Sports News Highlights, March 7: OLY Taekwondo Champ Jones Switches To Boxing; Aravindh Nears Prague Masters Chess Title

Welcome to the live coverage of everything sports that takes place today, that is, Friday, March 7.

New Zealand women have posted 245/7 in the allotted 50 overs against Sri Lanka women in the 2nd ODI.

Sri Lanka Women (Playing XI): Vishmi Gunaratne, Chamari Athapaththu(c), Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kavisha Dilhari, Manudi Nanayakkara, Nilakshi de Silva, Anushka Sanjeewani(w), Chethana Vimukthi, Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Achini Kulasuriya

New Zealand Women (Playing XI): Suzie Bates(c), Georgia Plimmer, Emma McLeod, Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze, Jess Kerr, Polly Inglis(w), Hannah Rowe, Eden Carson, Bree Illing

Lionel Messi is not in the squad for Inter Miami라이브 바카라 CONCACAF Champions Cup Group of 16 home match against Jamaican club Cavalier FC on Thursday night. The 37-year-old star forward missed his second consecutive game after sitting out an MLS match at Houston on Sunday.

Utah Jazz have roped in Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Alex Jensen to be its men라이브 바카라 basketball coach on Thursday. Jensen, who was the top target for the Utes, replaces Craig Smith, who was fired in late February in his fourth season at Utah.

2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova will be taking time off from the tennis circuit due to the continuing problems with her surgically repaired left shoulder.

“Patience and time are my priorities right now, but I believe it will all be worth it,” Vondrousova posted. “So hopefully back on the court soon.”

Neymar has earned a call-up to Brazil라이브 바카라 squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Argentina, marking his return after a 17-month absence.

The Santos forward hasn’t played for the Selecao since suffering a knee injury in October 2023 during a match against Uruguay. After a disappointing stint at Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal, Neymar has regained his form and attracted attention since rejoining his boyhood club in January.

For the first time, female tennis players on the WTA Tour will be granted paid maternity leave. Over 320 players will be eligible for up to 12 months of paid leave through a new maternity fund set up by the Women's Tennis Association.

The amount players will receive remains undisclosed, but it will be the same for all players, regardless of their ranking. Additionally, players will not be required to repay the funds if they choose not to return to the sport.

Wales will name an unchanged starting XV for the first time in 66 Tests as they prepare to face Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday. Interim head coach Matt Sherratt has stuck with the lineup that came close to upsetting Six Nations title favorites, Ireland, in the previous round.

Sherratt expressed his eagerness to give the same players another opportunity, marking the first time since 2019 that Wales have fielded the same starting XV.

Nick Kyrgios' tennis career is in doubt after he was forced to retire from his first-round match at the Indian Wells Masters on Friday. The Australian was trailing 7-6(7), 3-0 against Botic van de Zandschulp when he withdrew from the contest due to wrist issues.

Olympic boxing bronze medalist Cindy Ngamba expressed her disappointment after being forced to withdraw from her professional debut due to a medical issue, as announced by her promoter.

Ngamba was scheduled to face Kirstie Bavington in a super welterweight bout, part of an all-female card headlined by the Natasha Jonas vs Lauren Price welterweight world title unification fight at Royal Albert Hall.

Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur was fined 10% of her match fee on Friday for showing dissent at an umpire라이브 바카라 decision during her team라이브 바카라 match against UP Warriorz at the Ekana Cricket Stadium.

The incident occurred after the 19th over of the UPW innings, when umpire Ajitesh Argal informed Harmanpreet that only three fielders could be outside the circle in the final over due to a slow over rate.

Great Britain secured bronze in the mixed 4x400m relay, with the Netherlands claiming their first gold at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn.

Dutch star Femke Bol, 25, took over in fourth place and powered her team to victory with a time of 3:15.63, beating Belgium. The British team, featuring Alastair Chalmers, Emily Newnham, Joshua Faulds, and Lina Nielsen, clocked 3:16.49 to claim the podium spot in this championship debut event.

Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram moved closer to his first major tournament victory after securing an easy draw against David Navara of the Czech Republic in the eighth and penultimate round of the Prague Masters. With this result, Aravindh reached 5.5 points, maintaining a half-point lead over fellow Indian R Praggnanandhaa, who also drew with Vietnam라이브 바카라 Quang Liem Le.

In the final round, Aravindh will face Turkey라이브 바카라 Ediz Gurel, while Praggnanandhaa faces a tougher challenge against Netherlands’ Anish Giri.

After a rocky start with two losses in his first three games, top-seeded Chinese GM Wei Yi made a strong comeback, defeating local favorite Nguyen Thai Dai Van to move into third place with 4.5 points.

The 18th edition of the much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) will get underway from March 22, 2025, with defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders up against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

Read the full story HERE.

India cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has urged Team India captain Rohit Sharma to focus on building longer innings rather than being satisfied with quick scores of 25-30 runs. Gavaskar believes that if Rohit bats through to the 25-30 over mark, he could significantly shift the momentum of the game in India's favour.

Rohit has struggled to convert his starts in the ongoing Champions Trophy, with his highest score being 41 against Bangladesh. Since then, his scores have been 20, 15, and 28.

“As a batter, are you happy with scoring 25-30 runs? You shouldn’t be!” Gavaskar told India Today.

Less than a year after announcing his international retirement, Sunil Chhetri is set to return to the Indian team once again to help the Blue Tigers in their bid for Asian Cup qualification.

Read the full story HERE.

Wales' double Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones is making a bold switch to boxing, aiming to conquer a second sport at the highest level.

The 31-year-old has set her sights on becoming a two-sport world champion, declaring she is "dreaming big" as she embarks on this new journey.

Jones has been training in boxing for the past two months under the guidance of former professional boxer Stephen Smith. She believes her transition from taekwondo to boxing is unprecedented as she prepares to step into the professional ranks.

New Zealand seamer Matt Henry is a doubtful starter for the Champions Trophy final against India due to a shoulder niggle, but coach Gary Stead is hopeful that the in-form bowler will recover in time for the clash on Sunday. Henry leads the tournament's wicket-takers' list with 10 scalps, including a 5/42 against India in their group match. The 33-year-old injured himself when he landed on his shoulder during the semi-final against South Africa in Lahore on Wednesday.

"Matt obviously landed on his shoulder and it was pretty uncomfortable. I guess the positive thing from our perspective is that he got back out there to bowl. We've had some scans done on him," Stead was quoted as telling reporters in a PTI report.

Indian tennis legend Mahesh Bhupathi has supported India's strong push for hosting the Summer Olympics in the future. “We must host the Olympics, be it in 2036 or 2046,” Bhupati has said at the RevSportz Trailblazers 3.0 Conclave today. Saurav Ghosal, the squash ace, agrees with him. “It's important to create that impetus,” Ghosal says.

Vani Kapoor plays an ideal back nine with one birdie and eight pars to card 1-under 71 and register an easy three-shot win over Ridhima Dilawari (70) and Rhea Jha (73) in the fifth leg of the Women's Pro Golf Tour in Gurugram. It is the seasoned Vani's second consecutive triumph, having won the fourth leg last month.

Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany has confirmed that their third-choice goalkeeper, Jonas Urbig, is set to make his Bundesliga debut against Bochum on Saturday. Urbig replaced Manuel Neuer in the 58th minute of Bayern's 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in their Champions League round of 16 first leg clash in midweek. The Bayern skipper tore his calf muscle after celebrating Jamal Musiala's goal that put Kompany's side 2-0 up in the game. Daniel Peretz, normally Neuer's back-up in between the sticks, is also sidelined after suffering a kidney contusion in training back in January. 

In match 56 of the ICC Cricket World Cup League Two, Namibia have dismissed Netherlands for 159 runs in 39.1 overs after winning the toss and electing to field. Left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz scalps four wickets for just 15 runs in eight overs. The game has been reduced to 40-overs-a-side due to rain.

With that, our coverage here of today's sports news and events comes to an end. We will be back tomorrow with this comprehensive one-stop shop. Meanwhile, live updates will continue on our dedicated blogs for the Women's Premier League game between Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Giants, and the Indian Super League match between Kerala Blasters and Mumbai City.