Having recently smashed Indian athletics' longest-standing national record, marathon runner Sawan Barwal has set another goal: winning the country's first medal in the Asian Games since 1982 in the gruelling distance. India's last Asian Games medal in marathon was won by Hosur Kukkappa Seetharan at the 1982 Games in New Delhi. Before that, Chota Singh won a gold in the inaugural 1951 Asian Games in the national capital. The legendary Shivnath Singh had held the national marathon record of 2:12:00 for 48 years. However, on Sunday, the 28-year-old Barwal broke that long-standing mark at the NN Rotterdam Marathon, finishing 20th with a new time of 2:11:58. "This year, my main target will be Asian Games and I want to win a medal there. I will not participate in too many events," Barwal told PTI in an interview facilitated by Reliance Foundation. "I feel I can further improve my national record. I could have run around 2:10:00 even in Rotterdam had there been no cold wind. So, I can run faster than my current national record. "Next year, there is Asian Marathon Championship. Then I would want to give my best in the 2028 Olympics." Barwal, who is getting married next month, broke the national record in his debut race but said he was confident of achieving the feat as he had been preparing for that race since January. He was to run in the Valencia Marathon on December last year but an injury led to him missing it. "I was undergoing high altitude training at Coonoor and I was preparing well. I was confident of breaking the national record. "The target was to run 2:10:00 and everything went according to the plan till the 40km mark. In the last two kilometers there were issues. I did not anticipate the cold wind and moreover, I had poured water on my body," he explained. He fell down twice â¿¿ at around the 100m mark from the finish line and again just 10â¿¿20m before it. "I had a blackout of may be 10 to 15 seconds but a volunteer came and helped me in standing up. Then I pulled through the finish line," he reminisced. "Rotterdam was a flat track except for little up and down at the end with a bridge in the middle. The climate was also good. The highest temperature was 12 degrees." His coach at Reliance Foundation, Ajith Markose said Barwal may run a couple of races -- either 5000m or 10000m -- later in the season but his main focus will be to win an Asian Games marathon medal. "He is a part of our (Reliance Foundation) Project 2:09 marathon programme. The target this year is the Asian Games marathon medal. Moreover, he is getting married next year," Markose said. "He will be chasing the medal in the Asian Games, he will not be chasing for (better) time in Japan." The coach said he knew that Barwal would do wonders as soon as he joined the programme in 2022. "When he joined our 2:09 programme in 2022, we did physiology test like VO2max test, and we found that his VO2max was very high, 78-79 ml per kg. That's the amount of oxygen that he can utilize. That time, without much training, he was able to reach that level. So we knew that he will be very good at long distance and marathon or half marathon "So last few years we have been preparing him for marathon only." A volunteer helped Barwal to stand up Markose said Barwal was running according to plan up to 40 km, but, after that, cold wind struck him and his head got numb. "I was following him in a metro because the route was little weird. Most of the marathon routes will be a loop, I can catch them again at 20km by just crossing the road. It was not like that so I had to follow them in a metro. I went to 20km then I got another metro to reach 30km mark. Then I came to the finish line. "I was 100m away from finish line and I was ready to take his pictures and videos. We were sure that he is going to break the national record. When the electronic time showed 2:10:00, I couldn't see him at the finish line. He was at that time just around 100m from the finish line. And when I saw him, I realised that he is going to fall down. "He fell down but he managed to stand up and run. And again, within 10-20m (of the finish line), he fell down. He was completely out. Luckily there was a volunteer who made him stand. And somehow he crossed the finish line just few seconds within the national record." 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
17 April,2026 10:33 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIVeteran Joshna Chinappa and Veer Chotrani advanced in the Hamburg Open squash, while compatriots Velavan Senthilkumar and Tanvi Khanna bowed out in the opening round here. Former women's world No 10 Joshna eased past local challenger Saskia Beinhard 11-4, 11-5, 11-4, while men's world No 47 Chotrani beat Spain's Ivan Perez 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 in the PSA Bronze-level event. Men's fifth seed Abhay Singh, who moved up to a career-best world ranking of 22 this week, and Ramit Tandon, the seventh seed, received first-round byes. Other Indian results - Men: R Tsukue (Jpn) bt V Senthilkumar 11-4, 11-9, 14-12; Women: Hannah Craig (Irl) bt Tanvi Khanna 11-5, 11-7, 13-11. 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
17 April,2026 10:30 AM IST | Hamburg | PTISeeded players progressed in the women’s doubles 75+, and professional singles doubles matches at the GD Birla Memorial Masters inter-club badminton tournament, promoted by Badminton Gurukul, at the Bombay Gymkhana on Thursday. In the professional singles category, top seed Manoj Nachanekar beat Pranit Suryakant Bane 30-22. In the WD 75+ category, the pair of Jaanvi Merani and Sonal Battad beat Jhanvi Shah and Neha Parmar 30-23, while Ajita Ravindran and Namrata Ghole beat Manisha Phadnis and Rashmi Ladia Bisht 30-26. In the men’s doubles, Manoj Nachanekar and Rahul Bhuvad beat Rakesh Kanchawade and Santosh Pawar 30-14.
