The third week of May was a frenetic one, in the true sense of the word. The usual slow burn of the weekdays gave way to a manic Sunday, which witnessed Manchester City becoming the champions of England for a record fourth straight time, and Sunrisers Hyderabad edging Rajasthan Royals for the second spot in the Indian Premier League 2024 points table. (More Sports News)
Let us recap all that went down across arenas between May 13 and 19, 2024.
Cricket
Amid various sub-plots and storylines in IPL 2024, that of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru comeback shone brightest this week. The Faf du Plessis-led franchise continued its outlandish late surge, notching up a sixth win on the trot to barge into the play-offs. RCB vanquished the Chennai Super Kings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium by 27 runs to book their last-four berth. The Challengers will now take on Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator in Ahmedabad on May 22.
Meanwhile, swashbuckling opener Abhishek Sharma starred yet again for SRH to guide them to a four-wicket win over Punjab Kings in the penultimate league match of this edition. The last league game between RR and table-toppers Kolkata Knight Riders was washed out, which meant the Royals and Sunrisers both finished on 17 points and Pat Cummins' side grabbed the second spot on account of a better net run rate.
This gives Hyderabad the luxury of one extra shot (if needed) at entering the final, and they will meet the high-flying KKR in Qualifier 1 on May 21.
Elsewhere, the Pakistan men's team bounced back strongly after a shocking loss to Ireland in the first game. Babar Azam and Co won the next two matches to clinch the T20I series 2-1 in Dublin. The Men In Green are now gearing up for their England tour, which starts with the first T20I at Leeds on May 22.
Meanwhile, the Nida Dar-led Pakistan women could not avoid a 0-3 whitewash against hosts England, and have shifted their focus to the ODI leg of the tour which commences on May 23 at the County Ground in Derby.
Football
Arsenal gave it all they had, but could not displace reigning champions Manchester City from the English Premier League throne. Pep Guardiola's team did what it needed to on an action-packed final day, pipping West Ham 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium to render the Gunners' 2-1 victory over Everton fruitless.
City finished with 91 points, two more than the spirited Arsenal, to secure a record fourth EPL title in a row. Meanwhile, Liverpool finished third, even as Jurgen Klopp signed off as manager with a 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield. Similarly, David Moyes bid farewell to West Ham, albeit with a loss to the red-hot City, and Roberto de Zerbi left Brighton after their 0-2 home defeat to Manchester United.
Over in La Liga, Barcelona trounced Rayo Vallecano 3-0 in their final home game of the season to seal second spot, whereas Girona secured their highest-ever finish of third in the Spanish league with a 3-1 win away at Valencia. Real Madrid had already confirmed a record-extending 36th title last week.
From an Indian perspective, the week brought with it the news of the legendary Sunil Chhetri announcing his retirement from international football. The 39-year-old Chhetri, who is the world's third-highest active goal-scorer after Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, will hang up his boots after India's FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier against Kuwait in Kolkata on June 6.
Other Sports
India's all-conquering duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty clinched the BWF 500 Thailand Open men's doubles title, their second title this season and eighth overall on the BWF World Tour. The triumph bodes well for the pioneering pair ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Back home, Neeraj Chopra expectedly struck gold at the National Federation Cup javelin throw event, with a subdued best effort of 82.27m in Bhubaneswar. India's golden spearhead will next compete at the Ostrava Golden Spike 2024 athletics meet in Czechia on May 28.
As for tennis, third seed Alexander Zverev forged a 6-4, 7-5 win over the 24th-ranked Nicolas Jarry to claim his second Italian Open title, while the top-ranked Iga Swiatek dominated world number 2 Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 6-3 to earn her third trophy on Rome's red clay.
Finally, in motorsport, Max Verstappen returned to his usual winning ways with victory at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola. The Red Bull Racing driver held off a late resurgence from McLaren's Lando Norris to avenge his loss to the same opponent at the Miami Grand Prix, a couple of weeks back.
