ESPN staffJun 7, 2024, 10:30 PM ET
Welcome to ESPN India's daily blog, where we aim to bring you all the news from the dynamic world of Indian sports: from the wide variety of Olympic sports to franchise leagues.
June has plenty of sporting action taking place - which you can find listed out in ESPN India's sporting calendar.
FIH Pro League: Harmanpreet, Sukhjeet strikes not enough as India Men lose to Germany
India lost 2-3 to Germany in their penultimate Pro League match - with Harmanpreet Singh and Sukhjeet Singh finding the net for India. Gonzalo Peillat scored a brace as Germany earned 13 penalty corners to India's four, with Christopher Ruhr also scoring on his comeback from injury.
You can read a play-by-play recap of the match in our Live blog here:
India 2-3 Germany: Harmanpreet, Sukhjeet strikes not enough as Fulton's side lose to World Cup winners
FIH Pro League: India Women face 7th straight defeat
The Indian women's hockey team could not break its sequence of consecutive losses in the FIH Pro League, losing to Germany 2-4 after squandering a two-goal advantage.
Sunelita Toppo and Deepika scored excellent field goals in the opening quarter to give the Harendra Singh-coached side the best chance to break the losing streak. But the 2-0 lead was soon cancelled out by Germany's Viktoria Huse, who converted penalty corners in the 23rd and 32nd minutes to bring her team on level terms.
Stinne Kurz (51st) then converted a penalty corner before Jule Bleuel scored a field goal in the 55th minute to pile on more misery on the Indians.
The latest defeat comes after India had lost all their four matches against Belgium and Argentina in Antwerp last month and then succumbed to defeats against Germany (1-3) and Great Britain (2-3) here last weekend.
Indian football: Stimac announces 23-member squad for FIFA World Cup qualifier against Qatar
Here's the India squad for the upcoming match against Qatar. One major absence is Sunil Chhetri who retired from international football after the 0-0 draw against Kuwait on Thursday.
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Vishal Kaith.
Defenders: Anwar Ali, Jay Gupta, Mehtab Singh, Narender, Nikhil Poojary, Rahul Bheke. Midfielders: Anirudh Thapa, Brandon Fernandes, Edmund Lalrindika, Jeakson Singh Thounaojam, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Liston Colaco, Mahesh Singh Naorem, Nandhakumar Sekar, Sahal Abdul Samad, Suresh Singh Wangjam.
Forwards: Manvir Singh, Rahim Ali, Vikram Partap Singh, David Lalhlansanga.
India will travel to Doha from Kolkata on Saturday evening. They will take on the two-time Asian champions Qatar on Tuesday at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan.
After being held 0-0 by Kuwait, India remain in the second spot with five points with a goal difference of -3. Afghanistan also played out a 0-0 draw with Qatar and maintained third spot with a goal difference of -10. Kuwait are still at the bottom with four points. With Qatar already having booked their spot in the third round, all the other three teams remain in contention for the second and final berth.
India will qualify for the third round if they beat Qatar and maintain their goal-difference advantage over Afghanistan, who will face Kuwait on the same day. A point will also be enough for the Blue Tigers if Afghanistan versus Kuwait also ends in a draw. However, a defeat in Qatar will end India's hopes of progressing, irrespective of the other result.
Wrestling: Antim, Anshu win silver in Budapest Ranking Series
Antim Panghal won the silver medal in the 53kg category of the Budapest Ranking Series on Friday. She made it to the final but couldn't clear the final hurdle against Emma Jonna Denise Malmcgren of Sweden, losing 0-4 on points.
Anshu Malik also qualified for the final in the 57 kg but lost to Hong Kexin of China on points 1-12.
Earlier, Antim was outstanding on the mat to register wins over her rivals. She first defeated Sakibjamal Esbosynova of Uzbekistan 10-0 and then beat Katarzyna Krawczyk of Poland 3-1 on points to progress to the final.
Meanwhile, Anshu beat Anastasia Nichita 6-5 on points in the quarterfinals, and then prevailed over Qi Zhang of China in the semifinals 2-1 on points to secure her place in the gold medal bout.
Norway Chess: Carlsen, Wenjun win titles; Pragg finishes third
India's R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw in the final round of the tournament against Hikaru Nakamura and then beat him in armageddon but that was not enough for him to win the title. He finished third on the standings with 14.5 points as Magnus Carlsen won his sixth Norway Chess title after beating Fabiano Caruana in armageddon. Carlsen ended the tournament with 17.5 points while Nakamura finished second with 15.5 points.
Je Wenjun, the women's world champion, took the title in the women's section after her classical win over Lei Tingjie. India's R Vaishali finished fourth as she lost her final round match against Pia Cramling in armageddon while Koneru Humpy lost to second-placed Anna Muzychuk in armageddon, finishing fifth in the tournament.
What's on today?
Hockey: Both the Indian men's and women's teams face Germany in the FIH Pro League (women's match at 2:30pm IST, men's match at 9:45pm IST).
What happened yesterday?
Badminton: Lakshya Sen lost the Indonesia Open quarterfinal in straight games to Denmark's Anders Antonsen.
Shooting: Sift Kaur Samra finished third in the final of the 50m Rifle 3 Position event at the Munich World Cup. On the men's side, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar finished 8th.
Wrestling: Aman Sehrawat won the silver medal in the men's 57kg event at the Budapest ranking series. Antim Panghal and Anshu Malik reached their respective finals, while Vinesh Phogat lost in the quarterfinals.
Chess: R Praggnanandhaa lost to Fabiano Caruana in a blow to his chances of winning the Norway Open.
You can find the details of yesterday's events, here.
