Car Nicobar, Aug 3: The Nicobar District Police successfully organized a Women’s Volleyball Knockout Tournament, inaugurated by Shri Rahul L. Nair, Superintendent of Police, Nicobar District, on 30th July 2025. The tournament saw enthusiastic participation from 11 teams across the Nicobar District, showcasing a strong spirit of sportsmanship and community engagement. The final match was held on 1st August 2025 between Mus Village and Chuckchuka Village, in the gracious presence of Shri Amit Kale, IAS, Deputy Commissioner, Nicobar District. This tournament was dedicated to the memory of Sub-Inspector Sanjeev, recipient of the Kirti Chakra, who laid down his life while courageously saving others during the devastating tsunami.

At the conclusion of the event, the family members of SI Sanjeev, Kirti Chakra, were honored for his supreme sacrifice. The winning and runner-up teams were felicitated with Commendation Certificates (Class-II) and cash prizes as a token of appreciation.

This initiative marks a small but meaningful effort by Nicobar District Police to strengthen police-public relations through the spirit of sports and community remembrance.

Further general public is requested to share information pertaining to any crime or other illegal activities to Police at phone numbers 112, 03192-265223 & 9531856152. The identity of the informant will be kept secret.

SINGAPORE – With three national records in two days as well as a final berth on home soil, distance swimmer Gan Ching Hwee shone at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) in Singapore.

The 22-year-old’s performance

, however, was a rare bright spot for the hosts. No one else from the 16-member Singapore swimming team reached the semi-finals at the WCH Arena, with national coach and performance director Gary Tan labelling it a “good wake-up call” for the rest.

Rating the campaign a “soft” seven out of 10, he told The Straits Times on Aug 3: “Could we have seen more semi-finalists? We definitely had more semi-finalists in Doha (2024 WCH) and an Olympic qualifier. This time, we only had one girl in the finals and no semi-finalists.”

Swatting away suggestions that the swimmers were focusing on the year-end SEA Games instead, Tan said: “We were gunning for this. We did whatever we could in our best capacity to prepare them in the best way possible.

“But again, swimming is like this. There will always be days that you’ll fall short, and unfortunately it had to happen in Singapore when we missed out on maybe three or four chances to make evening swims.”

At the 2024 WCH in Doha, the women’s 4x100m medley relay team comprising two pairs of sisters – Quah Ting Wen and Jing Wen as well as Letitia and Levenia Sim –

set a national record in the heats

to clinch a historic qualification for the Paris Olympics.

Letitia (200m medley, 100m and 200m breaststroke), Teong Tzen Wei (50m butterfly) and Jing Wen (200m fly) also reached the semi-finals.

The Republic did not have any semi-finalist at the 2023 meet in Fukuoka while at the 2022 edition in Budapest, Teong finished eighth in the 50m fly final, with Jing Wen reaching the 100m fly semi-finals.

At the 2025 WCH, Gan won her 400m free heat and finished 13th overall in 4min 9.81sec to break Lynette Lim’s record of 4:11.24 set in 2009.

A day later, she smashed two more national records and clinched a spot in the 1,500m free final to become the first female Singapore swimmer to compete in a world championship final since Tao Li finished seventh in the 50m fly in 2007.

Her time of 16:01.29 in the heats was almost nine seconds under the 16:10.13 she swam in the 2024 Olympics heats, while her front 800m split of 8:29.93 was also a national record – her previous best at Paris 2024 was 8:32.37.

Gan finished seventh in 16:03.51 in the final, which was won by American legend Katie Ledecky. In the 800m free heats, she clocked 8:31.36 to finish 13th out of 30 overall.

Tan noted that Gan had prepared for the meet with a clear, year-long plan and others were also preparing, but without the same clarity or intensity which was needed post-Olympics, as performance standards have shifted. Reaching the final now required not just hard work, but a willingness to push beyond limits.

“Hopefully her swim will inspire the others to say ‘we can do that as well’, but I think they needed a good wake-up (call),” he added.

“This is a good wake-up call for us going into SEA Games and Asian Games because, to be frank, if the others apart from Ching are happy with that performance… we would have lost the plot.

“But I know for a fact that all of them have gone back and really thought about it and reflected about how well they need to be… they are actually having a bit more clarity as to what they need to do.”

Besides Gan, Quah Zheng Wen has also shown some form, coming close to all three of his national backstroke records.

On Aug 2, the 28-year-old clocked his best (25.38sec) in the men’s 50m since setting the national record of 25.13 in 2015. 

In the 100m, he registered 54.39sec, 0.6 of a second off his national record of 53.79sec. In the 200m back, his 2:00.58 effort was also within a second of the 1:59.49 national record he set in 2017.

There were some who struggled with injuries or self-doubt.

Tan noted that Teong – who recorded 23.38sec in the 50m fly heats, just off his 23.03 personal best – was still dealing with an elbow issue.

Letitia, who clocked 2:27.91 in her 200m breaststroke heat – more than three seconds behind her 2:24.15 national record – mentioned that she was struggling with self-doubt.

Calling on swimmers and coaches to heed the lessons from the 2025 WCH, Tan said the fraternity needs to “work harder, work smarter, work more efficiently and intentfully” ahead of the next big assignments – the Dec 9-20 SEA Games in Thailand and the 2026 Asian Games in Japan.

“I think we are going to go back as a coaching group, to really reassess how to get them better,” said Tan.

“We still didn’t perform up to the mark that I wanted them to, and at the end of the day, our saving grace was Ching.”

The 2025 WCH saw Singapore field a 72-strong contingent,

their largest at the world meet

.

Besides the 16 swimmers, there were also 10 divers, nine artistic swimmers, eight open water swimmers, and the men and women’s water polo squads.

