Sports

Sai Shiva Sankaran, left, who won the MRF F1600, and Arjun Chheda, the MRF F2000 winner.

Divine Art, Waitara, Run For The Sun, Mighty Hero and Aldgate impressed when the horses were exercised here on Saturday morning (July 19)

Inner sand:

600m: Assurance (rb), Star Honour (Siddaraju) 40. Former finished four lengths ahead.

1400m: Chicago Chimes (Koshi K), Golden Thunder (Bhawani) 1-38, 1,200/1-24, 1,000/1-9, 600/41. They moved freely.

Outer sand:

600m: Highland Dreams (B. Nayak) 44. Moved well. Best Of Us (Suraj) 44.5. Easy. Shellacking (Qureshi) 45. Moved freely.

1000m: Dubai Safari (Qureshi) 1-11, 600/42. Strode out well. Aldgate (Antony) 1-11, 600/41.5. Pleased. Fils De France (Antony) 1-15, 600/44. Moved freely. Run For The Sun (Antony) 1-9.5, 600/41.5. Moved attractively. Ceremonial (Antony) 1-13, 600/45.5. Easy. Power Of Beauty (Anish) 1-13.5, 600/41. Moved fluently. Romping Home (Peter) 1-14.5, 600/44. Moved well. Divine Art (Suraj) 1-11, 600/41. A fine display.

1200m: Sir Winston (rb) 1-29.5, 1,000/1-12.5, 600/43.5. Worked well. Chinky Pinky (rb) 1-30.5, 1,000/1-14.5, 600/45. Easy. Victoria Doresaani (Rosario), Zeppelin (Arvind) 1-27.5, 1,000/1-11.5, 600/43. A notable pair. Never Give In (Antony) 1-27, 1,000/1-12, 600/42. Shaped well. Waitara (C. Umesh) 1-23.5, 1,000/1-8.5, 600/41. Responded well to the urgings. Elveden (Antony) 1-27.5, 1,000/1-13, 600/43. In fine trim.

1400m: Mighty Hero (C. Umesh) 1-42, 1,200/1-25, 1,000/1-9.5, 600/42. Impressed. Alamgir (Pavan), Zephyrine (Arvind) 1-46.5, 1,200/1-30.5, 1,000/1-15.5, 600/44.5. They moved on the bit. N R I Victory (Qureshi) 1-45.5, (1,400-600) 58.5. Eased up. Mayne Magic (Antony) 1-43.5, 1,200/1-27, 1,000/1-11.5, 600/42. In fine nick. Unforgettable Star (Prabhakaran) 1-45, 1,200/1-30, 1,000/1-15.5, 600/45. In fine shape.

Outer sand – July 18:

600m: Bezawada Sultan (Bhawani) 46. Easy.

1200m: N R I Ace (Qureshi) 1-26, 1,000/1-12, 600/43.5. Pleased. Dun It Again (Sai Kiran), Laamika (G. Vivek) 1-24, 1,000/1-10, 60043. They moved impressively. N R I Victory (Qureshi) 1-31, (1,200-600) 44. Eased up.

1400m: Sativur (G. Vivek) 1-39, 1,200/1-24.5, 1,000/1-10, 600/41. A good display.

Published – July 19, 2025 07:13 pm IST

Irfan Ghatala trained Victor Hugo (G. Vivek up) won the Karnataka Police Cup (1,800m), the feature event of the races held here on Saturday (July 19). The winner is owned by Mr. Ananda C.

The results

1. AMAZING GRACE PLATE(1,400m):MY SOLITAIRE (Antony) 1, Flamingo Dream (Jagadeesh) 2, Embosom (G. Vivek) 3 and Turkoman (Darshan) 4. 1, 1-1/4 and 3-1/2. 1m 31.43s. Rs. 37 (w), 12, 18 and 14 (p), SHP: 51, THP: 43, FP: 190, Q: 114, Trinella: 310/135, Exacta: 1,495/993. Favourite: Embosom.

Owner: Mr. Ramesh R. Trainer: S. Shoban Babu.

2. BOLD GESTURE PLATE (1,200m): GOLDEN GLORY (Aleemuddin) 1, Totally Epic (Abhishek Mhatre) 2, Jully (Asirvatham) 3 and Absolute Katrina (Dhanu S) 4. Not run: Amazing Storm and Golden Gallery. 1, 4 and 1-1/4. 1m 16.53s. Rs. 107 (w), 22, 14 and 28 (p), SHP: 33, THP: 75, FP: 1,236, Q: 430, Trinella: 5,266/2,031, Exacta: 57,308 (carried over)/24,560. Favourite: She’s So Beautiful.

