Sports

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to virtually attend the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), to be held in Dhaka on Thursday. The meeting will seal the fate of the Asia Cup, scheduled to be hosted by India in September.

Over the last week, in the backdrop of the political tension between India and Bangladesh, the BCCI had threatened to boycott the AGM. But on Wednesday, a senior BCCI functionary, preferring anonymity, confirmed to The Hindu that the BCCI will “act as a big brother and attend the tournament virtually”.

It is understood that besides BCCI, Sri Lanka Cricket will also attend the proceedings through videoconferencing. It is also understood that attempts were made to have Afghanistan and Oman to skip the AGM in order to ensure lack of a quorum at the AGM, but the ACC chief Mohsin Naqvi ensured the AGM wasn’t in jeopardy.

The BCCI thus agreed to join the proceedings. The AGM, in all likelihood, will confirm that the 2025 Asia Cup – uncertain in the aftermath of the Operation Sindoor – will be hosted by the BCCI in the United Arab Emirates. While a proposal of asking BCCI to host the tournament in India is also likely to be tabled, UAE has emerged as the consensus venue for all the major Boards involved.

Emami East Bengal asserted its superiority with a convincing 5-0 win over debutant South United FC in the opening Group-A match of the 134th edition of the Durand Cup football tournament at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Wednesday.

Defender Lalchungnunga opened the scoring early in the first half before Saul Crespo netted a penalty to make it 2-0.

Bipin Singh made a fine debut for East Bengal as he found the net within minutes after his introduction late in the second half. Dimitrios Diamantakos, also coming in as a substitute, scored from a free-kick to enhance East Bengal’s tally before Naorem Mahesh Singh provided the finishing touch with a nice long-ranger in the penultimate minute of the match.

Outplayed

It was a harrowing debut for South United as the Bengaluru-based team was unable to find its footing against the might of the ISL side East Bengal, which dominated the action with over 70% ball possession.

South United, whose best show so far has been playing in the I-League 2, had to rely on its local league recruits against a much-higher budget opponent which also fielded three foreigners.

The result: Group-A: Emami East Bengal 5 (Lalchungnunga 12, Crespo 37-pen, Bipin Singh 79, Diamantakos 86, Mahesh Singh 89) bt South United FC 0.

Regina Memorabilis and Legacy caught the eye when the horses were exercised here on Wednesday (July 23) morning.

Inner sand:

1000m: Legacy (Yash), Hooves Of Thunder (S.J. Sunil) 1-6, 800/51, 600/38. Former strode out well and finished a distance ahead. Wrangler (Hamir), Epic Endeavour (Mosin) 1-8, 600/39. They moved level freely.

1400m: Absolute Gorgeous (Pranil), Desert Classic (Ajinkya) 1-38, 1200/1-23, 1000/1-8, 800/54, 600/41. Former trounced the latter by a distance. Regina Memorabilis (Hamir) 1-36, 1200/1-21, 1000/1-6, 800/52, 600/39. Responded well.

England skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bowl against India in the fourth Test here on Wednesday.

Grappling with a spate of injuries, India made three changes to their playing XI, bringing in Sai Sudharsan, Shardul Thakur and Anshul Kamboj in place of Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy and Akash Deep.

England also made a change with Liam Dawson replacing fellow spinner Shoaib Bashir, who suffered a hand injury in the third Test at the Lord’s.

England is currently leading the five-match series 2-1.

Teams

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (w), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Anshul Kamboj

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (w), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer.

Double Olympic medallist and former world champion P V Sindhu overcame sixth seed Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan 21-15, 8-21, 21-17 to reach the round of 16 at the China Open Super 1000 event on Wednesday.

Sindhu started strongly, reeling off seven consecutive points to lead 13-5 in the opening game before sealing it comfortably.

In the second game, Miyazaki fought back brilliantly, taking nine points in a row to lead 12-8 before restoring parity.

Sindhu regained control in the decider, maintaining a steady lead to close out the contest and secure a hard-fought win in 62 minutes.

Currently ranked 15th in the world, Sindhu was facing the 18-year-old world No. 6 Miyazaki for the second time, having lost to the Japanese youngster at the Swiss Open last year.

Last week, Sindhu had suffered a first-round exit at the Super 750 Japan Open, losing 15-21, 14-21 to Korea’s Sim Yu Jin — her fifth first-round defeat this year.

