India’s javelin star Neeraj Chopra will be looking to better his Doha Diamond League throw of 90.23m at the ORLEN Janusz Kusocinski Memorial meet here on Friday. Chopra will face a familiar foe in Germany’s Julian Weber, who beat him to the top prize in Doha. 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
23 May,2025 08:17 AM IST | Chorzow (Poland) | PTICarlos Alcaraz will begin his French Open title defence against Japan’s Kei Nishikori as Iga Swiatek faces a difficult route to a fourth successive Roland Garros title after a year-long trophy drought. Pressure on Sinner Jannik Sinner takes on home hope Arthur Rinderknech in the World No. 1’s first Grand Slam match since serving a three-month doping ban. Alcaraz and Sinner have combined to win each of the last five men’s Grand Slam titles and are the two chief contenders again in Paris. Novak Djokovic, who had not won a clay-court match this season before this week, starts his latest quest for a record-setting 25th major against American Mackenzie McDonald. Seeded sixth, Djokovic could have been drawn to meet either Alcaraz or Sinner in the quarter-finals, but Thursday’s draw spared him from that prospect. Instead, he could run into 2024 runner-up Alexander Zverev in the last eight before a potential semi-final against Sinner. Alcaraz is in the other half. Zverev opens against US teenager Learner Tien. Alcaraz could play Fabian Marozsan or Luca Nardi in the second round, with Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard a possible third-round opponent. Then could come Stefanos Tsitsipas or Ben Shelton followed by Casper Ruud in the quarters. Alcaraz high on confidence “The confidence is really high right now. I’ve been playing great matches, I’ve got great wins in this clay season. I’m excited,” Alcaraz said on Thursday. The 22-year-old has won in Monte Carlo and Rome this season. He also reached the final in Barcelona. Meanwhile, a struggling Iga Swiatek will need to rediscover her best form to retain the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen following a troubled past 12 months. The Pole, who has dropped to fifth in the world, is in the same quarter as last year’s finalist Jasmine Paolini, former champion Jelena Ostapenko and 2022 Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina. Swiatek plays Slovakian Rebecca Sramkova in the first round before a possible meeting with Britain’s Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open winner making just her second visit to Paris. Elina Svitolina, Belinda Bencic, Donna Vekic and Marta Kostyuk also feature alongside Swiatek in a loaded section. 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
23 May,2025 08:15 AM IST | Paris | AP | PTIWestern Railway (WR) beat Union Bank 2-1 in a keenly contested Women’s Seniors match of the St Peter’s hockey tournament in Bandra on Thursday. Anupa Barla netted both goals for the railway side while Sarita pulled one back for Union Bank. In a men’s open tie, Savio Hockey blanked India Rush 5-0. Karan Singh netted a brace while Pranay Bhosle, Bhavik Chandane and Mario Fernandes scored a goal each.
23 May,2025 08:12 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentFormer World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth as well as the mixed doubles pairing of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila entered the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Masters here on Thursday. Srikanth prevailed 23-21, 21-17 in a 59-minute showdown against Ireland’s World No. 33 Nhat Nguyen. Dhruv Kapila (left) and Tanisha Crasto during their win yesterday The Indian shuttler, whose world ranking has plummeted to 65 owing to a prolonged lean patch will face France’s Toma Popov in the last-eight stage. Meanwhile, Kapila and Crasto beat the French duo of Julien Maio and Lea Palermo 21-17, 18-21, 21-15. They are set to battle against the Chinese combination of Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin in the quarter-final. In the day’s other pre-quarterfinal matches involving Indian players, HS Prannoy suffered a 9-21, 18-21 defeat to Japan’s Yushi Tanaka. Ayush Shetty lost to France’s Toma Popov 13-21, 17-21 while Sathish Kumar Karunakaran went down to Christo Popov of France 14-21, 16-21. In the women’s doubles, Prerana Alvekar and Mrunmayee Deshpande lost to Hsu Yin-Hui and Lin Jhih Yun 9-21, 14-21. 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
23 May,2025 08:10 AM IST | Kuala Lumpur | PTIPakistan-based Olympic javelin champion Arshad Nadeem remained restrained when asked about his relationship with Neeraj Chopra, days after the latter clarified that the two athletes 'were never really close friends'. Speaking at a press conference in Lahore ahead of the upcoming Asian Athletics Championships, Nadeem addressed the media with caution. “I don't want to make any comments about Neeraj because of the ongoing conflict with India,” he said. “I come from a village, and I will only say that my family and I will always stand with our army.” "First, I would like to clarify that I don’t have a very strong relationship [with Nadeem], we were never really close friends or something. But, because of this [tensions at the India-Pakistan border], it will not be like before. But if someone talks to me respectfully I reciprocate the respect,” Chopra had earlier told reporters at a press conference. Chopra had extended an invitation to top global javelin athletes, including Nadeem, for the now-postponed Neeraj Chopra Classic, a World Athletics-approved event initially scheduled to be held in Bengaluru. However, the invitation drew criticism from certain Indian social media users in light of escalating tensions between India and Pakistan. The criticism intensified following a devastating terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which tragically claimed 26 lives, mostly tourists. Chopra later said that his bond with Nadeem would not remain the same, citing the worsening political climate with Pakistan. Meanwhile, Chopra achieved a personal best of 90.23 metres at the Doha Diamond League on May 16, finally breaching the elusive 90-metre barrier. The throw made Chopra only the 25th male javelin thrower in history to join the prestigious '90-metre club'. However, his record-setting effort earned him a second-place finish behind Germany’s Julian Weber, who claimed the top spot with a throw of 91.06 metres. Prior to this landmark performance, the 26-year-old’s personal best stood at 89.94 metres, achieved at the Stockholm Diamond League on June 30, 2022. Since then, the 90-metre mark had remained a tantalising target, with Chopra consistently producing world-class performances but falling just short of the iconic distance. That changed in Doha, where his powerful release and near-flawless technique propelled the javelin beyond the historic threshold.
