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In the world of football, La Liga is investigating an alleged insult from Jude Bellingham towards Mason Greenwood, calling him “rapist” during Real Madrid’s La Liga clash against Getafe. Kylian Mbappe ruled out a move to a Premier League club after his current contract with Paris Saint-Germain runs out. In other major news, Rohan Bopanna presented the Australia Open 2024 winning racquet to PM Narendra Modi.
Read below to learn details about these top stories and other happenings in the sporting world in the last 24 hours.
Football
La Liga investigates alleged insult from Jude Bellingham towards Mason Greenwood
After Jude Bellingham was allegedly spotted calling Mason Greenwood a “rapist” during Real Madrid’s 2-0 win against Getafe away, La Liga has hired a lip-reading expert to investigate the comment. The statement from La Liga about the matter read, “Yesterday, Getafe filed a formal complaint with the La Liga match director who, as per standard procedure in such cases, has requested an expert lip-reading report to investigate the matter and act based on hard evidence.”
Marouane Fellaini announces retirement from professional football
The Belgian international Marouane Fellaini, who won 87 caps for Belgium while participating in two FIFA World Cups, has retired from professional football at the age of 36 years old. During his illustrious club football career, he made 177 appearances for Manchester United, winning multiple trophies for the English club, and in his retirement post on social media, he said, “What an incredible journey it's been. I am so grateful to have played the sport I love at the highest level.”
Kylian Mbappe rules out move to Premier League club: Reports
The French forward Kylian Mbappe has reportedly ruled out a move to a Premier League club in the upcoming summer transfer window after his current contract with Paris Saint-Germain runs out. As per the report from CaughtOffSide, the 25-year-old is expected to either sign a new contract to stay at Paris Saint-Germain or complete a long-awaited move to Real Madrid following years of rumours and speculations.
Mikel Arteta intends to keep Aaron Ramsdale at Arsenal for foreseeable future: Reports
After several reports of the English goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale moving away from Arsenal during the January transfer window, they managed to not let him go away from the Emirates Stadium till the end of the ongoing 2023-24 season. And the recent report from FootballTransfers states that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta intends to keep Aaron Ramsdale at the club for the foreseeable future.
Some major results in football are as follows:
AFCON 2023
- Nigeria 1-0 Angola
- DR Congo 3-1 Guinea
AFC Asian Cup 2023
- Tajikistan 0-1 Jordan
- Australia 1-2 South Korea
La Liga 2023-24
- Athletic Bilbao 4-0 Mallorca
Bundesliga 2023-24
- FC Heidenheim 0-0 Borussia Dortmund
Serie A 2023-24
- Lecce 3-2 Fiorentina
Ligue 1 2023-24
- Strasbourg 1-2 Paris Saint-Germain
Eredivisie 2023-24
- Almere City 2-1 FC Excelsior
Tennis
Rohan Bopanna presents Australia Open 2024 winning racquet to PM Narendra Modi
India’s newly crowned Australian Open 2024 star Rohan Bopanna presented his winning racquet to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Bopanna ended India’s six-year draught for the Grand Slam by clinching his AO 2024 title in the men’s doubles event with his Australian partner Matthew Ebden. He said, "I had the privilege to meet our honourable Prime Minister Modi ji today. This acknowledgment is very humbling & it was my honour to present the very racket that led me to become World No. 1 and the AO grand slam champion. Your grace has left me inspired & encouraged, PMOIndia.”
If the decline had begun, we will find out between Indian Wells and Miami: Paolo Bertolucci on Novak Djokovic
Paolo Bertolucci said that Novak Djokovic is far from concluding his career. He said, "He is a player who played badly in Australia. Now if this is due to a problem that can happen, because it happens when someone doesn't get his preparation right, or if the decline had begun, we will find out between Indian Wells and Miami. We will see if he has recovered or not. I have no idea because we would have to have seen the training sessions, and understand if he stopped or not and with what intensity. Only those who know that within the team."
Bob Bryan hails Team USA after Davis Cup finals qualification
Team USA Davis Captain Bob Bryan heaped praise on Team USA after qualifying for the Davis Cup finals. He said, "I'm proud of the guys. I love spending time with them. Great bunch of kids. They played great this week. The Ukrainians put up some tough resistance at times. They fought great until the last ball, but our guys were solid, and they really brought it. I thought we played great tennis. Hopefully, we can build on that this year and play well in the group stage- which was our hiccup last year. We have a great group of guys. We got a lot of guys to choose from. We've got guys that are excited to play Davis Cup and that's the most important thing.”
F1
We knew that it could be a year, it could be two: Toto Wolff opens up on Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari
Toto Wolff revealed that he anticipated Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari. He said, “We knew that it could be a year, it could be two; we knew that it would come to an end at the latest the end of 2025.” He added, “The surprise was that I heard the rumours a couple of days earlier, but I wanted to wait for the breakfast we had planned. This is when he broke the news. But you know with me you can be very straightforward because I’m straightforward too, so once he said: ‘This is what I’m trying to do’, that was the fact and I didn’t try to convince him otherwise, but just looking forward.”
Badminton
Ashmita Chaliha faces setback in Thailand Masters Super 300 semifinals
India’s Ashmita Chaliha faced a setback in the Thailand Masters Super 300 semifinals as she was knocked out of the tournament against a localite Supainda Katehong. The 24-year-old faced a tough challenge by the world-ranked 17 and lost straight games with a scoreline of 13-21 and 12-21. The match lasted for 35 minutes and ended with Chaliha bowing out of the tournament. While Chaliha’s run in the tournament ended, the Guwahati-born displayed an impressive performance throughout the competition.
