Category: 6. Sports

MIE, Japan, August 3, 2025 – Honda factory team^*1 “Honda HRC” (CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE SP: Takumi Takahashi / Johann Zarco) has won the 2025 FIM^*2 Endurance World Championship “Coca-Cola” Suzuka 8 Hours Road Race 46th Annual Event (Suzuka 8 Hours) held at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie, on Sunday, August 3.

This victory marks Honda HRC’s fourth consecutive Suzuka 8 Hours victory. Team rider Takumi Takahashi has extended his outright record of the most Suzuka 8 Hours wins to seven (four consecutive), while Johann Zarco achieves his second consecutive victory. This victory also marks Honda’s 31st win at the event.

Three-time Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manika Batra has been one of the most consistent Indian table tennis players for nearly a decade.

Last year, Manika scripted history at the Saudi Smash, becoming the first Indian singles table tennis player to reach the quarter-finals of a WTT Grand Smash event – the sport’s equivalent of tennis Grand Slams.

Her giant-killing run at the Saudi Smash included victories over Olympic medallist Wang Manyu of the People’s Republic of China and world championships medallist Nina Mittelham of Germany.

Batra recently competed at the WTT Star Contender Foz do Iguaçu 2025 in Brazil, where her campaign concluded in the quarter-finals of both women’s singles and doubles.

Despite the exit, she produced solid wins against higher-ranked Kim Nayeong of the Republic of Korea and compatriot Diya Chitale en route to the last eight in singles.

Olympics.com caught up with Manika Batra during her campaign in Brazil, where the Indian table tennis ace underlined her dream of winning a medal at the Summer Games.

During the interaction, Batra also revealed that basketball legend Kobe Bryant’s ‘Mamba Mentality’ has also left a profound impression on her.

The Mamba Mentality philosophy, coined by Lakers icon and two-time Olympic champion Kobe Bryant, is about relentless self-improvement, mental toughness and striving to be your best every day. It’s a mindset of discipline, focus and embracing challenges with intensity by pushing personal limits, not just beating others.

Here are the excerpts from the interview.

Q: No longer an up-and-coming talent, you are now a senior player in the Indian table tennis circuit. How are you adjusting to this new role and the responsibilities that come with it?

Manika Batra: I really love the responsibility I have right now to take Indian table tennis up. From the beginning, I have loved challenges. I see Indian table tennis going really up, not only me but also the junior players, how they are playing. I am really happy with how table tennis in India is changing and how the mindset of people is changing.

Q: What remains your ultimate goal and something you want to achieve over the next few years?

Manika Batra: I was thinking too much, but now I want to go slowly and gradually. I want to treat every tournament as one where I give my 100 per cent. Of course, the ultimate goal is to win an Olympic medal. I will work on that. I still have three years (for LA 2028), and that is very little for me. But I will play match by match, tournament by tournament. I will work hard in my training. Every day, every second counts.

Q: Which is your most cherished achievement for table tennis in India? You are a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, an Asian Games and Asian Championships medallist.

Manika Batra: For me, the Commonwealth Games, because that was my first gold medal for my country, and I saw the Indian flag up when I was standing on the podium. I will never forget that moment in my life.

Q: How does Manika Batra deal with the high-pressure environment of international table tennis?

Manika Batra: I love challenges and I love pressure matches. I stay calm every time before I go to the match or during the match. I take deep breaths and I recover with that.

Q: Tell us about one of your favourite opponents to square off against. Someone whose rivalry brings out the best in you.

Manika Batra: I cannot name one, but there are many players I love to play against and I love to win against them. At the Saudi Smash, I played against Wang Manyu, and that was my best match. I would love to play her again and win. Recently, I played with (Japan’s) Honoka Hashimoto. I want to play against her and win. I think I have the capability and ability to win against her next time, so I will do my best.

Q: Can you run us through some of your most memorable matches over the years and why they still remain fresh in your mind?

Manika Batra: Again, I would say the Saudi Smash – every match, not only one or two, from the first round till the quarter-finals. I cannot forget the mindset and how much fire I had in that tournament. That was my most memorable tournament.

Q: How do you want your legacy to be remembered for table tennis in India?

Manika Batra: I have not thought about that because I still want to do many things and achieve my goals. I haven’t thought about it, but of course, if people want to remember me, I would like them to remember me as a great legend, a great player, and a very humble person.

Q: What advice would Manika Batra today give to her younger self when she was first starting out, taking the table tennis world by storm?

Manika Batra: I would just say that I was amazing at that time and I am still amazing. So, just keep dreaming and keep working towards your goal.

