by 17cm. Favourite Shaili Singh, with a solid season opener of 6.40m, had to be content with the silver. Nayana sailed to a distance of 6.67m, season's best, in her second attempt to take pole position.

Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Jharkhand qualified for the semifinals of the 14th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship 2024 in Pune on Wednesday, according to PTI reports.

In the first quarterfinal of the day, Madhya Pradesh beat Bengal 4-3 in a shoot-out after both the teams were locked 1-1 at the end of regulation 60 minutes.

Ace Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen have progressed to the second round of the Swiss Open. The preparations for the IPL are underway and RCB have come up with a new name in that progression - Royal Challengers Bengaluru. With that information, we will be taking your leave. That's all from our side. Goodnight!