Sports News Highlights: Iga Swiatek Enters Italian Open QFs; LeBron James' Son Bronny Cleared For NBA

Welcome to the highlights of our coverage of sports news and events on May 13, 2024. The highs of an eventful weekend were followed by a relatively sedate, yet action-packed Monday. The Indian Premier League match between Gujarat Titans and table-toppers Kolkata Knight Riders was washed out in Ahmedabad. Consequently, KKR were assured of a top-two finish in the league stage, while GT were knocked out of play-offs reckoning. India got its 85th chess grandmaster in the form of P Shyaamnikhil, and boxing star Nikhat Zareen entered the second round of Elorda Cup in Kazakhstan. In the Italian Open tennis tourney, Iga Swiatek entered the quarter-finals, while Naomi Osaka lost in the round of 16. Catch all the highlights from the sports world on Monday, May 13, 2024 right here.

Having already been crowned Bundesliga champions, Bayer Leverkusen have decimated hosts VfL Bochum 5-0 to stretch their undefeated run across all competitions this season to an astounding 50 successive matches.

A dejected stand-in skipper Axar Patel blamed below-par fielding effort from his men for not being able to restrict RCB to 150 and thus practically blowing away chances of qualifying for the IPL play-offs after being handed a 47-run thrashing in their penultimate league game.

While RCB are also on 12 points, a superior NRR of +0.387 compared to DC's dismal -0.482 still keeps them in the hunt if they happen to win their last game and also have a few results going their way.

"Dropped catches hurt us. We could have restricted them to 150. Also when you lose four wickets in powerplay, you are always chasing the game. 160-170 would have been a par score as the pitch was two-paced. Some were skidding, some were holding," Axar said after the match.

Atletico Madrid moved closer to securing the fourth and final Champions League spot with a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo in the Spanish league. Rodrigo De Paul scored an 84th-minute winner for Atletico, which opened an eight-point gap to fifth-place Athletic Bilbao with three rounds remaining. Athletic was held at home to a 2-2 draw with Osasuna on Saturday.

Rory McIlroy has a full head of steam heading into the PGA Championship. McIlroy won the Wells Fargo Championship for a record fourth time Sunday with another dominating performance at Quail Hollow, easily overcoming a two-stroke deficit to beat Xander Schauffele by five shots. No other player has won the event more than twice. McIlroy closed with a 6-under 65, playing the final 11 holes in 6 under even with a double bogey on the 18th hole. He finished at 17-under 267 after four straight rounds in the 60s and won his second straight PGA Tour event after teaming with Shane Lowry to take the Zurich Classic two weeks ago in New Orleans. (AP)

Star Indian javelin throwers Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena have been given direct entry into the Federation Cup finals on May 15, having already bettered the minimum qualification mark of 75m multiple times in their careers. Olympic and world champion Chopra is coming off a fairly good outing at the Doha Diamond League last week where he finished second with a throw of 88.38m. Asian Games silver-winner Jena's Diamond League debut, however, ended in disappointment as he was eliminated after three rounds with 76.31m being his best. (PTI)

South African batter David Miller reckons averages in T20 cricket will gradually lose relevance and strike rate will be the only barometer of success.

We've seen some high scores this year. And it's been incredible batting by a few teams and few individual players in this IPL. And look, I always see everyone judges a batter on the average," Miller told PTI Videos.

"But in T20 cricket, it can be difficult to judge someone purely on that. The top three batters, definitely you can because of the number of overs they get to bat. When it comes to the middle order, it has always been the strike rates and what kind of impact the batter has had in the game.

“I suppose as we move forward, it becomes more and more about impact. How impactful are you in the game? Depending on the situation. If we're needing 15 an over, can you do it? And that's, I think, what guys are going to have to select teams on their match-winning ability,” said the 34-year-old. (PTI)

Kylian Mbappé's relationship with Paris Saint-Germain started with great fanfare but is ending amid ongoing tensions and without a Champions League trophy. Mbappé joined as a teenage phenom from Monaco in 2017 in a deal worth 180 million euros ($194 million). On Sunday, the 25-year-old superstar played his last home game for PSG and scored in a 3-1 loss to Toulouse. (AP)

Gujarat Titans host Kolkata Knight Riders in match No.63 of the IPL 2024 at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The struggling hosts will need to win big against high-flying KKR to have an outside chance for a place in the playoffs. Here's the weather forecast for the all-important clash.

Felix Auger-Aliassime took the first set (7-6) against Australia's Alex De Minaur despite hitting six double faults in the Round of 32 clash at the Grand Stand Arena in Rome, Italy.

Punjab Kings all-rounder Liam Livingstone has left the Indian Premier League to get his knee "sorted" ahead of the T20 World Cup in June. The 30-year-old had a very forgettable IPL campaign scoring just 111 runs in seven outings at an average of 22.20.

