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India take on England in the first test in Hyderabad, while Rohan Bopanna continues his Australian Open heroics with Super Cup action as well today.
Here are the key updates from January 25, Thursday:
Super Cup: Odisha defeat Mumbai City 1-0 to reach final
Defending champions Odisha FC made it 15 unbeaten games in all competitions with a 1-0 win over Mumbai City FC, with the end of the game marred by three red cards to Mumbai. Diego Mauricio got the decisive goal from the penalty spot in the first half to send Odisha through to the final against East Bengal FC.
Mumbai had their fair share of shots on goal in the first half, but the decisive moment came late on. Mauricio ran on to Isak Ralte's through ball, getting ahead of Phurba Lachenpa, who brought down the striker and conceded a penalty. Odisha's frontman converted with an emphatic strike to take the lead in the 44th minute.
Odisha held firm for much of the second half, with Ralte spurning a golden chance to double his side's lead late on. The game ended on a sour note, with Royston Griffith appearing to stamp on a prone Carlos Delgado after the pair tangled in a free-kick, as the Mumbai defender earned his marching orders. In the ensuing melee, Jorge Pereyra Diaz and Gurkirat Singh were also sent off, leaving Mumbai to play out the final three minutes of injury-time with eight men.
Badminton: Kiran George the only Indian remaining in Indonesia Masters
The spate of Indian men's singles players bowing out early in the Indonesia Masters continued in the second round, with Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat suffering second round losses, with Kiran George the only remaining Indian.
Lakshya began the Indian interest for the day and battled well but ultimately fell to eighth seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark by a 19-21, 18-21 scoreline. Priyanshu followed suit with a straight games loss to Brian Yang of Canada, losing 18-21, 14-21.
George, who had won the Indonesia Masters last year in its guise as a Super 100 tournament (it is now a Super 500), stunned world no. 18 and 2023 China Open winner, Lu Guang Zu by a 21-11, 13-21, 21-18 thriller to progress to the quarterfinals. He faces sixth-seed Kunlavut Viditsarn of Thailand, with Antonsen also in his half of the draw.
ISL: Schedule for second half announced, kick off timings changed
The Indian Super League has announced the fixtures for the second phase of the season, with the league resuming on January 31. The first game upon resumption will see Jamshedpur FC face NorthEast United FC, while the first Kolkata derby of ISL 2023-24 season will be held on February 3 with Mohun Bagan Super Giant hosting East Bengal FC.
In a notable change, the evening games will begin at 7:30 pm IST [as opposed to 8pm earlier], while the first match on double header days will now be played starting 5:00 pm IST [as opposed to 5:30pm earlier]. Here's the full second half schedule.
WTT Star Contender Goa: Manav Thakkar - Manush Shah into men's doubles quarter-finals
The young Indian duo of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah sailed into the men's doubles quarter-finals of the WTT Star Contender Goa 2024 with a comfortable victory over Pang Yew En Koen and Avatar Quek Izaac of Indonesia, dominating their Indonesian opponents 11-7, 11-9, 11-5 in front of a cheering crowd in the round-of-16 match.
Meanwhile, Taneesha Kotecha and Sayali Wani entered the last-eight stage in the women's doubles event. They saw off a strong challenge from Christina Kallberg and Filippa Bergand of Sweden to notch up a 11-9, 4-11, 11-8, 11-7 victory.
In women's singles, India's Archana Kamath entered the Round-of-32 by defeating higher-ranked Maria Xiao of Spain 11-7, 13-11, 12-10 in the opening round. Sreeja Akula also defeated Camille Lutz of France 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8 in another first round women's singles contest. Ajali Rohilla fought an uphill battle against Lee Eunhye of South Korea before losing 5-11, 10-12, 3-11, with Nithya Mani of India also lost to Thailand's Orawan Paranang by a 15-13, 8-11, 2-11, 7-11 margin.
In men's singles, India's Harmeet Desai crashed out in the first round itself as he went down 11-13, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 6-11 to Andrej Gacina of Croatia, while Jeet Chandra also lost 5-11, 8-11, 4-11 to Alvaro Robles of Spain in the first round.
