ESPORTS
Esports championship gets flagship event status at Nagaland’s Hornbill Festival
The Department of Youth Resources and Sports (YRS) in the Nagaland Government on Tuesday announced that the Hornbill E-Sports Championship Season 2 will be held as a flagship event of the ongoing Hornbill Festival.
Addressing a press conference in Kohima, YRS director Kethosituo Sekhose said the event scheduled for December 8 and 9 at Indira Gandhi Stadium will feature expanded game titles, increased prize money, and the highest-ever esports participation recorded in the state.
The tournament, being organised in collaboration with the E-Sports Association of Nagaland (ESAN), will see 512 athletes and teams, with an additional 240 individual competitors. The prize money has been raised from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.
The championship will feature BGMI (Battlegrounds Mobile India), Moba Legends 5v5, E-Chess, E-Football and FC 2025.
The first edition last year drew more than 1.5 lakh online viewers and over 500 on-ground spectators, Sekhose said.
-Team Sportstar
SQUASH
Joshna upsets second seed Nardine; four Indians move to semis
Former world number 10 Joshna Chinappa rallied to beat Egyptian second seed Nardine Garas in a five-game thriller to move to the semifinals of the HCL Squash Indian Tour 4 here Wednesday.
Velavan Senthilkumar and Anahat Singh, the reigning men’s and women’s National champions respectively, and top seeds, recorded straight-games victories at the Indian Squash Academy, while men’s second seed Veer Chotrani bowed out.
In the semifinals on Thursday, Joshna, 39, who won the Japan Open in October and finished runner-up in the Daly College Indian Open last month, will meet sixth seed compatriot Tanvi Khanna, who edged out Hong Kong fourth seed Nga Ching Cheng over five games.
The results (Quarterfinals; Indians unless specified): Men: 1-Velavan Senthilkumar bt 6-Joseph White (Aus) 11-9, 11-3,11-5; 5-Diego Gobbi (Bra) bt 3-Daniel Poleshchuk (Isr) 11-5, 11-4, 11-3; 7-Maceo Levy (Fra) bt 4-Ibrahim Elkabbani (Egy) 5-11, 11-5, 3-11, 14-12, 11-6; Adam Hawal (Egy) bt 2-Veer Chotrani 11-9, 11-7, 11-8.
Women: 3-Hayley Ward (RSA) bt 5-Ching Hei Fung (HK) 11-9, 11-8, -11, 7-11, 11-7; 1-Anahat Singh bt 8-Akari Midorikawa (Jpn) 11-2, 11-2, 11-8; 6-Tanvi Khanna bt 4-Nga Ching Cheng (HK) 7-11, 12-10, 14-12, 7-11, 11-4; Joshna Chinappa bt 2-Nardine Garas (Egy) 6-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7.
-PTI
BADMINTON
Indian shuttlers dominate at Guwahati Masters
Indian shuttlers, including Tanvi Sharma and Tharun Mannepalli, produced a dominant display at the Guwahati Masters Super 100 tournament as several home players progressed to the next round with commanding wins across men’s and women’s singles draw here Wednesday.
Besides Tanvi, other top performers included Tanya Hemanth, Tasnim Mir, Ashmita Chaliha, Anmol Kharb, Anupama Upadhyaya, Isharani Baruah and Shreya Lele in women’s singles.
While in the men’s singles, Meiraba Luwang Maisnam, Sanskar Saraswat, Manav Choudhary, Saneeth Dayanand, Samarveer, Aryamann Tandon, Tushar Suveer, Pranay Shettigar, Mithun Manjunath and Ginpaul Sonna — all reached the pre-quarterfinals.
Eighth seed Tanvi, a world junior silver medallist, showcased remarkable grit as she bounced back from a shaky start to defeat Indonesia’s Dalila Aghnia Puteri 6-21, 21-11, 21-19 in a tense three-game battle.
In an all-Indian clash, Tanya overcame Aditi Bhatt 21-16, 21-12, former junior world No. 1 Tasnim Mir also advanced with a steady 21-13, 23-21 win over Aalisha Naik and local favourite Ashmita Chaliha had to dig deep to secure her place in the next round, beating Devika Sihag 21-17, 21-23, 21-18.
Fifth seed Anmol Kharb, one of India’s brightest young prospects, registered a clinical 21-18, 21-19 victory over Surya Charisma Tamiri, while fourth seed Anupama Upadhyaya registered a 21-15, 21-10 win against Meghana Reddy Mareddy.
