All posts tagged: World Championships

‘Sometimes we didn’t get parking so we walked three blocks…’

‘Sometimes we didn’t get parking so we walked three blocks…’

Published by Webster

3 min readMar 29, 2026 12:50 PM IST Fabiano Caruana is yet to win the Candidates in three outings, but recalled the nightmare of logistics at the last one in Toronto in 2024, speaking to C-Squared podcast on the eve of the Cyprus tournament. Attempting to secure his first spot in the World Championships, the American was cautious in speaking about Cyprus as a venue. “If she (Koneru Humpy )doesn’t feel safe she shouldn’t play. It’s a personal decision. I thought about it, didn’t see a great deal of danger. Geographically we are very close to action zone, the shaky situation. But Cyprus itself is neutral. We are not playing in a war zone. It feels rather calm,” the American reckoned. He liked it even, he told C-SQ. “It’s a nice location… All things considered. Weather’s good. It’s a resort. It is very isolated. That’s obviously not an issue. A good thing.” His pet peeve the last time around when D Gukesh won Candidates and went on to win the World’s, was the commute logistics …

Why Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, with three Olympic golds, loves the Bollywood song ‘Nimbooda Nimbooda’ | Sport-others News

Why Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, with three Olympic golds, loves the Bollywood song ‘Nimbooda Nimbooda’ | Sport-others News

Published by Webster

Being the absolute Track & Field royalty, that Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is, with her 10 World Championship titles and three Olympic golds spanning Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Tokyo 2021, must have involved razor-sharp focus and tunnel vision of her running lane. But there were silly capers along the way, while she trained monkishly for her sprints. Camped in Pune for the Bajaj City Marathon as brand ambassador over the weekend, the world’s greatest woman athlete with elite medals over 15 years, recalls an obscure Indian associative memory from her school days, breaking into a proper jig at the hotel lobby. It must’ve been a silly scramble of words for her, uttered very fast at her annual day – but she decided at that moment that Indians were gifted in movement, and danced beautifully when happy. Fraser-Pryce mouths the words and the interluding drum-beats, dancing along merrily to the Ismail Darbar-Kavita Krishnamurti ditty ‘Nimbooda, Nimbooda, Nimbooda’ from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. “I had an ethnic Indian classmate back in school, and she wore this saree …

Indian campaign ends with Diya-Yashaswini’s exit

Indian campaign ends with Diya-Yashaswini’s exit

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The last standing Indian women’s doubles pair of Diya Chitale and Yashaswini Ghodpade suffered a third-round exit at the 2025 ITTF Table Tennis World Championships in Doha, Qatar on Wednesday. The Indian duo fought hard but fell in straight games, 7-11, 8-11, 9-11, against the world no.6 Japanese pairing of Miyuu Kihara and Miwa Harimoto. With this result, India’s campaign at the 2025 ITTF World Championships concluded without a medal, marking the second straight edition where no Indian player advanced to the quarterfinals. 🚨#News | Diya & Yashaswini bow out in the women’s doubles round of 16 at the 2025 ITTF World Championships. 👉The Indian pair went down 7-11, 8-11, 9-11 to the Japanese duo of Harimoto-Kihara. 👉With this loss, the curtains have come down on India’s campaign at the 2025 ITTF… pic.twitter.com/Uq6he8NQ6N — The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) May 21, 2025 Diya and Yashaswini had a poor start as they were unable to find their rhythm in the opening game and made a couple of unforced errors on the returns. This made things easy for the …

Draws are out for the 2025 ITTF Table Tennis World Championships

Draws are out for the 2025 ITTF Table Tennis World Championships

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The Indian table tennis players were handed challenging draws at the 2025 ITTF World Championships, which is scheduled to be held in Doha, Qatar this month. Two Indian pairs have been seeded in the top 10 of this prestigious tournament, with Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah seeded 8th in men’s doubles, while Manush Shah and Diya Chitale are seeded 9th in mixed doubles. In men’s doubles, Thakkar and Shah will open their campaign against Peter Hribar and Deni Kozul of Slovenia. Meanwhile, the experienced duo of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai will face Maciej Kolodziejczyk and Vladislav Ursu in their first-round match. In the mixed doubles category, the 9th-seeded pair of Manush Shah and Diya Chitale will take on Algeria’s Mehdi Bouloussa and Malissa Nasri. Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade, India’s second entry in mixed doubles, will battle against Thibault Poret and Leana Hochart of France. For women’s doubles, Diya Chitale and Yashaswini Ghorpade will compete against Uzbekistan’s Markhabo Magdieva and Asel Erkebaeva. The experienced duo of Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee will face Turkey’s …

Wrestling’s administrative mess leave grapplers high and dry; just practicing not competing enough, say coaches and wrestlers | Sport-others News

Wrestling’s administrative mess leave grapplers high and dry; just practicing not competing enough, say coaches and wrestlers | Sport-others News

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Shivanee Pawar, an Asian Championships bronze-medal winning wrestler, had hoped to begin her 2025 season at either the Zagreb Ranking Series in Croatia in early February or at Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in Albania later this month. However, the 26-year-old wrestler missed both tournaments because of reasons beyond her control — the long-standing administrative tussle between the federation and the government. “It is stressful as a wrestler. For the past two years, there have been hardly any competitions at the national level. We are just practicing and not competing enough,” Shivanee said. Indian wrestling is currently caught in an administrative mess because the United World Wrestling recognises the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), but the sports ministry has not lifted its suspension first imposed in December 2023. On Tuesday, the Delhi High Court had pulled up the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) because of its failure to reconstitute an ad-hoc committee for running the WFI. In August last year, the court had said the IOA’s decision to dissolve the ad-hoc committee was not in line with …