17 April,2026 10:28 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentWestern Railway edged out Republicans Orange 3-2 in a women’s elite league match of the 45th Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana rink hockey tournament at Santacruz recently. Mariana netted a fine brace for WR while Anupa Barla added the third goal. For Republicans, Manvi Jadhav and Kashish Shaikh scored a goal each. In another match, Sports Authority of India (SAI) beat Central Railway by the odd goal in three. Dechamma PG and Nikku Gurjar scored for SAI while H Lalruatfeli pulled one back for SAI. In a men’s veterans tie, Ave Maria beat Span FC 2-1. Prasad Shetty and Andre Buthello scored for Ave Maria while Gavin Vandrine scored for Span FC.
17 April,2026 10:28 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentThe newly-crowned Candidates champion R. Vaishali, a soft-spoken and unassuming presence often seen with her mother by her side, stands out for her quiet intensity, shaped by strong values and a grounded upbringing, the kind of Indian sportsperson who lets her game do the talking. What truly shapes her is the ecosystem she comes from -- a deeply committed chess family that has quietly nurtured excellence without seeking the spotlight, and in that understated, almost self-effacing journey lies her greatest strength. On Wednesday, Vaishali, the lowest-rated player in the eight-woman field at the Candidates tournament in Paphos, Cyprus, let her quiet game do the talking, springing a fine victory over Kateryna Lagno to seal a place in the World Championship showdown against Ju Wenjun later this year. For long, Vaishali, 24, had lived in the shadow of her younger and more celebrated brother, R. Praggnanandhaa, who had qualified for the Open section of the Candidates tournament, but a string of underwhelming performances knocked him out of contention early in the 14-round competition, ending his hopes of challenging D. Gukesh for the world title later this year. Even after Praggnanandhaa's chances faded, the spotlight never quite turned to Vaishali, who is deeply close to her brother and would have felt his disappointment, perhaps even her own dip in morale. But the quiet presence of her mother, always by their side in a saree and with a calm, unreadable expression, seemed enough to steady her and remind her that not all was lost. With 8.5 points, she sealed the title this time, a step up from last year in Toronto when Vaishali had qualified for the Candidates but finished joint second, narrowly missing out on a shot at the World Championship. Silence and few words have long been her forte, shaped in a middle-class household where her father worked as a bank branch manager and her mother was a homemaker. Vaishali, who became only the third Indian woman Grandmaster after Koneru Humpy and D. Harika in December 2023, quietly rose through the ranks. She collected age-group titles in plenty and earned her International Master title in 2021, before stepping into the spotlight at the Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram, Chennai in 2022, where she clinched a historic individual bronze and also helped the team secure a bronze. In Cyprus, that same quiet confidence held firm, even with her cast as the underdog. She did have momentum on her side, having qualified for the Candidates by winning the FIDE Women's Grand Swiss tournament in 2025 just as she had in 2023. But in a field packed with heavyweights like Norway Chess champion Anna Muzychuk, women's World Rapid champion Aleksandra Goryachkina, world blitz champion Bibisara Assaubayeva, and two of China's finest in Zhu Jiner and former Candidates winner Tan Zhongyi, the odds were anything but in her favour. In fact, India's Divya Deshmukh, the World Cup winner last year, was seen as a stronger contender than Vaishali, but she paid little heed to the noise and quietly kept working her way to the top. Even as conflict in the Middle East raged, creating uncertainty and prompting Humpy to pull out of the event given Cyprus' proximity to the war zone, the Chennai-born player -- part of the first brother-sister duo to both become Grandmasters -- stayed the course and kept up her preparations. Vaishali, who had made headlines as a 12-year-old by defeating Magnus Carlsen in a simultaneous exhibition during his visit to her hometown in 2013, endured a see-saw run at the Candidates. She built momentum with a draw and two wins, but a loss to Zhu Jiner briefly halted her surge. Even going into the penultimate round, the contest remained wide open, with Vaishali among two players on 7.5 points and Zhu Jiner close behind on 7, all still in contention for the title. But it was her trademark calm and assurance that came to the fore in a nearly five-hour-long slugfest against Kateryna Lagno, a result that ultimately sealed her passage to the World Championship. Next up for her is the World Championship, where across the board will sit Ju Wenjun, the reigning five-time women's world champion, and it goes without saying that Vaishali will draw strength and quiet confidence from her mother, even if she is not in sight, but somewhere close to the playing arena. 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
