Here at the ESPN Daily Blog, we bring you all the news from the dynamic world of Indian sports, from the wide variety of Olympic sports to franchise championships.
March has a lot of sports activities – which you can find in the ESPN India sports calendar.
See the key events of Tuesday, March 5:
French Open: Satwik-Chirag off to a winning start. Lakshya beats Tsuneyama
The top seeds started their campaign on a winning note by beating Singapore's Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 21-13, 24-22.
Satwik and Chirag dominated proceedings but later had to overcome a back-and-forth against the Singapore pair in the second game to win their match.
Lakshya Sen earned valuable points in the Race to Paris rankings, defeating Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama despite dropping the first game and finishing with a dominant victory in the final – 15-21, 21-15, 21-3. His reward is a second-round clash with third seed Li Shi Fend of China. Also in the men's singles was Priyanshu Rajawat, but he made an expected early exit from world no. 1 Viktor Axelsen, defeated 8-21, 15-21.
In the opening round women's doubles match involving Indians, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand defeated compatriots Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa 21-16, 21-19, 21-17.
PVL: Delhi Toofans bounce back to beat Kochi Blue Spikers
Despite going down 0-2 against bottom franchise Kochi Blue Spikers, Delhi Toofans turned it around in stunning fashion to win 3-2 (9-15, 15-17, 15-10, 15-8, 15- 8). thus climbing to second place in the table and strengthening their push for the Super 5s.
Boxing: India's poor performance in Olympic qualifiers continues
After all the World Championships, Olympic bronze medalist Deepak Bhoria (51 kg), Asian Games bronze medalist Narender Berwal (+92 kg) and Commonwealth bronze medalist Jaismine Lamboria (60 kg) lost their respective first rounds in the two first days of Olympic boxing qualifiers, reigning national champion Lakshya Chahar was the last to bow out as he was knocked out in the third round of his opening bout in the men's 80kg category.
Shiva Thapa and Nishant Dev are next in action, hoping to turn India's fortunes around.
What's happening today?
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Badminton: The 2024 French Open begins, with many telling stories for India. PV Sindhu returns to the BWF World Tour, while Satwik-Chirag aim for the 2024 title amid crucial points in the run-up to Paris. Read more in ESPN's preview here.
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PVL: Bottom-club Kochi Blue Spikers take on Delhi Toofan at 6:30 pm.
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Boxing: Indian boxers are in action in the Olympic qualifiers.
what happened yesterday
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ISL: Hyderabad FC ended an 11-game losing streak with a 2-2 draw against NorthEast United at home.
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PVL: Bengaluru Torpedoes swept Hyderabad Black Hawks 3-0 while Mumbai Meteors won a thriller against hosts Chennai Blitz 3-2.
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Ping pong: India's men's and women's TT teams automatically qualified for the Olympics through a promotion, for the first time since the 2008 Beijing Games.
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Football: The AIFF has sacked its legal chief as allegations of corruption mount.
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India Paddle Festival welcomes men's and women's world no. 2.