How a father-daughter duo put Pampore on the global martial arts map

How a father-daughter duo put Pampore on the global martial arts map

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The cold January morning in Pampore is thick with mist, but that had never stopped Muqadas Muskan from training. On the uneven ground, with no roof overhead, she moves with precision—each strike, each stance a result of years of hard work. Devoid of the luxury of an indoor stadium and just the biting chill of dawn for company, sheer determination has carried her this far. That very resolve took Muqadas Muskan and her father, Sajad Ahmad Bhat, to victory in Abu Dhabi at the 5th Junior and 20th Senior Pencak Silat World Championship in December last year, where the father-daughter duo clinched gold medals for India. Competing against athletes from 57 countries, Muskan dominated the junior category while Sajad secured gold in the senior category—turning their shared passion for martial arts into a legacy. “In my final fight, I defeated my German opponent and won gold,” said Muskan, to The Bridge. Her father, meanwhile, competing in the senior category, also emerged victorious, making their victories even more special. A journey fraught with hardship Muskan’s journey …

Gout Gout, the 16-year-old sprint sensation from Australia, must sidestep the ‘next Bolt’ tag | Sports News

Gout Gout, the 16-year-old sprint sensation from Australia, must sidestep the ‘next Bolt’ tag | Sports News

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Away from the Australian summer of cricket, a 16-year-old sprinter and viral sensation Gout Gout is making heads turn Down Under. In the latest video with over three lakh views, the Queensland-born teeanger of South Sudanese heritage speeds away from his competitors, slows down at the finish line yet wins by a huge margin. He then canters, stops and turns, raises his right arm with the index finger pointed skyward before bending down and smashing a clenched fist into the track. The theatrics were in response to the display on the clock — 10.04 seconds. If not for the illegal wind speed, Gout Gout would have entered the record books as the fastest-ever youth athlete in the 100 metres. Not one to be deterred, Gout wrapped up the day by winning the final in 10.17 seconds. He walked away with the title of the fastest Under-18 Australian ever and moved to sixth on the all-time list. On Saturday, Gout did even better by breaking Peter Norman’s 200 metre Australian record of 20.06 seconds set at …

PV Sindhu set to tie the knot on December 22 | Badminton News

PV Sindhu set to tie the knot on December 22 | Badminton News

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Two-time Olympic medallist shuttler PV Sindhu will tie the knot on December 22 in Udaipur. The former world champion, who ended a long title drought with victory at the Syed Modi International in Lucknow on Sunday, will marry Hyderabad-based Venkata Datta Sai, who is an executive director at Posidex Technologies. “The two families knew each other but it was only a month ago that everything was finalised. This was the only possible window as her schedule will be hectic from January,” Sindhu’s father, PV Ramana, told PTI. “So that is the reason the two families decided to have the marriage ceremony on December 22. The reception will be held in Hyderabad on December 24. She will start her training soon after as the next season is going to be important.” The wedding-related events will begin on December 20. Sindhu is regarded as one of India’s greatest athletes with five world championship medals, including a gold in 2019, besides her silver and bronze at the Olympic Games. The champion badminton player won back-to-back Olympic medals at …

Wrestlers seek Sport Minister’s intervention in withdrawal from World C’ships

Wrestlers seek Sport Minister’s intervention in withdrawal from World C’ships

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Indian wrestlers affected by the Wrestling Federation of India withdrawing the Indian team from the upcoming World Championships demanded intervention from Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday. Yesterday WFI withdrew the Indian team from the World Championships citing government interference which comprises the autonomy of the body. All 12 affected wrestlers, a few accompanied by their parents, reached the minister’s residence here to demand his intervention. The senior World Championship in 12 non-Olympic categories is scheduled to be held in Tirana, Albania from October 28. With very few days left for the competition to begin, the wrestlers also tried to file a petition in the court but arrived late. “We have come to the sports minister’s residence. We hope that he will listen to our plea. What is our mistake and why should we be deprived of such a major competition”, Manisha Bhanwala (65kg) told PTI. The WFI had on Wednesday withdrawn the Indian team from the World Championships, conveying to the world governing body, UWW, that the sports ministry is interfering with its autonomy. …

Boxing, Paris Olympics: Amit Panghal and Co enter last-chance saloon as India look to add to just three quotas so far | Sport-others News

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Amit Panghal headlines India’s hopes at the World Olympic Boxing qualifiers in Bangkok, which will be the country’s last opportunity, particularly amongst the male boxers, to earn quota spots for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. A series of disastrous attempts over the last couple of years have so far ended with nothing to show for the efforts of India’s male boxers. But on the back of a camp where they sparred against athletes from multiple countries at the event venue in Thailand as well as a rejig of boxers in certain weight classes, the ten-strong Indian contingent will have varying degrees of chances to win quota spots for Paris. Overall, three quotas each are on offer in the women’s 60kg, men’s 57kg and 80kg divisions. Five quotas can be won in the men’s 63.5kg and 71kg categories. The rest of the classes all have four quotas on offer with each country being able to take one quota each in a weight category. Indian boxers have faced a multitude of challenges on their path to these …