Experienced Scott Edwards on Monday named as the captain of the Netherlands for next month's T20 World Cup, the Royal Dutch Cricket Association announced.

The 27-year-old Edwards was elected the skipper despite his modest outings in the recent tri-series, involving hosts Nepal and Namibia. '

Indian-origin cricketers – Teja Nidamanuru, Vikram Singh and Aryan Dutt – are also part of the squad.

The Netherlands squad: Scott Edwards (captain), Aryan Dutt, Bas de Leede, Daniel Doram, Fred Klaassen, Kyle Klein, Logan van Beek, Max O’Dowd, Michael Levitt, Paul van Meekeren, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Teja Nidamanuru, Tim Pringle, Vikram Singh and Wesley Barresi. (PTI)

Madison Keys held 75% first serves and came out all guns blazing, defeating Romania's Sorana Cirstea (6-2, 6-1) at the Pietrangeli to make her second consecutive WTA 1000 quarterfinal.

Stefanos Tsitsipas eases past Cam Norrie 6-2, 7-6 to reach the fourth round of the Italian Open for the 4th year running.

Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen has begun her campaign at Elorda Cup 2024 with a comprehensive 5-0 win in the 52kg category against Kazakhstan’s Rakhymberdi Zhansaya on Day 1. in Astana, Kazakhstan. India's Minakshi has also entered the next round with a 4-1 victory over Gassymova Roxana of Kazakhstan in the 48kg category. Anamika, meanwhile, has defeated Zhumabayeva Arailym with a referee stop the contest (RSC) win in the first round of the 50kg category bout.

Even as India's young brigade shines in major events across the world, the country has got a 31-year-old as its 85th Grandmaster (GM). P Shyaamnikhil has completed his third and final GM norm in the just-concluded Dubai Police Masters chess tournament, which ends a 12-year-long wait for the player, who began playing the sport as an eight-year-old.

Mount Everest has witnessed two record-breaking climbs. Nepali sherpa Kami Rita, 54, has made the most-ever summits (29 times) while British climber Kenton Cool has set the record for a foreigner by scaling his 18th peak. Kami Rita, already the world-record holder, has surpassed his own landmark. A guide for more than two decades, the sherpa first climbed the summit in 1994 and has made the peak almost every year since.

As Royal Challengers Bengaluru continue to keep their Indian Premier League 2024 play-off hopes alive with five back-to-back wins, Indian off-spin great Harbhajan Singh has a big piece of advice for the franchise with regards to their future in the tournament. Singh believes that if RCB do not qualify this year, they should bring Virat Kohli back as the captain to lead the side from the next season.

Soon after Liam Livingstone left to "get his knee sorted", Jos Buttler (Rajasthan Royals), Will Jacks and Reece Topley (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) have also departed from the Indian Premier League to join the England squad ahead of their T20I series against Pakistan, beginning on May 22.

Abha Khatua has created a national record in women's shot put with a throw of 18.41m during the second day of the National Federation Cup Athletics competition in Bhubaneswar. Abha, who is representing Maharashtra, was the joint record holder of 18.06m with Manpreet Kaur before this event. But with her fifth-round throw of 18.41m at the Kalinga Stadium, she has become the sole national record holder.

The world's top-ranked women's singles tennis player Iga Swiatek has entered the quarter-finals of the Italian Open in Rome, while Naomi Osaka has lost in the round of 16. Swiatek prevails over Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-3, while Osaka goes down to Zheng Qinwen 2-6, 4-6.

Vivianne Miedema, Women’s Super League's all-time record goalscorer will leave Arsenal at the end of the season, the club has announced. The 27-year-old signed for Arsenal in 2017 from Bayern Munich, scoring 125 goals and providing 50 assists in 172 appearances in all competitions.

All-time basketball great LeBron James may have moved one step closer to making his dream of playing with his son a reality, as Bronny James has been cleared to play in the NBA. According to reports, teams have been notified by the league that Bronny has been cleared by a fitness-to-play panel that consists of three doctors who review medical records.

The clearance comes nearly a year after Bronny suffered cardiac arrest in practice last July, and underwent a procedure to repair a congenital heart defect.

The IPL 2024 match between Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders has been washed out in Ahmedabad, which means GT's hopes of qualifying for the play-offs too have been washed away. Meanwhile, KKR are guaranteed a top-two finish in the league stage now. Five teams will fight for the three remaining play-off spots - Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Super Giants, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Olivier Giroud has announced that he will leave AC Milan to join the Major League Soccer at the end of the season when his contract expires. The Frenchman joined the club in July 2021 from Chelsea, winning the Serie A title in his first season. Giroud has scored 48 goals in 130 games in all competitions for Milan, netting 16 of those this season to help them to a second-place finish.

That's all from us tonight. We will back tomorrow (Tuesday, May 14) morning with all that is current and happening in the sports world. Until then, goodbye.