ESPN staffJun 6, 2024, 08:30 AM
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.
India draw 0-0 against Kuwait in blow to WC qualifying hopes as Chhetri bids adieu
A 0-0 draw against Kuwait at the Salt Lake Stadium means that India now face an uphill task to get through to the third round of 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. In Sunil Chhetri's last game, India faced a tough task against Kuwait, and although they did create a few chances, they couldn't take any.
They now need to get a positive result away against Qatar to qualify for the third round.
You can relive the game as it happened here, in ESPN's live blog.
French Open: Rohan Bopanna-Mathew Ebden exit French Open in the semifinal
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden lost the French Open men's doubles semifinal 5-7 6-2 2-6 to the Italians Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in a hard-fought contest, which was a rematch of the Australian Open that the Indo-Aussie pair had won.
Put in context, this was a great performance from Bopanna and Ebden at Roland Garros, considering they had won only one match in three tournaments on clay in 2024 before this one.
However, this is a defeat that will rankle, as they had their opportunities which they didn't take. They went up a break early in the first set, and had Bopanna playing flawless tennis throughout. However, Ebden's serve proved to be their undoing as the Aussie was broken four times - twice each in the first and third sets. The Australian did get a few massages throughout the match, so that might have been a clue to him looking a fair way off his best self.
Bopanna and Ebden were 4-1 up in the first set and then got pegged back to 4-4, and then Ebden lost his serve again at 5-5. The Indo-Aussie pair seemed to have got that first set out of their systems, as Bopanna in particular kept creaming winners with some audacious shot-making in the second set, when they broke Vavassori's serve twice to take it 6-2.
However, the Italians amped the intensity up in the final set, and once again it was Ebden's serve that they targeted, as they made their second grand slam final of 2024.
Shooting: Sarabjot wins men's 10m air pistol gold in Munich World Cup; Sift, APS Tomar into 50m 3P finals
Sarabjot Singh opened India's account at the ISSF World Cup in Munich with a gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol event, emerging triumphant in a field that featured a reigning world champion and a four-time Olympian.
The 22-year-old Indian shot 242.7 in the eight-man final, leaving behind his nearest competitor Bu Shuaihang of China by 0.2 points. Germany's Robin Walter won bronze. Sarabjot had on Wednesday shot a top score of 588 to qualify for the decider. The final had in its line-up the reigning world champion Bowen Zhang of China and four-time Olympian Yusuf Dikec of Turkey, besides Bu and Walter.
The young Indian was the strongest off the blocks shooting three high 10s off his first five single shots to take an early lead. His consistent shooting continued and he never gave up the lead until Walter caught up with him at the end of the 14th single shot. A clutch 10.8 for his 15th looked to have settled the final as Walter wilted with an 8.6. After Zhang bowed out in fifth, Walter upset Dikec for the bronze.
Going into the final two shots, 1.4 separated Sarabjot from Bu, who was till then enjoying the chase as the pressure told on Sarabjot. In the end, Sarabjot, who had topped the selection trials for the Paris Olympics, did well to hold on for a morale-boosting win.
Elsewhere, Sift Kaur Samra qualified for the women's 50m rifle 3P final, finishing fifth with a score of 593. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar also reached the final of the men's 50m rifle 3P, scoring 592 to finish sixth in qualification.
Badminton: Lakshya Sen beats Nishimoto to enter Indonesia Open quarterfinal
Lakshya Sen produced a flawless performance to enter the men's singles quarterfinals of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament, beating Japan's Kenta Nishimoto 21-9, 21-15 in the Round of 16. Lakshya next faces fourth seed Anders Antonsen in the quarterfinal tomorrow.
Meanwhile, it was curtains for Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand in the women's doubles. The Indian pair went down to Japan's Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara 21-19, 19-21, 19-21 after an intense Round-of-16 match. Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa also exited the tournament, bringing an end to India's campaign in the women's doubles. Tanisha and Ashwini were beaten by second seeds, South Korea's Ha Na Baek and So-Hee Lee 21-13, 19-21, 21-13.
Later, the Indian mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy lost to China's Siwei Zheng and Yaqiong Huang by a 9-21, 11-21 scoreline.
In the men's singles, Priyansh Rajawat will take on Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand, the reigning world champion and the gold medallist in last year's World Championships.
Wrestling: Aman Sehrawat into final of Budapest ranking series
Aman Sehrawat produced a superb 14-4 technical superiority (TSU) win over Aryan Tsiutryn of Russia/Belarus (competing under the neutral athlete flag). Tsiutryn had won bronze in the 2021 World Championships, but Aman proved his mettle with a convincing win to reach the final of the Polyak Imre and Varga Janos Memorial tournament, where he will face Worlds silver medallist, Rei Higuchi of Japan.
What's on today?
Football: Sunil Chhetri's last game in an Indian shirt. Oh and India also need to defeat Kuwait to all but reach the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. We have a preview, Chhetri's pre-match quotes, and a tribute to the legend if you want to catch up on pre-match reading. [7 PM]
Tennis: Rohan Bopanna and Mathew Ebden are in action in the French Open men's doubles semifinal, where they face familiar foes - the all Italian pair of Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori.
Badminton: Lakshya Sen, Priyanshu Rajawat, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand, Ashwini Ponnappa-Tanisha Crasto, Sumeeth Reddy-Sikki Reddy are in action in the Indonesia Open
Norway Chess: R Praggnanandhaa and R Vaishali aim to rise in the rankings.
Shooting: Sarabjot Singh in Munich World Cup final (men's 10m air pistol).
What happened yesterday?
Tennis: Second seeds Bopanna-Ebden into French Open semifinals
Shooting: Sarabjot Singh qualified for Munich World Cup final in top spot
Badminton: PV Sindhu suffered a first round loss at the Indonesia Open, Tanisha Crasto-Ashwini Ponnappa into second round
Norway Chess: Carlsen beat R Praggnanandhaa; R Vaishali secured a bonus point, with both brother and sister third in the standings
Cricket: India began their T20 World Cup campaign with a dominant win over Ireland in testing conditions.
You can find the details of yesterday's events, here.
