Here at the ESPN daily blog, we bring you all the news from the dynamic world of Indian sports: a one-stop shop for everything to do with the wide variety of Olympic sports and franchise leagues.
Here are the key updates from January 24, Wednesday:
PKL: Thalaivas win again, Delhi edge past Haryana
Telugu Titans fell to their 14th PKL loss in 16 games this season, as they were humbled 29-54 by the Tamil Thalaivas on the last day of the Hyderabad leg. Thalaivas have picked up a full 15 points from their last 3 matches, and that has put them back in contention for a spot in the playoffs, as they are now just five points behind sixth-placed U Mumba.
In the other match of the day, a close encounter went Dabang Delhi's way, as they beat Haryana Steelers 35-32.
Super Cup: East Bengal into Super Cup final after defeating Jamshedpur
Khalid Jamil's golden run to start his Jamshedpur FC tenure came to an end against Carles Cuadrat's East Bengal, with the Kolkata giants running out comfortable 2-0 winners in the Super Cup semifinal.
Defender Hijazi Maher opened the scoring in the 19th minute, and it was no surprise that it came from a set-piece. Javi Siverio then turned in Nishu Kumar's cross in the 47th minute to double East Bengal's lead, which could have increased had Cleiton Silva not missed a penalty late on. East Bengal will aim for a first major piece of silverware in the final on January 28th, where they face either Mumbai City FC or defending champions Odisha FC.
IWL: Kickstart FC hold leaders Odisha FC to goalless draw
Odisha FC's five-match winning run to start the IWL season came to an end away to second-placed Kickstart FC, as the clash between first and second in the table ended in a 0-0 scoreline.
Kickstart sat back and invited pressure for much of the game, looking to score on the counter and frustrating Odisha, who spurned several chances to score and even had coach Crispin Chetri sent off. Kickstart remain two points behind Odisha, who lead the league with 16 points after six games, midway through the season.
Indonesia Masters: Lakshya, Priyanshu, Kiran into R2; Prannoy, Srikanth exit
Lakshya Sen, Priyanshu Rajawat and Kiran George advanced to the second round but HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth made early exits after narrow losses in at the Indonesia Masters Super 500 in Jakarta.
It was a particularly important win for Lakshya as he ended a streak of seven-straight first-round exits on the BWF World Tour, winning his first match since August in an encouraging performance. He beat China's Weng Hong Yang 24-22, 21-15, coming back from 12-19 down in the first game to avenge his Malaysia Open first-round loss.
George, who had to qualify for the main draw with two wins on Tuesday, bounced back from a game down to beat France's Toma Junior Popov 18-21, 21-16, 21-19.
Priyanshu Rajawat, who had hurt his ankle in the match against Prannoy last week, then beat Denmark's Rasmus Gemke 21-18, 21-19 in a close match.
Sen will face a challenge against Malaysia Open champion Anders Antonsen in the second round, while Kiran will take on China's Lu Guang Zu and Priyanshu will play Brian Yang.
However, world no. 8 Prannoy, who had reached the semifinals at India Open Super 750 last week, lost to former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 18-21, 21-19, 10-21.
For Srikanth, it was yet another rollercoaster day, as he lost to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia 21-19, 14-21, 11-21 in 54 minutes.
Bopanna speaks
Bopanna, who turned pro in 2003, said it was a "dream" to finally achieve the world no. 1 ranking, and said it was a testament to his "perseverance" that he's been able to maintain a high level for so long.
"This win gets me to the World No. 1 ranking once this tournament is done. I think for every player out there, it is a dream. It was my dream, and, you know, more so when you're playing the sport for couple of decades," he told reporters after the win.
"It hasn't sunk in fully, to be honest. We are very, very proud. I think Indian tennis, India needed this," Bopanna said. "You know, we don't really have many tennis players coming up. The sport is slowly coming up. I think it's just going to inspire a lot of people. I don't think just in tennis. People all over the world, you know, being 40 and above, I think it's just going to inspire them in a different way."
American doubles specialist Rajeev Ram is the previous oldest player to reach the ATP's No. 1 mark, when he achieved it at age 38 in March, 2022.
His doubles partner Ebden will rise to No. 2 in the rankings due to some slight differences in the number of tournaments the pair have played in the past year, but said Bopanna reaching the doubles' summit was the pair's "big goal" coming into the 2024 season.
"We made our intentions clear. Said I want to get to World No. 1, win the slams, the big tournaments. We have ticked a lot of boxes the last year, and this is another one of those," the Australian said. "[It's a] huge milestone. We should acknowledge it. It's an incredible thing for 'Bops', especially at his age."
Rohan Bopanna set to become oldest World No. 1 in men's doubles
Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden defeated the sixth-seeded all-Argentine duo of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 6-4, 7-6(5) in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
This also means Bopanna, at 43, is all set to become the oldest World No. 1 in men's doubles history. He will go past USA's Austin Krajicek, the current World No. 1, in the ATP Rankings.
Bopanna and Ebden will next take on the Czech-Chinese pair of Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang in the semifinals.
It's significant achievement for Bopanna, who had earlier became the oldest man to win an ATP Masters 1000 title.
"I think the biggest thing is to have the discipline and mental strength. If you set yourself a goal, to have that kind of day in day out of discipline to work out and find what's the best way to achieve it" he told ESPN.
"It's not only for tennis, but I think just in general for a lot of athletes who are above 35. There is plenty of time to keep it going, be their best at the highest level. There's nothing really stopping you."
ESPN India's Zenia D'cunha had spoken to Bopanna recently about his achievements in 2023. Read: Rohan Bopanna takes wife's advice, turns limitations into opportunities to break more records
What's in store today?
Super Cup: It's the first semifinal between East Bengal FC and Jamshedpur FC at 7:30 pm.
PKL: It's the final day of the Hyderabad leg as Haryana Steelers face Dabang Delhi at 8 pm, while Telugu Titans host Tamil Thalaivas at 9 pm.
IWL: Kickstart FC take on Odisha FC at 3:00 pm.
Table-tennis: The WTT Star Contender continues in Goa with plenty of Indians in action.
What happened yesterday?
AFC Asian Cup: India's hopes of making it past the group stages came to an end with a 1-0 loss to Syria.
PKL: U Mumba played out a thrilling tie with Puneri Paltan.
India's Roshibina Devi was named International Wushu Federation's (IWUF) female athlete of the year in the sanda category.
You can check all the details of yesterday's news events, here.