Sports

The Union Government highlighted the way for National Sports Federations, State Governments, and Corporate houses towards playing a major role in taking Indian sports forward in the global arena, at the Khelo Bharat Conclave on Thursday.

“Sports is a public movement. We can set goals and achieve them only if we all work together,” said the Union Sports Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya.

The Conclave saw four presentations on Sports governance reforms, Khelo Bharat Niti, India’s medal-winning roadmap and the ‘One Corporate One Sport’ initiative. Every presentation was followed by an interactive session.

“By employing this integrated policy, India can shine in the world of entertainment, generate jobs and provide direction to the youth of India,” said the Minister of State for Sports, Raksha Khadse.

“I urge the National Sports Federations to provide a five-year policy by August and then we can develop a 10-year plan. With the Asian Games next year, we need a holistic approach because we not only want to win medals in the Olympics, but make sports a commercial property, inviting the world to come and play in India and boost sports tourism. We are happy to provide all support to NSFs, but we will also look at performance based grants,” Mandaviya said.

Apart from good governance, there was discussion on improving the quality of coaches and sports administrators, enhance sports goods business and address the menace of doping.

 As India trained at the Beckenham County Ground on a cloudy Thursday morning, after a two-day break, Kuldeep Yadav bowled to Karun Nair and Abhimanyu Easwaran in one of the nets for about an hour. Not in a stretch, but at frequent intervals.

Since landing in England nearly a month ago, this has been Kuldeep’s routine — turn up for training, bowl in the nets, and then warm the bench as the morning of the match dawns. He had to wait in Leeds, then in Birmingham, and as India went with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar at Lord’s, all the left-arm wrist-spinner could do was train alone at the Nursery Ground in between the sessions.

But with some sort of turn expected at Old Trafford, will Kuldeep get his chance?

Farokh Engineer, who has been a resident of Manchester for years and knows the conditions well, believes that India should bring Kuldeep in and leave Nitish Kumar Reddy out. Former England captain Allan Lamb, however, has a slightly different take on the matter.

Knowing the Old Trafford surface inside out, Lamb believes that Washington should make way for Kuldeep. “There’s one thing lacking in the Indian team. They do not have a [specialist] spinner. They gotta be playing Kuldeep. At Old Trafford, it does turn a bit, and I would have [played] him straight away,” Lamb told The Hindu.

In the last couple of games, India played Washington and Jadeja, keeping their all-round skills in mind. The former claimed key wickets at Lord’s while the latter fought a lone battle with the bat in the second innings.

“Washington and Jadeja are all-rounders, but they are more focused on their batting. I understand why India picked them because they were worried about their batting at the beginning. But now that’s not the case, the decision not to play Kuldeep surprises me,” Lamb said.

Ever since making his debut in March 2017 against Australia in Dharamshala, Kuldeep has featured in just 13 Tests across nine series, and went on to bag the Player-of-the-Match on a couple of occasions. While at home, he had to warm the bench due to the presence of R. Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar Patel for the longest time, on overseas tours, the team management’s decision to often not play more than one spinner meant either Jadeja or Ashwin made the cut.

With Ashwin walking into retirement and Jasprit Bumrah not available for more than three games, there were chances of the team management using Kuldeep as the specialist spinner in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

However, that hasn’t been the case so far.

Despite the fact that Kuldeep is not limited by conditions and has the ability to provide breakthroughs at crucial junctures, the team management looked beyond him in flat surfaces in Leeds and Birmingham.

But now, with the series on the line and the Old Trafford strip expected to aid the spinners a bit, will India finally play Kuldeep? Time will tell.

Indian shuttlers continued to falter at the Japan Open with Lakshya Sen and the star men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowing out in the second round to draw curtains on the country’s campaign at the Super 750 tournament in Tokyo on Thursday (July 17, 2025).

World No. 18 Lakshya’s inconsistent run resulted in a 19-21, 11-21 loss to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka in the men’s singles that lasted close to an hour.

The 23-year-old, who had looked promising in the opener with a commanding 21-11, 21-18 win over China’s Wang Zheng Xing, failed to carry the momentum forward.