Owners: Mr. Ashok Ranpise, Mr. Teja Gollapudi & Dr. Prabhakar Chowdary Tripuraneni. Trainer: S. Narredu.

3. YERAVADA STUD PLATE (1,400m): RIEKO (Sai Kiran) 1, Chardikala (Sandesh) 2, Forest Fragrance (Hindu S) 3 and Stravinsky (Angad) 4. 3/4, 1/2 and 1-1/4. 1m 28.17s. Rs. 58 (w), 18, 17 and 20 (p), SHP: 36, THP: 43, FP: 838, Q: 379, Trinella: 1,963/701, Exacta: 21,348/16,011. Favourite: Aquastic.

Owner: Mr. P. Arun Kumar. Trainer: Pradeep Annaiah.

4. DR. K.M. SRINIVASA GOWDA MEMORIAL CUP (1,400m): SCENT OF RAIN (Trevor) 1, Vibrant Queen (G. Vivek) 2, Blue Storm (Arvind K) 3 and Husanara (Suraj) 4. 4-1/4, 1-1/4 and 5-1/2. 1m 30.00s. Rs. 19 (w), 11, 16 and 25 (p), SHP: 36, THP: 52, FP: 63, Q: 53, Trinella: 577/217, Exacta: 646/192. Favourite: Scent Of Rain.

Owners: Mr. Marthand Singh Mahindra & Mrs. Rina Mahindra. Trainer: S. Attaollahi.

5. KARNATAKA POLICE CUP (1,800m): VICTOR HUGO (G. Vivek) 1, Secret Saint (Trevor) 2, Forseti (A. Ramu) 3 and The Leader (Neeraj) 4. 15-1/4, 1-1/4 and Nk. 1m 58.32s. Rs. 25 (w), 19 and 11 (p), SHP: 26, THP: 54, FP: 37, Q: 20, Trinella: 273/201, Exacta: 464/89. Favourite: Secret Saint.

Owner: Mr. Ananda C. Trainer: Irfan Ghatala.

Note: Due to underfoot condition not conducive for racing, the Stewards of the Bangalore Turf Club, have decided to postpone the last race of the day to Sunday’s first race at 1.30 p.m.

Jackpot: Rs. 11,885 (paid on fourth leg) (49 tkts); Treble (i): 8,002 (carried over); (ii): 52 (paid on (second leg) (468 tkts).

Published – July 19, 2025 06:27 pm IST

Medusa, Doctor Dolly and Esconido impressed when the horses were exercised here on Saturday (July 19) morning.

Inner sand:

600m: Neutralist (A. Gaikwad) 39. Moved freely. Gobby (Prasad) 39. Moved freely.

800m: Encino (Nirmal), Multiverse (Ranjane) 56, 600/41. Former ended four lengths in front. Viking (Ramswarup), Golden Kingdom (Nirmal) 56, 600/42. Former better. Betsy (Merchant), Oh Kay (Gore) 52, 600/39. Former was superior. Son Of A Gun (Mustakim) 53, 600/40. Moved fluently. Silver Strike (Zameer), Bravo Zulu (Merchant) 55, 600/40. Pair moved level freely. El Greco (Ajinkya) 57, 600/42. Easy.

1000m: Doctor Dolly (Merchant), Surfrider/Light (Zameer) 1-6, 800/51, 600/39. Former strode out well and finished four lengths ahead. Medusa (Merchant) 1-5, 800/51, 600/38. Responded well to the urgings. Dream Alliance (Nirmal) 1-9, 600/41. Moved freely. Royal Champ (Nirmal) 1-7, 800/52, 600/39. Worked well. Tyrannus (Mosin) 1-8, 800/52, 600/39. Urged. The Milenium Force (T.S. Jodha), The Athabasca (Ajinkya) 1-7, 800/52, 600/39. They moved neck and neck freely. Social Butterfly (Mosin) 1-6, 800/52, 600/38. Slightly urged. Kissed By The Sea (Kirtish) 1-8, 600/42. Moved freely.

