Indian sports wrap, November 26: Mahindra Racing commit to Formula E’s Gen4 era, to remain part of series until 2030

MOTORSPORTS

Mahindra Racing commit to Formula E’s Gen4 era, to remain part of series until 2030

Mahindra Racing on Wednesday committed to the Gen4 era of Formula E after years of deliberation, ensuring the presence of the Indian manufacturer in the electric racing series until 2030.

Mahindra Racing, part of the FIA-sanctioned World Championship series since the inaugural season in 2014–15, showed drastic improvement in the previous season to finish fourth in the standings.

Having committed to Formula E until 2030, the team can now put all its energies into the upcoming season, marking the end of the Gen3 era. The faster cars in the Gen4 phase will be seen in action from 2026-27 onwards, covering four seasons.

Mahindra Racing remaining in the championship is also a big boost to the championship, which has witnessed major manufacturers come and go.

“It was a long working process to evaluate pros and cons and how to participate in the best possible way to Gen 4 era for the championship.

“We are continuing with the long-term vision and the strong consistency of involvement of Mahindra Racing and the Mahindra group in the championship,” team principal Frederic Bertrand told PTI when asked about the time taken in deciding its Formula E future.

-PTI

SQUASH

Aaradhana, Baitha make winning start in squash meet

India’s Aaradhana Kasturiraj opened her campaign on a strong note in the women’s draw of the 11th Sunil Verma Memorial Squash, a PSA Challenger event, easing past compatriot Shuvra Borah here on Wednesday.

Kasturiraj registered an 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 win over Borah.

In the men’s round of 32, Rahul Baitha eased past Divit Poojary 11-7, 11-5, 11-8.

Among other matches, Reiva Nimbalkar defeated Rani Gupta 11-5, 11-3, 11-4, and Gurveer Singh put it past Ayaan Vaziralli 11-9, 11-3, 11-6.

-PTI

KHELO INDIA UNIVERSITY GAMES

Trap shooter Neeru Dhanda wins fourth gold; Jain University stays atop medal tally

Trap shooters Neeru Dhanda and Aditya Bharadwaj powered Guru Nanak Dev University to a clean sweep of all four shotgun medals, while their cyclists clinched both individual road race titles in the Khelo India University Games here on Wednesday.

Neeru, the reigning Asian Shooting Championships gold medallist, secured her fourth straight individual gold with a final score of 47. Manisha Keer (39) and Nandika Singh (30) took the silver and bronze, respectively. The trio also combined to win the team gold with a score of 344 at the Jagatpur Shooting Range.

Neeru, who had finished second behind Manisha in qualifying, raised her performance in the final.

“I was determined to win the gold today. I had won gold in the last three editions of the University Games, and I wanted to end this with another gold medal,” she told SAI Media.

Bharadwaj also led GNDU’s men’s trap team to a golden double, scoring 45 in the final. Punjabi University’s Jungsher Singh Virk claimed the silver with 43, while Manav Rachna’s Bhaktiyaar Malik won the bronze.

Earlier in the day, cyclist Meenakshi Rohilla added the individual road race gold to her time trial victory, while teammate Akshar Tyagi topped the men’s event, taking GNDU’s gold count to 10.

Jain University continued to lead the overall standings, adding four more swimming gold medals, including both 4x100m freestyle relays. Nina Venkatesh (women’s 50m butterfly) and Bhavya Sachdeva (women’s 400m IM) also secured top podium finishes.

Chandigarh University’s Harsh Saroha edged Olympian Srihari Nataraj in the men’s 50m butterfly, clocking 24.90s. He later bagged the 200m butterfly gold with a time of 2:06.88, while his teammate Ishan Rathi won the 200m backstroke in 2:13.51.

-PTI

GOLF

Asian Tour returns to India with Bharath Classic

India’s top golfers, led by Aman Raj and Yuvraj Sandhu, will look to either secure or save a card when the Asian Tour returns to India with the inaugural Bharath Classic, a new event on the Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL) Tour.