Q: How did your family respond to your decision to take table tennis seriously, and how important was their support during that pivotal phase?

Manika Batra: My family has always been there for me, now and when I was young. They never told me what to do or what not to do. Whatever I wanted to do, they supported me from the beginning. I am really blessed and happy to have that family with me every time. When I go to the table or when I am not playing, they motivate me. I am really happy and lucky to have them.

Q: What would you be if you weren’t a table tennis player, and which sporting personality do you look up to away from the table tennis circuit?

Manika Batra: Many people have asked me this, but I have not thought about that because I love table tennis. I love my sport and I don’t think I would have chosen a different sport in my career. I love other players. There was Kobe Bryant; I love his Mamba Mentality. I always listen to him. There are also cricketers, like Virat Kohli, who inspire me.

Q: Who would play Manika Batra if a biopic was made on you in the future?

Manika Batra: In Bollywood, many actresses are tall. Because I am tall, I would like them (any of the tall actresses) to play my role.

“More than the results, it’s the way that we perform that helps to give confidence,” began the boss when asked about morale in camp.

“Then I think the group is really good, I said last year we can do so much more with the same players.

“All the work that we did before buying Matheus and Bryan, all that work behind the scenes to know the players, to talk with people that played with the guys, was really important because they are everything that we were expecting.

“[They are] great guys and great players, so we are in a good place.”

Australia have won back a lot of fans during the British and Irish Lions Test series, says former Wallabies captain Stephen Moore.

Australia were well beaten in the first Test, but then came within one last-gasp Lions try of winning the second before taking the final Test 22-12 in Sydney to prevent the tourists securing a 3-0 series whitewash.

Ranked sixth in the world, two-time World Cup-winners Australia have been rebuilding after failing to qualify for the knockout stages of a Rugby World Cup for the first time in their history in 2023.

A poor national team and the continued rise of rugby league and Australian rules football have been factors in a decline in interest in rugby union in the country.

But the Lions, who the hosts have not beaten in a series since 2001, proved popular, with the second Test at Melbourne Cricket Crowd played in front of 90,307, while more than 80,000 watched the match in Sydney.

“I know it sounds weird because we’ve lost the series, but I think the team will come out of this series in better shape than when they came into it,” Moore told BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly podcast.

“Enhanced reputations individually, and collectively as a team. The people watching those games at the ground and on the TV will be proud of the way the Wallabies played for a lot of the series.

“Even though the Lions won – they deserved to win – we’ve won a lot of fans back in the last three weeks.

“The Test matches and particularly a Lions tour, that’s our shop window. That’s our chance to fill stadiums and get people talking about rugby [union].

“Outside the noise around rugby league, and AFL is massive, that’s the biggest thing in town.”

Joe Schmidt’s side could not hold on to an 18-point lead in Melbourne as Hugo Keenan’s last-minute try snatched a series win for the tourists, but Australia showed vast improvement from the first half of Brisbane, when they did not look remotely competitive.

The hosts led for 79 minutes in Melbourne and were one controversial clearout decision away from taking the game, and were never behind in the final Test of the series on Saturday.

Depth proved to be a big factor, with standout forwards Rob Valetini and Will Skelton missing the first Test because of injuries.

Prop Taniela Tupou, capped 59 times, was not selected for the first Two Tests after struggling for form but was back to his powerful best in Sydney.

“We still have a long way to go with our domestic structure,” former Australia captain Moore added.

“You look at Ireland’s centralised model and I think we need to go down that path so that our best players are really closely managed so that they’re cherry-right for that first game of the Lions series.

“We’ve had 12 years to get ready for this and we haven’t got that part of it right and there’s still a lot to do.”

Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh and French superstar Léon Marchand will be looking to close out their 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Sunday, 3 August, with 400m individual medley gold medals.

The four-time Olympic gold medallist Marchand, opting to focus on the medley events in Indonesia, is poised to add the 400m IM gold to his 200m crown from earlier at the championships.

Marchand set the pool alight on Wednesday by shattering the 200m IM world record with a time of 1 minute, 52.69 seconds in the semi-finals. He won his third 200m IM world title the next day.

The 18-year-old McIntosh will compete in her fifth final, where she will be aiming for her fourth gold medal of these championships when she gets into the pool in the 400m IM. She already has three golds behind her name in the 400m freestyle, 200 IM and 200m butterfly, while she also won the bronze medal in the 800m freestyle.

The phenom is aiming for a career third 400m IM gold medal at the world long-course championships.

