All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Monday appointed Santosh Kashyap as the new head coach of the national senior women’s team, replacing former international player Chaoba Devi at the helm of affairs. Kashyap’s first assignment will be the SAFF Women’s Championships to be held in Kathmandu, Nepal, from October 17 to 30. A 29-member squad will camp in Goa from September 20 in preparation for the championships. A former India international, Kashyap has almost a decade of coaching experience in the I-League, managing clubs like Mohun Bagan, Aizawl FC and Mumbai FC among others.

The 58-year-old has also been the assistant coach of NorthEast United FC, and most recently of Odisha FC, in the Indian Super League.

Kashyap will have Priya PV as his assistant coach and Raghuvir Pravin Khanolkar as the goalkeeper coach.

“Coaching the National Team is always an honour. I am grateful to the AIFF President, Shri Kalyan Chaubey, the technical committee, the technical department and other senior members of the federation for providing me the opportunity to coach the senior national women’s team,” Kashyap said in an AIFF release.

“I have full faith in the current set of players in the team. They are all bright players. But what we require to improve is technically. I am confident that I can give the needed input to the team members during the national camp.” Talking about the SAFF Women’s Championships, he said, “I am aware that our result in the previous SAFF Championship didn’t meet the expectations. But this time, with the right tactics, approach and decision-making ability, we can regain the title.

“Football has become an extremely competitive sport, especially at the international level. So, we shouldn’t take any team lightly.

“SAFF is only the first step. Thereafter, I have a bigger plan in mind. I am sure, this team is capable of delivering the goods.” List of 29 players for the Indian senior women’s team camp in Goa: Goalkeepers: Elangbam Panthoi Chanu, Moirangthem Monalisha Devi, Payal Ramesh Basude.

Defenders: Aruna Bag, Dalima Chhibber, Jabamani Tudu, Juli Kishan, Loitongbam Ashalata Devi, Mousumi Murmu, Ngangbam Sweety Devi, Sanju, Sorokhaibam Ranjana Chanu, Wangkhem Linthoingambi Devi, Yumlembam Pakpi Devi.

Midfielders: Anjana Thapa, Anju Tamang, Dangmei Grace, Hemam Shilky Devi, Karishma Purushottam Shirvoikar, Karthika Angamuthu, Manisha, Naorem Priyangka Devi, Nongmaithem Ratanbala Devi, Sangita Basfore, Soumya Guguloth.

Forwards: Jyoti, Ngangom Bala Devi, Rimpa Haldar, Sandhiya Ranganathan. PTI PDS SSC SSC

World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe is the highest profile of the seven candidates to have declared on Monday their bid to succeed International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach. Coe will face stiff opposition from, amongst others, Kirsty Coventry, bidding to become the first woman and African to head the IOC, and cycling boss David Lappartient. The charismatic Briton, a two-time Olympic 1500 metres champion, also has challenges due to the rules laid down last week by the IOC Ethics Commission. Coe turns 68 on September 29 and although there is room for manoeuvre to raise the retirement age of IOC members and presidents to 74 he will be older than that come the end of an eight-year mandate.

The election will be at the IOC Session in Athens, which runs from March 18-21 next year.

Bach, 70, is standing down after serving 12 years. The German announced at the end of the Paris Games that he would not be seeking another term.

The other four candidates include two from Asia — another continent never to have had an IOC president — Jordan’s Prince Faisal al-Hussein and gymnastics chief Morinari Watanabe.

Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior, whose father of the same name was IOC president from 1980-2001 and transformed it into a commercial powerhouse, and a surprise entrant, ski federation president Johan Eliasch, round up the candidates.

Under the election rules Coe, Eliasch, Lappartient and Watanabe will all have to resign as heads of their respective federations and seek re-election as individual members at the Athens Session.

First up for the septet is presenting their respective programmes to the IOC members at the turn of the year.

“The candidates will present their programmes, in camera, to the full IOC membership on the occasion of a meeting to be held in Lausanne (Switzerland) in January 2025,” read a short IOC statement unveiling the candidates.

There will be a transition period post election — not something Bach enjoyed when he succeeded Jacques Rogge in 2013 — with the new president and his team assuming control in June.

Bach has had a bumpy ride, with Russia causing him the most problems.

Ironic as it was their president Vladimir Putin who was the first to phone and congratulate the 1976 Olympic gold medal-winning team fencer on his election in Buenos Aires in 2013.

There was the state-sponsored doping scandal which cast a dark shadow over the Sochi Winter Games in 2014 and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

On both occasions Coe took a stronger stand over banning Russians — it emerged they had also been engaging in widespread doping in athletics too — than Bach and the IOC.

This independent streak did not endear him to Bach.

Bach was seen by some to have handled Russia well, though others argued his hand was forced to impose strict eligibility conditions on those Russian and Belarusian athletes performing in Paris.

