With less than a week to go for the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships, the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi is receiving its final touches after an extensive renovation aimed at ensuring that the problems witnessed during the India Open do not return when the tournament begins on August 17.

One of the four competition courts is ready, while work on the remaining courts and other parts of the stadium is in the final stages. The venue’s seating capacity has been increased to 7,500, with 2,500 seats added for the marquee event.

During a media tour of the venue on Monday workers could be seen carrying out finishing work across the complex, including cleaning and polishing seats and preparing the playing and spectator areas.

The championships, scheduled from August 17 to 23, will bring the world’s leading shuttlers to the Capital. The event assumes added importance as India hosts the World Championships after a gap of 17 years.

SAI spends Rs 20 crore on renovation

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has spent approximately Rs 20 crore on renovation work at the venue. Personnel from SAI’s newly formed engineering division and the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) have been deployed for the project.

The exercise began after a series of infrastructure and maintenance issues during the India Open brought the stadium under scrutiny.

Roof leakages and expansion joints have been treated, while the drainage system has been improved. Parts of the building have been repainted, seats have either been replaced or polished, and a new false ceiling has been installed.

The lighting system has also been upgraded in consultation with BWF specialists, with the focus on providing uniform illumination without creating shadows on the courts. The overhead lighting is expected to provide illumination between 2,200 and 2,400 lux.

Court drift, another concern for professional shuttlers, has also been addressed.

SAI Executive Director Ambar Pratap Singh said planning for the improvements began soon after the India Open.

“We started planning from Feb itself on how we can improve the overall situation of this stadium,” Singh said during the media interaction.

With the championships taking place during the monsoon, the repaired roof is also being tested repeatedly to ensure that heavy rain does not disrupt proceedings.

Pigeons face multi-layered deterrent

Some of the more unusual changes at the stadium have been prompted by the problems encountered during the India Open, when pigeons entered the playing arena and interrupted proceedings.

Heavy-duty bird netting has now been installed beneath the roof, while openings around the stadium have been sealed. A non-toxic gel sourced from the US is being used to discourage pigeons from settling at vulnerable spots.

Machines that imitate the calls of predatory birds have also been installed as an additional deterrent against pigeons and other birds.

The organisers have simultaneously worked on restricting the entry of monkeys, which had also been spotted around the venue during the India Open.

Wooden doors have been replaced at several locations with double-door and automatic-closing systems, reducing the possibility of monkeys entering when doors are left unattended.

But technology is not the only solution being deployed.

Langur-call mimics drafted in

Four men trained in mimicking langur calls have been engaged to keep rhesus macaques away from the stadium.

Among them is Jabbar, who has learnt the skill from his family and has previously been deployed for similar assignments in Delhi. The mimics are paid between Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000 per assignment, though work is not regular.

“Getting employment is not consistent, but we do keep getting work from time to time. There are many of us who do it,” Jabbar said.

For years, trained grey langurs and their handlers were used to tackle the monkey menace in public spaces because rhesus macaques tend to fear them. The practice, however, was discontinued after the use of langurs for such purposes was prohibited. Langurs are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act and cannot be held captive, privately owned or hired for guard duty.

That gave rise to the use of human mimics who reproduce langur calls to scare monkeys away.

When Parliament is in session, such men have been deployed around the complex, where they hide among bushes and imitate langurs to drive rhesus macaques away.

Langurs themselves use different calls depending on their mood or circumstances. These range from loud whoops by males during displays of dominance to short, sharp and guttural sounds when agitated.

From 2010 CWG to G20 Summit

The Capital has experimented with different methods of using the natural fear rhesus macaques have of langurs during major events.

Langurs were deployed during the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. By the time the G20 Summit was held in the Capital in 2023, human mimics were being used instead.

During the G20 Summit, life-size cut-outs of langurs were installed at some locations and paired with men capable of reproducing their calls.

The BWF World Championships will now see the same expertise used at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, alongside automatic doors and other measures aimed at preventing monkeys from entering the venue.

Practice courts and spectator areas readied

Preparations extend beyond the main competition arena. Practice courts at the KD Jadhav Stadium have been prepared for players, while other areas of the Indira Gandhi Stadium complex are being cleaned and upgraded.

The lake area within the complex is also being revived and beautified.

Special lighting will be used during player presentations and ceremonies without interfering with matches. Organisers are also planning to use cold-fire effects as part of the presentation on the final day, August 23.

Stray dogs remain another issue being monitored around the complex. Organisers are coordinating with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to prevent animals from entering areas being used during the championships.

With one competition court already ready and the remaining three nearing completion, the final days before the tournament will be devoted to completing work and testing the systems installed after the India Open

Rocky Flintoff, son of legendary England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, is following in his father’s footsteps. The 18-year-old has so far played five First-Class matches and 14 List A matches. Back in 2025, he scored a historic century for England Lions against a Cricket Australia XI, surpassing his father to become the youngest player to score a maiden century for the team. Flintoff, then aged 16 years and 291 days, surpassed his father’s maiden ton for the England Lions, which Andrew scored at the age of 20 years and 28 days.

