The Dubai-based Indian golfer, the 24-year-old Rayhan Thomas, waited for nearly three months before continuing at Karsten Creek while awaiting the start of his final season at Oklahoma State University (OSU).

Thomas has battled persistent pain. However, Thomas showed up, achieving a remarkable feat of breaking 100. In the golf circuit, breaking 100 is considered one of the toughest layouts. Within just three weeks, he surpassed expectations by breaking 80, showcasing his determination and skill.

Read also: Cricket facts: 5 Indian Famous Cricketers who played other sports

Recovery from injury

During this period, Thomas played under unique conditions with his teammates. His teammates would give him strokes, which he managed to win quite a few lunches beating them. His practiced some one-handed shots, which helped him to develop a solid drill.

He had his surgery in last year's October. This had sidelined him from his game until January, when he bounced back. He switched on his professional mode in May, in his first Asian Tour event at the International Series Morocco. There, he finished eighth.

Thomas Shines at International Series Thailand

Recently, he has also participated at the International Series Thailand. He shot a bogey-free seven-under-par 63 in the second round at Thai Country Club, climbing to tied 14th place at eight-under-par total. The round was his lowest since turning professional just five months ago.

However, Thomas has no plan of settling with this. He eyes major tournaments like the Korn Ferry Tour and the DP World Tour. In fact, in both tournaments, he has already advanced to the second stage of qualification. 

Read Also: Golf: A Sport for All Types of Stature

Rayhan Thomas plans for 2025

Later, he won the Coimbatore Open on his domestic debut on the PGTI circuit, adding more feathers to his young career.

Thomas hasn't had a full-time tour. However, he is optimistic, especially with the Asian Tour Q School in the last half of this year. He is also preparing for a steady 2025.

Among his career highlights is a stunning round alongside 2011 Open champion Darren Clarke at the 2017 Dubai Creek Open, where Thomas matched a world record by making nine consecutive birdies. 

The International Cricket Council (ICC) conducts different cricket events and tournaments throughout the year. ICC tournaments are the biggest platforms in the game of cricket, where the top teams contest against each other for championship podiums.

Contributing to the team on a big stage like this will always be remembered for a long time. The ODI World Cup is conducted once every four years, whereas the Men's T20 World Cup is played every two years. The ICC Champions Trophy is where only the top 8 teams compete in each finals tournament.

Last but not least, the World Test Championship is played over two years. This article thoroughly talks about the men's cricketing teams that have won ICC trophies at some point in time. Let's take a look at the teams with the most ICC Trophies.

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Australia | 10

Australia's sheer dominance over other cricketing teams is nothing new. For decades, Australia has been executing out-of-ordinary performances and winning trophies for the country. Out of all the cricketing countries, Australia has the most ICC trophies.

Till now the Aussies won 10 ICC trophies. Australia is the only team to win 6 ICC World Cups. The most successful team in the Cricket World Cup clinched the trophy in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015, and 2023. Interestingly Australia made a record of being the only team to win the trophy in all the countries that hosted the World Cup.

Australia won the ICC Champions Trophy twice in 2006 and 2009 against West Indies and New Zealand respectively. Lastly, Australia lifted their first-ever ICC T20 World Cup trophy after defeating New Zealand in the 2021 T20 World Cup. They claimed the ICC World Test Championship after defeating India at the Oval by a huge margin of 209 runs.

Read also: Top 8 Wicket-takers of T20 World Cup 2021

India | 7

India sits in the second position on this prestigious list of most ICC Trophies by any team. India won their first-ever ICC World Cup in 1983 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev. Later again 28 years, the men in blue won the World Cup for the second time under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2011.

The Indian men's cricket team also reached the semifinals four times in 1987, 1996, 2015, and 2019. Meantime, they lost in two finals in 2003 and 2023.

The men in blue won the Champions Trophy thrice. First, in 2002, both the finalists India and Sri Lanka were declared the co-champions of the 2002 Champions Trophy. In the 2013 edition, India defeated England by 5 runs and won the Champions Trophy for the second time in Birmingham. Their latest triumph came via Champions Trophy 2025, as they defeated New Zealand by four wickets in Dubai in the final.

Lastly, India won the inaugural edition of the ICC T20 World Cup in 2007 after defeating Pakistan in Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. In the 2024 T20 World Cup, India defeated  South Africa by 7 runs to lift the trophy for the second time.

Read also: India's performance in every ICC tournament

West Indies | 5

Read also: T20 World Cup 2021: Man of the Series, highest wicket-taker, and highest run-getter

Next on this list is West Indies with a total of 5 ICC trophies. The first-ever ICC World Cup final was won by West Indies in 1975. West Indies once again continued their reign in the next edition of the World Cup as well, in 1979. The Caribbean team also won the Champions Trophy in 2004. Lastly, West Indies became the winner of the ICC T20 World Cup twice; once against Sri Lanka in 2012 and the other time against England in 2016.

