World No. 12 Dominic Thiem is set to return at the 2022 Australian Open, the Austrian announced on Tuesday.

The former World No. 3 has been recovering from a right wrist injury that he sustained at the Mallorca Championships in June. Thiem revealed last month that he would not require surgery on his wrist, which prevented him from defending his US Open title in September, with his recovery stepping up in recent weeks. “I am very happy to announce that my recovery is going well. The MRI I did today showed that my wrist injury has improved significantly. A couple of weeks ago I started playing with soft balls and was able to switch to normal tennis balls during yesterday’s practice session,” Thiem wrote on Twitter.

“I’ll be returning to competition in December and will be playing the MWTC 2021 in Abu Dhabi – with the objective to return to the tour for the 2022 Australian Open,” the 28-year-old announced.

“Needless to say that the vaccine is needed to play both events (Abu Dhabi and Australian Open), and in my case, I have already been vaccinated,” he added.

Having already secured India’s seventh medal in the history of the tournament, Akash Kumar will be looking to continue his stellar show and enter the final at the 2021 AIBA Men’s World Championships when he collides with Kazakhstan’s Makhmud Sabyrkhan in the 54kg semi-final in Belgrade, Serbia on Thursday.

The 21-year-old boxer, who hails from Bhiwani, made his way into the semi-finals after causing one of the major upsets in the 21st edition of the tournament when he handed a crushing 5-0 defeat to the Rio Olympics silver medallist and strong medal contender Yoel Finol from Venezuela. On the other hand, the 20-year-old young Kazakh star Sabyrkhan sealed his spot in the semi-finals after outclassing Brazil’s first quarter-finalist at the Championships, Michael Trinidade.

With a place in the semi-finals, debutant Akash joined an elite list of medal-winning Indian pugilists at the world’s one of biggest boxing events. Amit Panghal (silver in 2019), Vijender Singh (bronze in 2009), Vikas Krishan (bronze in 2011), Shiva Thapa (bronze in 2015), Gaurav Bidhuri (bronze in 2017) and Manish Kaushik (bronze in 2019) have won medals for the country at the Men’s World Championships in the past.

While Akash made his way into the last-4 stage, four other Indian boxers — Sanjeet, Narender Berwal, Shiva Thapa and Nishant Dev, ended their campaigns after suffering losses in their respective quarter-finals bout played late on Tuesday night.

The ongoing prestigious event has been witnessing thrilling action between 650 top boxers from more than 100 participating countries from across the world.

The gold medallists of each category will receive USD 100,000 while silver and bronze medallists will be given USD 50,000 and USD 25,000 respectively. Alongside an enormous prize pool of USD 2.6 million, AIBA will also award the winners with beautifully designed medals, made of solid gold and silver respectively, and belts to commemorate their accomplishments.

Indian Men’s Senior National Team captain Sunil Chhetri expressed his gratitude towards his family, friends and coaching staff after being named for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

Chhetri, who has been named for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS), said that the journey that he has been through has been nothing short of a dream. “I am thrilled, I am really thankful and honoured. I have always said that it is a dream that I have gone through, and it would not have been possible without my family, my friends, my wife, my close group, the teammates that I have had and the coaches that I have played under. They have all played an important part in who I am today,” said the Indian captain in an AIFF release.

“It has been amazing to play for the national team for so many years, for the number of matches, it has been an outstanding journey,” he added.

On being asked about his role models, Chhetri said, “The amount of encouragement and inspiration around us is a lot, we just have to keep looking. The hunger of trying to learn more is needed, and you will seek out from so many people.”

Chhetri is among 12 sportspersons who will be awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award for 2021.

Chhetri with 80 goals is tied with Lionel Messi at the second place in the goalscorers list among active footballers at the international level.

New Zealand defeated Scotland by 16 runs in their Group 2 Super 12 fixture in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

The Blackcaps racked up an impressive 172/5 first up on the back of Martin Guptill’s power-packed 93. And in reply, Scotland never looked like chasing it down, finishing on 156/5, still 16 runs short. Chasing 173, Scotland lost their openers but ensured they didn’t fall well behind as they reached 76/2 at the halfway point of their chase.

Matt Cross struck five fours in a row off Adam Milne to ease some pressure on Scotland. Tim Southee then removed Matthew Cross in the 11th over.

Calum MacLeod and Richie Berrington went back to the dressing room in 15th and 16th over respectively as Scotland slumped to 106/5. In the end, Scotland fell short 16 runs short of the target.

Earlier batting first, Martin Guptill struck seven sixes in an astonishing 93 off 56 balls to lift New Zealand to 172/5 against Scotland.

Meanwhile, Scotland wicket-keeper Matthew Cross was caught on the stump-mic, reminding his fellow teammate and bowler Chris Greaves that entire India is backing him during the match against New Zealand . Cross’ statement came in connection with team India’s chances to qualify into the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2021 if Scotland would have won against New Zealand.

He was caught on the stump-mic, saying, “Whole India is behind you,” to Greaves. Scotland needed to defeat the Kiwis, for India to qualify

Brief Scores: New Zealand 172/5 (Martin Guptill 93, Glenn Phillips 33*; Safyaan Sharif 2-28, Brad Wheal 2-40) vs Scotland 156/5 (Michael Leask 42*, Matthew Cross 27; Trent Boult 2-29, Ish Sodhi 2-42)

Power-packed batting display from Indian openers was followed by spirited bowling performance as Men in Blue thrashed Afghanistan by 66 runs in the Group 2 match of the Super 12 stage of the ongoing ICC men’s T20 World Cup here at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Wednesday.

Men in Blue lit up Abu Dhabi with a stunning display of power-hitting to post 210/2 as Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul played innings of 74 and 69, respectively. And in reply, Afghanistan never looked like chasing it down, finishing on 144/7, still 66 runs short. Mohammad Shami scalped three wickets while Ravichandran Ashwin took two. Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja returned with apiece for India.

Chasing 211, Afghanistan were 47/2 after the powerplay as they stared down the barrel of a heavy defeat. Indian bowlers clawed further deep as Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Gulbadin Naib were removed before halfway point of their chase.

Ravichandran Ashwin struck again as he clean bowled Najibullah Zadran in the 11th over. With runs in scarcity, Mohammad Nabi and Raashid Khan feel were sent back to the dressing room by Mohammad Shami in the penultimate over of the match. In the end, Afghanistan fell short 66 runs short of the target.

Earlier, put in to bat first, a selection reshuffle saw Rohit Sharma moving back up to opener alongside KL Rahul, and the pair more than justified the move with a brilliant century stand. After that Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant finished the innings in style by scoring 35* and 27* respectively.

Brief score: India 210/2 (Rohit Sharma 74, KL Rahul 69; Karim Janat 1-7, Gulbadin Naib 1-39) vs Afghanistan 144/7 (Karim Janat 42*, Mohammad Nabi 35; Mohammad Shami 3-32, Ravichandran Ashwin 2-14).

As the India Colts prepare to defend their coveted title at the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup in Bhubaneswar later this month, young defender Yashdeep Siwach; who is a part of the side for the tournament, took a moment to reflect on his personal journey and spoke about the inspiration he sought from his mother – former Indian Women’s Hockey Team Captain and Arjuna awardee Pritam Siwach.

“I started playing hockey by following my mother since I was very young. My mother is the former captain of the Indian Women’s Hockey Team and an Arjuna awardee, therefore, hockey has always been in my blood. I have always followed her example and have wished to emulate her achievements. The first time I ever visited a hockey ground as a child was along with my mother. As my interest grew in the sport, there was no looking back for me then. Gradually, I started training with my mother being my first proper Coach in hockey,” said Yashdeep Siwach in an official Hockey India release. As Yashdeep began training in hockey at a relatively late age of 16 years, he made vast improvements in his game in a very short span and credits his steep learning curve to being included in the National Camp at SAI Bengaluru at an early age. Yashdeep was a member of the Junior Men’s national side that won the Silver medal at the 2019 Sultan of Johor Cup in Malaysia.

“When I came to the national camp for the first time, it was a very new experience for me because I had never been used to living away from my home until that point. I was still relatively new to hockey until then so I was not used to that feeling, but I quickly took the opportunity and learned a lot at that time,” said Siwach.