PRO LEAGUE WINNERS TO GET WC, OLY BERTHS

NEW DELHI: The international hockey federation (FIH) on Friday said that the men’s and women’s Pro League winners from Season 5 onwards will get direct qualification for the World Cup and Olympic Games.

While the winners of Season 5 (2023-24) and 6 (2024-25) will qualify for the 2026 World Cup, the champions of Season 7 (2025-26) and 8 (2026-27) and will earn a berth for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The FIH also introduced promotion and relegation with the last-placed team to be relegated to a new competition called FIH Nations Cup with the winners of the Nation Cup promoted to the Pro League.

Guman leads U Mumba to thrilling win in PKL

BENGALURU: U Mumba produced a solid defensive display to beat Haryana Steelers 32-31 in a thrilling match of the Pro Kabaddi League here on Friday.

While Guman Singh picked up the first points for U Mumba, Meetu Sharma got Haryana Steelers off the mark. U Mumba inflicted an all out to take a good lead in the first half.

Under-25 Shatkar Trophy one-day tournament brief scores: MCA B 241 in 47.3 overs (Akshat Jain 49; Saksham Jha 4/51, Praful Devkate 3/44) beat

130 in 28.4 overs (Pragnesh Kanpillewar 44; Divyaansh Saxena 4/8, Sourabh Singh 3/25) by 111 runs,

280/9 in 50 overs (Aayush Zimare 98, Omkar Malekar 57; Aryan Badhe 6/57) beat

259/7 in 50 overs (Vedprakash Jaiswal 64, Atharva Chavan 53; Aayush Zimare 3/55) by 21 runs.