England | 3

Till 2010, the England team has not had any ICC Tournament. But, it was in 2010, when they won their first ICC T20 World Cup against arch-rival Australia. Craig Kieswetter guided them home in the final for their first-ever ICC Trophy. Post that, they have been a phenomenal white-ball team and won two ICC World Cups since then.

In 2019, they won their first ICC Men's ODI World Cup as Ben Stokes made all the difference in the final against England in a match where boundary count helped England to win the World Cup.

England's latest ICC Trophy triumph came under Jos Buttler as they became the first-ever team in Cricket history to hold the ODI and T20 World Cup at the same time. Jos Buttler and company won the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 as Sam Curran won the player of the tournament after taking 13 wickets with the ball. Curran also was the player of the match in the final as well.

Pakistan | 3

Pakistan sits in the fourth position on the list of most ICC Trophy wins by any team with 3 ICC trophies. The first-ever ICC trophy won by Pakistan was during the 1992 cricket World Cup. Pakistan defeated England in the final and won by 22 runs.

The next ICC trophy won by Pakistan was in the 2009 T20 World Cup where they beat Sri Lanka in the final and won the title by 8 wickets. The most recent and last ICC win of Pakistan is the 2017 Champions Trophy where they defeated India by 180 runs.

Read also: "No one is more disappointed than me": Hasan Ali after T20 World Cup 2021 exit

Sri Lanka | 3

Read also: ICC Hall of fame: Shaun Pollock, Mahela Jayawardene and Janette Britti get inducted

With 3 ICC trophies, Sri Lanka sits in 5th position on this list. Sri Lanka won their first-ever ICC World Cup in 1996 where they played against Australia in the final hosted in Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. They went ahead to win their next ICC trophy in the 2002 Champions Trophy. The winner of the tournament is actually both India and Sri Lanka as both the finalist teams were declared as co-champions.

The last time Sri Lanka won an ICC Trophy was when they defeated India in the 2014 T20 World Cup hosted in Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium Dhaka.

New Zealand | 2

The New Zealand cricket team has won a total of 2 ICC trophies since they started competing in tournaments conducted by ICC. The Kiwis won their first-ever ICC Trophy in the 2000 Champions Trophy. Nairobi hosted the final of New Zealand vs India where New Zealand won the match by 4 wickets.

The next ICC Trophy won by the Kiwis was the ICC World Test Championship. Once again, New Zealand played against India in the final of an ICC event and clinched the trophy in the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship final.

Read also: Winners list of last 10 ICC Tournaments

South Africa | 1

With a team of talented and world-renowned cricketers, South Africa won only one ICC trophy throughout its entire history. In the 1998 ICC Champions Trophy hosted in Bangladesh, South Africa beat West Indies in the final and won the title. Jacques Kallis was exceptional and contributed the most to the team reaching and winning the final and was awarded the player of the tournament. He hit a century and picked up a five-wicket haul as well.

Note: The stats include shared trophies. The article was first written by Shreya Ghosh and then got edited by Abishek Goswami.

When the exclusion of badminton from the 2026 Commonwealth Games feels like unhealed pain for Indian badminton fans, the shuttles shine at the Japan Para Badminton International 2024 in Tokyo. India concluded their campaign with 24 medals, including six gold, nine silver, and nine bronze.

Sivarajan Solaimalai defeated Chun Yim Wong of Hong Kong in straight games (21-16, 21-16), thus winning the gold medal in the men's single SH6 category.

Manisha Ramadass clinched the gold medal by defeating Japan's Mamiko Toyoda by 21-12, 21-18 in the SU5 women's singles category.

Sukant Kadam, however, defeated his contemporary Indian Tarun Dhillon by 21-12, 21-10 to win the gold in the SL4 Men's Singles Category.

Naveen Sivakumar and Surya Kant won the bronze medals.

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Upset For Paralympic Champion Nitesh Kumar at the Japan Para Badminton International 2024

Japan's Fujihara Daisuke defeated Nitesh Kumar in a thrilling three-game contest in the final, with Kumar winning just one in the middle. The scoreboard says 16-21, 21-18, 19-21. Nitesh had to settle for silver

Hardik Makkar too received a silver medal after being defeated by Japan's Taio by 5-21, 19-21 in the SU5 Men's single final. Ruthik Raghupati won a bronze medal in this category.

The other silver came after Coraline Bergeron of France defeated Neeraj in the women's singles SL3 category final.

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Gold haul counts three

Hardik who failed in the SU5 Men's single, partnered with Ruthik and won gold by defeating the Indo-Polish duo Dev Rathi and Bartlomiej Mroz. 

