SPORTS

Lionel Messi fell on his knees the moment the final whistle was blown by the referee at the historic Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro as it signalled the end of a 28-year trophy drought for La Albiceleste.

Argentina had finally won a final and Messi had his first major trophy with the senior team, as they beat Brazil 1-0 in the final courtesy a 22nd minute strike from Angel Di Maria.

This was Argentina's first Copa America title win since 1993. Messi had lost three Copa America finals himself and the 2014 FIFA World Cup final knows everything about the pain of failing at the final hurdle. So, when his dear friend Neymar came to congratulate him after the match, Messi gave him a tight and long hug to console his former FC Barcelona teammate.

Denis Shapovalov was the better player and the scoreline fails to suggest the quality of the 22-year-old Canadian, world number one Novak Djokovic has said about his Friday's opponent.

Novak Djokovic defeated the world number twelve 7-6(3), 7-5, 7-5 in the 2nd men's singles to set up a final clash versus Italy's Matteo Berrettini, who won the first semi-final by beating Poland's Hubert Hurkacz earlier in the day.

Shapovalov failed to serve out the first set at 5-4 and then failed to capitalise on 5 break points in 2nd set. He could win only one out of 11 break points opportunities. Even in the third set Shapovalov continued shooting from the hip but eventually his fire blew out as Djokovic claimed one of the toughest straight sets wins of his Wimbledon career.

There may be clamours for his removal as captain of the Indian cricket team, but Virat Kohli has and is doing a fine job as India skipper. With 33 wins, Kohli is India's most successful Test captain and has a win percentage of over 70 in ODIs and more than 65 in T20Is. An ICC title may have not landed in his trophy cabinet, but under Kohli, India have finished as the No. 1-ranked Test team five years in a row and won a Test series in Australia after 70 years.

However, there will come a time when Kohli, like his predecessor, MS Dhoni, will have to step down and nurture a young captain for the next phase of Indian cricket when he walks away from the game. Which brings us to the question: Who could be next in line to lead India after Kohli? Well, former India all-rounder and one of its greatest match-winners, Yuvraj Singh feels that from the current lot of youngsters, Rishabh Pant could be the next flag-bearer of Indian cricket.

Known as India’s batting powerhouse, Harmanpreet Kaur had not really fired with the bat in the 2017 Women’s World Cup till the semi-final against Australia in Derby.

Known as India’s batting powerhouse, Harmanpreet Kaur had not really fired with the bat in the 2017 Women’s World Cup till the semi-final against Australia in Derby.

She injured her finger in the second league match against West Indies and physio Tracy Fernandes suggested 10 days’ rest. Harmanpreet was gutted, but told coach Tushar Arothe that she wanted to continue playing in all the matches as she had waited four years for the World Cup.

Italy beat Spain 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in a magnificent Euro 2020 semi-final at Wembley on Tuesday, as as Jorginho converted the decisive kick to take the Azzurri  through to the final of a tournament in which they have been the outstanding side.

They were not always on top in this game with Spain the better side for long spells of an epic contest before Federico Chiesa, the Juventus forward, gave Italy the lead lead with a fabulous finish an hour into a match watched by a crowd of almost 60,000.