ESPN staffJun 30, 2024, 06:30 AM ET
Welcome to ESPN India's daily blog, where we aim to bring you all the news from the dynamic world of Indian sports: from the wide variety of Olympic sports to franchise leagues.
June has plenty of sporting action taking place - which you can find listed out in ESPN India's sporting calendar.
Anshu Malik suffers shoulder strain during training, WFI seeks status report from wrestler
Anshu Malik, who will represent India at the Paris Olympics, has suffered a shoulder strain during training, forcing the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) to seek a status report from the wrestler. Anshu had won a silver medal at the recent Ranking Series event in Budapest in the women's 57kg, losing the final to China's Kexin Hong.
The 22-year-old Anshu had qualified for the Games by winning a gold medal at the Asian Olympic Qualifier in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in April.
After the Budapest event, Anshu returned to her centre -- Mirchpur academy in Haryana -- and a week back suffered a strain on left shoulder.
"During a practice session, she suffered strain and as a precautionary measure, she stopped training. She also underwent an MRI and there is nothing to worry. The scan is clean. Two days back she started training again," Anshu's father and coach Dharamveer Malik told PTI. "We will leave for Japan for a training camp in a few days," added Dharamveer.
WFI President Sanjay Singh told PTI that in a day or two they will have clarity.
"We have been told she has begun light training. We have asked for a status report for clear position. The coaches are saying that she is alright. We will know exact details in two days' time," he said.
NSFs have time till July 8 to change the nominations.
Indian mixed 4x400m relay team fails to make Olympics cut, Jena reveals he had ankle pain
The Indian mixed 4x400m relay team failed in its bid to qualify for the Paris Olympics despite setting a national record as it missed the target time exactly by a second on the final day of the National Inter-State Championships here on Sunday.
India fielded two teams -- A and B -- in the mixed 400m relay event which also has Sri Lanka and Maldives invited by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) so that the timings are counted for world ranking purposes. Three national teams are required to make an event an international one.
The Indian team's target was to clock 3:11.87 to go past Kenya (3:11.88) and take the 16th and the last spot. But the India A quartet of Muhammed Anas, Jyothika Sri Dandi, Muhammed Ajmal and Kiran Pahal clocked 3:12.87 to win the race. In the process, the Indian team erased the previous national record of 3:14.12 seconds which was recorded at the Asian Relay in Bangkok in May.
India B team of T Santosh, Vithya Ramraj, Amoj Jacob and Subha Venkatesan was second with 3:14.22. Sri Lanka finished third with 3:18.18, while Maldives ended at eighth and last with 3:44.98.
In other events, Olympics-bound Kishore Jena was pushed to the third place in the men's javelin thrower competition won by Sahil Silwal of Haryana with a throw of 81.81m. Vikrant Malik of Odisha was second with 81.74m, while Jena won the bronze with a second round throw of 80.84m.
He also revealed that he was coping with a minor left ankle pain which he felt after the Federation Cup (May 15-19) in Bhubaneswar.
"I felt ankle pain on my left leg (blocking leg) after the Federation Cup but I could not pinpoint when it happened. We consulted a doctor who told me not to worry about it. We reduced the load a bit, did recovery exercises and physiotherapy. The pain has reduced and it's almost all right now. Still, I did not go all out today," said Jena, who was representing Odisha.
"I am relieved that I got back to 80-plus throw after the Federation Cup. I feel I am getting back to my rhythm and I hope to do well in the Paris Diamond League on July 7 and then head to the Olympics."
Star athlete Jyothi Yarraji, representing Andhra Pradesh, clocked 13.06 seconds to win the women's 100m hurdles, while Pragyan Sahu (13.15) of Odisha and Nithya Ramraj (13.21) of Tamil Nadu took the silver and bronze respecively.
Yarraji's national record stands at 12.78 seconds, while the Olympics qualifying time is 12.77. But she is set to book the Paris Games ticket through world ranking quota.
Yarraji said she has recovered from the minor hip flexor injury that she had sustained while running in a competition in Finland in May and she is raring to go in Paris.
"I am strong, fit and will do my best (in Olympics)," she said later.
"In Finland, because of imbalance in the last hurdle, I got pain in the hip area. I came back to India and did MRI. Now I am fit and I can do my best in the next event," she said, giving credit to her coach James Hillier for her strong show this season.
