Sports News Highlights June 15: HS Prannoy Loses In Australian Open QFs; UEFA Euro 2024 Begins

Pakistan have been eliminated from T20 World Cup 2024 and it is the debutants USA who have made the cut to the Super 8s with a washout in Florida against Ireland. Three Indian singles shuttlers - HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma and Aakarshi Kashyap all lost their respective quarter-final matches at the Australian Open in Sydney. Sumit Nagal, India tennis star, continued his good run at the Perugia Challengers entering the semifinals. Check the highlights from the sports world on Friday, June 14, 2024 right here

India's Aakarshi Kashyap will be in action shortly for her Australian Open quarter-final clash against Chinese Taipei's Pai Yu-Po, who is the third seed at the tournament. Aakarshi is seeded eighth and this could be a stiff challenge for her.

Afghanistan are currently aiming to seal their Super Eight berth at the T20 World Cup with a win against Papua New Guinea. The Rashid Khan-led side are batting at 16 for one in pursuit of PNG's 96-run target. A win for the Afghans will also knock New Zealand out of the competition.

Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist HS Prannoy will face Japan's Kodai Naraoka at the Australian Open quarter-finals. Naraoka is the second seed, while Prannoy is seeded fifth and it promises to be an enthralling clash.

Overcoming some batting hiccups, Afghanistan have marched into the Super Eight stage of ICC T20 World Cup 2024 with a seven-wicket victory over Papua New Guinea. With that, New Zealand have been knocked out of the competition.

Aakarshi Kashyap's quarter-final clash is underway at the Australian Open. The Indian eighth seed currently trails 12-15 in the first game against Chinese Taipei's Pai Yu-Po, who is the third seed at the tournament.

Aakarshi Kashyap's spirited challenge at the Australian Open comes to an end. The Indian shuttler loses 17-21, 12-21 to Chinese Taipei's Pai Yu-Po in the quarter-finals.

Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain will take the ring today for her Grand Prix bout against the highly-rated Li Qian of China. The Indian boxer had lost to Cindy Ngamba of the Refugee Boxing Team yesterday, but since the female weight categories are being held in a round robin format, the defeat doesn’t spell the end of Borgohain’s campaign.

A number of Indian archers will be in action at the final Olympic qualifier, which begins today in Antalya (Turkey). The likes of Tarundeep Rai, Pravin Jadhav, Deepika Kumari, Bhajan Kaur, Ankita Bhakat will look to join Dhiraj Bommadevara, who has booked a quota for Paris 2024.

Indian shuttler Sameer Verma will take the court shortly for his quarter-final against Lin Chun-yi at Australian Open. Verma had defeated eighth seed Loh Kean Yew yesterday to get here.

Indian golfer Pukhraj Singh Gill holds the lead after the second round at Vietnam Masters. He has carded a three-under 69, and his two-day total stands at 11-under in the USD 85,000 event.

Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa won their first-round clashes to move into the next round of the Paul Lawrie Matchplay event on the Legends Tour for Seniors in Europe here.

Both the Indians won 1-up as they maintained their lead after going one ahead of the 16th. (PTI)

Hockey India on Friday said it has started the registration process for its flagship national league, which is set to be revived after a gap of eight years and will feature both the men's and women's teams according to PTI reports.

The Hockey India League (HIL) will feature eight men's and six women's teams and the registration deadline for it is June 30.

Team Italy will begin their title defence in the 2024 UEFA European Championship against Albania on Saturday in their first Group B match. The other teams in the group are Spain and Croatia. The match will kickoff at 9 pm local (1900 GMT) in Dortmund.

The second season of the Indian Supercross Racing League (ISRL) will be held from January to March 2025 with an increased number of races as well as venues, this time.

Riders will be able to register themselves for the super racing event at the end of this month. Auction will be held later this years in October, as infromed by the organisers in a press release.

Indian women's recurve team of Deepika Kumari, Bhajan Kaur and Ankita Bhakat qualified as fifth seed in the Final Olympic Qualifiers in Antalya on Friday and now stands two victories away from securing quota for the Paris Games.

The Indian team aggregated 1978 points to finish behind leaders China (1996), second-placed Japan (1991), Spain (1990) and Chinese Taipei (1982) in the qualifying standings.

By qualifying as fifth seeds, India will start from the round of 16 in the 24-team draw against 21st seeds Ukraine and may have to overcome Chinese Taipei in the quarters to grab the Paris quota. (PTI)

The football festival is back! The hosts of the 2024 UEFA European Champinship, Germany are all set to take on Scotland to kick off the season tonight at the Allianz Arena, Munich.

Crystal Palace signed 20-year-old Chadi Riad to a five-year contract on Friday. This follows the impressive season the Morocco defender had with Real Betis. Riad, a centre-back, made 30 appearances last season for the Seville club while on loan from Barcelona. His signing marks the Premier League club's first arrival of the summer.

