SPORTS

Less than a year after being hammered by Rafael Nadal in the final of the French Open, Novak Djokovic put on a show to stop the greatest-ever clay-courter with an emphatic win on Friday at the Philippe Chattrier. And it seems, Djokovic loved his titanic battle against the 13-time champion.

At the start, it looked like tennis fans were set to witness a repeat of 2020 final as Djokovic was down 0-5 in the first set. However, he hung in there and won three consecutive games to give a glimpse of what was to come. Djokovic raised his game and hit some stunning backhand winners to take the second set 6-3.

The third set was one of the ages as both Djokovic and Nadal gave it their all, leaving tennis fans at the Chattrier and across the globe awestruck. There was nothing to separate the two as they went toe-to-toe with each other, not giving any each to their opponent. But once again, it was Djokovic who prevailed at the end of the 91-minute set by winning the tie-breaker.

Former Asian Games gold medalist boxer Ngangom Dingko Singh passed away early Thursday morning at his Sekta Mayai Leikai residence, in Imphal East district, after battling a prolonged illness. He was 47.

“Shri Dingko Singh was a sporting superstar, an outstanding boxer who earned several laurels and also contributed to furthering the popularity of boxing. Saddened by his passing away. Condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti”, the prime minister tweeted.

At a time when there is speculation about India’s opening combination for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand, former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh hinted he would perhaps go with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill.

India have stuck with Rohit and Gill for the last six Test matches despite there being tough competition from Mayank Agarwal. Gill and Rohit opened together for the first time in Australia when Mayank and Prithvi Shaw did not provide the goods in the early part of the series and Yuvraj believes chances are high that India might stick with the same combination even in the WTC final in Southampton, starting on June 18. “Rohit Sharma is very experienced now in Test matches. He has almost 7 hundreds as an opener. But both Rohit and Shubman Gill have not opened in England ever,” Yuvraj told Sports Tak.

A 3-member Indian Swimming team, including Olympic-hopeful Srihari Nataraj will leave for Serbia tonight to compete in the Belgrade Trophy 2021, a FINA-accredited Olympic Qualifying event, scheduled for 19th and 20th June 2021. They will be joined by Sajan Prakash who is presently training in Dubai and is expected to join the team in Belgrade by 12th June.

Apart from Olympic B qualifiers Srihari Nataraj and Sajan Prakash who are hoping to make the A qualification for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the team comprises of seasoned back stroker Maana Patel, who recently demonstrated return to form at an international meet in Uzbekistan, along with youngsters Aryan Nehra, Shoan Ganguli, Tanish Mathew and Kenisha Gupta who are part of the TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) development group and have been showing great promise.

Crickter R Andia spinner R Ashwin said he felt sorry for Ollie Robinson, who was suspended from international cricket after sexist and racist tweets from 2012-13 emerged.

Ashwin said the suspension ‘is a strong indication of what the future holds in this social media generation’. “I can understand the negative sentiments towards what  #OllieRobinson did years ago, but I do feel genuinely sorry for him being suspended after an impressive start to his test career. This suspension is a strong indication of what the future holds in this social media Gen,” Ashwin tweeted.

Robinson, who was a teenager when he tweeted the offensive posts, had a great debut in the drawn test with seven wickets in the match.