Indian sports news wrap, January 30

GOLF

Sneha and Hitaashee prepare for another battle in 3rd leg of WPGT

Sneha Singh and Hitaashee Bakshi, who had finished in the top two in both the two earlier legs in the ongoing Women’s Pro Golf Tour season, will be back for another shot at the third event which begins at Tollygunge Club here Wednesday.

Sneha and Hitaashee were tied for second when amateur Nishna Patel won the opening leg. In the second leg, Sneha edged out Hitaashee, who finished runner-up.

Sneha, winner of the 2023 Hero Order of Merit, has taken the early lead once again, with Hitaashee chasing her.

It has been a good start for Hitaashee, who was injured last year. Besides finishing second in the opening two legs, she won the Thailand Tour’s LPGA Qualifying Tour, granting her access to pro tournaments in Thailand.

Amandeep Drall, Ridhima Dilawari and Seher Atwal will be among the other leading contenders in the third leg.

Some of the other leading stars of Hero WPGT are going to South Africa for the Sunshine Ladies Tour starting next month, including Vani Kapoor, Tvesa Malik and Neha Tripathi. Besides, a few others like Amandeep and Seher will also be joining them for some events.

An interesting feature of both the events held so far this season has been that at least the top three finishers have totalled under-par scores, underlining the tremendous improvement in the quality of women’s golf in India.

A total of 29 girls will tee off in the third leg, and the field includes two amateurs — Anaahat Bindra and Sinjini Mukherjee.

– PTI

TENNIS

Jakupovic beats Morvayova in first round; Shrivalli-Vaidehi into quarters of USD 40,000 ITF women’s tennis

Fifth seed Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia fought her way past qualifier Viktoria Morvayova of Slovakia 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in the first round of the USD 40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Indore Tennis Club on Tuesday.

In the pre-quarterfinals, Dalila will play another qualifier Mei Yamaguchi of Japan. In the doubles pre-quarterfinals, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Vaidehi Chaudhari beat compatriots Vaishnavi Adkar and Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-3, 6-3.

Sharmada Balu was the only other Indian player to make the doubles quarterfinals, and she did so in partnership with Diana Marcinkevica of Latvia.

-Team Sportstar

SHOOTING

World Cup: Raiza Dhillon misses women’s skeet final by one point

Raiza Dhillon shot 114 and missed making the women’s skeet final by one point in the shooting World Cup in Cairo, Egypt, on Tuesday.

Raiza had shot a perfect 25 in the penultimate round to stay in contention for a final berth, but a 21 in the last round pulled her down to the 11th spot.

Ganemat Sekhon (112) and Areeba Khan (108) placed 15th and 22nd respectively.

In men’s skeet, Munek Bhattula was unable to build on his fine overnight effort of 74 out of 75, and placed 18th with a total of 119. He had 22 and 23 in the last two rounds.

Abhay Singh Sekhon (119) placed 16th, while Asian Games silver medallist Anant Jeet Singh Naruka shot 115 for the 40th spot in a field of 64.

Competing in the Ranking Points Only (RPO) section, World Cup gold medallist Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Sheeraz Sheikh shot 118 and 109 respectively.

In the 25-metre rapid fire pistol event, Anish Bhanwala and Vijayveer Sidhu shot identical score of 119 for the 10th and 11th spots respectively. They missed the final by four points. Abhinav Choudhary shot 569 for the 28th place. In the RPO section, Sameer Ghulia and Adarsh Singh shot 573 and 567 respectively.

Despite not adding to its medals collection, India continued to stay on top of the medals table with two gold and three silver medals.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

KHELO INDIA YOUTH GAMES

Keerthana breaks National youth record

Tamil Nadu weightlifter R. P. Keerthana broke the National youth record in snatch, clean & jerk and overall to clinch the gold in girls’ 81kg category of the Khelo India Youth Games here on Tuesday.

Keerthana lifted a total of 188 kgs, including 85kg in snatch and 106kg in clean & jerk to finish ahead of state-mate K. Oviya (184kg). The previous record in snatch (81kg), clean & jerk (104kg) and overall (185kg) were held by Ch. Srilakshmi of Andhra Pradesh in the National youth championships last year in Nagercoil.

Manipur won the girls’ football gold for the second successive time, defeating West Bengal on penalties 8-7 in the final, after the teams played out a goalless draw in the regulation time.

Maharashtra is at the top of the medals tally with 53 gold, 46 silver and 50 bronze medals. Haryana is in second position (35, 22, 46) while Tamil Nadu is in third place (35, 20, 36).

