VOLLEYBALL
India begins CAVA Nations League campaign with loss
India lost to Iran 1-3 in its CAVA men’s Nations League campaign opener on Thursday in Fergana, Uzbekistan. The tournament is set to run till June 4th.
The score read 20-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-22 in favour of Iran.
India is placed in Pool A alongside host Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran. Pool B has Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.
– Team Sportstar
ESPORTS
eFootball, Street Fighter, & Rocket League join medal lineup at Asian Youth Games 2025
The 3rd Asian Youth Games (AYG) is set to feature eFootball, Street Fighter, and Rocket League as official medal events, each to be contested in both boys’ and girls’ categories.
Scheduled to be held in Bahrain from October 22 to 31, the tournament will include 24 sports disciplines, with esports making its debut as an official medal event. Open to athletes aged between 15 and 18 years as of December 31, 2025, the esports competitions will be governed by the Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF).
The inclusion of these PC-based esports titles presents a promising opportunity for India to develop its esports ecosystem at the grassroots level. Earlier this year, esports made significant strides nationally when the Khelo India Youth Games featured titles such as BGMI, Street Fighter 6, eFootball, and chess as demonstration sports.
– Team Sportstar
SQUASH
Anahat qualifies for British Open
Anahat Singh booked her spot in the main draw of the British Open on Thursday.
Like her previous two matches, World No.. 57 Anahat registered another victory in straight games as she took down third-seeded Frenchwoman Marie Stephan, World No. 50, 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-6) in the final of the qualifiers in Birmingham.
The 17-year-old Anahat joined Ramit Tandon (World No. 35), Abhay Singh (World No. 38) and Velavan Senthilkumar (World No. 45), who had already qualified for the main draw, which takes place from May 31 to June 8, on the basis of their PSA Rankings.
– Team Sportstar
GOLF
Riding on Ranveer’s back-to-back 69, India jumps to T-2
Delhi teenager Ranveer Mitroo registered a second consecutive card of two-under 69 to help India jump to tied second place in boys’ team competition along with compatriot Krish Chawla in the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) Junior Championship in Hong Kong.
With an overall total of one-under 283 after the second round, the Indian duo is six strokes behind the leaders Parin Sarasmut and Warut Boonrod of Thailand.
Individually, Ranveer maintained his fourth position in the individual boys competition. Krish improved his overnight tied 16th place after posting a two-over 73 to end the second round in sole 15th position with an overall total of three-over 145.
The Indian Golf Union had sent a four-member team to compete in the tournament organised by APGC.
– PTI
Vani shares lead with Amandeep, Vidhatri in 7th leg of Hero WPGT
Vani Kapoor, seeking a fourth title in as many starts, grabbed a share of the lead in the first round of the seventh leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour here on Thursday.
Vani, who has not finished below second place on the domestic Hero WPGT in the last five starts, shot 71 at the Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Golf Club.
Vani won the fourth, fifth and sixth legs of the Tour.
Apart from Vani, her friend and former Hero Women’s Indian Open runner-up, Amandeep Drall and local star, Vidhatri Urs also shot 71.
None of the players broke par at the course, which had seen a lot of rain over the last few days. In fact, with more rain expected, the players will go out in a shotgun start in the second round tomorrow morning.
Rhea Purvi Saravanan, who won the opening leg this season, was tied fourth with a round of 2-over 72.
Vani had two birdies against three bogeys as did Vidhatri Urs. Amandeep had pars through the front nine and then had two birdies against three bogeys on the back nine.
Rhea had back-to-back bogeys on the front nine and then a double bogey on the par-4 11th, but she recovered some ground with back-to-back birdies on the 16th and the 17th.
Jasmine Shekar was the only player to play one of the stretches in under par. She shot 1-under 35 with two birdies against one bogey on the front nine. However, she had four bogeys on the return journey.
Jasmine, among the winners last year, was fifth with 3-over 73, while Durga Nittur shot 74 to be sixth.
Khushi Khanijau was sole seventh with 75, and four players, Karishma Govind, Ridhima Dilawari, Neha Tripathi and Lavanya Jadon, were tied eighth at 6-over 76 each.
-PTI
TABLE TENNIS
Kolkata ThunderBlades beats Chennai Lions in UTT Juniors
Ritvik Gupta won his singles and mixed doubles matches to help Kolkata ThunderBlades to a 5-4 victory over Stanley’s Chennai Lions in the league stage of the Dream UTT junior table tennis tournament at the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
In other matches, U Mumba TT and Dempo Goa Challengers prevailed 7-2 over Dabang Delhi TTC and Ahmedabad SG Pipers, respectively.