22 May,2025 09:37 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentHe may not have coached him as closely as javelin super star Neeraj Chopra, but Shivpal Singh’s second doping offence has infuriated German bio-mechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz. Bartonietz, who shared a highly successful five-year partnership with Chopra during which the Indian collected a host of accolades, including a historic Olympic gold at Tokyo and a silver at the Paris Games last year, didn’t hide his anger at Shivpal’s second doping offence that could lead to an eight-year ban. “Disappointed? I don’t know. But I’m really pissed off. So stupid,” Bartonietz told PTI on Wednesday. “It shows that you don’t trust in this process. All those who are doping don’t trust that they can reach the top by normal nature of training. It makes me so angry. They carry the Indian flag proudly, saying Jai Hind, by cheating,” added Bartonietz. Shivpal, 29, who also competed at the Tokyo Olympics, tested positive for a banned substance in an out-of-competition test earlier this year. 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
22 May,2025 08:23 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIIndia’s male shuttlers, led by the experienced duo of HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth, were off to a brilliant start, but it was curtains for double Olympic-medallist PV Sindhu as she bowed out with a first-round loss at the Malaysia Masters badminton tournament on Wednesday. Prannoy and Srikanth were joined by Satish Karunakaran in the second round. Taking the court first, 2023 World Championships bronze medallist Prannoy stunned fifth seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 19-21 21-17 21-16 in one hour and 22 minutes. He will play Yushi Tanaka of Japan in the second round. HS Prannoy (left) and K Srikanth Karunakaran, who won the 2023 Odisha Masters and 2024 Guwahati Masters, also registered an upset by stunning third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-13 21-14 in just 39 minutes. Ayush Shetty, who had reached the semi-finals at the Taipei Open super 300, also progressed after getting past Brian Yang of Canada 20-22 21-10 21-8. Later, former World No. 1 Srikanth, a 2021 World Championships silver medallist, stunned a higher-ranked, sixth seeded Lu Guang Zu of China 23-21 13-21 21-11 in a 57-minute showdown to progress. World No. 16 Sindhu’s poor form, however, continued as she failed to get past the opening hurdle, losing 11-21, 21-14, 15-21 to 6 Nguyen Thuy Linh of Vietnam, who is ranked 10 places below at 26. 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
22 May,2025 08:20 AM IST | Kuala Lumpur | PTIIndian Navy Blue registered a 5-2 win over Mumbai Port Authority (MPA) in a men’s open match of the St Peter’s hockey tournament at Bandra on Tuesday. Rajat Minz netted a fine hat-trick while Bhavin Kuspa and Yogesh Milak scored one each for Navy. Stephen Swamy netted both goals for MPA. In another tie, Mumbai Customs drew with CTC Red. Moses Alexander scored for CTC while Moses Pullanthara made it 1-1.
22 May,2025 08:16 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentFr Agnel Gymkhana beat BEST 4-0 in a league match of the BK Mohite Memorial hockey tournament at the Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd Stadium, Churchgate, recently. Deyaraj R (11th, 28th minute) scored a brace while Mahmod (12th) and Maan (45th) contributed a goal each. In another match, Companeroes were held 1-1 by Astrengung. Vineet Shetty (16th) opened the scoring for Companeros before Rohan Mhatre (29th) netted the equaliser.
22 May,2025 08:15 AM IST | Mumbai | A CorrespondentBudding Haryana shooter Kanak opened India’s gold-medal account at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Germany, clinching the top prize in the women’s 10m air pistol category on Wednesday. The 17-year-old, a junior World Championship silver medallist in Lima last year, scored 239.0 in the 24-shot eight-women final to upstage Anna Dulce of Moldova, a two-time Olympian and reigning European champion by 1.7 points. Kanak showed her experience at this level, nailing the 10s when it mattered most towards the closing stages of the final to win with ease. “I was a little bit nervous in the beginning but I am happy that I was able to close out well,” said Kanak following her triumph. 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
22 May,2025 08:13 AM IST | New Delhi | PTIIndia’s top singles player Sumit Nagal bowed out of the French Open singles qualifying following a 2-6, 4-6 defeat to 225th ranked Jurij Rodionov in the second round here on Wednesday. Nagal, ranked 170th, succumbed to the Austrian in one hour and 29 minutes having beaten USA’s Mitchell Krueger in the first round. 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
22 May,2025 08:11 AM IST | Paris | PTIADVERTISEMENT
