Author: Abhishek Mishra

Nothing in athletics grabs attention like the 100m finals. Just a fraction less or more than ten seconds, and sometimes, a blink is enough to miss it. On the Day 2 of the Athletics World Championships at the Japan National Stadium, two 24-year-olds – Oblique Seville and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden – etched their names in the history books. Jamaican flair lit up the men’s 100m in a 1-2 finish, with the USA’s Olympic champion, Noah Lyles, having to settle for bronze. Jefferson-Wooden was an even more surprising winner in the women’s 100m. Seville clocked 9.77s, a lifetime best on the grandest…

In the early hours of Sunday, when most Indians were asleep, Jaismine Lamboria, just 24, was busy scripting history. She etched her name in the record books by becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal at the 2025 World Boxing Championship, being held in Liverpool. The 24-year-old from Bhiwani, Haryana, punched past Paris Olympics silver medalist Julia Szeremeta of Poland with a 4-1 victory to become the world champion in the 57kg weight category. With this achievement, she joined an elite list of Indian women world champions. Jaismine is now the ninth Indian woman boxer to achieve this…

It was a day to celebrate for the Indian badminton fans, as the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and the men’s singles shuttler Lakshya Sen reached the finals of the Hong Kong Open 2025. Both samshed past the Taiwanese challenge to reach the summit clash. Satwik-Chirag defeated Taiwan’s Bing Wei Lin and Chen Cheng Kuan 21-17, 21-15, while Lakshya stunned third seed Chou Tien Chen 23-21, 22-20 in a thrilling match. For Satwik-Chirag, this was a special victory as they reached a final after more than a year. Their last final appearance came at the Thailand…

Abhishek Mishra At the Hockey Asia Cup 2025 in Rajgir, Bihar, team India were crowned champions after thrashing South Korea 4-1 in the final and secured a spot in the 2026 World Cup in Belgium and finishing the tournament unbeaten. With the Craig Fulton and Harmanpreet Singh combination, Indian hockey team has seen greater heights proving the continental dominance and winning a bronze at the Olympics 2024. But the Indian hockey team performance in the 2025 season has had a mixed bag of results, performing in patches. The season started well, with India winning 5 out of 8 matches in…

Team India were crowned Asia Cup champions after smashing past defending champions South Korea with a 4-1 win to claim their fourth Asia Cup title. After eight long years, India finally lifted the trophy, avenging the defeat they suffered against South Korea a decade ago in the Asia Cup final. Following a 2-2 draw against the same Korean side, India made a brilliant comeback by thrashing Malaysia 4-1, then China 7-0, and finally sealing the title with Dilpreet Singh’s brace and some brilliant stick work and assists from the entire team. For India, Sukhjeet Singh (0’), Dilpreet Singh (27’, 44’),…

Abhishek Mishra Craig Fulton and his men are all set for the summit clash, a match that not only decides the Asian dominance but also secures India’s qualification for the 2026 World Cup. They will face defending champions South Korea in the final in Rajgir, Bihar. This will be the fourth time India and Korea will meet in an Asia Cup final, after previous encounters in 1994, 2007 and 2013. Korea had the upper hand in 1994 and 2013, while India triumphed in the 2007 final. Overall, India have reached seven Asia Cup finals, winning three of them, whereas Korea…

Abhishek Mishra in Rajgir Egged on by the enthusiastic Rajgir crowd, the last match of Super-4 between India and China began with the loudest cheers. India booked his spot for the summit clash, topping the charts with seven points. From the very start, Indian attack dismantled the Chinese defence, cruising to a dominant 7-0 victory. Abhishek Nain, who had struggled in the last two matches, showed immense improvement and scored a brace, while Sukhjeet Singh and Shilanand Lakra impressed with their brilliant stick work. The goals came through Lakra (3’), Dilpreet Singh (6’), Mandeep Singh (17’), Rajkumar Pal (36’), Sukhjeet…

Abhishek Mishra in Rajgir The excitement around the stadium was palpable throughout the Asia Cup. The spirited crowd arrived hours early, raising the decibel levels even four hours before India’s matches. They were cheering the teams playing in the classification games at the Rajgir Hockey Stadium, inside Bihar Sports University. The stadium in the outskirts of Rajgir city started witnessing a build-up around 2 pm despite the scorching heat and humidity. It felt like 50°C during the day matches. The locals kept the excitement high in every match and didn’t leave the stands when a heavy downpour delayed the…

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…