World Sports: Liverpool Beat Chelsea To Lift EFL Cup; India Thrash Ireland 4-0 In FIH Pro League

Welcome to our coverage of the sports news and events on Saturday, February 25, 2024. Rohit Sharma's men turned things around spectacularly to force their way back into the fourth Test against England in Ranchi. In hockey, Harmanpreet Singh and Co beat Ireland 4-0 in their final home return-leg fixture of the FIH Pro League 2023-24 in Rourkela. Back in cricket, after back-to-back humdingers, the Women's Premier League 2024 saw a relatively one-sided third game, with Mumbai Indians comfortably prevailing over Gujarat Giants. Catch the highlights of all the sporting action here. (Cricket News | Football News)

New Zealand won the toss and opted to bowl in the third and final T20I in Auckland's Eden Park. Batting first Australia were 118/4 in 10.4 overs before rain halted play.

In the Premier League, Arsenal blitzed away Newcastle United 4-1 to go two points adrift of Liverpool in the EPL standings. Manchester United suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Fulham at Old Trafford with the Cottagers coming away with a 1-2 win. Aston Villa thumped Nottingham Forest 4-2 to remain the top 4. Whereas, Burnley were beaten 3-0 by Crystal Palace. Manchester City beat AFC Bournemouth 1-0 to remain second in the PL.

With the rains playing a damper, the game has been shortened to a 10-over run chase and the DLS revised target for New Zealand is 126.

A match that was curtailed by rains has seen the visitors prevail again by 27 runs (DLS Method) and take a 3-0 series win against New Zealand. With the T20 World Cup this year, Mitchell Marsh and co. seem to be hitting the right notes.

Sri Lanka’s T20I skipper and second-ranked T20I bowler on the ICC Men's Player Rankings, Wanindu Hasaranga, has been presented with a two-match suspension after his total demerit points reached five within a 24-month period following his latest breach of the ICC Code of Conduct, for which he received a 50 per cent fine and three demerit points. Afghanistan player Rahmanullah Gurbaz has also been penalised. He has been fined 15 per cent of his match fee for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct in the same match.

The New Delhi Marathon 2024 got underway and saw Union MoS Meenakashi Lekhi and former Team India cricketer Irfan Pathan in attendan

Japan and North Korea's women played a scoreless draw on Saturday in their bid for a spot in this year's Paris Olympics. This means the place will be determined on Wednesday in the second-leg match at Tokyo's National Stadium where the winner will advance to the 12-team tournament in Paris.

(Source: AP)

Former Asian champion Gopi Thonakal won the New Delhi Marathon title but missed out the Paris Olympics qualifying time by a big margin on Sunday. The 35-year-old Gopi, who had clinched the Asian marathon title in 2017, won the men's elite race covering the distance of 42.195km in 2 hours, 14 minutes and 40 seconds, well outside the Paris Games qualifying time of 2:08:10.

India's Suhas Yathiraj, Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar capped their impressive run by securing gold medals in men's singles SL4, SL3 and SH6 class respectively at the Para Badminton World Championship on Sunday.

(Source - PTI)

Asian Games medallist Abhay Singh clinched his eighth PSA title with a convincing 3-0 victory over Elliott Morris Devred of Wales in the final of the Goodfellow Classic, a USD $9000 Challenger squash event, in Toronto. The top seeded Indian claimed a 11-7, 11-9, 11-9 win against Devred in 40 minutes in what was his 12th career final. (PTI)

Pakistan fast bowler, Haris Rauf has been ruled out for the remainder of the Pakistan Super League with a disclosed shoulder. The 30-year-old, who plays for Lahore Qalandars in PSL, had hurt his shoulder while fielding against Karachi Kings on Friday night and went off the field. He will need four to six weeks to regain fitness. (PTI)

Ravichandran Ashwin scalped his 35th Five-wicket haul in Tests as England were bowled out for 145, with a lead of 191. India require 192 runs to win the fourth Test and in turn, win the series.

The men's team final of the ITTF World Table Tennis Team Championships 2024 is underway. China are 1-0 up against France, with Wang Chuqin beating Felix Lebrun in straight games in the opening rubber. The second match of the tie pits the legendary Ma Long against Simon Gauzy.

Union sports minister Anurag Thakur has said that "it makes more sense" for the International Olympic Committee to give India the hosting rights for the 2036 Olympic Games, as the nation is growing by leaps and bounds in every sphere including sports, PTI reports. Speaking at the News9 Global Summit, Thakur said India's recent performance at major international events like the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games gives him hope that the nation could enter the top 10 in sports by 2036 and be in the top-5 by 2047.

Alpine skier Bobby Pandey’s parallel slalom gold at the Kangdoori slopes made the difference on the final day of the Khelo India Winter Games 2024 in Gulmarg. Pandey’s victory helped Army finish on top of the medal tally with 10 gold, just one more than Karnataka and three more than number three Maharashtra, the table toppers at the end of the first round of the Winter Games in Ladakh from February 2-5.

India has failed to add any medals to its tally today after four fruitful days in the Asian Track Cycling Championships, with Malaysia stamping its authority in the continental event in New Delhi. Malaysia, with 17 gold -- 15 of them in the para category -- continues to lead the standings, followed by Japan (13 gold, three silver, two bronze medals).

The Indian men's hockey team thrashed lower-ranked Ireland 4-0 to end its home leg of the FIH Pro League 2023-24 on a high in Rourkela. Nilakanta Sharma (14th minute), Akashdeep Singh (15th), Gurjant Singh (38th) and Jugraj Singh (60th) were the goal-scorers. Nilakanta and Jugraj got their goals from penalty corners while Akashdeep and Gurjant struck through field efforts.

Twenty20, a political party promoted by a prominent business group in Kochi, has announced its candidates for the Lok Sabha seats-- Chalakkudi and Ernakulam, PTI reports. Sabu Jacob, president of Twenty20, announced that Charly Paul and Antony Judi would be the party candidates for the Chalakkudy and Ernakulam constituencies, respectively.

Mumbai Indians have notched up their second win in as many games at the Women's Premier League 2024. Chasing a modest target of 127 runs, Mumbai romped home with 11 balls to spare. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur stayed unbeaten on 46 and Amelia Kerr (31) supported her ably to make sure their team comfortably got over the line, despite a couple of quick wickets falling towards the end. With the facile win, Mumbai have climbed to the top of the table with four points from their two games so far.

In a game that went to extra time and was decided through Virgil van Dijk's 118th-minute strike, Liverpool have beaten Chelsea 1-0 in the final to win the EFL Cup 2023-24 title, also known as the Carabao Cup.

That's it from us today. We will be back tomorrow morning with all that's current in the world of sports. Until then, goodbye.