Indian sports wrap, June 19: S8UL seals grand final spots in three titles of Esports World Cup
ESPORTS
S8UL qualifies for grand finals in three titles at Esports World Cup 2025
Indian esports organisation S8UL has officially qualified for the grand finals of Apex Legends, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), and EAFC 25 at the upcoming Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Featuring a record-breaking prize pool of USD 70 million (approx. INR 598 crore), the EWC 2025 will be one of the biggest esports events in history.
S8UL's Apex Legends squad, featuring Rick Wirth (Sharky), Benjamin Spaseski (Jesko), and Tom Canty (Legacy), qualified for the EWC 2025 through the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) 2025: Split 1 Pro League for APAC South.
Competing in a challenging triple round-robin format against 30 of the best teams from the region, the squad clinched its EWC spot by finishing in the top five with 109 points.
The all-Australian line-up has a strong competitive track record, having competed at the inaugural EWC and several ALGS Championships, with team captain Sharky notably winning the ALGS Championship in 2022.
The team now advances to the ALGS Midseason Playoffs, set to take place at the EWC from July 10 to 13, where 40 of the world's best teams will compete for a $2 million (INR 17.2 crore) prize pool.
S8UL will also be representing India in EAFC 25 through Germany's Jonas Wirth (Jonny), who secured his spot by finishing in the top four of the Virtual Bundesliga 2024–25.
After winning three of his four group stage matches, Jonny advanced to the playoffs, where he dominated the round of 16 and quarterfinals before narrowly missing out in the semifinals.
A seasoned veteran, Jonny was the champion of both the Virtual Bundesliga and the eChampions League last year. He will now compete in the FC Pro 25 World Championship at the EWC from August 7 to 10, where 32 of the world's top players will battle for a $1.5 million (INR 12.5 crore) prize pool.
Meanwhile, S8UL's Aaron Rivera (Happy) qualified for the FC Pro 25 Play-Ins following a dominant run in the LATAM North region, where he won three consecutive FC Pro 25 Open Cups.
He will compete against 47 other top players for the four remaining spots at the EWC.
S8UL's MLBB roster qualified for the MLBB Mid Season Cup (MSC) at EWC 2025 after a commanding victory in the NACT Spring Season.
The team, featuring Michael Cosgun (MobaZane), Ian Hohl (FwydChickn), Jang Seong-hun (Hoon), Ziameth-Jei Caluya (ZIA), Vo Trung (Shark), and Carlos Ortega Vega (Bestplayer1), was dominant throughout the tournament, defeating Area 77 with a 4–2 scoreline in the grand finals to secure their berth.
BOXING
640 boxers to compete in Junior Boys and Girls' Nationals in Rohtak
Both the Junior Boys and Junior Girls competitions at the sixth U-17 National Championships will feature 13 weight categories each. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Around 640 up-and-coming pugilists from across the country, including 350 boys and 290 girls, will face off in the sixth Junior (Under-17) Boys and Girls National Championships at the National Boxing Academy in Rohtak, Haryana, between June 19-26.
Both the Junior Boys and Junior Girls competitions will feature 13 weight categories each, ranging from 44-46 kg to 80+ kg. The Services Sports Control Board will look to defend its title from the fifth Boys' Nationals, while Haryana enters as the defending champion in the Girls' category.
'The Junior National Championship is a crucial platform for young boxers to showcase their skills in front of national selectors and coaches. It plays a key role in helping BFI identify and nurture future talent. I am happy to see strong participation from all teams as we look to discover the next generation of Indian boxing stars. Many of these young boxers will represent India in the 2032 and 2036 Olympic Games, and therefore, this championship is of great importance,' said Ajay Singh, Boxing Federation of India (BFI) president-chairperson, Interim Committee.
'This championship also comes before the Asian Youth Games in October this year, where, for the first time, boxing has been included. The winners from here will go on to represent India at these Asian Games, where 14 medals will be up for grabs. With robust systems already in place, BFI is committed to supporting these young athletes in realising their full potential,' he added.
The gold and silver medallists of the REC Combined Talent Hunt (Junior Boys and Girls) held in October 2024 would be eligible to participate in the National Championships under the REC banner, provided they fulfil the eligibility criteria of being born between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010.
The championships will be conducted as per the World Boxing Technical & Competitions Rules, wherein each bout will consist of three rounds of two minutes each, with a minute's rest in between. A ten-points-must scoring system shall be followed.
-Team Sportstar
ARCHERY
Indian junior archers enter three finals at Asia Cup Stage 2
The Indian junior archers continued their dominating run by storming into three team finals at the Asia Cup Stage 2 in Singapore on Thursday.
