Indian racing prodigy Atiqa Mir made a remarkable debut at the FIA Karting World Cup in Viterbo, Italy. Representing Kart Republic Factory Race Team, the 11-year-old achieved a top-five finish in the heats and set the fastest time in a practice session, competing against 117 drivers. Despite a challenging qualifying, she showcased her talent by finishing P16 in the final, overtaking eight karts.
Season 3 of the Indian Supercross Racing League (ISRL) will feature nearly 150 riders from 21 countries, including 30 Indian participants, competing across four racing categories. Reigning champion Matt Moss is set to defend his title amidst a strong international field.
The Indian men's chess team, led by D Gukesh, Nihal Sarin, and Vidit Gujrathi, secured a 3-1 victory over Thailand in their opening match at the 46th World Chess Olympiad, despite Arjun Erigaisi's unexpected loss.
Following a successful campaign at the 2026 Asian Games, India women's boxing head coach Santiago Nieva is prioritising securing as many Olympic quotas as possible at the earliest for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, starting with the World Championships 2027 in Kazakhstan.
Indian racing prodigy Atiqa Mir, 11, has signed with Kart Republic (KR), a prestigious team led by Dino Chiesa, known for nurturing Formula 1 champions like Lewis Hamilton. This move provides Mir a significant platform to advance her career in the OKJ category, with Chiesa praising her raw speed and potential to achieve great things for India.
A British Conservative Party MP, Bob Blackman, has tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons to reaffirm India's sovereignty and territorial integrity over Jammu and Kashmir. The motion, timed for Jammu and Kashmir Accession Day, also expresses concern over terror incidents and targeted killings in the region and calls for constructive dialogue.
The Indian men's and women's chess teams delivered strong performances at the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, with the men's team defeating Spain 3-1 and the women's team securing an identical 3-1 victory over Mongolia. World champion D Gukesh led the men's success with a clean win against Alexei Shirov, while Arjun Erigaisi also contributed significantly. In the women's section, B Savitha Shri and Divya Deshmukh were instrumental in their team's win.
Sikkim has hosted the inaugural leg of the 2026 Zabarvan Extreme Legends Series, an international downhill mountain biking competition. The event, featuring riders from eight countries, aims to bolster the state's adventure tourism profile. Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang flagged off the competition and highlighted plans for infrastructure development to support tourism in the region.
BrahMos Aerospace expects to develop the first prototype of its next-generation BrahMos-NG missile by 2027 or 2028, while a missile with a range of 1,500 km remains part of its future roadmap and is currently at the conceptual stage, the company's CEO and managing director Dr Jaiteerth Joshi said.
Over 200 Indian peacekeepers, including women and staff officers, serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have been awarded the prestigious UN medal for their exceptional service. India is a significant contributor to UN Peacekeeping, deploying over 4,200 personnel globally.
Given the current friction in ties, such a visit looks unlikely at this juncture.
Indian para-archers delivered a strong performance at the World Para Archery Series in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. Bhawna clinched a dramatic gold in the women's recurve, while world champion Sheetal Devi secured an individual silver, a compound mixed team gold, and a women's team bronze. Harvinder Singh also won a silver medal.
The Indian men's hockey team secured a dominant 16-1 victory over Sri Lanka in their second Pool A match at the Asian Games, with Jugraj Singh, Abhishek, and Dilpreet Singh each scoring hat-tricks. This win follows an earlier 13-1 triumph against Indonesia, as the team prepares for tougher challenges against South Korea and Japan.
Leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc met President Droupadi Murmu, alleging 'vote chori' and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, along with the repeal of assembly polls from the last two years. Rahul Gandhi expressed shock that the President did not deny the 'election theft' charge but sought proof.
Pranavi Urs carded a three-under 69 to secure a spot inside the top 10 after the opening round of the KPMG Women's Irish Open. While Urs showed strong form, fellow Indian golfers Diksha Dagar and Tvesa Malik struggled, both carding 74s and facing a battle to make the cut. South African Casandra Alexander leads the tournament with a stunning nine-under 63.
Marco Rubio will visit Mumbai and Jamnagar to discuss energy cooperation as S Jaishankar says India-US trade talks are nearing a landing point, with a few issues unresolved.
The Kapil Dev Invitational Tour Championship, featuring top Indian and international golfers, is set to begin in Greater Noida. This Rs 2 crore event is crucial as it's the last opportunity for players to secure a spot in the season-ending Race to DP World India Championship.
The Indian athletics team will undergo an acclimatisation camp at the University of Tsukuba near Tokyo before the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. This follows an MoU between SAI and the University. Athletes are also returning from Czech Republic for a training stint and an event in Bhubaneswar, though Neeraj Chopra will not participate. The Athletics Federation of India has already submitted a list of over 72 athletes for the Games to the Indian Olympic Association.
India has officially announced its bid to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games, centered around the theme "Rising Together."
