Firoz Mirza

CHENNAI: Life has never been easy for judoka Asmita Dey. Hailing from a nondescript town in South Tripura, Asmita endured extreme hardships. Her father was a bicycle mechanic and his meagre income was not enough to make both the ends meet. On top of that, last year her father breathed his last due to a brain stroke.

CHENNAI: Harsh Singh was hardly five when decided to enrol himself in Victory Judo Academy located in Kakrola village of South-West Delhi. Born in a daily-wage labourer's family, Harsh was a bundle of energy and used to play in the neighbourhood for hours. That is when he saw his friends training at the judo centre. That one knock on the door of the academy changed Harsh's life forever. He not only got a way to channelise his limitless energy but also found a career that would eventually give him name and fame. Of course, because of his modest background, the coaches and other staff at the academy took care of his diet and kit.

India's Preeti Pawar and Jaismine Lamboria clinched gold medals in women's boxing at the Commonwealth Games 2026, with both delivering strong performances in their respective finals on Saturday.

CHENNAI: With two of its most successful disciplines — shooting (sport was not there in 2022 as well) and wrestling — not part of the 2026 edition, replicating the Birmingham show looked difficult for India as the truncated Commonwealth Games began in Glasgow on July 23. Ten days later, the country's athletes surpassed all expectations as India retained the fourth-place finish on the medal tally.

CHENNAI: Auqib Nabi has been making waves with his stellar displayers in the domestic circuit for the past couple of years. A lot has come his way in this period with the most prominent being his side, Jammu and Kashmir, being crowned the Ranji Trophy champion the previous season with him being the leading wicket taker with 60 scalps.

CHENNAI: With two gold, a silver and a bronze, Indian judokas had a historic outing at the recently-concluded 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. India had never won a judo gold at the CWG but it all changed when Asmita Dey finished on top of the podium in the -48kg weight category. Harsh Singh made it two in a row a few minutes later as he won the -60kg final.

CHENNAI: Wrestling is one of the few disciplines which consistently fetches medals at the multi-sport events like Olympics and Asian Games. With the latter scheduled to begin in Aichi–Nagoya, Japan from September 19, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has decided to send its men wrestlers from both styles (freestyle and Greco-Roman) for separate training camps ahead of the marquee event.

CHENNAI: It's not easy being Yamini Mourya. Having won Junior Asian Championships bronze around a decade ago, the Madhya Pradesh judoka has seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in the last 10 years. Even as she started making her mark as a judoka in 2016, Yamini had to undergo knee surgery next year. Six years later, she became the first woman judoka from the country to win a medal (bronze) at the World University Games. But as fate would have it, she once again has to undergo knee surgery in 2024 bringing her career to a screeching halt.

CHENNAI: Not long ago wrestler Ronak Dahiya had suffered twin setbacks. The first one was when he lost the final bout in the 130kg weight category against Deepanshu during the selection trials of Greco-Roman wrestlers thus missing out on a berth in the Indian team for the 2026 Asian Games. A day later, his father Jaibir Singh, a former wrestler, was served a show-cause notice for conflict of interest by the Wrestling Federation of India for assuming the role of his son's coach despite being appointed as a referee there.

CHENNAI: Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav made his Test debut in March 2017. Only a couple of years later, former India coach Ravi Shastri termed him India's premier overseas spinner following his breathtaking 5/99 against Australia in Sydney. Despite being rated so highly by his coach, Test matches have been few and far between for the Uttar Pradesh tweaker in the last nine years.