Sports World Today, January 29, 2024: Divyansh Breaks WR In ISSF WC; IND Thrash JAM 13-0 In Men's Hockey5s - As It Happened

Pope Francis congratulated Italy on Monday after tennis player Jannik Sinner became the country’s first man to win a Grand Slam singles title in nearly a half century.

Sinner won the Australian Open title on Sunday and Francis made the acknowledgement during an audience with the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona.

“Today we have to congratulate the Italians because yesterday they won in Australia, so we congratulate them, too,” the pope said.

Already 1-0 down in the five-match series after a damaging 28-run defeat at the hands of England, hosts India suffered another blow as Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul have been ruled out of the second Test in Visakhapatnma, starting from February 2.

The loss in the first Test match has badly affected India's position in the World Test Championship (2023-25) points table. India now slips to the fifth position from the second. Their PTC (Points Percentage System) decreased from 54.16 to 43.33. This loss was the second in five Test matches played in this WTC cycle. One match ended in a draw. Read more here

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will have a new chairman next month and Punjab province's caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi is the front-runner for that post, according to sources. With the tenure of the interim management committee which has run the Board affairs since December 2022 coming to an end on February 4, the process to elect the new chairman of the Board of Governors (BoG) of the PCB will take place after that.

Maninder Singh struck four goals as India mauled Jamaica 13-0 in their third and final pool match to enter the quarterfinals of the FIH Hockey5s men's World Cup in Muscat on Monday. Maninder scored twice in the second minute and once each in the 28th and 29th minutes, all field goals. Manjeet (5th, 24th), Raheel Mohammed (16th, 27th) and Mandeep Mor (23rd, 27th) struck a brace each while Uttam Singh (5th), Rajbhar Pawan (9th) and Gurjot Singh (14th) were the other scorers.

Debutant Sonam Maskar bagged a silver medal for India in the women’s 10m air rifle event of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Cairo. Competing in her maiden World Cup, Sonam shot 252.1 in the eight-woman final, finishing 0.9 behind Germany’s Anna Janssen at the Egypt International Olympic City Shooting range late on Sunday. Poland’s Aneta Stankiewicz took home the bronze.

Congo knocked seven-time champion Egypt out of the Africa Cup of Nations with an 8-7 win on penalties after the teams finished 1-1 after extra time in the round-of-16 match. Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed Abou Gabal struck the crossbar with his spot kick before Congo counterpart Lionel Mpasi stepped up to send the Leopards into the quarterfinals.

Indian shooter Divyansh Singh Panwar exorcised the demons of a disappointing run at the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 by winning the gold at the ISSF World Cup 2024 in Cairo on January 28, Sunday. En route to securing the topmost podium, the 21-year-old broke the world record in the 10m air rifle event set by China's Sheng Lihao at the bygone Asian Games. Divyansh shot 253.7 in the event finale, marginally better than the 253.3 Sheng had shot in Hangzhou.

The ICC Board Sunday lifted the suspension of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) with immediate effect. SLC was suspended in November for being in serious breach of its obligations as an ICC member, in particular, the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and ensure that there is no government interference in the governance, regulation and/or administration of cricket in Sri Lanka. The Board have been monitoring the situation since the suspension and are now satisfied that SLC are no longer in breach of membership obligations. 

Girona rebounded from its elimination in the Copa del Rey by defeating Celta Vigo 1-0 to return to the Spanish league lead on Sunday. Portu scored a first-half winner to move Girona a point ahead of Real Madrid, which won 2-1 at Las Palmas on Saturday. Madrid has a game in hand. “This is a long-distance race,” Girona coach Míchel Sánchez said. “We are in a very nice position and we want to continue this run.”

Kolkata heavyweights East Bengal were on Sunday crowned champions of the Super Cup after emerging 3-2 winner in a thrilling final against Odisha FC with Cleiton Silva scoring the decisive goal in Bhubaneswar. Despite both sides having multiple chances to score, neither could convert as the match ended 2-2 after regulation time and also after the end of the first half of extra time. Brazilian recruit Cleiton struck the winner for East Bengal in the 111th minute of the match, leaving his team in a state of frenzy and the opponents shocked. 

Cricket action might be quiet on the international front amongst the elite nations but the action continues on the franchise level as well as on the domestic front. Ranji Trophy day four action continues as well updates from Manchester United's 4-2 win over Newport County in the FA Cup fourth round tie. In women's cricket, Alyssa Healy's Australia take on South Africa in the third T20I. Follow the live scores and updates of all the action on Sunday, January 29, 2024 here. (Cricket News | Football News)