Varun Bags 10m Air Pistol Bronze at Cairo World Cup
Teenager Varun Tomar bagged a bronze medal in the men's 10m air pistol competition, opening India's account at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol in Cairo. Tomar got the better of Sarabjot Singh in a shoot-off after both had tied for the third spot with a score of 250.6. Slovakia's Juraj Tuzinsky defeated Italy's Paolo Monna 17-15 to win gold.
This is Tomar's first senior ISSF World Cup stage medal.
Saurashtra Bags Second Ranji Trophy Title
Left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat claimed a match haul of nine wickets, including 6/85 in the second innings, as Saurahstra thrashed Bengal by nine wickets in the Ranji Trophy final.
Having given away a big first innings lead of 230, Bengal, who were overnight 169/4 in their second essay, folded for 241, handing the visitors a mere 12 runs' target.
In reply, Saurashtra's Jay Gohil was out for a duck. Saurashtra, however, went past the target in 2.4 overs to wrap up the match with one day and two full sessions to spare.
India Secures Bronze in the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship 2023
In badminton, India's campaign at the Asia Mixed Team Championships came to an end. The P.V. Sindhu led side faced a 2-3 defeat against China in the semi-finals and settled for the bronze medal.
World No. 9 H. S. Prannoy and Sindhu lost their respective singles contest. Men's doubles pair Dhruv Kapila and Chirag Shetty won the contest to keep India in the game. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also won the Women's Doubles. However, Mixed Doubles pair Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto suffered defeat in straight games.
Feb 18, 2023
Badminton Asia Mixed Championships: India Qualifies for Knockouts
Team India defeated UAE 5-0 as Lakshya Sen, Aakarshi Kashyap and India's three doubles teams proved too strong for the hosts in the second tie of Group B at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships 2023 in Dubai.
The win ensured India a top-two finish in Group B and a place in the quarter-finals. To seal the top spot in the group and avoid Group A winners, India must defeat the mixed team champions of the Commonwealth Games Malaysia.
Feb 17, 2023
Manju Rani Walks Away with Gold
Ram Baboo and Manju Rani rewrote the men's and women's 35km race walk national records en route winning gold medals on the concluding day of the National Race Walking Championships in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
Rani, representing Punjab, became the first Indian woman to clock a sub-three-hour in the event, winning in 2 hours, 57 minutes and 54 seconds to better the record of 3:00.04 set last year (2022) by Ramandeep Kaur.
Uttar Pradesh's Baboo, on the other hand, improved his own national mark of 2:36.34 by nearly five minutes to 2:32.36.
However, they failed to match the World Athletics Championships qualifying standards of 2:29.40 (men) and 2:51.30 (women).
Katya Coelho Becomes First Indian Female iQFoiler to Qualify for 2023 Asian Games
Katya Coelho became the first female IQFoiler to qualify for the Asian Games after winning gold at the third trial in the IQFoil event, a windsurfing class in sailing sport, organised by the Army Yachting node of India.
Katya won gold in the IQ Foil Women's Class at YAI Senior Nationals in the 2nd round of Asian Games Selections Trials for the IQFoil category held at INWTC, Mumbai. She also won gold at Senior Nationals and 1st round of Asian Games Selection Trials for the IQ Foil Category.
The 23-year-old international windsurfer has won 2 medals at the Asian Open Championship in 2015 and over 10 national gold medals and also has a silver in the Asian championships 2022 — the first international medal in IQFoil by any Indian.
Feb 16, 2023
Racewalker Akshdeep Singh Becomes the First Indian to Qualify for the Paris Olympics
India's Priyanka Goswami and Akshdeep Singh qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics and as well as the 2023 World Athletics Championships in 20 km Racewalk after attaining the automatic qualification standard at the India Open National Racewalking Competition in Ranchi.
Goswami, who also competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, clocked an impressive 1:28.50 to surpass the women's 20km qualification standard of 1:29.20 set for both the Olympics and World Championships.
Akshdeep Singh emulated the feat in men's 20km racewalk with a national record effort in Ranchi. He clocked 1:19.55 to become the first-Indian to complete a 20km racewalk in less than 1 hour and 20 minutes. The previous national record stood in the name of Sandeep Kumar at 1:20.16. Akshdeep also surpassed the qualification standard for 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2023 World Championships set at 1:20.10 for men.
FIFA Confirms USA, Mexico, Canada Automatically Qualify for 2026 World Cup
USA, Mexico and Canada earned a spot in the next edition of the FIFA World Cup in 2026, which the three nations will be jointly hosting. While FIFA usually allows host nations to surpass qualification rounds, the fact that three countries were to jointly host the 2026 edition had raised queries whether this time too the same rule would come in to play.
It must be noted that USA and Mexico have usually eased into World Cups by going through the CONCACAF qualifying event with ease. Canada, on the other hand, qualified for the recently-concluded event in Qatar after a 36-year hiatus. At Qatar 2022, Canada lost all three of its group-stage matches.
Sania Mirza to Mentor Women's Premier League Team RCB
India's tennis icon Sania Mirza was appointed as the mentor of Royal Challengers Bangalore women's team in the Women's Premier League.
Mirza retired from the sport after the Australian Open earlier this year, where she and her partner Rohan Bopanna finished runners-up in the mixed doubles event.
On the appointment of Mirza as mentor, Rajesh V. Menon, head and vice president of RCB said, "We are glad and honoured to welcome Sania Mirza as mentor of the RCB women's team. She is the perfect role model with her success stemming out of her sheer hard work, passion, and determination, despite many challenges in her playing career."
Feb 15, 2023
BCCI Signs up Saudi Tourism as IPL sponsor
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) roped in Saudi Tourism Authority as an official partner or sponsor of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Saudi Tourism will replace edtech company Unacademy, which last year (2022) had indicated that it would not associate with the IPL as a sponsor this year (2023).
The BCCI said that Saudi Tourism was the second Saudi entity to sponsor the IPL after Saudi Aramco was onboarded as the sponsor of the Orange Cap and Purple Cap, which are given to the leading batsman and wicket-taker at the T20 tournament.
Ladakh to Host India's First Frozen-lake Marathon 'Last Run' at Pangong Tso
India's first "frozen-lake marathon" at Ladakh's Pangong Tso at a height of 13,862 feet will be held on February 20 and the army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were roped in to implement a "proper action plan" for the event.
The 21-kilometre marathon, with Lukung as its starting point, will end at Maan village. Seventy-five selected athletes from India and abroad are participating in the run, giving them an opportunity to make a bid for a Guinness world record for the world's highest "frozen-lake marathon".
The marathon is called the "Last Run" to highlight the issue of climate change.
It is being organised by the Adventure Sports Foundation of Ladakh (ASFL) in collaboration with the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Leh, the Tourism Department and the Leh district administration.
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