LISTEN: Full script of Episode 94 of Spodcast where we discuss India's drawn World Cup encounter against Belgium, Liverpool's win over Everton and more

On this day, the 3rd of December in 1989, Stefan Edberg of Sweden claimed his first and only ATP Masters Grand Prix tennis title with a 4–6, 7–6, 6–3, 6–1 win over defending champion Boris Becker at the Madison Square Garden in New York. Welcome to Spodcast, your daily sports podcast from Firstpost. On Sunday, hosts India held Olympic silver medallists Belgium to a 2-2 draw with a spirited effort in the 2018 men’s Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneshwar. Pegged back by Alexander Hendrickx’ goal in the eighth minute, India made a valiant comeback after the change of ends scoring two goals in the third and fourth quarter through Harmanpreet Singh in the 39th minute, and Simranjeet Singh in the 47th, to take the lead. But the hosts’ defence faltered in the final minutes and conceded a late goal when Simon Gougnard scored in the 56th minute to draw level. The draw, however, enabled World No 5 India to take the top spot in Pool C ahead of Belgium on goal difference. Both teams have a win and a draw from two outings. [caption id=“attachment_5661891” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] India settled for 2-2 draw against Belgium after a 5-0 victory over South Africa at the start of their World Cup campaign. Image credit: Twitter/@FIH_Hockey[/caption] India had earlier blanked South Africa 5-0 in their opener, while World No 3 Belgium pulled off a close 2-1 win over Canada. India will play Canada in their last pool match on 8 December, while Belgium will be up against South Africa on the earlier on the same day. * In Premier League Football news, hosts Liverpool beat Everton 1-0 on Sunday to stay in touch with Premier League leaders Manchester City, with Divock Origi’s freak injury-time winning goal, in a thrilling Merseyside derby. Jurgen Klopp apologised on TV afterwards for his celebrations after Origi, making his first Premier League appearance since August 2017, scored the decisive 96th-minute goal. The German manager sprinted onto the field, running beyond the centre circle, while numerous coaching staff and substitutes headed towards the Kop to join Liverpool players celebrating with supporters. At the other end of Anfield, Everton supporters threw blue flares onto the field, another incident that will likely bring FA action. Klopp, in a statement to the press, said, “Immediately after the game I apologised to Marco Silva when we spoke to each other,” said Klopp. “I told him how much I respect his work. What can I say about it? I didn’t want to run. It was not in my plan. I didn’t want to run to Ali, I couldn’t stop obviously. Not cool, but it happened.” Silva rejected Klopp’s version of events, however. “He didn’t apologise to me,” he said. “To be honest, I didn’t see so I don’t know what he did and how he did it. In more news from the Premier League, Arsenal won an explosive north London derby as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s brace and Alexandre Lacazette’s crucial strike inspired a pulsating 4-2 win over bitter rivals Tottenham on Sunday. Unai Emery’s side extended their unbeaten run to 19 matches in all competitions after fighting back from 2-1 down in arguably the Premier League’s game of the season so far. Aubameyang’s penalty had put Arsenal ahead before Eric Dier’s header and a Harry Kane spot-kick gave Tottenham the lead at half-time at the Emirates Stadium. Dier’s gloating celebration in front of Arsenal’s fans had triggered a touchline brawl involving Arsenal substitutes. But the fireworks were far from over as Aubameyang’s superb long-range equaliser sparked a second-half surge from the Gunners. Lacazette came off the bench to put Arsenal ahead and Lucas Torreira sealed the points with his first goal for the club. This stirring comeback was exactly the kind of statement of intent Arsenal needed as they moved above Tottenham into fourth place on goal difference. Ending their hated neighbours’ six-match winning run showed Arsenal aren’t content to let the balance of power in north London remain with Tottenham. * India skipper Virat Kohli says he is now more assured of himself than on the last tour in Australia and does not feel the need to get involved in any confrontation with the Australians in the upcoming Test series. Virat Kohli was involved in sledging war with the Australians in the previous tour but the India captain says he has learnt from his past experience and does not expect any such incident happening during the series. In an interview with ‘Macquarie Sports Radio’, Kohli, who is known for his on-field aggressive temperament said, “I think from last time round, I’ve become more assured of myself, I don’t really find the need to prove anything to anyone. In the early stage of my career I used to think of these things as important milestones which are really important in one’s career, but now the focus is purely and solely on making the team win at any cost. So … I don’t find the need to get involved in anything with the opposition and I think those are changes that keep happening gradually as you go forward,” he said. Ever since Australian cricket plunged into crisis following the year-long ball-tampering bans on Steve Smith and David Warner, there has been a lot of discussion on the spirit of the game and bringing a change in the culture of the Aussies. Kohli, who has scored 6331 runs including 24 hundreds from 73 Tests at an average of 54.57, still expects an aggressive battle on the cards. * In the Senior National Wrestling Championships at Gond, Uttar Pradesh, seasoned Amit Dhankar showed that he still has enough left in his tank by emerging champion in the 74kg event, mixing his aggressive tactics with solid defence en route to his seventh National title in the men’s freestyle competition. Dhankar, former Asian and Commonwealth Champion, whose international career never took off due to the presence of Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt in his category, is still competing in a category which is owned by two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, who skipped the Nationals. Dhankar said he feels ready to replace Sushil. “I have a lot of faith in my defence. I could not do that well in the final. I have beaten him a lot of times but I could not attack. Nevertheless, I am happy with the way I fought in the tournament,” Dhankar, the 31-year-old from Haryana, said. In the 61kg final, Railways’ Rahul Aware emerged champion with a dominating win over Goa’s Abhimanyu Yadav. In one of the most exciting bouts of the day, Haryana’s Mausam Khatri held off a spirited challenge from Satyawart Kadiyan to claim gold in the 97kg. Punia, the junior World silver medallist and junior Asian Champion and tipped to be India’s future star in heavy categories, claimed a bronze with commanding 11-0 win. Looking ahead, the 19-year-old said he was eyeing a berth in World Championship to make an attempt at Tokyo Olympic qualification. * And finally, some Kabaddi news to round up today’s Spodcast, as we take a look into the happenings at the Pro Kabaddi Season XI in New Delhi on Sunday. An impressive defensive show by U Mumba saw them beat Gujarat Fortunegiants 36-26 in a top-of-the-table clash. This was U Mumba’s first-ever win over Gujarat Fortunegiants in the history of Pro Kabaddi League. The architects of U Mumba’s famous victory were veteran Dharmaraj Cherlathan with 6 points, and Rohit Rana with 5. U Mumba scored 16 tackle points, which was more than their raiders scored. For Gujarat Fortunegiants, Sachin scored eight points while Prapanjan chipped in with four points. It was a close encounter between two evenly matched teams as neither of the teams refused to give an inch. U Mumba went into the break leading 17-14. Siddharth Desai picked up a vital raid point in the 26th minute to give U Mumba 20-17 lead. Desai followed it up with another raid in the 29th minute as U Mumba opened up a 10-point gap. Sachin tried to rally Gujarat back into the match with a few raid points but U Mumba were in no mood to relinquish their lead. U Mumba forced a super tackle and collected a couple of more tackle points in the last five minutes of the match, clinching victory. In the day’s other game, Dabang Delhi secured a convincing 35-24 win over Puneri Paltan.