Indian compound archers delivered a dominant performance, clinching the mixed team gold and women’s team silver, while also sweeping the men’s individual podium at the Asia Cup-World Ranking Tournament Stage 1, here on Friday. India also bagged two silver medals in the recurve section to take their tally to two gold, four silver and four bronze, surpassing their eight-medal haul in 2025. But in gold medal count, India fared poorly as compared to the last edition when they clinched five yellow metals. It boiled down to their poor show in the recurve section where none of the archers could manage a gold, while they returned empty-handed in men’s individual section and mixed team event. In 2025, India had a gold-silver finish in men’s recurve individual, while mixed team bagged a silver. The highlight of the day was a clean sweep in the men’s compound individual section, where Uday Kamboj edged past Prathamesh Jawkar 145-144 in an all-Indian final to clinch his maiden international gold, while Rajat Chauhan secured a bronze. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
28 March,2026 09:34 AM IST | Bangkok | PTIVeteran midfielder Manpreet Singh on Friday rubbished rumours of a fall-out with Hockey India supremo Dilip Tirkey, clarifying that the former India skipper has in fact encouraged him to surpass his record of being the most-capped player for the senior national team. “A lot of things happened. I have spoken to Dilip sir personally as well. He told me he does not have any problem if I play the 412th game. He wants me to break the record and become the first Indian to play 500 games,” Manpreet said on the sidelines of the Hockey India Annual Awards here. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
28 March,2026 09:31 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIMcLaren’s Oscar Piastri powered to the fastest time in Friday’s second practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, usurping the dominant Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. Piastri is yet to even start a grand prix this season but the Australian gave a reminder of his talent with a lap of 1min 30.133sec in dry, sunny conditions at Suzuka. The 19-year-old Italian Antonelli was second, 0.092sec behind Piastri. “We felt like we made some good progress, particularly in the second practice session, which was encouraging,” said Piastri. “The feeling is positive and we’ve gathered some valuable data that puts us in a solid position.” Japan GP will be the last F1 race for 5 weeks The Japanese Grand Prix is only the third race of the new Formula 1 season, but it will be last one for five weeks with events in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia called off because of the war in Iran. The next F1 race is not until May 3 in Miami. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
28 March,2026 09:30 AM IST | Suzuka | AFPSeven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton took a class with samurai artist Tetsuro Shimaguchi to learn the art of sword fighting in Tokyo, ahead of the Japan Grand Prix on Sunday. Hamilton, 41, who drives for Ferrari, shared a series of training pictures to his 42.7 million followers on Instagram. He also shared how the experience reminded him of his karate classes as a child. “Our lesson took me way back to when I did karate as a little kid. I started having lessons to help me handle bullies at school,” Hamilton wrote in the caption. The post garnered over 1.5 million ‘likes’ a few hours after being uploaded. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
28 March,2026 09:26 AM IST | Tokyo | AgenciesIndia’s shooting superstar Manu Bhaker took her 1.5 million Instagram followers on a trip down memory lane as she visited her first school, Universal Higher Senior Secondary School in Haryana’s Goria village. A screengrab of the shooting academy at Bhaker’s school Speaking to her phone camera, Bhaker, a two-time medallist at the Paris Olympics, showed her online followers her classrooms and the Honours board that has her name on it. “The best thing about being in a village school is that the atmosphere is very laid back and chilled out,” she said, adding that her school was quite a strict place: “We always moved around the school in queues, boys and girls separate.” Finally, she panned the camera towards the most important part of the school for her — the shooting range, which is now named the Manu Bhaker Shooting Range. “Whenever I didn’t like certain subjects, I would come to this room. That’s how I started shooting,” said Bhaker, aptly naming her speech, Manu Logue. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
28 March,2026 09:18 AM IST | Haryana | AgenciesRiding on a brilliant performance by custodian Gajendra Chauhan, United Bandra Sports Club (UBSC) defeated Republicans Sports Club (RSC) 5-2 via the tie-breaker to book their place in the final of the inaugural Balram Krishna Mohite Memorial hockey tournament at the Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd ground in Churchgate on Friday. Goalkeeper Chauhan proved to be the difference early in the match, making two crucial saves to deny Vivek Panchal twice in the opening nine minutes. Pranit Naik put UBSC ahead in the 11th minute off a counter-attack. After the break, RSC fought back, and Kevin Wala found the equaliser in the 40th. In the shootout, UBSC scored through Pranit, Christopher Van, Anurag Gupta and Brwendra while RSC only managed to score through Kevin as UBSC custodian Gajendra made decisive saves. In the other semi-final, Champions Training Centre (CTC) beat Arctic Boys 4-0. Pratham Deshmukh and Gavin Rao scored a brace each for CTC. UBSC will face CTC in the final on Saturday, March 28, at 4:30 pm.
