Indian sports wrap, December 19: Lakshita, Sharvan win air pistol mixed team gold in Nationals

SHOOTING

Lakshita, Sharvan win air pistol mixed team gold in Nationals

The Army pair of Lakshita Bishnoi and Sharvan Kumar produced a commanding performance as they overcome the challenge from Haryana’s Suruchi Singh and Samrat Rana to clinch the 10m air pistol mixed team gold in the National Shooting Championships here on Saturday.

Laskhita and Sharvan defeated the India team regulars 16–10 to seal the title.

Lakshita (290) and Sharvan (292) aggregated 582 to qualify for the gold medal match along with the Haryana duo, who also came up with an identical score of 582 but with fewer ‘inner 10s’.

Suruchi, who recently won the women’s individual gold at the World Cup Final in Doha shot 293, while world champion Samrat Rana added 289.

Rajasthan qualified in third with 576 (Anjali Shekhawat’s 288, Amit Sharma’s 288), while Railways took the fourth spot with 576 (Sakshi Anil Suryavanshi 289, Saurabh Chaudhary’s 287).

In the bronze-medal match, Rajasthan claimed the bronze after Anjali and Amit defeated Sakshi and Saurabh 17–13.

Karnataka’s Jonathan Gavin Antony and Avanthika Madhu took the junior mixed team gold with a commanding 17–11 win over Haryana’s Kapil Bainsla and Palak Gulia.

The Karnataka pair controlled the match from the early stages to convert their qualification consistency into gold..

Madhya Pradesh secured the bronze medal with Aaradhya Mishra and Yugpratap Singh Rathore registered a dominant 16–2 victory over Uttarakhand’s Abhinav Deshwal and Yashsavi Joshi.

Earlier in the junior qualification round, the Haryana duo topped the standings with a score of 580 (Palak 292, Kapil 288). Karnataka followed closely with 580 (Jonathan 292, Avanthika 288) to qualify for the gold-medal match.

Uttarakhand were placed third with 579 (Abhinav 290, Yashsavi 289), while Madhya Pradesh completed the top four with 574 (Yugpratap 288-9, Aaradhya 286).

In the youth category, Madhya Pradesh’s Aaradhya and Yugpratap capped a strong showing by clinching gold with a decisive 16–8 victory over Karnataka’s Gamberya Gowda and Darren Dawn..

The bronze medal went to the Army with Himanshi Jangra and Pawan Mandiwal defeating Uttar Pradesh’s Chirag Sharma and Urva Chaudhary 16–12.

– PTI

SQUASH

Chotrani, Suraj extend winning run in Western India Squash

Veer Chotrani and Suraj Chand won their respective matches to extend with their winning run in the CCI Western India Squash tournament here Friday.

While Chotrani defeated Rounak Yadav 11-7, 11-2, 11-5, the second seeded Suraj Chand had to work hard for a 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 victory over Hridhaan Shah.

“I enjoyed my time on the court. I usually don’t play early in the morning, but it was a lot of fun. I am looking forward to the upcoming challenges,” Chotrani said.

– PTI

GOLF

Ahlawat cards solid final round 67 to win CIDCO Open

Veer Ahlawat brought all his experience to the fore, carding a four-under 67 on the final day to emerge as the champion at the Rs 1 crore CIDCO Open on Friday.

The Gurugram golfer (65-65-73-67), who was at the top of the leaderboard for the first three days, being the sole leader in the first two rounds and the joint leader after the third round, emerged victorious by three shots at a total of 14-under 270.

Six-foot four-inch tall Ahlawat, the 2024 PGTI Order of Merit champion, secured his second title of 2025 and sixth win overall, which earned him the winning cheque worth Rs 15 lakh and propelled him from 18th to 11th position in the 2025 PGTI Ranking.

Pune’s Rohan Dhole Patil (70-69-64-70), the overnight joint leader, came up with a last round of 70 to finish runner-up at a total of 11-under 273 and thus record his best finish on the PGTI.

Rohan collected a cheque worth Rs 10 lakh that pushed him up from 42nd to 32nd in the PGTI Ranking.

Gurugram’s Manu Gandas (68-68-70-68) and Italy’s Michele Ortolani (67-66-72-69) finished tied third at 10-under 274.

Ravi Kumar of Chandigarh made the third hole-in-one of the tournament during his final round of 71. Ravi aced the 13th hole. He totalled four-under 280 to claim tied ninth place at four-under 280.

Ahlawat, who gained valuable international experience by playing on the DP World Tour in the 2025 season as a result of his PGTI Order of Merit win last year, said, “I started off well today but then made some mistakes till the 10th. I then got on a roll from the 11th onwards.

“Despite the tough stretch in the middle, I was quietly confident because I knew in the back of my mind that I had played well in such tight situations before. I knew that once I brought my ‘A’ game out, I would be hard to beat.”

-PTI

Shubhankar drops late shots on tough conditions to lie T71 at AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open

Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma endured a mixed opening round, carding a two-over 74 to be tied 71st after dropping late bogeys at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.

Sharma, who finished runner-up in the Q-School to regain status on the DP World Tour, seemed to be coping well with the tricky winds, which were accompanied by rain at the highly challenging La Reserve Links, which is hosting the event for the second time.

Sharma was 1-under through 13 holes when he literally hit a rough patch with a bogey followed by a double bogey to drop three shots in two holes.

Overall, Sharma had three birdies, three bogeys, all of which came on Par-5s, and a double bogey on the 16th, where he failed to come out of the rough with his first attempt.

The course kept asking questions and kept demanding skilful play, and the golfers, for their part, tried to provide answers as best as they could. Only 33 golfers played under par.

South Africa’s Casey Jarvis and Scotland’s Scott Jamieson rose to the top for the shared clubhouse lead with rounds of five-under-par 67 each.

They are one stroke clear of six players, including 2017 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open champion Dylan Frittelli, who that year beat Arjun Atwal of India in a play-off.

The others in a tie for third included Herman Loubser, currently second on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit; multiple DP World Tour winners Frenchman Alexander Levy, South African Brandon Stone, American Ryan Gerard, and Spaniard Manuel Elvira. The six-man pack shot 4-under 68 each.

Last week’s winner at Alfred Dunhill Links, Jayden Schaper, Swede Joakim Lagergren, Norwegian Andreas Halvorsen and South African MJ Daffue had finished their opening round in 69 each.

-PTI

Published on Dec 19, 2025