FOOTBALL
Sesa Soccer Academy’s girls’s workforce qualifies for IWL
The Sesa Soccer Academy’s (SFA) senior girls’s workforce has certified for the Indian Girls’s League (IWL) for the primary time, restoring Goan illustration within the nationwide league after a spot of three years.
The workforce will now vie amongst India’s elite within the ninth IWL, with the primary section scheduled in West Bengal from December 20 to January 6.
SFA thus grew to become solely the fifth workforce from Goa to qualify for the IWL.
Dronacharya Awardee and former SFA coach, Armando Colaco, hailed the event as “the revival of ladies’s soccer in Goa”, and credited the academy for rebuilding the ecosystem and galvanizing a brand new technology of feminine footballers.
Navin Jaju, CEO, Vedanta Sesa Goa, stated, “This historic feat displays the academy’s unwavering dedication to growing girls’s soccer and empowerment on the grassroots stage.”
– PTI
MORE SPORTS
Infosys Basis and GoSports Basis develop Athlete Sponsorship with ‘Gear for Gold’ initiative
Infosys Basis introduced the growth of its strategic collaboration with GoSports Basis with an purpose to remodel the high-performance initiative ‘Women for Gold,’ into the broader and extra inclusive ‘Gear for Gold.’ Program.
This expanded scope extends assist to a wider spectrum of promising expertise — together with male, feminine, and para-athletes — making a holistic mannequin for expertise improvement via collaborations with main sports activities academies.
The ‘Gear for Gold’ program will concentrate on six sporting disciplines: badminton, desk tennis, weightlifting, boxing, athletics, and capturing. With an academy-first strategy, assist will embody upgrading infrastructure, implementing fashionable sports activities science practices, and offering entry to superior gear, and applied sciences.
Athletes coaching at these academies will even obtain complete help together with scholarships, superior teaching, assist to take part in competitions, together with diet and harm administration steering. Functionality constructing for athletes, coaches, and employees can be strengthened via conclaves, workshops, certifications and international publicity. As well as, strong methods for monitoring, reporting, and due diligence will guarantee transparency and measurable influence.
– Crew Sportstar
CHESS
Star-studded line-up for maiden Whole World Chess Championship Tour
World champions and world fast and blitz champions can be among the many 24 gamers that can make up subsequent 12 months’s pilot version of the Whole World Chess Championship Tour, a brand new tour collectively organised by FIDE and Norway Chess.
The worldwide chess governing physique introduced that there could be totally different paths to qualify for the tour. Each the World Open and Girls’s champions, D. Gukesh and Ju Wenjun, have already certified.
The others can be picked from the World fast and blitz championships, the Candidates (Open and Girls) and FIDE Circuit; high gamers primarily based on FIDE score will even be included.
The tour can be performed throughout the three codecs: classical, fast and blitz, however the classical format has been decreased to a shorter time management of 45 minutes.
The tour carries a prize fund of USD 750,000 for every of the three occasions, in addition to USD 450,000 for the finals.
– Crew Sportstar
GOLF
Jairaj Singh Sandhu takes day one honours at DGC
Jairaj Singh Sandhu took the day one honours with a four-under 68 on the Vishwa Samudra Open on the Delhi Golf Membership.
Jairaj, who hails from Chandigarh, had Mani Ram shut on his heels because the latter struck a 69 to be second within the clubhouse.
Veer Ahlawat, Yuvraj Singh and Sanjeev Kumar had been joint third with scores of 70.
The beginning of play was delayed by quarter-hour attributable to fog within the morning. In consequence, 22 gamers out of a complete of 126 couldn’t full their first spherical on Tuesday when play was suspended at 5:35 pm attributable to fading gentle.
These 22 gamers are scheduled to renew their first spherical at 7 am on Wednesday, and spherical two will begin after the completion of spherical one.
– PTI
Veer Ganapathy leads stellar discipline after day two of IGPL UAE with Pranavi Urs in sizzling pursuit
Bengaluru teenager Veer Ganapathy fired a six-under 66 to carry the day two lead within the IGPL UAE on Tuesday, the primary abroad foray by the brand new league.
