Indian sports wrap, December 9: Goa gets IWL representation after three years

FOOTBALL

Sesa Football Academy’s women’s team qualifies for IWL

The Sesa Football Academy’s (SFA) senior women’s team has qualified for the Indian Women’s League (IWL) for the first time, restoring Goan representation in the national league after a gap of three years.

The team will now vie among India’s elite in the ninth IWL, with the first phase scheduled in West Bengal from December 20 to January 6.

SFA thus became only the fifth team from Goa to qualify for the IWL.

Dronacharya Awardee and former SFA coach, Armando Colaco, hailed the development as “the revival of women’s football in Goa”, and credited the academy for rebuilding the ecosystem and inspiring a new generation of female footballers.

Navin Jaju, CEO, Vedanta Sesa Goa, said, “This historic feat reflects the academy’s unwavering commitment to developing women’s football and empowerment at the grassroots level.”

– PTI

MORE SPORTS

Infosys Foundation and GoSports Foundation expand Athlete Sponsorship with ‘Gear for Gold’ initiative

Infosys Foundation announced the expansion of its strategic collaboration with GoSports Foundation with an aim to transform the high-performance initiative ‘Girls for Gold,’ into the broader and more inclusive ‘Gear for Gold.’ Program.

This expanded scope extends support to a wider spectrum of promising talent — including male, female, and para-athletes — creating a holistic model for talent development through collaborations with leading sports academies.

The ‘Gear for Gold’ program will focus on six sporting disciplines: badminton, table tennis, weightlifting, boxing, athletics, and shooting. With an academy-first approach, support will include upgrading infrastructure, implementing modern sports science practices, and providing access to advanced equipment, and technologies.

Athletes training at these academies will also receive comprehensive assistance including scholarships, advanced coaching, support to participate in competitions, along with nutrition and injury management guidance. Capability building for athletes, coaches, and staff will be strengthened through conclaves, workshops, certifications and global exposure. In addition, robust systems for monitoring, reporting, and due diligence will ensure transparency and measurable impact.

– Team Sportstar

CHESS

Star-studded line-up for maiden Total World Chess Championship Tour

World champions and world rapid and blitz champions will be among the 24 players that will make up next year’s pilot edition of the Total World Chess Championship Tour, a new tour jointly organised by FIDE and Norway Chess.

The global chess governing body announced that there would be different paths to qualify for the tour. Both the World Open and Women’s champions, D. Gukesh and Ju Wenjun, have already qualified.

The others will be picked from the World rapid and blitz championships, the Candidates (Open and Women) and FIDE Circuit; top players based on FIDE rating will also be included.

The tour will be played across the three formats: classical, rapid and blitz, but the classical format has been reduced to a shorter time control of 45 minutes.

The tour carries a prize fund of USD 750,000 for each of the three events, besides USD 450,000 for the finals.

– Team Sportstar

GOLF

Jairaj Singh Sandhu takes day one honours at DGC

Jairaj Singh Sandhu took the day one honours with a four-under 68 at the Vishwa Samudra Open at the Delhi Golf Club.

Jairaj, who hails from Chandigarh, had Mani Ram close on his heels as the latter struck a 69 to be second in the clubhouse.

Veer Ahlawat, Yuvraj Singh and Sanjeev Kumar were joint third with scores of 70.

The start of play was delayed by 15 minutes due to fog in the morning. As a result, 22 players out of a total of 126 could not complete their first round on Tuesday when play was suspended at 5:35 pm due to fading light.

These 22 players are scheduled to resume their first round at 7 am on Wednesday, and round two will commence after the completion of round one.

– PTI

Veer Ganapathy leads stellar field after day two of IGPL UAE with Pranavi Urs in hot pursuit

Bengaluru youngster Veer Ganapathy fired a six-under 66 to hold the day two lead in the IGPL UAE on Tuesday, the first overseas foray by the new league.

Ganapathy had a 36-hole total of eight-under 136 at the Els Club.

Ladies European Tour regular and a winner in the inaugural season of the Indian Golf Premier League, Pranavi Urs was a close second with her second successive three-under 69 for a two-day total of six-under 138 alongside her close friend Karandeep Kochhar (69-69) and long-hitting Ludhiana golfer Pukhraj Singh Gill (70-68).

Overnight leader and former Indian Open winner SSP Chawrasia, followed his opening seven-under 65 with a two-over 74 on Tuesday to be in sole possession of fifth place on five-under 139 along with three-time IGPL winner Gaganjeet Bhullar (67-72), IGPL Order of Merit winner Aman Raj (70-69) and fast-rising young talent Raghav Chugh (72-67).

The left-handed Ganapathy, coached by his father Rahul, fired an eagle and four birdies against one dropped shot to make the turn at the testing par-72 Els Club course in 5 under 31 before adding a further two birdies and a bogey on his way back to the clubhouse.

Pranavi, a winner on the IGPL this season at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club (BPGC), where she closed with a stunning eight-under 60 to emerge as the first winner at a mixed event in India, was two strokes behind Ganapathy.

The Mysuru golfer mixed five birdies with two dropped shots in her 3 under 69 while Kochhar had six birdies against three bogeys and Gill set out well with an eagle and three birdies to turn in 4 under 36 before a level par back nine saw him close on 4 under 68 for the day.

Chawrasia, a six-time winner on the Asian Tour, four of them at events co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour, needed to grind it out on Tuesday to stay in touch with the leaders and he sits just three shots behind day two leader Ganapathy along with Bhullar Aman Raj and Chugh.