In the men’s doubles, Satwik and Chirag were handed a 22-24, 14-21 defeat by the fifth-seeded Chinese combine of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in a battle between former world No. 1 pairs.

With this win, Paris Olympics silver medallists Wei Keng and Wang Chang extended their head-to-head lead over the Indians to 7-2.

After a slow start, the Indian pair did well to take an 18-14 lead but couldn’t hold on to the momentum as their Chinese counterparts sealed a thrilling first game.

The world number five Chinese duo continue in the same vein in the second game as Satwik and Chirag struggled with their smashes and defence to concede their fourth defeat on the trot to Wei Ken and Chang.

The lone surviving Indian, Anupama Upadhyaya fought hard against second seed Wang Zhi Hi of China before losing the round-of-16 match 21-13 11-21 12-21 in 55 minutes.

Cellini and Jackson shone when the horses were exercised here on Thursday (July 17) morning.

Inner sand: 600m: Divine Star (A. Gaikwad) 39. Moved freely. Foujita (Shahrukh) 37. Pressed. The Flutist (Merchant) 42. Easy. 800m: Zarak (Bharat) 54, 600/40. Moved freely. Fontana (Ajinkya) 55, 600/40. Easy. Viennoise (T.S. Jodha), Flashman (S. Amit) 55, 600/40. They ended level. Wild Child (Kishore), South Beach (Parmar) 57, 600/42. Pair level. Cellini (T.S. Jodha) 50, 600/37. Moved impressively. La Dolce Vita (T.S. Jodha) 54, 600/39. Moved fluently. Oh Kay (Gore) 57, 600/42. Easy. Azalea (A. Prakash), Solidarity (Kirtish) 56, 600/42. Pair level. Godess Of Dawn (rb) 54, 600/39. Worked freely. Zacharias (Kirtish) 53, 600/39. Moved fluently. Santissimo (Kirtish) 53, 600/39. Moved freely. Kissed By The Sea (Kirtish) 1400/600m 54. Easy.

1000m: Johnny Mac (A. Prakash) 1-7, 800/52, 600/39. Urged. Red Dust (Merchant) 1-8, 800/53, 600/40. Pushed. Prince Igor (Umesh) 1-10, 600/41. Moved freely. Northern Singer (Umesh) 1-9, 600/41. Good. Wrangler (Neeraj) 1-9, 800/55, 600/41. Worked well.

1200m: Treat (Neeraj) 1-26, 600/43. Easy. Jackson (Navnath) 1-22, 1000/1-8, 800/55, 600/42. Responded well. Little John (Gore) 1-24, 1000/1-10, 600/44. Pressed.

Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday (July 17, 2025) said the National Sports Governance Bill, which will be tabled in the Parliament during next week’s monsoon session, has been drafted with inputs from not just the stakeholders but also international bodies like the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and FIFA.

Addressing the one-day ‘Khelo Bharat Conclave’, featuring representatives from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), National Sports Federations (NSFs), the corporate world and athletes, the Minister reiterated his commitment to have the Bill passed for which he has even held discussions with former Sports Minister and Congress leader Ajay Maken.

Parliament Monsoon Session: Government to introduce eight new Bills

The Monsoon session of the Parliament will start on July 21. “I did a series of consultations with NSFs, athletes, coaches, also got 600 inputs from the public when the draft was put online for suggestions. I also had a three-hour meeting with sports lawyers to understand their perspective,” Mr. Mandaviya stated in his address.

“The IOC was consulted as well along with international sports federations. FIFA had a query and I sent an officer to their headquarters to discuss things with them. The National Sports Bill is now read and will be in Parliament during Monsoon session,” he added but did not go into the specifics.

The Bill seeks to make the country’s sports administrators more accountable with the provision of a regulatory board which would have the power to grant recognition and decide funding to NSFs based on their adherence to provisions related to good governance.

The board will also be responsible for ensuring compliance with the highest governance, financial, and ethical standards. In addition, the Bill proposes the establishment of Ethics Commissions and Dispute Resolution Commissions to ensure transparency in governance.