Away from Russia he showed a steady hand at the tiller when Covid swept the globe, forcing the postponement but not the cancellation of the Tokyo Games.

Though they took place a year later in 2021 and the majority of events, exceptions being track cycling and road races, were without spectators due to Covd restrictions they were judged a success for even taking place.

Bach will depart not universally acclaimed, but the IOC’s former head of marketing Michael Payne believes he has done an outstanding job.  

“Thomas Bach has been an incredibly successful president, and leaves the IOC in far stronger shape than when he took over in 2013,” the 66-year-old Irishman told AFP.

Payne, who in nearly two decades at the IOC was widely credited with transforming its brand and finances through sponsorship, said his successor faces some mighty challenges.

“He leaves big shoes to fill and I am not sure everyone fully understands the true complexity of the job,” said Payne.

“Bach has made it look all too easy. It is not –- and bringing 206 countries together and staging the world’s largest event is not simple.

“The future is going to be even more complex -– an increasing politicisation of sport, a rapidly changing business and broadcast environment, AI and new technology.

“The challenges on the horizon are not straightforward.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

The Scottish capital of Glasgow is set to be announced as the host city of a “scaled down” Commonwealth Games in 2026, a year after Australian state Victoria pulled out due to ballooning costs, according to reports. The 2026 Commonwealth Games were to be held in multiple cities across Victoria but the Australian state made a shock announcement in July 2023 that it has pulled out of the multi-sport event citing a steep rise in projected expenditure. The withdrawal, which led to the Victorian government paying 380 million Australian dollar (around USD 256 million) compensation to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), dealt a major blow on an event that has lost relevance in recent years.

But it is learnt that the Australian authorities have promised “a multi-million pound investment” — reported to be nearly 5 million Australia dollar — to help finalise Glasgow’s offer to rescue the multi-sport event.

“Glasgow, which hosted the games in 2014, is now close to confirming a scaled down event featuring fewer sports,” the BBC reported.

“The Scottish government is on the verge of agreeing a deal for Glasgow to host the Commonwealth Games in 2026.” Glasgow, which hosted the 2014 edition of the CWG on a shoe-string budget — 575.6 million pound (around USD 760 million) — with 70 per cent of the event venues already existing in the city, offered to host the 2026 edition in April.

This time also, the Glasgow organisers will utilise the existing venues and accommodation options with an estimated cost of 130 to 150 million pound (USD 170 million approximately), as per their proposal.

The Scottish and United Kingdom governments had refused to use any public money towards the rescue bid, which was being largely bankrolled by a 100 million pound (around USD 130 million) supplement from the CGF.

The Australian financial help is tipped to be used to help cover extra policing and security costs.

The number of sports in 2026 CWG is set to be reduced and would be between 10-13 — down from 20 at Birmingham 2022 and 17 in 2014 — with preference given to core sports.

UK government Health Secretary Neil Gray said that the 2026 Commonwealth Games would be different from when Glasgow previously hosted the event.

“Reputationally, my worry and the government’s worry has always been that there is going to be a comparison with the incredibly successful 2014 games, which by any stretch of the imagination both in terms of the performances, the spectacle that it was and the legacy, were going to be hard to match,” Gray said in the BBC report.

“But I’m hopeful that if we are able to recognise that if we are to go ahead, this is a different games, this is a smaller event.

“Fewer sports across fewer sites but with good collaboration we could see something coming forward that is still positive for Glasgow and for Scotland.” He said discussions were ongoing to make sure “there is no financial risks to the government.” The UK government last week assured the Scottish counterpart that no public money would be required to stage the Games.

After Victoria government pulled out of the 2026 CWG, a number of other cities in Australia and around the world also turned down hosting the competition before the Glasgow rescue offer became public.

Commending Australia’s multi-million-pound investment offer, CGF President Chris Jenkins said his organisation fully endorsed the innovative, cost-effective sustainable concept Scotland has developed for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

“… unreservedly believes that Scotland and the CGS team, with its significant experience in, and successful global reputation for organising major sports events, is more than able to deliver a world-class event in such a short period of time,” Jenkins said in a CGF statement.

“On the basis that the Games are fully-funded and responsibly budgeted, with further support now pledged from international partners, we look forward to working with the Scottish Government to fully realise the benefits of a new, innovative Games in one of the Commonwealth’s most valued and experienced sporting cities.” He said the past blueprint for multi-sports events will have to change in order to become more sustainable for the future.

“In utilising existing sporting, transport and accommodation infrastructure … forward-thinking, sustainable, and attractive proposition is something we are hugely passionate about as it will allow more countries to host these Games in the future. We believe our new Games model will lead the way for others to follow.

“The model for these Games is different but innovative … Glasgow 2026 would be the first step in the Commonwealth Sport Movement’s journey to reset and reframe the Commonwealth Games as a co-created, flexible, and sustainable model that inspires athletes, and excites Hosts and International Federations.”