If ATK Mohun Bagan have reasons to be basking in their new-found domination over SC East Bengal in recent times, Antonio Lopez Habas's side seems to have found in Mumbai City FC an adversary too good to be conquered.

Shradhanand Tiwari, son of an escort driver of Lucknow's district magistrate (DM), was India's spearhead at the junior hockey World Cup's quarterfinal match against Belgium at the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. He converted a penalty corner to score the only goal of the match to take his team into the semifinals.

New Zealand's Mumbai-born left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel couldn't hide his emotions as he spoke about playing at the Wankhede stadium in the second Test against India, 25 years after his family had left these shores for good.

David Warner might be a polarising figure but the aggressive opening batsman is rarely boring and his heroics for Australia at the Twenty20 World Cup signalled he is back to his explosive best.

It made for lovely banter in Mumbai's club circuit and Whatsapp groups. Sunil Gavaskar, an India and Dadar Union (DU) legend giving the first Test cap in Kanpur to Shreyas Iyer, a product of Mumbai's most fertile cricketing stable, Shivaji Park Gymkhana (SPG), DU's fiercest club rival.

Will KS Bharat, who did well behind the stumps while substituting for Wriddhiman Saha in the first Test, make his debut in the second Test, which begins at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday? While Saha overcame a stiff neck to score a fighting half-century (61 not out) in the second innings at Green Park, there's still uncertainty over his fitness and availability for the second Test.

The hick layer of grass on the Wankhede pitch for the second Test between India and New Zealand has been shaved off in the build-up to the game. The draw in Kanpur in the first Test meant that both India and New Zealand had to be content with four points, something that clearly isnt to the liking of the hosts, who want to maximise home conditions and grab the 12 World Test Championship points on offer.

The prospect of playing a Test in front of his home crowd at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday - after an eight-and-a-half year Test career - should have got Ajinkya Rahane excited. Instead, the Mumbaikar is staring at a future as gloomy as the Mumbai weather was on Wednesday.

Norwegian Karsten Warholm was crowned male world athlete of the year on Wednesday on the back of his astonishing season in the 400m hurdles, twice breaking the world record and taking Olympic gold in one of the greatest races of all time.

Eyeing a senior national team return, Hanuma Vihari found some runs as India A reached 198 for five at stumps against South Africa A on the second day of the second unofficial Test on Wednesday.

Former India player Laxman Sivaramakrishnan on Wednesday rued that the current leg-spinners don't have the ambition to play Test cricket and he partially blamed it on too much stress on reverse swinging the ball these days.

The untimely Mumbai monsoon threatens to play spoilsport as there is a fair chance of first day's play during the second Test between India and New Zealand being affected by rain as per weather forecast which may turn the 22-yard strip at Wankhede into a bowlers' paradise.

Defending champion PV Sindhu has got a first round bye and faces the prospect of coming up against Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Tai Tzu Ying and former world number one Carolina Marin in the quarters and semis respectively of the World Badminton C'ships.

Defending champions India beat European giants Belgium by a solitary goal to progress to the semifinals and keep alive their title hopes in the FIH Junior Men's Hockey World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium on Wednesday.

Virat Kohli's future as India ODI captain will be decided this week when the national selection committee, led by Chetan Sharma, selects the squad for the upcoming tour of South Africa. The BCCI top brass have said that India's tour of South Africa remains on schedule, though they're keeping a close watch on the situation surrounding the emergence of new COVID-19 variant in that country.

Top Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth registered straight-game victories to make impressive starts to their respective singles campaigns at the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals on Wednesday.

The bittersweet relationship of Australian destructive batter David Warner with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) has finally ended after he was released for the mega auction ahead of the upcoming season.

Former British number one Johanna Konta announced her retirement from tennis. The 30-year-old has struggled with persistent knee trouble over the past couple of seasons and has slipped to 113 in the world rankings -- a far cry from her career high of number four.

Legendary sprinter PT Usha's debut 100m race was nothing sort of spectacular as she was erroneously disqualified for 'false start' before a crowd intervention led to a re-run and eventually winning gold.

Ramesh Mendis led the Sri Lanka fightback at Galle with a six-wicket haul to bowl out the West Indies, but the hosts stumbled after returning to bat in the second Test on Wednesday.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli continued to be best-placed Indians in the batting chart, while off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also held onto the second spot among bowlers in the latest ICC Test rankings released on Wednesday.

India pacer Mohammed Siraj expressed his gratitude towards the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for retaining him ahead of the mega auction of the upcoming season.

Top Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth registered straight-game victories to make impressive starts to their respective women's and men's singles campaigns at the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals on Wednesday.

