Sports Current Affairs 2026 for Government Exams

In July 2026, the Indian Women Cricket Team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, defeated England by 270 runs in the first-ever Women Test at Lord's, London, defending a target of 457 — India second-largest win by runs in Women Tests. Yastika Bhatia (113) became the first woman to score a Test century at Lord's and entered the honours board; Smriti Mandhana scored fifties in both innings. Debutant Kranti Gaud took 5/37 (7/91 in the match) to become the first woman with a five-wicket haul in a Women Test at Lord's.

The ICC inducted former India women's captain Anjum Chopra and former England captain Kevin Pietersen into the ICC Hall of Fame during its Annual Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, taking total inductees to 125. Anjum Chopra became the 3rd Indian woman (after Diana Edulji and Neetu David) and 13th Indian overall. She was the first Indian woman to play 100 ODIs and reach 1,000 ODI runs, and received the Padma Shri in 2014.

Jannik Sinner of Italy won the Wimbledon 2026 men's singles title, defeating Germany's Alexander Zverev in the final. In the women's singles, Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic claimed her maiden Grand Slam title, beating compatriot Karolina Muchova 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 in the first all-Czech Wimbledon women's final of the professional era. The 21-year-old Noskova is the third Czech woman in four years to win the Wimbledon crown. Wimbledon, played at the All England Club, London, is the oldest tennis tournament and the only Grand Slam contested on grass. Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam still played on grass courts.

Russia's Mirra Andreeva claimed her maiden Grand Slam, beating Maja Chwalinska 6-3, 6-2. At 19 years and 1 month, she became the youngest woman to win Roland Garros since Monica Seles in 1992.

Germany's Alexander Zverev won his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, defeating Italy's Flavio Cobolli in a five-set final (6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1), after three previous major runner-up finishes.

Jannik Sinner won both Indian Wells (4-15 March) and the Miami Open (17-29 March), becoming the first man to complete the 'Sunshine Double' without dropping a set; Aryna Sabalenka won both women's titles.

The 2026 Australian Open ran 18 January-1 February at Melbourne Park. Defending men's champion Jannik Sinner lost in the semi-finals; Venus Williams, at 45, became the oldest player in the women's singles draw.

Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic to win his first Australian Open (7th major and career Grand Slam), while Elena Rybakina defeated Aryna Sabalenka for the women's singles title.

Union Youth Affairs & Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced that Telangana will host the 8th Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) in November 2026, with over 8,000 athletes and officials expected. Telangana becomes the second southern state in three years to host, after Tamil Nadu (2024) and Bihar (2025). In the 2025 Bihar edition, Maharashtra topped the medal table, followed by Haryana and Rajasthan; hosts Bihar finished 15th and Telangana 13th. Khelo India was launched in 2018 to nurture grassroots sporting talent.

Aswath S, a 17-year-old from Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, became India's 98th chess Grandmaster after securing his third and final GM norm at the Pune International Grandmaster Round Robin Tournament (30 June-8 July 2026). He finished runner-up with 7 points from 9 rounds, defeating USA's FM Kannan Vaidyanathan with the black pieces in the final round. Abhijeet Gupta won the tournament. Aswath is also Tamil Nadu's 38th Grandmaster. The Grandmaster title is awarded by FIDE and requires three GM norms and a 2500 FIDE rating. India now needs just two more Grandmasters to reach the milestone of 100.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan won the Prague Masters with 6 points, becoming the first two-time champion; India's Aravindh Chithambaram tied for second.

Bibisara Assaubayeva of Kazakhstan won her third Women's World Blitz title, defeating Anna Muzychuk in the final at Doha.

Magnus Carlsen beat Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov 2.5-1.5 in the final to win his ninth World Blitz crown at Doha.

Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia won her maiden Women's World Rapid Championship, defeating China's Zhu Jiner in blitz tiebreaks at Doha.

Magnus Carlsen won his sixth World Rapid title at Doha; India's Arjun Erigaisi won bronze in the Open section and Koneru Humpy won bronze in the Women's section.

The 23rd FIFA World Cup, jointly hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico, kicked off on 11 June 2026 at the Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, where hosts Mexico beat South Africa 2-0. It is the first 48-team World Cup.

The New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 4-1 in the NBA Finals to win their third NBA championship and their first since 1973.

The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 in the NHL Stanley Cup Final to win their second Stanley Cup and first since 2006, clinching Game 6 with a shutout.

Hosts India beat top seeds Hong Kong China 3-0 in the SDAT Squash World Cup final in Chennai, winning their first-ever title and becoming the first Asian nation to do so; the squad included Anahat Singh and Joshna Chinappa.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Gujarat Titans by 5 wickets in the final at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, chasing 161 in 18 overs. Virat Kohli (75* off 42) was Player of the Match as RCB claimed back-to-back titles.