Ganapathy had a 36-hole whole of eight-under 136 on the Els Membership.
Women European Tour common and a winner within the inaugural season of the Indian Golf Premier League, Pranavi Urs was an in depth second together with her second successive three-under 69 for a two-day whole of six-under 138 alongside her shut good friend Karandeep Kochhar (69-69) and long-hitting Ludhiana golfer Pukhraj Singh Gill (70-68).
In a single day chief and former Indian Open winner SSP Chawrasia, adopted his opening seven-under 65 with a two-over 74 on Tuesday to be in sole possession of fifth place on five-under 139 together with three-time IGPL winner Gaganjeet Bhullar (67-72), IGPL Order of Advantage winner Aman Raj (70-69) and fast-rising younger expertise Raghav Chugh (72-67).
The left-handed Ganapathy, coached by his father Rahul, fired an eagle and 4 birdies in opposition to one dropped shot to make the flip on the testing par-72 Els Membership course in 5 beneath 31 earlier than including an extra two birdies and a bogey on his approach again to the clubhouse.
Pranavi, a winner on the IGPL this season on the Bombay Presidency Golf Membership (BPGC), the place she closed with a shocking eight-under 60 to emerge as the primary winner at a blended occasion in India, was two strokes behind Ganapathy.
The Mysuru golfer blended 5 birdies with two dropped pictures in her 3 beneath 69 whereas Kochhar had six birdies in opposition to three bogeys and Gill set out effectively with an eagle and three birdies to show in 4 beneath 36 earlier than a stage par again 9 noticed him shut on 4 beneath 68 for the day.
Chawrasia, a six-time winner on the Asian Tour, 4 of them at occasions co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour, wanted to grind it out on Tuesday to remain in contact with the leaders and he sits simply three pictures behind day two chief Ganapathy together with Bhullar Aman Raj and Chugh.
Match host Shiv Kapur shared sixteenth place on 1 beneath 143 together with Jeev Milkha Singh, who flew in for the occasion straight from Mauritius, the place he was the runner-up within the MCB Mauritius on the European Legends Tour for Over-50s.
– PTI
BADMINTON
Odisha Masters: Tharun, Kiran amongst Indians advancing after first-round byes
A number of Indian shuttlers, together with high seed Tharun Mannepalli and second seed Kiran George, superior to the boys’s singles second spherical after receiving byes on the USD 110,000 Odisha Masters Tremendous 100.
In addition to Tharun and Kiran, fourth seed Priyanshu Rajawat, sixth seed Manraj Singh, seventh seed S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, Varun Kapur, eighth seed Rithvik Sanjeevi Satish Kumar, Siddharth Gupta and Ginpaul Sonna had been additionally handed first-round byes.
Amongst those that took the court docket, Kavin Thangam Kavin rallied previous Aryamann Tandon 21-18, 19-21, 21-16, whereas Tushar Suveer acquired the higher of Alap Mishra 21-19, 8-21, 21-14 at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium.
Saneeth Dayanand registered a straight-games win over Dhruv Negi 21-11, 21-13, and Arya Bhivpathaki edged out Shashwat Dalal 21-9, 22-21 in an in depth contest.
In one other match, Darshan Pujari beat USA’s Kevin Arokia Walter 21-9, 21-12.
– PTI
MOTOR SPORTS
Method 4 Indian Championship set for high-stakes closing at Madras Worldwide Circuit
The FIA-certified Method 4 Indian Championship (F4IC), a part of the Indian Racing Competition, is all set for its season finale on the Madras Worldwide Circuit on December 13–14. After 4 rounds of shut racing, the battle for the title has come down to a few younger drivers who’ve saved the championship alive until the final weekend.