17 April,2026 10:16 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIIndian GM Pravin Thipsay believes D Gukesh can “crush” Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov when the two face off in the World Championship clash later this year, but only if he can recapture the form that catapulted him to the world title in 2024. “Gukesh is a very strong player and he is almost unparalleled, compared to Sindarov. However, in 2025, we didn’t really see the best of Gukesh. It was disappointing to see such a perfect player in 2022, 2023, and 2024 make so many mistakes last year. But if he’s able to discover his form from earlier years, he will just crush Sindarov, who has a lot of weaknesses,” Thipsay told mid-day. However, the 66-year-old advised Gukesh to be wary of Sindarov’s opening moves. “Sindarov’s opening preparation is very good, he tends to win a lot of his games in the opening phase whereas it is not in Gukesh’s nature to prepare well and win in the opening phase. So, it will be an interesting clash,” opined Thipsay, before adding that the Uzbek’s early advantage could be neutralised by Gukesh because “like [Russian GM Anatoly] Karpov, he [Gukesh] is one of the best players when it comes to defence.”
17 April,2026 10:13 AM IST | Mumbai | Ronan CarvalhoVaishali Rameshbabu produced a seminal moment for Indian chess by becoming the first woman from the country to clinch the revered Candidates tournament. She did so by accumulating 8.5 points from her 14 matches at the tournament in Cyprus on Wednesday. ‘Remarkable achievement’ Veteran Indian GM Pravin Thipsay termed it as a remarkable achievement, not only because Vaishali, 24, was the lowest-ranked player [18th] in the seven-player global event, but also because of the incredible strides she has taken to lift her game to the next level, after a few years of stagnancy. “Very rarely does a player, who is not among the Top 3, win the Candidates. There’s a pattern in chess… the one, who tends to become a champion, generally does so in the first or second [world championship] cycle, but Vaishali has achieved this after being around for a while which is remarkable and it is a big boost for Indian women’s chess,” Mumbai-based Thipsay told mid-day. Pravin Thipsay. Pic/Getty Images Thipsay, 66, who was the first Indian to win the Commonwealth Chess Championship in 1985, added that Vaishali has worked on a few things in the last few years leading to this big feat. “For several years Vaishali was stagnant at a rating of 2420-2430, but after the 2022 Olympiad, seeing the performances of D Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, and Arjun Erigaisi, her mindset changed. She already had resourcefulness, but her accuracy level improved. She is now demonstrating aggression at the right time. Many of her earlier losses came due to aggression which was uncalled for. So, now that improvement in judgement is there. This shows that she’s a real fighter, who keeps coming back time and again, and someone who can do that has no limits,” explained Thipsay. World title later this year Vaishali’s triumph at the Candidates has handed her a ticket to battle five-time world champion Ju Wenjun of China for the World Championship. And Thipsay believes Vaishali has every chance of winning. “There’s a good chance that the [World Championship] throne is handed to Vaishali because Wenjun suffers from a lack of match practice. She plays very few tournaments, and may find it difficult to digest Vaishali’s style,” said Thipsay. However, he explained there’s still one element that Vaishali must work on. “Vaishali plays to gain the initiative, and if there’s no initiative, she’s not able to play a balanced positional game well. Vaishali, like Viswanathan Anand, tends to concentrate on the king-side attack. But it’s very important to learn how to play both the strategic as well as the tactical part of the game well,” concluded the Arjuna Awardee. 2470Vaishali’s ELO rating at the Candidates was lower than most of the other participants yet she won it; compatriot Divya Deshmukh (2497) was the only other player under 2500 besides her 18Vaishali’s world ranking; the lowest among the eight players at the Candidates event TwoVaishali is only the second Indian woman to qualify for a World Championship match after Koneru Humpy (2011) ThreeVaishali became only the third Indian woman Grandmaster after Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli Did you know? In 2013, R Vaishali, then 12, stunned Magnus Carlsen at an exhibition event in Chennai just days before his World C’ship match against Vishy Anand
