Mahesh Bhupathi sees bright future for Padel sports
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The Hindu
9 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Tejas Shirse clocks new Season's Best timing, finishes second at World Athletics Challenger level meet
Indian hurdler Tejas Shirse clocked a new Season's Best timing to finish second overall in the men's 110m hurdles on Saturday at the Meeting voor Mon — a World Athletics Challenger level meet — in Belgium. The 23-year-old finished his heat in 13.51 seconds, which was the second-fastest timing amongst 19 participants. Shirse is the current National Record holder in the men's 110m hurdles after he clocked 13.41s last year, breaking the previous National Record of 13.48s set by Siddhanth Thingalaya in 2017. More to follow... Related Topics Tejas Shirse
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First Post
9 minutes ago
- First Post
Rising star Divya Deshmukh can prove Garry Kasparov wrong, follow Judit Polgar's footsteps; here's how
After winning the 2025 Women's Chess World Cup in style and becoming India's 88th Grandmaster, Divya Deshmukh faces a brand new challenge – that of competing in the 'Open' category of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss, alongside reigning world champion D Gukesh among others. Indian Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh could follow Judit Polgar's footsteps in proving Garry Kasparov's infamous quote on female players wrong as she competes in the 'Open' category of the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss. Image: FIDE/Reuters Divya Deshmukh has been the biggest talking point in Indian chess recently, with the 19-year-old charting a sensational journey to victory at the FIDE Women's World Cup in Georgia's Batumi last month. Divya had entered the tournament as an International Master but left with the word 'Grandmaster' next to her name, acquiring the title without having to fulfill the three norms. Along the way, she defeated three players ranked in the world top-10 including veteran GM Koneru Humpy in a historic all-Indian final. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The young star, who qualified for next year's Women's Candidates along with Humpy, faces a brand new challenge – that of competing in the 'Open' category at the upcoming FIDE Grand Swiss tournament. Divya, after all, has received a wildcard entry into the 'Open' category along with Russia's Aleksandra Goryachkina, and is part of a stacked field that also comprises reigning Classical world champion D Gukesh as well as Indian No 1 R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi. What Kasparov had said about female chess players back in 1989 In the process, Divya has the opportunity to follow the legendary Judit Polgar's footsteps in proving Russian chess icon Garry Kasparov's controversial quote on female chess players wrong. 'Well, in the past, I have said that there is real chess and women's chess. Some people don't like to hear this, but chess does not fit women properly. It's a fight, you know? A big fight. It's not for women. Sorry. She's helpless if she has men's opposition,' Kasparov, counted among the greatest chess players of all time, had told the Playboy magazine in 1989. 'I think this is very simple logic. It's the logic of a fighter, a professional fighter. Women are weaker fighters,' he added. Polgar, of course, would force Kasparov to take back his comment with a trailblazing career in which the Hungarian GM became the only woman to break into the FIDE Classical top-10 in the 'Open' category and achieve an ELO rating above 2700. 'Makes complete sense to compete in a stronger event' Though Divya has a long way to go if she is to emulate Polgar's rich legacy, GM Shyam Sundar Mohanraj, a chess coach who has worked with several Indian women players in the past, feels she certainly is on the right track at the moment. 'At this age, especially, she will of course be very ambitious and focus on reaching 2700, which is a dream for any player. She is close to 2500 now, so it makes complete sense to compete in a stronger event. She will be playing more GMs, and she can test her preparation and how determined she is to give a strong comeback,' Shyam Sundar told The Times of India. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Even if she scores less than 50 per cent out of the possible 11 rounds, still it will be a good experience for her, regardless of the rating, whatever happens, minus 10, 30, whatever it is, it will be a much-needed and greater experience. At a young age, Judith Polgar started playing in the Open sections, and that is how she became strong in the way,' he added. The FIDE Grand Swiss takes place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan from 3 to 15 September, with the top two players set to qualify for next year's Candidates Tournament.
NDTV
13 minutes ago
- NDTV
"You're Smelling Like Indian Curry": Irfan Pathan Reveals Facing Racial Remarks During 2008 Perth Test
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan recently revealed the reason behind his famous 'tongue out' celebration from the 2008 Test against Australia in Perth. Irfan had a great career with India, where he played 169 international matches and scored 2821 runs. Apart from this, he also scalped 293 wickets. He gave many match-winning performances for India and retired as one of the greats in 2012. If he talk about the rivalry, India and Australia share a cut-throat competition with each other and over the years, fans have witnessed a tough fight during their games. During the 2008, a similar incident took place, which left Irfan fuming. The former all-rounder revealed that he was facing racial remarks from Australian fans while he was fielding at the boundary line. "When I was fielding at the boundary line, they targeted me by saying things like, 'You have eaten Indian curry, you're smelling like Indian curry.' The Australian crowd try to get under your skin. I didn't change my field position and instead gave them replies," Irfan said during an interview with The Lallantop. "When I took a wicket, I took my tongue out to indicate that my tongue is very clean and there's no smell. So, that celebration was for the crowd," he added. For the unversed, India went on to win the Pert Test in 2008 by 72 runs. Irfan was awarded the Player of the Match for his all-round performance. He scored 28 and 26 runs with the bat and also scalped five wickets. Irfan also narrated the tale of his ouster from the Indian team, recalling how former captain MS Dhoni forced him out of the team in spite of him performing well and winning games for the side. "It was back in 2009, when we were in New Zealand. Before that, my brother (Yusuf Pathan) and I had won matches in Sri Lanka. The situation in which we had pulled a win - if it had been anyone else in our place, they wouldn't have been dropped for a year. In that match against Sri Lanka, we needed 60 runs from just 27-28 balls, and we won it from there," Irfan told The Lallantop. "In New Zealand, I was benched for the first match, the second match, and the third match as well. The fourth match was a draw because of rain. I wasn't in the final match either. Then I asked Gary sir why I had been dropped. If there was something I needed to improve, he could tell me, but I wanted to know the reason I was left out," he added.
