Current Affairs - Sports

Apoorv Kamble won the FIDE-rated rapid chess tournament by scoring an impressive 8.5 points from nine rounds. The 17-year-old chess player secured the top position ahead of Sammed Jaykumar Shete, who finished second, and Vaidyanathan Kannan, who took third place. More than 700 players participated in the tournament, which followed the Swiss System and used a time control of 10 minutes plus a 5-second increment. Kamble had recently returned from the Asian Junior Championship in Mumbai and said that the victory significantly boosted his confidence.

East Bengal won the 2026 Durand Cup by defeating Mohun Bagan 4-1 in the final held in Kolkata, West Bengal, on August 25, 2026. The victory earned East Bengal its record-equalling 17th Durand Cup title, matching Mohun Bagan’s previous record. The triumph also ended East Bengal’s 22-year wait for the prestigious trophy, with their previous title coming in 2004. Edmund Lalrindika was the star performer, scoring a hat-trick, while Bipin Singh also found the net. East Bengal was coached by Antonio Lopez Habas and captained by Mohammed Rashid.

Lando Norris won the 2026 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort on August 24, 2026, securing his second consecutive victory of the 2026 F1 season. Representing McLaren, Norris finished ahead of Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, who was the runner-up, trailing by 11.536 seconds. George Russell, also driving for Mercedes, completed the podium in third place. Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished fourth and fifth, respectively. The Dutch Grand Prix is held at Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands and returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2021 after a 36-year absence.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand won the bronze medal in women’s doubles at the 2026 BWF World Championships, ending India’s 15-year wait for a medal in the event. They became only the second Indian women’s doubles pair to achieve this feat after Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, who won bronze in 2011. Treesa and Gayatri reached the semifinals by defeating China’s Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian in the quarterfinals. They eventually lost to top-seeded Chinese pair Tan Ning and Liu Sheng Shu in the semifinal after a 70-minute contest.

Mitchell Starc became the leading wicket-taker in ICC World Test Championship history after reaching 234 wickets. The Australian left-arm fast bowler surpassed teammates Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, who had 228 wickets each. Starc achieved the milestone during the second Test against Bangladesh at Mackay, where he produced a remarkable 10-wicket match haul. His performance also took his overall Test wicket tally to 445, allowing him to surpass South African great Dale Steyn and enter the top 10 wicket-takers in Test cricket history.