PV Sindhu swapped badminton for an intense relay race recently in Bengaluru, as she competed in an event featuring eight 1 km runs paired with eight workout stations, as part of Hyrox and Puma’s disruptive race format. India’s women’s cricket team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was also in attendance, cheering Sindhu on. “Badminton has always been my world, but this is very different. There’s no opponent. Just you, the clock, and eight stations that test everything out at once,” said Sindhu, before adding: “Kaur cheered me on and brought an energy that pushed me harder.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by PUMA India (@pumaindia)
13 April,2026 10:22 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentIndian freestyle wrestlers Aman Sehrawat and Mukul Dahiya clinched silver on the final day of the Asian Wrestling Championships here on Sunday. In the 61 kg freestyle final, Aman went down 10-13 to Kwang Myong Kim of North Korea, while Mukul lost the 86 kg title bout 0-7 to Iran’s Kamran G Ghasempour. India finished their campaign in second place with 17 medals (two gold, six silver, and nine 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
13 April,2026 10:17 AM IST | bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) | AgenciesIndia captain Vishal Uppal lamented "three hours of bad tennis" on the opening day as the decisive factor behind the team missing out on qualification for World Group Play-offs as the hosts signed off with a third-place finish in Asia/Oceania Group I of the Billie Jean King Cup, here. India will stay in Group I as the top two teams -- Thailand and Indonesia -- sealed qualification. Reflecting on a week of fluctuating fortunes, Uppal said the slow start against Thailand proved costly in a tightly-contested competition. "The high is obviously that we beat Korea. The low is the fact that we played three hours of bad tennis at the start of the week, which has cost us. Otherwise, we would have had that medal today,"Uppal said after India defeated South Korea 2-1 in their final tie on Saturday. India had entered the tournament with qualification hopes but fell short after early setbacks, particularly against Thailand, a result Uppal said continues to hurt. "It's not hindsight. It's hurting right now. Going into the competition, we knew we had to beat Thailand and Korea to qualify. Just two-three hours of bad tennis on day one and it's a different story," he added. Vaishnavi Adkar had lost the opening singles and later Sahaja Yamlapalli suffered defeat in the rain-hit second singles as India suffered an unexpected loss to Thailand. Eventually, Thailand finished on top of the table ahead of Indonesia in an even more surprising result at the end of the tournament. Uppal described the campaign as a "week of missed chances", pointing to narrow defeats against Indonesia and Thailand where India were in contention but failed to capitalise. Despite the disappointment, India ended on a high with a strong performance against Korea, underlining the team's potential when firing collectively. Senior player Ankita Raina said representing the country adds a different dimension to competition, regardless of rankings. "It's definitely a privilege playing for the country. You don't get many opportunities. When I was on court, the only thing on my mind was to do my best for the team," she said after a hard-fought singles match. Raina, who experimented with a more aggressive, net-heavy approach in singles, admitted the result could have swung either way. "I did create opportunities, but maybe it wasn't my day. That's sport, you accept it and move on. It hurts, but it's always special to play for India." Raina-Bhosale have Asian Games in mind The team also drew positives from its doubles combinations, with Raina and Rutuja Bhosale expressing interest in continuing their partnership ahead of the upcoming continental events, including the Asian Games. "We've played together before and have good coordination. It's always fun to share the court with someone you've known for years," said Bhosale, with Raina adding that they plan to feature in tournaments together in the lead-up. Youngster Vaishnavi, who impressed in the latter stages, said the week helped her handle pressure situations better. "One of the biggest takeaways for me was learning how to deal with nerves. I struggled initially but improved as the tournament went on," she said. Uppal emphasised that while the younger players have the game, improving mentality and physicality will be key to competing consistently at the top level."When you play for the country, it's a different mentality. You're not just playing for yourself but for 140 crore people. The youngsters have the game, but they need to grow in mindset and physical strength," he said. Looking ahead, Uppal remained optimistic despite the near-miss. "For me, there's more hope than disappointment. The girls will only improve from here," he added. 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
