Page 34 - Sports

Women's doubles pair of Sutirtha, Ayhika win WTT Contender tournament title

The Indian women's doubles pair of Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee won the WTT Contender tournament in Tunis after beating the Japanese pair of Miyuu Kihara and Miwa Harimoto on Sunday. The Indian duo won 3-1 (11-5, 11-6, 5-11, 13-11) in a challenging final. The pair also became the first Indians to win a Contender title this year. Their achievement has come against the two rising Japanese teenagers who are both ranked among the top-25 in the world in singles. On Saturday, the Indian pair had advanced to the final after beating Korean duo of Shin Yubin and Jeon Jihi 3-2 (7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9) in a hard-fought last-four clash. Earlier on Saturday, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Manika Batra and G Sathiyan as well as the men's doubles duo of Manav Vikash Thakkar and Manush Utpalbhai Shah had lost their respective semifinal matches.

Indian pair of Sutirtha, Ayhika in final of WTT Contender in Tunis

Indian women's doubles pair of Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee advanced to the final of the WTT Contender tournament in Tunis after beating Korean duo of Shin Yubin and Jeon Jihi on Saturday. The Indian duo won 3-2 (7-11 11-9 11-9 7-11 11-9) in a hard-fought semifinal. They face Japanese pair of Miyuu Kihara and Miwa Harimoto in the final on Sunday. But the Indian mixed doubles pair of Manika Batra and G Sathiyan as well as the men's doubles duo of Manav Vikash Thakkar and Manush Utpalbhai Shah lost their respective semifinal matches. Batra-Sathiyan lost to Koreans Shin Yubin and Lim Jonghoon 0-3 (7-11 8-11 9-11) while Thakkar-Shah combine suffered an identical 0-3 (3-11 12-14 7-11) defeat to the duo of Cho Daeseong and Cho Seungmin, also of Korea.

Carlsen's SG Alpine Warriors beat Balan Alaskan Knights in Global Chess

World number one Magnus Carlsen's team SG Alpine Warriors emerged 9-7 victorious over Balan Alaskan Knights on the second day of the Global Chess League here on Friday. Norwegian Carlsen played his first game against Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, a two-time challenger for the world crown. The match saw the two strongest players of the event making their first appearance in the Global Chess League. Carlsen is the reigning world champion in rapid and blitz while Nepomniachtchi is the two-time world champion candidate. The game was largely calm, ending in a draw relatively quickly, which was not the case for the rest of the matches. Balan Alaskan Knights gained a significant advantage as Teimour Radjabov won with black, earning them four crucial points. Fortunately for the SG Alpine Warriors, they made a comeback with two victories, securing six points. After draws on two other boards, SG Alpine Warriors were leading 8-6. Everything was hanging on the last game between Indian chess ho

2024 Olympics: Flame to be carried for 68 days before cauldron is lit

The Olympic flame for the 2024 Paris Games will pass through 64 departments including five overseas and 400 towns over 68 days before the cauldron is lit. Organizers announced the route for the torch relay on Friday at a Paris university. Paris 2024 is the greatest collective project in our history, organizing committee president Tony Estanguet said. The torch relay plays an important role because it has the capacity to touch so many people. The torch will be lit by the sun's rays on April 16 in Ancient Olympia, Greece. It will then be carried around the nation before its handover in Athens. The flame will leave Athens on April 27 aboard a three-mast ship named Belem for the French port of Marseille a former Greek colony founded 2,600 years ago. The Belem was first used in 1896, the same year the modern Olympics came back. It will be skippered by French navigator Armel Le Clac'h, winner of the solo around-the-world race Vende Globe in 2017. The crew will reach Marseille on May

Sale of MotoGP Bharat tickets goes live as UP CM receives 1st ticket

MotoGP Bharat is scheduled to be held at the Buddh International Circuit in Noida from September 22 and 24

