Sports News Highlights, July 18, 2024: Suryakumar To Lead India For Sri Lanka T20Is; Rafael Nadal Into Swedish Open QFs – As It Happened

The Open at the Royal Troon has enhanced their purse and the winner will pocked USD 3.1 million, which will also be the highest amount in the Open’s history as it returns to Ayrshire links for the tenth time.

Denmark mixed doubles badminton player Mathias Christiansen has withdrawn from the Paris Olympics, a decision his national federation on Wednesday called the result of multiple unintentional errors made in reporting his whereabouts in line with anti-doping regulations. (AP)

Real Madrid extended Luka Modric’s contract on Wednesday, bringing the Croatia midfielder back for a 13th season with the club.

Madrid said it and Modric agreed to extend the player’s contract until June 2025. (AP)

The England vs West Indies second Test will be played at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground from July 18-22.

Match Start Timing – 3:30pm IST.

Live Telecasting – Sony Sports Ten 1 and Sony Sports Ten 1 HD in India.

Live Streaming – SonyLiv and FanCode in India.

The 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal will face the World No.2 Cameron Norrie in the round of 16 at the 2024 Swedish Open on July 18, Thursday at around 6:00 PM IST.

Live Streaming – Tennis TV.

Lionel Messi faced calls to apologize for racist chants made by Argentina’s players after they won the Copa America.

An Argentinean government official said Messi, who is the team captain, and the president of the country’s soccer federation, Claudio Tapia, should apologize after a video was shared on social media showing members of Argentina’s triumphant squad singing a racist chant about French players with African heritage. (AP)

Richard Carapaz claimed his first Tour de France stage win after showcasing his climbing prowess in the final ascents in the Alps.

Two-time champion Tadej Pogacar kept the overall race lead.

The 17th stage, covering 178 kilometers (110 miles) from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Superdévoluy, started with a gradual 130-kilometer climb through the Drôme region and presented no major challenges for the peloton. However, the last part of the race was a different story with the climbs of Col Bayard and Col du Noyer. (AP)

Under the guidance of new coach Gautam Gambhir, India will soon announce their squad for the Sri Lanka Tour. With Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja retiring, the question of who will be the new captain remains unanswered. Besides, Hardik Pandya’s injury has brought Surya Kumar Yadav into consideration.

Men’s: 1. Veer Chotrani, 2. Rahul Baitha, 3/ 4. Mahesh Mangaonkar & Om Semwal.

Women’s: 1. Anjali Semwal, 2. Sunita Patel, 3/ 4. Aradhya Porwal & Rani Gupta.

Boys’ U-19: 1. Siddhant Rewari, 2. Kushal Vir Singh, 3/ 4. Aditya Chandani & Vivaan Bhatia.

Girls’ U-19: 1. Reiva Nimbalkar, 2. Aryaa Dwivedi, 3/ 4. Durga Hiru Paradhi & Harshini Pandey.

Boys’ U-17: 1. Darshil Parasrampuria, 2. Ishaan Dabke, 3/ 4. Arjun Ramdas & Varun Shah.

Girls’ U-17: 1. Rudra Singh, 2. Karina Phipps, 3/ 4. Vyomika Khandelwal & Eesha Shrivastava.

The opening day of the 2024 Women’s Asia Cup T20 tournament will be kicked off by the clash between Nepal and UAE at 2:00 PM IST at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium. In the evening(7:00 PM IST), the blockbuster India vs Pakistan match will take place.

Suryakumar will lead Team India in the T20I series against Sri Lanka, starting from July 27. He has been elected as the India cricket team captain till the T20 World Cup 2026, as suggested by reports.

Suryakumar Yada debuted in T20 Internationals in 2021 and has since played 68 matches. He has scored 2340 runs at an average of 43.33 and a strike rate of 167.74, smashing four centuries.

Surya has led India in seven cricket T20I matches, winning five of them.

Success-starved India held on to the 124th position in the FIFA men’s rankings released on Thursday, even as reigning world champions and Copa America winners Argentina strengthened their grip at the top of the pecking order. (PTI)

Sumit Nagal and Marione Navone are up against each other in the Round of 16 at the 2024 Swedish Open at the Bastad Tennis Stadium.

