Here on the ESPN blog, we bring you all the news from the colorful world of Indian sports, from the wide variety of Olympic sports to franchised leagues.
In March, a lot of sports action is taking place, as you can see on the ESPN India sports calendar.
Here are all the key updates from Sunday, March 24.
In the second year since its inception, Odisha FC were crowned champions of the 2023-24 Indian Women’s League after beating Gokulam Kerala in the title with a win over Kickstart FC. This is Odisha’s first trophy after losing to 2022-23 IWL champions Gokulam. in last year’s quarter-finals.
Gokulam wanted Odisha to lose and win their last match against East Bengal before the final day, and they did their part by beating the Kolkata team 5-1. However, Odisha left no room for doubt as they took a 3-0 lead against Kickstart FC in 22 minutes and won 6-0, with Lynda Kom scoring a hat-trick while Pyari Xaka scored a brace. They finished the 12-game season with 31 points, dropping only points in a 1-2 loss to Gokulam and a 0-0 draw to Kickstart.
Having signed a large number of Indian nationals and the prolific Win Theingi Tun, Odisha was a dominant force under coach Crispin Chettri and captain Indumathi Katiseran during the season, although the loss to Gokulam was a bit wobbly from which they eventually recovered.
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We are the 2023-24✨ #IWL CHAMPIONS#OdishaFC #OFCW #AmaTeamAmaGame #KalingaWarriors #IWLChampions pic. twitter. com/WsHLIQ6Zeo
– Odisha FC Women (@OdishaFCW) March 24, 2024
Meanwhile, last night, Srikanth’s long-awaited resurgence came to an end in the semi-finals of the Swiss Open Super 300 after a narrow defeat. The former World No. 1 failed to take advantage of his opportunities, squandering 21-15. 9-21, 18-21 for Lin Chun Yi in an attack that lasted one hour and five minutes.
Srikanth, who had reached a BWF semi-final for the first time since 2022, started with strong opposition to Chinese Taipei’s youngest player and showed his full diversity of skillful touches and net play to win the first game. He attacked from a narrow diversity at the net and scored his winners with clever shots. Even when he lost momentum and Lin took the lead, he held on and secured it on his first set point with a signature smash into the net.
The second game, however, was a completely different affair as all the lineouts seemed to give up on Srikanth after a very tight start to 5-5. He made mistake after mistake as Lin’s attacks grew in confidence and the Indian temporarily lost his head. and the game with only a single-digit score to your name.
The decisive thing was a war of small margins as both players began to exhaust the relatively exchanged rallies and were tied when it came to directing the play. Srikanth, boasting to the Indian crowd despite the final hour in Basel, bolstered his defence and took a narrow 11-10 lead at the break. But in a moment of nervousness he saw him make too many mistakes at very important moments as Lin went from a tight 16-16 tie to 3 set points. Srikanth stockpiled one but overtook the next to finish it.
From a certain point of view, this is a satisfying outing for Srikanth, who had struggled to get back-to-back wins on the BWF Tour and broke that duck with a semi-final. Missed opportunity for the former World No. 1 to succeed in his first (non-team) final since the 2021 World Championships.
The name of the Indian Women’s League will be decided.
It’s a double title in the IPL. Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill take the central level as the Gujarat Titans of the Mumbai Indians. At the time of day, the Rajasthan Royals take on the Super Giants of Lucknow. What happened yesterday?
Srikanth’s Swiss Open crusade ends with semi-final loss
AIFF congratulates Sunil Chhetri on his 150th internationalization
Two Indian Para powerlifters qualify for Paris Paralympics
You can locate all the main points of what happened yesterday, here.