Sportstar - October 10, 2026

Oct 1, 2026

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Sportstar October 10, 2026 covers multiple sporting highlights and background stories. It highlights India’s early medals at the 2026 Asian Games, including women’s cricket gold, MMA bronze for Suchika Tariyal, and the regional identity of sepak takraw in the Asian Games programme. It also discusses esports growth in Japan and Singapore’s transition to medal events, plus a detailed report on Thrissur Titans winning the third Kerala Cricket League (KCL) T20 championship, emphasizing the team’s youth policy and key match performances.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLifestyle

FormatPDF

Pages80

Reading Time2 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

THRISSUR’S YOUNG BRIGADE CONQUERS

Sepak takraw and India’s Asian Games medal streak

Esports at the Asian Games

Third edition of the Kerala Cricket League (KCL)

SPORTSTAR ◎×+ FOLLOWUS: SPORTSTARWEB POSTERELENA RYBAKINA LEADING THE GOLDRUSHThe women's cricket team gave India itsfirst gold medal of the 2026 Asian Games surfing,virtual taekwondo,BMX freestyle and teqballamong its new sports.MMA brought India an immediatepiece of history through Suchika Tariyal,the 36-year-oldwho won bronze in the women's traditional 60kgcategory. There is also sepak takraw,one of those sports thatmakes you question everything that you have learnedabout gravity. e/Tbesimplest desgription is volleyballplayed largelywith the feet.A small synthetic or rattan ball must be sentacross a net without the use of the hands,which soundsreasonable enough until players start launchingthemselves into the air,twisting almost horizontally andsmashing the ball over the net with overhead bicyclekicks. It is a sport deeply rooted in Southeast Asia and hasbeen on the Asian Games programme since 1990.Topreserve such regional identities,the Olympic Council ofAsia's five zones nominated sepak takraw representingSoutheast Asia,kabaddi South Asia,wushu East Asia,kurash Central Asia and jiu-jitsu West Asia for thisedition's programme. India has begun poorly in the men's regu competition,but sepak takraw is no longer quite as exotic for us.Thesport has developed a strong pocket of Indian talent,particularly in Manipur,with India winning gold in men'sregu at the ISTAF World Cup in 2025. At the other end of the Asian Games universe sitsesports,where athletes don't need to be in the sameroom as their teammates to train. India has 15 gamers competing across four titles—League of Legends,Pokémon UNITE,eFootball and PuyoPuyo Champions—in Japan.The six members of theLeague of Legends team come from places as far apartas Ernakulam,Aligarh,Delhi and Greater Noida. Esports was only a demonstration event atJakarta in2018 before becoming a medal sport in Hangzhou.In # THRISSUR’S YOUNG BRIGADECONQUERSKeuSEASONRr Imran (69)and Sanjeev Sathee-san(29)put the Titans on thepath to victory.However,theGlobstars'Jose Perayil triggereda mini collapse by picking up twowickets in the 16th over.It wasleft to the cool and wiser head of The third edition of theKerala Cricket League(KCL)marked the end of `reputa-tion bias'inherent in Keralam T20cricket.The final was contestedbetween two teams who hadnever won titles before-ThrissurTitans and Calicut Globstars- effectively against big hitters inthe tournament and was excellentduring the PowerPlay and at thedeath overs.Sarath's performancesaw him fast tracked into theKeralam team for the Oman tourand was one of the success storiesof the KCL. captain M.S.Akhil (19 not out Ramees made the transitionfrom tennis ball to leather ballcricket fairly quickly.He was craftywith good variations and wasdeceptively quick.The two pacerswere the stand out performers ofseason 3. with the Titans ultimatelyemerging as the new T20champion of Keralam. The Titans'triumphwas a vindication of its brave youth policy which pri-oritised unheralded rookies overestablished stars.The young turkshad routinely pulled off thrillinglast over wins in the league and itwas no different in the final.TheTitans gave their fans a few jitters,and won the final overcoming abrief stutter. The Titans'coach Sunil Ku-mar said the strategy during theauction was to go for rookies andyoung talent as the team wantedto avoid the `square pegs in roundholes'trap that plagued otherfranchises.This approach requiredtaking major risks like asking the18-year-old K.R.Rohit to open Chasing 168,a decisive 87-runpartnership between Ahammed off 11 balls),who slammedlbnul Afthab for a bound-ary,to seal the title withthree balls to spare.The36-year-old Akhil was the oldest player in Titans'team whose average age was 23.Ahammed Imran was the mostconsistent player for Titans andunderlined his reputation as thenext big star in Kerala cricket.Sar-ath Chandra Prasad and P.AbdulRamees were two rookie bowlerswho stepped up for Thri

FAQs

What regional sports identity did the Asian Games programme aim to preserve for this edition?

The programme nominated sepak takraw for Southeast Asia and similarly assigned other regional martial or court sports to different zones, preserving regional identities.

How did India’s esports participation differ from other team sports training?

Esports athletes can train without being in the same room as teammates, and India fields competitors across four titles in Japan.

Why were Thrissur Titans able to win the third Kerala Cricket League (KCL) T20 final?

Their brave youth policy prioritized unheralded rookies, supported by batting depth and decisive partnerships, with key performances in league and knockout matches.

Oct 1, 2026

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