Current Affairs - Sports

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi became the youngest player to score a half-century in Duleep Trophy history at the age of 15 years and 157 days. He achieved this milestone during the 2026 semifinal between East Zone and Central Zone at the BCCI Centre of Excellence Ground 1 in Bengaluru. Sooryavanshi scored 92 runs from 81 balls and reached his fifty in just 42 balls. He surpassed Laxman Singh’s 57-year-old record, who had scored a Duleep Trophy fifty at 16 years and 23 days in the 1969 edition.

Lionel Messi announced his retirement from international football after an extraordinary 20-year career with Argentina. He made 207 international appearances and scored 125 goals, becoming Argentina’s most-capped player and all-time leading scorer. Messi played a key role in Argentina’s major recent successes, including the 2021 and 2024 Copa América titles, the 2022 Finalissima, and the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He also scored seven goals during Argentina’s victorious 2022 World Cup campaign in Qatar. His retirement marks the conclusion of one of the most celebrated international careers in football history.

Germany won the 2026 FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup after defeating Spain 1-0 in a closely contested final at the Belfius Hockey Arena. Michel Struthoff scored the decisive goal in the 44th minute, and Germany successfully defended its lead until the final whistle. This victory marked Germany’s second consecutive Hockey World Cup title and its fourth overall, following earlier triumphs in 2002, 2006, and 2023. With four titles, Germany equalled Pakistan as the joint-most successful team in Men’s Hockey World Cup history. Argentina secured the bronze medal by defeating the Netherlands 2-1.

8th was the position secured by the Indian men’s hockey team at the FIH World Cup after losing to Belgium in the shootout. The match ended 3-3 in regular time, with Abhishek scoring once and captain Harmanpreet Singh scoring twice for India, including a dramatic late equaliser. Belgium then won the shootout 4-3, with India scoring through Shilanand Lakra, Dilpreet Singh, and Abhishek. As a result, Belgium finished seventh while India finished eighth in the tournament. Harmanpreet Singh’s two-goal performance was one of the key individual highlights of India’s final World Cup match.

Gujarat launched India’s first state-level Sports Genomics Programme to integrate genomics with sports science, physiology, and nutrition for scientific athlete identification and high-performance training. The programme is supervised by the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) and aims to collect around 2,000 athlete samples in its first year, with a target of 10,000 samples over five years. It studies genetic variations linked to endurance, muscle composition, power, metabolism, exercise response, and injury susceptibility. The initiative will also create the Gujarat Athlete Genome Database (G-AGD) to support personalised training, recovery, nutrition, and injury-risk assessment.