Indian sports wrap, August 23: Kajal becomes U-20 Wrestling World Champion; Double gold for in youth archery

WRESTLING

Kajal crowner under-20 World Champion in 72 kg category

Showing superb consistency through age groups, Kajal, a World under-17 champion in 69kg last year and a silver medallist in 73kg last month, defeated China’s Yuqi Liu 8-6 in a hard-fought summit clash to emerge as the 72kg champion at the World under-20 wrestling championships in Samokov, Bulgaria.

Hailing from a wrestling family of Lath village in Sonipat district of Haryana, 17-year-old Kajal – who took to wrestling after getting inspired by her uncle and former international wrestler Krishan Donchak – relied on her strong defence to thwart a late fightback from Yuqi in the last minute to add another gold to her Asian under-20 crown in 76kg in July.

Switching weights between 76kg and 72kg, Kajal has bagged two gold and two silver medals in Asian and World-level competitions within two months.

Shruti (50kg) and Saarika (53kg) claimed bronze medals as the Indian women’s team finished second, with two gold, three silver and two bronze, behind Japan, which won five gold and two bronze.

-Team Sportstar

ARCHERY

India U-18, U-21 win clinch gold at World Youth Archery Championships

Indian compound men’s under-21 and under-18 teams have claimed gold medals at the World Youth Archery Championships in Winnipeg, Canada.

Five Indians, Sharvari Shende (recurve under-18 women), Taniparthi Chikitha (compound under-21 women), Yogesh Joshi (compound under-18 men), Prithika Pradeep and Surya Hamsini Madala (compound under-18 women), entered the semifinals of individual events to keep their medal hopes alive.

– Team Sportstar

GOLF

Aditi makes cut, lies 21st on LPGA

Indian golfer Aditi Ashok added two-under 69 to her first round of 71 to ensure the halfway cut at the CPKC Women’s Open on the LPGA Tour in Mississauga, Canada.

At 2-under for two rounds, she is tied-21st and trails the leader, Akie Iwai (64-69) by seven shots.

Indian-American Gurleen Kaur, who was runner-up a week ago also, made the cut with 74-68 and was T-45 but Savannah Grewal (75-73) missed the cut.

Aditi dropped two early bogeys on the second and fourth and then picked up five birdies on fifth, ninth, 12th, 15th and the 17th before dropping a shot on the 18th for a 69.

-PTI

Talwar fires 2-under 69, tied 11th at Dutch Futures

Saptak Talwar holed two late birdies in the last six holes to ensure a solid 2-under 69 in the second round of Dutch Futures in Spijk, Netherlands.

Going along with his first round 70, he is now 3-under for two rounds and placed Tied-11th, up 14 places on the leaderboard from the first round.

This gives him a chance to play for his first top-10 finish of the season. Talwar began from the tenth and shot three birdies and one bogey in the second round.

He birdied the 15th, fourth and he sixth and dropped his only bogey on the second.

-PTI

Indian-American Bhatia is tied-seventh at Tour Championship

Indian-American golfer Akshay Bhatia rode a five-hole stretch with four birdies in the middle of the round and added 3-under 67 to his first round 66 to get to 7-under to be placed tied-seventh at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, USA.

Bhatia parred seven holes and then birdied the seventh with an eight-foot putt. He holed a 22-footer on the 11th and then two 13-footer for birdies on the 12th and the 13th to get to 4-under.

Back-to-back bogeys on the 13th and the 14th set him back but he closed the day with two good shots to 28 feet and two-putted for a birdie on the par-5 18th.

-PTI

Avani, Sneha make decent starts in Sweden

Avani Prashanth produced a birdie-birdie effort to shoot one-over 72 and was tied-21st after the first day at the Hills Open in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Sneha Singh (72) was also tied 21st as the two golfers were the best among the seven Indians who teed off in windy and testing conditions.

New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori led the way in the opening round firing four-under-par (67) and she was one ahead of seven players who shared the second place.

Among the other Indians, Hitaashee Bakshi, playing in the same group as Sneha, shot 74 and was tied-48, while Pranavi Urs (76) was tied-71st.

Amandeep Drall (77) at T-86, Tvesa Malik (79) at T-107 and Vani Kapoor (82) at T-123 were way behind.

Avani had a rough start with three bogeys against one birdie in the first six holes.

She rallied well with a string of eight pars. Another bogey on the 15th made it 3-over for her, but she birdied the last two holes for a respectable 72 in tough conditions.

Sneha had four birdies against five bogeys in her 72.

The 26-year-old Kobori set the early pace with a steady front nine with one birdie on the sixth hole, but put on an impressive show on the back nine, with three straight birdies on 11, 12, and 13.

She then dropped a shot on 14, but bounced back with a birdie on the next hole.

A total of seven players sit in a tie for second place, including three players from Sweden, who all fired opening rounds of 68 (-3).

The field has 132 players who will play the 54-hole stroke play event which has a purse of Euros 300,000 at the 6,064 yard course at Hills Club.

-PTI

Published on Aug 23, 2025