On Tuesday, Rocky scored a 65-ball century for Lancashire against Somerset in the One-Day Cup. The young batter eventually reached 123 off 76 balls. His innings included seven sixes and 10 fours. His teammate Keaton Jennings scored 156 off 127 balls. Courtesy of the two centuries, Lancashire posted 443/6 in 50 overs. Lancashire won the match by 174 runs.

“Look at that celebration, it means a lot to him!” 🥳

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An unforgettable moment for Flintoff! 🤩

🌹 #RedRoseTogether https://t.co/xtGhdpBxai pic.twitter.com/IcoAezYtWT

— Lancashire Cricket (@lancscricket) August 11, 2026

Last week, Andrew Flintoff said he had stepped down from his role as coach of the second-string England Lions following his appointment as head coach of the Sydney Thunder in Australia’s T20 Big Bash League. The former England captain had been in charge of the Lions for almost two years after returning to cricket in 2024 following a car crash while presenting the BBC motoring show Top Gear.

“Unfortunately, I’ve made the decision to step away from my role with the Lions,” said the 48-year-old Flintoff.

“Not only have I enjoyed my time and the opportunity to work with the best young cricketers in the country, but I have also taken great pride in seeing them develop.

“I’d like to thank the coaches and staff for all their passion, tireless work and support they give every day. In particular, Ed Barney, who I’ve loved working with and was so lucky to have as a performance director, and obviously Rob (Key) for trusting me with one of the most important roles in English cricket.

“I can’t wait to get started with the Thunder later in the year and see where coaching takes me.”

Flintoff was England Lions head coach for 23 months, but also spent time with England’s senior white-ball teams and was part of the backroom staff at the 2024 T20 World Cup.

Former all-rounder Flintoff, a key figure in England’s 2005 Ashes-winning triumph, also coached the Northern Superchargers franchise in English domestic cricket’s Hundred competition.

With AFP inputs

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Xbox CEO Asha Sharma recently sat through a TES VI “live playthrough” session, finding its scale “incredible”. Her cryptic X post about it, however, has the community focusing on something else: the full title. With eight asterisks after “The Elder Scrolls VI”, the post may or may not be a hint at what the second bit will be called.

Crucially, if the asterisks are indeed a hint of how many letters there are, it doesn’t fit “Hammerfell”, the most widely theorized title.

As community theorizes TES VI subtitle, Asha Sharma’s post also establishes big dev milestone

Long-time Elder Scrolls followers are currently reading into the fine print of the asterisks to deduce what the title could be. Since Hammerfell is out, the going theory that I personally find the coolest is TES VI: Sentinel, which would sort of fit the naming pattern of TES II: Daggerfall as a synecdoche to High Rock.

Other ideas being thrown around include the two-word options: High Rock, Skyrim II, Iliac Bay itself, or even Redguard (encore).

Indeed, with the complete lack of any official information, these morsels are all we have to go by. The fact that it’s going to be south of Iliac Bay at all is speculation based on the only trailer all those years ago in E3 2018 (and some unverifiable leaks afterwards).

Asha Sharma’s post today, too, is only another trail of breadcrumbs that may lead nowhere. For all we know, it’s just a random number of asterisks to classify the title. Or, perhaps, to reclaim some mystique lost with Bethesda’s sudden roadmap transparency.

The bigger redguard fish to fry in this tweet is the fact that a “live playthrough” of an internal build of TES VI was presented to the big boss. This is only the second-ever direct quote from an Xbox C-suite about watching some gameplay.

A few weeks ago, Xbox exec Matt Booty confirmed in a Variety interview that TES VI is “coming along well”, having seen the game in action up front. Today’s tweet is marginally more pointed, broaching the subject of scale.

Elder Scrolls has progressively become bigger from Morrowind to Oblivion to Skyrim. It’s most likely owing to the waning hardware constrictions with each era, but the enigmatic Elder Scrolls VI will doubtless be another step of this increment.

Back to the more important topic, though: it’s a vertical slice in all likelihood, and the game is far from its final leg. It’s only been three years in production after all. Still, a direct X post from the Xbox CEO herself presents a big milestone.

If not indicative of its actual production stage, it’s at least a vote of confidence. With much restructuring and studio-cuts to narrow their portfolio, Xbox has recently put more money into accelerating the development of Fallout and Elder Scrolls projects.

One of Bethesda’s flagship titles, the game has more wind on its sails than past years, and we might even get to see a second (and a real) trailer this TGA. Meantime, all the wind we get is wild gusts of TES VI rumor floating on hopes and dreams.