Firstpost Spodcast Episode 6: Neeraj Chopra's morale-boosting victory, Lewis Hamilton's win and more on our daily sports podcast

Welcome to Spodcast, the daily sports update on Firstpost where we discuss briefly the big sports headlines of the day.

We begin with hockey where India fought to stay alive for another day in the Women’s Hockey World Cup. The Indian team made it through to the playoffs of the 2018 World Cup 2018 after managing a 1-1 draw against what was an equally strong, and higher ranked, United States. The Indian team needed a draw against the ladies from the US if it wanted to keep alive any hopes of progressing after a draw against England and a loss to Ireland.

Related Articles

Wrestlers' Protest: Neeraj Chopra calls for 'better way' to deal with protesting grapplers

Neeraj Chopra pulls out of FBK Games after suffering muscle strain

Elsewhere, the Tour de France 2018 has come to an end, and race leader Geraint Thomas has won his first Tour de France title. Thomas held on to his lead of 1 minute, 51 seconds over Dutchman Tom Dumoulin during the largely ceremonial final stage.

Chris Froome of Britain, Thomas’s teammate, and last year’s winner, finished in third place, over two minutes behind

Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday to extend his lead in the 2018 season. Hamilton finished ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen to grab 25 points. It was a hot day at the Hungaroring, after the rain-drenched qualifying on Saturday where Hamilton won pole position. And the reigning champ never relented, leading the race from start to chequered flag. Vettel, who began in fourth, finished second while Raikkonen stood third on the podium.

After 12 races, defending champion Hamilton, with 213 points, has a 24-point lead on his rival in this season, Vettel of Ferrari who has 189. The team standings are even more closely matched, with Mercedes just 10 points ahead of Ferrari.

On this edition of Spodcast, we also discuss javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who won a gold at the Savo Games in Lapinlahti, Finland. The 20-year-old’s throw of 85.69 meters was three meters clear of the best attempt by Chao-Tsun Cheng​ of Chinese Taipei.

The 22-year-old Taiwanese is one of Chopra's closest rivals at the upcoming Asian Games. He is only Asian thrower to have thrown the javelin beyond 90 meters.