28 March,2026 09:13 AM IST | Mumbai | Rufus VedanayagamOne of badminton's all-time greats, Carolina Marin on Thursday announced her retirement due to a persistent knee injury, bringing the curtain down on a glittering career that has an Olympic gold medal and three World Championship titles. In a video message shared on her social media accounts, captioned "My journey ends here", the former World No. 1 Spaniard said the recurring injury had forced her to take the difficult call, opting to prioritise her long-term health over a final appearance on court. Mi camino acaba aquí. Gracias a todos, porque también habéis formado parte de ello. En esta nueva aventura llevaré conmigo los valores que me han acompañado hasta ahora e intentaré devolver a la sociedad todo lo que me ha dado en este tiempo. Ha sido un viaje maravilloso ♥️ pic.twitter.com/3aKNDo0Mc4 — Carolina Marín (@CarolinaMarin) March 26, 2026 "My journey in professional badminton has come to an end and therefore I will not be competing in the European Championships in Huelva," Marin said. "I wanted us to see each other for the last time on a track, but I don't want to put my body at risk for that. I said many times, and I am consistent with my decision." Marin shared one of modern badminton's most compelling rivalries with India's two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, with the duo producing several memorable encounters over the years. She famously defeated Sindhu in the final of the Rio 2016 Olympics and again in the summit clash of the 2018 World Championships. The 32-year-old was set to feature in next month's European Championships in Huelva, Spain, an event that was meant to mark her farewell on home soil. "I wish I had gotten the opportunity to end my career in a different way, but sometimes in life, things don't always go the way that we want it to and we have to accept that." Marin retires with an illustrious record, having won world titles in 2014, 2015 and 2018, seven European crowns, and the Olympic gold at Rio 2016. Her last competitive appearance came at the Paris 2024 Olympics, a remarkable return after overcoming two anterior cruciate ligament tears in 2019 and 2021."In the end, I did retire on a track, in Paris, in 2024, only then we did not know," she said. "Thank you for never letting me fall, for being by my side, and for supporting me in the hardest moments. Thank you for your unconditional love," Marin added. Although she will not compete in Huelva, Marin said she will still be present at the championships. "In a way, I will be retiring at Huelva, not with a racquet in my hand, but by giving back all the energy to the city where I was born and to experience an unforgettable week," the Spaniard said. "I leave feeling very proud of everything I have achieved in the sport. Not just the titles, but also earning the respect of the sports world both on and off the court," she said. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
27 March,2026 09:14 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIFormer tennis ace Sania Mirza delighted fans on Instagram with her latest post, where she’s seen posing in her garden, donning a white jacket over a black top and a pair of blue jeans. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sania Mirza (@mirzasaniar) The six-time Grand Slam doubles champion, whose academy in Hyderabad recently started a programme to promote India’s next bunch of tennis stars by providing them access to top coaches, captioned the post: “Garden glow.” The post received nearly 50,000 ‘likes’ within hours. One Instagram user commented: “Looking beautiful,” another replied: “Gorgeous princess.”
27 March,2026 08:58 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentTransgender women athletes are now excluded from women's events at the Olympics after the IOC agreed to a new eligibility policy on Thursday which aligns with U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order on sports ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Games. "Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females," the International Olympic Committee said, to be determined by a mandatory gene test once in an athlete's career. It is unclear how many, if any, transgender women are competing at an Olympic level. No woman who transitioned from being born male competed at the 2024 Paris Summer Games, though weightlifter Laurel Hubbard did at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 without winning a medal. The eligibility policy that will apply from the LA Olympics in July 2028 "protects fairness, safety and integrity in the female category," the IOC said. "It is not retroactive and does not apply to any grassroots or recreational sports programs," said the IOC, whose Olympic Charter states that access to play sport is a human right. After an executive board meeting, the International Olympic Committee published a 10-page policy document which also restricts female athletes such as two-time Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya with medical conditions known as differences in sex development, or DSD. The IOC and its president, Kirsty Coventry, have wanted a clear policy instead of continuing to advise sports' governing bodies who previously have drafted their own rules. "At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat," Coventry, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming, said in a statement. "So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category." She set up a review of "protecting the female category" as one of her first big decisions last June as the first woman to lead the Olympic body in its 132-year history. Female eligibility was a strong theme in a seven-candidate IOC election last year - held after a furor around women's boxing in Paris - when Coventry's main rivals pledged a stronger policy to leading on the issue. Before the 2024 Paris Olympics, three top-tier sports - track and field, swimming and cycling - excluded transgender women who had been through male puberty. Semenya, who was assigned female at birth in