News of the week: 7th Asian medal for Mary Kom, Sushil's legacy tarnished, Osaka's mental health concern

From Mary Kom's silver to Sushil Kumar's arrest, let us look back at the major happenings of the sports world in the last week.

News of the week

The Bridge Desk

Updated: 4 Jun 2021 5:50 AM GMT

Let us look back at the major happenings of the sports world in the last week in India and around the globe.

Mary Kom wins silver at Asian Boxing Championships

MC Mary Kom settled for the silver medal ahead of Tokyo Olympic Games with a hard-fought defeat against Nazym Kyzaibay.

India's veteran boxer MC Mary Kom settled for the silver medal with a hard-fought defeat against 27-year-old Nazym Kyzaibay in the final of women's 51 kg final at the Asian Boxing Championships in Dubai on Sunday. The 38-year-old, six-time world champion matched her Kazakh southpaw punch-by-punch, but Kyzaibay, herself a two-time world champion, outlasted the Indian. In a split decision of 3-2 the result went in favour of Kyzaibay. This was Mary Kom's seventh Asian Championships gold medal, including five golds.

Naomi Osaka conflicted over holding the Tokyo Olympics

Naomi Osaka

Four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka on Wednesday said she will not take questions from the press at this year's French Open, saying the nature of news conferences puts an undue burden on players' mental health. "I'm writing this to say I'm not going to do any press during Roland Garros," the Japanese player wrote on Twitter. "I've often felt that people have no regard for athletes mental health and this rings true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one. "We're often sat there and asked questions that we've been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds and I'm just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me."

Sushil Kumar arrested - Eye witness tested against the wrestler

Sushil Kumar

Two-time Olympic medalist and the torchbearer of wrestling in India, Sushil Kumar and his associated Ajay Kumar were arrested by the Delhi Police on May 23 after being on the run for 19 days. Delhi Police, after several unsuccessful attempts, arrested the wrestler from Mundka in West Delhi. Sushil was sent to 6-day police custody, and the Delhi Police Crime Branch has been investigating the case. They have since brought in 9 people in custody during their probe.

No Olympics for Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth

Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal

Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal's slim hopes of qualifying for Tokyo Games ended after badminton's governing body (BWF) on Friday made it clear there will not be any change in the current ranking list and no further tournament will be held inside the qualification period. Former world no 1 Srikanth and London Games bronze-medallist Saina's hopes were all but dashed when the last of the Olympic qualifiers in Singapore was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The duo had hung on a slim hope when the governing body said it "will issue a further statement on Tokyo Olympics qualifying at a later date".

Achinta Sheuli wins silver at Junior Weightlifting World Championships

Achinta Sheuli

Indian lifter Achinta Sheuli produced his personal best in all three events to clinch an overall silver medal in the 73kg category at the Junior World Championship on Wednesday. The 19-year-old lifted 313kg -- 141kg in snatch, followed by 172kg in clean and jerk -- at the gold level Olympic qualifier event. The Commonwealth Championship gold medallist bettered both his earlier personal best in snatch and clean and jerk by two kilograms each. He lifted 309kg (139kg + 170kg) at the Asian Championships last month. Jeremy Lalrinnunga finished with a silver medal in the snatch at the Junior World Championships but missed out on a Tokyo Olympics qualification. The Youth Olympics winner finished with an overall score of 300, which was one shy of the bronze medal winner Fehmi Yusuf.

French Open's Men's Draw: Big 3 in same half

Rafael Nadal

Thirteen-time champion Rafael Nadal, 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic were placed in the same half of the French Open draw on Thursday. The three most successful players in the history of the men's game have won 17 of the last 20 Grand Slam titles between them and Federer and Djokovic are on a quarterfinal collision course. In the other half of the draw, two-time runner-up Dominic Thiem's path leads to a potential quarterfinal clash with German sixth seed Alexander Zverev.

Chelsea beat Man City to win Champions League

Chelsea wins Champions League 2020/21

Chelsea's Kai Havertz repaid some of his huge transfer fee as his first-half goal sealed a 1-0 win for his side over Manchester City in the Champions League final. The German youngster, Chelsea's record signing, latched on to Mason Mount's pass and evaded City keeper Ederson before rolling the ball into an empty net in the 42nd minute. Premier League champions City were favourites ahead of the final but suffered a desperately disappointing night in Porto in what was their first Champions League final. Pep Guardiola's side were never allowed to play their normal fluent game and could not respond as a disciplined Chelsea sealed a second Champions League triumph.

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