Live Streaming – Tennis TV

Marione Navone has won the first set 6-4. Sumit Nagal, with all the catching up to do, needs to win the second with a quarters spot up for grabs.

Sumit Nagal suffered a defeat against world No. 36 Mariano Navone in the round of 16 at the 2024 Swedish Open, losing in straight sets 4-6, 2-6.

The national selection committee meeting to finalise the India squads for the Sri Lanka white-ball tour is imminent and should happen anytime now, as per reports. The key questions remain regarding the T20I captaincy – Suryakumar Yadav or Hardik Pandya – and the availability of Rohit Sharma for the ODIs.

England cricket legend Sir Geoffrey Boycott has undergone a successful surgery to remove a tumour from his throat, his daughter Emma has said. The former England batter had undergone extensive chemotherapy for the same in 2002. But in May, the 83-year-old learnt his cancer had returned.

“Just to let everyone know my Father, Geoffrey, has successfully come out of surgery this evening after a 3 hour operation to remove his throat cancer. Yet to see him but surgeon says it went well. He asked that I post an update,” Boycott’s daughter Emma has tweeted from the cricketer’s account.

While we wait for the announcement of the India squad for the Sri Lanka tour, England have returned to their Bazballing ways in Test cricket. Ben Stokes and Co raced away to 50 runs in just 4.2 overs on the opening day of the second Test against West Indies in Nottingham, creating the record for the fastest-ever team fifty in the history of Test cricket.

The Lionel Messi-led Argentina have held on to their top spot in the latest FIFA world football rankings, following their Copa America triumph. Euro 2024 victors Spain have climbed to third spot, and runners-up England have jumped to fourth place.

Former world number 1 Rafael Nadal’s second-round singles match at Swedish Open has begun. The Spaniard is taking on British fifth seed Cameron Norrie and the scoreline is currently 2-1 (on serve) in the first set, in favour of Norrie.

The BCCI selection committee has named the India T20I and ODI squads for the upcoming Sri Lanka tour. The big news is that Suryakumar Yadav will lead the T20I team and both Rohit Sharma (as captain), Virat Kohli will feature in the ODI leg. Shubman Gill has been named vice-captain for both the formats.

T20I Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.

ODI Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.

Spanish tennis titan Rafael Nadal has sailed into the Swedish Open singles quarter-finals with a facile 6-4, 6-4 win over British fifth seed Cameron Norrie. Nadal will next face fourth seed Mariano Navone in the last-eight stage tomorrow.

Zambia’s women’s football team coach Bruce Mwape will not be allowed private contact with any of his ­players at Paris Olympic Games 2024, but he has been granted a visa despite an ongoing probe into allegations of sexual misconduct against him. FIFA is still investigating claims that Mwape rubbed his hands over the chest of a player after a ­training ­session at last year’s World Cup in New Zealand. The Guardian also reported in May that he was accused of ­intentionally touching a FIFA ­contractor’s breast at the same ­tournament.

India’s T20 World Cup-winning all-rounder Hardik Pandya has mutually parted ways with spouse Natasa Stankovic, the cricketer reveals in an Instagram post. The duo had tied the knot in 2020 and have a three-year-old son Agastya.

Reacting to his maiden India call-up for the Sri Lanka ODIs, Harshit Rana has singled out his Kolkata Knight Riders mentor Gautam Gambhir – who will now guide him as the India head coach too – for gratitude. “If I have to name three people whom I am indebted to in this beautiful journey of mine, then it is my father for his efforts, my personal coach Amit Bhandari sir (former India and Delhi pacer) and above everyone else Gauti bhaiyya (Gautam Gambhir),” Rana tells PTI. 

Despite losing a bunch of wickets through the day, England have kept up the scoring pace in true Bazball style on day 1 of the second Test against West Indies. With less than three overs to go in the day’s play, the hosts have amassed 408 runs for the loss of nine wickets.

Jan Frylinck’s 73-run knock and JJ Smit’s unbeaten 44 off 37 balls at the end take Namibia to a six-wicket victory over Oman in their World Cup League 2 match in Dundee. Chasing a target of 234 runs, Namibia get there with 13 balls to spare.

That is all from us today. We will be back tomorrow with all that is current from the world of sports. Until then, goodbye.