South Africa and has high natural testosterone levels, won a European Court of Human Rights judgment in her years-long legal challenge to track and field's rules which did not overturn them. The IOC document details its research that being born male gives physical advantages that a working group of experts believes are retained. "Males experience three significant testosterone peaks: In utero, in mini-puberty of infancy and beginning in adolescent puberty through adulthood," the document said. It added this gives males "individual sex-based performance advantages in sports and events that rely on strength, power and/or endurance." The IOC said its expert group agreed the current gene test is "the most accurate and least intrusive method currently available." It screened for "the SRY gene, a segment of DNA typically found on the Y chromosome that initiates male sex development in utero and indicates the presence of testes/testicles." Still, the mandatory gender screening - already conducted by the governing bodies of track and field, skiing and boxing - is likely to be criticized by human rights experts and activist groups. One of the two women's boxing gold medalists at the center of the gender controversy in Paris, Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, has passed her gene test and can return to competition, the World Boxing governing body said last week. In the U.S., President Trump signed the executive order "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" in February last year, and pledged to deny visas to some athletes attempting to compete at the L.A Olympics. The order also threatened to "rescind all funds" from organizations that allowed transgender athletes to take part in women's sports. Within months the U.S. Olympic body updated its guidance to national sports bodies citing an obligation to comply with the White House. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
27 March,2026 08:49 AM IST | Lausanne | AP | PTIMax Verstappen sparked a verbal confrontation ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix on Thursday when he refused to start his press conference until a British journalist left the room. The Red Bull star sat down to speak to reporters at the team's hospitality suite in Suzuka, but then said, "I'm not speaking before he's leaving", and gestured at Giles Richards, a journalist from the Guardian newspaper. Richards asked Verstappen if his demand was because of a question he had asked the driver last season, to which the four-time world champion replied "yes" and told him to "get out". He left and Verstappen continued with the press conference. Richards later told AFP that the incident stemmed from a question he had asked Verstappen after the Dutchman missed out on a fifth world title to Lando Norris, by two points, at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December. The question centred on the impact of a penalty that Verstappen had picked up for ramming Mercedes driver George Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix in June. Richards subsequently wrote in the Guardian that he was "deeply disappointed" to have been ejected from the news conference. "In more than a decade of covering the sport I have interviewed Verstappen perhaps a dozen times, all of them friendly and good humoured," he said. "His outstanding talent garnered praise and admiration in those articles, criticism by contrast has been minimal and only when warranted." Richards insisted that reporting as honestly and fairly as possible was his "single overarching aim". "I still admire Verstappen and I hope we can enjoy a better relationship going forward," he said. "Sometimes, difficult, awkward questions have to be asked. That's the job that comes with the privilege." This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
27 March,2026 08:45 AM IST | Suzuka | AFPKimi Antonelli said Thursday that his maiden Formula One win had given him more "awareness" of his potential as he and Mercedes look to ram home their early season advantage in Japan. The 19-year-old Italian came home first at the Chinese Grand Prix to become the second-youngest race winner in history behind Max Verstappen, after finishing second at the season-opener in Australia. Mercedes have claimed one-two finishes at both grands prix so far in 2026, with Antonelli's team-mate George Russell winning in Australia. Antonelli said his approach would not change at this week's Japanese Grand Prix but admitted his win had boosted his confidence. "I think the only difference is that the win gave me a bit more awareness of the potential, on what is possible to achieve," he said. "But in terms of approach, I want to keep the same because it's been working well so far." Antonelli, who also became the youngest pole-sitter in F1 history in Shanghai, was given a hero's welcome when he returned to his native Bologna. He is the first Italian to win an F1 grand prix since Giancarlo Fisichella 20 years ago. He and Russell have the chance to build on their scorching early form in Suzuka, where Mercedes have not won since Valtteri Bottas in 2019. The race is followed by a one-month gap in the schedule caused by the cancellation of races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia because of war in the Middle East. "It's never good to have a break, especially when you have such momentum," said Antonelli. "You need to look at the positive side of it, which is you get a bit of time to reflect and to try and analyse where are the areas where you have to work on." Russell leads the early championship standings by four points from Antonelli, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc 13 further back in third. Russell is chasing his first world title and he said Mercedes were reaping the benefits after some lean years. "I think being loyal to those people through the ups and downs has paid dividends and there's a lot of trust," said the British driver, who joined Mercedes in 2022. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
27 March,2026 08:43 AM IST | Suzuka | AFPADVERTISEMENT
