All posts tagged: Championships

IGI Stadium fully renovated for BWF World Championships: BAI secretary

IGI Stadium fully renovated for BWF World Championships: BAI secretary

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After drawing criticism over the state of facilities during the India Open earlier this year, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Thursday said the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium has undergone a complete renovation and is ready to host the “best-ever” edition of the BWF World Championships. The India Open came under scrutiny after players raised concerns over the condition of the venue, including its cleanliness, training facilities and air quality. The tournament also witnessed unusual disruptions, with matches briefly halted due to bird droppings and even a monkey entering the spectator stands. The controversy erupted after Danish shuttler Mia Blichfeldt criticised the condition of the warm-up and practice areas at the K.D. Jadhav Indoor Hall and the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium during the India Open, drawing attention to the poor state of the facilities. “We’ve worked on every issue that came up then, and I’m happy to say those problems have been resolved completely. I’m confident this will be one of the best World Championships ever,” BAI secretary general Sanjay Mishra told PTI on …

IGI Stadium fully renovated for BWF World Championships: BAI secretary

BWF happy with the World Championships venue renovation in Delhi

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The Badminton World Federation on Wednesday expressed satisfaction with the extensive renovation and cleaning work carried out at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium ahead of the World Championships, saying most of the shortcomings highlighted after the India Open earlier this year have been addressed. The venue had come under sharp criticism during the India Open Super 750 tournament in January after players and officials complained about poor hygiene, unclean toilets and the presence of pigeons and monkeys inside the complex. BWF Events Director (Tournament Operations) Selvaamresh Supramaniam said the world body had conducted multiple inspections over the last seven months and found significant improvements. “We visited the stadium in January, February, April, June and then in the last couple of days. A lot of work has been done,” Supramaniam said. “Renovations to all the toilets, there’s been a lot of deep cleaning done, damaged seats have been replaced, a lot of sealing, wiring work has been done, broken ceilings have been replaced and waterproofing was done on the roof.” He said an anti-pest gel has …

PV Sindhu seeded ninth, Satwik-Chirag fifth for BWF World Championships in Delhi

PV Sindhu seeded ninth, Satwik-Chirag fifth for BWF World Championships in Delhi

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PV Sindhu has been seeded ninth in the women’s singles event, while the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have received the fifth seed for the 2026 BWF World Championships, set to be held at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi from August 17 to 23. India will field two entries in each of the five categories at the tournament, with at least one seeded player or pair in four of them. Apart from Sindhu and the former Asian Games champions Satwik and Chirag, Lakshya Sen has been seeded 14th in the men’s singles draw. The mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto will enter the championships as the 15th seeds. Shi Yuqi and An Se Young lead singles seedings Qualification for the World Championships was determined using the BWF world rankings published on April 28, while the tournament seedings were based on the rankings as of July 28. Reigning men’s singles world champion Shi Yuqi of China has been named the top seed, while South Korea’s An Se …

Denied CWG 2026 chance, Indian paddlers seek glory at revived Commonwealth Championships

Denied CWG 2026 chance, Indian paddlers seek glory at revived Commonwealth Championships

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5 min readJul 28, 2026 08:32 PM IST As a truncated Indian contingent vies for glory in Glasgow, India’s table tennis players look on ruefully. The sport is one of nine disciplines, omitted from the 2026 Commonwealth Games (CWG) roster, and has historically enjoyed rich medal hauls at this event – a rarity for it at comparable or larger-scale competitions. To assuage that disappointment, the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships have been revived at Delhi’s Thyagraj Stadium alongside the CWG. Six out of the eight editions have been in India, with the previous one held in Cuttack in 2019. The fact that Commonwealth TT’s chairperson (Vivek Kohli), president (Dushyant Chautala) and secretary general (Mahinder Pal Singh) are all Indians might have something to do with that. The response so far has been lukewarm despite free entry. The Delhi government organised an elaborate opening ceremony, but the crowd mostly comprised school students on mandated excursions and thinned soon after. Matches are being watched by a smattering of students and tournament officials, much like the 2013 edition in …

Anahat Singh confirms her second World Junior Squash Championships medal

Anahat Singh confirms her second World Junior Squash Championships medal

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Indian teenage sensation Anahat Singh secured a historic second consecutive medal at the World Junior Squash Championships after advancing to the women’s singles semi-finals in Ontario, Canada, on Thursday. She defeated Egypt’s Habiba Rizk 3-1 (11-7, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9) in the quarter-finals to become the first Indian to bag two medals at the World Junior C’ships. The top-seeded Anahat had her first big challenge of the tournament as the Egyptian player pushed her to the stretch, but eventually came out second best. Anahat continued her form and gave a good start to the match, winning the first two games comfortably and was looking for another straight-game win. But then, the Egyptian made a spirited comeback to force an extra game and make it much more difficult for the young Indian to grab the match. Anahat held her composure and won the match, denying an all-Egyptian semi-final as she is the only non-Egyptian player left in women’s singles. After a bronze medal last year, Anahat will now target reaching her maiden World Junior final on Friday, …

