Track legend PT Usha is all praises for Tokyo Olympics champion Neeraj Chopra, who turned 24 on Christmas Eve.

“Neeraj Chopra’s victory has paved the way for a new chapter in the history of Indian Sports. The achievement has certainly lifted the morale of our country and built more interest and brought focus to the field of athletics. Over the past few years, other sports have taken the spotlight at the Olympics, and it’s great to see athletics coming to the forefront once again,” PT Usha told ANI. She also urged people to applaud Neeraj for inspiring the youth by winning the gold medal in the men’s javelin throw event at the Tokyo Olympics. He became only the second Indian individual gold medallist after Abhinav Bindra.

“We need to applaud Neeraj for implanting the will of ‘We Can’ amongst the youth of India with his spectacular win in the Olympics and motivating young athletes to keep working towards their goals and dreams. The win has certainly ignited hope among people,” PT Usha emphasised.

According to the 57-year-old Olympian, who has been nurturing talent at the Usha School of Athletics in Balussery (Kerala), Indian athletes’ performance at Tokyo Olympics has undoubtedly set a benchmark for others.

While Usha was called the golden girl of Indian athletics, an Olympic medal remained her only unfulfilled dream.

Continuing with their dream run, Team Radiant makes it to the final of their inaugural stint of PTL Season 3. Prerna Bhambri and Arjun Uppal sealed final spot with a victory and will vouch for the coveted trophy and in the final, they will face Bangalore Challengers.

Bangalore Challengers stormed into the finals beating ProVeri Super Smashers.

Team Radiant’s Parv Nage of Next Gen Category beat Ajay Malik in a comfortable win by a score of 5-2. The Mixed doubles pair of Parv Nage and Prerna Bhambri outplayed Indian Avaitors’ Ajay Malik and Diva Bhatia in a nail-biting finish resulting in a score of 5-4. Prerna Bhambri partnered with Arjun Uppal overshadowed their opponents, Swarandeep Singh and Diva Bhatia by a score of 5-0. Before that, Bangalore Challengers stormed into the finals beating ProVeri Super Smashers in the Semi-finals by winning with a score of 6-0. Niki Poonacha staged the biggest upset of PTL by defeating India’s rank 1 tennis player Ramkumar Ramanathan in a thrilling encounter by a score of 5-4. In the Next Gen category, Aman Dahiya defeated Aditya Nandal of Proveri by 5-3 and gave the team first victory of the day. Another major win came from Mixed Doubles category in which Bangalore duo Aman Dahiya and Sai Samhitha outperformed Aditya Nandal and Mahika Khanna by a score of 5 to nil.

After the win, Radiant’s Prerna Bhambri said, “Pressure was on us but we handled it well and are all excited for the Third Season’s grand finale.” Speaking on the spectacular win, Raadhika Kheterpal, owner of Team Radiant said, “Despite pressure, the team rose to the occasion, now recovering for the finals and are enthusiastic about the podium finish.”

Australia’s young all-rounder Cameron Green said on Friday that the hosts are wary of a strong fightback from a ‘word-class’ England side in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Australia are leading the 5-Test Ashes series 2-0 after having hammered England in Brisbane and Adelaide.

However, Cameron Green said Australia are ready for anything that England throw at them in the Boxing Day Test. Joe Root’s men have looked ordinary so far but they need to step up if they are to save the Ashes series.

“Not saying that the performances weren’t good, they had really good moments and we know how good they are and obviously a world class team, world class players,” Green said.

“We played really well the last couple of matches, we’re sure they’ll bounce back really hard.”

Green said it was important to put the series to bed as quickly as possible as it was dangerous to give England the slightest encouragement.

“You never want to let a world class team like England back into the series so if we can keep on top … that’s what we are looking for,” he added.

Stand-in captain Steve Smith had said he was advised to manage the 22-year-old’s workload on the final day of the pink ball contest in Adelaide but Green said he is ready to go for Melbourne. Green has managed to get the prized wicket of England captain Root twice in the series but said there is no big secret to playing the England skipper.

