Category: Sports

India’s Karman Kaur Thandi claimed the crown at the final of the ITF women’s 25K Tournament at the Tennis Project in Baliawas on Sunday, beating World no.3 junior Belgium’s Sofia Costoulas 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 in a majestic clash that lasted three hours.

In the first set, Karman showed grit and determination as she bounced back from 2-4 down and moved on to win four games in a row to take the set at 6-4. Sofia, who reached the singles final at the Australian Open 2022, attacked well and leveled the match, winning the second set 2-6.

Karman was most powerful in the third set, destroying her rival’s serve in the fourth game to make it 3-1 and finished the match by winning three straight games. This win makes it the 24-year-old Kaur’s second career ITF singles title after the first one in Hong Kong in 2018.

After the victory, she said, “It’s a special feeling to win this tournament, especially this being just my third one after returning from injury. After the final point, my mind immediately flashed back to the roller-coaster ride we had over the last few months. I would like to thank everyone who supported me — Adi (Aditya Sachdeva) sir, my physio Diksha, my family, my entire team, and especially RoundGlass for putting their trust in me and giving me this opportunity.”

Australia’s former cricketer Lisa Sthalekar became the first female president of FICA. The executive committee of the organization appointed her during a meeting in Switzerland, the first in-person meeting since the outbreak began. For the post of the FICA president, she was shortlisted with other four former cricketers Barry Richard, Jimmy Adams, and Vikram Solanki.

In her career, she played 8 Tests, 125 ODIs, and 54 T20Is for the country between 2001 to 2013. She ended her cricket career with a World Cup win. She was inducted into the Australian cricket hall of fame last year and has been involved in broadcasting media around the world. Her experience with player welfare comes from her work with the Australian Cricketers’ Association.

FICA’s executive chairman Heath Mills commented on the appointment of Sthalekar and said, “Lisa was the best candidate and her credentials are unparalleled as both a former player and broadcaster.”

Sthalekar said, “I am extremely honored and excited to be FICA’s new president. We are entering a new phase of the game which covers more cricket than ever before for our male and female players, more countries are playing the game which demonstrates that cricket is certainly becoming a  global game”.

On Sunday, Fabio Quartararo, the reigning world champion, won the German MotoGP despite feeling unwell despite leading the standings. At a scorching Sachsenring, Yamaha rider Max Verstappen led from Johann Zarco, who finished second, and Jack Miller, from Australia, finished third.

In the opening corner, Quartararo snatched the lead from Bagnaia, who started pole and never looked back. However, he revealed that he had been ill all weekend.

He said, “I am tired, I was sick most of the weekend and was coughing during the race, but I am super happy”. Quartararo now has back-to-back victories after winning the Catalan MotoGP at the beginning of June.

With his 11th MotoGP victory, the Frenchman increased his overall championship lead over Spaniard Aleix Espargaro to 34 points. In Saxony, Quadtararo’s victory guarantees him a lead going into the summer break until the season starts in August at Silverstone, regardless of what happens at the Dutch MotoGP in Assen.

To which he added, “I am not thinking of the championship, I am here to win as many races as possible, maybe by the time it comes to Japan and Thailand, I will think about the title itself.

Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra created history on Saturday after winning the gold medal at the ongoing Kuortane Games in Finland. The athlete claimed the first position with his personal best throw of 86.69m putting behind Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago in the second position and world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada in the third.

 Despite the harsh weather in Finland, Neeraj threw an unmatched 86.9m in his first attempt, followed by a foul in his second. In his third attempt, he ended up slipping on the wet track, though luckily, he wasn’t injured. After this, he decided not to make any more throws, even though he had three chances to make better his initial efforts, as he knew his first attempt was enough to fetch him a gold medal. Chopra said that the event helped his confidence grow, and he is now trying to improve upon what he learned at the Paavo Nurmi Games.

Chopra, who won a historic gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games, now has his eyes on other bigger events, including the Commonwealth Games. The next event that he is going to take part in is the Diamond League meet in Stockholm on June 30.

In a historic event, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday flagged off the first-ever torch relay for the Chess Olympiad, which is to be held in Mahabalipuram, from July 28 to August 10.

The international chess body, FIDE, introduced the torch relay for the first time, which has been a part of the Olympic tradition but was never practiced in the Chess Olympiad. FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich gave the torch to the prime minister, who handed it over to the famed Chess master Viswanathan Anand.

The torch will arrive at Mahabalipuram, after being taken to 75 cities in 40 days, where the chess grandmasters of each state will receive the torch. Some of these cities are Leh, Srinagar, Gangtok, Jaipur, Surat, Bhopal, Patna, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Thrissur, Port Blair, and Kanyakumari.

In nearly 100 years of the history of this distinguished event, it’s the first time that India will host the chess Olympiad. With 188 countries taking part in the tournament, India is ready to witness a huge gathering of countries on its soil.

PM Modi stated, “We are proud that the sport rose from its birthplace and has made its presence felt all over the world. We are delighted to see chess return to its birthplace and celebrate its success in the form of the Chess Olympiad”.

Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga’s name will be etched in the history books of world football as the first-ever woman referee to officiate at the 2022 FIFA World Cup that will begin on November 21 in Qatar. Mukansanga along with Japan’s Yamashita Yoshimi and France’s Stephanie Frappart form the female trio referee selected for the first time for a men’s FIFA World Cup.

Mukansanga was born on July 25, 1988, and hails from the Rusizi district in the Western Region of Rwanda.From early on, she wished to officiate in football matches but faced rejection by the Rwandan Football Federation (RFF) to join a referee course due to her age. However, she officiated her first match during her final year in St Vincent de Paul Musanze secondary school which opened opportunities in her career. In January 2022, she became the first woman to officiate at the men’s African Cup of Nations tournament (AFCON), officiating the game between Zimbabwe and Guinea, which ended 2-1. She is now a household name in Rwanda and is an inspiration to both male and female referees.

FIFA, the  World football governing body, announced the final list of the 36 match referees and 69 assistant referees on Thursday, May 19.

On Tuesday, the Indian men’s football team qualified for the Asian Cup Finals after the Philippines was defeated by Palestine in a group B match in Ulaanbaatar. As a result, the Palestinians qualified directly for the 24-team finals by winning their group, while the Philippines, who finished second, were eliminated despite finishing second. Six groups of four teams each were formed from the 24 teams in the third qualification round.

With six points, India (two behind Hong Kong on goal difference) has qualified ahead of their final group D match. India has qualified for the Asian Cup in two consecutive tournaments for the very first time after exiting the group stage in the 2019 tournament.

In the tournament, only the winners of the six qualifying groups will make it, along with the five second-place teams from their respective qualifying groups. During the group D match, Afghanistan and Cambodia, who are yet to open their respective accounts, are likely to be eliminated.

In other words, even if India loses to Hong Kong, they will still have more points than the runners-up in Group B, the Philippines, and thus qualify for the Asian Cup as one of the top five runners-up.

Earlier, in the years 1964, 1984, 2011, and now 2023, the nation has qualified for the continental showpiece.

Danish badminton genius Viktor Axelsen pulled off a stunning victory defeating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-Chen in straight sets to secure the men’s singles title at the Indonesia Masters on Sunday, June 12. The world No. 1 beat Chou 21-10, 21-12 in a 41-minute match held at Jakarta’s Istora Senayan sporting arena.

Axelsen defeated home favorite Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the semi-finals to enter the finals. The 28-year-old Axelsen told reporters that he loved playing in Istora and had always dreamt of winning a tournament at this legendary venue, and to have done that was something special to him.

In the women’s singles, China’s Chen Yufei, a gold medalist at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, won her first title after she defeated Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, who won the Indonesia Masters women’s title in 2020. Chen sealed a place in the final after beating fellow citizen He Bingjiao 21-17, 21-14 in the semis. After her win, the world no.4 said, “I am very pleased to get the gold medal today. I faced some difficulties during the game but I’m very pleased to overcome them and secure the win”.

After the Indonesia Masters, the Indonesia Open is set to commence on June 14 and culminate on June 19.

16-year-old Gurunaidu Sanapathi has won a gold medal with a total effort of 230kg (104kg+126kg) in the boy’s 55kg event to become India’s first weightlifter to win a gold at the IWF Youth World Championships in Leon, Mexico on Sunday.

While Sanapathi, the bronze medallist at the 2020 Asian Youth Weightlifting Championship, was crowned the world youth champion, Saudi Arabia’s Ali Majeed 229kg (105kg+124kg) claimed the second position, and Yerassyl Umrov of Kazakhstan 224kg (100kg+124kg) stood third.

Besides Sanapathi, fellow citizen Soumya S. Dalvi secured the bronze in her event on the second day of the competition. Dalvi, hailing from Maharashtra, a two-time Khelo India Youth gold medallist, pulled 148kg (65kg+83kg) to clinch the third spot in the 45kg girl’s event behind Philipines’s Rose J Ramos 155kg (70kg+85kg) and Venezuelan Kerlys M. Montilla 153kg (71kg+82kg) while Indian R Bhavani finished eighth with a best effort of 132kg(57kg+75kg).

India has gained a total of four medals so far at the world event. On the tournament’s opening day, Akansha Kishor Vyavhare and Vijay Prajapati won silver medals in their respective events.

India did not take part in the previous edition of the tournament that was held last year in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

On Sunday, Floyd Mayweather Jr., inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, was reduced to tears during a banquet on the eve of his big day. As he accepted the award, his voice was tinged with emotion.

He credited his mother, father, and sister for his successful career. In his acceptance speech, he said, “I’ve done a lot in my career, but this is by far the best.” “I want to thank the International Boxing Hall of Fame for giving me this. This right here is going to my dad because he deserves it. Bernard Hopkins said it best, ‘You’ve got to earn it’, and my dad earned this ring.”

In addition to Mayweather, there were three other inductees who were inducted on Sunday. As a result of the pandemic, the previous two induction ceremonies were postponed until 2022. To accommodate the 36 inductees, the ceremony was moved from the Hall of Fame’s home in Canastota, New York, to the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in nearby Verona.

A number of multi-division champs were among the Class of 2020, including Hopkins, Juan Manuel Marquez, and “Sugar” Shane Mosley. Mayweather, Klitschko, and Ward were members of the Class of 2021.