The PGA Tour has agreed to merge with Saudi-backed competitor LIV Golf in a deal to move ahead as one golf enterprise. Putting aside their pending litigation, the two sides have signed an agreement to combine their commercial businesses and rights into a new for-profit company. The agreement also covers the DP World Tour or the PGA European Tour. LIV Golf is backed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), a unit controlled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and has been involved in antitrust lawsuits with the PGA Tour in 2022. The new deal announced on June 6 would end
India's Sunil Kumar created history by bagging the country's first-ever gold medal in men’s decathlon. The 19-year-old won the gold medal with 7,003 points at the Asian Under-20 Athletics Championships in Yecheon, Republic of Korea on June 6. Kumar suffered a setback when a South Korean airline and Air India barred him from carrying his pole vault due to technical issues due to its five-metre length. He then borrowed the pole vault from the contest organisers and won the 10-event competition with a personal best tally of 7,003 points on the penultimate day of the competition. He won 100m
India has won 19 medals at the Under-20 Asian Athletics Championships, including six gold medals, held in Yecheon, Republic of Korea from June 4 to 7. The country finished third in the championships among 45 nations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 9 praised Indian athletes for their impressive performance at the 20th Asian U20 Athletics Championships. Congratulating the athletes, he tweeted, “Proud of our athletes! They performed exceptionally well...We celebrate the triumph of our athletes and wish them the very best for their future endeavours.” Japan topped the medals table
Real Madrid’s Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema has joined Saudi Arabia club Al Ittihad. On a three-year contract, the soccer star is set to earn more than €400 million (over ₹3,500 crore). He also has an option of extending the contract for a further season. Earlier, it was expected that Lionel Messi, who is leaving Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) after two seasons, will also move to another Saudi Arabian club, Al Hilal. However, on June 8, the 35-year-old Argentine confirmed he plans to join MLS side Inter Miami, snubbing Barcelona and Al-Hilal. Al Ittihad is the rival club of Benzem
World number three tennis player Novak Djokovic has broken the record for reaching most quarter-finals in the history of French Open. The 36-year-old Serb beat Peruvian tennis player Juan Pablo Varillas 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 57 minutes to reach his 17th Roland Garros quarter-final on June 4. The 14-time champion Nadal, who held the previous record with 16 French Open quarter-finals, has just undergone psoas surgery. He revealed the usual recovery time for psoas surgery is five months, and Djokovic spoke of how he hoped to see ‘one of the greatest legends of tennis’ return healt
Max Verstappen recorded his third consecutive victory to win the Spanish Grand Prix on June 4 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, clinching the pole position and extending his lead in the Formula One championship by 53 points. The Red Bull driver has now registered his fifth win in seven races. He was followed by Lewis Hamilton who ranked second, equalling his best finish of the season. Verstappen led home the Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, with team mate Sergio Perez at fourth. He controlled the race from the beginning. This is his third triumph at the Circuit de B
In the IPL 2023, though MS Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings picked the trophy, the opponent team of Gujarat Titans last week ended up bagging the most number of awards and titles This IPL season belonged to the rising star of Gujarat Titans, Shubman Gill, who ended up winning the Orange Cap. He walked away with the most awards and cash prizes this IPL season, with four titles and Rs 40 lakh. His team mate Mohammed Shami won the Purple Cap in IPL 2023 after the CSK versus GT final. Interestingly, for Purple Cap, there was a tie among Gujarat Titans players Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, and Mohi
MS Dhoni scripted Indian Premier League (IPL) history on Monday, May 29, as he became the first cricketer to play 250 matches. He also became the first player to play 11 finals in IPL history - 10th with Chennai Super Kings and one with Rising Pune SuperGiant. The cricketer played under Steve Smith in the IPL 2017 final. MS Dhoni made the records in the IPL 2023 final on the Reserve Day at the Narendra Modi Stadium as his team Chennai Super Kings faced Gujarat Titans in the summit clash. The final, which was scheduled to be held on May 28, was postponed to the next day due to consistent ra
Indian badminton player HS Prannoy sealed the Malaysia Masters 2023 after winning the final against China’s Weng Hong Yang on May 28. Prannoy won the match 21-19, 13-21, 21-18. With this, the 30-year-old shuttler won his first-ever BWF World Tour title in the final of the men's singles event. Prannoy won a cash prize of $31,500 with his victory. Playing at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Prannoy and Weng Hongyang went toe-to-toe early on in the final game. Prannoy had made it to the final after Indonesia's Christian Adinata withdrew with an injury in the semi-finals. In the earlier mat
Ganemat Sekhon has become the first Indian woman skeet shooter to win a medal in the junior world championships and the first to win a World Cup medal (bronze). In the shotgun World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan on May 23, the 22-year-old sports star won silver. India’s Darshna Rathore also won a bronze in the event. A special day for Indian shooting, the world championship witnessed the country picking two senior individual medals in women’s skeet. Kazakhstan’s Assem Orynbay won the gold. Orynbay and Ganemat ended the 60-shot final with 50 hits each. Ganemat missed one of the first t