Indian Wells Masters Tennis Tournament

In their first match against Mumbai Meteors, Calicut Heroes were stunned by the Prime Volleyball League debutants in the opening set. The Calicut Heroes came back to stage a rousing win however it was made possible after the players decided to shrug off the nervousness. In our mind, we knew we had good potential. We had already prepared and we had worked hard on every position be it block defense or service.

Mumbai Meteors began their journey into the league with two quick points as Hiroshi Centelles put on consecutive perfect blocks to give his team an early lead. Jose Antonio Sandoval, with a deft touch over the net, put the ball in no man's land on the opposition's end as Calicut Heroes earned their first point of the game.

As the host nation, the winners of the Prime Volleyball League in 2023 and 2024 will represent India in the tournaments, where they will face fierce competition against established clubs from the top volleyball nations from around the globe like Italy, Brazil, Iran and others.The championships will be staged between December 6 and 10, 2023. The host city will be announced later this year.

All eight franchises -- Calicut Heroes, Kochi Blue Spikers, Ahmedabad Defenders, Hyderabad Black Hawks, Chennai Blitz, Bengaluru Torpedoes, newbies Mumbai Meteors, and defending champions Kolkata Thunderbolts -- will play in a round-robin format. The top four teams in the league stage will qualify for the semifinals. From there, two teams will contest in the final of the tournament to be played in Kochi. Overall, the season will feature 31 matches as the Mumbai franchise joins the league from 2023 season.

Brazil had to wait for at least another four years to claim their maiden world title as the two-time Olympic champions had reached the final four times, but lost them all. Serbia's fourth victory over Brazil in 22 international encounters made them just the sixth nation to win back-to-back World Championship titles.

The Indian tennis player, who beat eighth seed Chloe Paquet in the first round, lost 2-6, 6-7 to Canada's Eugenie Bouchard, the Wimbledon 2014 finalist. Karman Kaur Thandi began well, with her powerful groundstrokes keeping Bouchard on her toes. The Indian, however, was unable to find the winners and was broken in the very first game.

India, who had lost 0-3 to hosts Iran in the semifinals, overcame South Korea in the hard-fought encounter, winning 25-20, 25-21, 26-28, 19-25, 15-12. The 2007 runners-up India, who finished second behind Japan in Pool B, defeated Chinese Taipei 3-1 in the quarterfinals of the eight-team competition.

Sakkari's triumph sets up an interesting battle for the No.2 spot in WTA Rankings as the Greek player looks to end Swiatek's 10-match winning streak and win the biggest title of her career. Swiatek scored a 7-6(6), 6-4 semifinal win over 2015 Indian Wells champion Simona Halep, advancing to the BNP Paribas Open title match for the first time.

The 24-year-old Rublev secured the last-four berth at Indian Wells for the first time on the heels of a sterling season, which has seen him clinch back-to-back ATP Tour titles in Marseille and Dubai. Rublev will take on American Taylor Fritz, who is back in the final four after a hard-fought 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1 victory over unseeded Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic.

Local lad Adil Kalyanpur, who went through two tough qualifying rounds, scored a brilliant comeback victory to send the third seed Lukas Krainer of Austria home with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win that put him in the pre-quarterfinals of the SKME ITF Open here on Wednesday.