Chaoba Devi likely to become Indian senior women's football team coach
The All India Football Federation's technical committee has recommended former India international Langam Chaoba Devi for the post of the head coach of the Indian senior women's team. Chaoba was the former assistant coach of the senior team and has represented India at two AFC Women's Championships and the 1998 Asian Games. Currently, she is the head coach of Kickstart FC, who are unbeaten and presently in second place in the ongoing IWL season.
Priya PV, who was named the AIFF Women's Coach of the Year in 2023, has been recommended for the post of assistant coach. She was the coach of the Indian U17 team, who made it to Round 2 of the AFC U17 Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers for the first time last year. The committee also recommended that Lourembam Ronibala Chanu should continue her role as the goalkeeper coach.
The senior women's team is expected to participate in the 2024 Turkish Women's Cup, scheduled for February 19 to 28 in Turkey during the FIFA women's international match window. The Indian squad will camp for a week, post the 10th round of the IWL on February 11, before leaving for Turkey.
Bopanna-Ebden into Australian Open final
Soon-to-be world No 1 Rohan Bopanna and Matt Ebden's terrific run as a pair continued as they reached the men's doubles final at the Australian Open.
They sailed through a dramatic final phase of the semifinal to beat the Czech-Chinese pair of Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7) in 2 hours and 2 minutes.
This only the third men's doubles Grand Slam final for 43-year-old Bopanna and the second straight for them as a pair after the US Open last year. It gives the Indian a chance to win his first ever men's double title and fulfil another dream after achieving the world No 1 for the first time after his quarterfinal win yesterday.
Rohan Bopanna, world no. 1 at 43, inspires beyond tennis
The semifinal on Rod Laver Arena was a see-saw affair, with the Indo-Australian second seeds showing all showcasing all the doubles experiences to take the first game in 32 minutes with one early break, solid serve stats and barely any unforced errors.
The second saw Machac and Zhang regroup and find their range together and power on their strokes, breaking Ebden's serve once to force a decider. The roof closed at 1-1 second game and the complexion of the match changed.
The third set saw the second seeds take charge of the match again. Bopanna, very strong on serve so far, almost single handedly won 2 break points and broke for 3-1, commanding shots from the net, getting his volleys perfect and staying on the attack. He then held to 15 to consolidate for 4-1 and keep the match on his racquet.
But then came the twist, as Bopanna's serve faltered when it mattered, and he was broken for the first time in two matches just when he was serving for a place in the final. It was perhaps an importune case of nerves but the pair couldn't capitalise on 3 match points in the next game either, as Zhang came back from 0-40 down to hold for 5-5.
With no more breaks, the match was finally decided in the 10-point match tiebreaker, where Bopanna stepped up when it mattered the most and clinched the match with steady serving, movement at the net and then an ace on the first of two match points.
The key stats were the 33 winners and 6 aces from Bopanna and Ebden with a 2/2 conversion rate on break points.
Their final opponents are yet to be decided but both are unseeded pairs who have not faced the second seeds yet. The final will be on Saturday morning and Bopanna said he was glad to have a day to recover after playing and winning back-to-back matches.
What's in store today?
Aus Open: Rohan Bopanna, newly minted as the men's doubles world no. 1 features in the MD semifinal of the Australian Open with partner Matthew Ebden. They face Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang - 7:30 AM
Cricket: India take on England in the first test at Hyderabad, sans Virat Kohli - 9:30 AM
Super Cup: It's the second semifinal between Mumbai City FC and Jamshedpur FC - 7:30 PM.
Badminton: Action from the Indonesia Masters where Lakshya Sen, Priyanshu Rajawat and Kiran George are the only Indians left
Table-tennis: The WTT Star Contender continues in Goa with plenty of Indians in action.
Shooting: 2024 ISSF World Cup, Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in Cairo, Egypt
What happened yesterday?
Rohan Bopanna is all set to become the new world no. 1 in men's doubles after a quarterfinal win at the Australian Open.
PKL: Dabang Delhi edged past Haryana Steelers 35-32, while Tamil Thalaivas thrashed home side Telugu Titans by a 54-29 scoreline.
Indonesia Masters: Lakshya Sen, Priyanshu Rajawat and Kiran George advanced to the second round but HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth made early exits.
IWL: Kickstart FC held leaders Odisha FC to goalless draw
Super Cup: East Bengal entered the Super Cup final after defeating Jamshedpur.
You can check all the details of yesterday's news events, here.