India to have representation on and off field at World Archery Championships

India to have representation on and off field at World Archery Championships

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When the world’s best field archers gather in Yankton, South Dakota, this September, India will be represented in more ways than one. On the competition course, Rishabh Yadav, Abhishek Verma, Aman Saini, and Parneet Kaur will compete for India in the compound division at the 2026 World Archery Field Championships, scheduled from September 22 to 27. Once the Field Championships conclude, the world’s top 3D archers will take centre stage at the World Archery 3D Championships, to be held from September 28 to October 3. Away from the targets, another Indian will be entrusted with one of the competition’s most important responsibilities. Punjab-born Lalit Jain has been appointed as the Results Coordinator for both championships, overseeing live scoring, target assignments, the IANSEO competition management system, and the official results process throughout the events. Jain will carry out the role as part of the Local Organising Committee through the National Field Archery Association (NFAA). Although spectators primarily see the athletes competing on the course, international archery depends heavily on the accuracy of its results operations. Every …

PV Sindhu ‘definitely a threat’ for World Championships, LA 2028: Gopichand

PV Sindhu ‘definitely a threat’ for World Championships, LA 2028: Gopichand

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3 min readJul 18, 2026 09:58 PM IST PV Sindhu‘s heartening recent performance makes her a genuine medal contender for the World Championships and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, as per India’s chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand. Double Olympic medallist Sindhu reached the Japan Open Super 750 final on Saturday after her opponent Chen Yu Fei retired in the second game. This was the second big win for Sindhu in the tournament after she took down fifth-seed Han Yue before. “Sindhu is definitely a threat for the World Championships. 2028 LA Olympics is a little far but many of the shuttlers can’t read her game style,” Gopichand told the media on the sidelines of the mascot launch of the World Championships. The 31-year-old Sindhu was leading 21-19, 15-10 when world No. 4 Chen was forced to pull out with a hamstring injury. It was a brilliant performance from the 10th-ranked Indian, who dominated the Chinese. She broke a five-match losing streak against Yu Fei, dating back to 2019 when she last beat her 21-7, 21-14 …

At World Championships in Delhi why badminton needs Gen Z, Gen Alpha watchers | Badminton News

At World Championships in Delhi why badminton needs Gen Z, Gen Alpha watchers | Badminton News

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It was Lin Dan’s swagger at its best. He walked into a press conference once wearing a Shaquille O’Neal training-tee, and didn’t know whose embossed face was grinning from his shirt. It was at Hyderabad in 2009 when he won his third World title, when India last hosted the World Championships. Dan would look utterly befuddled at the Shaq name, then look at his shirt, and then politely nod a nein and indicate he knew not who the man was. It might well have been Mickey Mouse or Fido Dido. Super Dan had every reason to not know (or feign ignorance) about an American NBA star – the Chinese southpaw absolutely ruled his sport and lived in an insular, high-pressure cocoon where he was only halfway done with glory. It was perfectly possible that as an absolute superstar in China and in middle of two Olympic titles in 2008 and 2012 in a East Asian sport like badminton, he wasn’t tuned into the life of a fading basketball legend. Shaq had in 2006, signed up …

India wins three more medals on day 3 of Asian U23 Athletics Championships

India wins three more medals on day 3 of Asian U23 Athletics Championships

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India added three more medals on the third day of the inaugural Asian U23 Athletics Championships in Ordos, China, with distance runner Shivaji Parashuram winning his second silver medal of the competition on Saturday. Shivaji finished second in the men’s 10,000m with a personal best time of 29:33.54, taking India’s overall medal tally to 11. It was his second podium finish after claiming silver in the men’s 5,000m on the opening day. The Indian remained in contention for gold for much of the race before settling for silver behind Japan’s Yoshihiro Kusuoka, who won the event in 29:29.34. China’s Jinzhi Jiang claimed bronze with a time of 29:42.54, while India’s Shailesh Kushwaha narrowly missed out on a medal after finishing fourth in 30:46.78. Priya, Shravani add bronze medals India’s second medal of the day came in the women’s discus throw, where Priya secured bronze with a best effort of 50.44m. China’s Zhichao Jiang won gold with a throw of 58.63m, while compatriot Jingru Huang took silver with 55.33m. Shravani Sangle added another bronze after clocking …

India adds three bronze medals on Day 2 of Asian U23 Athletics Championships

India adds three bronze medals on Day 2 of Asian U23 Athletics Championships

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India claimed three bronze medals on the second day of the inaugural Asian U23 Athletics Championships in Ordos, China, with middle-distance runners leading the country’s charge on Friday. Shakeel opened India’s account by securing bronze in the men’s 800m after clocking 1:48.78. His compatriot Vinod Kumar B narrowly missed out on a podium finish, placing fourth with a time of 1:49.10. Bhumeshwory Devi Huidrom added another bronze in the women’s 800m, crossing the finish line in 2:10.20. Vaishnavi Rajendra Rawal, India’s second entrant in the event, finished fifth after clocking 2:10.83. Abhay Singh scripts sprint milestone Abhay Singh earned India’s third bronze medal of the day in the men’s 200m, finishing in 20.96 to become the country’s first individual sprint medallist at the inaugural Asian U23 Athletics Championships. The three podium finishes added to India’s medal tally after a successful opening day, where the contingent won four medals, including gold in the mixed 4x400m relay. With several track and field events still to be contested, India will look to continue its strong showing at the …