Le Journal

Hyderabad: The India Under-17 men’s team will begin its AFC U17 Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers campaign against Palestine on Saturday at the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad. India enter the tournament after an extensive preparation phase, which included winning the SAFF U17 Championship in September and playing two friendlies in China in October. At the pre-qualifiers press conference, India head coach Bibiano Fernandes said, “We began building this team in August with SAFF as the first target. The exposure matches in China helped us understand the level required, and arriving in Ahmedabad early has helped us adapt to the conditions. We are prepared and looking forward to the games.” The Blue Colts set up camp in Goa before travelling to Ahmedabad on November 1. They have been in the city for almost three weeks, training in local conditions and finalising tactical plans for the four-match group stage, which also features Chinese Taipei, Lebanon and IR Iran. The group winners will qualify for the final tournament in Saudi Arabia next year. Captain Dallalmuon Gangte, India’s top scorer in their SAFF U17 title win with four goals, said, “Our preparation has been going well as a team and as individuals. We understand each other, the coaches, the system, and we are looking forward to the qualifiers with confidence.” After missing out on qualifying for the 2025 tournament, India will aim to bounce back and appear in the AFC U17 Asian Cup for the 10th time in history. Fernandes emphasised the challenge of the tight schedule. “We must be ready to give 100 percent every match. Recovering quickly is the biggest challenge, but I’m sure the boys will put everything on the pitch,” he said. Palestine have assembled a mixed squad featuring players from the West Bank and abroad. They completed a preparatory camp in the Maldives before travelling to India. Their head coach Mohammad Sharbji said, “India are a respectable team with strong organisation, quality players, and good preparation. It will not be easy, but we trust in ourselves.” Chinese Taipei and Lebanon will kick off the qualifiers in Ahmedabad, meeting in the first game at 16:30. Chinese Taipei head coach Wang Po-Min said, “We had only 10 days of training in Taiwan, but the players’ morale and condition are at their peak. Even though the preparation period was short, the boys have shown good attitude and performance. It is our first visit to India. The conditions here demand strength from every team, and we know the level will be high.” Lebanon head coach Rami Al Ladki said, “We are very happy to be here. This is a very important tournament for us, and our main target is to represent Lebanese football in the best way possible. Playing here gives us the chance to face different teams from the region and gain the international exposure our players need.” IR Iran will play their first game on November 24 against Chinese Taipei. Their head coach Armaghan Ahmadi said, “We know all four teams in our group. All of them are technically strong, and we expect competitive matches throughout the tournament. We respect every team, and we want to play fair play football until the end.” The match will be streamed live on plus.fifa.com. . Tickets are available online.

Hyderabad: China’s GM Wei Yi and Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Yakubboev could not breach the defences of their respective opponents with white pieces as both semi-finals of the FIDE World Cup 2025 ended in draws here on Friday. Nodirbek signed the truce with compatriot GM Javokhir Sindarov immediately after the mandatory 30 moves, while Wei Yi and GM Andrey Esipenko had their chances but could not convert, eventually splitting the point after 33 moves. Wei Yi, who had defeated India’s best hope GM Arjun Erigaisi in the quarterfinals, faced a rare variation of the French Defence from Esipenko and, just like in the quarterfinals, enjoyed some early advantage. To Esipenko’s credit, the Russian-born Grandmaster equalised the position well, and it looked like the Chinese player was coming under time pressure. Wei managed to set up a three-pronged attack with a rook, bishop and queen, only for Esipenko to respond with a perfect defensive move that steered the game towards a pawn endgame, where the two players agreed to a draw.

Hyderabad: Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin of the Telangana High Court on Friday put on hold the State’s recent amendments introducing an 85 per cent local quota within the management seats for postgraduate medical courses in private unaided institutions. The Court was hearing a batch of writ petitions filed by non-local students seeking admission to PG courses under the management category in private, unaided, minority and non-minority colleges. They argued that until this year, management quota seats were open without any reservation, and the sudden introduction of an 85:15 local-to-all India division after the admission process had already begun was illegal and fundamentally unfair. Senior counsel Gandra Mohan Rao, appearing for the petitioners, contended that the government’s amendments through GO Ms Nos 200 and 201 dated November 3, 2025, effectively rewrote the admission framework mid-process. He submitted that the move ran contrary to the Supreme Court’s ruling in PA Inamdar vs State of Maharashtra, which bars reservation within management quota seats, and violated Article 14. He also relied on the Supreme Court’s recent judgment in Dr Tanvi Behl vs Shrey Goel, which held that residence-based reservations are permissible for MBBS but not for postgraduate medical courses that require higher merit and competitiveness. The counsel argued that dividing management quota seats into 85 per cent for locals and only 15 per cent for all-India candidates would drastically reduce the petitioners’ chances, amounting to changing the rules midway. The State and the Standing Counsel for Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences sought time to obtain instructions and file counter affidavits. After hearing all sides, the bench held that the amendments prima facie amounted to “changing the rules of the game after it has begun” and decided to keep the new quota formula in abeyance for the current academic year. It clarified that the impugned rule introducing 85 per cent local reservation shall not apply to PG medical admissions for 2025-26 under Management Quota Sub-Category-1 in private, unaided minority and non-minority colleges. The State and the University were granted four weeks to file their counters, and petitioners were given two weeks thereafter to file replies. The matter was posted to January 19, 2026 for further hearing.

Hyderabad: India’s Shourya Saini clinched silver in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men’s event, making it the 13th medal for the country in shooting at the ongoing 25th Summer Deaflympics in Tokyo. Shourya, the current world champion, broke his own world deaf qualification record and created a new Deaflympics world record en route to the finals. He shot 450.6 in the finals but was 9.2 short of Germany’s Erik Matthias Hess, who won the gold medal by breaking both the Deaf World finals record and the Deaflympics record. Dmytro Petrenko of Ukraine claimed the bronze medal. In the finals, Shourya scored 151.0 in the kneeling series of 15 shots, followed by 151.1 in the prone series. He then hit 99.3 in the first 10 shots of the standing series, followed by 9.6, 9.9, 9.5, 10.3 and 9.9 in the elimination stage to secure the silver medal. The other Indian shooter in the final, Kushagra Singh Rajawat, finished sixth with a score of 408.8. Earlier in qualification, Shourya broke both the existing Deaf World Record and the Deaflympics record with a combined score of 584-32x. He shot 196 in kneeling, 194 in prone and 194 in standing. Kushagra scored 190 in kneeling, 196 in prone and 189 in standing to qualify for the finals in sixth place with a combined score of 575-22x. Mahit Sandhu and Natasha Joshi will return for the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event tomorrow, with Mahit aiming to add to the three medals she has already won in Tokyo.

Hyderabad: BRS Working President and former Minister KT Rama Rao brought much-needed relief to students facing a biting cold without adequate blankets at the Gurukul Residential School hostel in Sircilla district. Under the “Gift A Smile” initiative, he ensured the distribution of high-quality blankets to every student of the Gurukul hostel on Friday evening. The gesture came after reports emerged that students at the hostel were struggling to cope with the falling temperatures due to the absence of sufficient blankets.