Gujarat Titans pacer Kagiso Rabada finished as the tournament's leading wicket-taker with 29 wickets, earning the Purple Cap.

The 15-year-old topped the run charts with 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.30 - the highest ever among Orange Cap winners - ahead of Shubman Gill (732) and Sai Sudharsan (722).

Virat Kohli became the first player in IPL history to reach 9,000 career runs (and 800 boundaries) during IPL 2026, extending his record as the tournament's leading run-scorer.

During IPL 2026's April fixtures, Bhuvneshwar Kumar became the first fast bowler in IPL history to reach 200 wickets, a landmark for Indian pace bowling.

India beat New Zealand by 96 runs in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, becoming the first team to defend the T20 World Cup, the first host nation to win it, and the first to lift three titles. Sanju Samson was Player of the Tournament.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the Women's Premier League 2026 title at Vadodara, beating Delhi Capitals by 6 wickets. Chasing 204, RCB pulled off the highest run-chase in WPL history (Smriti Mandhana 87) for their second title.

India sealed their eighth consecutive T20I series triumph, opening with a 101-run win at Cuttack and clinching the 5th T20I at Ahmedabad by 30 runs.

India won the ODI decider at Visakhapatnam by 9 wickets to take the series 2-1; Virat Kohli was Player of the Series with 302 runs.

The Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry released draft amendments proposing up to 5 years' imprisonment and Rs 2 lakh fine for trafficking prohibited substances, with up to 10 years for offences involving minors.

South Korea beat defending champions China 3-1 at Horsens, Denmark, for their third Uber Cup title in women's team badminton.

China defended the Thomas Cup, beating France 3-1 at Horsens, Denmark, retaining the premier men's team badminton title.

At the All England Open (Birmingham), Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei beat India's Lakshya Sen 21-15, 22-20 in the men's singles final; Wang Zhiyi of China won the women's title.

India's Senior National Badminton Championships concluded in late December 2025, crowning the year's national singles and doubles champions.

Held in Madrid, Spain, Carlos Alcaraz won Sportsman of the Year and Aryna Sabalenka won Sportswoman of the Year. Paris Saint-Germain won World Team of the Year and Nadia Comaneci received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The first edition of the Khelo India Tribal Games concluded in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, with Karnataka topping the medal tally (23 gold). Around 3,800 athletes from 30 states/UTs competed; the mascot was 'Morveer'.

India won hosting rights for the 2028 World Athletics Indoor Championships, with Bhubaneswar selected as host city - making India the fourth Asian nation to host the event.

Norway topped the tally with 41 medals (18 gold), followed by the USA (33) and host Italy (30). Norway's 41 total and 18 golds are new all-time records for a single Winter Games.

The XXV Olympic Winter Games were held across Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy - the first Games with the opening ceremony spread across multiple locations.

Arif Khan finished 39th in the men's slalom - India's best-ever result in the event - and became the first Indian to compete in two consecutive Winter Olympics. India remains without a Winter Olympic medal.

India was represented by alpine skier Arif Khan (men's slalom) and cross-country skier Stanzin Lundup (10 km). Arif Khan was India's flag-bearer at the opening ceremony.

Norway's cross-country skier Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won six gold medals, becoming the first Winter Olympian to win six golds at a single Games.

The opening ceremony (6 February) was staged mainly at San Siro, Milan, before nearly 61,000 spectators; the closing ceremony (22 February), themed 'Beauty in Action', was held at the historic Verona Arena.

At Torun, Switzerland's Simon Ehammer scored 6,670 points to break Ashton Eaton's 14-year-old indoor heptathlon world record by 25 points and win gold.

The 21st edition ran 20-22 March at Torun, Poland, where Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis won a fourth successive indoor pole-vault title with a championship record 6.25m. India was awarded the 2028 edition.

Hosted at Hyderabad, India beat Italy 1-0 in the semi-final but lost the final 2-0 to England. India, England and Scotland all qualified for the 2026 Women's World Cup.

The Kalinga Lancers won the men's Hockey India League title (their second), while the SG Pipers won the women's HIL crown.

India beat Argentina 4-2 to claim their first-ever bronze at the Junior World Cup (held in Tamil Nadu), while Germany won a record 8th title.

The first phase of the 6th Khelo India Winter Games was held in Leh, Ladakh, featuring ice hockey and ice skating (with figure skating added for the first time); around 900 athletes competed.

The Indian Army retained the men's ice hockey gold, beating Chandigarh 3-2 in the final; Ladakh's Skarma Tsultim was a standout with four medals.