The Indian ace is hoping to bounce back from a string of early exits this season, which includes first or second-round losses at the Indonesia Open, Singapore Open, Malaysia Masters, Asian Championships, Swiss Open, All England Open and Indonesia Masters.

Meanwhile, the world No. 15 men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made a strong start, defeating Japan’s Kenya Mitsuhashi and Hiroki Okamura 21-13, 21-9 in just 31 minutes.

The Indian duo combined well to keep their opponents under constant pressure, winning the first game comfortably before wrapping up the second even more emphatically.

The former world No. 1 pair will be looking to break their semi-final jinx this season, having reached the last four at the Malaysia Open, India Open and Singapore Open.

However, it was disappointment for the women’s doubles team of Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda, who lost to Hong Kong’s Nga Ting Yeung Yeung and Pui Lam Yeung 12-21, 13-21 in 31 minutes.

Not being able to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics made India’s top fencer Bhavani Devi’s days and nights longer. She didn’t speak to her family for a while drowning in sorrow, disappointment and introspection.

Like a true professional, she, however, quickly regrouped and has been fervently with her coach Christian Bauer in Padua (Italy) despite results not being favourable in quite a few tournaments.

Never a quitter, the 31-year-old is gearing up to put her best foot forward in the individual women’s sabre event of the World fencing championships to be held at Tbilisi (Georgia) from July 26 (Worlds are from July 22 to 30).

“This is going to be my fifth World championships in the senior category. I want this to be my best. My best result in Worlds was reaching the round-of-16 in the 2019 edition. I am looking forward to my event on 26th,” said Bhavani to The Hindu in a recent interaction from Padua.

Training with Bauer, Bhavani said has been an experience in itself. “He is a strict taskmaster. He is one of the best coaches in the world. It’s not easy to train under him. We have to learn and adapt quickly. Our working relationship is getting better,” she said.

In the last 12 months, Bhavani has participated in two Asian championships, in Kuwait and Bali, four World Cups in Oran (Algeria), Greece, Peru and Sint-Niklaas (Belgium) and two Grand Prix in Seoul (South Korea) and Tunisia. Her best has been reaching the round of 32 in Oran.

While admitting that her performance has not been great, Bhavani insisted she is slowly getting to her best.

“I feel in the last three competitions, there has been improvements, especially after the Asian championship in Bali (from June 17 to 23 2025; Bhavani reached the pre-quarterfinals). I felt as if I was playing well as I did during training sessions. Mentally and physically, I am feeling better,” the Tokyo Olympian and the first fencer from India to make it to the quadrennial event, said.

Bhavani, the 12-time Senior National champion, said it took time for her to come to terms with not being able to make the cut to the Paris Olympics. She said her faith in the process kept her going, the nagging shoulder problem notwithstanding.

“I had pain in my (right) shoulder during the 2024 Asian championships. There were few who suggested I go for surgery. In August-September 2024, I did rehab in Bengaluru under physiotherapist Yash Pandey. I focused on my recovery and am perfectly fine now,” she said, while thanking Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu for its continued support.

Not being able to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics made India’s top fencer Bhavani Devi’s days and nights longer. She didn’t speak to her family for a while drowning in sorrow, disappointment and introspection.

Like a true professional, she, however, quickly regrouped and has been fervently with her coach Christian Bauer in Padua (Italy) despite results not being favourable in quite a few tournaments.

Never a quitter, the 31-year-old is gearing up to put her best foot forward in the individual women’s sabre event of the World fencing championships to be held at Tbilisi (Georgia) from July 26 (Worlds are from July 22 to 30).

“This is going to be my fifth World championships in the senior category. I want this to be my best. My best result in Worlds was reaching the round-of-16 in the 2019 edition. I am looking forward to my event on 26th,” said Bhavani to The Hindu in a recent interaction from Padua.

Training with Bauer, Bhavani said has been an experience in itself. “He is a strict taskmaster. He is one of the best coaches in the world. It’s not easy to train under him. We have to learn and adapt quickly. Our working relationship is getting better,” she said.

In the last 12 months, Bhavani has participated in two Asian championships, in Kuwait and Bali, four World Cups in Oran (Algeria), Greece, Peru and Sint-Niklaas (Belgium) and two Grand Prix in Seoul (South Korea) and Tunisia. Her best has been reaching the round of 32 in Oran.