It has been opposed by the IOA, which feels that a regulatory board would undermine its standing as the nodal body for all NSFs.

“I spoke to Ajay Maken (senior Congress leader) too. He made a good effort to have this Bill passed,” said Mr. Mandaviya, referring to Mr. Maken’s aggressive push for cleaner sports governance during his eventful tenure that lasted a little over one year.

Governance reforms, which focus around timely elections, have been a thorny issue with prominent NSFs such as the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) being accused of dragging their feet on polls that have been long due.

The Minister avoided taking names but urged the administrators to rise above their personal interests. “Main nahi hum (We, not I), that should be the way forward. We have to introspect whether it’s enough to just grab the chair. We have to let go of ego. Give the seat to someone better if you see one,” he said. “Reforms is a step by step process,” he asserted.

Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa took down world number one Magnus Carlsen en route the top-bracket quarterfinals along with Arjun Erigaisi at the $750,000 Freestyle Grand Slam Tour here.

Praggnanandhaa continued the recent trend of Indian players outsmarting Carlsen and sent the Norwegian’s campaign haywire on Wednesday. Carlsen has in recent weeks also been beaten by reigning world champion D. Gukesh, who is not competing here.

The 19-year-old Praggnanandhaa was in his elements as he effectively deployed his pieces right from the word go and even though Carlsen got some chances, Praggnanandhaa crashed through with some imaginative manoeuvres.

The loss against Praggnanandhaa had such a cascading effect on Carlsen that he lost another game against Wesley So in the next round and was shockingly eliminated from the top bracket by Levon Aronian of United States 2-0 in the final tiebreaker for the fourth spot that ensued.

The 16-player event was divided into two groups of eight each and the top four from each pool advanced to the quarterfinals after playing once with each of the other participant.

The rules have been framed in such a way that those who do not make the top bracket in the first set of qualifiers can no longer win the event and Carlsen can at best finish third if he wins the remaining matches.

Erigaisi was the other Indian from the second group who made it to the quarterfinals. It was a fine come-from-behind performance by Erigaisi, who faced some initial struggles.

Praggnanandhaa tied for the first spot on 4.5 points out of a possible seven in his group with Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Javokhir Sandarov, along with Aronian, finishing on four points.

Carlsen ended fifth ahead of Vincent Keymer of Germany, Wesley So and lone woman participant Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan.

In the second group christened black, Hikaru Nakamura topped the standings with an astonishing 6/7 with his American country-man Hans Niemann finishing second on 4.5 points.

Erigaisi finished tied third on four points with another local star Fabiano Caruana.

Another American trio of Leinier Dominguez Perez, Sevian Samuel and Robson Ray finished 5-7 in the second group with Indian Vidit Gujrathi ending on the last spot.

In the Quarterfinals now, Praggnannadhaa will meet Fabiano Caruana of United States while Erigaisi will have to tackle Abdusattorov.

Results qualifiers group white: 1-3: R Praggnanandhaa (Ind); Abdusattorov Nodirbek (Uzb) Javokhir Sandarov (Uzb) 4.5 each; 4-5: Levon Aronian (Usa) Magnus Carlsen (Nor) 4 each; 6-7: Vincent Keymer (Ger), Wesley So (Usa) 3 each; 8. Bibisara Assaubuyeva (Kaz, 0.5).

Group black: 1. Hikaru Nakamura (Usa, 6); 2. Hans Moke Niemann (Usa, 4.5); 3-4. Arjun Erigaisi (Ind), Fabiano Caruana (Usa) 4 each; 5. Leinier Dominguez Perez (Usa, 3) 6-7: Sevian Samual (Usa), Robron Ray (Usa) 2.5 each; 8. Vidit Gujrathi (Ind, 1.5).

Pairings quarterfinals: Praggnanandhaa vs Caruana; Abdusattorov vs Arjun; Aronian vs Nakamura; Niemann vs Sindarov.

Lower bracket: Carlsen vs Gujrathi; Robson vs Keymer; Dominguez vs Assaubayeva; Samuel vs Wesley.