Seed

• The DAIHATSU Japan Open 2026, a BWF Super 750 event, has commenced at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium featuring elite global badminton players. • The tournament offers a total prize purse of USD 950,000 and provides critical BWF World Ranking points for the competitors. • Indian star PV Sindhu has made a successful start to the competition, though the Indian campaign faces a setback due to an injury to the duo Satwik-Chirag.

• Indian shuttler Dhyan Santosh secured a major victory by upsetting sixth seed Punnatat Prempunpong at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships. • The match took place as part of the competitive circuit reported in ESPN's Indian sports updates on July 1, 2026. • This win highlights the rising competitiveness of young Indian athletes heading into a critical sporting year.

• A new study suggests Earth may have been sending microbes to Venus for billions of years through asteroid impacts. • Researchers found that these microbes could survive the journey to Venus and end up in its clouds. • If life is detected on Venus in future missions, it may have originated from Earth rather than Venus itself.

Teams painstakingly combed endangered Atlantic habitat over several years, helping to grow 8m native treesA small band of volunteers has helped to grow nearly 8m native trees in Scotland, crucial to efforts to restore lost parts of the Atlantic rainforest, after collecting 11m seeds by hand.About 100 volunteers, including retired teachers and doctors, office workers and young families, have spent tens of thousands of hours venturing into often remote woods in the western Highlands and islands to search out seed-bearing trees. Continue reading...

• India's Rounak Chouhan achieved a major upset by defeating world No. 6 and top seed Chou Tien Chen in the second round of the US Open 2026. • Other Indian singles players also secured victories, with Kidambi Srikanth beating Olympic medallist Lee Zii Jia and Devika Sihag defeating Thailand’s Tonrug Saeheng 21-17, 21-19. • These results mark a "perfect day" for Indian singles competitors at the BWF Super 300 tournament, signaling strong form for the national squad.

Researchers also discover that the ancient vines of Chianti, famed for its red wines, produced white fruitDNA extracted from 2,000-year-old grape seeds found in ancient wells in Tuscany has enabled scientists to map the most extensive genetic history of grapevines recovered from a single site, revealing that vineyards of the Roman era formed part of the empire’s sophisticated agricultural network that might have influenced the development of modern winemaking.The research led by scientists at the University of York also found that white grapes once dominated the site in Chianti, an area of Tuscany famous for its red Sangiovese wines. Continue reading...

• The 2026 FIFA World Cup will expand to a 48-team field, marking the largest tournament in the event's history. • The competition will be joint-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, making it only the second World Cup held across multiple nations. • This expansion necessitates a revised tournament format, including new seeding and group stage structures to accommodate the additional teams.