Indian contingent crosses 50-medal mark at Special Olympics Summer Games

The Indian contingent continued its medal rush at the Special Olympics World Summer Games, crossing the 50-medal mark here. At the end of the day's action, SO Bharat had 55 medals, including 15 gold, 27 silver, 13 bronze spread across five different sports - athletics, cycling, powerlifting, roller skating and swimming. India registered five medals in swimming (3 golds, 1 silver and, 1 bronze) and six on the cycling course (3 Gold, 2 silver, one bronze) on Wednesday. Every member of the cycling team won a medal with Neel Yadav being the first to do so with a bronze in the 5km road race. Later Yadav, Shivani and Indu Prakash won golds in the 1km time trial, while Kalpana Jena, and Jeyaseela Arbutharaj took home the silver. In the pool, India's medals almost doubled in number thanks to the exploits of the freestyle swimmers, Diksha Jitendra Shirgaonkar, Pooja Giridharrao Gaikavada and Prashaddhi Kamble winning golds, with Madhav Madan adding another medal to his tally (gold, 25m ...

Satwik-Chirag rise to career-best World no 3 in BWF doubles rankings

India's star men's doubles pair Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy achieved their new career-high ranking on Tuesday after their historic BWF Super 1000 title at the Indonesia Open.

Bhavani Devi become first Indian fencer to win medal in Asian Championships

Olympian C A Bhavani Devi on Monday created history by progressing to the semifinal of the women's sabre event at the Asian Fencing Championships in Wuxi, China, assuring India its maiden medal at the event. Bhavani stunned reigning world champion Misaki Emura of Japan 15-10 in the quarterfinals to script history. Misaki had won the women's sabre gold medal at the 2022 World Fencing Championships held in Cairo. In the semifinal, Bhavani will be up against Uzbekistan's Zaynab Dayibekova and will look to better the colour of her medal. The 29-year-old Bhavani had received a bye in the round of 64 before beating Dospay Karina of Kazakhstan in the next round. Bhavani then upset third seed Ozaki Seri 15-11 in the pre-quarterfinals. Fencing Association of India secretary-general Rajeev Mehta congratulated Bhavani on her historic achievement. "It is a very proud day for Indian fencing. Bhavani has achieved what no one could achieve before. She is first Indian fencer to win a medal at t

Archery World Cup 2023 stage 3: Abhishek Verma clinches individual gold

India's compound archer Abhishek Verma clinched a gold medal at the Archery World Cup 2023 stage 3 in Medellin, Colombia on Saturday.

Satwiksairaj, Chirag defeat world champions to clinch Indonesia Open 2023

Indian star shuttler duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty clinched the Indonesia Open 2023 title after securing their first victory against world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik

Sports Ministry hikes athletes boarding amount by 66% on foreign tours

The package includes boarding, lodging, local transportation, and on some occasions entry fees as well

International Health, Fitness Festival to kickstart from Friday in Delhi

The three-day International Health, Sports and Fitness Festival (IHFF) will be held at the Pragati Maidan here on Friday. The highlights of the festival are the 'Steadfast Nutrition Pro Show' and the 'Sheru Classic Pro Qualifiers' among India's biggest bodybuilding championships, powered by Steadfast Nutrition, a sports and wellness nutrition brand, the event organisers said. "The pro show, a milestone event for Indian bodybuilding and the second-ever in India, will give winners a direct entry into Mr Olympia USA, the world's most prestigious bodybuilding tournament," Aman Puri, founder, Steadfast Nutrition said. He said the championships will witness the participation of 600 athletes from India and abroad. By supporting these events, Steadfast Nutrition wants to move closer to its vision of making India the world's sports capital by 2050. Currently, only cricket, football and hockey dominate the discourse around sports. Bodybuilding is neglected even though it is becoming ...

Archery World Cup: Aditi Swami of India breaks U-18 compound world record

The 16-year-old debutant Aditi Gopichand Swamy broke the Under 18 compound world record to top the women's qualification round in the third stage of the Archery World Cup, here.

