Indian Sports Report, November 27: PM Modi meets Indian blind women’s cricket team after World Cup victory

E-SPORTS

Top eight finalists for the PlayStation India Cup with EA SPORTS FC 26 revealed

The top eight finalists who have qualified for the LAN Final of the PlayStation India Cup have been announced. The online phase of the tournament featuring nationwide weekly qualifiers followed by intense double-elimination playoffs has officially concluded.

The eight players who have qualified are Charanjot Singh, Afnan Khan, Karman Tikka, Chaitanya Singh, Amaanuddin Warsi, Saransh Jain, Aditya Chadha, Jahaan | Khan.

These eight contenders will compete in the LAN Finale, which will also follow a Double Elimination Best-of-2 format over two days, culminating in the crowning of the PlayStation India Cup 2025 Champion. The grand finale will be held at the NODWIN Gaming Arena at Delhi Comic Con.

-Team Sportstar

SQUASH

Anjali Semwal, Rathika Seelan in the quarter-finals of the Sunil Verma Memorial squash

Women’s top seed Anjali Semwal advanced to the quarter-finals of the 11th Sunil Verma Memorial squash, a PSA Challenger event, with a 13-11, 11-6, 11-7 win over Reiva Nimbalkar in Thane on Thursday.

Amor Quamen’s Pre-quarterfinals Fishingbes, country students Intended Suthanra seals Kasturoraj’s fiance 11-4, 11-2, 11-7.

Among the matches in the men’s round of 16, Gurveer Singh rallied to beat French seventh seed Manuel Paquemar 12-14, 5-11, 11-9, 11-0, 12-10 and Abhishek Agarwal defeated French eighth seed Matteo Carrouget 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8.

-Team Sportstar

CRICKET

Prime Minister Modi meets the Indian women’s blind cricket team after their T20 World Cup victory

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met the Indian women’s cricket team after they won the inaugural Blind T20 World Cup, beating Nepal by seven wickets in the final in Colombo.

The victory for the Indian blind women’s team in a six-team tournament came days after the senior women’s team registered its maiden win in the ODI World Cup.

The members of the team presented Prime Minister Modi with a signed bat, while he also signed a ball for the team.

The victorious Indian team was earlier praised by Prime Minister Modi for its historic achievement.

«Congratulations to the Indian Blind Women’s Cricket Team for creating history by winning the first Blind Women’s T20 World Cup! Even more commendable is the fact that they remained undefeated in the series,» PM Modi wrote on X.

«This is indeed a historic sporting achievement, a shining example of hard work, teamwork and determination. Every player is a champion! I extend my best wishes to the team for their future endeavours. This achievement will inspire generations to come,» he added.

KHELO INDIA UNIVERSITY GAMES

KIUG: Sachdeva’s seventh swimming gold consolidates Jain University’s position at the top

Bhavya Sachdeva of Jain University achieved a gold double in the individual swimming events and added another gold in the women’s 4x100m medley relay, taking her tally to seven at the Khelo India University Games here on Thursday.

Bhavya, who had won one individual gold and one relay gold on the first two days of competition, started her gold medal march in the women’s 800m freestyle category with a time of 9:37.41s here at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium complex here.

Bhavya became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Asian Aquatic Championships earlier this year. A few minutes later, Bhavya returned to the pool to win the 200m freestyle event with a time of 2:13.55s.

Jain University swimmers expectedly dominated the pool events, winning eight of the eleven gold medals on offer, taking their total gold medal tally to twenty.

Guru Nanak Dev University and Lovely Professional University were locked in a neck-and-neck battle for the second spot on the medal list, with the latter bagging three gold medals in archery and one in shooting, taking their gold medal tally to thirteen.

Guru Nanak Dev University has won 14 gold medals so far, winning all three team golds in fencing while winning one in shooting on Thursday.

Archers Anshika Kumari and Devaang Gupta won the recurve men’s and women’s finals respectively and returned in the evening to lead LPU to the team gold.

