Story 1: Bajrang Punia bags Gold in Ali Aliyev Wrestling Tournament
World number one Bajrang Punia on May 2, 2019 won the gold medal after defeating Viktor Rassadin 13-8 in the finals of men's 65kg freestyle in the 2019 Ali Aliyev Wrestling Tournament in Kaspiisk, Russia.
This is his second title in two weeks. Earlier on April 23, Bajrang won gold in the same category, beating Kazakhstan’s Sayatbek Okassov 12-7 in the final of the Asian Wrestling Championships in Xi'an, China.
Note: Recently, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on April 29, 2019 recommended Bajrang Punia for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honour of India.
Bajrang will now head to the United States to participate in the “Grapple at the Garden” Beat the Streets fight night event at the Madison Square Garden, New York on May 6, 2019. With this, Punia will become the first Indian wrestler to fight at iconic New York’s Madison Square Garden in the Beat the Streets event, a major showcase platform for international wrestling since 2010. Punia will fight against the two-time US national champion Yianni Diakomahlis Punia was invited to the event by the USA Wrestling, the national governing body for wrestling in the United States. |
Punia recently marked his authority over the Asia after winning Gold medal in the Asian Wrestling Championships 2019 in Xi'an, China. He settled for silver medal at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships. He picked gold at the 2018 Asian Games in the men's freestyle 65 kg category.
Story 2: India, England retain top spots in ICC Test, ODI rankings
The International Cricket Council (ICC) on May 2, 2019 released the updated MRF Tyres ICC Test Team and ICC ODI Team Rankings. As per the updated rankings, India and England retained their top spots in Test and ODI rankings, respectively.
In order to calculate the updated Rankings, the ICC removed series results from 2015-16 series and weighted the outcomes from 2016-17 and 2017-18 at 50 percent.
The rankings were released just days before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, which is scheduled to begin in England and Wales from May 30, 2019.
| Team India’s ranking |
| India's lead over the second-placed team New Zealand in the ICC Test Team Rankings narrowed from 8 to 2 points. In the ICC ODI Team Rankings, India is just behind top-ranked England with just two point difference. |
Test Rankings
• India's lead over the second-placed team New Zealand in the ICC Test Team Rankings narrowed from 8 to 2 points.
• England overtook the fourth position from Australia, fetching 105 points.
• Australia with 98 points ranked at 5th position.
• The gap between seventh-placed Pakistan and eighth-placed West Indies reduced from 11 to 2 points.
| Top 10 ICC Test Team Rankings | ||
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1 | India | 113 (-3) |
| 2 | New Zealand | 111 (+3) |
| 3 | South Africa | 108 (+3) |
| 4 | England | 105 (+1) |
| 5 | Australia | 98 (-6) |
| 6 | Sri Lanka | 94 (+1) |
| 7 | Pakistan | 84 (-4) |
| 8 | West Indies | 82 (+5) |
| 9 | Bangladesh | 65 (-3) |
| 10 | Zimbabwe | 16 (+3) |
ODI Rankings
• Team England remained at the top of the ICC ODI (One Day International) Team Rankings with just two points gap over India.
• South Africa overtook New Zealand into the third position while West Indies moved ahead of Sri Lanka to seventh place.
• No team dropped out of the top 10, thus ensuring that the World Cup will see the 10 top-ranked sides in action.
| ICC ODI Team Rankings | ||
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1 | England | 123 (-1) |
| 2 | India | 121 (+1) |
| 3 | South Africa | 115 (+3) |
| 4 | New Zealand | 113 (+1) |
| 5 | Australia | 109 (+1) |
| 6 | Pakistan | 96 (-1) |
| 7 | Bangladesh | 86 (-4) |
| 8 | West Indies | 80 (+4) |
| 9 | Sri Lanka | 76 (-) |
| 10 | Afghanistan | 64 (-1) |
Note: Namibia, Netherlands, Oman and the USA have ODI status but have not played enough matches to figure on the rankings table.
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