Page 31 - Sports

Infosys announces women tennis top seed Swiatek as global brand ambassador

Infosys said that it will now work closely with Swiatek's team to build an advanced data analytics and video dashboard by leveraging artificial intelligence

I think people will start to notice Indian chess: R Praggnanandhaa

Humble to the core, teen sensation R Praggnanandhaa was far from realising the enormity of his achievement in the FIDE World Cup but reckoned his incredible run could force people to "start noticing" Indian chess. It needed the sheer brilliance of Magnus Carlsen to stop the 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa's march as he finished second best after losing in the final on Thursday. "I feel very good to be in the finals, today I didn't win, but it's normal in chess," Praggnanandhaa told PTI from Baku hours after he finished runner-up. "No, not yet, but I guess it will at some point," he said with a smile when asked if he understood the magnitude of his feat. Praggnanandhaa put up a valiant effort in the final and held world No. 1 and five-time world champion Carlsen to a draw in the two classical games before going down in the tie-break. As he shook hands with the Norwegian GM, Praggnanandhaa was surrounded by a group of children asking for his autograph. "I think it's good for the game an

Indian chess is having a moment. Pragganandhaa in World Cup final is proof

India now has 83 Chess Grandmasters, and going by the peerless Viswanathan Anand's reckoning, this generation will dominate for a decade or two

Cricketers laud Praggnanandhaa on runners-up finish in Chess World Cup

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen defeated India's grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa to clinch the title of International Chess Federation World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan on Thursday

Infosys ropes in Rafael Nadal as ambassador, match analysis tool in works

IT services company Infosys on Thursday announced a three-year partnership with Rafael Nadal, onboarding the global tennis star as ambassador for the brand and Infosys' Digital Innovation. To mark Nadal's first-ever collaboration with a digital services company, Infosys and Nadal's coaching team are developing an AI-powered match analysis tool, the Bengaluru-headquartered company said in a release. This personalised tool will be available in real time to Nadal's coaching team to simultaneously track insights from his live matches, when he is back on tour, along with historical data from his earlier matches. The company release announced the partnership, saying "Infosys onboards tennis icon Rafael Nadal as ambassador for the brand and Infosys' Digital Innovation." According to Infosys, Nadal is a perfect embodiment of what it takes individuals or business leaders to evolve and continually navigate their next. Globally acknowledged as one of the legends in sports, he also has had t

A monumental triumph: PM Modi lauds U-20 World Championships medalists

Reigning Junior World Champion Antim Panghal defeated Ukraine's Mariia Yefremova 4-0 to win a gold medal in the women's 53kg weight category

Indian air pistol team clinches first bronze in World Championship

The Indian men's 10m air pistol team, comprising Shiva Narwal, Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema won the country its first medal -- a bronze -- in the ISSF World Championship, which got underway here on Thursday. Their aggregate score of 1,734 was nine points adrift of Germany, who clinched the silver medal. China took the gold medal in the event. Narwal shot 579, Sarabjot 578 and Cheema 577 to aggregate 1,734 points. The World Championship also serves as the 2024 Paris Olympics qualification tournament. The Chinese team of Zhang Bowen (587), Liu Junhui (582) and Xie Yu (580) took the top podium with an aggregate of 1749 points, while the German team, comprising Robin Walter (586), Michael Schwald (581) and Paul Froehlich (576) bagged the silver medal with an aggregate score of 1743. However, none of the three Indian shooters could make the eight-player final and are not in contention for individual medals.

Difficult to focus on wrestling when sports' future is at stake: Bajrang

After calling off the protest, we wanted to give 100 per cent to training, but how is that possible when we got to know Brijbhushan's people could run the federation again, says Bajrang Punia

Tennis: Novak Djokovic wins first singles match in the US since 2021

Novak Djokovic had a short night in his first singles match in the U.S. since 2021, beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Wednesday in the Western and Southern Open after the Spaniard retired early in the second set with a lower back injury. The second-ranked Djokovic won the first set 6-4, then two points into the second set, Davidovich Fokina hunched over in pain following his return and ended the match after 46 minutes. "Kind of a mixed emotions tonight," Djokovic said. "Really like Alejandro. Get along really well off the court. We train with each other while in Spain. He told me he has a lower back issue that appeared yesterday. It's unfortunate." Djokovic, 36, lost in doubles on Tuesday in his return to the country after missing events because of COVID-19 vaccine restrictions. It's his first appearance in Cincinnati since 2019. The 2020 Western & Southern Open was played in New York due to COVID-19. It was Djokovic's first singles match since losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the

US Open 2023: Marin Cilic, Denis Shapovalov out due to knee injuries

Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion, and Denis Shapovalov will miss the tournament this year because of knee injuries. Cilic used his title in Flushing Meadows and runner-up finishes at Wimbledon in 2017 and the Australian Open in 2018 to reach as high as No. 3 in the ranking. But the Croatian has fallen to No. 121 this week after playing in just two matches none in Grand Slam tournaments this year. Shapovalov hasn't played since a fourth-round loss at Wimbledon to Roman Safiullin on July 9. He had reached the semifinals there two years earlier for his best Grand Slam result. The Canadian wrote in a social media post Wednesday that he had done everything possible to be healthy for the Aug. 28 start of play but that his knee needed more time. "That grand slam energy, especially in NYC, is unlike anything else and I'm really going to miss playing in front of the amazing fans there this year!" he added, along with an emoji of a broken heart. Shapovalov's best U.S. Open finish