In the women’s recurve final, Anshika defeated Srishti Jaiswal of Panjab University 6-2, while Gupta defeated Sahil Shelar of Shivaji University 6-4 in the men’s recurve final at the Jagatpura Sports Complex.

In the team event, the girls from Lovely Professional University defeated Kurukshetra University 6-0, while the men defeated Shivaji University 6-2.

However, Anshika and Gupta suffered a setback in the recurve mixed team final and went down in a tiebreak against Kartika Bichpuriya and Deepanshu Nanda of Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya.

A few meters away, in the same complex, Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu of Lovely Professional University took the 25 meter rapid fire pistol gold with a final score of 29, beating Devansh Vashishtya of Panjab University by just one point.

In the men’s 10m air rifle event, Yash Vardhan secured the first gold medal of the Games for Manipal University, Rajasthan with a score of 252.7 in the final.

Yash and silver medalist Maddineni Uma Mahesh of KLEF University were neck-and-neck throughout the final, but it was the 10.8 in the first shot of the final series that earned him a medal as his nearest opponent managed only a 9.9.

Elsewhere, in Bikaner, Logeswaran S delivered the standout performance on day 3 of the weightlifting events to secure his first-ever KIUG gold medal.

The Tamil Nadu-born lifter, who represented Thiruvallur University, dominated the men’s 79kg category with a total weight of 305kg – 135kg in snatch and 170kg in clean and jerk – making a breakthrough in his third KIUG appearance.

The afternoon session saw a tightly contested men’s 88kg category with Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya’s Parikshit Soni coming out on top with a total lift of 278kg (127kg snatch; 151kg clean and jerk).

He defeated M Tarun of Andhra University, who finished with 276 kg (126 kg snatch; 150 kg clean and jerk), while Vivek of Guru Kashi University secured bronze after lifting 273 kg (121 kg snatch; 152 kg clean and jerk).

– PTI

GOLF

Pukhraj Singh Gill is ranked second while four other Indians are tied for sixth at Bharath Classic

Chandigarh-based Pukhraj Singh Gill produced a career-best six-under 66 to finish in second place after the opening day of the inaugural Bharath Classic 2025 Gujarat on Thursday.

Using a new putter, Gill, a starter on the 10th tee, had eight birdies against two bogeys in an aggressive performance on the challenging Kensville course.

Gill, winner of the IGPL Tour in Jamshedpur, is two shots behind Korean Heemin Chang who took the lead on day one of the inaugural $500,000 Bharath Classic.

In second place next to Gill are Korean Wooyoung Cho, Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond and Poosit Suupramai, who shot 66 each.

Playing the course without a practice round because he didn’t arrive until late Wednesday night, Chang shot an eight-under-par 64, including an eagle on the Par-4 15th hole.

He had seven birdies and an eagle against one lone bogey at the Par-5 14th.

The Indians had a good day in office with four others – Ajeetesh Sandhu, Olympian Udayan Mane, Sachin Baisoya and amateur Ishaan Chawhan – scoring five-under 67 each to finish in sixth place.

Indian-American Varun Chopra also scored a 67 as eight players tied for sixth place. It also included recent Asian Tour winner Ekpharit Wu of Thailand.

Saptak Talwar, who split his time between the HotelPlanner Tour and the Indian Tour, shot three-under 69, joining veteran Naman Dawar, Sudhir Sharma and Gaurav Pratap Singh in a large pack tied for 17th.

-PTI

FOOTBALL

Assam will host the final round of the Santosh Trophy 2025-26 in January

The final round of the 79th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy 2025-26 will take place in Assam in January 2026. The group stages will be held at nine venues from December 15 to 26.

The group stage consists of 35 teams, divided into nine groups (eight groups with four teams and one group with three). The group winners will join hosts Assam, last season’s champions West Bengal, and runners-up Kerala in the 12-team final round to be held in Dhakuakhana and Dhemaji.

Assam last hosted the final round of the Santosh Trophy in the 2010-11 season when West Bengal defeated Manipur to lift the trophy.

-Team Sportstar

Published on November 27, 2025