Author: Abhishek Mishra

Abhishek Mishra in Rajgir Paddy Upton, the experienced mental conditioning coach from South Africa, has played key roles in some of India’s biggest sporting achievements. He worked alongside Gary Kirsten to guide India to the 2011 Cricket World Cup title. After a decade, he helped the Indian hockey team win gold at the Asian Games in China, and a historic bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Paris. Upton was also the guiding force behind the calmness of India’s chess prodigy, Gukesh Dommaraju, who went on to become the youngest World Chess Champion. Having worked across 20 different sports, Upton…

Abhishek Mishra in Rajgir After drawing with South Korea in a rain-delayed match in its Super 4 opener, the challenge for team India was to defeat the Malaysian team and head into the match against China with confidence. The Indian team did just that, dismantling Malaysia with heavy pressing and a fast-paced game. For India, Manpreet Singh (15), Sukhjeet Singh (17), Shilanand Lakra (23), and Vivek Sagar Prasad (37) scored, while Shafique Hasan netted the lone goal for Malaysia. Just a minute into the game, Malaysia pressed hard into India’s half. Shafiq Hassan broke through from the left flank, beating…

Abhishek Mishra in Rajgir Hosts India remain unbeaten at the hockey Asia Cup 2025. With a scoreline of 2-2 India vs South Korea match ended in a draw. For India, Hardik Singh opened the scoring in the first quarter and in the final quarter, Mandeep Singh netted the equaliser. For Malaysia Jihun Yang and Hyeonhong Kim scored. The result reminded the previous face-off between India and South Korea in the last Asia Cup that resulted in a draw with a 4-4 scoreline. When the Indian team stepped onto the turf to face South Korea, the atmosphere at the Rajgir Sports…

Abhishek Mishra After topping the table in the group stage with two close victories against China and Japan, and a 15-0 crushing win over Kazakhstan, the stage is set for bigger stakes as India take on defending champions, South Korea, in its first encounter of Super-4, on Wednesday. The 7th ranked team led by Harmanpreet Singh now has a challenge of beating the 15th ranked South Korean team to maintain their winning streak and build momentum. India stepped into the Super-4 stage with an unblemished record, winning all three matches and topping Pool A. It is true that they defeated…

Abhishek Mishra At the National Athletics Senior Interstate Championship at JN Stadium in Chennai, Rohit Yadav, 24, produced a personal best throw of 83.65m to win the gold. The gold medal winning performance at the B-category meet earned him crucial points on the Road to Tokyo rankings and also raised hopes of his qualification for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. When World Athletics updated the rankings, Yadav saw himself at 37th place and missed qualification by just one spot, as only 36 slots were available in javelin at the Worlds. Luckily on the very next day, Spain announced its…

Athletics Federation of India (AFI) announced India’s full squad for the World Athletics Championships on Sunday, scheduled from September 13 to 21, 2025, in Tokyo, Japan. The squad features a special name, Pooja Olla, a middle-distance runner from Haryana who qualified for both the 800m and 1500m events. She made the cut in the 800m through ranking points, while in the 1500m she received an invitation as she was next in line on the Road to Tokyo rankings. With that, Pooja became the first Indian female athlete ever to qualify for both the 800m and 1500m races. The 23-year-old comes…

The Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty fell short of reaching the final at the BWF World Championships 2025, suffering a tough semi-final defeat to China’s Chen Bao Yang and Liu Yiu at the Adidas Arena in Paris. The Indian pair lost the match 19-21, 21-18, 12-21 to the world No.11 Chinese duo in the 67-minute last-four clash. With the loss, India’s run at the tournament came to an end with Satwik-Chirag settling for a bronze medal. This marks their second World Championship bronze after their 2022 podium finish in Tokyo. The semifinal battle began with…

The destructive Indian men’s doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty smashed their way past their nemeses, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, in straight games – 21-12 , 21-19 – in their World Championship quarterfinal at the Adidas Arena in Paris. The same venue had brought heartbreak for the Indian pair a year ago, when the Malaysians handed Satwik-Chirag a quarterfinal defeat to crush India’s hope of winning a badminton medal at the Paris Olympics. “It was a rematch of sorts from the Olympics, and I think we finally got some redemption,” said Chirag after the victory. “It…

Abhishek Mishra The moment PV Sindhu stepped on to Court 1 to take on Putri Kusuma Wardani (world No. 9) of Indonesia, the atmosphere lit up and the crowd at the Adidas Arena in Paris erupted. Why not? The five-time World Championship medallist was beginning her quest for a sixth. Unfortunately, Sindhu lost the quarterfinal clash against Wardani 14-21, 21-13,16-21. It was a thrilling battle. The first game started with both shuttlers exchanging points until 6-6, but then Wardani took the lead and raced to 11-7 at the interval. After the break, Wardani maintained control and built a sizable lead…

Abhishek Mishra The National Inter-state Senior Athletics Championship in Chennai drew to a close on Wednesday, also marking the end of the race for qualification to the Tokyo World Championship. The B category meet served as the last qualifying chance for Indian athletes to book a World Championship berth. Unfortunately, no Indian met the direct entry standard to qualify directly for the event, but athletes gained crucial points and sealed spots at the World Championship through ranking points. Javelin throwers shine but fall short of the entry standard In the men’s javelin throw, Rohit Yadav of Uttar Pradesh clinched the…