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Star Sports fuels team YUWA’s aspiration to play the USA Cup
MUMBAI: STAR Sports successfully completed a fund-raiser campaign that turned the dream of the immensely talented girls from YUWA into reality, as they participate in the coveted football tournament USA Cup, to be held in Minnesota from July 15 to July 19. The USA Cup is one of the largest youth tournaments in the world with more than 1000 teams participating.
YUWA, an NGO based in Jharkhand and led by an American national Mr. Franz Gastler, uses football as a platform to combat child marriage and human trafficking in India and instils confidence and skills in young women affected by such social evils. The girls from YUWA, with their incredible talent and unflinching dedication, have victoriously crossed over several hurdles, fighting multiple ills that plagued their lives, such as poverty, malnutrition and gender-discrimination. They have deeply inspired millions around the world with their achievements, as they made the headlines last year by bagging a Bronze medal in an international youth tournament, the Gasteiz Cup held in Spain.
The girls from YUWA never failed to persevere and relentlessly made countless efforts under the rigorous training from their mentors to participate in the globally prestigious football tournament, USA Cup. While the girls battled against all odds with their hard work and focus to reach greater heights, travelling to the United States for the tournament was the only obstacle in their way. STAR Sports, committed to spurt sports development in the country at the grassroots level, stepped in to support the girls to participate at the games. The network further went on to tell the deeply inspiring tale of the girls through a gripping TV campaign in the month of May to muster mass support, creating a cycle of attracting more funds. Corporate organizations and people across the length and breadth of the country happily came forward to help Team YUWA realize their dream journey to the US.
In addition to Star Sports funding the travel the campaign gathered funds from major corporations, such as market research firm Quantum, DTH service provider Tata Sky, electronic major Lenovo and people from all over the country through a web-based crowd-funding platform called Ketto.
Mr. Nitin Kukreja, President – Sports, STAR India, expressed his delight on this achievement, “We are extremely pleased to have led this initiative to a fruitful conclusion. The story of the YUWA girls touched our hearts and we wanted to make an honest effort to fulfil their dream of participating in the USA Cup. We, at STAR, truly believe that sports have the power to transform the lives of people and Team YUWA is a great example of it. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish the girls great success and hope that they have a good time out there.”
This initiative by STAR Sports comes in-line with the media conglomerate’s promise of creating local heroes in the country and spawn a new sporting culture. As part of this commitment, STAR has also heavily invested in nurturing international and national leagues for various sports such as hockey, football and kabaddi.
Mr. Franz Gastler, Founder and Executive Director, YUWA said, “I’d like to say a huge Thank You to Star Sports from all of us at Yuwa for the work they have done. The campaign has been a huge success since its launch and I can’t understate how much buzz has been created around Yuwa in this short amount of time. Our inbox has been flooded daily with messages of support. We’re truly proud to see the brand Star Sports on our jerseys”
Team YUWA will be India’s only representative in the USA Cup, which allows teams to participate under various age groups across 9 years and 19 years.
News Broadcasting
TOISA 2026 shortlists unveiled ahead of Lucknow ceremony
Eighth edition on March 21 honours standout performers from 2025.
MUMBAI: TOISA 2026 just dropped a shortlist so stacked, even the trophy is wondering if it needs a bigger shelf. The Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) has revealed its 2026 shortlists, setting the stage for the eighth edition on 21 March at The Centrum Hotel in Lucknow. Celebrating achievements from 1 January to 31 December 2025 across more than 45 sports categories, this year’s nominees capture a golden 12 months of Indian sport from ODI and T20 World Cup triumphs to double golds at the Asian Athletics Championships and podium finishes at the World Para Athletics Championships.
For the first time, TOISA opens its doors to the public. Passes are available at timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toisa2025.
