by Tanish Prabhu
Indian women shuttlers gunning for titles
India is showing its muscle in women’s badminton as three different youngsters have won the BWF titles so far this year even as the biggest name in Indian badminton, PV Sindhu rediscovered her glory days with the Japan Open Super 750 crown in July.
Devika Sihag’s Thailand Masters title earlier this year was followed by Tanvi Sharma’s Chinese Taipei Open triumph in August. Ashmita Chaliha then showed that she possesses the ability to bag championships too, as the 26-year-old Assamese shuttler ranked 50th in the world stunned higher ranked Chinese, Q. Han (World No 35) 14-21,21-14, 21-14 in the final of Korea Masters recently.
The consistency displayed by Indian women shuttlers has been impressive and underscores the growing maturity in the ranks.
Meanwhile, PV Sindhu is preparing to chase another title, this time on home soil. For almost four years, PV Sindhu’s career was defined as much by injury as it was by success. Now after a difficult road back, India’s badminton superstar. The 31-year-old has already achieved everything the sport has to offer. She is a world champion, two-time Olympic medalist and Commonwealth Games gold medalist.
Yet her emotional reaction to winning the Japan Open Super 750 last month showed just how difficult her latest chapter has been.
Sindhu defeated Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the final to become the first Indian player to win the Japan Open. It was more than another trophy. It represented the end of a long period of.uncertainty. ‘’I know how it was. That’s why I was in tears,” Sindhu told ABC Asia.
Her recent injury problems began with a stress fracture in 2022. A foot injury and a tear in her.big toe then forced her to end the 2025 season early. Instead of rushing back, Sindhu committed herself to a full rehab before returning to competition in 2026.
For an athlete accustomed to competing for medals, returning from injury brings a different kind of pressure. Sindhu admitted that patience and belief were difficult to maintain when she could not be certain whether she would ever return to full recovery and she did eventually return with a different game style that won her the Japan Open.
With a home World Championship ahead, her comeback story could be entering its most.important chapter yet.
Australia host Bangladesh for the first time since 2008: Top End Series 2026/27
Australia will face Bangladesh this week at Mararra Stadium in Drawin on Thursday morning, the first time they’ll host them since 2008, but instead of a One-Day Series, it will be a two test match series. The Top End Series began last year when South Africa played the white ball series in the North. The goal is to ensure there will be a big crowd and make a huge investment out of it.
Last year was a success, this year looks to be bigger. Bangladesh recently played a warmup game against Cricket Australia Xi and lost the game badly, being bowled out for 54 in an innings.loss. Bangladesh have selected Somuya Sarker who returns to test cricket for the first time since 2021. Their most experienced player is Mustafizur Rahim, who has been playing international cricket since 2006. He retired from One Day cricket to focus on test cricket.
The Great Barrier Reef Arena will host an international match for the first ever in the second test match of the.series, a massive opportunity for locals living there to experience test cricket for the first time in MacKay.
Australia will most likely play with the same team as they usually do. Pat Cummins returns as captain of the team after being on the sidelines for the whole summer of cricket and the T20 World Cup. Nathan Lyon also returns from injury he sustained in the Ashes. At 38, he returns to competitive cricket in what looks to be the final leg of his career in the 2025/2027 World Test Cycle.
It is an important series for Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green, who have been lacking runs in the last two years. Chances have come and gone for these two players and wickets for Green as well. At 27, Green has a history of back injuries, but it is an important test ahead of the big summer against New Zealand and beyond that as well. He needs to prioritise Sheffield Shield as well to get these runs and prove himself to the selectors. When he first debuted for Australia, he was already compared to Jacques Kallis, but the stats don’t show that at 27 years of age. A big series in the making, can Bangladesh make history, or will Australia comfortably win 2/0?
Ferrari’s race against time: Can Lewis Hamilton keep his Eighth World Title Dream Alive?
Lewis Hamilton’s pursuit of an unprecedented eighth Formula One World Championship title has entered a crucial phase, and Ferrari knows the margin for error is rapidly shaking.
Having recently won his first race with Ferrari, Hamilton still has unfinished business in the sport he has dominated and after 11 races, he sits second in the drivers championship with 169 points, 50 points behind Kimi Antonelli.
The deficit is far from impossible to overcome, but Ferrari’s challenge is clear. The team must find more performances if its seven-time champion is to remain in contention.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vassuer believes the team has the foundation to fight at the front. What could determine Hamilton’s championship hopes, however, is whether Ferrari can turn that potential into a consistent result.
The warning signs appeared at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the final race before the month’s break. Hamilton finished fifth after Ferrari struggled to convert the pace of its car into a podium result that appeared possible. Errors on both sides of.the garage compounded the disappointment.
For Vassuer, the lesson was straightforward. ‘’Execution was the area Ferrari needed to improve,’’ he said, pointing to Hungary as an example of how small mistakes can have a major impact in a championship where every point matters.
The problem is not simply operational. Ferrari’s power unit remains in another area requiring.improvement. Vasseur admitted that the team needs to make progress on the engine side, although he acknowledged that changes to the power unit take longer to deliver than developments to the chassis.
Ferrari has already benefited from the sports performance, balancing measures and introduced an engine upgrade, but further gains will be essential if the team is to close the gap to Mercedes.
The pressure is on Ferrari as Antonelli leads the championship and Mercedes are maintaining a performance advantage. Hamilton cannot afford too many mistakes. Every missed podium and ever strategic error could make the 50-point gap increasingly harder to overcome.
The summer break has come on time and offered Ferrari an opportunity to reset, as well as for most drivers.
When Formula 1 returns at the Dutch Grand Prix, Hamilton’s championship challenge will resume. Ferrari’s task is simple to explain yet difficult to execute, which has been a consistent issue for several years, leaving the team and fans distraught by the end of the race. But with 12 races left in the year, Ferrari must ensure that opportunities are taken and simple mistakes must not be made again.
World Number 2 Carlos Alcaraz to skip the US Open with ongoing wrist injury
Carlos Alcaraz’s return to competitive tennis is becoming a race against time, with the defending US Open champion likely to miss the tournament due to an ongoing wrist injury. The Spanish star has not played a competitive match since April, when he suffered a right wrist
injury at the Barcelona Open.
The injury has already forced him to miss the French Open and Wimbledon, while his withdrawal from the Cincinnati Open has raised further doubts about his ability to defend his US Open title. Alcaraz has spent months away from the court.
While training footage showed positive signs, practice sessions cannot replicate the intensity of a Grand Slam match. The decision is therefore more about whether Alcaraz can play in competitive matches again this year and if his body is ready to play three to four hours of tennis.
At just 23, Alcaraz has won all major Grand Slam titles, with a recent win in the Australian Open.this year for the first time. He is already regarded as one of the best players of all time with the big four. He does sit behind Jannik Sinner in the rankings. The two major tournaments he
missed paved way for new champions and up and coming stars who made a name for themselves.
The absence of Alcaraz felt different, but it showed how other players perform and the talent they have on the court. A premature return this year would be a miracle but could be rushed and dangerous for his body if he isn’t completely fit and another setback could keep him away from the sport a bit longer than five months. Everyone athlete has a major setback in their career and it is normal in sport.
If he does miss the US Open and returns to competitive tennis next year, the big question experts will ask is how his form will be in the Australian Open and will be able to survive the first round of the tournament? Will his form dip further when playing against his scheduled opponents? All of this can be mentally exhausting and stressful, but if you spend a year on the sidelines, these questions need to be asked and the body needs to be assessed.
