Sports News Highlights: Records Galore At National Games; Australia Floor Sri Lanka On Day 2 Of Galle Test

A very warm welcome to all those who have joꦯined us for today's sports dose. We have a whole lot of🐭 ground to cover, so buckle up and stay with us for the entire lowdown.

The Champions League final round has concluded in a blaze of drama, with stunning twists and nail💦-biting m🔯oments. For the first time, the teams securing their places in the knockout stages are now officially confirmed.

Last 16: Liverpool, Barcelona, ꧑Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, Aston Villa.

Knockout phase play-offs: Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, PSV, Paris St-Germain, Benfica, Monaco, Brest, Feyꦦenoord, Juventus, Celtic, Maꦓnchester City, Sporting, Club Brugge.

Eliminated: Dinamo Zagreb, Stuttgart, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bologna, Sparta Prague,🎀 Leipzig, 𒁃Girona, Red Star Belgrade, Sturm Graz, Salzburg, Slovan Bratislava, Young Boys.

Lewis Hamil🥀ton crashed Ferrari's 2023 car during pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Wednesday. The seven-time champion was unharmed after losing control of the car on his second day of running. According to the BBC, Ferrari declined to comment on the incident, which occurred as they work to integrate Hamilton into the team ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on M💞arch 14-16.

The US Open will be a 15-day tournament in 2025, marking the first time it will begin on a weekend in the Open era. The main draw at Flushing ⛄Meadows will start on Sunday, 24 August, and conclude on Sunday, 7 September.

This move follows the trend set by the Australian Open, w♍hich e🌌xpanded to a 15-day format in 2024, after the French Open made the change in 2006.

A spectator tragically lost his life after being accidentally struck by a hammer thrown by an athlete at a high school indoor athletics event in the United States. The incid༒ent took place on Sunday during the competition at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs campus.

16 Ranji Trophy 2024-25 Elite Group 𝓀matches start for Round 7 on Thursday in different parts of the country. Mumbai has opted to bowl against Meghalaya whereas Virat Kohli's Delhi has also opted to bowl first against Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

At tea break o🎶n Day 1, Australi♔a are firmly in control, with England at 64/3 after 26 overs. It’s been a challenging session for the English batters. Kim Garth made an early impact, dismissing Bouchier with a beautiful outswinger in the first over. Darcie Brown followed up, sending Beaumont back with an inswinger.

England briefly found some rhythm with Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight, bꦗut just before the drinks break, Garth struck again, removing Knight. Since then, England have steadied, but they’re playing at a slow pace, leaving plenty of balls outside off-stump.

Australia have kept up the pressure, giving the English no room to breathe. The second session ဣis approaching – will England dig in, or will Australia tighten the grip?

Goalkeepers: Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Suraj Karkera, Princeꦍdeep Singh

Defenders:🅠 Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Harmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Sanjay, Jugraj Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Varun Kumar, Yashdeep Siwa﷽ch

Midfielders: Rajkumar Pal, Shamsher Singh, Manpreet Singꦑh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta S🎐harma, Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, Rajinder Singh

Forwards: Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant S🅘ingh, Angad Bir Singh, Boby Singh Dhami, Shilanand Lakra, Dilpreet Singh,🌃 Araijeet Singh Hundal, Uttam Singh, Arshdeep Singh

The sale of teams for The Hundred by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is expected to begin at 7 PM IST on Thursday, January 30. There is increasing exciteme🐭nt amongst players and teams for the best-named companies.

On the other hand, the ECB and the Raine Group-a firm in charge for managing the selling-might find this a rather nerve-wracking and exciting stage in the league's future. The very first team up for sale is Oval Invincibles based in London, which is run by Surrey County Cricket Cl🎉ub.

Harmanpreet Singh will continue as captain for the Indian Hockey team, with Hardik Singh as the v🥃ice-captain. India will start its jo♔urney with matches against Spain, Germany, Ireland, and England from 15 to 25 February, playing every side twice.

Check the full fixtures HERE.

India's first professional basketball league, InBL PRO, will be officially launched on February 2, 2025, at the🎀 Thyagaraj Sports Complex in New Delhi. The inauguration will be attended by ꦗMansukh Mandaviya, Minister of Labour and Employment, Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, along with Bollywood actress Disha Patani, actor and basketball player Rannvijay Singha, Rupinder Brar, Chairman and Founder of InBL PRO, and Adhav Arjun, President of the Basketball Federation of India. The event is scheduled to begin at 5:30 pm.

Virat Kohli’s p🦩resence at the Arun Jaitley Stadium during the Ranji Trophy clash between Delhi and Railways turned the venue into a frenzy.

Thousands of fans eagerly queued up to catch a gli✱mpse of the cricket superstar, prompting last-minute adjustments by the administrators to handle the unexpected crowd.

The Delꦬhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) had anticipated around 10,000 spectators for the match, a number already impressive for💫 a Ranji game.

