Recent 6 months news in Sports

Karan Yadav has been appointed as the inaugural CEO of the Indian Super League (ISL). The appointment comes as the league transitions toward a new club-led operational model.

World Athletics has designated Nairobi, Kenya, as the host for the 2029 World Athletics Championships, marking the first-ever edition of the competition to be held in Africa. The decision was taken by the council in Budapest, Hungary.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has selected the Munich Football Arena in Germany to host the 2028 final. UEFA also designated Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain, as a host venue.

Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has announced the formation of a 10-member Task Force to evaluate the challenges and feasibility of reviving Formula 1 (F1) in India.

The committee is chaired by Yugal Kishore Joshi (Programme Director and Adviser, NITI Aayog). The Task Force will explore the possibility of hosting an F1 Grand Prix in 2028 and prepare a roadmap for the sustainable growth of motorsports in the country.

James Rodriguez, a 35-year-old footballer from Colombia, has announced retirement from international football.

Alexander Zverev of Germany has won the men’s singles title, defeating Ben Shelton (USA) at the 146th edition of the US Open held at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan has won the women’s singles title. Christian Harrison (USA) and Neal Skupski (UK) have won the men’s doubles title, Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic) and Taylor Townsend (USA) have won the women’s doubles title, and Karolina Muchova and Jakub Mensik (Czech Republic) have won the mixed doubles title.

Dhiraj Bommadevara, an Indian archer, has become the first Indian male recurve archer to win the men’s individual title at the Archery World Cup Final 2026 held in Saltillo, Mexico. He secured the victory by defeating Junya Nakanishi of Japan in the final match.

It is to be noted that he is the second Indian archer to win an individual World Cup Final title, following the victory of Dola Banerjee in the women’s recurve category at Dubai in 2007.

India finished fourth in the medal tally at the 4th edition of the Pickleball World Cup held in Da Nang, Vietnam. Led by the Indian Pickleball Association (IPA), the Indian contingent won 41 medals (7 gold, 17 silver, and 17 bronze) competing among 82 nations.

Vietnam topped the standings with 271 medals (116 gold), followed by South Korea and the USA. In the team events, the Indian kids team led by Veer Shah won a silver medal, and Shah received the “Best Captain” award.

In individual events, Bhushan Akut won three gold medals in the 60+ category. Purvansh Patel, Fayrouz Zaidi, and Vivek Reddy also won gold in their respective categories.

India has achieved a double triumph by winning both the men’s and women’s titles at the Junior Hockey Asia Cup 2026 held in Hulunbuir City, China.

In the 11th edition of the Men’s Junior Asia Cup, India defeated South Korea 4-1 in the final to retain the title. This marks the 6th continental crown and 4th consecutive victory for the team. Captain Anmol Ekka emerged as the top scorer of the tournament with 17 goals.

In the 10th edition of the Women’s Junior Asia Cup, India secured its 3rd consecutive title after a 1-0 victory against China in the final. Sanika Chandrakant Mane of India was the joint-highest scorer with 7 goals, while Wei Qixiao of China was named the Most Valuable Player).

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have won the men’s doubles title at the 19th edition of the China Masters held in Shenzhen, China, defeating the Chinese pair He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu in the final.

With this, they become the first Indian pair to win the tournament. The winning pair was awarded a prize money of $92,500.

East Zone has won the 2026-27 Duleep Trophy title by defeating South Zone through a 372-run first innings lead at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. This victory ended a 13-year championship drought for the team.

The final match resulted in a draw after East Zone scored 708 runs in the first innings. Ishan Kishan (Captain of the East Zone) was named the Player of the Match for scoring a total of 350 runs (270 in the first innings and 80 in the second). Tilak Varma (Captain of the South Zone) was awarded the Player of the Tournament.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, an Italian national racing for Mercedes, has won the Formula One (F1) Italian Grand Prix (GP) 2026.

Germany has won the men’s category title (4th title) at the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Hockey World Cup 2026, defeating Spain 1-0 in the final. Argentina has won the women’s category title (3rd title) after defeating the defending champions Netherlands.

The 2026 edition, co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands, marks the first time the men and women tournaments are held jointly. The competition format includes 16 teams each in the men and women categories, divided into four pools.

The Football Players’ Association of India (FPAI) has organized the Indian Football Awards 2026 in Kolkata where former footballer Bhaichung Bhutia presented the awards.

Lallianzuala Chhangte (Mizoram) was named the Indian Footballer of the Year 2026 and Manisha Kalyan (Punjab) won the Indian Women’s Player of the Year award. Sanan Mohammed K (Jamshedpur FC) and Sanfida Nongrum (Garhwal FC) were declared the Young Player of the Year and Women’s Young Player of the Year, respectively.

East Bengal Football Club (FC) was honored as the Indian Super League (ISL) Champions, while the East Bengal FC Women’s team was recognized for winning the Indian Women’s League (IWL) 2025-26 title. Owen Coyle and Anthony Andrews were conferred with the Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year awards, respectively.

Savio Medeira was presented with the Coach Education Award, and the Player Performance and Development Award was conferred upon Rapid Sports and the Right Weigh.

Smriti Mandhana, an Indian cricketer, has set a new world record as the highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket across all formats. She achieved this milestone during a match against Hong Kong at the Dubai International Stadium,UAE, as part of the Women’s Asia Cup 2026.

She scored 124 runs off 64 balls in the match, taking her total career aggregate to 10,880 runs. It is to be noted that she surpassed the previous record of 10,868 runs held by the retired Indian cricketer Mithali Raj.

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has announced that the 2028 edition of the India Open Badminton Tournament will be hosted at the National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) in Guwahati, Assam.

The tournament, scheduled for January 2028, will be relocated from its traditional venue at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall in New Delhi.

Lando Norris, a British national racing for McLaren, has won the Formula One (F1) Dutch Grand Prix 2026.

Lionel Messi, the 39-year-old captain of the Argentina national football team, has announced retirement from international football, concluding an illustrious 21-year career. He finishes his international tenure as the all-time leading goal scorer of Argentina with 125 goals and the most-capped player with 207 appearances.

He holds the record for participating in 6 Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cups. His individual achievements include winning the Ballon d'Or a record 8 times and receiving the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball twice (2014 and 2022).

He has represented three major senior clubs: FC Barcelona (Spain), Paris Saint-Germain (France), and Inter Miami CF (United States of America). He joined Inter Miami CF, a Major League Soccer (MLS) team, in 2023 and will continue to play for the club following his retirement from international football.

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, an Indian chess Grandmaster (GM), has won the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) 2026 Finals, becoming the first Indian champion. He defeated the USA GM Fabiano Caruana with a score of 15-13 in the finals held at the Saint Louis Chess Club in Missouri, USA.

With this victory, Praggnanandhaa secured the prize of $200,000. He also emerged as the highest overall earner of the GCT, accumulating a total prize money of $404,354.

Karn Sharma, an Indian leg-spinner, has announced retirement from all formats of competitive cricket.

He has won four Indian Premier League (IPL) titles with three different franchises, including Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016, Mumbai Indians in 2017, and Chennai Super Kings in 2018 and 2021.

Pranesh M, an Indian Grandmaster (GM) from Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, has won the “Kanizsa Open 2026” Group A title in Nagykanizsa, Hungary. He clinched the championship title after defeating Vadim Petrovskiy of Germany.