India's top-ranked singles player, HS Prannoy, lost to the higher-ranked Kodai Naraoka of Japan with a score of 19-21, 13-21. Unfortunately, none of the country's shuttlers were able to progress beyond the quarterfinals of the Australian Open Super 500 event that took place on Friday. The world No. 10 Prannoy was the latest to be eliminated on a day when his singles compatriot Sameer Verma, the mixed doubles pair of Sikki Reddy and B Sumeeth Reddy, along with Aakarshi Kashyap in women's singles, also failed to make it through.

The Indian women's recurve team, consisting of Deepika Kumari, Bhajan Kaur, and Ankita Bhakat, lost 3-5 to lower-ranked Ukraine in the pre-quarterfinals of the Final Olympic Qualifier in Antalya on Friday, despite initially leading the match. India, as the fifth seed, received a bye into the pre-quarters and needed two wins in the elimination round to secure the Paris Olympic team quota place. In the women's recurve section, the top four teams in the semifinals earn team quotas.

Top-ranked Jannik Sinner is set to compete in both singles and doubles at the Paris Olympics, according to the Italian tennis federation. This will be the 22-year-old Sinner's first Summer Games. He recently reached the top spot in the men's rankings after making it to the semi-finals of the French Open, where he was defeated by eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Everton's captain, Seamus Coleman, has signed a one-year contract extension to remain at the Merseyside club for what is anticipated to be the team's last season at Goodison Park. The 35-year-old Irish right-back has played nearly 15 full seasons for the Toffees, having joined the club in January 2009 from Sligo Rovers for just £60,000 (USD 75,000).

Reserve opener Shubman Gill and speedster Avesh Khan are all set to be released from the Indian set-up after the team's final T20 World Cup group league game against Ireland in Florida on Saturday, according to PTI reports.

It is understood that going into the Super Eights stage, the team management is pretty certain that they don't need to carry four standbys and hence only designated finisher Rinku Singh and left-arm fast medium Khaleel Ahmed will accompany the team during the Caribbean leg of the tourney.

The first Olympic Esports Games are set to be added soon to the IOC's portfolio of events as it seeks to attract and retain young audiences, according to AP reports.

The International Olympic Committee said Friday it will ask members to approve a proposal to create a video game Olympics when they meet next month in Paris on the eve of the Summer Games.

Sumit Nagal has maintained his excellent form by reaching the semi-finals of the ongoing Perugia Challenger in Italy on Friday. The sixth-seeded Indian defeated the unseeded Maks Kasnikowski of Poland in the quarterfinal, winning in straight sets 6-4, 7-5. This victory marks his eighth successive win since the beginning of the Heilbronn Challenger in Germany.

Midfielder Timmy Tillman was removed from the United States of America roster for the Copa America on Friday, bringing the team down to the 26-player limit for the tournament. Tillman had been part of the US training camp for the past two weeks, but the 25-year-old did not play in the warmup games, which were a 5-1 loss to Colombia last weekend and a 1-1 draw against Brazil on Wednesday. He will now be returning to Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC.

Luciano Spalletti is confident Italy can live up to expectations as they aim to win a second consecutive Euros title.

Roberto Mancini led Italy to Euro 2020 glory during an impressive 37-game unbeaten run as they beat England 3-2 on penalties at Wembley Stadium.

Jordan Pickford has urged England to embrace the pressure of being one of the favourites to win Euro 2024.

England made it to the final of Euro 2020, ultimately losing on penalties to Italy, as well as reaching the semi-finals and quarter-finals of the last two World Cups under Gareth Southgate.

Cristiano Ronaldo says Portugal "deserve to win" Euro 2024, as the skipper issued a rallying cry to the 2016 champions.

Roberto Martinez's side are among the favourites to go all the way in Germany, where they begin their campaign against Czechia on Tuesday, before facing Turkiye and debutants Georgia in Group F.

Looking to end 58 years of hurt, England get their Euro 2024 campaign under way against Serbia on Sunday.

Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate has suggested it may be a case of all or nothing as he enters his fourth – and potentially final – major tournament at the helm.

USA Copa America Squad

Goalkeepers: Ethan Horvath (Cardiff), Sean Johnson (Toronto), Matt Turner (Nottingham Forest)

Defenders: Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic), Kristoffer Lund (Palermo), Mark McKenzie (Genk), Shaq Moore (Nashville), Tim Ream (Fulham), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Miles Robinson (Cincinnati), Joe Scally (Borussia Moenchengladbach)

Midfielders: Tyler Adams (Bournemouth), Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Yunus Musah (AC Milan), Gio Reyna (Nottingham Forest), Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven)

Forwards: Brenden Aaronson (Union Berlin), Folarin Balogun (Monaco), Ricardo Pepi (PSV Eindhoven), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan), Josh Sargent (Norwich), Tim Weah (Juventus), Haji Wright (Coventry)

A washout in the USA-Ireland game in Florida means Pakistan are now out of the race of Super 8s. USA, on their World Cup debut, and India are the two teams going through to the next stage from Group A.

We will be taking your leave tonight. Thank you for following us. Good Night!