1200m: Exciting (Kirtish), Brasilier (Siddharth) 1-26, 600/42. They were easy. Nostalgia (Hamir), Phantasmique (Mustakim) 1-22, 600/39. Former was well in hand while the latter who started three lengths behind was urged to end level.

1400m: Golden Dancer (Mosin) 1-37, 800/53, 600/39. Urged in the last part.

Gate practice noted on the inner sand:

1000m: Lara (Mosin), Riptide (Mustakim) and Arlington Heights (A. Prakash) 1-8, 800/53, 600/41. Lara finished four lengths ahead of Riptide who further finished four lengths ahead of the last name. Esconido (Mosin) 1-6, 800/51, 600/38. Jumped out well and moved attractively. Surrealist (Kirtish) 1-7, 800/52, 600/39. Moved well.

Mock race noted on July 18:

Race track:

1200m: Celestial (Siddharth), Golden Sparsh (S. Amit), Quicker (Bharat), Magical Moments (C. Umesh), Fidato (Mustakim), Desert Charm (Gagandeep), Bluebird (Kirtish) and Dash (S.J. Sunil) 1-11, 600/36. Won by: 3, Short Neck and 3-1/4. Celestial, who was racing fourth till the bend, easily covered the leeway and won the race by three lengths. Bluebird shifted out soon after the start and refused to gallop, while Dash planted into the starting stalls.

Second mock race:

1400m: Alexandros (Neeraj), Field Of Dreams (Gore), King Ke (A. Prakash), Allez Etoile (C. Umesh), Ardakan (Ajinkya), El Moran (Mustakim), Alpine Star (app), Enforcer (Yash), Caradoc (N. Bhosale) and Jade (Kirtish) 1-28, 600/37. 3/4, 1-1/2 and Neck. Alexandros and Field Of Dreams, who were racing in fourth and fifth positions respectively, made smooth progress and finished in that order.

Published – July 19, 2025 05:46 pm IST

Veteran India pacer Mohammed Shami, who has been out of action since IPL 2025 and is not part of India’s ongoing Test tour of England, was on Saturday named in Bengal’s 50-member list of probables for the upcoming domestic season.

The list, released by the Cricket Association of Bengal, also includes pacer Akash Deep and top-order batter Abhimanyu Easwaran, who are both currently touring England with the Indian team.

It also includes right-arm seamer Mukesh Kumar and senior batter Anustup Majumdar, who is likely to lead Bengal again.

Spin bowling all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed, who is currently recovering from an injury sustained in the Bengal Pro League T20, and wicketkeeper-batter Abishek Porel are also among the probables who will attend a preseason camp, the date and venue of which is yet to be announced.

Shami could also feature for East Zone in the season-opening Duleep Trophy, which returns to its traditional inter-zonal format this year and begins on August 28.

The tournament may mark Shami’s return to competitive cricket.

The 33-year-old Shami, who has played 64 Tests, 108 ODIs and 25 T20Is, last turned out for India in their triumphant campaign in the Champions Trophy early this year after recovering from an ankle injury.

He picked up nine wickets in five matches — joint-highest for India alongside Varun Chakravarthy, who took his nine in just three games — as India defeated New Zealand in the final.

But Shami was below par in the IPL, where he turned out for his new franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad and managed just six wickets in nine innings at an economy rate of 11.23.

He had earlier returned to international cricket in the T20I series at home against England in January this year, having last played in the ODI World Cup final in November 2023.

Shami had made a domestic comeback with Bengal in the last season, where he played across all formats, but was not picked for the tour of Australia.

Bengal’s probables

Mohammed Shami, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Anustup Majumdar, Sudip Chatterjee, Sudip Kumar Gharami, Abishek Porel (wk), Shakir Habib Gandhi (wk), Kazi Junaid Saifi, Shahbaz Ahamed, Pradipta Pramanik, Writtick Chatterjee, Karan Lal, Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar, Sindhu Jaiswal, Ishan Porel, Mohammed Kaif, Subham Chatterjee, Sumanta Gupta, Chinmoy Jain, Ranjot Singh Khaira, Ankur Paul, Rahul Kundu, Aditya Purohit, Gaurav Singh Chauhan, Saurabh Kumar Singh, Aishik Patel, Priyanshu Srivastava, Ankit Chatterjee, Saksham Chaudhary, Aamir Gani, Vikash Singh (Junior), Rishabh Chaudhary, Raju Halder, Shreyan Chakraborty, Sourav Halder, Rahul Prasad, Ankit Mishra, Subham Sarkar, Vishal Bhati, Rohit, Rohit Kumar, Rishabh Vivek, Sumit Mohanta, Kanishk Seth, Sandipan Das (Junior), Sayan Ghosh, Nuruddin Mondal, Soummyadip Mandal and Yudhajit Guha.

