World Sports: UEFA Nations League Draw; Australia Beat Pakistan By One Wicket In U-19 World Cup SF - As It Happened

India will meet Australia in the final of the ICC U-19 Men's Cricket World Cup after the Boys in Yellow defeated Pakistan in the second semi-final. UEFA Nations League draw was out and the Indian U-19 girls were joint winners alongside Bangladesh in the SAFF U-19 Championships. The medals for the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics were also revealed.

Untill then, goodnight from all of us here!

Australia will battle Pakistan in the second semi-final of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2024 in Benoni, with the victor of the bout moving on to face India in the grand final.

Back home, the Board of Control for Cricket in India is expected to announce the home team's squad for the third Test against England, with all eyes on whether Virat Kohli will be part of it, as also Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul's injury update.

Here are all the updates from sports world live today. (Cricket News | Football News)

Earlier in the morning, Sebastien Haller fired hosts Ivory Coast into the Africa Cup of Nations final against old rivals Nigeria with a 1-0 victory over the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Associated Press reports. Haller netted when his volley from Max Gradel’s cross bounced before going in under the crossbar in the 65th minute, setting off wild celebrations in the 60,000-capacity Alassane Ouattara Stadium.

Kelechi Iheanacho scored the winning penalty earlier to send Nigeria to the final with a 4-2 shootout victory over South Africa, after their semi-final ended 1-1 after extra time.

The mounting pressure on manager Mauricio Pochettino has eased up a bit as Chelsea beat Aston Villa 3-1 away in their FA Cup fourth-round replay, Associated Press reports. Chelsea’s players delivered a performance to make their manager proud, with first-half goals by Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson coming before an exquisite free kick from Enzo Fernandez in the 54th that curled beyond his fellow World Cup winner from Argentina, Emi Martinez.

All-time great golfer Tiger Woods has confirmed that he will make his first PGA Tour start since the Masters last year, at the Genesis Invitational next week at Riviera, a tournament he hosts. Woods posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that he was "excited to be a playing host" when the PGA Tour's next signature event with a USD 20 million purse starts on February 15.

Australia's T20 captain Mitchell Marsh has tested positive to Covid-19 but will still play tomorrow’s opening T20I against the West Indies in Hobart. Marsh will use a separate dressing room during the match and stay distanced while on the field.

In the first-ever ODI between the two nations, Canada have bowled Nepal out for 224 in their allotted 50 overs in Kirtipur. Medium pacer Uday Bhagwan picked up three wickets for the visitors, and opener Kushal Bhurtel top-scored with 62 for the home team.

His ability to hold a line, bowl wicket-taking deliveries without leaking runs along with those lethal yorkers make Jasprit Bumrah the most complete bowler in international cricket, says former South African seamer Vernon Philander, who foresees the Indian outperforming all his contemporaries in this year's T20 World Cup in the Americas, PTI reports.

Sports Authority of India has released an Out of Pocket Allowance of INR 7,71,30,000 for 2,571 Khelo India Athletes for Quarter 4 of the financial year 2023-24. The amount released is a part of the Khelo India Scholarship Scheme.

As part of long-term development program of Khelo India Scheme, close to 3,000 athletes are identified as Khelo India athletes and are provided an out of pocket allowance of INR1,20,000/- per annum per athlete. In addition, INR 5 Lakh is spent on each athlete towards training and competition.

The Quarter 4 amount released for 2023-24 covers Jan - Feb - March 2024 and the entire amount released to the athletes for Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 for 2023-24 is INR 30,83,30,000.

In a match that went right down to the wire, Nepal just about defeated Canada by seven runs in what was the first-ever ODI meeting between the two teams. Nepal bowled Canada out for 217 runs, in response to their first-innings total of 224. This is the first time the two cricketing nations are playing a bilateral series, and the next game will be played at the same venue on Saturday, February 10.

As many as six India pugilists will be seen in quarter-final action at the Strandja Memorial boxing tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. The list includes world champion Nikhat Zareen in the 50kg category in Ring A at around 5:45pm IST (timing subject to change based on previous bouts).

All the matches can be live streamed on YouTube. The Ring A bouts can be streamed here, and Ring B ones here.

European football leaders were urged to protect the sport from the risk of owners taking control of multiple clubs, in a speech by France's sports minister on Thursday. Amélie Oudéa-Castéra warned the UEFA annual congress of a scenario where “a small number of investors would have control over European football. These are threats to our sporting principles and we need to be vigilant to such threats,” Oudéa-Castéra said.

News just coming in that current UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has stated that he will not stand for re-election in 2027.

Gulf carrier Etihad Airways entered into an agreement with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to become its official sponsor. The partnership will cover CSK's events and platforms, while its players' jerseys will display the Etihad logo, the carrier said. The collaboration with the five-time champion of the Indian Premier League (IPL), comes close on the heels of Etihad roping in Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif as its brand ambassador, it said.

India were on Thursday drawn to meet Sweden in an away Davis Cup World Group I tie in September. The Indian Davis Cup team had blanked Pakistan 4-0 in the World Group I play-offs in Islamabad last week while Sweden lost 1-3 to Brazil at home in the Qualifiers first round.

Set to return after an injury-induced break, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu is aware the road to Paris will be "challenging" and she needs to be "smarter" in her pursuit of coveted gold medal in the French capital. Former world champion Sindhu has been enduring a lean patch. She has suffered injury setbacks and a dip in form in the last 18 months. "I would say, this Olympics is going to be a different experience because the 2016 and 2020 Olympics were very different. Paris will be more challenging but at the same time, I have much more experience and I will have to be much smarter this time," Sindhu told PTI in an interaction.

India were on Thursday declared joint winners of the SAFF Women's Under-19 Football Championships with hosts Bangladesh though the visitors initially thought they have won the title through the toss of coins, in an unprecedented change of decision made by the match officials. The match ended 1-1 after the regulation 90 minutes of play and direct penalty shootout was ordered by the referee.

A player of the stature of Virat Kohli missing the upcoming Tests against England is a blow not just for the Indian team but also for the series and world cricket in general, feels former skipper Nasser Hussain. It'll be a blow for India. It'll be a blow for the series. It'll be a blow for world cricket. It's going to be a special series. It already has been. The first two games have been fascinating," Hussain said on Sky Sports.