Umesh Vikram Kumar and Surya Kant Yadav won the gold medal in the SL3-SL4 men's double category by defeating their fellow Indians Sukant Kadam and Dinesh Rajaiah 21-5, 20-22, 21-16.

In the D SH6 category, Sudarsan Saravanakumar Mutusamy and Sivarajan Solaimalai won the gold medal.

Arjun Erigaisi, who recently crossed the 2800 mark (achieving 2802.1) in the live chess rating, has been congratulated by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.

On Thursday, October 24, Erigasi created history by being the youngest ever Indian to break the presitigious 2800 Elo rating threshold. Not only that, he is the second India after the great Viswanathan Anand to achieve this feat.

PM Modi congratulates Arjun Erigaisi on Twitter

PM Modi took his X (formerly Twitter) handle, acknowledging Arjun Erigaisi's phenomenal achievement and congratulating him. 

He mentioned that the 21 years old will keep on encouraging and inspiring generation throughout the country.

"Congratulations to Arjun Erigaisi for crossing the 2800 mark in live chess ratings! This is a phenomenal feat. His exceptional talent and perseverance make our entire nation proud. In addition to being a great personal milestone, it will also inspire many more youngsters to play chess and shine on the global stage. Wishing him the very best for his future endeavours," wrote Modi

Congratulations to Arjun Erigaisi for crossing the 2800 mark in live chess ratings! This is a phenomenal feat. His exceptional talent and perseverance make our entire nation proud. In addition to being a great personal milestone, it will also inspire many more youngsters to play…

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 27, 2024

Arjun Erigaisi, third youngest in the world to achieve 2800

Arjun was competing for Team Alkaloid in the 2024 European Chess Club Cup. There he defeated Russia's Dmitry Andreikin in the fifth round, playing with the White pieces.

The win not only gave the World Number 3 rank on the live ranking ranking list, but also made him the 16th player surpassing 2800.

Alireza Firouza, from France, reached 2800 when he was 18 years and five months old. Till now, he is the youngest player to achieve that, having the present-day sensation Magnus Carlsen in the second. Arjun stands third in the list.

Here’s a list of all 16 chess players who have crossed the coveted 2800 Elo rating mark and their all-time highest rating:

1 | Magnus Carlsen (NOR) - 2882

2 | Garry Kasparov (RUS): 2851

3 | Fabiano Caruana (USA): 2844

4 | Levon Aronian (ARM): 2830

5 | Wesley So (USA) - 2822

6 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE): 2820

7 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA): 2819

8 | Viswanathan Anand (IND): 2817

9 | Vladimir Kramnik (RUS): 2817

10 | Veselin Topalov (BUL): 2816

11 | Hikaru Nakamura (USA) - 2816

12 | Ding Liren (CHN): 2816

13 | Alexander Grischuk (RUS) - 2810

14 | Alireza Firouzja (FRA) - 2804

15 | Arjun Erigaisi (IND) - 2802.1

Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri also crossed the 2800 mark in the live rating list in 2015 but his slipped outside before the end of the month and does not feature in the official rating list.

Most of the time, athletes tend to play multiple sports even though they excel at international level in a certain sport. When fans fight among themselves regarding cricket and other sports, there are names in the sports circle, who have excelled in other sports too. Here is an interesting cricket facts while naming the top 5 cricketers who played different sports at national and international levels.

Kapil Dev | Golf

Kapil Dev led the underdog Indian Men's cricket team to win its first World Cup title in 1983, defeating the two-time champion, the mighty West Indies.

He not only took the catch of Vivian Richards on the final day but also scored a record 175* runs against Zimbabwe, keeping hopes for the semi-finals.

He played 131 Tests and 225 ODIs since his debut in late 1978. He has got 5,248 runs and 434 wickets in tests. The Padma Sri awardee(1982)  has  3,783 runs and 253 wickets in ODIs. In 2002, he was nominated as the Indian Cricketer of the Century.

After retiring from cricket, Kapil Dev took up golf and quickly made a name for himself in the sport. In 2000, Kapil Dev won the Pro-Am event at the European Tour's Indian Open.  In 2001 and 2002, he won the Singapore Open Pro-Am title and the Malaysian Open Pro-Am title respectively. He then won the Thailand Open Pro-Am title in 2004.

He reached a handicap of 0, making him one of India's top amateur golfers. He had participated in several European Tour events, as well as those in Asian Tour events. He was a regular golfer in the Indian Golf Tour events.

Ajit Agarkar | Golf

Like Kapil Dev, Ajit Agarkar too delved into golf post-retirement. Ajit Agarkar seriously took his love for Golf. He won the India Finals of the BMR World Corporate Golf Challenge held at Prestige Golfshire, Bengaluru. 

