Sports action continued in full swing as April ended and May of 2024 began. For the Indian fans, the biggest news came from the badminton courts in China and from the BCCI office. The Indian T20 World Cup squad was announced last week while the Thomas Cup concluded with a heartbreak for the defending champions. (More Sports News)
The football action witnessed the high-stakes Champions League semifinals where the first leg of the final four took place. The Indian Super League 2023-24 season also culminated with the Cup and League Shield going to separate teams.
In cricket, the IPL action continued providing the much-needed drama.
Gear up for a long read as we discuss all major sports action that took place in the week that just went.
Badminton
The Thomas and Uber Cup 2024 did not bring much good news for the Indian contingent which faced quarterfinal defeats in both men's and women's category.
A young women's team, already missing PV Sindhu, showed great character and had its fair share of moments before Japan knocked them out in the quarters. The women won the first two matches convincingly against Canada and Singapore.
However, despite a good fight, they stood no chance against the stronger opponents.
After finishing second in the group due to a loss to China, Indian ran into the Japan in the Uber Cup in the quarters to get knocked out.
The men's team with big names such as Satwik-Chirag, HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen was expected to put up a strong defence of their historic 2022 Thomas Cup title win.
However, the results did not go in favour of Indian shuttlers as they were knocked out in the last eight stage.
Like the women's team, Indian men also began with two dominating wins only to lose their final group game to Indonesia. They faced the eventual champions China in the quarterfinal and only Lakshya Sen emerged as winner as India's campaign ended with a 1-3 defeat.
In the finals of both Uber and Thomas Cup, China earned dominant victories over Indonesia to establish themselves as the reigning champions of badminton world.
In other badminton news, next year's World Junior Badminton Championships is set to take place in India with Guwahati being the host.
Niclas Fullkrug's goal remained the difference in the first leg as Borussia Dortmund scored a 1-0 victory over PSG. The Paris side looked off colour in the first half before returning to form in the second but the Dortmund's defence held up well to deny the Kylian Mbappe-led Paris attack.
There was drama all around in the first semifinal when Bayern Munich hosted Real Madrid. A 27th minute strike by Vinicius Junior gave Real the lead but two goals within five minutes early in the second half ensured Bayern got ahead. A goal from the penalty spot again from Vinicius Junior equaled the equation as both teams ended with a 2-2 scoreline.
The second leg takes place this week.
In the Premier League, Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal all earned wins but the Reds seem to be getting left behind in the title race. Just two wins in their last five games have put Liverpool five points behind leaders Arsenal. City are one point away from Arsenal at the top with one extra game in hand.
A loss for Barcelona at Girona and a win for Real Madrid against Cadiz helped Los Blancos to their 36th LaLiga title. It will act as a confidence booster for the side ahead of their Champions League second leg semifinal against Bayern Munich.
In the Netherlands, PSV Eindhoven got to their 25th Eredivisie title with two games still remaining.
The Indian football season also culminated last week with Mumbai City FC crowned the Indian Super League Cup Champions after a 3-1 win over Mohun Bagan, who were the winners of the League Shield.
Dimitrios Petratos of Mohun Bagan was adjudged season's best player and awarded the Golden Ball.
Cricket
The ongoing season of the Indian Premier League 2024 saw the scores getting down last week with 200 being breached only thrice in the past seven days.
The best game of the week was definitely Sunrisers Hyderabad's one-run victory over Rajasthan Royals on Thursday. Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bengaluru kept its play-off hopes alive with its third successive win of season by defeating Gujarat Titans.
By the weekend, we had a new table topper, as Kolkata Knight Riders' resounding 98-run win over Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday put the Shreyas Iyer-led to the summit.
The Royals and the Knight Riders are the two frontrunners for the play-off spots while the remaining two slots are still wide open.
Multiple teams unveiled their squads for T20 World Cup last week. While the selections were on expected lines, Indian team dropped Rinku Singh and picked an extra spinner in Yuzvendra Chahal for the tournament that begins June 1 in the West Indies and the USA. Australia also dropped Steve Smith and did not pick Jake Fraser-McGurk who has put the IPL on fire for Delhi Capitals.
The World Cup has also come under security threat with report suggesting that terror groups will try to incite violence during the sporting event. However, Cricket West Indies has tried to allay the fears.
In international cricket, Indian women's tour to Bangladesh has brought sweet results so far with the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side winning the first three matches in convincing manner.
Zimbabwe and Bangladesh are jostling against each other in a five-match T20I series where the Asian side has scored a 2-0 lead.
In the five-match unofficial T20 series between West Indies 'A' and Nepal, the hosts gave a strong account of themselves winning two out of the five matches with captain Rohit Paudel being the standout performer.
ICC Women's T20 World Cup's schedule was also announced on Sunday. The event will take place from 3 to 20 October in Bangladesh. The last two qualifiers were also decided for the ten-team event with Sri Lanka and Scotland booking their tickets.
Bajrang Punia Suspended
In a surprise development on Sunday, star Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia was provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for refusing to submit his dope samples.
The wrestler has said that the claims of NADA are false and the agency had brought expired doping kits to test him.
Reports said that Punia had left the Sports Authority of India premises right after his loss in Olympic trial bout in Sonipat without giving his sample.
The suspension could be a big blow to Punia's Olympic hopes with the qualifiers scheduled to begin from May 9. The Tokyo Olympics medalist has been told to reply by May 7 to avoid further disciplinary action.
Other Sports
After early stages in Miami Grand Prix hinting at another Max Verstappen victory, Lando Norris of McLaren crashed the party of Red Bull Racing's driver as he stormed to his maiden Formula One victory.
Verstappen settled for second and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc stood third on the podium.
The World Relays in Bahamas brought good news for India as the Indian men's and women's teams both qualified for the Paris Olympics with runners up finish in the second heat.
Earlier on Sunday in the first round, the women's team had finished fifth and the men's team could not finish the race as second leg racer Rajesh Ramesh pulled out.
In tennis, Madrid Open concluded with Andrey Rublev and Iga Swiatek coming out as winners in men's and women's singles categories respectively.
Rafael Nadal's comeback run was halted in the Round of 16 by Jiri Lehecka in straight sets.
Cycling action saw Jhonatan Narváez winning the stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday.