Football: Five bids received for direct entry into I-League 2023-24 season

The All-India Football Federation (AIFF) has received five bids for direct entry into the I-League 2023-24 season with proposals for teams from places like Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru.

NBA Finals: Denver Nuggets beat Miami Hea, lift thier first-ever NBA title

Denver Nuggets won their maiden NBA Championship trophy defeating Miami Heat 94-89 in Game 5 of the NBA Final held on Tuesday at the Ball Arena in Denver

India to begin new WTC cycle with two-match Test series against West Indies

India will begin their new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle with a two-match away series against the West Indies starting in Dominica on July 12. The second Test of the series will be played at Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad from July 20-24, according to a release issued by the BCCI on Monday. India will then continue their preparations for the ODI World Cup at home in October-November this year by playing three ODIs against the Caribbean side between July 27 and August 1. After that, India will field a completely new team led by Hardik Pandya in five T20Is, scheduled to commence on August 3 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad. The last two T20Is will be played in the United States. On Sunday, India lost the WTC final in London with Rohit Sharma's side suffering a 209-run defeat at the hands of Australia. The Schedule: July 12-16, first Test at Dominica; July 20-24, second Test at Trinidad; July 27, first ODI at Barbados; July 29, second ODI at Barbados; August 1

French Open: Casper Ruud races past Zverev, returns to Roland Garros final

Emulating past successes is never easy, but Casper Ruud made it appear so on Friday at Roland Garros.

First step towards WFI elections, IOA ad-hoc panel gathers voters list

With the government setting a June 30 deadline for Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections, the IOA ad-hoc committee has taken the first step towards conducting the impending polls by gathering the voters list, which will be required to form the electoral college. The third member of the ad-hoc committee -- a retired high court judge under whose supervision the elections will be conducted -- is yet to be appointed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). "The judge will be appointed soon. We are already on the job. We have got the voters list from the previous set up," an IOA source told PTI. After the country's top wrestlers accused outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment and intimidation, the IOA, on the instruction of the Sports Ministry, had formed the ad-hoc committee on April 27 to manage the day-to-day affairs of the federation and also conduct its elections. The committee took charge on May 4 and is tasked with completing the election process

Witnessed Brij's inappropriate behaviour towards female wrestlers: Jagbir

International referee Jagbir Singh on Thursday claimed that he has been a witness to Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's inappropriate behaviour towards female grapplers on several occasions since 2013. Brij Bhushan is currently under scrutiny after top Indian wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, demanded his arrest for alleged sexual harassment of women grapplers. "I am an UWW referee since 2007 and I have been a referee before the birth of the the protesting wrestlers. I also know Brij Bhushan for a long time," Jagbir told PTI. "I couldn't say much because until the girls register complaints, I could not do anything. But I saw the episode with my own eyes and felt bad," he said. Jagbir, who has been a coach-cum-international referee since 2007, said he witnessed Brij Bhushan's misbehaviour with his own eyes on numerous occasions. "After he became the president during his second tour in 2013 in Kazakhstan, the president told us 'I will feed you Indian food

Delhi Police takes wrestler Sangeeta to WFI chief's official residence

Delhi Police on Friday took wrestler Sangeeta Phogat to outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's official residence here to recreate the sequence of events that led to the sexual harassment of which he has been accused. According to sources, Phogat was accompanied by women constables. "At 1.30 pm women officers took Sangeeta Phogat to Brij Bhushan's official residence in Delhi. They were there for half an hour. They asked her to recreate the scene and recall the places where she faced harassment," sources said. The Delhi Police's Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing sexual harassment allegations against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP MP from Kaiserganj, Uttar Pradesh is likely to submit in the court its investigation report in the two cases registered against him by next week, officials said on Wednesday. As part of its investigation, the SIT has questioned more than 180 people, the Delhi Police officials said. Top wrestlers of the country, ...