17 April,2026 10:09 AM IST | Mumbai | Ronan CarvalhoIndia's Grandmaster R Vaishali registered a dominating victory over Kateryna Lagno in the final of the Women's Candidates Tournament on Wednesday. Following the triumph, she has sealed her place at the highest level in the women's chess category. The title win has helped her to lock horns with China's Ju Wenjun in the World Championship, which is scheduled to kick off later in the year. She also scripted history by becoming the first Indian to clinch the title. After the title win, her younger sibling R Praggnanandhaa shared a congratulatory post for his 'akka' on his official social media handle. "Congrats to Vaishali akka! Proud of what you have achieved! Inspiring to see how you handled the critical moments in the tournament! Happy to see the results for all the hard work!," read the post's caption. Congrats to Vaishali akka! 🔥🔥Proud of what you have achieved! Inspiring to see how you handled the critical moments in the tournament! Happy to see the results for all the hard work! pic.twitter.com/YHPyU8DfGO — Praggnanandhaa (@rpraggnachess) April 16, 2026 Vaishali, who secured a total of 8.5 points, is following the footsteps of Koneru Humpy. The triumph also highlights the rise of women's chess in India. Playing with the white pieces, she delivered a dominating performance to register a crucial victory and finish at the top of the standings. This marks a significant leap from her previous campaign in 2024, where Vaishali scored 7.5 points and finished in joint-second place. This time, she improved her tally by a full point, finishing clear at the top and sealing one of the biggest achievements of her career. Her childhood coach, RB Ramesh, also expressed happiness following the Women's Candidates Tournament triumph. "Playing for a world championship title is very prestigious - very happy that she's come so far. She kept her nerves well at the crucial moment. Really great result," he said on Chessbase India's live stream as quoted by ESPN. The Women's Candidates tournament has a long and evolving history, first being held in 1952 as the qualifying event to decide the challenger for the Women's World Championship. It remained the pathway to the title match until 1997, when the format was replaced by knockout-style tournaments. However, the Candidates format was reinstated in 2019 after the FIDE restored the traditional match system to determine the Women's World Champion. (With Agencies' Inputs)
16 April,2026 12:39 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentNewly-crowned FIDE Candidates 2026 winner Javokhir Sindarov has heaped praise on reigning world champion D Gukesh as the two prodigies gear up for a highly-anticipated World Chess Championship clash later this year. Sindarov, who remained unbeaten throughout tournament, sealed the Candidates title in dominant fashion by reaching 9.5 points by the end of Round 13, finishing with a game to spare. With the championship match scheduled for the November-December window, much of the spotlight is already on the impending showdown between two of the brightest stars of the new generation. “He’s the youngest champion in history and, of course, one of the best players in the world. He has a lot of strong skills and it will be a very exciting match. I will be very excited for this match and he has a very good team. I will just say good luck to him,” Sindarov told ChessBase India. While Sindarov enters the contest in red-hot form, Gukesh, the youngest world champion in history, remains a formidable opponent despite a relatively quiet run since his title-winning triumph over Ding Liren in 2024. Reflecting on his own performance at the Candidates, Sindarov credited his disciplined approach and ability to stay focused as key factors behind his success, saying, “In this tournament, I was always trying to think about my preparation and only about chess. I don’t see a lot of social media.” The 20-year-old’s composed run through the field was marked by consistency and maturity beyond his years, as he navigated high-pressure situations with remarkable control. When asked about his preference for the venue of the upcoming World Championship match, Sindarov revealed a lighter side, expressing a desire for warmer conditions. “If it will be in December, for me probably I’ll choose some hot country like Cyprus. I don’t want to play the World Chess Championship match in cold weather,” Sindarov said in the press conference. 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
16 April,2026 10:01 AM IST | New Delhi | IANSDenmark's flag-bearer for badminton Viktor Axelsen, 32, brought down the curtain on his illustrious career on Wednesday, claiming recurring back issues have left him unable “to compete at the highest level.” The two-time Olympic gold medallist and former No. 1 is adored all around the world, and ex-India badminton player and Chief National Coach Pullela Gopichand is no exception. “He’s had a remarkable career. He’s been a great athlete as well as a great ambassador for the sport, which has been dominated by Asians, so it was good to see Viktor represent Europe so well. Axelsen was a big part of the transition from the Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei era to the current one,” Gopichand, an All England Open winner in 2001, told mid-day. Pullela Gopichand. Pic/AFP The 1998 Commonwealth Games men’s singles bronze medallist also shed light on what set the Dane apart from his rivals. “He had a unique playing style and was a great entertainer for the sport. His physicality, especially his height [six feet, four inches], is different from the other players. He was very strong defensively and demonstrated great speed to execute his defensive plays. Plus, he