“I just have very simple plans to him. Just keep it tight from one end and let the other guys do their job,” Green said.“I’ve just got lucky a couple of times.”

Green is likely to retain his place in the side even as captain Pat Cummins is set to return for the 3rd Test, starting Monday. It remains to be seen if Josh Hazlewood who missed the 2nd Test due to a side strain returns for the crucial Test.

India’s newly-appointed Test vice-captain KL Rahul on Friday hinted India might go in with 5 bowlers for the first Test against South Africa, starting on Boxing Day at the Supersport Park in Centurion. Rahul said India have gone in with a 5-bowler approach in overseas conditions and it has worked well for them so far.

As Rahul pointed out, Virat Kohli has often stressed on playing 5 bowlers, especially in overseas conditions. In the World Test Championship final, India played 5 bowlers, including both R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the XI. Throughout the 4-Test series against England in England, India benched Ashwin but still played 5 bowlers with Jadeja being the lone spinner.

However, with concerns over the batting form of quite a few batters, including captain Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteeshwar Pujara, India would have wanted to look at an extra batter. Without senior batter and Rohit Sharma, who has been injured, India will have KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal at the top of the order.

However, Rahul believes that playing 5 bowlers not just gives the cushion to attack and pick up 20 wickets but also helps in managing the workload of the bowlers, especially in overseas Tests.

India have picked 2 spinners in Jayant Yadav and R Ashwin in the absence of Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel who were ruled out due to injury concerns. They have picked 6 pacers in the team, including all-rounder Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj.

“I think most teams have started playing five bowlers and every team wants to pick up 20 wickets and that’s the only way you can win a Test match. We have used this tactic and it has helped us in away games,” Rahul told the press during his address as vice-captain of the Test team.

“In every Test match that we have played away from India, it has helped us. So, workload also becomes slightly easier to manage that way with five bowlers and when you have that kind of quality, you might as well use them,” he added.

Playing 5 bowlers also adds to the selection headache for captain Virat Kohli and head coach Rahul Dravid as India might have the room to play only one of Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer and Hanuma Vihari.

Australian head coach Justin Langer on Thursday hinted that Mitchell Starc will play the Boxing Day Test against England which gets underway from Sunday.

Australia are 2-0 up in the ongoing Ashes after winning the second Test at the Adelaide Oval and will meet England in the Melbourne Game on Sunday. Starc suffered discomfort while batting in the second Test against England when he attempted a slog sweep that put some pressure on his ribs. “It’s just [Starc’s] rib actually. A lot of the bowlers talk about when they come back to Test cricket, bowl more overs, they jam down on that rib area so he should be fine. He’s tough,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Langer. “If he’s not right, then we’ll look at it. But at this stage, there’s no indication suggesting he won’t be playing the next Test,” he added.

Langer, however, was unsure about pacer Josh Hazelwood’s inclusion for the third Ashes Test in Melbourne. “We will wait and see how Josh Hazlewood pulls up, he arrives this afternoon,” said Langer.

Eoin Morgan will captain a 16-player squad for England men’s T20I matches against West Indies next month.

Paul Collingwood will stand in as head coach for the five-match series, which will be played in Barbados from January 22-30. Marcus Trescothick will join the squad as an assistant coach. The squad includes 11 players who travelled to the United Arab Emirates for the T20 World Cup last November.

George Garton and David Payne are both uncapped players in the squad.

In an official release, Paul Collingwood said: “We have selected a strong squad with some serious batting power and a balanced attack as we begin preparations ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia.”

“The World Cup is less than a year away and there will be increased opportunities for the squad in the absence of those players who are with the Ashes squad. I have good memories winning a World Cup in Barbados and I’m really looking forward to going back there with this squad to face a very good West Indies who will test all aspects of our skills,” he added.

England Squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex – captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Tom Banton (Somerset), Sam Billings (Kent), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), George Garton (Sussex), Chris Jordan (Surrey), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Tymal Mills (Sussex), David Payne (Gloucestershire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Phil Salt (Lancashire), Reece Topley (Surrey), James Vince (Hampshire).