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Welcome to ESPN India’s daily live blog for Indian sports – your one-stop shop for everything Indian sports. The blog runs throughout the day and is frequently updated, so do check back ready with your F5s to refresh the page.
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And then there were two…
Priyanshu Rajawat has suffered a first-round loss in the Japan Masters, with the world no. 30 going down to world no. 21 Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei in straight games. Priyanshu had begun the tie well, leading 5-2 in the first game, but quickly relinquished the lead and never led in the tie thereafter, going down 15-21, 12-21 in 32 minutes. It leaves HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen as India’s only two representatives left in the tournament.
Priyanshu’s loss continues the spate of disappointing results for India in Japan, especially after top seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a shock exit in the first round yesterday, going down 21-16, 18-21, 16-21 to Lu Ching Yao and Yan Po Han of Chinese Taipei – a pair they had defeated in straight games at the French Open last year.
After their gold-medal winning heroics at the Asian Games that saw Satwik-Chirag become the world no.1, the duo have made first and second round exits in the three tournaments thereafter. For those worried about their form taking a downturn ahead of the Paris Olympics – it might be a bit too soon to ring any alarm bells. This is the fifth time Satwik-Chirag have made a first-round exit in 2023 – the pair seem to time their peaks perfectly in time for the big tournaments.
What’s in store today?
It’s a fairly quiet one. Apart from the match at the ICC Cricket World Cup. We need not remind you that India face New Zealand in the World Cup semifinal at the Wankhede in Mumbai today – unless you’ve been living under a rock. Which, given Mumbai’s real estate situation, is a distinct possibility.
Either way, you can follow live coverage from the game, which begins at 2pm IST, here. We also have the ODI World Cup digest for a quick roundup of the tournament in general, here. For those catching the game on their television screens, keep an eye out for Manchester United legend, David Beckham, who is slated to attend the game.
Apart from the cricket, Indian sportspersons are also in action at the Japan Masters 500. Lakshya Sen begins his tournament with a tough tie against third seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan – with Lakshya trailing 2-3 in their H2H. HS Prannoy starts against Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong (2-2 H2H). Those are some tough fixtures for India’s badminton stars – and we could very well end the day with the Indian interest in the tournament ending in the first round itself. Ouch.
There’s also squash to look forward too, with Saurav Ghosal and Ramit Tandon in action at the Vitagen Singapore Squash Open. Ghosal takes on world no. 3 Mostafa Asal of Egypt, hoping to book his spot in the quarterfinal, as does Tandon, who faces former world no. 1 Diego Elias of Peru.
We will also have a lookahead for India’s crucial FIFA World Cup qualifier against Kuwait, which takes place on Wednesday. With injuries to his starting XI, coach Igor Stimac has his work cut out.
What happened yesterday?
The detailed version of yesterday’s events can be accessed here. Here are the cliff notes, however:
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Satwiksairaj Rankireddy – Chirag Shetty suffered a shock exit from the Japan Masters in the first round.
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Neeraj Chopra was named among the five nominees for the IAAF’s World Athlete of the Year award.
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UWW announced the axing of gold medal bouts at the Continental and World Qualifiers for the Paris Olympics, with the winning semifinalists automatically earning quotas.