Sports

written by Atharva Jori India’s Anmol Kharb entered her maiden BWF Super 500 semifinals after beating Amalie Schulz in the women’s singles quarterfinal at the Arctic Open 2025 tournament in Vantaa, Finland, on Friday. The Indian, currently 62nd in the women’s singles BWF rankings, beat the Danish world No. 63 21-15, 21-14 in just 36 minutes to progress.Her deepest run in a BWF Tour tournament was a runner-up finish at the Guwahati Masters Super 100 last year. She will face either top seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan or another Danish shuttler, eighth seed Mia Blichfeldt, for a place in the final. Meanwhile, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto bowed out after losing to Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin. The Chinese duo, the 2025 World Championships silver medallists, beat the Indian pair 21-7, 21-10 in just 25 minutes.

written by Atharva Jori Masters of team events, Indonesian Ubaidillah (men's singles) and Wiryawan (women's singles) highlight the gap in class, with scalding second set loss marginsIndia might have cone a long way in winning a mixed team bronze at the Badminton World Junior Championships in Guwahati. But they have a considerably longer way to go in junior development and preparing those on the brink of seniors transition, before they get into the top tier. ad The top tier right now is Indonesia, winner of Asian event earlier and defending champions. Their junior brigade that there’s more to winning than aggression, attack and skill – and Indians remain tactically very suspect, especially in doubles. Unnati Hooda, India’s most optimistic bet to drag India out of their struggle, ‘lost’ her matches 9-10 and 7-9 to Thalita Wiryawan as India went down 45-35, 45-21 in straight sets in the relay format, though the sucker punches cane in womens doubles. India’s only segment wins c...

written by Atharva Jori Young batter Shubman Gill on Saturday was appointed India's ODI captain ahead of the upcoming white-ball tour of Australia, starting October 19. Gill replaced Rohit Sharma at the helm, signalling a gradual shift in leadership ahead of next year's ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Shreyas Iyer, on the other hand, was named vice-captain of the side, having recently decided to take a break from red-ball cricket. On the decision to name Gill as captain, Ajit Agarkar, the BCCI's chief selector, stressed on long-term preparation for the upcoming World Cup. "Rohit Sharma has been communicated about change of captaincy. We don't play too many ODIs and we needed to give the next guy enough time. How Rohit has taken the decision to change captain is between him and selection committee," Agarkar said during a press conference on Saturday.India won the Champions Trophy earlier this year, in what was Rohit's final assignm...