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Introduction of golf in the Olympic Games back in 2016 after more than a 100-year gap has helped it shed the so-called elitist tag, Roger Bathurst, Chairman (Rules) of The R&A, said during the curtain raiser press conference for the Level 3 Tournament Administrators & Referees Seminar (TARS) here at the Jaypee Greens Golf & Spa Resort on SaturdayIt is an enormous privilege to be here to organize the Level 3 TARS in India. It is a terrific part of our mission to promote the game of golf to the world. I love the fact that the Olympics is making golf less elitist and more a game for people, the game is growing. We’re very pleased to see the game continue to grow throughout the world. And that’s really the point of us being here and helping with the refereeing work in India, last week we were in Vietnam, talking about people from a number of countries around Southeast Asia. And in any way that the R&A can promote the game and by the use of rules education, we can do that, we find that very beneficial indeed towards the entire growth of the game,” Roger Bathurst said during his address.

Rory McIlroy says winning the Masters to complete a long-sought career Grand Slam will change how he feels going into other majors, starting at next week’s PGA Championship. World number two McIlroy defeated England’s Justin Rose last month at Augusta National to capture his fifth major title, and first since 2014, to finally take the green jacket and complete the career Slam. The 36-year-old from Northern Ireland joined Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan with wins in all four major tournaments.
So when McIlroy tees off next week at Quail Hollow, a course where he has won four PGA Tour titles, it will be as a reigning major champion for the first time in 10 years.

“I’m obviously going to feel more comfortable and a lot less pressure, and I’m also going back to a venue that I love,” McIlroy said. “It’s nothing but positive vibes going in there next week with what happened a few weeks ago and then how well I’ve played at Quail.

Charlie Woods, the 16-year-old son of 15-time major winner Tiger Woods, won his first American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) title on Wednesday, taking a three-stroke victory in Florida. The younger Woods fired a six-under par 66 final round to capture the Team TaylorMade Invitational at Streamsong Resort Black course, finishing on 15-under 201. It was the first victory in five AJGA starts for Charlie Woods, who fired eight birdies and two bogeys in the final round but closed with four consecutive pars to seal the triumph in the top US junior series.A field of 71 included four of the nation’s five top-ranked juniors and 60 of the top 100. Woods was 606th in AJGA rankings but is expected to leap into the top 15 after the win.

Charlie Woods would be able to have talks with college coaches next month even though he wouldn’t be joining university teams before 2027 if then.

Woods was playing on a sponsor invitation in the event but will be exempt for AJGA invitationals the rest of this season.

Woods, who has won other age-group events, failed in an attempt to qualify for the US Open earlier this month.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Emma Raducanu suffered a setback ahead of Wimbledon as the former US Open champion crashed to a shock defeat against Australian teenager Maya Joint in the second round at Eastbourne on Wednesday. After a difficult year marred by poor form and back problems, Raducanu had hoped for a morale-boosting run at Eastbourne before Wimbledon starts on Monday. But the British star slumped to a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) loss that leaves her short of match practice leading into the grass-court Grand Slam.Raducanu missed last week’s Berlin Open due to the back problem she has been nursing since before the French Open.

On Tuesday, the 22-year-old held back tears after recovering from a set down to defeat American Ann Li in the Eastbourne first round, then admitted she had been dealing with “some really bad news”.

World number 38 Raducanu, who won the US Open in 2021, is building towards her fourth Wimbledon appearance, where she has twice reached the fourth round.

But Joint had knocked out two-time Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur in the first round on Monday and the 19-year-old made Raducanu her second high-profile victim of the week.

Can anyone stop two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz or world number one Jannik Sinner lifting the Wimbledon men’s title? The two standout players in the world have gobbled up the past six Grand Slams between them, earlier this month playing out a French Open final for the ages. Novak Djokovic is the last of the “Big Three” still standing, refusing to give up on his dream of a record 25th Grand Slam singles title, while Jack Draper shoulders British hopes.

We look at three talking points ahead of the tournament, which starts at the All England Club on Monday.

Alcaraz-Sinner show

Alcaraz is aiming to become just the fifth man to win at least three straight Wimbledon titles in the Open Era after Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Djokovic.

Alcaraz, who has beaten Djokovic in the past two finals, arrives at the All England Club fresh from winning Queen’s for a second time, taking his grass-court trophy tally to four.

An Indian student, Shreya Bedi, in the US was scammed by imposters posing as ICE agents, who coerced her into buying $5,000 in gift cards. Facing financial difficulties, she warns others about such scams and emphasises the importance of skepticism.

An Indian student in the United States was duped by scammers pretending to be Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, reported Newsweek.

Shreya Bedi, a Master’s student at Indiana University Bloomington came to the United States in 2022 on an F-1 visa.

She received the call on May 29th when the imposters said that she had violated immigration laws and forced her to purchase $5000 worth of gift cards as ‘bond’ payments in order to avoid arrest and deportation.