While admitting that her performance has not been great, Bhavani insisted she is slowly getting to her best.

“I feel in the last three competitions, there has been improvements, especially after the Asian championship in Bali (from June 17 to 23 2025; Bhavani reached the pre-quarterfinals). I felt as if I was playing well as I did during training sessions. Mentally and physically, I am feeling better,” the Tokyo Olympian and the first fencer from India to make it to the quadrennial event, said.

Bhavani, the 12-time Senior National champion, said it took time for her to come to terms with not being able to make the cut to the Paris Olympics. She said her faith in the process kept her going, the nagging shoulder problem notwithstanding.

“I had pain in my (right) shoulder during the 2024 Asian championships. There were few who suggested I go for surgery. In August-September 2024, I did rehab in Bengaluru under physiotherapist Yash Pandey. I focused on my recovery and am perfectly fine now,” she said, while thanking Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu for its continued support.

Venus Williams said she still has fire in her belly after the 45-year-old became the oldest player to win a WTA singles match since 2004 with her 6-3 6-4 victory over Peyton Stearns at the Washington Open on Tuesday (July 22, 2025).

Having returned to competitive action on Monday in the women’s doubles following a 16-month absence from the game, Williams defeated world number 35 Stearns to claim her first singles win since 2023 in Cincinnati.

The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion is the oldest WTA singles match-winner since a 47-year-old Martina Navratilova won at Wimbledon in 2004.

“I think I just attacked the whole time. It’s just trying to find the right balance between going to hard and not enough,” Williams said after the opening-round win.

“It’s the same because this is what I do, but at the same time, at the time it was imperative for me to do it. Now I don’t have to do this, but I have the same fire and the same want to win.

“In some ways, I’m still getting back into that. When you do it everyday, everything is natural. Not as natural feeling now, but I hope I can get back to that.”

Williams will next face Polish fifth seed Magdalena Frech.

“I think it was a big win for me today. Like I said, it’s not easy. It won’t be easy. It’s not easy for anyone out here,” Williams said.

“So I know I’ll have to fight for every match, but I’m up for that.”

Emma Raducanu was among the big names that progressed after the 2021 U.S. Open champion beat Ukrainian seventh seed Marta Kostyuk 7-6(4) 6-4 in her opener. The 22-year-old Briton will next face four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka.

“I think it’s a great match for a lot of spectators, which is great to be a part of,” Raducanu told reporters. “She’s been playing really good tennis this year. Yeah, it will be a great test of my own game and myself.”

Grandmaster Koneru Humpy held China’s Tingjie Lei to a comfortable draw with black pieces, while Divya Deshmukh’s solid defence frustrated former women’s world champion Zhongyi Tan in the first game of the FIDE Women’s World Cup semifinals here on Tuesday (July 22, 2025).

With two Indians and two Chinese making up the final-four, the Asian dominance in women’s chess remains undisputed. But it’s now a battle of nerves for the final two spots.

From the look of it, the two Indians have had a great beginning drawing with black and in the return game both will play as white.

If the results remain tied in this $691,250 event, then the games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.

Also, three spots are up for grabs for the next Women’s Candidates Tournament— ensuring at least one Indian will qualify.

Divya was the first to get off the hook against Zhongyi Tan who boasts of a remarkable resume as a woman chess player.

The former world champion did not find any flaws in Divya’s opening repertoire as the game embarked on a queen’s gambit declined opening path.

Divya exchanged pieces almost at will and Zhongyi also did not seem averse to equalising against an active position for black forces.

In the end the players were left with just a rook and a minor piece each with three pawns on the same flank when nothing could have happened other than a drawn result.

India’s top woman player, Humpy, came up with a huge opening surprise for Lei that has not been seen at top level chess regularly.

The Chinese did not know what hit her as early as on move four and even her best resources were not enough to combat Humpy into equalising.

The players fought on post the exchange of queens in the middle game but the presence of opposite coloured Bishops ensured that Humpy was never in any danger.

Results (Semifinal Game 1): TIngjie Lei (CHN) drew with Koneru Humpy (IND); Zhongyi Tan (CHN) drew with Divya Deshmukh (IND).