Published – July 19, 2025 04:24 pm IST

File photo of Antim Panghal.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Hockey India on Saturday (July 19, 2025) announced a 40-member core probable group for the upcoming senior women’s national coaching camp, which will be held at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre in Bengaluru from July 21 to August 29.

The camp holds significance as the Indian women’s hockey team gears up for the women’s Asia Cup, set to begin on September 5 in Hangzhou, China.

The tournament will serve as a direct qualification pathway for the 2026 FIH Women’s World Cup, with only the champion earning a guaranteed spot.

All players from the previous camp have been retained, reflecting a continued emphasis on stability and long-term development under the current coaching setup.

“This camp comes at a very critical juncture for us. The Asia Cup is not just a prestigious continental tournament, but also a direct route to the 2026 World Cup. We are treating this camp with utmost intensity and focus to ensure we arrive in Hangzhou as a mentally and physically prepared unit,” Indian women’s hockey team chief coach Harendra Singh said in a release.

“We have retained the core from the last camp to maintain consistency in our approach, while also allowing the younger players more time to integrate into the senior structure. After a tough Pro League campaign in Europe, where we couldn’t produce the results we wanted, this camp also gives us a chance to reset, refocus, and bounce back stronger. Moreover, we have identified critical angles in penalty corner defence, which was a key area of concern during the Pro League.”

The goalkeeping unit features experienced stalwarts Savita, Bichu Devi Kharibam, Bansari Solanki, and Madhuri Kindo, along with rising talent Samiksha Saxena from Assam Hockey, who impressed selectors with her performances at the National Championships earlier this year.

The defence line-up comprises seasoned names such as Nikki Pradhan, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Udita, and Mahima Chaudhary, bolstered by emerging players like Ishika Chaudhary, Jyoti Chhatri, Anjna Dungdung, Akshata Abaso Dhekale, and Suman Devi Thoudam.

In midfield, the group continues to rely on the experience of Neha, Salima Tete, Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke, Manisha Chauhan, and Sharmila Devi, while also nurturing young talents like Sujata Kujur, Mahima Tete, Albela Rani Toppo, and Pooja Yadav.

The forward line features a strong mix of agility and finishing ability, with players like Navneet Kaur, Deepika Soreng, Sangita Kumari, Rutuja Dadaso Pisal, Mumtaz Khan, Beauty Dungdung, Annu, Hritika Singh, Dipimonika Toppo, Chandana Jagadish, and Kajal Sadashiv Atpadkar all named in the squad.

Notably, the Indian team will look to build on past successes in Asia and redeem themselves after a challenging outing in the recently concluded FIH Pro League, where they struggled to find form during the European leg.

Indian women’s hockey team new 40-member senior core group:

Goalkeepers: Savita, Bichu Devi Kharibam, Bansari Solanki, Madhuri Kindo, Samiksha Saxena.

Defenders: Mahima Chaudhary, Nikki Pradhan, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Udita, Ishika Chaudhary, Jyoti Chhatri, Jyoti, Akshata Abaso Dhekale, Anjna Dungdung, Suman Devi Thoudam.

Midfielders: Sujata Kujur, Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke, Neha, Salima Tete, Manisha Chauhan, Ajmina Kujur, Sunelita Toppo, Lalremsiami, Sharmila Devi, Baljeet Kaur, Mahima Tete, Albela Rani Toppo, Pooja Yadav.

Forwards: Dipimonika Toppo, Hritika Singh, Deepika Soreng, Navneet Kaur, Sangita Kumari, Deepika, Rutaja Dadaso Pisal, Beauty Dungdung, Mumtaz Khan, Annu, Chandana Jagadish, Kajal Sadashiv Atpadkar.

Published – July 19, 2025 02:18 pm IST

India’s captain Shubman Gill arrives for a training session ahead of the fourth Test cricket match between India and England, at The County Ground, in Beckenham, England, Thursday, July 17, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI