India clinched three gold and two bronze medals at the Asian Open Pickleball Championships in Vietnam yesterday. Sachin Pahwa and Priyanka Chabbra led India to its first gold medal, defeating Ruben Hellberg and Chitlada Hemasee 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, in the mixed doubles intermediate 35+ category final. While in the women’s doubles open category, the pair of Isha Lakhani and Pei Chuan Kao bagged the gold medal with a dominating 15-7, 15-3 win against Dang Kim Ngan and Tyak K.

In the men’s doubles, India’s Aniket Patel and Rohit Patil claimed the yellow metal despite losing the opening game. The duo defeated Nik Alessandro Isagan and Lester Ga 5-11, 11-6, and 11-8 in the final. In the men’s singles advance 35+ category, Vijay Menon defeated Yu Hsuan Cher to secure the bronze, while in the women’s singles intermediate 35+ event, Priyanka Chhabra defeated Marissa Phongsirikul, earning India another bronze medal.

Sri Lanka Cricket has announced that Indian milk producer Amul has been appointed as the ‘Official Sponsor’ of the Sri Lanka Men’s Team for the duration of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket Ashley De Silva said that Amul’s partnership with Sri Lanka Cricket is an excellent move, as associating with an international sports brand is going to help the firm gain market growth and further enhance its brand visibility among the international audience.

The managing director of Amul, Jayen Mehta, said Amul is a proven model for dairy development and is proud to associate with Sri Lanka for the benefit of their small and marginal farmers. He added that Amul has been associated with the Sri Lankan team most recently in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, and that the company is proud to further strengthen the association with the Sri Lanka Cricket Team. Sri Lanka will kick off the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign on June 3, 2024, facing South Africa in New York. The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 will be held in the West Indies and the USA from June 1 to 29.

Indian Army's Kharga Corps, under the aegis of Army's Western Command, successfully conducted a three-day joint exercise with the IAF at multiple locations in Punjab. The exercise was conducted to refine processes and validate employment of attack helicopters in support of mechanised operations in developed terrain, an official statement issued on Tuesday said.

The Gagan Strike-II exercise, which incorporated Apache and ALH-WSI helicopters, Unarmed Aerial Vehicles and special forces of Indian Army, was aimed at validating various force multipliers in support of ground offensive by strike corps along with live firing by helicopters as demanded by mechanised forces during offensive maneuvers, the statement said.

Maharana Pratap is one of the greatest kings to have ruled the country. A symbol of valour, bravery and dedication, Maharana Pratap fought many battles for his kingdom and to save his people. Celebrated in the homes of Rajasthan, Maharana Pratap was a Hindu Rajput King of Mewar, Rajasthan. He belonged to the Sisodiya clan of Rajputs and is known as one of the revered kings to have ruled this country. Every year, Maharana Pratap's birth anniversary is celebrated with a lot of pomp and grandeur all over Rajasthan. As we gear up to celebrate the special day for this year, here are a few things that we should be aware of.

India’s state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is preparing to launch its highly anticipated 4G services across India starting in August, leveraging entirely indigenous technology as part of the government's "Atmanirbhar" (self-reliant) initiative, PTI reported citing sources.

The telecom company during the pilot phase, recorded peak speeds of 40-45 megabits per second on the 4G network, deployed in the premium spectrum bands of 700 megahertz (MHz) and 2,100 MHz.

BSNL successfully rolled out 4G services in Punjab using indigenously developed technology by a consortium led by IT company TCS and telecom research organisation C-DoT.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is celebrating its 65th Raising Day on May 07, 2024. To mark the day, an event was organised in New Delhi, which was presided over by Defence Secretary Shri Giridhar Aramane. In his address, the Defence Secretary lauded the BRO for fulfilling its responsibilities successfully in inhospitable terrain and tough weather conditions. He termed the BRO an extremely crucial organisation which, through its infrastructure projects in border areas, is playing a major role in the security of the country, besides ensuring the socio-economic progress of far-flung areas.

Shri Giridhar Aramane commended the BRO for completing the projects in a time-bound manner, exuding confidence that the Karmayogis will continue to ensure border infrastructure development in a record time. He urged the BRO to infuse latest technology and techniques for faster completion of projects, through which human efforts will be reduced & utilised more efficiently. Automation and mechanisation will be key for the BRO in the future, he said.

China completed a Thomas and Uber Cup double Sunday as both men’s and women’s teams beat Indonesia to win their respective world team championship finals in Chengdu. The men, who won 3-1, lifted China’s first Thomas Cup since they beat Japan in 2018 – and their 11th in all.

But it meant agony again for 14-time winners Indonesia, who lost their second successive final after falling to India two years ago in Bangkok. In the women’s event, Indonesia had earlier been powerless to prevent a flawless China lifting the Uber Cup for a record-extending 16th time with a 3-0 victory. The next most successful women’s nation are Japan, who have won the Uber Cup six times.

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test will launch Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams and her colleague Butch Wilmore on Tuesday on their third space mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The astronauts will launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex-41 on May 7 at 8.04 am IST. After docking, they will spend roughly a week aboard the orbiting laboratory.

“We are all here because we are all ready. Our friends and family have heard about it and we’ve talked about it and they are happy and proud that we are part of the process to fix it all,” the BBC quoted Williams as saying

Russia today announced to hold a military exercise that will include practice for the use of tactical nuclear weapons after what the defence ministry said were provocative threats from Western officials.

The Ministry said that the exercise was ordered by President Vladimir Putin and would test the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to perform combat missions.

It was the first time that Russia has publicly announced drills involving tactical nuclear weapons, though its strategic nuclear forces regularly hold exercises.

The Russian announcement appeared to be a warning to Ukraine’s Western allies about becoming more deeply involved in the more than two-year war. Some of Ukraine’s Western partners have previously expressed concern about stoking the conflict amid fears it could spill beyond Ukraine into a war between NATO and Russia.

India’s Tejaswin Shankar clinched victory in the men’s High Jump event at the USATF Festival in Tucson, Arizona, USA on Sunday. The National record holder Tejaswin cleared 2.23 metres in his first attempt to secure the top spot at the World Athletics Continental Tour – Silver event. With this jump, he equaled his season-best effort.

Earnie Sears of USA finished second, while Roberto Vilches of Mexico was third. Another Indian athlete, Sarvesh Kushare cleared 2.13m to finish fifth.