Fifteen-year-old Kenyan racer Shane Chandaria (Chennai Turbo Riders) arrives in Chennai because the factors chief with 158. He has been essentially the most constant driver on the grid this 12 months, mixing uncooked pace with calm race craft. His three wins, together with a powerful drive at Kari final month, have put him in a superb place.
Proper behind him is French driver Sachel Rotgé (Kichcha’s Kings Bengaluru) with 134 factors. He is aware of this observe effectively and took two wins right here in Spherical 2. He additionally picked up one other victory in Coimbatore, giving him confidence heading into the finale.
Indian teenager Ishaan Madesh (Kolkata Royal Tigers) sits third with 127 factors and stays very a lot within the combine. He received in Chennai earlier this season and has proven he can take the combat to each Shane and Sachel. With solely a handful of factors separating the three, the championship remains to be large open.
The midfield has additionally been one of many season’s highlights. Drivers like Sai Shiva Sankaran (Velocity Demons Delhi), Ghazi Motlekar (Kolkata Royal Tigers), and Luviwe Sambudla (Goa Aces JA Racing) have been proper in the course of tight fights and common podium scraps.
Because the season heads to its closing lights-out, followers can anticipate an in depth, pressure-filled weekend. The racing has been unpredictable all 12 months, and the final spherical guarantees extra of the identical as India prepares to crown its subsequent Method 4 champion.
– Crew Sportstar
Kush Maini commits to fourth season of Method 2
Indian racer Kush Maini will drive for ART Grand Prix in 2026, marking his fourth season within the FIA Method 2 Championship.
Maini had an underwhelming third F2 season, a feeder sequence to Method 1, ending sixteenth within the drivers’ standings for the DAMS squad with the dash race win in Monaco being the spotlight.
“I’m very completely satisfied to be becoming a member of such an historic workforce like ART Grand Prix. My first contacts with the engineers and mechanics have been very constructive,” he stated.
Maini drove the most recent Alpine automobile that took half within the season finale on Sunday. The subsequent F2 season could be one final try for the Bengaluru-based driver to make a powerful case for a F1 race seat in 2027.
-PTI
TENNIS
Tennis Premier League 7: SG Pipers Bengaluru, Rajasthan Rangers make successful begins
SG Pipers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Rangers started their marketing campaign on a successful word on the opening day of the Tennis Premier League (TPL) Season 7 on Tuesday.
The likes of Rohan Bopanna, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Luciano Darderi placed on a present for the followers as all eight groups had been in motion on the Gujarat College Tennis Stadium.
SG Pipers and Gurgaon Grand Slammers took centre stage within the first match with Sahaja Yamalapalli and Shrivalli enjoying the opening recreation.
Shrivalli gave SG Pipers the best begin with a 18-7 win within the girls’s singles match. She then teamed up with Bopanna within the blended doubles, persevering with her successful run with a hard-fought 14-11 victory in opposition to Sahaja and Sriram Balaji.
In males’s singles class, Dan Evans pulled issues again for Gurgaon Grand Slammers with a 16-9 win in opposition to Ramkumar Ramanathan.
Within the males’s doubles class, SG Pipers Bengaluru prevailed courtesy the duo of Bopanna and Ramanathan, successful 15-10 in opposition to Balaji and Evans. With that win, SG Pipers Bengaluru started its marketing campaign with a 56-44 victory.
Defending champion Hyderabad Strikers took the court docket to face Rajasthan Rangers within the second recreation.
Carole Monnet acquired the Strikers off to a successful begin with an 18-7 win in opposition to Ekaterina Kazionova within the girls’s singles class.
Kazionova and Dhakshineswar Suresh clinched the blended doubles recreation for Rajasthan Rangers, successful 13-12 in opposition to Carole Monnet and Vishnu Vardhan.
Within the males’s singles class, Darderi received 15-10 in opposition to Pedro Martinez to mount Rajasthan Rangers’ fightback. Darderi and Suresh received 17-8 in opposition to Vishnu Vardhan and Martinez, serving to Rajasthan Rangers safe an in depth 52-48 win.
– PTI.
Printed on Dec 09, 2025