Indian sports report, February 15: Gulveer third fastest in Winston-Salem

ATHLETICS

Gulveer is starting the 2026 season well

Gulveer Singh clocked 13:15.84 in Winston-Salem to finish third in the men’s 5000 meters at Sound Invitation, a Silver-level event of the World Athletics Indoor Tour and the Indian long-distance runner’s season opener.

He finished behind Andrew Hunter (13:10.87) and Abdihamid Nur (13:11.59).

This is Gulveer’s third fastest time in the said event, his best of 12:59.77 – also a national record – after completing the Boston University DMR Challenge a year ago.

His second fastest performance (13:11.82) was at the 2024 Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup.

-Team Sportstar

Krishna Jayasankar breaks the national indoor shot put record

Shot putter Krishna Jayasankar shattered the national indoor record with a 16.83-meter effort at the Don Kirby Invitational in Albuquerque on Sunday.

The 23-year-old improved her own national record, which she set at 16.63 meters at the New Mexico Open in January.

-Team Sportstar

TENNIS

The Balaji-Oberleitner pair win the Challenger title in France

N. Sriram Balaji and his Austrian partner Neil Oberleitner won the Terega Open Pau Pyrénées, an ATP Challenger Tour event, in France on Saturday.

The Indo-Austrian duo defeated Swiss Jakub Paul and Czech Matej Vocel 1-6, 6-3, (13-11) in a thrilling final.

World number 75 Balaji, a member of the Indian Davis Cup squad that recently stunned the Netherlands in the qualifiers, won his 17th doubles title in the second tier of men’s tennis. This season it is his third title at Oberleitner, after Nonthaburi and Manama.

-Team Sportstar

Delhi Open 2026: Last-minute entrant M Sureshkumar lights up Day 1 with win over 5th seed Carboni

It was only at the last minute that 26-year-old M Sureshkumar secured his entry and lit up Day 1 of the ATP Delhi Open 2026 with a come-from-behind victory over fifth seed Lorenzo Carboni of Italy in the first qualifying round of the men’s singles at the DLTA complex. After the opener, Sureshkumar rallied to beat 19-year-old Carboni in an hour and 53 minutes, winning 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Later in the day, Indian campaigner Ramkumar Ramanathan, who started as a wildcard in qualifying, defeated Tsung-Hao Huang of Chinese Taipei in straight sets 6-1, 6-3.

«I was not sure whether I would come to Delhi as I got my registration at the last minute. To be honest, I was not fully prepared as it was still questionable whether I would play or not. I had no expectations going into today as I knew he was a good player and a youngster. I just went into the match to play good tennis,» Sureshkumar said after his win.

It was a fierce fight from Sureshkumar, who turned the match on its head after a slow start and took full control in the second and third sets. He found rhythm behind his serve, repeatedly trapping Carboni deep and dictating play with a brutal service game that left his opponent confused.

Once he gained the upper hand, there was little stopping as Sureshkumar kept the pressure on and steadily pushed Carboni into a corner to seal the turnaround in style.

In other results, top qualifier Denis Yevseyev had to work hard before edging past Mitsuki Wei Kang Leong 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4 in a gripping three-setter. Tenth seed Eric Vanshelboim also faced a tough test, recovering from a set down to beat Sidharth Rawat 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

Second seed Ioannis Xilas survived a tight opening set against wildcard Ishaque Eqbal before pulling away 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-3, while sixth seed Luca Castelnuovo and seventh seed Alexandr Binda sealed straight-set victories to move past Parth Aggarwal and Udit Kamboj respectively.

Third seed Hyeon Chung looked sharp in a 6-2, 6-1 win over alternate Nitin Kumar Sinha, but there was no shortage of drama elsewhere. Alexander Donski eliminated 12th seed SD Prajwal Dev 6-3, 7-5, and alternate Uisung Park stunned ninth seed Mukund Sasikumar 6-4, 6-2 to shake up the tie. The winners will now advance to the second and final qualifying round on Monday, where six places in the main draw will be up for grabs.

-Team Sportstar

FOOTBALL

India U17 men beat FC Spartak Moscow in a behind-closed-doors friendly match

The India U17 men’s team defeated Russian club FC Spartak Moscow 4-2 in their third friendly match in Turkiye at the Fanatic Tour Serik Sport Center in Antalya on Sunday.

It was the first win of the tour for the Blue Colts, who lost two friendly matches to the Turkiye U17 national team last week (0-1 and 1-6).

Bibiano Fernandes’ side will use these matches to prepare for the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026, which will take place in May. India will face Uzbekistan, Australia and North Korea in Group D.

Sunday’s match was played behind closed doors. India took a lead in the first half through Mukundo Singh Ningthoujam, who scored in the 31st minute. Gunleiba Wangkheirakpam (57′) and Washington Singh Ngangom (61′) hit two more in quick succession to extend India’s lead.

Spartak Moscow pulled one back in the 65th minute. Md Aimaan Bin scored India’s fourth and final goal in the 82nd minute before the Russians reduced the deficit from the penalty spot in the 86th.

-Team Sportstar

Published on February 15, 2026