TENNIS
Bhambri-Galloway pair exits Boss Open
India’s number one doubles player Yuki Bhambri and his American partner Robert Galloway fought their hearts out before losing the BOSS Open pre-quarterfinals, here.
In a match where both sets were decided by tie-breakers, the Indo-American combine lost 6-7 (5) 6-7 (5) to Santiago Gonzalez from Mexico and Austin Krajicek from the USA in one hour and 34 minutes.
India’s challenge is still alive in the tournament, with veteran Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji competing with their respective partners.
Balaji and and his Mexican partner Miguel Reyes-Varela are up against the second-seeded French pair of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul.
The 45-year-old Bopanna has teamed up with Belgium’s Sander Gille and they will take on the local combination of Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner.
-PTI
BADMINTON
Machaxi Raises $1.5M from Prakash Padukone, Rainmatter and Others to Expand AI-Based Grassroots Badminton Training
Machaxi, a sports-tech company focused on grassroots coaching and digital sports infrastructure, has raised $1.5 million in a round led by Rainmatter, the investment initiative of Zerodha. The round also saw participation from Indian badminton legend Prakash Padukone and existing investors.
The funding will help Machaxi scale its operations beyond Bengaluru into three new cities-Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai—while also building a nationwide framework for AI-powered badminton coaching.
As part of the expansion, Machaxi is collaborating with the Padukone School of Badminton to launch the “Machaxi x Padukone School of Badminton” program. The initiative aims to establish over 1,000 coaching centres across India within the next four years.
Prakash Padukone, Ace Indian Badminton player, said: “I’ve always believed that the future of Indian badminton lies in structured grassroots development. Machaxi’s vision to scale coaching while maintaining quality through AI is forward-thinking and impactful. I’m thrilled to partner with them in shaping the next generation of champions.”
CHESS
Abhijeet seizes sole lead with win over Gharibyan at Delhi GM Open
In a major shake-up, Indian Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta emerged as the sole leader at the Delhi International Open chess tournament following a commanding victory over GM Mamikon Gharibyan of Armenia.
The result puts the Indian GM in pole position with 6.5 points, heading into the final stretch of the tournament.
The top-board clash between GM S L Narayanan and GM Boris Savchenko, both tied at the top before the round, ended in a balanced draw, pushing both to six points. They are now part of a tightly packed chasing group, joined by several others who secured key wins on Wednesday.
Round 7 also saw several critical results that tightened the race at the top. GM Mihail Nikitenko defeated GM Alexei Fedorov to move to six points, while GM Vitaly Sivuk secured a strong win over Alekhya Mukhopadhyay, also climbing to six.
GM Diptayan Ghosh joined the leading pack after overcoming GM Aleksej Aleksandrov.
Meanwhile, GM Luka Paichadze and GM Manuel Petrosyan played out a draw to stay in contention with 5.5 points each, as did GM Aditya S Samant and IM Semetey Tologontegin, who also shared the spoils to reach 5.5.
Also joining the 6-point club was IM Neelash Saha, who continued his excellent run with a win over Bivor Adak, and IM Aronyak Ghosh, who defeated GM Nguyen Duc Hoa in a sharp battle.
With just three rounds remaining, the standings remain extremely tight, with eight players now trailing Abhijeet Gupta by just half a point.
-PTI
