Sports Highlights, March 1: Gukesh Climbs To Career-High World No. 3; AUS Opener Short Ruled Out Of CT Semis

Greetings to one and all. We are back again with our daily, comprehensive one-stop sports shop. Sit back and relax as we take you through the major happenings of the day.

Marco Asensio's brace helped Aston Villa beat Cardiff City in the fifth round and cruise into the quarter-finals at Villa Park of the FA Cup on Saturday evening.

Aston Villa 2-0 Cardiff City

UEFA has fined Real Madrid 30,000 euros for unspecified discriminatory behaviour by fans during recent Champions League game against Manchester City.

Joel Embiid's frustrating and disappointing 2024-25 NBA season has officially come to an end as the Philadelphia 76ers announced that the 30-year-old star has been ruled out due to rehab for a recurring left knee injury.

La Liga: Real Valladolid 1-1 Las Palmas

Serie A: Fiorentina 1-0 Leece

Ligue 1: Monaco 3-0 Reims

Bundesliga: Vfb Stuttgart 1-3 Bayern Munich

Stefanos Tsitsipas will take on Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final at the Dubai Championships. This will be their 10th time meeting on tour on Saturday. Tsitsipas leads 6-3 overall and has dominated their matchups since 2020 but are 1-1 in finals.

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa cruised to victory against Czech Republic's Nguyen Thai Dai Van in the third round of the Prague Masters. The 19-year-old, who is the firm favourite to win the tournament scripted an easy win.

Uruguayan midfielder Nicolas Fonseca was robbed with his truck was stolen near Mexican club Leon. The club on Friday said that Fonseca was not harmed and has been training with the team. According to the club, the incident took place on a highway.

Mondo Duplantis lifted his pole vault world record to 6.27m in the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in France . The 25-year-old Olympic and world champion has been pushing the limit barrier and has now added a centimetre to his world record, registering his 11th world pole vault record.

Australian opener Matthew Short will likely miss the Champions Trophy semi-final against India or New Zealand after suffering a quad injury in the washed out match against Afghanistan at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Friday, February 28.

Turkish football club Fenerbahce has filed a lawsuit against Galatasaray for an attack on the personal rights of coach Jose Mourinho. Galatasaray accused Mourinho of making racist comments after the Istanbul derby on Monday.

Well, in about two hours time, Jos Buttler will go for the toss, one final time as an England ODI skipper against South Africa. With Temba Bavuma's men eyeing a semi-final spot, here are the probable XIs for both teams.

Probable XI: Phil Salt, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith (wk), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (capt), Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood

Probable XI: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Temba Bavuma (capt), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi

Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez kicked off his Ducati debut with pole position at the season-opening Thailand Grand Prix, finishing ahead of his younger brother Alex Marquez at the Buriram International Circuit on Saturday, March 1.

The Brazil Legends vs India All-Stars match will take place in Chennai on March 30 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The ticket prices will go on sale at 4:00 PM on BookMyShow on March 2.

Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Cafu, Gilberto Silva, Edmílson, Kleberson, Ricardo Oliveira, Cacapa, Camanducaia, Elivelton, Paulo Sergio, Heurelho Gomes, Diego Gil, Jorginho, Amaral, Lucio, Alex Ferro, Junior, Giovanni, Viola, and Marcelo are all set to feature.

Vidarbha have extended their lead to 127 runs in their second innings at Lunch on Day 4 against Kerala in the Ranji Trophy final.

Brief scores: Vidarbha: 379 and 90/2 in 34 overs (Karun Nair 42 batting, Danish Malewar 38 batting; MD Nidheesh 1/17, Jalaj Saxena 1/36).

Kerala: 1st innings 342 in 125 overs (Sachin Baby 98, Aditya Sarwate 79; Darshan Nalkande 3/52, Harsh Dubey 3/88, Parth Rekhade 3/65).

England have won the toss and have opted to bat in Karachi.

England (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith(w), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(c), Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood

South Africa (Playing XI): Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen(w), David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi

It was a special moment for one of the net bowlers Jaskiran Singh at the ICC Cricket Academy here when India top-order batter Shreyas Iyer walked up to him and gifted him a pair of spikes during a Champions Trophy practice session.

Karun Nair smashed his fourth century of the ongoing Ranji Trophy as Vidarbha are now in the driver's seat in the final in Nagpur.

Brief scores: Vidarbha: 379 and 189/3 in 61 overs (Karun Nair 100 batting, Danish Malewar 73; MD Nidheesh 1/37, Jalaj Saxena 1/63, Akshay Chandran 1/7).

Kerala: 342

India라이브 바카라 D Gukesh rose to his career-high No.3 ranking, while R Praggnanandhaa broke back into the top 10 in the latest FIDE classical ratings released on Saturday, March 1. Norway's Magnus Carlsen continues to be at the top of the rankings.

Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa registered a thumping victory against Czech Republic라이브 바카라 Nguyen Thai Dai Van, while Aravindh Chithambaram beat top seed Wei Yi from China in the third round of the Prague Masters 2025.

Australia opener Matthew Short ruled out of Champions Trophy semifinals. DETAILS HERE

The pair of Tanisha Crasto-Dhruv Kapila is currently in action in the German Open semifinal against RN Kusharjanto and Gloria Widjata. The Polish pair is currently leading in the first game.

Indian Super League has a double header today and the first game begins 5:00pm IST. Follow updates LIVE HERE.

The pair of Tanisha Crasto-Dhruv Kapila fought hard but have lost the first game of the mixed doubles semifinal at the German Open 25-23 to the Polish pair of RN Kusharjanto and Gloria Widjata.

With that, we conclude our coverage here of today's sports news and events. We will be back tomorrow with all that is current in various fields of play. Meanwhile, live updates continue on our dedicated blogs for the Indian Super League and Champions Trophy.