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: Nishant Dev, Ankushita Bora advance to quarters in Olympic qualifer
Former world youth champion Ankushita Boro (60kg) and Nishant Dev (71kg) registered comfortable victories to reach the quarterfinals while national champion Arundhati Choudhary also advanced to the round of 16 of the 66kg category in the Boxing World Qualifiers for Paris Olympics in Bangkok on Wednesday.
Boro was up against Asian champion Rimma Volossenko of Kazakhstan. But the Indian wasn't bothered by the stature of her opponent as she went for her punches from Round 1 and never really looked in trouble throughout the bout to earn a 4-1 verdict.
World championships bronze medallist Nishant Dev was clinical in his 5:0 demolition of Thailand's Peerapat Yeasungnoen to reach the last eight stage.
Earlier in the day, Choudhary began her 66kg campaign with a clinical Round 1 against Stephanie Pieneiro of Puerto Rico. She was slightly conservative in Round 2 as she consolidated her position before again dominating the next round to get an unanimous 5:0 verdict in her favour.
However, it was curtains for Narender Berwal in the +92kg category despite the Indian putting up a strong fight against Ecuador's Gerlon Gilmar Congo Chala.
India bids to host Gukesh vs Liren World Championship clash
India has submitted a bid to host the World Chess Championship clash between D. Gukesh and defending champion Ding Liren of China in November-December this year. Gukesh, 17, became the youngest ever challenger for the world title by winning the Candidates Tournament last month. He will face Liren between November 20 to December 15, in Chennai [the Tamil Nadu government has submitted the bid] if India gets the hosting rights.
D Gukesh vs Ding Liren: A way-too-early preview for the World Chess Championship
"We have received the bid from India," Chess' global governing body FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky told PTI.
The last date to submit bids is May 31 and it is learnt that Singapore is expected to compete with India but has not submitted the bid documents yet. "As of now no other country has bid for it but the deadline is till end of this week. Post that we will have a FIDE Council meeting next week. And after that due procedure will be followed and we will decide about the hosting rights," Sutovsky added.
If AICF wins the bid, it will have to shell out close to Rs 71 crore. The basic criteria outlined by FIDE for a prospective bidder for the 2024 edition is a budget of Rs 8.5 million (Rs 71 crore approx) and a facilitation fee of USD 1.1 million (Rs 9 crore) for the global body. The duration of the tournament is 25 days and approval of regulations will be completed by July 1.
The total prize money awarded by FIDE would be around USD 2.5 million (Rs 20 crore plus) after the fund was increased from the USD two million (Rs 17 crore) in 2023.
Chennai-based Gukesh, who has been mentored by five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, bettered Russian legend Garry Kasparov's 40-year-old record to become the youngest Candidates champion. The Russian great was 20 when he qualified in 1984 to clash with compatriot Anatoly Karpov.
How Gukesh made history: Calm, composed mind helped him deal with meteoric rise
India has previously hosted the World Championship clash in 2000 and 2013. In the 2000 edition, Anand claimed the first of his five world titles by winning the event played in a tournament format with 100 players and defeated Alexei Shirov in the final. In 2013, Anand lost to Norwegian challenger Magnus Carlsen.
Singapore Open - Sindhu sets Marin match, Lakshya goes down fighting to Axelsen
PV Sindhu set up an exciting second-round clash with Carolina Marin at the at the Singapore Open Super 750 badminton while Lakshya Sen went down fighting to world No 1 Viktor Axelsen.
Sindhu, coming off a final run at last week's Malaysia Masters, beat world no. 21 Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt of Denmark 21-12, 22-20 in 44 minutes. She won the first game comfortably but was in a spot of bother in the second, facing four game points at 16-20. But the Indian accelerated just when it looked like she would have to play a decider, finishing in straight games.
She now faces old foe Marin, who has an overwhelming 11-5 record against the Indian, for the first time after ill-tempered match at Denmark Open which saw both players receiving yellow cards for verbal exchanges.
Lakshya, on the other hand, forced a decider against an in-form Axelsen, losing 13-21 21-16 13-21 in 62 minutes. The Indian bounced back strong after a forgettable first game where he took a while to find his rhythm.
He started the decider on the front foot too, with a 6-2 and then 10-8, lead killing off points with aggression and not letting Axelsen force the points. However, the Dane switched on a higher gear and then went on a run of 6 straight points from 10-10 to storm ahead. The India's untimely errors on the lines didn't help his case.
Axelsen's big reaction after the win - a roar to the crowd - was a good indication of how tough the battle was in the third.
Later, HS Prannoy needed three games but neat Belgium's Julien Carraggi 21-9, 18-21, 21-18.
In other results, Kidambi Srikanth's opening round match ended in a retirement at 14-21 3-11 against Japan's fifth seed Kodai Naraoka. The Indian seemed to be struggling with a knee injury.
In doubles, B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy lost 18-21 19-21 to Malaysia's Goh Soon Huat and Lai Shevon Jemie in mixed doubles, while Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan lost 8-21 8-21 against Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch in another match.
What's on today?
Boxing: The World Boxing Qualification Tournament, the final chance for Indians to secure Paris Olympic sports, continues in Bangkok.
Badminton: The Singapore Open Super 750 continues, with the likes of PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy in action.
Tennis: Rohan Bopanna, seeded second with partner Matt Ebden, is in Men's Doubles action at the French Open.
What happened yesterday?
Badminton: It was a horrid day for Indians at the Singapore Open as all of them lost, headlined by a shock loss for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
Boxing: Nishant Dev and Sachin Siwach are through to the next round of the Olympic qualifiers, but Abhinash Jamwal lost out.
You can find the details of yesterday's events here.