British tennis ace Emma Raducanu is all set to follow in the footsteps of Swiss legend Roger Federer, with the 2021 US Open winner set to switch from Nike apparel to Uniqlo, beginning from the 2026 season onwards. While the move has not yet been confirmed, several notable sources within the tennis world allege that the deal is already done. “Just hearing Raducanu to Uniqlo for 2026 is done,” tennis insider Craig Shapiro posted on X. The 23-year-old has been with the American brand even before she turned into a professional in 2018. If the news is true, it would mirror the shock switch Federer made in 2018 after being associated with Nike since 1994. The 20-time Grand Slam champion continued to sport the Japanese brand’s apparel until he retired in 2022. Raducanu endured a largely forgettable 2025, failing to make it past the Round-of-32 in any of the four Grand Slam events.
20 December,2025 09:32 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentFabiano Caruana ended Alireza Firouzja’s winning run in a last second scramble of a marathon 77-move game as Alpine SG Pipers stunned table-toppers Triveni Continental Kings 12-8 at the Global Chess League on Friday. Playing with white pieces, Anish Giri’s win over Wei Yi gave the Pipers an early lead before Nino Batsiashvili beat Alexandra Kosteniuk to put them in the driver’s seat. But Zhu Jiner kept Kings in the game by defeating Hou Yifan before Marc’Andria Maurizzi’s beat Leon Luke Mendonca to give Kings the lead. An error from Pipers’s Vidit Gujarathi allowed R Praggnanandhaa to push for victory before Caruana applied the finishing touches.
20 December,2025 09:29 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentThe Indian pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty entered the last-four of the BWF World Tour Finals after rallying from a game down to defeat the Malaysian duo of Aaron Chia and Soh Woo Yik 17-21, 21-18, 21-15 in their final group stage match here on Friday. The World No. 3 Indian duo were on level footing with their second-ranked opponents in the first-half of the first game before the latter pulled away to 18-13. Nevertheless, Satwik and Chirag clawed things back to 17-19, but it was too late as the Malaysians closed it out 21-17. The second game began in a similar vein, with the scores level at 12-12, but the Indian pair held their nerve with Chirag sealing the game 21-18 with a smash. The Malaysian pair fought tooth and nail in the last game as they trailed the Indians 9-11, but thereafter Satwik and Chirag pulled away comfortably while playing some high-quality badminton to seal a 21-15 win. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
20 December,2025 09:25 AM IST | Hangzhou | AgenciesGoregaon resident Saawari Kulkarni won the gold medal in the 100m dash at the School Games Federation of India-organised 69th National Games at Guru Govind Singh Sports College, Lucknow (December 13 to 17). Representing Maharashtra in the U-17 category, Saawari won the 100m dash in 11.90 seconds. She was closely followed by Punjab’s Kashish H (12.25 seconds), who secured the silver, and Maharashtra’s Pratiksha Jivankuma (12.26s), who won bronze. The Maharashtra girls also won gold and silver in the 200m event with Bhoomika SN clocking 24.78s for top spot and Mihika Vaibhavi Surve (25.28s) finishing second. Chandigarh’s Heeral Saini (25.46s) took bronze.
20 December,2025 09:23 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentTop seed Anvisha Ghorpade hardly broke a sweat before getting past Mitali Mahamuni 15-8, 15-6 to enter the girls U-15 singles pre-quarterfinals in the Yonex Sunrise Gautam Thakkar Memorial Junior Badminton State Championships at the Bombay Gymkhana on Thursday. However, other matches in the Round of 32 went the distance, with Spruha Joshi having to dig deep in the decider to beat Anika Taneja 15-12, 12-15, 16-14. Poorvi Shirke also had to rally after losing the first game to get the better of Radha Raorane 13-15, 15-13, 15-9. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
20 December,2025 09:20 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentThe top four seeds in the men’s category continued to have a field day in the 80th CCI Western India Squash as they moved into the quarter-finals quite easily on Friday. Men’s top seed Veer Chotrani got the better of Rounak Yadav 11-7, 11-2, 11-5. Second seed Suraj Chand was tested a little before he edged past Hridhaan Shah 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 on the courts of the Cricket Club of India (CCI). This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
