Category: Sports

On Thursday, Indian cricketers who won the T20 World Cup paid a visit to PM Modi at his home, Lok Kalyan Marg. Before leaving for Mumbai for celebrations, the squad and BCCI top administrators Roger Binny and Jay Shah had brunch with the PM, where they posed with the World Cup trophy and interacted.

PM Modi expressed his enthusiasm on X, reminiscing about his unforgettable meeting with the winners. He wrote, “An excellent meeting with our Champions! Hosted the World Cup winning team at 7, LKM and had a memorable conversation on their experiences through the tournament.”

Notable athletes who made speeches included Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Rahul Dravid, and Rohit Sharma. Kohli thanked the prime minister on Instagram after retiring from T20 internationals following the World Cup.

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde sent an invitation to a group of Mumbai players, including Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Shivam Dubey, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

The group touched down in Delhi after a 16-hour travel from Barbados on Air India’s special charter flight AIC24WC. Later in the evening, the team celebrated with a win at Wankhede Stadium and a public bus parade in Mumbai.

Bodhana Sivanandan, a nine-year-old schoolgirl from Harrow, London, of Indian descent, has made history by being the youngest individual to be chosen to represent England internationally in any sport. In September, she will compete in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, with the England Women’s Team. “My dad told me, and I was happy,” she said.

Her manager, Malcolm Pein, of the England chess team, described her as one of the most amazing British chess prodigies. Her father, Siva Sivanandan, an engineering graduate, was astounded by Bodhana’s skill when she started playing with a chess board that a family friend had given her during the pandemic lockdown.

Bodhana was praised as “super talented” after winning the European Blitz Chess Championship in Croatia last December. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later invited her to 10 Downing Street to celebrate a new GBP 1 million chess initiative. The objectives of this investment are to finance top training, raise awareness of the game, and assist underprivileged children.

The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport has committed GBP 500,000 to the English Chess Federation to help develop elite talent, and the Department for Levelling Up will provide GBP 250,000 to put chess sets in public parks.

On Wednesday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) organised a special flight for the Indian cricket team, which was captained by Rohit Sharma, to depart Barbados finally. After winning the T20 World Cup 2024, they were originally going to leave on Sunday, but cyclone Beryl changed their plans, causing them to stay in their hotel for three days instead.

The chartered flight, which also carried Indian media personnel who were stuck because of the hurricane, was arranged by BCCI Secretary Jay Shah. The team was forced to their hotel rooms when the hurricane reached Barbados, causing a curfew and disrupting the electricity and water supply, just hours after they defeated South Africa in an exciting seven-run final in the T20 World Cup.

On July 2, at around two in the morning local time, a special flight—a Boeing 777—landed in Barbados after taking off from New Jersey, USA. The enormous aircraft was accommodated at Grantley Adams International Airport, which resumed on Tuesday.

This was an uncommon sight for the local crew. After a delay due to the plane’s tardy arrival, the team eventually took off with the help of media representatives, board members, support staff, and the players’ families.

Hardik Pandya is now the top all-round player in the ICC Men’s T20I Rankings after his outstanding performance in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Pandya joins Wanindu Hasaranga at the top of the rankings after playing a significant part in India’s campaign, which included taking important wickets in the match against South Africa.

Pandya has shown his versatility by collecting 11 wickets and hitting 144 runs at a strike rate above 150 during the competition. His bowling spell and a crucial wicket in the final turned the tide of the match to India’s advantage. With this accomplishment, Pandya becomes the first male cricket player from India to reach the top of this category.

Mohammad Nabi fell four spots in the rankings, while Marcus Stoinis, Sikandar Raza, Shakib Al Hasan, and Liam Livingstone all rose by one spot. Anrich Nortje shot up to a career-high second position in the bowling rankings, trailing only Adil Rashid, while Jasprit Bumrah of India moved up 12 spots to finish just outside the top ten.

Six Indian players—Kuldeep Yadav and Arshdeep Singh among them—also advanced significantly in the rankings as a result of their outstanding T20 World Cup performances.

For the past six years and five months, Naomi Osaka has been unable to win a match at Wimbledon. She became a mother last year and was off the tour. On Monday, Osaka defeated Diane Parry 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 in Monday’s opening round match at the All England Club.

Andy Murray was contemplating playing soon after spinal surgery, and Aryna Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka both withdrew due to shoulder injuries. Osaka has not fared well on grass, failing to make it past Wimbledon’s third round despite her dominance on hard courts. After a 15-month break, she is back in the rankings at No. 113.

The defending U.S. Open winner, Coco Gauff, defeated Caroline Dolehide by scores of 6-1, 6-2. Though she recalled it as a difficult experience, Gauff looked back on last year’s first-round exit and fondly remembered her debut at Wimbledon when she was fifteen years old.

Along with Raducanu, Carlos Alcaraz proceeded to the round of 16, where he won the 2021 U.S. Open. In spite of his nerves, Alcaraz prevailed over Estonian qualifier Mark Lajal 7-6(3), 7-5, 6-2.

After overcoming personal obstacles and rediscovering her form, Osaka’s return is a major accomplishment.