Tournament host Shiv Kapur shared 16th place on 1 under 143 along with Jeev Milkha Singh, who flew in for the event straight from Mauritius, where he was the runner-up in the MCB Mauritius on the European Legends Tour for Over-50s.

– PTI

BADMINTON

Odisha Masters: Tharun, Kiran among Indians advancing after first-round byes

A host of Indian shuttlers, including top seed Tharun Mannepalli and second seed Kiran George, advanced to the men’s singles second round after receiving byes at the USD 110,000 Odisha Masters Super 100.

Besides Tharun and Kiran, fourth seed Priyanshu Rajawat, sixth seed Manraj Singh, seventh seed S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, Varun Kapur, eighth seed Rithvik Sanjeevi Satish Kumar, Siddharth Gupta and Ginpaul Sonna were also handed first-round byes.

Among those who took the court, Kavin Thangam Kavin rallied past Aryamann Tandon 21-18, 19-21, 21-16, while Tushar Suveer got the better of Alap Mishra 21-19, 8-21, 21-14 at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium.

Saneeth Dayanand registered a straight-games win over Dhruv Negi 21-11, 21-13, and Arya Bhivpathaki edged out Shashwat Dalal 21-9, 22-21 in a close contest.

In another match, Darshan Pujari beat USA’s Kevin Arokia Walter 21-9, 21-12.

– PTI

MOTOR SPORTS

Formula 4 Indian Championship set for high-stakes final at Madras International Circuit

The FIA-certified Formula 4 Indian Championship (F4IC), part of the Indian Racing Festival, is all set for its season finale at the Madras International Circuit on December 13–14. After four rounds of close racing, the battle for the title has come down to three young drivers who have kept the championship alive till the last weekend.

Fifteen-year-old Kenyan racer Shane Chandaria (Chennai Turbo Riders) arrives in Chennai as the points leader with 158. He has been the most consistent driver on the grid this year, mixing raw speed with calm race craft. His three wins, including a strong drive at Kari last month, have put him in a good position.

Right behind him is French driver Sachel Rotgé (Kichcha’s Kings Bengaluru) with 134 points. He knows this track well and took two wins here in Round 2. He also picked up another victory in Coimbatore, giving him confidence heading into the finale.

Indian youngster Ishaan Madesh (Kolkata Royal Tigers) sits third with 127 points and remains very much in the mix. He won in Chennai earlier this season and has shown he can take the fight to both Shane and Sachel. With only a handful of points separating the three, the championship is still wide open.

The midfield has also been one of the season’s highlights. Drivers like Sai Shiva Sankaran (Speed Demons Delhi), Ghazi Motlekar (Kolkata Royal Tigers), and Luviwe Sambudla (Goa Aces JA Racing) have been right in the middle of tight fights and regular podium scraps.

As the season heads to its final lights-out, fans can expect a close, pressure-filled weekend. The racing has been unpredictable all year, and the last round promises more of the same as India prepares to crown its next Formula 4 champion.

– Team Sportstar

Kush Maini commits to fourth season of Formula 2

Indian racer Kush Maini will drive for ART Grand Prix in 2026, marking his fourth season in the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

Maini had an underwhelming third F2 season, a feeder series to Formula 1, finishing 16th in the drivers’ standings for the DAMS squad with the sprint race win in Monaco being the highlight.

“I am very happy to be joining such an historic team like ART Grand Prix. My first contacts with the engineers and mechanics have been very positive,” he said.

Maini drove the latest Alpine car that took part in the season finale on Sunday. The next F2 season would be one last attempt for the Bengaluru-based driver to make a strong case for a F1 race seat in 2027.

-PTI

TENNIS

Tennis Premier League 7: SG Pipers Bengaluru, Rajasthan Rangers make winning starts

SG Pipers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Rangers began their campaign on a winning note on the opening day of the Tennis Premier League (TPL) Season 7 on Tuesday.

The likes of Rohan Bopanna, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Luciano Darderi put on a show for the fans as all eight teams were in action at the Gujarat University Tennis Stadium.

SG Pipers and Gurgaon Grand Slammers took centre stage in the first match with Sahaja Yamalapalli and Shrivalli playing the opening game.

Shrivalli gave SG Pipers the ideal start with a 18-7 win in the women’s singles match. She then teamed up with Bopanna in the mixed doubles, continuing her winning run with a hard-fought 14-11 victory against Sahaja and Sriram Balaji.

In men’s singles category, Dan Evans pulled things back for Gurgaon Grand Slammers with a 16-9 win against Ramkumar Ramanathan.

In the men’s doubles category, SG Pipers Bengaluru prevailed courtesy the duo of Bopanna and Ramanathan, winning 15-10 against Balaji and Evans. With that win, SG Pipers Bengaluru began its campaign with a 56-44 victory.

Defending champion Hyderabad Strikers took the court to face Rajasthan Rangers in the second game.

Carole Monnet got the Strikers off to a winning start with an 18-7 win against Ekaterina Kazionova in the women’s singles category.

Kazionova and Dhakshineswar Suresh clinched the mixed doubles game for Rajasthan Rangers, winning 13-12 against Carole Monnet and Vishnu Vardhan.

In the men’s singles category, Darderi won 15-10 against Pedro Martinez to mount Rajasthan Rangers’ fightback. Darderi and Suresh won 17-8 against Vishnu Vardhan and Martinez, helping Rajasthan Rangers secure a close 52-48 win.

– PTI.

Published on Dec 09, 2025