Sports News Highlights: Sinner Banned For Three Months By WADA; Messi's Inter Miami Hold Orlando City 2-2 In MLS

ꦯWelcome! At this place, you will find all the sports news and updates alongside live scores from across arenas for the matches taking place on Saturday, February 15.

🌞Following up their FA Cup win over the Blues last weekend, Brighton have blanked the London side 3-0 in the Premier League to complete a double. Brighton beat Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup last Saturday and have given an even better performance for all three points in the EPL earlier today, thanks to a magic moment from Kaoru Mitoma and brace from Yankuba Minteh.

Top seed Alexander Zverev 🐠has lost in the Argentina Open quarter-finals to home favourite Francisco Cerundolo. The German world number two goes down 6-3, 3-6, 2-6 to Cerundolo, who is ranked 28th in the world currently.

A tribunal has ruled that the English Premier League's rules pertaining to sponsorship deals from the time between 2021 and 2024 are "void and unenforceable". An independent arbitration panel had last year found three aspects of the EPL's associated party transaction rules (APTs) as unlawful, after a lawsuit ꦬinitiated by Manchester City. The ruling could open the door for clubs who had APT deals rejected under the original rules to seek compensation from the league, and thus comes as a win for City in particular.

♉The league, meanwhile, says the tribunal's ruling does not impact the "valid operation" of current APT rules, which it believes are still "valid and enforceable" and remain in "full force". The regulations were formed by the English top-flight to prevent clubs from profiting from commercial deals with companies linked to their owners that are deemed above "fair market value".

The player auction for the ninth season of Tamil Nadu Premier League, one of the leading regional franchise leagues in India, has begun at the MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk) in Chennai. Vijay Shankar ꧅is the first player to go under the hammer, and is sold to Chepauk Super Gillies for INR 18 lakh. The proceedings are being live streamed on the FanCode app and website.

Lionel Messi's Inter Miami 🎀have struck a last-gasp goal to hold Orlando City to a 2-2 draw in a pre-season Major League Soccer (MLS) clash at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The in-state rivals traded goals in the opening half-hour, with Orlando's Martin Ojeda finding the opener on a 15th-minute breakaway, only to have it cancelled out by a 21st-minute leveler by Miami winger Tadeo Allende.

🌄Orlando regained the lead in the 54th minute as Ramiro Enrique capitalized on a giveaway at the back from Inter Miami defender David Martinez. But Miami's Fafa Picault pounced for a rebound finish just seconds from the final whistle to end the match on level terms. What is worth noting is that both clubs fielded first-choice starting XIs, with Inter Miami deploying their entire "Core Four" of Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.

🍒The world's numero uno pole vaulter Armand "Mondo" Duplantis has set a new meeting record on his return from a winter break, jumping 6.10 metres at the ISTAF Indoor meet in Berlin. The Swedish star attempted to beat his own world outdoor record set in Chorzow, Poland last August with two attempts at 6.27, but it was too high this time for the 25-year-old who broke the outdoor record three times last year. Olympic and world champion Duplantis needed two attempts to clear 6.10, putting it down to “rust” in his first competition since September. It's the best indoor mark so far this year.

♓YouTuber iShowSpeed appears to be omnipresent. The social media star was invited to play in the 2025 Match for Hope, a charity football game hosted in Qatar, with legends like Thierry Henry and Andres Iniesta also taking the field. KSI and AboFlah captained one team, while Speed and Chunkz captained the other. According to the event's official website, a total of 8.8 million US dollars has been raised for charity, with 22.5 million viewers tuning in for the match.

👍The Odisha government has announced a cash prize of INR 6 lakh for gold medallists, 4 lakh for silver medallists and 3 lakh for bronze medallists from the state at the 38th National Games held in Uttarakhand. Odisha athletes clinched a total of 46 medals, including 14 gold, 15 silver and 17 bronze at the Games. The state secured the 12th position in the final medal tally.

♊At the 2025 Match for Hope in Qatar, YouTuber iShowSpeed left fans and teammates alike amused with his antics. With the scoreline at 0-0 in the second minute and his team building up around the edge of the box, 'Speed' was found waiting for the ball in the penalty area, while standing around 10 yards offside. Later, an assist by him to KSI hilariously resulted in an own goal.

Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi has described world number one Magnus Carlsen as both a “rebel” and someone who could “get away with” his remarks on FIDE, its president Arkady Dvorkovich and his deputy Viswanathan Anand. “The thing is, he can afford to. He’s the world champion, and he can get away with it. At this point, he has become bigger than the sport itself,” Gujrathi told VJ and comedian Cyrus Broacha on his YouTube show 'Cyrus Says'. Read all about it in our story HERE.

💟We have an action-packed evening ahead, especially from an Indian sports perspective. The Indian Super League has a double-header in store: Chennaiyin FC host Punjab at 5pm and Kerala Blasters welcome Mohun Bagan at 7:30pm IST. The Women's Premier League moves to match 2, with the Mumbai Indians taking on Delhi Capitals at 7:30pm. And over in hockey, both the Indian men's and women's teams will kickstart their respective campaigns at the Bhubaneswar leg of the FIH Pro League - the women face Spain at 5:15 and the men host Spain at 7:30.

ღGrant Fisher is in red-hot form. The United States athlete breaks his second world indoor record in six days, setting a new mark in the 5,000m meet. The 27-year-old clocks 12 minutes, 44.09 seconds at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational, smashing the mark of 12:49.60 set by Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele in 2004. Fisher, who bagged bronze in both the 5,000m and 10,000m at Paris Olympic Games 2024, set a new 3,000m record at the Millrose Games in New York last weekend.

Team New Zealand head into the Champions Trophy on an upbeat note, having defeat hosts Pakistan in the ODI tri-series final and remaining unbeaten through the tour. They face the home team for their Champions Trophy opener as well, and appear to be in good stead. Check out our preview HERE to know all about the Kiwi side's prospects.

Big breaking now: Jannik Sinner, the world's top-ranked men's singles tennis player, has agreed to a three-month ban from the sport, effective immediately, after coming to a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency over his two positive drug tests in 2024. The 23-year-old Italian, who claimed the Australian Open title last year, stands suspended from February 9 to May 4. He will thus be eligible to play in the next Grand Slam of 2024, the French Open, which begins on May 19. Read all about it in our report HERE.

With that, we conclude our coverage of today's sports news and events here. However, live action continues elsewhere and so do our blogs. The Indian men's and women's hockey teams will be playing their respective opening matches of the Bhubaneswar leg of FIH Pro League, and we will provide live updates for both matches HERE. As for the Indian Super League, Chennaiyin FC meet Punjab in the first of two matches, and live updates will be found HERE.