Indian golfer Pranavi Urs was the only Indian to qualify for the weekend rounds at the KPMG Women's Irish Open, carding a two-under-par 70 in her second round. She is currently tied for eighth place, ten strokes behind leader Casandra Alexander. Other Indian golfers, including Diksha Dagar, Tvesa Malik, and Avani Prashanth, missed the cut.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has invited India, Germany, Qatar, and Turkiye, among others, to present their bids for hosting the 2036 Olympic Games to its Future Host Commission next month. Ahmedabad is India's preferred city for the mega-event, with negotiations led by the Indian Olympic Association in collaboration with the Gujarat government and Union Sports Ministry. The host will be announced in mid-2029, following a streamlined selection process focusing on venue master-plan, funding, public support, and athlete experience.
Indian athletes are set for a busy day at the Asian Games on October 2, with events across archery, boxing, canoe slalom, cycling, golf, hockey, rugby sevens, sailing, sepak takraw, taekwondo, volleyball, and wrestling. Key medal events include finals in boxing featuring Lovlina Borgohain and Parveen Hooda, and the women's hockey final against China.
Indian table tennis mixed doubles pair Diya Chitale and Manush Shah secured a coveted Asian Games medal, overcoming a recent slump in form and the personal tragedy of Diya's coach Peter Engel's death. Their triumph is seen as a fitting tribute to Engel and fuels India's hopes for an Olympic medal in the future.
The Indian men's team continued its fine performance, defeating Spain 3-1, with World champion D Gukesh showing the way with a very clean victory over former world championship challenger Alexei Shirov.
World champion D Gukesh's live rating has slipped below 2700 after the first two rounds of the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The Indian men's team, defending champions, had an average start with two unconvincing wins, while the Indian women's team performed better against weaker opposition. Gukesh's rating drop comes ahead of his world title challenge against Javokhir Sindarov in November.
Indian boxers are undergoing intensive training at a multinational camp in Patiala, featuring international medallists, before heading to Japan for a final preparatory stint ahead of the Asian Games. The team aims to build on its strong performance at the Commonwealth Games, despite anticipating tougher competition from boxing powerhouses like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan at the upcoming continental event.
South Korea's men's hockey team faced confusion when organisers mistakenly played North Korea's banned national anthem before their match, compounding earlier complaints regarding organistional issues at the Asian Games.
Will January 22 mark a point of no return for our Constitutional secularism? asks Shekhar Gupta.
India concluded its campaign at the World Archery Para Series Stage III with an impressive tally of 15 medals, including four gold, three silver, and eight bronze, finishing second in the overall medal standings. The event served as a crucial preparatory test for the upcoming Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games.
AICC general secretary K C Venugopal announced that the Congress would not withdraw its candidate Milan Pradhan from the Nandigram Assembly bypoll in West Bengal, despite his recent arrest. Pradhan was apprehended in connection with a 2007 anti-land acquisition movement case, shortly after the Trinamool Congress extended its support to him. Venugopal alleged political pressure and questioned the Election Commission's silence, vowing to elevate the issue to a national level.
The Telangana Golconda Masters, featuring top Indian and international golf professionals, is set to commence in Hyderabad with a prize purse of Rs 1 crore. The tournament is crucial for players aiming to qualify for the season-ending DP World India Championship.
India secured two gold, two silver, and one bronze medal on the penultimate day of the World Archery Para Series (Stage III) in Ahmedabad. The men's compound and recurve teams clinched gold, while Swati Chaudhary earned two medals, a silver and a bronze.
Comparing the two states is comparing an apple to an orange. I ate apples for years. Then I felt I needed some citrus, and I moved to oranges. That doesn't make the apple a lesser fruit, reflects Binu Alex.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has voiced his opposition to the upcoming event at Madison Square Garden where RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is scheduled to address the Indian diaspora. Mamdani, however, noted that the city might lack jurisdiction to cancel the private event, which has also drawn protests from various interfaith and civil rights organisations.
Ajeetesh Sandhu has established a two-shot lead after the second round of the Chennai Open, firing a six-under 66 to reach 13-under 131. The Chandigarh golfer is ahead of Stepan Danek and Rashid Khan, with two more rounds to play.
The South African government has cleared its High Commissioner to India, Anil Sooklal, of any wrongdoing after he appeared at a temple event in Haridwar with former president Jacob Zuma and businessman Ajay Gupta, who faces corruption allegations. DIRCO stated Sooklal provided only customary protocol support to Zuma and attended the event independently, without facilitating any substantive engagement with Gupta.
'A genuine tribute to Dr Ambedkar does not lie in selective invocation. It lies in asking a harder question: Is the Constitution still doing its job -- restraining even assertive majorities?' asks Manoj Mohanka.
Nagarmal Bajoria, a 97-year-old Bihar businessman known as "dharti pakad" for contesting nearly 300 elections, has passed away. A Partition refugee, Bajoria challenged prominent leaders including Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, aiming to raise public awareness about the electoral process rather than seeking power. His unique campaign style and unwavering spirit left a lasting impression.
Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan critically examined police conduct in India, raising serious concerns about alleged assaults on protesters, custodial torture, and the urgent need for comprehensive police reforms to uphold human rights and the rule of law.
The question for the next 20 years is not whether India can become a $5 trillion or $10 trillion economy. Those are attractive targets, but the real question is whether India can create enough productive jobs, educate its children properly, make its cities liveable, and give hundreds of millions of people a substantially better life, asserts Ramesh Menon.