13 April,2026 10:15 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIHimachal Pradesh’s Sawan Barwal on Sunday scripted history by breaking the 48-year-old marathon national record, the longest standing mark in Indian athletics, at the NN Marathon Rotterdam. Barwal clocked 2 hours 11 minutes and 58 seconds in a world class field to finish 20th in the elite marathon race and erase the previous national record of 2:12:00 which stood since 1978 in Shivnath Singh's name. The other Indian in the fray, Gopi Thonakal finished 23rd as he ran the 42.195km distance with a time of 2:13:16. Barwal's achievement was all the more praiseworthy as the Rotterdam event was his first marathon race. He had not run any official marathon race before Sunday. This was his second competition of the season after taking part in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in the USA in January. Hailing from a village in Joginder Nagar in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, the 28-year-old Barwal has trained hard for many years, establishing himself as a reputed long-distance runner. His feat on Sunday was the culmination of that hard work, as he literally emerged from the hills of Himachal Pradesh to the flat roads of Rotterdam. Barwal ran at a steady pace in the gruelling race but windy conditions in the last 5km took a toll on the Indian runner. "It was pretty cold and windy. I made a mistake of pouring water on my head at the water station," Barwal said. "I was running at a comfortable pace until the 37km mark. But the last 2km was more challenging as I had to just plod to cross the finish line. "I was mentally and physically prepared to clock 2:10:00. But tough conditions robbed me of further improving my national record." The Army runner fell down after crossing the finish line due to exhaustion. He was taken for medical assistance. "I've recovered and am feeling better," he added. Barwal, an Armyman, was at the 27th spot at around the halfway mark (21km) with a time of 1:04:43 while Gopi was 33rd with 1:04:44. At the 30km mark, he was below the 2:10:00 marathon pace. At the 40km mark, Barwal's time was 2:03:39. In the closing stages of the gruelling race, he slowed down to cross the finish line at 2:11:58. "It was a good learning experience in Rotterdam," he said. Barwal's past race record on the World Athletics website does not mention any marathon though he has run many half marathons, and 5000m and 10000m races. He first broke onto the national scene when he won a 10000m silver at the 2022 Federation Cup National Championships. The same year, he won a 5000m bronze at the National Games in Gujarat. His first international medal came in 2023 when he won a bronze in the Asian Half Marathon Championships in Dubai. Barwal won his first national title at the Federation Cup in 2024 with a 5000m gold. But 2025 was the most productive year for Barwal as he won the 5000m and 10000m gold at the National Games in Uttarakhand, 10000m gold at the Federation Cup and a 5000m bronze in the World Athletics Bronze Level Continental Tour event in Bhubaneswar. Trained by Gopal Thakur, Barwal has also been a regular participant in the Delhi Half Marathon and World 25K Kolkata Run. He won gold among Indian elite runners in the Delhi Half Marathon in 2024. Barwal was interested in sports since his school days, and played everything from badminton to athletics. However, after winning a medal in a school event, he decided to become an athlete. He subsequently won medals in zonal and district-level competitions. He joined the Indian army in 2019. 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
13 April,2026 10:11 AM IST | Rotterdam | PTIIndia’s World No. 25 Ayush Shetty signed off with a silver medal after an 8-21, 10-21 loss to China’s World No. 2 Shi Yu Qi in the final of the Badminton Asia Championships here on Sunday. Reflecting on the summit clash, Shetty admitted he fell short of his own expectations. “I was a bit disappointed [with the way I played]. I really wanted to have a great match, but Shi was by far the better player today. He kept up the pressure on me, and never let me come back into the match. There are a lot of learnings from this. I definitely have to work on my endurance and strength.” However, despite the negative result on the day, Shetty was elated with his overall performance at the continental tournament. “Overall, it was a really good week for me. I had some great wins. All the matches were really tough. So, I’m really proud of the way I played throughout this week,” said Shetty. Shi dictated proceedings from the outset with his precise strokes prompting the Indian to falter. The Chinese sealed the opening game when Shetty sprayed a return wide. The Indian made a strong start in the second game to lead 7-2, but Shi clawed things back at 7-7 before pulling away rapidly to seal victory. 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
13 April,2026 10:09 AM IST | Ningbo (China) | AgenciesKaushik Vartak stunned second seed Rajan Samant 10-15, 15-6, 15-12 to enter the semi-finals of the men’s singles 45-plus, in the GD Birla Memorial Masters inter-club badminton tournament at Bombay Gymkhana on Sunday. Vartak will face Vikrat Karankar, while top seed Sachin Bharati will meet Dhirendra Maurya. In women’s singles 45-plus semis, top seed Priya Ambekar and second seed Namita Mehta-Vijayakar will face Pooja Jhalani and Ajita Ravindran respectively.
