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
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, whe
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 jo
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 t
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 h
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
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
The 20-year-old Avani Lekhara won her second gold medal at the ongoing Chateauroux 2022 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup in France. She had already won the R2 Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 gold medal with a world record effort on day one of the games, ensuring Inai a quota for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Lekhara shot 458.3 in the R8 Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Position SH1 finals by managing to hold off the challenge posed by more experienced Paralympic stars Veronica Vadovicova (456.6) from Slovakia and Anna Normann (441.9) from Sweden. Veronica won silver and Anna took bronze.
Ethiopia knocked out six-time African champions, Egypt, with a 2-0 win in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying. The fast Ethiopian forwards made it difficult for a slow Egyptian defence in the first half, and goals from skipper Shemeles Bekele and Dawa Hotessa gave them a two-goal half-time advantage. Despite having more assets, the Pharaohs managed only three shots, out of which only one was on target, which all came in the second half. A major drawback for the Egyptian team was the absence of the injured captain and the prolific Liverpool scorer, Mohamed Salah, because of
Team Kenya has topped the medal standings for a second consecutive time at the Africa Senior Athletics Championships in Mauritius on Sunday. The Kenyans won 23 medals, out of which 10 were gold, to finish ahead of South Africa, who finished with 36 medals overall, falling short of Kenya by one gold medal. Javelin star Julius Yego secured a historic fourth straight title in a row after defeating old rival Ihab Addelrahman of Egypt. Yego, the 2015 World Champion, said the victory had given him the confidence to perform at the upcoming global championships in America. The last two years ha