Each rubber features three mandatory sets, and the team results are decided on the basis of more sets won, rather than rubbers won.
The results (league):Â
Kolkata ThunderBlades bt Stanley’s Chennai Lions 5-4 (Ritvik Gupta bt Siddhanth Dhariwal 11-6, 11-9, 11-9; Ritvik & Swara Karmarkar bt Siddhanth & Divyanshi Bhowmick 11-10, 6-11, 11-10; Swara lost to Divyanshi 10-11, 7-11, 9-11).
U Mumba TT bt Dabang Delhi TTC 7-2 (Prateek Tulsani lost to Akash Rajavelu 9-11, 5-11, 11-7; Prateek & Ananya Muralidhar bt Akash & Dhaani Jain 11-5, 11-7, 11-5; Ananya bt Dhaani 11-5, 11-6, 11-4).
Dempo Goa Challengers bt Ahmedabad SG Pipers 7-2 (Sahil Rawat bt Abheek Kashyap 11-4, 11-5, 11-7; Sahil & Aarya Redkar bt Abheek & Mouboni Chatterjee 11-8, 11-5, 11-7; Arya lost to Mouboni 11-9, 9-11, 8-11).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
WRESTLING
Anil Mor clinches gold in Ulaanbaatar Open Ranking Series
Anil Mor (55kg) secured a gold medal as Indian Greco Roman wrestlers bagged six medals on the opening day of the Ulaanbaatar Open Ranking Series on Thursday.
Besides Mor, Prince (82kg) and Nitesh (97kg) took silver medals, while Neeraj (67kg), Nishant Phogat (77kg) and Karan Kamboj (87kg) claimed bronze in depleted fields.
-Team Sportstar
BOXING
Thailand Open: Naman, Anshul register wins
Naman Tanwar (90kg) and Anshul Gill (90+kg) registered hard-fought wins over their respective opponents from Uzbekistan to enter the finals at the Thailand Open international boxing tournament in Bangkok on Thursday.
Tanwar overcame Juraboev Elyorbek 4-1, while Gill edged past Rustamov Abdurakhmon 3-2 in the semifinals. In women’s competitions, Tamanna (51kg), Priya (57kg) and Lalfakmawii (80kg) exited in the last-four stage.
-Team Sportstar
TENNIS
Men’s ITF: Kamath beats Ukraine’s Orlov in pre-quarterfinals
Madhwin Kamath fought his way past second seed Vladyslav Orlov of Ukraine 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Thursday.
Results
€54,000 Challenger, Chisinau, Moldova Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Siddhant Banthia & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Kiachi Uchida (Jpn) & Denis Yevseyev (Kaz) 6-4, 4-6, [10-8].
$30,000 ITF men, Coquimbo, Chile Singles pre-quarterfinals): Aryan Shah bt Igor Gimenez (Bra) 7-5, 6-1.
$15,000 ITF men, Kayseri, Turkey Singles (first round): Maxwell Mckennon (USA) bt Aryan Lakshmanan 6-4, 7-5.
$15,000 ITF men, Luan, China Singles (first round): Linghao Zhang (Chn) bt Parth Aggarwal 6-3, 6-3.
$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia Singles (first round): Pierre Delage (Fra) bt Arjun Rathi 6-4, 6-0.
$15,000 ITF men, Tashkent, Uzbekistan Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Kriish Tyagi bt Grigoriy Lomakin (Kaz) 7-6(4), 6-1; Maxim Shin (Uzb) bt Bharath Kumaran 6-3, 6-3; Madhwin Kamath bt Vladyslav Orlov (Ukr) 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3.
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Yasmine Mansouri (Fra) bt Anjali Rathi 6-4, 6-3.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
CRICKET
Bengal Pro T20 League to start on June 11
The second season of the Bengal Pro T20 League will be held from June 11 to 28.
Last season’s men’s joint winners Sobisco Smashers Malda and Murshidabad Kings will clash in the opening match at the Eden Gardens. The semifinals will be played on June 26.
The women’s league will commence on July 12 with the contest between Murshidabad Kueens taking on Harbour Diamonds.
The semifinals will be played on June 27.
The two finals will be held at the Eden Gardens on June 28 (women: 1:30 p.m., men: 7 p.m.).
-Team Sportstar