Welcome to ESPN India's daily blog, where we aim to bring you all the news from the dynamic world of Indian sports: from the wide variety of Olympic sports to franchise leagues.
May has plenty of sporting action taking place - which you can find listed out in ESPN India's sporting calendar.
Manu Bhaker emerges most successful athlete of Olympic Selection Trials
Manu Bhaker emerged the most successful Shooting athlete of the first ever Olympic Selection Trials in Rifle/Pistol, winning the women's 10M Air Pistol OST T4 match on the concluding day of the trials.
This was her fourth overall win of the trials across two events, the other being the women's 25m pistol. Manu shot a score of 240.8 in the OST T4 air pistol final on Sunday, leaving reigning Asian Games champion Palak Gulia, a huge 4.4 points behind in second. Rhythm Sangwan took third spot.
There were three other finals on the day. Elavenil Valarivan won the women's 10m air rifle OST T4 with an effort of 254.3, 0.3 above the current world record of 254.0 set by China's Han Jiayu in Baku this month. Ramita (253.3) and Mehuli Ghosh (230.3) were second and third respectively.
Divyansh Singh Panwar then won the men's air rifle OST T4 with a score of 253.3, just 0.4 below his own existing world record. Arjun Babuta (250.0) and Rudrankksh Patil (229.5) followed for the other podium points available.
In the men's 10M Air Pistol OST T4 final, Ravinder Singh won with a score of 242.2 in the final. He was followed by Varun Tomar (239.4) in second and Sarabjot Singh (218.9) in third. That concluded all 32 trial matches, evenly spread across eight individual Rifle and Pistol Olympic events, held in Delhi and Bhopal.
At the conclusion of the nearly month-long exercise, the top-two in pistol and rifle categories have been identified.
If the NRAI goes strictly by the results of the trials, Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema should represent the country in men's 10m air pistol at the Paris Olympics as they took the top two spots among five shooters at the end of the trials. In that case, Olympic quota winner Varun Tomar will miss out.
In women's 10m air pistol, Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan are the toppers in the trials, while Esha Singh and Palak Gulia -- both Paris quota winners -- are placed fourth and fifth.
Sandeep Singh has been the surprise package of the trials, topping the exercise in men's 10m air rifle while pushing Arjun Babuta to second spot. World champion Rudrankksh Patil, who was among the first to win an Olympic quota for the country, is third and could be the biggest loser in the exercise.
In women's 10m air rifle, both Olympic quota winners Tilottama Sen and Mehuli Ghosh, who won the Paris quota spots for India, did not finish among the top-two with Elavenil Valarivan and Ramita Jindal taking those spots.
Another shooter who could could most likely miss out on a Paris berth is Olympic quota winner Shriyanka Sadangi, who finished fifth in women's 50m rifle 3-positions, with Sift Kaur Samra (quota winner) and Anjum Moudgil taking the top two spots and staking their claims to represent the country in the Summer Olympics.
However, the NRAI will take a final decision on the squad for Paris after a selection committee meeting, which is likely to take place soon.
The next assignment for India's Rifle and Pistol shooters will be the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol, coming up from May 31-June 08, 2024, in Munich, Germany.
Sat-Chi win Thailand Open
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the Thailand Open Super 500 title, beating the Chinese pair of Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi 21-15, 21-15. This is the Indian pair's second title of 2024 and seals their return to the world No 1 position again.
In a widely open draw in a depleted men's doubles field, there was nothing less than a title run expected from the Indian world No 3 pair, who will be happy to be back at No 1 after a rough outing in their laast two tournaments - the All England Championship (second round) and Thomas Cup (quarterfinals)
Read more about their title run here:
Satwik-Chirag peel off rust to claim Thailand Open silverware ahead of Paris Olympics
What's on today?
It's hard to avoid the thrilling conclusion of the English Premier League in European football [8.30 PM], but over in Indian sports there's a big ending as well - with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in the Thailand Open BWF Super 500 final.
Badminton: Top seeds Satwik-Chirag face Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi (WR 29) in the final of the men's doubles event at the Thailand Open. The Chinese pair have profited from an easy draw, never facing an opponent ranked higher than them - until the final where they meet world no. 3 pair SatChi. [10:30 AM]
Shooting: The Olympic Selection Trials come to a conclusion in Bhopal, with the final round 4 to decide who represents India at the Paris Olympics.
IPL: It's a Sunday double-header with Sunrisers Hyderabad hosting Punjab Kings [3:30PM] after which Rajasthan Royals face Kolkata Knight Riders [7:30 PM]
What happened yesterday?
Badminton: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty barely broke a sweat as they strolled past world no.80 pair Ming Che Lu and Tang Kai Wei of Chinese Taipei in the semifinals of the Thailand Open, winning 21-11, 21-12 in 35 minutes. Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto meanwhile, saw their superb run come to an end against top seeds and world no. 10 pair Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai of Thailand by a 12-21, 20-22 scoreline.
Boxing: Nikhat Zareen and Minakshi won gold in the Elorda Cup, taking India's tally to 12 medals from the event, an improvement from the five earned in 2023.
Boxing: Jaismine Lamboria will represent India in the 57kg Olympic Qualifiers after quota winner, Asian Games bronze medallist Parveen Hooda, was handed a suspension by WADA for a whereabouts failure.
Shooting: Sift Kaur Samra and Anjum Moudgil confirmed their 1-2 rankings in the women's 50m rifle 3P event, while Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Swapnil Kusale were 1-2 in the men's 50m 3P. Ramita Jindal produced a score 0.1 greater than the world record to climb to second in the women's 10m air rifle, behind leader Elavenil Valarivan. Sandeep Singh and Arjun Babuta continued to lead the men's 10m air rifle standings. Manu Bhaker and Rhythm Sangwan are the top two in the women's air pistol event while Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema lead the way in men's air pistol.
You can find the details of yesterday's event's here.