had a big smash to attack when the opportunity came,” explained Gopichand, 52. While Axelsen’s imposing frame no doubt aided his reach, Gopichand believes it may have been as much a bane for him. “Badminton is one of those sports where having that extra reach upwards can help, but the reach down can be a challenge. Even when it comes to playing closer to the body, it can be tricky. Having said that, being stable at taller heights, in terms of having a defensive base, then becomes vital for a player, and Viktor had that stability. But you can say [it was a bit of a bane] too, because he had to work a lot harder on his hip and back mobility,” opined Gopichand, who added that Axelsen is “somebody who is not happy to be on the journey if he doesn’t have a chance to win,” which even the Dane alluded to in his retirement post. Gopichand also lavished praise on the two-time World Championship winner for imparting his knowledge to two of India’s young shuttlers Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty — both have had the opportunity to train with him in Dubai previously. “It’s very nice on his part [to work with Sen and Shetty]. The experience that he has and how he can articulate it to youngsters… It’s phenomenal for any young athlete [to learn from him], and they will no doubt benefit from it,” concluded the Arjuna Awardee. TwoNo. of Olympic gold medals won by Viktor Axelsen (2020, 2024) FiveNo. of BWF World Tour Finals won by Viktor Axelsen 183No. of weeks Viktor Axelsen spent as World No. 1; a mark only surpassed by Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei (349).
16 April,2026 09:49 AM IST | Mumbai | Ronan CarvalhoIndian shuttler Lakshya Sen penned an emotional tribute to two-time Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen following his retirement announcement, saying badminton will remember him as "one of the greatest to ever play the game". Widely regarded as one of the modern greats of the game, Axelsen announced his retirement on Wednesday, saying ongoing back problems have made it difficult for him to compete at the highest level. The 32-year-old Dane won consecutive gold medals at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics and finished on top in the 2017 and 2022 World Championships. He was also a part six gold-winning Danish teams in the European Championships. "Badminton is blessed to have you and it will remember you as one of the greatest to ever play the game, but what truly sets you apart isn't just the champion you are, it's the person you are, that stays far beyond matches and medals," Sen posted on his Instagram story. The Indian star reflected on their shared journey from training together in Dubai in 2022 to crossing paths on the sport's biggest stages, including the prestigious All England Open and a memorable showdown at the Paris Olympics semifinals. "To go from training with you in Dubai to stepping onto one of the biggest stages like the All England Open and then facing you at the Olympics, it's been an incredible journey. Happy retirement! All the best for what's ahead," he added. A significant loss for the sport itself: Vimal Lakshya's mentor and former India coach Vimal Kumar also paid an emotional tribute to Axelsen, calling his retirement "a significant loss for the sport itself". "I am deeply saddened to hear about Viktor Axelsen stepping away from the sport due to persistent back issues. When I last interacted with him a month ago, he had expressed concern about his recovery and the lack of progress post-surgery -- but even then, I did not imagine that he would be forced to make such a difficult decision," the 63-year-old wrote on 'X' "His professionalism, discipline, and relentless pursuit of excellence have set benchmarks for generations to follow. His retirement is a significant loss -- not just for Denmark, but for European badminton as a whole." Axelsen, who held the world number one position for 183 weeks which is the third longest run of all time, leaves behind not just titles and records, but a legacy defined by grace, discipline and an enduring impact on the badminton world. Vimal pointed out that Denmark now faces a transition phase in men's singles, with a visible gap emerging beyond Axelsen and Anders Antonsen, especially with several players nearing the twilight of their careers. He hoped that the Badminton World Federation would involve Axelsen in a larger capacity. "On a personal note, I feel this is a loss for the sport itself. I sincerely hope the Badminton World Federation considers bringing Viktor into a larger role within the sport. With his global appeal -- especially across Asia, including China -- and his ability to connect across cultures, he would be a tremendous ambassador. "More importantly, he has always demonstrated thoughtful and progressive ideas for the growth of badminton, beyond just discussions around shortening match durations. I truly hope he remains closely involved with the sport in the years to come, perhaps even contributing to its administration and future direction." 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
16 April,2026 09:14 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIADVERTISEMENT
