Indian sports wrap, November 27: PM Modi meets Indian Women’s blind cricket team after World Cup triumph
E-SPORTS
Top Eight Finalists for the PlayStation India Cup Featuring EA SPORTS FC 26 revealed
The top eight finalists who have qualified for the LAN Finale of the PlayStation India Cup have been announced. The online phase of the tournament featuring nationwide weekly qualifiers followed by intense double-elimination playoffs has officially concluded.
The eight players who have qualified are Charanjot Singh, Afnan Khan, Karman Tikka, Chaitanya Singh, Amaanuddin Warsi, Saransh Jain, Aditya Chadha, Jahaan | Khan.
These eight contenders will compete in the LAN Finale, which will also follow a Double Elimination Best-of-2 format across two days, culminating in the crowning of the PlayStation India Cup 2025 Champion. The grand finale will be hosted inside the NODWIN Gaming Arena at Delhi Comic Con.
-Team Sportstar
SQUASH
Anjali Semwal, Rathika Seelan in Sunil Verma Memorial squash quarterfinals
Women’s top seed Anjali Semwal moved into the quarterfinals of the 11th Sunil Verma Memorial squash, a PSA Challenger event, with a 13-11, 11-6, 11-7 victory over Reiva Nimbalkar in Thane on Thursday.
Among other women’s pre-quarterfinals matches, third seed Rathika Suthanthira Seelan beat Aaradhana Kasturiraj 11-4, 11-2, 11-6 and fourth seed Nirupama Dubey defeated Malaysia’s Rui Jean Yek 11-2, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7.
Among matches in the men’s round-of-16, Gurveer Singh rallied to beat French seventh seed Manuel Paquemar 12-14, 5-11, 11-9, 11-0, 12-10 and Abhishek Agarwal defeated French eighth seed Matteo Carrouget 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8.
-Team Sportstar
CRICKET
PM Modi meets Indian Women’s blind cricket team after T20 World Cup triumph
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met the Indian women’s cricket team after it won the inaugural Blind T20 World Cup, defeating Nepal by seven wickets in the final in Colombo.
The victory for the Indian Women’s blind team in a six-team tournament came days after the women’s senior team registered its maiden triumph in the ODI World Cup.
The members of the team presented PM Modi with an autographed bat while he also signed a ball for the team.
The victorious Indian team was earlier applauded by PM Modi on its historic achievement.
“Congratulations to Indian Blind Women’s Cricket Team for creating history by winning the inaugural Blind Women’s T20 World Cup! More commendable is the fact that they stayed unbeaten in the series,” PM Modi wrote on X.
“This is indeed a historic sporting achievement, a shining example of hard work, teamwork and determination. Each player is a champion! My best wishes to the team for their future endeavours. This feat will inspire generations to come,” he added.
KHELO INDIA UNIVERSITY GAMES
KIUG: Sachdeva’s seventh swimming gold consolidates Jain University’s position at top
Jain University’s Bhavya Sachdeva bagged a golden double in the individual swimming events and added another gold in the women’s 4x100m medley relay, taking her overall tally to seven at the Khelo India University Games here on Thursday.
Bhavya, who had won one individual and one relay gold on the first two days of competition, began her gold medal march on Thursday in the women’s 800m freestyle category with a timing of 9:37.41s here at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium complex.
The first Indian women to win an Asian Aquatic Championships medal earlier this year, Bhavya returned to the pool a few minutes later to win the 200m freestyle event with a time of 2:13.55s.
Jain University swimmers expectedly dominated the pool events, winning eight of the 11 gold medals on offer to take their overall gold medal tally to 20.
Guru Nanak Dev University and Lovely Professional University were locked in a neck-and-neck battle for the second spot in the medals tally, as the latter bagged three gold medals in archery and one in shooting to take their gold medals tally to 13.
Guru Nanak Dev University have so far won 14 gold medals, sweeping all three team golds in fencing while winning one in shooting on Thursday.
Archers Anshika Kumari and Devaang Gupta won the recurve men and women finals respectively, and returned in the evening to lead LPU to the team gold.
