ESPN India's daily live blog is your handy guide for everything to do with the wide world of Indian sport. We have the latest updates and analysis from the entire bouquet of Olympic and franchise sports with an Indian bent. The blog is updated throughout the day, so keep checking back to catch up on news you may have missed.
Here are all the key updates from December 28, Thursday:
ISL: Mumbai City FC return to winning ways by strolling past Chennaiyin FC
Petr Kratky's Mumbai City FC climbed to third in the table after a comprehensive 3-0 win over Chennaiyin FC, with Lallianzuala Chhange, Vikram Partap Singh and Gurkirat Singh finding the net for the hosts.
Mumbai started brightly and created great opportunities, but Chennaiyin stood firm. However, in the 36th minute, Bikash Yumnam was adjudged to have fouled Vikram in the box, only for Chhangte to crash the resultant penalty against the crossbar as both sides went into the break level. Chhangte made up for his miss seven minutes into the second half with a well-taken strike with his left foot. Mumbai went on to seal the match in their favour after Gurkirat Singh came on - the forward earning a penalty that Vikram converted in the 80th minute. Gurkirat then scored his first ISL goal with a clever shimmy and curled strike with his left from the edge of the box in the 90th minute to add gloss to the scoreline.
The result pushes Mumbai up to third in the table, while Owen Coyle's Chennaiyin side are left looking over their shoulders in the last playoff spot.
Odisha FC's AFC Cup draw is out
Odisha will face the winners of the ASEAN Zone in the Inter-Zonal semifinal. The winner of that zone is still to determined, with four teams still in contention. The semifinals of the ASEAN zone will see Central Coast Mariners (Australia) vs Phnom Penh Crown (Cambodia) and Macarthur FC (Australia) vs Sabah FC (Malaysia). The final of the ASEAN zone is on Feb 22, 2024.
Odisha, of course, qualified to the two-legged inter-zonal semifinal by winning the South Zone, beating Bashundhara Kings (Bangladesh) in their final matchday of Group D action earlier this month.
What happened yesterday?
Kerala Blasters went top of the Indian Super League table with a 1-0 win away to Mohun Bagan, courtesy an early Dimitrios Diamantakos goal.
The Indian Olympic Association appointed a three-member ad-hoc committee, headed by Bhupinder Singh Bajwa, to oversee the activities of the suspended Wrestling Federation of India [WFI].
PKL: Jaipur Pink Panthers and Dabang Delhi played out a thrilling tie (32-32), while Gujarat Giants eked out a narrow 33-30 win over home side Tamil Thalaivas.
Dipa Karmakar, the first Indian female gymnast to compete at the Olympics is set to compete at the Nationals for the first time in 8 years.
India's hopes in the boxing day Test against South Africa took a hit on Day 2 after Dean Elgar's masterful 140* set up the home side for a 11-run lead, after KL Rahul's century lead India to 245 all-out.
You can check all the details of yesterday's news events here.