Manchester City win UEFA Super Cup, beat Sevilla in a penalty shootout

Manchester City marked its first appearance in the UEFA Super Cup by beating Sevilla 5-4 in a penalty shootout on Wednesday to add another piece of silverware to its vast haul under manager Pep Guardiola. After a 1-1 draw in regulation time and then nine successful spot kicks in the shootout, Nemanja Gudelj struck his attempt against the crossbar to hand City victory inside Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis. It was a 15th trophy won by City in Guardiola's reign that started in 2016 and made up for the loss to Arsenal in a penalty shootout in the Community Shield 10 days ago. "The manager made it so clear to us before the game how much he wants to win this trophy," City midfielder Jack Grealish said about the annual match between last season's winners of the Champions League (City) and Europa League (Sevilla). "You want to win everything anyway but that gave us more of an urge. This club has never won it. It's a brilliant feeling. Youssef En-Nesyri's towering header gave Sevilla the lead

Cabinet approves MoU on Cooperation in sports between India and Australia

The arrangement is aimed at providing reciprocal benefits to accredited and trusted exporters of both the signatories in the clearance of goods by the Customs authorities of the importing country

Selection for int'l events responsibility of sports federations: IOA to HC

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Wednesday told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the selection of sportspersons for participation in major international events is the responsibility of national sports federations. The IOA was responding to a petition filed by three boxers over they not being selected for the upcoming Asian Games in China's Hangzhou. Pugilists Amit Panghal, a World Boxing Championship silver medallist, Rohit Mor and Sagar Ahlawat had moved the high court last month against the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and others after they were left out of the Indian squad for the Asian Games to be held from September 23 to October 8. They had petitioned against the BFI's evaluation process for the selection of the Asian Games squad. The petitioners had alleged that the BFI had changed the selection criteria for national coaching camps, world championships and Asian Games in violation of the National Sports Development Code of India (NSCI)-2011. The petitioners

UEFA Super Cup final, Man City vs Sevilla live match starts at 12:30 AM IST

Sony Sports Ten 2 HD/SD will live telecast Man City vs Sevilla Super Cup match with English Commentary in India from 12:30 AM IST on August 17

Lady coach who filed sexual harassment case against Sandeep Singh suspended

Due to the complaint of sexual harassment by a woman athletics coach, case was registered against former Indian men's hockey team captain Sandeep Singh who served as sports minister of Haryana

Ronaldo to Neymar: Saudi Arabia is changing football one player at a time

Saudi Pro League has signed at least 22 big names from European football since January. The contracts are also bigger than usual. How is it doing so, and why?

Sri Lanka all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga retires from Test cricket

Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga on Tuesday announced his retirement from Test cricket as he seeks to prolong his career in limited-over format of the game. The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said it has accepted the decision of the 26-year-old Hasaranga. We will accept his decision and are confident that Hasaranga will be a vital part of our white-ball programme going forward, said SLC CEO Ashley De Silva. Hasaranga made his Test debut against South Africa at Centurion in 2020, and played three more Tests thereafter. From four Tests, he took four wickets with his leg-spin. His last Test was against Bangladesh in Pallekele in 2021. However, Hasaranga continues to be a prominent figure for Sri Lanka in white ball formats as the spin spearhead and a handy lower-order batsman. From 48 ODIs, Hasaranga grabbed 67 wickets and made 832 runs with four fifties. Hasaranga has 91 wickets from 58 T20Is and amassed 533 runs with a fifty. The Lankan is also a much sought-after player in var

Premier League: Varane's late goal help Man United beat dominant Wolves 1-0

Manchester United needed a rare goal from defender Raphael Varane and a slew of late saves from Andre Onana to eke out a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton after being outplayed for long periods of their Premier League opener. The former France center back headed home from point-blank range in the 76th minute after Aaron Wan Bissaka ran onto a lofted pass from Bruno Fernandes and lobbed a cross into the six-yard box on Monday. It was one of the few slick moves produced by United, which gave competitive debuts to Onana and midfielder Mason Mount and failed to look cohesive against a visiting team that dominated midfield and was a constant danger on the break. Wolves struck the post through Matheus Cunha early in the second half, while substitute Fabio Silva drew two saves from the feet of Onana in the closing stages as United hung on. Wolves had 23 shots the most by a visiting team at Old Trafford in the Premier League since 2005 but lacked a cutting edge just like last season, when it was

World Championship: Trials for Indian wrestlers on Aug 25-26 in Patiala

The trials for the wrestling World Championships will be held on August 25-26 in Patiala, the ad-hoc panel announced on Monday, ending weeks of uncertainty around the selection competition. The exemption given to Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat from the Asian Games trials had created a huge furore with majority of the wrestling fraternity criticising the decision taken by the ad-hoc panel. However, the ad-hoc panel has not announced exemption for any wrestler for the trials World Championship, set to be held in Belgrade from September 16-24 In the criteria mentioned for "shortlisting of athletes" for the Worlds, the ad-hoc panel said, "Medallists and participants of all international/ ranking/ Asian/ World Championships/ Commonwealth Games held in 2022 and 2023 and participants of 2022 Tokyo Olympic Games (will have to appear for trials in order to get selected selected for the Worlds)." Bajrang and Vinesh, have, however, not yet made up their mind on appearing in the trials for th

CM Stalin announces prize of Rs 1.1 cr for ACT-winning Indian hockey team

The Indian men's hockey team on Saturday produced a resilient performance and staged an incredible comeback to defeat Malaysia 4-3