The Indian men's recurve team, seeded second, defeated fifth-seeded Bangladesh 5-1 in a one-sided semifinal to set up a summit clash with third seeds Japan.
The trio of Vishnu Choudhary, Paras Hooda and Juyel Sarkar dominated from the outset, taking the opening set 55-48.
Although the second set was tied at 55-55, the Indians bounced back strongly, dropping just one point in the third set to win it 59-56 and seal the issue.
In the recurve mixed team event, Vaishnavi Pawar and Vishnu Choudhary defeated Singapore's Tabitha Ern Lin Yeo and Yue Long Li 5-3 to enter the final.
The Indian pair won the first set 37-35, tied the second 37-all, and lost the third 36-38 to make it 3-3. But Pawar and Choudhary held their nerves to close out the match with a commanding 38-34 win in the final set.
India also assured itself of a medal in the compound men's team event after the trio of Kushal Dalal, Ganesh Thirumuru, and Mihir Apar edged past fifth-seeded Australia in a tense semifinal decided by a shoot-off (30-29) after both teams were tied at 232 after four sets.
India will take on Kazakhstan in the final.
The top-seeded Indian compound women's team, comprising Shanmukhi Budde, Tejal Salve, and Tanishka Thokal, defeated fourth-seeded Kazakhstan 230-229 in a nail-biting semifinal to ensure another medal. They will meet Malaysia in the final.
The top-seeded Indian compound mixed team pairing of Shanmukhi and Kushal also confirmed another medal by defeating Indonesia's Nurisa Dian Ashrifah and Prima Wisnu Wardhana 155-154 in a nail-biting semifinal.
They will face third-seeded Kazakhstan in the final.
However, there was heartbreak for the Indian women's recurve team. Seeded fifth, the troika of Vaishnavi Pawar, Kirti, and Tamanna lost a thrilling quarterfinal to fourth seeds Japan 4-5 (26-28) in the shoot-off after a five-set battle.
They lost the opening set 47-49 and slumped further after managing only 34 in the second set to Japan's 55. But the Indians showed great resilience to take the third set 55-53 and level the scores 4-4 after claiming the fourth set 54-52.
In the shoot-off, Japan edged ahead by just two points.
Indian archers are also in the hunt for four individual medals on the concluding day on Friday. The women's compound final will be an all-Indian affair, with Shanmukhi set to face Tejal for gold. In the men's compound section, India will be in the hunt in both the gold and bronze medal matches. Kushal will face Joshua Mahon of Australia for the gold, while Sachin Chechi will take on Himu Bachhar of Bangladesh for bronze.
-PTI
Related Topics
Boxing Federation of India
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
6 hours ago
- The Hindu
SAI Centre Bengaluru the go-to venue for Indian athletes seeking world-class facilities
From a modest training base with limited facilities to being responsible for implementing all SAI schemes across three states and holding National Centres of Excellence (NCOEs) for hockey, athletics and volleyball, financial and professional impetus has made the Netaji Subhash Southern Centre the go-to venue for athletes seeking world-class facilities at home. With a cumulative investment exceeding INR 140 crore, the Sports Authority of India's Southern Centre has undergone a major transformation in the last decade. Besides the three NCOEs for comprehensive training across age-groups, the centre also hosts national camps in table tennis, kabaddi and water polo, and conducts academic programmes in 11 disciplines. The 3000m steeplechase national record holder Avinash Sable said the venue had always helped him perform well at major competitions. 'I came here for the first time in 2017 and things have changed a lot. The recovery centre is new, there are two synthetic tracks, experts for physiotherapy, medicine, biomechanics. I have trained abroad also but no facility has so many things together at one place. I have always performed well after training here,' he said. READ | Fit again, Avinash Sable targets sub-8 steeplechase mark in 2025 The centre today has a state-of-the-art sports science centre with labs for biomechanics, sports medicine and sports psychology equipped with some of the latest testing and training machines from across the world. Out in the field, the athletics stadium boasts of a smart track with sensors that can gather and analyse data of every stride, exclusive strength and conditioning area, recovery room and modern changing rooms for hockey with more facilities planned in the near future including exclusive testing machines for para-athletes. P. V. Sindhu, who came for isokinetic testing, was appreciative of the facilities. 'I have come here a couple of times and SAI has always been very helpful. My father also used to come here as a player and things have changed completely since then,' she admitted. The biggest change, however, has been in the diet department with the centre boasting of a state-of-the-art research kitchen headed by Chef Jeyraj that works closely with nutritionists to create customised recipes and also provides athlete's meal cards to track their consumption. (The writer was at the NSSC Bengaluru on invitation from the Sports Authority of India)
