Category: Sports

On Thursday, India’s trio Shri Nivetha, Esha Singh, and Ruchita Vinerkar won gold in the women’s 10m air pistol team event of the ISSF World Cup.

On Wednesday night, to finish on the podium for the country’s third medal, and the second medal, the trio shot 16 in the gold medal contest in the year’s first World Cup. This leads the country with three medals standing- two gold and silver.

In the final round, Esha Singh scored 10.8 to help the nation draw first blood and took the lead with 6-0. After which all three women shot 10 or above in the third series of single shots.

​​With a total score of 574, the three Indian women had topped the second qualifying round and qualified for the gold medal match. They also topped the Stage 1 qualification round with a total score of 856.

In the fight for the top prize, Germany’s Andrea Katharina Heckner, Sandra Reitz, and Carina Wimmer settled for a silver medal after managing 6 shots. The German trio was behind Indians with a total score of 571.

On Tuesday, Indian shooting ace Saurabh Chaudhary claimed a Gold medal in the men’s 10-meter air pistol event. He opened the country’s account in the year’s first ISSF World Cup in Cairo.

The 19-year-old Chaudhary shot 16 in The Asian Games for the gold to finish ahead of Germany’s Michael Schwald. He made the medal round with Chernousov for the company as both notched up 38 points to eliminate Walter of Germany and then Emis Vasermanis of Latvia.

Choudhary has a Youth Olympic gold medal in his name and was third in the men’s 10m air pistol qualification stage with 584 points in total. With a score of 38, he won the last stage relay 1, qualifying for the medal match, which was contested by the final four shooters.

More than 500 shooters from 60 countries are taking part in the Cairo World Cup that is providing 20 sets of medals on offer.

For the women’s 10m air pistol event, Esha Singh, Shri Nivetha, and Ruchita Vinerkar are representing India in which Esha bagged the second medal for the country by winning silver.

With these two medals, the nation now tops the medal tally with one gold and one silver.

On Monday, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev overtook Serbia’s 20-time Grand Slam champion, Novak Djokovic’s record of the top spot for 361 weeks in total. He became the 27th player to reach the number one spot in the men’s ATP tennis rankings.

Djokovic was competing in his first tournament of the season following his deportation from Australia in January.

Nadal beat the 26-year-old Medvedev in the Acapulco semi-finals last week which guaranteed to move him above Djokovic post the Serb’s quarter-final loss in Dubai.

Medvedev became the third Russian to achieve the feat by joining Yevgeny Kafelnikov for the top six weeks and Marat Safin for the top nine weeks.

He also become the first player outside the ‘Big Four’ in the 2021 US Open champion of Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray by moving the number one in the world ranking for 18 years, three weeks, and six days since 1st February 2004 when Andy Roddick reached the top stop.

The last time a new world number one in men’s tennis was established more than five years ago was when Murray won on November 7, 2016.

On Sunday, at the 73rd Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament, Indian boxers Nikhat Zareen and Nitu clinched medals.

During Europe’s oldest international boxing tournament, Nikat won her second gold medal with a 4-1 win in the women’s 52kg final. It was her second gold medal since she won the Strandja Memorial title in 2019.

Nitu inflicted a 5-0 beating on Italy’s Erika Prisciandro, the reigning bronze medalist of the Youth World Championships.

As a result of Nandini’s bronze medal in the 81kg category, the Indian contingent finished its trip with three medals at the tournament, which marked India’s first exposure trip of the year.

In the final, 25-year-old, Telangana boxer Nikhat, who has been in fine form and had beaten Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Buse Naz Cakiroglu in the semis, made a strong start and looked in complete control in the second half as she landed some sharp scoring punches before wrapping up an easy victory.

Nitu, who hails from Haryana, initially took her time to settle down. In her fight with Italy’s young boxer Prisciandro, she maintained distance. In the second round, the boxers exchanged punches more intensely and there was little power hitting.

After participating in the 125th game during the third and final match against Sri Lanka at the picturesque HPCA Stadium, India captain Rohit Sharma has become the most-capped T20I player in history.

Rohit Sharma appears to be in a good mood these days. It has been a winning run for the Indian captain. Rohit Sharma’s men beat Sri Lanka in the Twenty20 series with a 3-0 win over West Indies in both ODIs and T20s. In the process, he surpassed veteran Pakistan batsman Shoaib Malik (124 T20Is).

In Dharamsala, Rohit stepped out to lead India in the third T20 against Sri Lanka. He is currently the only Indian cricketer to play more than 100 T20Is. MS Dhoni (98) and Virat Kholi (97) follow Sharma at second and third position respectively among the Indian players.

In November, Sharma was named the skipper of the Indian T20Is and has not lost any game since taking over the captaincy. He is looking for a third consecutive win after making 2-0 in the ongoing Twenty20 series against the Sri Lanka series in a clean sweep and has white-washed New Zealand and West Indies in three-match home series previously.

