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.
Boxing Olympic Qualifiers: Abhinash Jamwal and Nishant Dev progress
Indian boxers Abhinash Jamwal (63.5kg) and Nishant Dev (71kg) took a step closer to an Olympic quota by posting wins on day three of the World Boxing Qualifiers for the Paris Olympics.
Jamwal, who replaced Olympian Shiva Thapa for the second round of qualifiers, was at his best against Andriejus Lavrenovas of Lithuania in his first-round bout to clinch a unanimous 5-0 verdict win.
Later in the day, world championship bronze medallist Dev also secured a dominant 5-0 win over Armando Bighafa of Guinea-Bissau.
Among the 10 Indian participants in the Thai capital, Sachin Siwach (57kg) and Abhimanyu Loura (80kg) had registered contrasting victories on the first two days of competition while Amit Panghal (51kg), Sanjeet (92kg), Narender (+92kg) along with women's pugilists Jaismine (57kg) and Arundhati Choudhary (66kg) have received a first-round bye.
On Monday, Ankushita Boro will start her 60kg campaign against Namuun Monkhor of Mongolia while Loura will face Kelyn Cassidy of Ireland in the 80kg round of 32. India has so far earned three Paris Olympic berths at the 2022 Asian Games.
Nishant packs a punch �� ��
4️⃣ in 4️⃣ wins for team ���� ��#PunchMeinHaiDum#2ndOlympicBoxingQualifiers#Boxing pic.twitter.com/FZloLkAV8i
- Boxing Federation (@BFI_official) May 26, 2024
Dipa Karmakar scripts history, becomes first Indian gymnast to win gold in Asian Senior Championships
Dipa Karmakar becomes the first Indian to win a gold medal at the Asian Senior Championships as she finished first in the women's vault event on Sunday. The 30-year-old secured an average of 13.566 in the vault final on the last day of competitions in Uzbekistan's capital city. Dipa, who had finished fourth in the vault final at the 2016 Rio Olympics, had won a bronze medal in the same event in the 2015 edition.
North Koreans Kim Son Hyang (13.466) and Jo Kyong Byol (12.966) grabbed the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Ashish Kumar had a won bronze medal in individual floor exercise in 2015 Asian Championships. Pranati Nayak had also bagged a bronze each in vault event in the 2019 and 2022 editions. Dipa, who returned to action last year after a 21-month suspension for a doping offence, is out of contention for the upcoming Paris Olympics.
Neeraj Chopra pulls out of Ostrava Golden Spike
Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra will not take part in the Ostrava Golden Spike event on May 28, as was originally planned, due to an adductor injury he suffered in training, the organisers announced.
However, Chopra himself said he's not injured but took the decision to pull out of the Ostrava event as he didn't want to take any risks in an Olympic year. Chopra posted to his social media channels that he felt something in his adductor, and feared that pushing his body further could have led to an injury.
- Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) May 26, 2024
Chopra has already taken part in a couple of events this year - the Doha Diamond League and the Federation Cup in Bhubaneswar. Chopra is scheduled to be in action next at the Paavo Nurmi Games on June 18, but that now will hinge on his recovery by then.
Sindhu loses to Wang Zhu Yi in Malaysia Masters final
PV Sindhu just couldn't close out the job in the final of the Malaysia Masters against China's Wang Zhi Yi and was left still waiting for her first BWF World Tour title since July 2022.
Sindhu won the first game 21-16 and lost the second game 5-21. However, she came back strong in the first half of the decider to lead 11-3 at the mid-game interval. From there, things went pear-shaped for the Indian, who won only five points from there, to lose the third game 16-21.
You can relive the action as it happened here in our live blog.
What's on today?
Badminton: PV Sindhu faces Wang Zhi Yi in the final of the Malaysia Masters.
Archery: The World Cup Stage 2 is underway in Yecheon.
Boxing: The World Boxing Qualification Tournament, the final chance for Indians to secure Paris Olympic sports, continues in Bangkok.
Hockey: The Indian men's team faces Argentina in the FIH Pro League at 10pm, while the women face the same opposition at 3:15pm.
Cricket: Kolkata Knight Riders take on Sunrisers Hyderabad for the IPL title at 7:30pm.
What happened yesterday?
Badminton: PV Sindhu beat Busanan Ongbamrungphan to move into the Malaysia Masters final.
Boxing: Abhimanyu Loura defeated Kristiyan Nikolov to advance in men's 80kg of the World Qualifiers.
Hockey: India's men's and women's teams lost to Belgium in the FIH Pro League.
Archery: The Indian women's compound team won gold, while the mixed team bagged a silver at the World Cup Stage 2.
You can find the details of yesterday's event's here.