Aussies silence more than a billion fans
Verstappen races to glory
Compiled by Allaam Ousman
ODI WORLD CHAMPIONS Australia are the ODI World Cup champions once again, defeating hosts and favourites India by six wickets in front of 92,453 fans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on 19 November to lift the coveted trophy for a sixth time. Player of the match Travis Head blasted India’s attack scoring a masterful 137 off 120 balls to help Australia chase the 241-run target with 42 balls to spare. The 29-year-old, who also claimed a game-changing catch, slammed 15 fours and four sixes during his epic knock, becoming the seventh cricketer and third Australian to score a century in a ODI World Cup final.
SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP Rugby’s Six Nations Championship will be played from 2 February to 16 March. One of many events in the international rugby union calendar, it is an annual competition between six European sides – viz. England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. Each team plays every other team once with home field advantage alternating from one year to the next. The winners of the Six Nations Championship are also known as the European champions. Ireland won the tournament for the 15th time in 2023, along with a 13th Triple Crown and a fourth Grand Slam; it was also the first time Ireland won the title in Dublin.
AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS The 21st FINA World Championships of Swimming will be held in Doha between 2 and 18 February. The event was originally scheduled for 2023 but is now to be held early in the new year to accommodate the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The five disciplines that comprise the world championships are swimming, open water swimming, water polo, synchronised swimming, diving and high diving.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN The Australian Open tennis championship – one of the four Grand Slam tournaments of tennis – will be run from 14 to 28 January at Melbourne Park. Defending champion Novak Djokovic has won the Australian Open men’s singles title a record 10 times. Djokovic’s win in 2023 was his 22nd Grand Slam title, which equalled Rafael Nadal’s record – and he has since surpassed Nadal. Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus won the women’s singles title last year. The Australian Open was first held in 1905. Women first played at the tournament in 1922.
F1 RECORD BREAKER Max Verstappen is having the greatest Formula 1 season in history. At the Las Vegas Grand Prix, he became the first driver to win three times in one country during an FI campaign. He has led 75.06 per cent of laps in 2023, the highest percentage ever, which is greater than Jim Clark’s record of 71.47 percent from the 1963 season. He sealed his third consecutive title in Doha to put himself among Formula 1’s greats, joining Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna. Verstappen became the first driver to win 19 races in a single season when he won the final race in Abu Dhabi. The Dutchman’s triumph at Yas Marina Circuit takes his overall tally to 54, lifting him above four-time champion Sebastian Vettel to third on the all-time list, chasing only Michael Schumacher (91 wins) and Lewis Hamilton (103).
SUPER BOWL The 2024 Bowl LVIII, the 58th Super Bowl in American football, will be held on 11 February at the Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. It will be the first Super Bowl to be held in Nevada. The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL) in the United States. It is played annually on the first Sunday in February and is considered the biggest sporting event in America. The Super Bowl features the top two teams from the NFL season competing for the Vince Lombardi Trophy and the title of Super Bowl champion. The Kansas City Chiefs won the 2023 Bowl LVII. The event attracts a large television audience, and has become known for its halftime show, commercials and parties.
AFC ASIAN CUP The AFC Asian Cup with the participation of 24 teams will be held from 12 January to 10 February in Qatar – the defending champions. It is the second oldest continental football championship in the world after Copa América and the primary association football competition contested by the senior men’s national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. The Asian Cup was held once every four years from the 1956 edition in Hong Kong until the 2004 tournament in China. The 2019 tourney was expanded from 16 to 24 teams with the qualifying process doubling as part of the qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.