Category: Sports

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday congratulated the athletes of the Indian contingent that performed brilliantly at the recently concluded Deaflympics and said he would host the entire delegation at his residence on May 21. Prime Minister added that every athlete of the contingent is an inspiration for fellow Indians.

Deaflympics 2021 was held between May 1-May 15 at Festa Da Uva Main Pavilion in Southern Brazils city of Caxias do Sul. Around 2,100 athletes from 72 countries took part in the quadrennial event. The Indian contingent comprised 65 athletes, the largest ever sent by India in a Deaflympic event that competed in 11 sports, winning eight gold medals, one silver, and seven bronze. This was India’s highest medal tally at the Deaflympics. The most number of medals were picked by the shooting team-three gold and two bronze. India claimed the 9^th position in the medal table. The previous richest medal haul for India came in 1993 when they bagged five gold and two bronze at Sofia.

Five out of the eleven sports that India won medals in were shooting, badminton, tennis, golf, and wrestling. The remaining six sports that India took part in were athletics, golf, judo, karate, table tennis, and taekwondo. Jerlin Jayaratchagan won three gold medals at the event, making her the fiercest competitor from India.

Novak Djokovic, the No. 1-ranked men’s tennis player in the world, became the fifth man in history to reach 1,000 Tour wins after winning the Italian Open Semi-final against Norway’s Casper Ruud.

The other 4 men to have reached the historic milestone are Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Jimmy Connors, and Ivan Lendl. The 34-year-old Tennis champ had won his first tour-level match in 2004 and since then has emerged as one of Tennis’s all-time greats. The 20-time grand slam winner celebrated the occasion by cutting a cake that was presented to him by the tournament organizers. Djokovic won his 1,000th contest in 1,203 matches, making him the fourth-fastest to reach the milestone.

In his on-court interview with ATP, Djokovic thanked the tournament and the crowd for celebrating his achievement. He added that in the last couple of years he witnessed the celebration of the same milestone by Roger and Rafa and that he was eager to get to the milestone as well.

Djokovic, who is eyeing his first title of the season and what could be his 1001st win, will take on Greek world No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Italian Open final on Sunday.

India created history in badminton by winning India’s first-ever Thomas Cup title. The ream secures a 3-0 win after 73 years.

The teammates mobbed Kidambi Srikant seconds after securing the win by beating Jonathan Christie 22-15, 23-21. In addition to Lakshya Sen and Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty played two back-to-back gritty performances to help India earn their first title. ​​In the first match of the tie, Sen defeated Anthony Ginting to give India the lead. Chirag and Satwik saved their team four match points in their 8-21, 21-17, 21-16 victory.

To give India a 2-0 lead in the finals, the Indian doubles pair defeated the Indonesian pair of Muhammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 18-21, 23-21, and 21-19.

Mr PM Modi congratulated through his Twitter account, “The Indian badminton team has scripted history! The entire nation is elated by India winning the Thomas Cup! Congratulations to our accomplished team and best wishes to them for their future endeavours. This win will motivate so many upcoming sportspersons”.

The team was also awarded Rs 1 crore cash by Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and twitted that it’s an extraordinary feat with successive victories over Malaysia, Denmark and Indonesia.

After 14 years, Singapore will host the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Gamesa) in its 2029 edition. The country last hosted the SEA Games in 2015.

The Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) and Sport Singapore (SportSG) released a joint statement stating that the members of the SEA Games Federation accepted the country’s interest in hosting the biennial event at a meeting held in Hanoi.

SNOC president Tan Chuan-Jin said, “We are pleased to host the prestigious regional sporting event in Singapore again. The SEA Games holds special memories and experiences for Singapore and our Southeast Asian neighbours”.

He further added that the camaraderie and rivalry they share are distinct and the country is once again happy to organise the 35th SEA Games to relive it.

Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong said, “Hosting the SEA Games will once again give our Team Singapore athletes an opportunity to compete against some of the best in the region, with strong home ground support. The spirit of the SEA Games can also bring Singaporeans from all walks of life together, to cheer and rally behind our athletes, and strengthen our national unity”.

On Thursday, Malaysia was also given hosting rights for the 34th edition in 2027 and the 33rd and 32nd editions will take place in Thailand and Cambodia respectively.

Indian women’s badminton team on Tuesday defeated USA 4-1, in their Group D match, sealing a spot for the quarter-finals of the Uber Cup.

Earlier India had defeated Canada 4-1 in their opening match. The successive win over the USA confirms India a position in the top two spots in their group to enter the quarterfinals.

P. V. Sindhu, Tokyo Olympics Bronze medallist, once again took charge of the game with a 21-10 21-11 win over Jennie Gai, finishing the match in about 26 minutes. In the second game, the doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Treesa Jolly easily defeated Francesca Corbett and Allison Lee 21-19 21-10 before the youngster Aakashi Kashyap gave India a secure 3-0 beating Esther Shi with a 21-18 21-11 win.

The USA managed to rescue itself from a complete failure when Lauren Lam and Kodi Tang won over the young double pair of Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker

In the final match, Ashmita Chaliha triumphed over Natalie Chi to give India its 4-1 scoreline.

