Sports Highlights, March 3: Rishabh Pant Nominated For Laureus World Sports Award 2025; FIFA Lifts Ban From Pakistan

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United States' Brandon Holt won his second ATP 🌸Challenger title of the season with a 6-3 6-3 result over Japan's Shintaro Mochizuki in the Bengaluru Open final.

🌳Jessica Pegula clinched her first WTA title of 2025 at the ATX Open on Sunday, beating compatriot McCartney Kessler in straight sets. Pegula had dropped just one set all week. Pegula claimed a seventh WTA title and her first since she won the 1000 event at the Canadian Open last year

The FA Cup quarter-finals draw is out.

Kolkata Knight Riders register three stars around Gemini constellation in tribute to their 2012, 2014 and 2024 Tata IPL Championship titles. A global cricket 𓄧franchise with four teams around the world, have registered three actual stars around the Gemini constellation, which are now officially named after their title wins in 2012 (Korbo), 2014 (Lorbo) and 2024 (Jeetbo).

🤡The Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) has announced a cash reward of Rs 3 crore after winning the Ranji Trophy, apart from separate cash incentives for the support staff and some players after they won the title for the third time.

♒India's Krishna Jayasankar, who is currently studying in the USA, broke the women's shot put indoor national record when she won the bronze medal at the Mountain West Indoor Track and Field Championship in Albuquerque with an effort of 16.03m.

Luis Suarez put on a masterclass as he scored and assisted thrice to lead Inter Miami 🅘to a 4-1 win over hosts Houston Dynamo. They clinched their first win of the MLS season despite the absence of Lionel Messi.

A special send-off took place at the County Hall as County of Cork Mayor, Joe Carroll honoured four Special Olympics Munster athletes ꦓas they push towards greatness in Turin, Italy for the Special Olympics World Winter Games.

꧋Australia's young all-rounder Cooper Connolly has replaced the injured Matthew Short in the Australian squad for the knock-out stages of the ongoing Champions Trophy. Short was ruled out of the ICC event after suffering a calf injury against Afghanistan.

🔥Ryan Peake won the New Zealand Open golf tournament to take home a whopping £99,500 winner’s cheque. Peake had previously spent half a decade behind bars after being convicted of serious assault, and was very emotional after his triumph.

🌌Kolkata Knight Riders have unveiled a new-look jersey for the upcoming 18th edition of the TATA Indian Premier League.

🍃Santos FC booked a place in the semi-final of the Paulista on Sunday after a convincing 2-0 win over Red Bull Bragantino. Santos will only know their semifinal opponent after the last quarter final game between Sao Paulo and Novorizontino. 

✃Indian Grandmaster Pa Iniyan clinched the Cannes International Open after beating V Pranesh in the ninth and final round in Cannes, France. Iniyan finished the tournament on 7.5 points, half a point more than Delhi-based International Master Aradhya Garg, who was second.

🃏Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with Aravindh Chithambaram as the two Indians stayed a full point ahead of nearest challengers after the fifth round of Prague Masters chess tournament. With 3.5 points, Aravindh and Praggnanandhaa are now followed by Wei Yi, Anish Giri, Quang Leim Le, and Vincent Keymer, all with 2.5 points.

ꦦArgentina name squad for World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Brazil.

Goalkeepersꦯ: Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa), Gerónimo Rulli (Olympique Marseille), Walter Benítez (PSV Eindhoven)

Defenders:🧸 Nahuel Molina (Atletico Madrid), Gonzalo Montiel (River Plate), Cristian Romero (Tottenham), Germán Pezzella (River Plate), Leonardo Balerdi (Olympique Marseille), Juan Foyth (Villarreal), Nicolás Otamendi (Benfica), Facundo Medina, (Lens), Nicolás Tagliafico (Olympique Lyon), Francisco Ortega (Olympiakos).

Midfielders:🐎 Leandro Paredes (Roma), Enzo Fernández (Chelsea), Rodrigo de Paul (Atletico Madrid), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen), Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool), Giovani Lo Celso (Real Betis), Máximo Perrone (Como), Giuliano Simeone (Atletico Madrid), Benjamín Domínguez (Bologna), Thiago Almada (Olympique Lyon).

Forwards:✅ Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United), Nicolás González (Juventus), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Nicolás Paz (Como), Claudio Echeverri (Manchester City), Paulo Dybala (Roma), Julián Álvarez (Manchester City), Lautaro Martínez (Inter Milan), Santiago Castro (Bologna), Ángel Correa (Atletico Madrid)

꧋BCCI's first reaction on Congress Leader Shama Mohamed fat shaming Rohit Sharma.

ꦕFIFA, the world governing body of football, has lifted the suspension on the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) after the necessary constitutional changes were made to ensure smooth governance of the sport in the country.

𓆉Kolkata Knight Riders have announced Ajinkya Rahane as their captain and Venkatesh Iyer his deputy for the upcoming 2025 season of the Indian Premier League.

𒁏Aurimas Mockus, a Lithuanian rower, who tried to row across the Pacific Ocean from the United States to Australia has been rescued days before he reached his final destination.

🥃Jessica Pegula earns a scrappy 7-5 6-2 victory over MCartney Kessler at the ATX Open 2025 final to claim her second title of the year.

ꦜIndia wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant has been nominated for a Laureus World Sports Award 2025 in the ‘Comeback of the Year’ category.

♑The Delhi High Court on Monday stayed a decision of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to constitute an ad-hoc panel to run the affairs of the Boxing Federation of India.

🅘 Justice Sachin Datta issued notice to the IOA seeking its response to a petition filed by the federation challenging the decision of constituting the ad-hoc committee.

🦂 The court granted two weeks' time to the IOA to file its reply to the petition and posted the hearing on March 27.

♕ The interim order came while taking into account the judgement of the high court in Bihar Olympic Association's case in which the IOA's decision to constitute an ad-hoc panel to examine the affairs of state body was set aside.

CLICK HERE⛄ to know every single nomination for the Laureus World Sports Awards 2025 that takes place in Madrid on April 21.

♛We will be wrapping up our coverage for today. Thank you for being with us. Keep reading more on OutlookIndia.