In the women’s 50m breaststroke, Ruta Meilutyte is eyeing a fourth consecutive title. The Lithuanian will face Lilly King in her final hurrah before she retires at the end of the season. Gretchen Walsh, gold medallist in the 50m and 100m butterfly, could add a third gold as she makes an appearance in the 50m freestyle final.

South Africa’s Pieter Coetze is in line for a third backstroke medal at the global gala, featuring in the men’s 50m backstroke final. He won the 100m gold before winning silver over the 200m distance.

Follow our live updates across the eight finals.

Marvin Kirchhöfer earned back-to-back ROWE Pole Position Awards with a dominant display in this morning’s Qualifying 2 at Magny-Cours. 

The #59 Garage 59 McLaren was half a second clear of the field thanks to a 1m35.508s in the second half of the split session. He and Benjamin Goethe won from pole last time out at Misano and have an excellent shot at repeating the trick this afternoon.

Kirchchöfer will share the front row with last night’s winner, Jordan Pepper, who might also fancy his chances of another victory in the #63 Grasser Racing Lamborghini. The South African was 0.560s adrift of pole, with a significant amount of the time loss coming in the first sector. 

Thierry Vermeulen was third overall and gave the #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari its seventh Gold Cup pole from a possible eight. He was 0.039s shy of Pepper and beat the two factory Ferrari entries from AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors, Arthur Leclerc edging Vincent Abril in this intra-team battle. 

Kelvin van der Linde qualified sixth, though a trip over the kerbs at the final chicane cost him a chance to improve and may have resulted in suspension damage to the #32 Team WRT BMW. Still, the Belgian squad fared much better than its chief title rivals, with the #96 Rutronik Porsche 13th fastest and the #48 Winward Mercedes-AMG a distant P16.

Jamie Day gave Comtoyou Racing pole in the Silver Cup, maintaining the form that has rocketed the Belgian squad to the top of the class standings. The #21 Aston Martin was comfortably fastest of all in Q2A and will start from 17th overall this afternoon. César Gazeau was second (P20 overall) in the #10 Boston VDS Mercedes-AMG. 

Dustin Blattner scored his third successive Bronze Cup pole in the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari. He will start 23rd overall, four spots ahead of the #81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Rinat Salikhov. Blattner out-qualified a number of Silver Cup cars on his way to top spot in class. 

Three cars did not set a time in Qualifying 2. Jef Machiels crashed in Q2A, eliminating the #52 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari from the session and perhaps this afternoon’s race. The #64 HRT Ford Performance and the #112 CSA Racing McLaren have both withdrawn following accidents last night. 

Race 2 marks the eighth round of the 2025 Sprint Cup campaign and gets going at 15:15 CEST. It can be watched live on the GT World YouTube channel. 

> RESULTS: Qualifying 2

Finlay Bealham: Brought in when Zander Fagerson had to withdraw. He put in a strong scrummaging display against Argentina in the Lions’ opening game that got people talking, especially since veteran Tadhg Furlong was still searching for his form. Overtaken by Furlong and Will Stuart, but there is no disgrace in that. 6

Tadhg Beirne: Incredible. Wasn’t at his best when he arrived on tour but he became an utter machine as time went on; power, carries, tackle count, minutes played. A brilliant tour and the player of the series from a Lions perspective. 9.5

Ollie Chessum: Played his way into the Test team for Melbourne after Joe McCarthy’s injury but didn’t produce his best on the day and was dropped to the bench for the third Test. Only 24, he’ll be back in 2029. 7

Jack Conan: One of 11 players who started all three Tests. Conan was brutally harsh on his own performance in the second Test in Melbourne, but he was robust all tour. A powerful man, he was not quite at full throttle, but good. 7.5

Luke Cowan-Dickie: Played well in both of his starts in Australia, albeit the second one – AUNZ Invitational – was when his game-time ended after a horrible blow to the head. Would have put heat on Ronan Kelleher for a Test bench spot. 6.5

Scott Cummings: Got off to a nightmarish start when failing to deal with restarts against the Western Force. After that, he was really good. Bounced back with a fine performance against the Waratahs and was strong again versus First Nations and Pasifika. 6.5

Tom Curry: Looks permanently exhausted, but what a sensational player. Empties the tank every single time. Demonic physical presence. Set the tone in the first Test with a thumping hit on James Slipper and never let up after that. 9

Ben Earl: Went around Australia with a smile permanently fixed to his face. Clearly loved every second of life as a Lion. And played well. A bench spot in two of the three Tests. Maybe lucky not to get a yellow card in Melbourne but his work-rate was huge throughout. 7.5

