Listen: Full script of Episode 35 of Spodcast where we discuss Om Prakash Mitharwal’s gold, Roger Federer’s shock defeat and more

Welcome to Spodcast, the sports update on Firstpost.

An update from the 52nd ISSF World Shooting Championship. Indian shooter Om Prakash Mitharwal won his maiden gold medal at the Championships after finishing first in the 50m pistol event. He scored a total of 564 points to finish two points ahead of silver medalist Damir Mikec of Serbia. The bronze went to Daemyung Lee of South Korea who scored 560 points.

Jitu Rai, who won a silver in the 2014 edition of this tournament, had a disappointing 17thplace finish. In the team event, Mitharwal, Rai and Manjit finished in fifth-place with a total score of 1,648. In the women’s event, Manu Bhaker finished 13th with a score of 574 while Heena Sidhu finished 29th with 571 points.

Manjit Singh, the gold medal winner in the men’s 800m event at the 2018 Asian Games, has requested the sports ministry to include his name in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme to prepare for events like the 2020 Olympic Games. Manjit, who was employed by ONGC, was left without a job when the organisation did not renew his contract in 2016. He said, “I lost my job in March 2016 as the ONGC refused to renew my contract. They said I was not producing results. I was getting stipends earlier.” He said he was on the verge of quitting sports at that moment. He recalls, “I briefly thought I would quit athletics but my father said I should continue and so I continued with the meagre income from my family… somehow I continued with help from my coach Amrish Kumar.”

He hopes his performance at the Asian Games will turn things around for him. Manjit also says the Asian Championships and World Championships next year will be crucial for him. He says, “I want to do well in both the Asian Championships and World Championships next year. After that is the 2020 Olympics but for that I need financial assistance for training. I hope the sports ministry will help me out.”

Some news from football now. Jose Mourinho, manager for Manchester United, accepted a one-year prison sentence as part of a deal to settle a tax evasion case in Spain. Spanish law allows a sentence of under two years for a first offence to be served on probation, so Mourinho might not serve any time in jail.

Prosecutors filed a case against Mourinho in 2017 on two counts of tax fraud from when he was coaching Real Madrid. Authorities said the manager owed 3.3 million euros in taxes. They claimed Mourinho had failed to declare revenues from his image rights in his Spanish income tax declarations for that period “with the aim of obtaining illicit profits.”  They added that he had settled a previous claim relating to his Spanish taxes after a 2014 inquiry. That inquiry had resulted in a penalty of 1.15 million euros. The prosecutors said tax authorities later found some of the information in the settlement to be incorrect.

Back in June, Cristiano Ronaldo had also worked out a similar deal in a tax evasion case. His settlement included an 18.8 million euro fine.

In tennis news, the 2018 US Open is underway, and the women’s defending champion, Sloane Stephens, crashed out of the tournament. She lost to Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova 2-6, 3-6 in the quarterfinals. Stephens had beaten the Latvian player at the same stage in the 2017 US Open. Speaking after her win, 19th-seeded Sevastova said, “It’s tough to play, so hot in here. The first set was so important…I showed some nerves at the end but it’s normal.”

Stephens, the World No 3, is the latest high ranked player to exit the tournament. Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki were out of the US Open after losing their matches in the early rounds.

Sevastova will meet crowd favourite Serena Williams in the semi-final. Williams beat eighth seed Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-3 in her quarterfinal match. 36-year-old Serena Williams is pushing for her seventh US Open title. Pliskova broke Serena’s serve in the opening set to take a 3-1 lead. Williams made 22 unforced errors in the opening set. Speaking about the match, Williams said, “The crowd was really rooting for me and I felt so bad because everyone out here was cheering and I wasn’t winning so I thought I had to try harder.” She won the last four games of the set and took it 6-4. In the second set, she broke Pliskova’s serve twice to lead 4-0. She eventually won the set 6-3 to qualify for the semi-finals.

In the men’s singles competition at the US Open, Juan Martin del Potro made it to his third semi-final at the US Open after beating John Isner 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2. The 2009 champion dropped a set for the first time in this tournament when he lost the first set 6-7. He bounced back to win the next three sets and seal a semi-final berth in a match that lasted 3 hours and 31 minutes. Isner sent down 26 aces in the match but committed too many unforced errors. At the end of the match, he had 52 unforced errors while Del Potro had 14.

The Argentine player said after the match, “To reach the semi-final again here in New York in my favourite tournament is very special to me…To play John in these kinds of matches, it’s like an epic. We fought the whole match and I survived with my serve which was key.”

Meanwhile, Roger Federer, a five-time US Open champion, was beaten by 55th-ranked John Millman of Australia. Millman will face Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

This is Federer’s earliest exit from the US Open since 2013, when he had lost to Tommy Robredo in the fourth round. Millman beat Federer in four sets - 3-6, 7-5, 7-6, 7-6. It was his first fourth-round match at a Grand Slam. The Australian said, “I’m probably in a little bit of disbelief…He’s been a hero of mine. Today he was definitely not at his best. But I’ll take it."

In cricket news, former Indian pace bowler RP Singh announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The 32-year-old made his international debut in 2005 and played international cricket for six years. He picked up over 100 wickets in 82 matches across all formats of the game.

RP Singh was part of the team that won the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007. He also had a prominent role in India’s Test win at Perth in the same year. The left arm pace bowler announced his retirement on Twitter. He shared a letter that said, “For someone born in a small village, I never thought I would be able to say this — I have lived my dream. And for that I have nobody else to thank but you. My fans… I wish to remember and give thanks to each and everyone who made this journey possible.”