World Sports: India Sweat It Out Ahead Of Ranchi Test; IPL 2024 Schedule Declared For 1st Phase - As It Happened

Welcome to the highlights of 22nd February's sports news and events. Lionel Messi made his first full MLS season bow as his Inter Miami FC side played Real Salt Lake. In cricket, Pakistan Super League action continued. Excitement grows for the Women's Premier League as Shah Rukh Khan is set to perform at the opening ceremony.

Elsewhere, the England cricket team didn't announce their playing XI. In F1, pre-season was underway as teams tested it out with Max Verstappen still going gung-ho on the first day. In ISL, Jamshedpur FC Beat East Bengal FC. Pakistan Super League action continued as Quetta Gladiators won by 3 wickets against Islamabad United. Catch the highlights of all the action on Thursday, February 22 here (Cricket News | Football News)

After missing out much of Inter Miami's pre-season, Lionel Messi featured in their season opener against Real Salt Lake, contributing in the build-up to the insurance goal in a 2-0 win. Miami scored through Robert Taylor and Diego Gomez, with Messi's run through the middle of the pitch and subsequent pass to Luis Suarez opening up the avenues for Gomez's goal late on.

Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth will face the top-ranked Victor Axelsen in the BWF All England Open Championships 2024 men's singles first round. Meanwhile, top-ranked pairing Satwiksiraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will take on Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in the men's doubles, while PV Sindhu will face Yvonne Li in the women's singles.

The competition will begin on March 12, 2024.

Ensuring that hsi arch-nemesis did not get to hog all the limelight, Cristiano Ronaldo starred in Al-Nassr's win in the AFC Champions League round-of-16 second leg. The forward scored the second goal in a routine 2-0 win over Al-Fayha, with his team securing a 3-0 aggregate victory.

...amidst the snowy hills in Kashmir!

Arsenal lost their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 clash against Porto by a solitary goal when Wenderson Galeno picked the ball up outside the box in the during seconds of the match and curled it past David Raya in goal. Elsewhere, Victor Osimhen scored late on as Napoli rescued a first leg draw against Barcelona in new manager Francesco Calzona's first match in charge - mere two days after he took on the role!

...by becoming the first person born in 2006 to win an ATP Tour-level match! The 17-year-old Brazilian beat seventh-seed Arthur Fils 6-0, 6-4 at the Rio Open to achieve that feat in the midst of cheering and emotional fans.

Fonseca is likely to jump 200 spots from his current world no. 655 position in the next batch of rankings!

The former Barcelona and Brazil star has been found guilty of sexual assault by a Brazilian court and has been handed a jail term amounting to four years and six months. Alves had been detained inside a jail since early 2023, awaiting trial, after the court deemed him at flight risk.

In a bitter blow for Team India and one-time champions Gujarat Titans, pacer Mohammed Shami has been ruled out of the upcoming Indian Premier League season. Shami has been out of action since the ODI World Cup final in late 2023 and has missed subsequent series' against Australia, South Africa, Afghanistan, and England.

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2024 IPL season-opener in Chennai on March 22, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced, while unveiling the schedule for only the first 17 days of the cash-rich T20 league. The roster for the remaining matches will be announced once the dates for the upcoming general elections are announced early next month.

Rising Indian squash player Abhay Singh stormed into the quarterfinals of the Goodfellow Classic, a USD 9000 Challenger Tour event in Toronto. The top-seeded Abhay, a former national champion and ranked No 66. in the world, beat Canadian wild card Elliott Hunt 11-6, 11-3, 11-9 in the second round, following a bye in the first, PTI reports. Elsewhere, India's top-ranked player Saurav Ghosal lost in the opening round of the World Tour Platinum Windy City Open in Chicago, going down to home favourite Timothy Brownell 11-13, 2-11, 11-3, 14-12.

India bagged two gold, a silver and a bronze medal, while Malaysia dominated the proceedings with five top-podium finishes on day two of the Asian Track Cycling Championships in New Delhi, PTI reports. On a day when all of India's medals came in the para category, Arshad Shaikh and Jalaluddin Ansari secured a gold-silver in the C2 15km Scratch final, while in women's C2 category 15km Scratch race, Jyoti Gaderiya emerged the winner.

Indian archers, including former world number one Deepika Kumari who is making a comeback after 20 months, have stormed into the final of six team events to assure themselves of as many medals in the Asia Cup Leg 1 in Baghdad. Three-time Olympian Deepika stood second behind Simranjeet Kaur in the qualification in the women's recurve team event, PTI reports. In the elimination round, the Indian women's recurve team blanked hosts Iraq to set up a gold medal clash against Uzbekistan. The men's recurve team of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Pravin Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai also ousted the hosts, winning in straight sets. They will face Bangladesh in the final.

According to PTI reports, all the athletes competing in the 4th Khelo India Winter Games in Gulmarg are safe following an avalanche that left a Russian skier dead on Thursday afternoon. The avalanche happened "away from the field of play" and has not resulted in any change in the schedule of the KIWG that began on Wednesday and will conclude on February 25.

Tania Singh, a 28-year-old model and friend of IPL player Abhishek Sharma, was discovered dead in her flat on Monday. IPL player Abhishek Sharma's association with Tania Singh has come under police scrutiny as part of the probe into the model's alleged suicide. According to a statement issued by a Surat police official on Wednesday, early results reveal a link between the two. Authorities have issued a notice to Abhishek Sharma, who plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad, for interrogation.

Xabi Alonso, the manager of Bayer Leverkusen, claimed he had "nothing new to say" in the wake of speculation linking him with previous clubs Bayern Munich and Liverpool. Liverpool are looking for a new manager after Jurgen Klopp stated he will depart at the end of the season.

Bayern and Thomas Tuchel have also agreed to split ways after the current season ends.

"Maybe you have questions about my future," Alonso stated before his team's match against Mainz on Friday.

"I've got nothing fresh to say about it. I wanted to let you know in advance.

Indian wildcard entry Niki Poonacha pulled off a stunning victory over top seed and compatriot Sumit Nagal to move to the quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger 100 international tournament in Pune on Thursday. Poonacha joined Sasikumar Mukund in the quarterfinals after he defeated the much-fancied Nagal 6-4, 6-3, their clash lasting over one hour and nine minutes.

Delhi missed a penalty to allow defending champions Karnataka to split points in a 1-1 draw during their Santosh Trophy match in Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday. Both the goals came in the first half as Appu Arogya Swamy's long-ranger for Karnataka was cancelled out by Prabin Tigga's own goal. Delhi, however, fluffed a golden opportunity to win the contest in injury time when Sridarth Nongmeikapam's penalty was well saved by Christurajan T.

Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday said that over 300 sporting infrastructure projects worth Rs 3,000 crore have been established under the Khelo India umbrella. Thakur added that Khelo India and Target Olympics Podium Scheme (TOPS) had "revolutionised" the sports landscape in India.

Jamshedpur FC reclaimed the sixth position in the Indian Super League points table with a 2-1 win over East Bengal FC in Jamshedpur on Thursday. Japan's Rei Tachikawa scored the equaliser for the winners followed by the decisive goal from Jeremy Manzorro as Jamshedpur FC came from behind to win at the JRD Tata Sports Complex.

Indian Premier League 2024 announced the schedule for the first phase. The first match will be played between MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings and Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore. Indian cricket team practised before the fourth Test in Ranchi. India's top seed Sumit Nagal was defeated by wildcard entry Niki Poonacha in the ATP Challenger 100 international tournament in Pune.

Bye! Good Night!