Singapore Aquatics president Kenneth Goh said he was proud of how the Singapore contingent performed on home soil and noted that there were milestones across disciplines.

He highlighted Gan’s campaign, how the open water swimmers finished as South-east Asia’s top performers, 14-year-old Ainslee Kwang becoming the first Singaporean diver

to qualify for the WCH semi-finals

, the artistic swimming duet team finishing 14th with a new personal best, and the men’s water polo team beating South Africa to secure their maiden victory on the world stage.

Goh added that while these breakthrough moments were savoured, “we would have liked to have more personal bests and new national records to celebrate”.

He added: “These championships reinforced that sustained success comes from building depth and resilience over the long term.

“We will continue to strengthen access to world-class coaching, sport science and technical expertise across all disciplines.

“The right competition exposure is critical, and our athletes need regular opportunities to compete and spar against top-tier opponents so that competing at that level becomes normalised.”

Northwestern volleyball faces a crossroads this season, and head coach Tim Nollan seems poised to get the program back on track. But how lofty should expectations be?

As Inside NU’s Brendan Preisman highlighted last week, Nollan is in full command approaching his second season as NU’s head coach. He has worked throughout the offseason to construct and maintain a successful program, drawing upon his eight years of experience at Grand Canyon University.

While Nollan was hired last season, his place among the Wildcats never felt truly cemented. His offseason was frantic, as he was forced to assemble his coaching staff quickly, grapple with roster turnover and scrape together a team, all without much time for preparation or recruitment.

Nollan lacked the space to firmly stamp his mark and infuse his philosophy within the program. Teams built hastily will get bitten in the Big Ten, which Nollan has touted as “the best league in the country.” Thus, his squad finished with a forgettable 5-23 record and only three conference wins. Improvement was clearly needed and accomplishing that required some time.

Fortunately, Nollan got it this summer. With a full offseason to work with, he has made the most out of these past few months. He found eight new Wildcats, including five transfers, with Ayah Elnady headlining the class as a brand-new offensive machine. Aside from the portal, Nollan fields three freshmen this season, an increase from just two in his first year at the helm. The large number of newcomers stems from Nollan’s recruitment expertise and his success in maintaining NU’s reputation as a desirable destination. His mark has been made.

Much of the roster will look different as Nollan continues to adjust lineups and roles fluctuate. Sienna Noordermeer will take over for Alexa Rousseau as the team’s lead passer, while senior Lauren Carter likely carves out a bigger role as a facilitator. The ‘Cats will also hope for more offensive firepower from senior Buse Hazan, who led the team in kills last season.

Considering everything, what should we expect from Nollan’s team this season? For starters, there’s one word that should echo the locker room halls: improvement.

The ‘Cats are far better set up for success this season. They’ll have an influx of new talent and versatility across the roster — one Nollan and his staff have put ample time and effort into building. The young stars show promise, and as Elnady said during the program’s Big Ten Volleyball Media Day, the team plans to embrace its role as an underdog, recognizing the pressure is on its opponents and exploiting that to gain an advantage.

Big Ten volleyball is ruthlessly competitive, and teams with similarly disappointing records last season are likely hitting the drawing boards and planning to come back stronger next year. But this group of Wildcats is younger, hungrier and has Captain Nollan steering the ship and building a winning culture. Improvement shouldn’t just be the goal — it should be the baseline.

But how much progress can be considered realistic?

After finishing with a 3-17 Big Ten record last year, the Big Ten Volleyball Preseason Poll had NU jumping two spots this season, up from 17th place to 15th place. Based on the 2024 standings, the ‘Cats would need to win two more conference games to make that jump. That should be a reasonable expectation.

While any climb in the standings signifies improvement, Nollan and the players made clear during media day that they are aiming for higher. Cracking the top 10 would be an ambitious goal. Last season, an 8-12 conference record got a team 10th place in the Big Ten, meaning NU would have to win five more games this year if things play out similarly. That improvement would certainly be a jump, but it’s needed to affirm NU’s status as a competitive member of the conference

The talent, versatility, discipline and mentality are there. Nollan’s squad must now prove Northwestern isn’t a team that belongs at the bottom.

Beach volleyball, men’s volleyball, men’s tennis, and swim and dive teams lead the way as 145 Waves from 12 sports land on the WCC Commissioner’s Honor Roll

Pepperdine Waves student-athletes and sports teams garnered academic accolades in July.

The Waves beach volleyball and the men’s volleyball squads received American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Awards and the men’s tennis team and seven team members earned Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-Academic Awards. The swim and dive team earned College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) All-America Team honors. Additionally, 145 student-athletes from 12 programs were named to the West Coast Conference (WCC) Commissioner’s Honor Roll.

The Waves swim and dive squad earned CSCAA Scholar All-American Team honors for the 20th straight semester. The 35-member team had a combined 3.57 grade-point average in the spring semester. Twenty-three of them had 3.5 GPAs or higher.

These academic honors follow the Waves’ Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship win five months ago.

Pepperdine head coach Ellie Monobe is thrilled and proud of the Waves’ commitment to academics.

“Not only have they shown dominance in the pool, but continue to pursue excellence in the classroom,” she said.

To earn honors, CSCAA teams needed at least a 3.00 GPA.

The AVCA Team Academic Award celebrates teams that maintained a year-long 3.3 GPA or higher.

Pepperdine’s beach volleyball and men’s volleyball teams are among the 1,450 collegiate and high school programs nationwide to receive this year’s award, which sets a record for the most teams honored in the award’s history. The beach volleyball team has received the award for nine straight years, while the men’s volleyball team has earned the honor for two consecutive years.