India’s Sadia Tariq won a gold medal in Moscow Wushu Stars Championship that was held from February 22 to 28.

15-year-old, Sadia, a two-time gold medalist in the Junior National Wushu championship came up with a brilliant performance by defeating her Russian opponent in the Annual Calendar Training and Competition of the Sports Authority of India.

Hailing from Kashmir, Sadia took part in the championship along with the 38 players across India including 23 junior and 15 senior players. This is the first time India has sent a team. She recently won a Gold medal at the 20th Junior National Wushu Championship at the Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar, in which the Jammu and Kashmir Wushu team placed third overall. A few weeks ago, she won gold medals at the 19th and 20th Junior National Championships in Haryana and Jalandhar, respectively.

India’s Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi congratulated her from his tweeter account, “Congratulation to Sadia Tariq on winning the Gold medal at the Moscow Wushu Stars Championship. Her success will inspire many budding athletes. Wishing her the very best for her future endeavors”.

She fulfilled her mother’s and her own dreams by securing a gold medal on an international platform to represent herself.

In an online championship, chess grandmaster from India, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa is winning hearts for his stunning victory over world number one Magnus Carlsen. On Monday, he beats Carlsen at the Airthings Masters rapid chess tournament.

Earlier Carlsen lost against Viswanathan Anand and Pentala Harikrishna from India. Praggnanandhaa came out as the youngest one to beat Carlsen since the Norwegian became the world champion in 2013.

Five-time world champion and one of the greatest chess players, Anand tweeted, “Always proud of our talents! Very good day for @rpragchess”.

After the 39-move victory, visibly calm Praggnanandhaa said, “It’s about time to go to bed as I don’t think I will have dinner at 2:30 in the morning”. At the age of 10, Praggnanandhaa created history by becoming the youngest international master.

On the other hand, 31-year-old Carlsen appeared to blunder in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour event that gave a total prize pool of more than $1.5 million. Carlsen said that he was not perfectly fine to post coronavirus caught him. He said, “It was better today, but the first couple of days, I was feeling like I am okay but I don’t have any energy and it was kind of hard to focus”.

Senegal defeated Egypt on penalty kicks in the Africa Cup of Nations championship match on Sunday at Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé, Cameroon, to win the continental championship for the first time.

Previously both nations had a history of winning the Africa Cup of Nations seven times. Egypt and Senegal both were not able to able to breakthrough in the first 90 minutes. Senegal appeared to be in control for the majority of the game ahead of Egypt gaining strength in the second half.

During the African Cup of Nations 2022’s final soccer match, Egypt’s Marwan Hamdi jumped for the ball with Senegal’s Abdou Diallo. In the early minutes of the match, the goal in regulation time came as the game’s best opportunity. Liverpool star Sadio Mane’s penalty kick was saved by the goalkeeper in the seventh minute of the Egypts foul in the penalty box.

Not scoring for more than 30 minutes in the extra time, the game went to penalty kicks and the pair saves from Gabaski and Senegalese keeper Edouard Mendy. With a chance at redemption, another clutch saved from Mendy at Mane and he buried a rocket in the back of the net saving championship for Senegal.

This season’s Asian Tour will launch a 10-event season called the International Series. The move is funded by Saudi Arabia and could put golf’s two major tours at risk. Former world No. 1 Greg Norman, who has been behind proposals for a breakaway super league, is fronting the project funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

The series was announced by Norman on Tuesday, just ahead of the Saudi International this week. A Centurion Club event will take place outside of London as part of the 10 events. Two more will take place in the Middle East.

According to Norman, the series will not be “geofenced,” which could mean raising the potential future event in the United States. In March, the series will begin in Thailand where the players from other tours will be allowed to compete. Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson are the two of golf’s top players chosen to play in Saudi Arabia – where appearance money is lucrative – rather than the US and European tours.

However, Rights groups have criticized Saudi Arabia for its human rights record for allowing players to appear at its events.

West Indies cricketer Jason Holder creates history by picking four wickets in four balls against England in the last over of the 5th and final T20I.

Holder produced a record-breaking performance to lead West Indies to a 17-run victory in the decider against England. He became the first West Indian male cricketer to take a hat-trick in T20Is.

Against South Africa in 2018, Anisa Mohammed became the first West Indian woman to take a hat-trick in a T20I. In 2021, Stafanie Taylor played brilliantly against Pakistan Women as well, so she has a T20I hat-trick on her resume.

Holder etched his name into the record books with his final over of the match, with England 20 runs to win, when he removed Chris Jordan, Sam Billings, Adil Rashid, and Saqib Mahmood off consecutive deliveries.

At the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, there was still a lot to play for after the series tied 2-2.

As the toss was won, West Indies elected to bat. Kyle Mayers and Brandon King got their team off to an excellent start. As a result, the hosts lost two quick wickets after the powerplay, reducing their scoring rate.