Winning the Bharath Classic will assure the champion Asian Tour playing privileges through 2026 and 2027 and open pathways to the highly lucrative International Series and the Liv Golf Tour.

Aman, the current leader on the IGPL Tour, will lead the home challenge at Kensville Golf Resort in what is the first Asian Tour event in India since the last one in March 2023.

Aman, a two-time winner in Jaipur and Kolkata, leads the challenge of the Top-4 from the IGPL Money List. He is followed by the long-hitting Pukhraj Singh Gill, winner of the IGPL Jamshedpur and Sachin Baisoya and teen prodigy Kartik Singh.

Another IGPL winner, Kapil Kumar, is also in the field.

Baisoya and Kartik have delivered consistent results but are still looking for their maiden IGPL wins.

Ekpharit Wu from Thailand, who won the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open two weeks ago for his first Asian Tour title, Korean Wooyoung Cho, who has posted two top-10’s on the Asian Tour this year, will also in fray.

Yuvraj, who has won five times this season on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), is also hoping to keep his Asian Tour card as the season comes towards the end.

“Playing an Asian Tour event at home is always a big thing and this being our home it is good,” said Yuvraj, who has been prolific on the Indian Tour this season with five wins.

Among others, IGPL star Yashas Chandra of Mysore, Kartik Singh and Veer Ganapathy will be hoping to hit it big early in their career.

Among others in fray, Shaurya Bhattacharya and Arjun Prasad, also winners in India, will also feature in the half-a-million-dollar event.

Olympians Udayan Mane and SSP Chawrasia, are also in the field, as are a host of Asian Tour winners like Rashid Khan, Khalin Joshi, Viraj Madappa and former Indian Open champion C Muniyappa will also tee up this week.

Other notable names include Nitithorn Thippong, former Hero Indian Open winner, Siddikur Rehman of Bangladesh, Steve Lewton of England, Austen Truslow, Justin Quiban, Korean Bio Kim, Kosuke Hamamoto of Thailand.

– PTI

Diksha, Pranavi among five Indians at season-ending event in Andalucia

Diksha Dagar and Pranavi Urs will be among the five Indians in the field at the season-ending Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de Espana here.

The other three are Aditi Ashok, who has received a special invite as a former champion – she won the event in 2023 – Avani Prashanth and Hitaashee Bakshi, who made the big run with a third-place finish in her home event, the Hero Women’s Indian Open last month.

Diksha is the top Indian at 23rd while Pranavi is 40th and Avani is 41st. Hitaashee is 58th.

The presence of so many Indians in the season’s closing event also indicates how far the country’s women’s golf has come on the strength of a strong 15-event home Tour, the Women’s Pro Golf Tour, and some great show by the women golfers.

The LET’s season finale featuring a field of 75 players takes place at Real Guadalhorce Club de Golf from November 27-30.

Diksha will play alongside Laura Fuenstueck and Brianna Navarossa, while Aditi plays with amateur Paula Martin Sampedra and Azahara Munoz.

Pranavi, who made a great comeback and finished in top-10 at Women’s Indian Open, plays with fellow Indian, Avani Prashanth, who had a great rookie season, and Hannah Screen.

Hitaashee Bakshi plays with Celine Hebron and Chloe Williams.

After a year-long battle in the Order of Merit, it has all come down to the final event of the 2025 Ladies European Tour (LET) season.

Singapore’s Shannon Tan and England’s Mimi Rhodes go head-to-head in the season-ending tournament and will battle it out at Real Guadalhorce Club de Golf to earn the prestigious LET Order of Merit crown.

It’s been an excellent 2025 for the duo with plenty of silverware between the pair. Tan leads the Order of Merit by 219.26 points ahead of Rhodes heading into the final event in Malaga.

– PTI

Published on Nov 26, 2025