Sports Highlights

SPO-CHESS-MENDONCA-LD GM Goas 14-year-old Leon Mendonca becomes Indias 67th Grandmaster Chennai, Dec 31 PTI Goas 14-year-old Leon Mendonca has become Indias 67th chess Grandmaster by winning the third and final norm at a tournament in Italy.SPO-CRI-IND-ROHIT Rohit gears up for Sydney Test with first practice session at MCG Melbourne, Dec 31 PTI Joining the Indian team after completing his mandatory 14-day quarantine, star batsman Rohit Sharma on Thursday went through his first practice session in Australia under the watchful eyes of batting coach Vikram Rathour.

The following are the top stories at 2100 hours: STORIES ON WIRE: SPO-CRI-IND-ROHIT Rohit gears up for Sydney Test with first practice session at MCG Melbourne, Dec 31 (PTI) Joining the Indian team after completing a mandatory 14-day quarantine, star batsman Rohit Sharma on Thursday went through his first practice session in Australia under the watchful eyes of batting coach Vikram Rathour. SPO-CRI-IND-LD TEAM Umesh out of series, Shardul likely to play in Sydney Test By Kushan Sarkar New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) Pacer Umesh Yadav was on Thursday ruled out of the remainder of the series against Australia due to the calf injury he sustained during the Melbourne Test and the Indian team management is likely to prefer Shardul Thakur over left-arm pace sensation T Natarajan for the third match.

SPO-YEAR-IND-OVERALL A YEAR: When sport went out of life and life went out of sport By Poonam Mehra New Delhi, Dec 31 (PTI) A hopeful escape and a metaphor for life before a virus came along to cause the kind of disruption that even terror attacks could not. This was sport for most of 2020, courtesy COVID-19. SPO-HOCK-KINDO-LD DEAD Olympic bronze and World Cup winner hockey player Michael Kindo dies Rourkela, Dec 31 (PTI) India's 1975 hockey World Cup-winning and 1972 Olympics bronze winning team member Michael Kondo died at a hospital here on Thursday due to age-related ailments.

SPO-CRI-IND-MCDONALD Warner may play in Sydney even if he's not 100% fit: McDonald Melbourne, Dec 31 (PTI) A struggling Australia are prepared to risk playing seasoned opener David Warner in the third Test against India even if he is not 100% fit, assistant coach Andrew McDonald said on Thursday. SPO-CRI-IND-WOM Indian women's tour of Australia postponed to next season: CA Melbourne, Dec 31 (PTI) The Indian women's team's wait to resume international cricket since the coronavirus-induced break continued with its scheduled tour of Australia getting postponed to next season, Cricket Australia said on Thursday.

SPO-CRI-ICC-TEST-RANKING ICC Test Ranking: Rahane climbs to 6th, Ashwin to 7th, Kohli remains at No. 2 Dubai, Dec 31 (PTI) India captain Virat Kohli held on to his second position while stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane broke into the top 10 after gaining five places in the latest ICC men's Test batting ranking released on Thursday. SPO-CHESS-MENDONCA-LD GM Goa's 14-year-old Leon Mendonca becomes India's 67th Grandmaster Chennai, Dec 31 (PTI) Goa's 14-year-old Leon Mendonca has become India's 67th chess Grandmaster by winning the third and final norm at a tournament in Italy.

SPO-CRI-IND-ROHIT Rohit gears up for Sydney Test with first practice session at MCG Melbourne, Dec 31 (PTI) Joining the Indian team after completing his mandatory 14-day quarantine, star batsman Rohit Sharma on Thursday went through his first practice session in Australia under the watchful eyes of batting coach Vikram Rathour. SPO-CRI-MCDONALD-PUCOVSKI Pucovski has pretty good track record of performing after returning from concussions: McDonald Melbourne, Dec 31 (PTI) Will Puckovski's history of bouncing back strongly from concussion-induced breaks gives Australia assistant coach Andrew McDonald confidence that the young opener will not have trouble in scoring runs if drafted into playing XI..