However, Kohli’s magnetic pull far exceeded those expectations,⛎ leaving organizers scrambling to ma✱nage the rush. The buzz around his homecoming was proof of the cricketing icon's unparalleled influence.

Britain's Emma Raducanu, who captured the 2021 US Open🃏 title in a fairytale run, will compete in a qualifying draw for the first time since then, after receiving a wildcard🌠 for next week's Abu Dhabi Open.

The 22-year-🅘old is traveling with her fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura but is currently without a coach following Nick Cavaday's departure for health reasons.

The tragic plane crash near Wꦍashington DC's Reagan Airport on Wednesday𓄧 also had several figure skaters and their coaches, US Figure Skating has confirmed.

Among the passengers were Spencer Lane, who had posted an I♎nstagram stꦯory hours before the crash, along with Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, a married couple and 1994 World Pairs Figure Skating champions.

A🃏merican Airlines confirmed 60🍸 passengers and four crew members were on board the plane. A training helicopter with three soldiers on board was also part of the accident.

US Figure Skating officials expressed deep sorrow and verified that countless members of their skating community and families were on board this flight returning from a post-championship ca✤mp to Wichita, Kansas.

Read the full story HERE.

Afghanistan's female cricketers hope their first competitive match in Australia will inspire positive change for women in Afghanistan, opening up opportunities in education, sport, and beyond.

The Afghanistan Women's XI played a 20-over exhibition match against Cricket Without Borders at Melbourne's Junction Oval on Thursday, just before the Women's Ashes Test.

Since the Taliban have come into power in Afghanistan since 2021, most of the Afghan players are living in Australia as the participa🍸tion of women in sports is prohibited in their home country.

The former world No 1 Kida💛mbi Srikanth and S Subramanian from India claimed vict🧸ory in their respective matches at the Thailand Masters BWF Super 300 tournament in Bangkok today to reach men's singles’ quarterfinals.

Australia's Historic Test Performance in Sri Lanka:

• Usman Khawaja's 232 is Australia's third-highest score by a visiting batter in Sri Lanka🦄.

• Josh Inglis became the 21st Australian to score a centur🦩y on Test debut, making 102 off 90 balls.

• The Khawaja-Smith partn🌜ership of 266 is the highest for Australia in Sri Lanka, and third-highest in Asia.

• Australia's 654/6 🐬declared is their highest Test total in Asia, surpassing their 617 in Faisa💃labad in 1980.

Vijay Kumar has 📖clinched the National Games gold in the 55kg men’s category. The Chhattisgarh native’s moment of glory comes after a lift of 143kg in the clean and jerk, equaling the national record. He lifted a total of 248kg with a 105kg snatch and a record-tying 143kg clean and jer𝔉k to claim the top spot on the podium.

Day 2 has drawn to a close in Galle, and the hosts have stuttered to 44 for three after 15 overs, in response to Australia's to🤪wering 654 for six declared in the first innings. The Sri Lankan bowlers were made to toil all day, with Usman Khawaja scoring 🃏his maiden Test double hundred and debutant Josh Inglis racing away to a century too.

Maharashtra athletes have delivered a top-notch performance at the 38th National Games' triathlon events, securing six medals including two gold, two silver, and as many bronze. The state's medal tally was boosted by the recently-concluded duathlon (individual) eܫvent, where Maharashtra bagged one silver and a bronze. The state also triumphed in the mixed relay event, winning gold and cementing their position at the top of the triathlon medal standings.

Former World Cup winner Narmada Nithin Raju has prevailed in a strong field, which included Asian Games medallist Ramita Jindal and Olympian Elavenil Valarivan, to not only create a national record but miss equalling the world mark by a fraction of a point on her way to clinching gold in the women's 10m air rifle event at the 38th National Games. Narmada, representing Tamil Nadu, clinches the top podium finish with a score of 254.4, beating the challenge from Maharashtra's Ary🅘a Borse (252.5) and Ramita (230.4) in the eight-shooter final. In the process, she breaks the national mark of 252.9 set by Olympian Apurvi Chandela at the 2019 World Cup in New Delhi. (PTI)

Former world No 1 Kidambi Srikanth and S Subramanian have won their respective matches to reach the men's singles’ quarterfinals of the Thailand Masters BWF Super 300 tournament in Bangkok. Srikanth needed only 42 minutes to get the better of the 20-year-old Jason Gunawan from Hong Kong 21-19, 21-15 in his round of 16 contest. Subramanian had to work 🌠hard for his victory over Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo from Indonesia. He lost the opening game before sealing the issue 9-21, 21-10, 21-17.

At 1:30am IST, the matchday 8 fixtures of Europa League will get underway, with the standout game being the one between Ruben Amorim's Manchester United and FCSB. Knockout phase spots are uꦇp for grabs as the league phase is set for a thrilling conclusion.

That brings us to the end of our coverage for today. We will be back tomorrow with all that is current i♒n the world of ꦬsports. Until then, goodbye.