News18
8 hours ago
- News18
Who Is Shree Charani? India's Left-Arm Spinner Making T20I Debut Against England
Last Updated: Sree Charani received her maiden India cap from Sneh Rana ahead of the first T20I against England. Sree Charani received her maiden India cap from Sneh Rana ahead of the first T20I against England at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Saturday. The 20-year-old left-arm spinner hails from the Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh. Congratulations to Sree Charani, who is all set to make her T20I Debut 👏👏She receives the 🧢 from Sneh Rana 👌👌 Updates ▶️ #TeamIndia | #ENGvIND — BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) June 28, 2025 Nallapureddy Shree Charani had caused a bidding war at the Women's Premier League auction and was eventually sold to Delhi Capitals for INR 55 lakh. Who is Shree Charani? Charani comes from Erramalle village in Veerapunayuni Palli mandal of Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district. At just 20 years old, she became the first woman from the YSR-Kadapa region to be selected for the Indian women's cricket team. Initially guided towards badminton by her father while in class six, Charani also played kho-kho before eventually finding her passion for cricket. Her father, Chandrasekhar Reddy, works at the Rayalaseema Thermal Power Project, while her uncle, Kishore Kumar Reddy, played a key role in encouraging her sports training. Inspired by cricket icons Smriti Mandhana and Yuvraj Singh, Charani was handed her WPL debut cap by Jess Jonassen. She took her first WPL wicket by dismissing Ellyse Perry. In March 2025, she achieved her maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket while playing for India A against India B in the Senior Women's Multi-day Challenger Trophy at Dehradun's Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. Domestically, she represents the Andhra women's cricket team. Charani earned her maiden India call-up in April 2025 for the ODI tri-series featuring Sri Lanka and South Africa. She made her ODI debut against Sri Lanka on April 27, 2025. The following month, she was named in both the ODI and T20I squads for India's tour of England and is making her T20I debut in Nottingham. First Published:
Time of India
2 days ago
- Time of India
All rewards in Apex Legends Twitch Drops Season 25 Split 2 and how to unlock them
(Image via Respawn) Apex Legends' Season 25 Split 2 is here, and with it comes a fresh batch of Twitch Drops! From weapon charms to skins, this new Twitch campaign offers exclusive in-game rewards just for watching or supporting your favorite streamers. If you're hunting for cosmetics without spending Apex Coins, this is your time. Here's everything you need to know. Apex Legends Twitch Drops : Full Reward List Here are the six Twitch-exclusive rewards available during the Season 25 Split 2 campaign: High Life Weapon Charm Bullseye Bocek Skin Aged to Perfection Holospray Undisputed Sticker Catnapped Weapon Charm Classy Quiver Weapon Charm These drops are available globally from June 24, 2025 (7:30 PM IST) to July 22, 2025 (1:06 AM IST). Miss it, and they're gone—possibly for good. EVERYTHING NEW in APEX SZN 25 SPLIT 2 (Wattson BUFFS + Ash NERFS & More!) How to Unlock Each Twitch Drop Not all rewards are free to claim just by watching. Some require a little spending, while others just need your time. Here's a quick unlock guide: Subscription-Based Rewards To get these items, you need to purchase 3 new recurring or gift subs to any Drops-enabled Apex Legends streamer: High Life Weapon Charm Bullseye Bocek Skin Aged to Perfection Holospray Undisputed Sticker Make sure the streamer has 'Twitch Drops Enabled' on their stream, or your progress won't count. Apex Legends - Season 25 Battle Pass (Full Showcase) | Prodigy (Split 2) Watch-Time Based Rewards Just want the freebies? These two rewards only require 30 minutes of watch time on an Apex Legends Drops-enabled stream: Catnapped Weapon Charm Classy Quiver Weapon Charm Reminder : Make sure your Twitch and EA accounts are linked to get progress tracked. Important Notes for Drops Progression Only 'Drops-Enabled' Streams Count : You won't make any progress watching non-eligible streams, even if it's Apex content. Watch time isn't cumulative for all rewards . You need to fulfill the exact requirement per item. Check Inventory : Head to your Twitch Drops Inventory to track your progress and claim rewards. Why Bother? These rewards aren't just eye candy—they're exclusive and won't return once the event ends. Whether you're showing off your Catnapped charm or landing shots with the Bullseye Bocek skin, they add serious drip to your loadout. Whether you're a cosmetics collector or just in it for some easy loot, Apex Legends' Twitch Drops for Season 25 Split 2 are well worth your time (and maybe a few bucks). Act fast—these rewards vanish once the campaign ends on July 22. Game On Season 1 continues with Mirabai Chanu's inspiring story. Watch Episode 2 here.