Standout shortlists include:
- Badminton (Male): Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, Kiran George, Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy
- Badminton (Female): Tanvi Sharma, Unnati Hooda, Tressa Jolly, Gayatri Gopichand
- Cricket (Male): Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Varun Chakaravarthy, KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav
- Cricket (Female): Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma
- Athletics (Male): Neeraj Chopra, Animesh Kujur, Gulveer Singh, Sachin Yadav
- Athletics (Female): Parul Chaudhary, Rupal Chaudhary, Jyothi Yarraji, Pooja Singh
- Shooting (Female): Suruchi Inder Singh, Simranpreet Kaur, Esha Singh, Elavenil Valarivan, Sift Kaur Samra, Manu Bhaker
- Emerging Sportsperson: Tanvi Sharma (badminton), Divya Deshmukh (chess), Shree Charani (cricket), Vaibhav Suryavanshi (cricket)
- Team of the Year: India Women’s Cricket Team, India Men’s Cricket Team, India Men’s Hockey Team, India Men’s & Women’s Kabaddi Teams, India National Shooting Team, India Women’s Cricket Team for the Blind, India Squash Team, India Women’s Ice Hockey Team
Category |
Shortlist 1 |
Shortlist 2 |
Shortlist 3 |
Shortlist 4 |
Shortlist 5 |
Shortlist 6 |
Column 1 |
Column 2 |
Badminton male |
Lakshya Sen |
Ayush Shetty |
Kiran George |
Chirag Shetty |
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy |
|||
Badminton female |
Tanvi Sharma |
Unnati Hooda |
Tressa Jolly |
Gayatri Gopichand |
||||
Cricket male |
Shubman Gill |
Abhishek Sharma |
Ravindra Jadeja |
Varun Chakaravarthy |
KL Rahul |
Kuldeep Yadav |
||
Cricket female |
Smriti Mandhana |
Pratika Rawal |
Jemimah Rodrigues |
Deepti Sharma |
Shafali Verma |
|||
Athletics (Track and field) male |
Neeraj Chopra |
Animesh Kujur |
Gulveer Singh |
Sachin Yadav |
||||
Athletics (Track and field) female |
Parul Chaudhary |
Rupal Chaudhary |
Jyothi Yarraji |
Pooja Singh |
||||
Sportsperson of the year (combined of all sports) |
Divya Deshmukh |
Suruchi Inder Singh |
Smriti Mandhana |
Samrat Rana |
||||
Equestrian |
Ashish Limaye |
Shruti Vora |
Divyakriti Singh |
|||||
Hockey male |
Abhishek Nain |
Harmanpreet Singh |
Jugraj Singh |
Amit Rohidas |
||||
Hockey female |
Udita Duhan |
Navneet Kaur |
Mumtaz Khan |
Rutuja Pisal |
||||
Shooting male |
Samrat Rana |
Ravinder Singh |
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar |
Anish |
Varun Tomar |
Rudrankksh Patil |
||
Shooting female |
Suruchi Inder Singh |
Simranpreet Kaur |
Esha Singh |
Elavenil Valarivan |
Sift Kaur Samra |
Manu Bhaker |
||
Emerging sportsperson (combined) |
Tanvi Sharma (badminton) |
Divya Deshmukh (chess) |
Shree Charani (cricket) |
Vaibhav Suryavanshi (cricket) |
||||
Coach of the year (male, female combined) |
Amol Majumdar (Cricket) |
Suresh Singh (Shooting) |
Ashok Kumar Rana (Shooting) |
|||||
Chess male |
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa |
Aravindh Chithambaram |
Panneerselvam Iniyan |
Nihal Sarin |
Arjun Erigaisi |
|||
Chess female |
Divya Deshmukh |
Koneru Humpy |
Vaishali Rameshbabu |
Nandhidhaa PV |
||||
Archery male |
Dhiraj Bommadevara |
Abhishek Verma |
Atanu Das |
Prathamesh Fuge |
Rishabh Yadav |
|||
Archery female |
Ankita Bhakat |
Jyothi Surekha |
Deepika Kumari |
Prithika Pradeep |
||||
Billiards/Snooker |
Pankaj Advani |
Aditya Mehta |
Brijesh Damani |
|||||
Weightlifting male |
Rishikanta Singh |
Muthupandi Raja |
Dilbag Singh |
Lovepreet Singh |
||||
Weightlifting female |
Mirabai Chanu |
Mehak Sharma |
Bindyarani Devi |
|||||
Wrestling male |
Sunil Kumar |
Nitesh |
Aman Sehrawat |
Sujeet Kalkal |
||||
Wrestling female |
Antim Panghal |
Manisha |
Nisha Dahiya |
|||||
Squash male |
Abhay Singh |
Saurav Ghosal |
Velavan Senthilkumar |
Mahesh Mangaonkar |
||||
Squash female |
Anahat Singh |
Joshna Chinappa |
Dipika Pallikal Karthik |
Tanvi Khanna |
||||
Table Tennis male |
Manav Thakkar |
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran |
Harmeet Desai |
Payas Jain |
||||
Table Tennis female |
Manika Batra |
Sreeja Akula |
Diya Chitale |
Ayhika Mukherjee |
||||
Team of the Year (combined from all sports) |
India Women’s Cricket Team |
India Men’s Cricket Team |
India Men’s Hockey Team |
India Men’s & Women’s Kabaddi Teams |
India National Shooting Team |
India Women’s Cricket Team for the Blind |
India Squash Team |
India Women’s Ice Hockey Team |
Tennis Male |
Rohan Bopanna |
Yuki Bhambri |
Sumit Nagal |
|||||
Tennis Female |
Ankita Raina |
Vaishnavi Adkar |
Sahaja Yamalapalli |
|||||
Football male |
Subhasish Bose |
Sunil Chhetri |
Vishal Kaith |
Brison Fernandes |
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu |
|||
Football female |
Soumya Guguloth |
Grace Dangmei |
Elangbam Panthoi Chanu |
Manisha Kalyan |
Pyari Xaxa |
|||
Kabaddi |
Sanju Devi |
Pawan Sehrawat |
Ritu Negi |
Arjun Deshwal |
||||
Boxing male |
Sachin Siwach |
Hitesh Gulia |
Pawan Bartwal |
Ankush Panghal |
||||
Boxing female |
Minakshi Hooda |
Jaismine Lamboria |
Nikhat Zareen |
Pooja Rani |
||||
Sailing |
Vishnu Saravanan |
Zahaan Hemrajani |
Abhimanyu Panwar |
Ghashiayah A |
||||
Para Archery male |
Harvinder Singh |
Vivek Chikara |
Rakesh Kumar |
Shyam Sunder Swami |
||||
Para Archery female |
Sheetal Devi |
Payal Nag |
Jyoti Baliyan |
|||||
Para Athlete (Track & Field) male |
Sumit Antil |
Shailesh Kumar |
Sandeep Kumar |
Nishad Kumar |
||||
Para Athlete (Track & Field) female |
Simran Sharma |
Preethi Pal |
Ekta Bhyan |
Deepthi Jeevanji |
||||
Para Badminton male |
Pramod Bhagat |
Sukant Kadam |
Krishna Nagar |
|||||
Para badminton female |
Mandeep Kaur |
Manasi Joshi |
Nithya Sre |
|||||
Para chess |
Vaibhav Gautam |
Samarth J Rao |
Venkata Krishna Karthik K |
|||||
Para judo |
Kapil Parmar |
Avidha Sharma |
Rahul Rajora |
Kokila |
||||
Para shooting male |
Bhat Amir Ahmad |
Nihal Singh |
Sandeep Kumar |
Rudransh Khandelwal |
||||
Para shooting female |
Mona Agarwal |
Avani Lekhara |
Rubi Kumari |
|||||
Para Sportsperson of the year |
Sheetal Devi (Para Archery) |
Praveen Kumar (Para Athletics – High Jump) |
Preethi Pal (Para Athletics – Sprint) |
Sumit Antil (Para Athletics – Javelin) |
||||
Para Coach of the year |
Dr. Satyapal Singh (Para Athletics) |
Subhash Rana (Para Shooting) |
Gaurav Khanna (Para Badminton) |
Sandhya Bharti (Para Taekwondo) |
The jury comprises six of India’s most decorated athletes, Leander Paes, Mithali Raj, Abhinav Bindra, Devendra Jhajharia, Sharath Kamal and PR Sreejesh.
TOISA remains the one night on the Indian sporting calendar judged purely on merit, not popularity. This year’s edition in Lucknow, a state that has steadily become a powerhouse of grassroots talent reflects how excellence now runs deep across every region.
In a year when Indian sport refused to stay in one lane, TOISA isn’t just handing out trophies, it’s framing a portrait of a nation that’s finally sprinting, swinging and shooting its way onto the world stage, one unforgettable moment at a time.