Another national record holder Tejas Shirse took the gold in the men's 110m hurdles, clocking 13.54 seconds.
The Olympic qualifying time is 13.27 seconds while his national record stands at 13.41.
"Seven months back, I never thought of attempting for Olympics qualification. This season has been great for me. I made the national record but I could not achieve my second target of breaching the Olympic qualifying time," Shirse said.
"This event is very technical and I need time to mature myself in the game as well as a person."
Animesh Kujur and Srabani Nanda, both from Odisha, won the men's and women's 200m gold, clocking 20.65 seconds and 23.89 seconds respectively.
In the men's triple jump, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Abdulla Aboobacker of Kerala beat national record holder Praveen Chithravel for the gold with a best effort of 17m. Tamil Nadu's Chithravel, whose national record stands at 17.37m, was second with 16.98m.
Chess: Praggnanandhaa beats Giri, Gukesh draws Alireza in Superbet Classic Round 4
R Praggnanandhaa finally broke through and scored a hard-earned victory over Dutchman Anish Giri in the fourth round of the Superbet Classic chess tournament in Bucharest, Romania. World Championship challenger D Gukesh, playing with black, had little trouble holding off Firouzja Alireza of France to a draw on a day when Fabiano Caruana scored his second victory in the tournament at the expense of wild-card Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania.
Caruana became the sole leader and also got back to number two in live world rankings. Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi's hunt for an elusive victory continued for the fourth day running as he was held to a draw by Wesley So of Romania while Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan also signed peace with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in the 10-player round-robin tournament.
With five rounds still to come in the super-tournament, Caruana leads the tables with three points out of a possible four and the Indian duo of Pragg and Gukesh are a half point behind.
Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So, Nepomniachtchi and Alireza are all sharing the fourth spot on two points each whiel Giri and Abdusattorov are on 1.5 sharing the eighth spot. Local boy Deac Bogdan-Daniel is in the last spot on one point and has some catching up to do.
Sindhu looks forward to Olympics
Here's PV Sindhu, looking forward to the Paris Olympics - saying it's 'important to be perfect'.
Sable focused on eliminating mistakes ahead of Olympics
3000m steeplechase runner Avinash Sable wants to make amends for mistakes he has committed in the last few years and deliver a memorable show at the upcoming Paris Olympics with a different approach.
"I committed mistakes in the last two years. I had gone with good fitness in the two world championships (2022 and 2023) but could not do well at both. I want to make amends, hope that this Olympics will be my best," Sable said.
"I contracted COVID-19 twice before the Tokyo Olympics. Then, last year also I committed mistakes. Every year, I used to start my steeplechase running season very early in April or May. But when I wanted to check myself at the last minute, I found myself not being able to compete. This is why I am starting my competition season late this time. I am doing different this time. I will start peaking only this month. If I start peaking early, people (competitors) will take notice of me," said Sable who has a personal best of 8:11.20.
Before the National Inter-State, Sable ran just one 3000m steeplechase event -- at the Portland Track Festival on June 8 in the USA where he trains.
"I have come here after full training and so I decided to run here as a kind of repetition. In the first kilometre, I was just running along with others. In the last few laps I pushed a bit say 75 to 80 per cent of my full speed. In the Paris Diamond League on July 7, I may not go all out and peak there, but I will get a chance to test myself for the Olympics. After that I would want to do high altitude training in Europe and then join the team on July 25. So preparation has been very good."
He said he was focussing on the last kick and he was able to test himself here during the race.
"Mid race is not difficult but last kick is important and necessary."
Asked about the two 5000m and one 10000m races he had earlier this year, he said, "...my focus was not on those events. It was just for doing some competition."
On the 3000m steeplechase scene globally, he said, "The steeplechase field is quite good, there are Soufiane El Bakkali (of Morocco) and Lamecha Girma (of Ethiopia). But this year in the DL steeplechase runs, I haven't seen anything spectacular so far.
"It will be a technical race and I am ready for that. Let us see what happens."
What's on today?
Athletics: The 63rd National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships continues in Panchkula.
What happened yesterday?
Cricket: India beat South Africa to lift the T20 World Cup.
Cricket: Kapp, Luus score fighting half-centuries after India post record total