13 April,2026 09:50 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentChampions Training Centre (CTC) Red beat Republicans 2-1 in a fast-paced men’s elite league match of the 45th Willingdon Catholic Gymhana rink hockey tournament at the their floodlit tennis courts in Santacruz recently. Akash Rai and Raj Patil scored a goal each for CTC while Shreekishan Chaurasiya pulled one back for Republicans. In another thrilling encounter, CTC White and Mumbai Port Authority played out a 7-7 draw. Former India striker Yuvraj Walmiki scored four goals while Manpreet Singh, Nizam and Akshay Avhad added one each for CTC. For MPA, Steven Swamy and Laxmikant Kawale scored hat-tricks while Atharva Kamble added one more.
13 April,2026 09:48 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentSujeet Kalkal and Abhimanyou Mandwal registered contrasting victories in their respective men’s freestyle final bouts to help India clinch two gold medals on the penultimate day of the Asian Wrestling Championships here on Saturday. Sujeet totally dominated the men’s 65kg freestyle final against Umidjon Jalolov of Uzbekistan to register an 8-1 win. A few minutes later, Abhimanyou made it a double celebration for the Indian camp as he fought back from 0-2 deficit to beat Tulga Tumur Ochir of Mongolia 5-3 in the men’s 70kg freestyle summit clash. 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
12 April,2026 09:27 AM IST | Bishkek | PTIBadminton ace PV Sindhu happens to be a Manchester City supporter, while her husband Venkata Datta Sai is a fan of their fierce rivals Manchester United. This dynamic has led to some friendly banter between the couple on social media. Sai uploaded a video of Sindhu donning a Man City jersey, and captioned it: “I walked in to see my wife in a Man City jersey. Yuck. Dark day for this household.” Sindhu cheekily hit back at her husband by commenting: “Dark? Dark and dusty is your trophy room over the last 15 year. Let me and my team show you what winning looks like,” alluding to United’s lack of silverware recently.
12 April,2026 09:24 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentA fearless Vaishnavi Adkar rose to the occasion with an inspiring win over higher-ranked Sohyun Park, leading India to a 2-1 win over South Korea after Ankita Raina's defeat to Dayeon Back ended the hosts' hopes of making the Billie Jean King Cup World Group Play-offs, here on Saturday. Placed fourth in the standings at the start of the day, India needed a 3-0 sweep against Korea to stay in contention for a top-two finish. Captain Vishal Uppal fielded his most experienced campaigner Ankita in the opening singles, but Dayeon quelled the home challenge, handing India a setback. The 33-year-old Ankita, ranked 581, fought hard after a slow start against the 343rd-ranked Korean but eventually went down 1-6 5-7 in one hour and 55 minutes. She had not featured in singles prior to this tie, having played only doubles in the tournament. India's number one Vaishnavi then kept the contest alive, producing a gritty 7-6(2) 7-6(5) win over Park, who is ranked 107 places above her at 276. Vaishnavi had an impressive run at the W100 event recently in Bengaluru, where she beat two top-130 players and followed that up with a title win in the W35 tournament in Kalaburagi. She carried that confidence into this tie. Ankita and Rutuja Bhosale concluded India's campaign with a 6-2 6-2 win against Dayeon Back and Eunhye Lee in the tie-deciding doubles rubber. With a third-place finish, India stayed in the Asia/Oceania Group I along with fourth-placed Korea. Thailand and Indonesia qualified for the World Group Play-offs after finishing one and two respectively. New Zealand and Mongolia were relegated to Group II. India's unexpected defeat to Thailand on the opening day of the tie dented their qualification chances The two-hour-17-minute battle between Vaishnavi and Park was marked by frequent breaks of serve and high-quality rallies. Both players went for their shots, resulting in a fair share of unforced errors, but the intensity kept the contest finely poised. Vaishnavi's sharp cross-court backhands stood out, while Park impressed with her court coverage and angled forehand winners. The Indian briefly took a medical timeout in the second set for a back issue but showed no dip in intensity thereafter. The Indian earned her first match point in the 10th game of the second set after a forehand slice error from Park but failed to convert. Park held under pressure for 5-5, and then broke