Author: Gargi Raut

In a matter of time, HS Prannoy and the star Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will take on Shi Yuqi (China) and the crack Malaysian pairing of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the India Open semifinals. Throughout the tournament, the Indian crowd has done well to support their shuttlers. Prannoy, following his quarterfinal win, paid his respects to those in the audience for helping him make a comeback in the decider. “When I was down, the crowd really helped me push through with energy,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll have an even bigger crowd at the…

When Pullela Gopichand speaks about mental health, you better listen. Gopichand, the national badminton coach, has a mundane job. Yet, he makes it look non-mundane. When coach Gopichand stepped out of the BAI Lounge to have a chat with us, we had set our mind on picking his brain on mental health and how he takes on the pressure as the national badminton coach in an Olympic year. Little did we know that we would find no hints or traces of any sort of pressure or stress, no matter how deep we tried to dig. After all, he did say…

Gargi Raut in New Delhi The India Open tournament starts on Tuesday, January 16, and it’ll be the perfect opportunity for the Indian shuttlers to add some confidence and points to their name in order to qualify for the Paris Olympics. HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen addressed the media before the tournament commenced and gave insights into what their preparation looks like. Road to Paris Olympics Prannoy is hoping to continue on the momentum from 2023 and is only focused on consistency. Winning games is the foremost priority for India’s No. 1 men’s singles shuttler. Unlike the champion duo…

When dusting off the book of Indian cricket history and opening one of the very first chapters, you see that in the year 1971, the manager of the Indian team was Keki Tarapore. Since then, the Indian cricket team has had a total of 24 individuals assume that position. With a history so rich and diverse, legends like Salim Durrani, Bishan Singh Bedi and many more have taken on the role. It is puzzling to think about why there hasn’t been a single female head coach or even an assistant coach for the team. On the other hand, when…

A decade has passed since a freak happenstance twisted fate. December 19, 2023 marks 10 years after Formula One’s otherworldly phenom Michael Schumacher’s life turned upside down. F1 community’s beloved ‘Schumi’ has been out of the public eye following an outlandish skiing accident dramatically ended his career in 2013. In the 19 long seasons of Schumacher’s Grand Prix Formula One career, ever since he was about 22 years old, the most serious injury he had endured was a broken leg. But that would change in France in 2013 when Michael hit his head on a rock in a skiing accident.…

From Neeraj Chopra’s dominance to the emergence of Avinash Sable, from the Jyothi Yarrajis to Harmilan Bains! Taking stock of the recent success of Indian athletes and looking at their rising graph, you can’t help but think what is catalysing this. Talking to Adille Sumariwalla, president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), who recently became a vice-president of World Athletics, one gets to realise how much strategic and intellectual effort is being put in to take Indian athletics to the next level. Asked about specific goals and initiatives he plans to pursue during his four-year term on the World…

The Women in Blue sent shock waves through the cricket community as they clinched the one-off Test match against England-W at the DY Patil Stadium last week. They will now look to carry forward the momentum and secure their first-ever Test win against Australia in a one-off Test match starting today (December 21) at the historic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. India not only won the Test against England dominantly but also created history by securing the highest-ever victory margin of 347 runs. Ahead of the Test, Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has goaded her team to maintain the same intensity against…

As we look back at the highs of Indian sports in 2023, let’s revisit this episode which captivated the intriguing and intricate world of chess. We are talking about Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa. This 18-year-old prodigy from Chennai made a telling mark on the global stage at the World Cup held in July-August. He reached the final and took on Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, the world No 1 and five-time world champion. Pragg had beaten the world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura and No 3 Fabio Caruana before that match in Baku. It is the capital of Azerbaijan and the birthplace of Garry…

Indian athletes left no stone unturned at the Asian Games 2023 as they clinched a record-breaking total of 107 medals. India’s remarkable run in Hangzhou consisted of 28 gold, 38 silver, and 41 bronze medals surpassing the previous record set at the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games of 70 medals, 37 less then the current record. The penultimate day of the event, October 7, marked the day where Indian athletes added an additional six golds, four silvers and two bronzes to the tally. One of the extraordinary moments of the day was Jyothi Surekha Vennam’s unstoppable run as she secured a…

In a rare moment in women’s cricket, India hosted a women’s Test match Test match after nine long years. The move, although widely welcomed on social media, failed to manifest the same buzz in the stadium. The stands at the DY Patil Stadium remained eerily empty even as India women trounced England in the one-off Test match. India, having won the toss and decided to bat first, took up the challenge head on. Day 1 and 2 of the match were action-packed as the Indian batting line-up lit up the field with red-hot performances. The scoreboard looked something like this…