“He gave me his name and badge number and told me to verify his office details by going to ice.gov and looking up the office in Maryland. I could confirm it was the same phone number he was calling from,” Bedi said.

Subsequently, she received a second phone call from someone else posing as an officer from Olympia Police Department, and she was told not to disconnect the call as her phone was being monitored. They said that there was an arrest warrant for her.

“I felt completely trapped because they kept me on the phone for three hours straight, repeatedly warning me that hanging up or contacting anyone would violate my case and make things worse. I was too scared to risk it,” said Bedi.

Amid the ongoing Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, the Defence Ministry is going to take up Rs 10,000 crore proposal to buy three sophisticated spy planes to help Indian Air Force get a clear air-to-ground picture to carry out precision strikes against enemy ground targets like radar stations, air defence units and other mobile objects.

The Rs 10,000 crore project for the Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (I-STAR) is expected to be taken up for clearance at a high-level defence ministry meeting scheduled to be held in the fourth week of June, defence officials told ANI.

The ISTAR provides air-to-ground surveillance to the forces to help them in carrying out precision strikes.

The spy aircraft project being developed by the Defence Research and Development includes the acquisition of three aircraft through an open tender from foreign manufacturers, including Boeing and Bombardier.

The onboard systems on the aircraft would be completely indigenous, as the DRDO’s Centre for Airborne Systems has already successfully developed them, they said.

The systems have already been proven and developed by the CABS and they will just have to be integrated with the three aircraft which would be acquired and modified for the purpose, they said.

The development of an ISTAR system would also add India to a select club of nations with such a capability, including the US, UK, Israel and a few others.

ISTAR thus provides dynamic and time-sensitive targeting capability and contributes significantly to meeting the nation’s security goals.

It will aid in limiting the scale and complexity of undetected hostile threats. It has multi-spectral surveillance capability to detect, locate and monitor irregular forces.

The I-STAR system shall be for carrying out intelligence gathering, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting by day and night from stand-off ranges.

The ISTAR systems are operated at high altitudes from large stand-off ranges and will be used for intelligence processing, exploitation, dissemination and generation of the common operating picture.

The ISTAR aircraft will be a system comprising airborne and ground segments.

The India Meteorological Department has issued red alerts for Idukki, Kannur, and Kasaragod districts and orange alerts for the remaining districts.

Heavy rain lashed many districts of Kerala on Friday, disrupting normal life and causing waterlogging.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued red alerts for Idukki, Kannur, and Kasaragod districts and orange alerts for the remaining districts today.

Authorities in several districts have declared holidays for educational institutions under their jurisdiction.

As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), strong westerly winds are likely to persist at lower tropospheric levels over Kerala and the Lakshadweep region for the next two to three days, resulting in widespread rainfall.

The IMD stated, “Strong westerlies likely to continue at lower tropospheric levels over Kerala and the Lakshadweep region during the next 2-3 days. Under the influence of these, widespread rainfall activity with scattered Heavy rainfall to Very Heavy rainfall with isolated Extremely Heavy rainfall is very likely to occur over Kerala on 29th & 30th May 2025. Heavy rainfall is very likely to occur at isolated places over Kerala on 31st May, 1st and 2nd June 2025.”

District administrations across Kerala have declared a holiday for all educational institutions in several districts on May 30 (Friday).

The precautionary measure applies to professional colleges, anganwadis, tuition centers, madrassas, and special coaching classes.

The action was taken against the advisory committee of the Kottukkal Manjippuzha temple in Kollam, which is managed by the TDB.

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the top temple body in Kerala’s Travancore region, dissolved the advisory committee of a temple following the rendition of the RSS ‘gana geetham’ (prayer song) during a recent musical concert held there.

The action was taken against the advisory committee of the Kottukkal Manjippuzha temple in Kollam, which is managed by the TDB.

A TDB statement issued on Tuesday said the decision followed an inquiry into the rendition of the ‘gana geetham’ and the erection of flags belonging to political and communal outfits on the temple premises.

The Board found that the advisory committee had committed serious lapses in connection with both incidents.

It added that an existing order strictly prohibits the erection of flagpoles of political and communal organisations in temples and on temple premises under the TDB’s control.

Authorities said that some containers have been found along the coasts of southern Kollam and coastal Alappuzha districts.

Containers from a Liberian cargo ship that sank off the Kerala coast have started washing ashore, while the oil spill spreading from the vessel has prompted authorities to issue a high alert along the state’s coastline, officials said on Monday.

Authorities said that some containers have been found along the coasts of southern Kollam and coastal Alappuzha districts.

In the wake of the sinking of the ship off the Kerala coast, a high-level meeting was convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to assess the situation.

An advisory has been issued urging coastal residents and fishermen to remain vigilant.

So far, nine containers have washed ashore, and an advisory has been reiterated for coastal residents and fishermen to remain alert, according to a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

The cargo ship capsized and sank early on Sunday, leading to a significant oil spill. According to the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), the sunken vessel had 84.44 metric tonnes of diesel and 367.1 metric tonnes of furnace oil in its tanks.