Australian Open Towards the Finals – Sports News for the Week

This week’s sports community had been really busy. With the Australian Open nearing its final the day-to-day sports agenda is tightly packed. Other than this there is some exciting news of Smriti Mandhana winning the ICC Award, the Lucknow IPL team getting a name and some sad moments like India being whitewashed in the SA ODI series. In addition to it, there’s still a few more interesting sports-oriented news stated below. Let’s quickly run over what sports has in store for the week.

Australian Open: Ash Barty into the Finals

The semi-final of Women’s Singles in the Australian Open took place in Rod Laver Arena on Thursday. Ash Barty faced Madison Keys on the court in the second game of the day where Ash Barty beat her opponent in a dominant set of 6-1 and 6-3. She is just a win away from securing the home Grand Slam for her country. It’s been 42 years since an Australian entered the Women’s Singles final in the Australian Open. The previous entry into the final was made by Wendy Turnbull in 1980. The prolonged wait of 42 years would be worth it if Ash Barty finds her way to win the title this year. Barty will meet Danielle Collins on Saturday for her finals in the Australian Open.

India out of AFC Women’s Asian Cup Football Competition

After around 12 players of the 23 member squad tested positive for COVID-19, the Indian women’s football team couldn’t participate in the match against Chinese Taipei. According to AFC’s rule, any nation which fails to field a team in any one of the matches will be considered to have withdrawn from the tournament. Therefore, AFC officially made a statement that India is out of the Asian Cup tournament and all their future matches are considered to be null and void.

The Indian coach Thomas Dennerby slammed AFC for its poor bio-bubble management. He said that the outbreak in the Indian team happened due to the hotel staff where seven of them tested positive last week. With only 11 players left after a dozen tested positive and two of them injured, India failed to produce a team for the Chinese Taipei match and as a result, was forced out of the tournament.

ICC Women Cricketer of the Year goes to Smriti Mandhana

The Indian Opener Smriti Mandhana was named the ICC Women Cricketer of the Year on Monday. She was named after her excellent performance in all formats of cricket in the year 2021. This is the second time she’s receiving this recognition after 2018 from the International Cricket Council. Mandhana is the second Indian cricketer to be named twice as ICC Cricketer of the Year after Virat Kohli. 

1964 Indian Hockey Legend Passed Away

Charanjit Singh, who was the captain of the Indian Hockey Team that won the Gold Medal in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, passed away on Thursday the 27th of January. He was 90 years old. It is said that Charanjit Singh suffered a stroke a few years back. His health was deteriorating for the past few months and his body failed to respond to the treatments. We lost a legend who inspired his as well as the future generation of hockey players.

During his times, as a part of the Team and as a Captain, the Indian Hockey made glorious achievements. The team won silver in 1960 and Gold in the 1964 Olympics. He was also a part of the Indian silver-winning team in the 1962 Asian Games.

Lucknow Based IPL Franchise Named as ‘Lucknow Super Giants’

After the auctions that took place in late 2021, two new IPL teams were added to the race. They were based in Lucknow and Ahmedabad. Now, the management of the Lucknow Franchise announced the name of their IPL team as ‘Lucknow Super Giants’. They organized a contest named ‘Naam Banao Naam Kamao’ to the public for arriving at a name. The RPSG Group Chairman said that after lakhs and lakhs of responses and suggestions from the people through the contest, they’re finally sticking to the name ‘Lucknow Super Giants’. He also thanked the fans for their participation in the contest through a video. Watch the video here:

Team owner, Dr. Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman @rpsggroup unveils the name for the Lucknow IPL team. 😊👏🏼#LucknowSuperGiants #NaamBanaoNaamKamao #IPL2022 @IPL @BCCI @GautamGambhir @klrahul11 pic.twitter.com/TvGaZlIgFR

— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) January 24, 2022

India Lost the ODI Series 3-0 Against South Africa

India was whitewashed by South Africa in the three-match ODI series. Despite a good bowling attack from India, the SA batsmen developed a few strong partnerships and showed consistency in their batting. The final match of the series took place on Sunday which turned out to be a thriller. India required 8 runs from the last two overs with two wickets in hand. But the tail-enders failed to keep the team afloat and India lost the match by 4 runs.

Australian Open: Rafael Nadal in the Finals

The Australian Open Men’s Singles Semi-final took place in Melbourne on Friday (28th Jan). The first semi-final was played between Rafael Nadal and Matteo Berrettini. Nadal dominated the first two sets of the game as 6-3 and 6-2 respectively. Whereas Berrettini managed a lead in the third set. In the most crucial 4th set, Nadal dominated right from the beginning and finally won the set and the game with a 6-3 lead. Rafael Nadal is eyeing his 21st Singles Slam title which is now just a one-win away. The finals of the Australian Open Men’s Singles will take place on Sunday(30th Jan).

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