Three Indians have cracked the top ten in FIDE’s world chess rankings as of July 1st, a first in the sport. The winner of the Leon Masters, Arjun Erigaisi, is currently ranked number 4 in the world with 2,778 Elo points, putting him in close proximity to the 2,800 threshold.

Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa, two chess prodigies competing in the Grand Chess Tour’s Superbet Classic, both finished in the top ten. With 2766.4 points, Gukesh is ranked seventh in the world, and Praggnanandhaa, with 2762.4 points, who gained 10 Elo points and is now ranked eighth, is in the top ten for the first time.

Viswanathan Anand, winner of five world championships, is back in the top eleven with 2751 points. Ding Liren, the reigning world champion, is now ranked fourteenth.

After obtaining 18.5 Elo points, Aravindh Chithambaram is now ranked 29th in the world and 6th in India. Currently, eleven Indian players are ranked in the top 100, four are ranked in the top 11, and six are ranked in the top 30.

Gukesh and Liren will compete in the 2024 FIDE World Championship in Singapore, further attesting to India’s chess prowess.

Sneh Rana, an Indian spinner, became the first female Indian spinner to take ten wickets in a Test match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

The dominant position was India’s due in the one-off women’s test against South Africa, thanks to Rana’s outstanding performance. When India declared their first innings at 603/6, Rana swiftly destroyed South Africa’s top order by dismissing the captain Laura Wolvaardt, the opener Anneke Bosch, Delmi Tucker, and Delmi Bosch.

With five wickets in the opening hour of the third day, spin bowling maestro Rana reduced South Africa from 236/4 to 266 all out. In the first innings, she took eight wickets, which was the same as Neetu David’s record against England in 1995.

Rana became the second Indian woman to obtain a 10-wicket haul in a Test match, following Jhulan Goswami, when she took two more wickets in South Africa’s follow-on innings. Despite Suné Luus and Wolvaardt putting up a strong partnership of 190 runs, Rana’s endurance on the fourth day solidified the remarkable performance.

The overall tally for Rana’s 65.3 overs, which included 16 maidens, was 10 wickets for 188 runs. Rana cemented her position in cricket history with this record-breaking effort, surpassing Deepti Sharma’s nine-wicket haul against England in 2023.

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has announced that the world championship match for classical chess between Gukesh D, an Indian teenager, and Ding Liren, the reigning champion from China, will take place in Singapore from November 20 to December 15.

Singapore was selected instead of Chennai and New Delhi in India. Gukesh qualified for the match by winning the Candidates Tournament in April. Ding, whose performance has suffered since winning the title in 2023 over Ian Nepomniachtchi, will face Gukesh. According to FIDE, Gukesh is ranked seventh in the world as of June 2024.

Gukesh broke Garry Kasparov’s forty-year record to become the first teenager to win the Candidates tournament. Kasparov congratulated Gukesh on his accomplishment. In addition, Gukesh is the second Indian competitor to win the Candidates, after Viswanathan Anand, and the youngest challenger for the World Championship.

Gukesh outperformed his mentor, Anand, in the FIDE ratings in 2023. Gukesh, who was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in 2006, attained the rank of grandmaster in 2019 at the age of 12 years and 7 months. The world champion since 2013, Magnus Carlsen, gave up the crown in 2022 because he was unmotivated.

On Friday, Shafali Verma’s double century (205 runs off 194 balls) helped India defeat South Africa and set a record for the highest-ever single-day total in Test cricket. She reached this mark after hitting two sixes off Delmi Tucker and finishing her innings with a single.

The previous record for most runs scored in a single day of Test cricket was held by the Sri Lankan men’s side; however, the Indian women’s team broke that mark across both men’s and women’s cricket.

Along with Smriti Mandhana (149 not-out off 161 balls), the pair put up a tremendous opening partnership of 292 runs. Their combined efforts threw South Africa’s bowlers into chaos as India reached an unprecedented 525/4.

By surpassing Betty Snowball’s 1935 record of 189 runs, Shafali became the first female Test match player to achieve more than 200 runs in a single day. Another record broken by Shafali was the most sixes hit in an innings by a female Test player on a single day.

Sachin Tendulkar took to social media to congratulate Shafali and the squad, applauding their outstanding performance and predicting even more spectacular results in the days to come.

Hockey India has unveiled the 16-member Indian Men’s Hockey Team set to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Five fresh faces and seasoned athletes like PR Sreejesh and Manpreet Singh, who are competing in their fourth Olympics, make up the team, which is under the leadership of Harmanpreet Singh. Important defender Harmanpreet captains the team, along with vice-captain Hardik Singh.

Manpreet Singh and Hardik Singh play in a dynamic midfield alongside players like Amit Rohidas and Jarmanpreet Singh in a strong defensive lineup for the team, which is currently putting in a lot of training at the SAI Centre in Bengaluru. Players with exceptional attacking ability up front include Mandeep Singh and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay.

Coach Craig Fulton emphasised the team’s adaptability and readiness to take on a variety of obstacles while expressing confidence in the team’s preparation. With Belgium and Australia among its fierce rivals in Pool B, the team hopes to place in the top four. India’s campaign begins on July 27 when they play New Zealand.

With a rich Olympic past that includes twelve medals, the team is well-positioned to increase India’s total at the Games.