20 December,2025 09:18 AM IST | Mumbai | IANSOn a day where young pugilists delivered an action-packed series of close bouts, U-13 boxers Jigar Saroj and Samarsinh Patil stood out, registering high-scoring wins in the finals of their respective weight categories in the Dream Sports Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) inter-school boxing tournament at Azad Maidan on Wednesday. Jigar of Holy Cross High School (Worli) outpunched Adish Mishra of Gopal Sharma International (Powai) 88–85 in the 34kg U-13 final, while schoolmate Samarsinh Patil followed up with an 87–84 victory over Reyaansh Parab of Gopal Sharma International (Powai) in the 36kg U-13 final. Meanwhile, the 44kg U-13 title went to Archith Varma of Gokuldham (Goregaon), who secured an Referee Stopped Contest due to Injury (RSC-I) win over Jiyaan Rajyagor of Swami Vivekanandan International School (Borivli). In the girls U-13 categories, Vaishnavi Tripathi of Holy Cross High School (Worli) beat Ruchi Gohil of St Peter’s High School (Parel) 30–27 in the 36kg final. Anushree Bhosale of Saraswati Mandir (Dadar) won the 44kg final with a 60–52 win over Shravya Pawar of Sacred Heart High School (Worli), and Vipra Dandekar of Convent Girls High School (Worli) claimed victory in the 50kg final by beating Pranita Mehta of Green Lawns (Cumballa Hill) via RSC-I. Other results Boys U-11 (24kg) final: Tanush Dhanu of Victoria HS (Mahim) bt Jafar Shaikh of St Mathew’s HS (Malad) 60–54Boys U-11 (26kg) final: Hammad Mehtar of Christ Church HS (Byculla) bt Mohmad Ali Ansari of Christ Church HS (Byculla) 30–27Boys U-11 (28kg) final: Saqib Khan of Christ Church HS (Byculla) bt Rudra Sonawane of IES Padmakar Dhamdhere English Medium School (Dadar) via RSC-IBoys U-11 (32kg) final: Nirbhay Ambekar of Dr Antonio Da Silva HS (Dadar) bt Umair Khan of St Mathew’s HS (Malad) 88-83Girls U-11 (28kg) final: Divyanka Mokal of Convent Girls HS (Worli) bt Disha Kewat of Sacred Heart HS (Worli) 60–54Girls U-15 (57kg) final: Gauraja Mhatre of Convent Girls HS (Worli) bt Swara Lokhande of Sacred Heart HS (Worli) via RSC-I Girls U-15 (60kg) final: Anshika Singh of Gopal Sharma Int’l (Powai) bt Saumya Nayar of Gundecha Education Academy (Kandivli) via RSC-I
19 December,2025 09:16 AM IST | Mumbai | Rufus VedanayagamTop seeds Shlok Goyal and Vivaan Waingankar cruised to victory in their respective boys U-13 and U-11 matches at the Yonex Sunrise Gautam Thakkar Memorial Junior State Badminton Championships at the Bombay Gymkhana on Thursday. Shlok beat Adarsh Gore 15-2, 15-2 in a last-64 match, while Waingankar beat Preyansh Juneja 15-3, 15-3 in a last-32 U-11 fixture. Other results . Boys U-13 Rd-of-64: Y Singh bt V Chougule 15-11, 15-4; A Desai bt F Shaikh 15-12, 15-10; M Colaco bt A Warudkar 15-6, 15-5; D Kedia bt D Shah 15-13, 7-15, 15-7; S Dachepalli bt A Agarwal 7-15, 16-14, 15-9; Y Shetty bt H Beniwal 15-10, 15-9. . Boys U-11 Rd-of-32: A Shete bt R Rokade 15-1, 15-8; S Sagar bt A Nayak 15-3, 15-8; A Madhekar bt Y Shetty 15-13, 9-15, 15-12; A Nevarekar bt R Malviya 15-10, 15-9.
19 December,2025 09:02 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentVeer Chotrani and Suraj Chand kicked off their respective campaigns with a win at the Western India squash tournament held at the Cricket Club of India (CC) on Thursday. Top seed Veer thoroughly outclassed Ayaan Khaan 11-1, 11-1, 11-1, while second seed Suraj overcame the challenge posed by Ajinkya Patil 11-4, 11-4, 11-3. Both players progressed to the Round-of-32.
19 December,2025 08:59 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentWorld champions D Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi delivered in a must-win game of the Global Chess League on Thursday to help PBG Alaskan Knights register their first win of the tournament. Arjun gave his team the lead by beating Alpine SG Pipers’s Anish Giri. However, Pipers’s Nino Batsiashvili and Leon Mendonca won with black to put pressure back on the Knights. Gukesh then came to the party, beating Fabiano Caruana in 39 moves, before Leinier Dominguez, and Kateryna Lagno won their respective matches to seal the win for the Knights.
19 December,2025 08:55 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentIndia’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty dished out a solid performance to outwit the Indonesian pair of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri in their second Group B match to inch closer to the knockout stage of the BWF World Tour Finals here Thursday. The top seeded Indian pair shored up their defence and dominated the proceedings to register a 21-11, 16-21, 21-11 win over World No. 8 Alfian and Fikri in the men’s doubles match that lasted an hour. With two wins from two matches, Satwik and Chirag lead the group. They will face Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in their last group match on Friday. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
19 December,2025 08:52 AM IST | Hangzhou (China) | PTIADVERTISEMENT