Six-time champions Germany and Argentina earned hard-fought wins over Spain and Netherlands respectively, while France cruised past Malaysia to enter the semifinals of the FIH Junior Men's Hockey World Cup on Wednesday.

The upcoming edition of the Ashes is one which both teams - Australia and England - go in with some amount of controversial baggage. The Aussies are having to deal with the Tim Paine episode, which has also meant that they have had to suddenly unveil a new captain and also look for a replacement wicket-keeper good enough to handle the rigours of Test cricket.

South Africa's limited overs captain Temba Bavuma said he has full confidence in the bio-security protocols laid out by the country's cricket board (CSA) ahead of India's tour later this month.

Virat Kohli will return to lead India in the second Test against top-ranked New Zealand on Friday, posing a welcome selection dilemma for the hosts.

IPL franchise Punjab Kings is unhappy about KL Rahul leaving the team despite getting all the freedom as captain over the past two seasons and says it would be unethical if he has already been approached by a new franchise. Rahul had replaced R Ashwin as captain ahead of the 2020 season and though he did excel with the bat, he failed to take the team to play-offs. He is now linked to new franchise Lucknow and it has been reported that he is set to lead the team owned by the RPSG Group.

Junior Hockey World Cup: The Indo-Canadian connect

Novak Djokovic is not being lackmailed by Australian Open organisers, a senior official said Wednesday, insisting a requirement for players to be vaccinated was about safety.

A stoppage-time penalty from Brazilian winger Raphinha earned Leeds United a 1-0 home win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Tuesday, as they moved five points clear of the relegation zone.

Covid-19's latest variant Omicron has disrupted the sporting world, and also the Indian athletes' training and competition programme.

Alex Carey looks poised to replace Tim Paine as Australia's wicketkeeper for the Ashes against England and is set to make his Test debut, as more bad weather Wednesday wrecked preparations for both teams.

Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz beat British doubles pair Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski in two tight sets to send Germany through to the Davis Cup semi-finals on Tuesday.

Teemu Pukki denied 10-man Newcastle a first win all season as Norwich earned a 1-1 draw at St James' Park on Tuesday, but wasted a huge chance to deepen the Magpies' relegation fears.

Juventus striker Alvaro Morata scored four minutes after coming on to seal a 2-0 win at basement side Salernitana in Serie A on Tuesday and ease the pressure on the stuttering Turin club.

Team India has made its preference for turning tracks clear, so there might be a surprise in store when the team turns up for practice on Wednesday afternoon and checks out the surface for the second Test against New Zealand, scheduled to be held from December 3-7 at the Wankhede Stadium.

Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth secured a straight-game win over France's Toma Junior Popov to make an impressive start to his men's singles campaign at the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals here on Wednesday.

England are beaming with the return of Ben Stokes for the Ashes but few players could be happier than spinner Jack Leach, who sees the pugnacious all-rounder as his own ticket back into the Test set-up.

With time running out and a number of plans yet to fall into place for India to fly to South Africa, the BCCI is left with no choice now but to sit across the table with Cricket South Africa (CSA) and reschedule the series.

When Belgium won their first Olympic medal, India were yet to play at the Games. It was the seventh edition in 1920, at home for Belgium in Antwerp., and only four teams participated in the hockey event. But that's not the significant part.

The Indian cricket board (BCCI) has put a hold on the selection meeting for the upcoming tour of South Africa. TOI has learnt that the board is awaiting clearance from the government before going ahead with the tour. South Africa has been identified as 'at-risk country' after the emergence of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus.

All remaining players - capped and uncapped - will now be available for the two new franchises that have come into the IPL - Lucknow and Ahmedabad - to invest in. The same retention policy - three Indians and an overseas player or two Indians and two overseas players, with a mix of uncapped players at Rs 4 crore each - will be available to the new teams.

Tiger Woods does not know when he will return to the PGA Tour following a February car accident that left him in a wheelchair for two months, but said on Tuesday he would love to compete in the British Open next July at St. Andrews.

The Delhi High Court Tuesday directed maintenance of status quo on the elections to the executive committee of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), which was scheduled for December 19.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said on Tuesday Karim Benzema is ot crying about missing out on winning his first Ballon d'Or.

India batters Mithali Raj and Smriti Mandhana held on to their third and sixth spots respectively while allrounder Deepti Sharma was also steady at the fifth position in the latest ICC women's ODI rankings released on Tuesday.

The top-seeded Indian men's team won its first two matches in the 20th Asian Squash Championship on Tuesday.

Manchester United interim coach Ralf Rangnick will be unable to take charge of the team for Thursday's Premier League clash with Arsenal as his work visa is yet to be finalised, the club said on Tuesday, adding Michael Carrick will remain caretaker.