In the women’s recurve final, Anshika defeated Panjab University’s Srishti Jaiswal 6-2, while Gupta got the better of Shivaji University’s Sahil Shelar 6-4 in the men’s recurve final at the Jagatpura Sports Complex.
In the team event, Lovely Professional University girls defeated Kurukshetra University 6-0, while the men beat Shivaji University 6-2.
Anshika and Gupta, however, suffered a setback in the recurve mixed team final, going down in a tiebreaker against Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya’s Kartika Bichpuriya and Deepanshu Nanda.
A few meters away in the same complex, Lovely Professional University’s Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu bagged the 25m rapid fire pistol gold with a final score of 29, getting the better of Panjab University’s Devansh Vashishtya by just one point.
In the men’s 10m air rifle event, Yash Vardhan bagged first gold medal of the Games for Manipal University, Rajasthan with a score of 252.7 in the final.
Yash and silver medallist Maddineni Uma Mahesh of KLEF University were neck-and-neck throughout the final, but it was the 10.8 in the first shot of the final series that ensured him a medal as his closest opponent only managed a 9.9.
Elsewhere, in Bikaner, Logeswaran S delivered the standout performance on Day 3 of the weightlifting events, securing his first-ever KIUG gold medal.
Representing Thiruvallur University, the Tamil Nadu-born lifter dominated the men’s 79kg category with a total lift of 305kg — 135kg in snatch and 170kg in clean and jerk — marking a breakthrough in his third KIUG appearance.
The afternoon session featured a tightly contested men’s 88kg category, where Parikshit Soni of Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya emerged on top with a total lift of 278kg (127kg snatch; 151kg clean and jerk).
He edged out Andhra University’s M Tarun, who finished with 276kg (126kg snatch; 150kg clean and jerk), while Guru Kashi University’s Vivek secured bronze after lifting 273kg (121kg snatch; 152kg clean and jerk).
– PTI
GOLF
Pukhraj Singh Gill lies second as four other Indians are tied sixth at Bharath Classic
Chandigarh-based Pukhraj Singh Gill produced a career-best six-under 66 to lie second after the opening day of the inaugural Bharath Classic 2025 Gujarat on Thursday.
Using a new putter, Gill, a tenth-tee starter, had eight birdies against two bogeys in an aggressive display at the challenging Kensville course.
Gill, a winner on the IGPL Tour in Jamshedpur, is two shots behind Korean Heemin Chang who took the lead on Day One of the inaugural USD 500,000 Bharath Classic.
Lying tied second with Gill are Korean Wooyoung Cho, Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond and Poosit Supupramai, who shot 66 each.
Playing the course without a practice round because he arrived only late Wednesday night, Chang shot an eight-under-par 64, including an eagle on the Par-4 15th hole.
He had seven birdies and an eagle against one lone bogey on the Par-5 14th.
Indians had a good day in office with four others — Ajeetesh Sandhu, Olympian Udayan Mane, Sachin Baisoya and amateur Ishaan Chawhan — shooting five-under 67 each to be tied-sixth.
Indian-American Varun Chopra also carded a 67 as eight players were bunched at tied-sixth. It also included recent Asian Tour winner, Ekpharit Wu of Thailand.
Saptak Talwar, who divided his time between the HotelPlanner Tour and the Indian Tour, shot three-under 69 as did veteran Naman Dawar, Sudhir Sharma and Gaurav Pratap Singh in a big bunch at tied-17th.
-PTI
FOOTBALL
Assam to host Santosh Trophy 2025-26 Final Round in January
The final round of the 79th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy 2025-26 will take place in Assam in January 2026. The group stages will be held across nine venues from December 15 to 26.
The group stage will feature 35 teams split into nine groups (eight groups with four teams and one group with three). The group winners will join hosts Assam, last season’s champion West Bengal, and runner-up Kerala in the 12-team final round that will be hosted in Dhakuakhana and Dhemaji.
Assam last hosted the Santosh Trophy Final Round in the 2010-11 season, when West Bengal defeated Manipur to lift the trophy.
-Team Sportstar
Published on Nov 27, 2025