Tadhg Furlong: Has now started nine consecutive Lions Tests, which is just freaky in the modern age. Had not played much rugby coming on to the tour but got better and better. The third Test was a difficult night, but he soldiered on. A Lions great. 8.5

Ellis Genge: An excellent tour for the loosehead prop. Very solid in the scrum and a big ball carrier in most of his games. Started the first Test and was powerful. Came off the bench in the second Test and helped drive the Lions forward in those late, pivotal moments. 8

Maro Itoje: Such a compelling individual. Bright and thoughtful. Good company in press conferences and in smaller gatherings. You wanted to hear what the captain had to say. Supreme for much of the tour, until his final Test went wrong after failing an early Head Injury Assessment. The Lions missed him when he was absent. 9

SINGAPORE – World Aquatics and Myrtha Pools are pleased to announce the renewal of their long-standing partnership, which will now extend through 2029. This latest agreement marks a significant milestone – 20 years of formal collaboration – and reflects the trust that the international aquatics community places in Myrtha as a key partner and a world-class supplier for significant sporting events.

The announcement was made during the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025, where Myrtha pools are again serving athletes. And the partnership agreement reinforces the shared vision between World Aquatics and Myrtha to elevate swimming and support the growth of all aquatic sports.

Under the renewed partnership, Myrtha Pools will continue to provide its state-of-the-art stainless steel pool technology for the World Aquatics Championships and the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m), ensuring the highest quality conditions for elite athletes in terms of safety, performance and transparency.

“We are proud to continue our journey with Myrtha Pools, a partner that shares our passion for providing the best possible opportunities for aquatics athletes,” said World Aquatics President Husain Al Musallam. “Our nearly 20-year relationship with Myrtha reflects the strong alignment of our values and goals, delivering innovation, excellence and the global development of aquatic sports.  We are grateful to be able to count on Myrtha Pools not only to deliver top-tier events but also to open doors for new generations of swimmers and aquatic sports athletes around the world.”

Myrtha Pools CEO Roberto Colletto expressed enthusiasm for the renewed commitment: “We are honoured to extend our partnership with World Aquatics through 2029. This 20-year collaboration reflects not only our shared history but our mutual ambition to promote aquatics globally. We are especially proud to continue supporting initiatives that enable us to contribute to both elite sport and community-level access to swimming as a life skill.”

One of Myrtha Pools’ key commitments of the new agreement with World Aquatics is to grow the swimming movement by exploring opportunities to develop technical partnerships with National Federations. As part of the agreement, Myrtha will provide exclusive discounts and unlimited consultancy services to help each federation find the most effective solutions for their needs.

Since its first collaboration with World Aquatics at the 1994 World Championships in Rome, Myrtha Pools has consistently delivered cutting-edge pool technology for the sport’s most important stages. Now, three decades later, this partnership stands stronger than ever, pushing the boundaries of performance, accessibility, and sustainability in aquatic sport.

Myrtha Pools’ solutions significantly reduce carbon emissions, support green building certifications and optimise water circulation to deliver world-class performance, as witnessed at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

“At Myrtha Pools, we don’t just build pools, we build platforms for sporting excellence, community engagement, and environmental responsibility,” Colletto said. “We are honoured to support the success of the 2025 World Aquatics Championships and to contribute to the future of aquatics in Singapore and beyond.”

-ENDS-

Driven by the vision of a world united by water for health, life and sport, World Aquatics is the international governing body for aquatic sports. Founded in 1908, World Aquatics is an independent organisation formed of 210 National Federations and five Continental Organisations. 

World Aquatics oversees six aquatic sports – swimming, water polo, diving, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving – and is recognised as the leading global authority of these sports by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). For more information, please visit: www.worldaquatics.com. 

Founded in 1961, Myrtha Pools has established itself as the leading manufacturer of stainless steel pools for competition, fitness, leisure, and wellness.

Over the last four decades, the company has supplied pools for numerous major competitions, from World Championships to six Olympic Games.

As a global partner of World Aquatics since 2009, and with more than 170 world records set in its pools, Myrtha has become the global benchmark for competition swimming facilities. At the same time, children and students around the world experience the unique value of sport and the health benefits of Myrtha pools installed in schools and community centres.

Myrtha is also at the forefront of sustainability, developing technologies to reduce CO₂ emissions and contributing to green building certifications, including LEED, BREEAM, and Green Star.

Enjoy this article? Why not share…

• 
  Facebook
  Share on Facebook

• 
  Twitter
  Share on Twitter

• 
  Messenger
  Share on Messenger

• 
  Whatsapp
  Share on Whatsapp

• 
  Copy Link
  label.share.via_copy

  Link copied to clipboard