Voice of Indian Sport

Indonesia Open Super 1000 Round of 16:

WR 10 PV Sindhu lost to WR 1 An Se Young of South Korea 17-21, 15-21

WR 20 Ayush Shetty lost to WR 23 Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-16, 13-21, 14-21.

BWF Indonesia Open Super 1000 Round of 32 results:

WR 20 Ayush Shetty defeated WR 15 Weng Hong Yang of China 8-21, 22-20, 21-15

WR 35 HS Prannoy lost to WR 25 Nhat Nguyen 17-21, 21-16, 19-21.

WR 4 Satwik-Chirag retired against WR 23 Kang-Tai of Malaysia due to injury to Satwik.

WR 42 Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde upset WR 20th Chinese Taipei duo of Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang 21-14, 21-14.

P. V. Sindhu has moved up one place to become World No. 10 in the latest BWF Women's Singles rankings. It is a commendable achievement for a player who has entered her 30s and is no longer at the peak of her powers.

At the same time, it is also somewhat concerning that no younger Indian women's singles player has yet been able to firmly take over the mantle from Sindhu. While there are promising talents coming through the ranks, the gap at the top remains significant.

Among other Indian women's singles players, Unnati Hooda is ranked 28th, Devika Sihag 33rd, Tanvi Sharma 37th, and Isharani Baruah 39th also features among the country's leading shuttlers.

In men's singles, Lakshya Sen remains India's highest-ranked player at World No. 10. Youngster Ayush Shetty continues his rise and is now ranked 20th, while H. S. Prannoy (35th) and Kidambi Srikanth (37th) are also among the Indians in the top 40.

In men's doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, fresh off their Singapore Open title, continue to hold the World No. 4 ranking. Meanwhile, in mixed doubles, the pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto have climbed five places to World No. 23.

WR 10 Lakshya Sen loses to WR 12 Alwi Farhan of Indonesia 19-21, 16-21 in the round of 32 clash of BWF Indonesia Open Super 1000.

WR 30 Men's Doubles duo of Arjun-Amsakarunan defeated WR 24 Malaysian duo of Azriyn-Tan 21-18, 21-10.

WR 51 Malvika Bansod lost WR 8 Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand 12-21, 10-21.

BWF Indonesia Open Super 1000 Round of 32 results:

PV Sindhu defeated Busanan
Ongbamrungphan of Thailand 25-23, 21-16.

Kidambi Srikanth lost to Japan's Yushi Tanaka 19-21, 15-21.

Before I begin, let me make one thing clear: I am not from Bihar, nor am I opposed to Bihar's demand for an IPL team.

A few weeks ago, I came across a post from a prominent industrialist supporting the idea of Bihar getting its own IPL franchise. The demand is understandable. Bihar is one of India's largest states, cricket enjoys immense popularity there, and the emergence of talents such as Vaibhav Suryavanshi has only strengthened the belief that the state deserves representation in the country's biggest sporting league.

However, while discussions around an IPL team continue, I believe there is another sport where Bihar's claim is even stronger.

That sport is Rugby Sevens.

Unlike many sports that experience occasional spikes of interest before fading away, Rugby Sevens in India appears to be making steady and genuine progress. The focus on grassroots development is increasing, player registrations have been growing, and India's performances have gradually improved over the years. I have highlighted some of that progress in my previous posts as well.

A major driving force behind this growth has been the vision of Rugby India, headed by former India international and actor Rahul Bose. The launch of the Rugby Premier League was a significant step in that direction.

I was genuinely surprised by the quality of the competition. The presence of world-class Rugby Sevens players elevated the tournament significantly. For a country where rugby is still a niche sport, attracting that level of international talent was a massive achievement.

This is where Bihar enters the conversation.

At both the junior and senior levels, Bihar has consistently been among the strongest rugby states in India. In fact, one could argue that it has been the leading force in Indian rugby in recent years. Yet the very state contributing so much to the sport has no franchise representation in the Rugby Premier League.

If Rugby India wants to expand its reach and build a stronger fan culture, it should establish franchises in regions that already have a genuine connection with the sport. Bihar is one of those regions.

The state also has sporting infrastructure that can support such ambitions. Rajgir has successfully hosted international rugby events.

A Bihar-based franchise would help create a passionate fan base in a state that has already embraced the sport. More importantly, it would give one of Indian rugby's biggest talent hubs a team of its own.

So if you feel that your state deserves a Rugby Premier League franchise, now might be the right time to start making that demand as well.
The Rugby Premier League is still in its early years and has an opportunity to build on its momentum. A Bihar franchise would not only reward one of Indian rugby's biggest talent hubs, but could also help the league connect with a passionate sporting community that has already contributed so much to the game.

🇮🇳 India finishes 2nd at the 2026 Asian U20 Athletics Championships with 19 medals (10🥇 5🥈 4🥉).

This is India's best-ever performance at an Asian U20 Athletics Championships held outside India.
While India had previously won 10 gold medals on two occasions, both those editions were hosted in New Delhi. Matching that gold-medal tally on foreign soil makes this achievement even more impressive.

The highlight of the campaign was undoubtedly India's young high-jump sensation, Pooja,, who soared over 1.93m, winning gold and rewriting the record books by breaking the Indian senior national record despite being only a junior athlete.

The teenager has rapidly emerged as one of the most exciting high-jump prospects in world athletics and could be a name to watch on the global stage in the coming years.

China topped the medal standings with 14 gold medals, while Japan finished third with 5 gold medals.

Final Standings:

2nd in Medal Tally

🥇 10 Gold | 🥈 5 Silver | 🥉 4 Bronze
🏅 19 Total Medals

Indian U17 men's freestyle wrestlers win 7 medals at the U17 Asian Wrestling Championships in Vietnam.

They finished with 2🥇 2🥈 3🥉 and secured the Team Bronze Medal.

🥇 Gold Medalists
92 kg - Deepanshu Dahiya 🥇
110 kg - Arush Rana 🥇

🥈 Silver Medalists
65 kg - Vineet 🥈
80 kg - Mandeep 🥈

🥉 Bronze Medalists
48 kg - Aaryan 🥉
55 kg - Sahil 🥉
71 kg - Anuj 🥉

15-year-old Divyanshi Bhowmick has jumped 86 places up in the latest World Table Tennis Rankings. She had won both singles and doubles title at WTT Feeder Prishtina on Sunday.

She has moved up from 211th spot to 125th.

16-year-old Syndrela Das has moved up 11 places up to 115th. Improvement of 31 places for her in 2 weeks.

India has five women players inside the Top 100 as well, with Sreeja Aula remaining the country’s highest-ranked women’s singles player at World No. 45. Manika Batra (51), Yashaswini Ghorpade (66), Diya Chitale (72) & Ayhika Mukherjee (78) are other paddlers in top 100.

In men’s singles, Manav Thakkar remains India’s highest-ranked men’s singles player at World No. 35. Manush Shah us at 41st spot.

India currently has five5 players inside the Top 100 in men’s singles, including 19-year-old Ankur Bhattacharjee, who has entered the Top 100 at World No. 94, moving 4 places up. Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai are placed at 50th & 89th spot.

In women’s doubles, Divyanshi Bhowmick and Syndrela Das moved up by 27 places to 60th spot.

In men’s doubles, the pair of Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah are World No. 4.

In mixed doubles, the pair of Manush Shah and Diya Chitale are ranked World No. 6.

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Greco-Roman Wrestling Asian Games Trials Winners:

60 kg - Sumit Dalal
67 kg - Deepak
77 kg - Aman
87 kg - Sunil Kumar
97 kg - Nitesh Siwach
130 kg - Deepanshu