The next encounter for the Indian women’s team will be against Korea on Wednesday in their final group match. Expectations soar high from the Indian women’s team, which has won two bronze medals in the past.

On Sunday, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz raced to the Madrid Open title brushing aside German Alexan Zverev with 6-3, 6-1 in 62 minutes. After winning in Barcelona last month, the 19-year-old’s winning streak now stands at 10 matches and secured his second consecutive title.

Alcaraz is on his way to being on No.6 by Monday as he beats Rafael Nadal and world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. He is first in a clay-court tournament. Alcaraz turned 19 on Thursday in Miami and won his first ATP Masters 1000 level title. Nadal was the only player younger than him to achieve that milestone when he won in Monte Carlo and Rome as a teenager.

Alcaraz said, “This tournament is special for me because it’s a tournament I came and watched when I was seven or eight”. The first set was won by Alcaraz after he broke in the sixth game and held his serve effortlessly.

To which Zveren said, “Right now you are the best player in the world. Even though you are still five years older than you, you are still beating us all. This is tennis, you cannot be perfect every day. Even though I lost quite badly today this is still my favourite court in the world”. Zverev was a champion in the Spanish capital in 2018 and 2021.

On Monday, Ronnie O’Sullivan stopped Judd Trump’s rally by winning 18-13 in the final. He equalled Stephen Hendry’s modern-day record of seventh snooker World Championship titles.

O’Sullivan started the session by leading at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in the best 35-frame contest until world champion Trump bounced back from 12-5 down overnight. Despite losing his first session, 46-year-old O’Sullivan- the oldest World Championship finalist since mentor Ray Reardon in 1982, surged ahead before sealing victory with a break of 85.

He said in an interview, “I’ve never bothered about the record- when you get them, it’s kind of nice, I’ve never performed well if going for that, I’ve just tried to enjoy my game. I don’t have a target. I like to win but it’s not the be-all and end-all”.

He is nicknamed ‘Rocket’ for his speed around the table and is known as the most naturally talented snooker player in history. In a tribute to Trump, he said his opponent was already an “all-time great” because of his attacking style. To which Trump modestly said, “It’s been a pleasure to share a table with him. It’s an amazing achievement and he is the best player of all time and I was just glad to make a match out of it.

On Sunday, the Women’s Soccer Team from Afghanistan played their first match in Australia since its evacuation from Taliban occupied country last year.

The team played a 0-0 draw in its opening game in Vitoria’s Senior Women’s Competition. The team was helped by Victory in relocating to Melbourne and training the players under Victory’s banner. Instead of wearing their traditional navy blue shirt with a white ‘V’, players will don a kit that pays tribute to their homeland, a red home shirt and a white away shirt with the Afghan flag on the back.

According to the players, the jersey will not have family names on the back to protect loved ones still living in Afghanistan who may be in danger from the Taliban. The shirts will have their first names or nicknames instead.

The Afghan Women’s team was originally formed in 2007 and played its first international match against Nepal in 2010 and won its first match 2-0 against Qatar in 2012.

It has only been a few months since 30 women and coaches were rescued in an evacuation operation by the Australian government as the Taliban resumed control of Afghanistan after 20 years, again putting women’s sports at risk.

The second-seeded Russian Player Andrey Rublev defeated Novak Djokovic by mounting another comeback and preventing him from claiming his first title in 2022. Rublev dug deep by stopping Djokovic with 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-0 and winning the Serbia Open for his third title of the season.

During their third set, 24-year-old Rublev looked fitter and won in 2 hours, 24 minutes. Djokovic, who is 10 years older than Rublev, appeared to be affected by his efforts to level the match in the second set tiebreaker.

Having defeated Jiri Lehecka, Taro Daniel and Fabio Fognini on his way to the final, Rublev has now equalled Rafael Nadal’s record of three tour-level titles this year, following his victories in Marseille and Dubai in February.

In his first clay-court match since losing to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Championships in February, the 20-time Grand Slam champion- Noval lost a surprising match to Fokina last week at the Monte Carlo Masters. This was his first tournament of the year after being barred from playing at the Australian Open. Due to his unvaccinated status, he was unable to play at the Australian Open, as well as in the United States last month.

Victoria will host the 2026 Commonwealth Games with the Australian state’s regional centres organising the majority of events in a break from the traditional single host city model. The Games will be staged in March 2026 across multiple cities and regional hubs including Melbourne, Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Gippsland, each with its own athletes’ village. The opening ceremony will take place at the iconic 100,000-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground. The announcement follows an exclusive dialogue period between the CGF, Commonwealth Games Australia (CGAus) and Victoria. An initial 16 sports, including Twenty20 cricket, have been put forward for the Games, with further sports to be added later this year. An initial 16 sports, including Twenty20 cricket, have been put forward for the Games, with further sports to be added later this year. Australia has staged the Commonwealth Games on five occasions, with Victoria playing host to the Melbourne 2006 Games; widely considered one of the most successful editions of the event in history. The country has also staged the Games in Sydney in 1938, Perth in 1962, Brisbane in 1982 and most recently Gold Coast in 2018. Victoria has also hosted the Commonwealth Youth Games in Bendigo in 2004.