Vaishnavi in the 11th game to move within a game of forcing a decider. However, Vaishnavi broke back immediately to push the set into a tie-break. Trailing 0-3 in the breaker, she mounted a strong comeback and sealed the match when Park netted a return. Earlier, Ankita had multiple chances in the match but squandered them at key moments. She pounced on a feeble backhand slice return for a volley winner to earn two break points in the opening game but failed to convert either. She faced a break point in the following game when her drop shot was punished by Dayeon, but saved it after a long rally, finishing with an overhead volley winner. However, Ankita offered another break chance after netting a forehand following six deuce points, and this time the Korean capitalised, striking a forehand winner off yet another weak drop shot. Ankita's repeated use of the drop shot proved puzzling as Dayeon handled them comfortably, often finishing points with winners. After nearly 30 minutes, the Korean had surged to a commanding 3-0 lead. It soon became 4-0 when Ankita netted a forehand on a deep return and another drop-shot error handed Dayeon the point. Much to the delight of the sparse home crowd, Ankita got on the board by breaking Dayeon in the next game, but there was no shift in momentum. She dropped serve again in the seventh game to concede the opening set, yet another drop shot landing wide proving costly. Ankita significantly cut down on her unforced errors in the second set and even held serve at love, staying neck-and-neck with Dayeon till the eighth game. Growing in confidence, she urged the crowd to cheer louder after executing a stunning drop shot in the seventh game. She then had a chance to nose ahead in the eighth game when Dayeon made a string of unforced errors. Ankita squandered the first break point but earned another, which she converted after the Korean sent a return long. Ankita could not capitalise on the break and dropped her serve immediately. The final slide came when at 30-15 she could not pick up a half-volley, followed that with consecutive returns on the, allowing Dayoen to serve out the match in the next game. 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
12 April,2026 09:21 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIIndia’s Ayush Shetty stormed into the final with a stunning three-game win over World No. 1 and defending champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand, assuring himself of at least a silver medal at the Badminton Asia Championships here on Saturday. The World No. 25 Indian scripted a sensational 10-21, 21-19, 21-17 comeback win over Vitidsarn — the Paris Olympics silver medallist and 2023 world champion — in a 75-minute semi-final clash. Vitidsarn dictated play early, racing to a 11-5 lead in the opening game with a flurry of smashes and disguised returns. Vitidsarn’s ability to switch from defence to offence in a flash helped him extend his lead to 18-9. A cross-court smash earned him 10 game points, and he sealed it comfortably when Shetty went wide. Sharp start to second game In the second game, Shetty made a much sharper start, leading 11-4 through a series of full-length dives and rapid counter-attacks, while Vitidsarn began to commit unforced errors. However, the Thai ace clawed things back to 13-11 as Shetty committed a string of errors. But the Indian regained control with a backhand flick at the net that saw him grab six game points. Although Vitidsarn saved five game points, Shetty held his nerve and sealed the game with a trademark down-the-line smash. Shetty in cruise control Shetty was in complete control for most of the third game, opening up a 19-13 lead with a series of attacking strokes, including a cross-court smash and a delicate drop. Shetty stayed composed, earning four match points with another cross-court winner before sealing victory with a down-the-line smash. The 20-year-old will face second seeded Chinese Shi Yu Qi in the final. Interestingly, Dinesh Khanna is the only Indian to win the men’s singles gold at the tournament (1965). Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the doubles title in 2023. 61No. of years since the last Indian (Dinesh Khanna) reached the men’s singles final at the Badminton Asia C’ships FirstThis was Shetty’s maiden win over Vitidsarn; The Indian had lost his only other match vs the Thai at the Arctic Open (2025) 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
12 April,2026 09:18 AM IST | Ningbo (China) | PTIADVERTISEMENT