Isharani Baruah cruised past Taiwan’s Yi En Hsieh 21-15, 21-8 and Shreya Lele stunned second seed Pornpicha Choeikeewong of Thailand 21-19, 21-18.
In men’s singles, Meiraba defeated Aditya Tripathi 22-20, 21-12, Mannepalli beat Indonesia’s Richie Duta Richardo 21-13, 21-16. The two will face off in an all Indian clash next.
There were more Indian successes as Sanskar Saraswat upset Syed Modi International winner Jason Gunawan 21-18, 21-19, while Samarveer fought back from a game down to beat Darshan Pujari 13-21, 21-13, 12-7 and set up an all-Indian clash with Sanskar.
Among other results, Manjunath set up a clash with Settigar after getting a walkover from sixth seed S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian.
Manav Choudhary defeated Govind Krishna 21-14, 18-21, 21-18, and Saneeth Dayanand eased past Numair Shaik 21-19, 21-11.
The mixed doubles top seeds also impressed, with Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde rallying from a game down to overcome Indonesia’s Kenzie Yoe and Luna Rianty Saffana 18-21, 21-9, 21-18.
-PTI
EQUESTRIAN
India registers historic success at FEI Asian Equestrian Championship 2025
India finished its campaign at the FEI Asian Equestrian Champioship in Pattaya, Thailand on Wednesday with a historic medal haul. A total of five medals were bagged across the Eventing and Dressage events. This was only the second edition of the Asian Championship; India did not participate in the inaugural edition in 2019.
In Eventing, Ashish Limaye clinched an individual gold as well as a team silver alongside fellow Shashank Singh Kataria and Shashank Kanmuri. In Dressage, Shruti Vora remained the star of the competition for India, bagging three silvers – one in the individual category, the second in Intermediate Freestyle–I, and the third in the Dressage Team event. The Indian team, consisting of Divyakriti Singh, Gaurav Pundir and Shruti were a part of the team that clinched the silver.
“This was a very emotional win for us because the last Asian Games didn’t turn great for us. So, I think it was a huge redemption kind of feeling and a big relief,” Ashish Limaye said. “From the organising committee to our very own Sports Ministry, everybody was very supportive. I think it was also a very well-organised trip for us arranged by the Ministry. They actually made it quite easy for us and in the end it all worked out, and I’m so happy.”
Showing gratitude to his horse, Ashish added, “My horse ‘Willy Be Dun’ is a 13-year-old Anglo-European. I think it would have been impossible to bag this gold without him because he really fought for us and he was always giving 100% to come here. I think he knew that we were at a championship and he was really different and special!”
A 16-member delegation (including six athletes, six grooms, two coaches and one vet and ferrier each), travelled for the championship in Pattaya, at full cost to the Government. The Sports Ministry facilitated an extensive logistics operation covering the transport and care of 12 horses, including air and road movement, pre-export quarantine, feed and bedding, farrier services, insurance and continuous veterinary supervision for over 40 days.
The expenditure, amounting to Rs 2.73 Crore was provided through the Assistance to National Sports Federations (ANSF) scheme, for the travel of the contingent. It included the athletes’ and coaches’ travel, visas, insurance, boarding and lodging, entry fees, mandatory veterinary tests, and essential equipment. The Sports Authority of India’s TAGG scheme also extended individualised support to its core athletes competing at Pattaya, including Ashish Limaye, Shashank Singh Kataria and Divyakriti Singh. The trio were provided with dedicated training assistance, equipment support, and highly specialised horse-care requirements.
GOLF
Kushal Singh’s sizzling 63 helps him surge ahead on day two
Kushal Singh’s terrific seven-under 63 helped him surge ahead on day two of the Jaipur Open, a Rs 1 crore event, being played at the Rambagh Golf Club here.
Gurugram’s Kushal Singh (64-63), whose fortunes have been on the upswing since his runner-up finish at the PGTI NexGen event in Bhubaneswar last month, totalled 13-under 127 at the halfway stage to gain one spot from his overnight tied second place and hold a one-shot lead.
PGTI Order of Merit leader Yuvraj Sandhu (65-63) too shot a 63 to end round two in second place at 12-under 128, thus rising four spots from day one.
Veer Ahlawat, the 2024 PGTI Ranking winner, produced a tournament low score of eight-under 62, an error-free round, that propelled him nine spots to tied third at 11-under 129.
Joining Veer in joint third place was Ravi Kumar who moved up six positions as a result of his 63, another bogey-free effort.
Published on Dec 03, 2025