Agarkar participated in various Indian Golf Union (IGU) tournaments and represented India in international amateur events.

He turned into a professional in 2015 while competing in Indian and Asian tours. He played in the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and Asian Tour events.

Agarkar won the 2016 BILT Open golf tournament (PGTI). In the following year (2017), finished runner-up in the Pune Open (PGTI). He also represented India in the 2016 Asian Golf Championship.

Debuted in 1998, he has 1269 runs in ODI cricket, and 15 and 571 runs in T20I and Test cricket respectively. The fast bowler is the third-highest wicket-taker for India in the ODIs (288 wickets). He has taken 58 wickets in 26 Test matches he played.

Yuzvendra Chahal | Chess

The Indian spin bowler was once a chess prodigy. He learned Chess at the age of 7. He featured in the World Youth Chess Championship, representing India.

He even participated in age-group chess competitions like Under-12 and Under-16 national chess championships and was a national champion there.

Chahal held an Elo rating of 1946, indicating a skilled player. However, Chahal discontinued his run with chess due to the lack of sponsorships.

At 18 Chahal shifted focus to cricket, eventually becoming a successful leg-spinner for India. The leggie has played 75  ODI matches and has taken 111 wickets at 27.48 on average since 2016. 

He played 69 matches and bagged 91 wickets at an average of 20.41

IN 2011, he debuted in the Indian Premier League for Mumbai Indians where he played till 2013. Later he shifted to Royal Challengers Bangalore and then to Rajasthan Royals where is presently playing. He played 164 matches, taking 187 wickets.

Cota Ramaswami | Tennis

Cota Ramaswami was a remarkable Indian sportsman who represented India in both cricket and tennis. A Chennai-based cricketer played two test matches for British India. He played against England itself scoring 170 runs at an impressive average of 56.67.

However, he was part of India's Davis Cup team in 1922, partnering with Dr. A. H. Fyzee and A. A. Fayzee. He even took part in the Sussex Championships and had a notable win against the Spanish pair of Comte de Gomar and Flaquer.

MJ Gopalan | Hockey

Hailing from Madras Gopalan participated in both cricket and hockey in full form. He played in those days when both sports valued art. 

He played just one international test, but 78 First-Class matches, scoring 2,916 runs at 24.92 including a hundred. He also took 194 wickets at 24.20 with 9 five-fors and 3 ten-fors. Also, he took 49 catches in his 26 years of cricketing life.

The medium-fast bowler played at the center-back position in hockey. in 1936, he got calls for both the 1936 Olympics hockey squad as well as India tour in England.

Gopalan, here made a blunder. When he had the chance to be an Olympic Gold medallist, he chose cricket. India won its first gold medal at the Olympics, in Berlin. India won all 5 matches, scored 38 goals, and conceded just one.

However, Gopalan was benched and never got a chance to don the Indian test jersey.

Indian motorsports fraternity has got a major leap, Thursday evening. India got its first-ever CIK-certified Karting circuit at Chennai. Double Formula 1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen has inaugurated the Karting Circuit, at the Madras International Karting Arena (MIKA), near Chennai.

"Flying Finn" Hakkinen has heaved praises after closely speculating the facilities and the world-class design. One can say, the facilities have convinced him, that this place is going to be big for training future motorsport stars.

Along with Hakkinen, the event had two former Formula 1 drivers from India- Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok. The trio, along with 32 other motorsport drivers took some laps on the newly laid tracks. This, thus signalled the new and much-awaited new era in the Indian motorsports fraternity.

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World Class Facility to Persuade Young Talents

MIKA has nicely represented the years of planning and execution of the Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC). This state of art facility is the first Karting Circuit, certified by FIA-CIK (Commission Internationale de Karting).

The infrastructure is made to meet all the global standards. The circuit track is extended over a span of 1.2 kilometres. Driven International, a U.K.-based company will take care of it, having Karun Chandhok as its consultant.

The facilities include floodlights for night racing, a modern control room and an electric go-kart changing areas. 

Evaluating Motorsports to International Standard

MIKA has started walking faster on the roads of inspiration the budding racers. Ajit Thomas, the MMSC President has already outlined his future plans.

Thomas has plans of attracting International motorsport competition. The CIK certification will ease MIKA's path.

Moreover, the Madras International Circuit (MIC) has a drag strip and rallycross stages. This will make the venue more comprehensive as a motorsport venue. In future, there are high chances of them conducting a World Rotax Final!

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MIKA guides a better Motorsport Future

MIKA's inauguration will play a pivotal role in Indian motorsports' future. The infrastructure it got along with the International backing, will nurture the young generation for a better future. 

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Vicky Chandhok, the Vice President of MMSC hopes to minimize juniors' to compete abroad. He hopes, MIKA to come handy for them in that case.