The results:

Archery: Boys: Recurve: 1. Shubham Kumar (Bih); 2. Laishram Nelson (Man); 3. Atharva Sharma (Raj); Girls: Recurve: 1. Avani (Har); 2. Sharvari Shende (Mah); 3. Jannat (Har).

Compound: Boys: Compound: Gold: 1. Sukhmandeep Singh (Pun); 2. Harsh Kumar (Chd); 3. Mihir Apar (Mah); Girls: 1. Aditi Gopichand Swami (Mah); 2. Tejal Salve (Mah); 3. Kumud Saini (Del).

Mixed team: recurve: 1. Pruthviraj Ghadge & Sharvari Shende (Mah); 2. Agastay Singh & Avani (Har), 3. Atharva Sharma & Pranjal Tholiya (Raj).

Mixed team: Compound: 1. Manav Jadhao & Aditi Swami (Mah); 2. Pendyala Trinath Chowdary & Kengam Saranya (AP); 3. Aryan Yadav & Kumud Saini (Del).

Badminton (finals):

Boys: Singles: M. A. Laksh Chengappa (Kar) bt Ansh Negi (Uttr) 21-17, 21-13; Doubles: G. P. Vinayakram & M. Swastik (TN) bt Bhavya Chabra & Param Choudhary (Del) 21-18, 21-18; Girls: Singles: 1. T. Surya Charishma (AP) bt Aesha Gandhi (Guj) 21-14, 21-14; Doubles: Taarini Suri & Shravani Walekar (Mah) bt Pragati Parida & Vishakha Toppo (Odi) 21-13, 20-22, 21-16.

Shooting: Mixed team: 1. Yuvek Battula & Venkat Lakku (TS); 2. Vanshika Tiwari & Udyaman Rathore (MP); 3. Zorawar Bedi & Risham Guron (Pun).

Tennis: Doubles: Finals: Girls: Maaya Rajeshwari & Lakshmi Prabha (TN) bt Suhitha Maruri & Sreenidhi Balaji (Kar) 6-2, 6-1.

Weightlifting:

Boys: 102+kg: 1. Suvansh Thakur (HP) 280kg; 2. David Zohmingmawla (Miz) 266kg; 3. Sarth Jadhav (Mah) 264Kg; Girls: 81kg: 1. R. P. Keerthana (TN) 188kg; 2. K. Oviya (TN) 184kg; 3. Santushti Choudhary (UP) 162kg; 81+kg: 1. Amritha P Suni (Ker) 181kg; 2. Aditi (UP) 173kg; 3. Y. Chaitna Kumari (AP) 169kg.

Swimming:

Boys: 200m medley: 1. Yug Chelani (Raj) 2:10.73; 2. Siddhant Singh Jadon (MP); 3. Saswata Roy (WB); 200m backstroke: 1. Nithik Nadella (TN) 2:04.60; 2. Rishabh Anupam Das (Mah); 3. Akash Mani (Kar); 800m freestyle: 1. Mongam Theerdu Samadev (AP) 8:29.77; 2. Gotteti Sampath Kumar Yadav (AP); 3. S. Dharshan (Kar).

Girls: 200m medley: 1. Shreenithi Natesan (TN) 2:26.78; 2. Saanvi Deshwal (Mah); 3. Subhranshini Priyadarshini (Asm); 200m backstroke: 1. Palak Ashutosh Joshi (Mah) 2:18.59; 2. Sri Nithya Sagi (TS); 3. Naisha (Kar).

-Team Sportstar

TABLE TENNIS

Sharath Kamal partners with Lakshya Sports

India’s star paddler Sharath Kamal and Lakshya Sports have inked a deal that is bound to help the SDAT-AKG TTA run by Sharath’s father-uncle duo (Srinivasa Rao & Muralidhara Rao) here. The Academy will now be called ‘SDAT-AKG-SK Academy’, according to Muralidhara Rao.

The association, which will continue for “initial three years”, will provide the Academy paddlers with a specialist nutritionist, strength and conditioning coach (manned by Sports Dynamics), physio and a mental trainer.

Speaking at a press conference here on Tuesday, Sharath thanked Lakshya, with whom he has been associated since 2016. He said: “It is great that Lakshya is extending its expertise to the grassroot level. The services of strength and conditioning coach, physio and fitness coach will be used on a regular basis while nutritionist and mental trainer will be used on a requirement basis.”

Rajath Kamal, Sharath’s brother and former sports analyst for the Indian senior TT team, will spearhead the operations while Sharath will be the mentor. The Academy will run under the guidance of Rao brothers.

Ashish Desai, Secretary of Lakshya and Satyen Patel, president of Lakshya, also spoke.

-Keerthivasan K