Indian sports wrap, December 23: Ramita, Himanshu claimed air rifle mixed team gold at NSCC

GOLF

Aryan lead at 9-under as Jeev lead Legends’ impressive show with 7-under

Aryan Roopa Anand produced one of his best rounds as a professional with a nine-under 62, while the legendary Jeev Milkha Singh fired a seven-under 64 on the opening day of the IGPL Invitational Sri Lanka, the final event of 2025 Tour.

The two-time All India amateur champion, Aryan opened birdie-birdie and closed in a similar fashion and had a total of nine birdies and an eagle against one bogey on each side of the Royal Colombo.

Jeev, a four-time winner on the DP World Tour and four times in Japan, picked up five birdies in last six holes to lie second.

Lying third was local youngster, Kaya Daluwatte, who shot 6-under 65. She was also the top woman in the field after the first day.

The next best woman was IGPL Mumbai winner, Pranavi Urs, who tumbled from 5-under through 15 holes to 2-under with a bogey-double bogey-par finish over the last three holes.

IGPL Order of Merit leader, Aman Raj and six-time Asian Tour winner SSP Chawrasia were tied fourth at 4-under, while Gaganjeet Bhullar, a double winner at IGPL, Sachin Baisoya, Veer Ganapathy, IGPL UAE winner, Karandeep Kochhar, and Harendra Gupta were in a five-way tie for the sixth place.

It was a very strong leaderboard on a low-scoring day when 10 players went four-under or better.

“I don’t think is a pro Tour like this anywhere,” Jeev, who now divides his time between the senior Tours in Europe and Japan and some events on the Asian Tour, said in a release.

“The IGPL is getting the legends of Indian golf to play in same field as promising young stars, many of whom are still amateurs. This will help the young stars learn by just watching the seniors. Plus, we had some very good women players.” Among the legends, Jeev had the best score at 7-under, Chawrasia shot 5-under, Bhullar shot 4-under, and Jyoti Randhawa went 1-over 72.

Among the young stars Veer carded 4-under 67, Zoravar shot even par 71 and Harjai carded 3-over 74.

Jeev was thrilled to play with a bunch of young stars in the same field.

“I have always wanted to play this historic course, but it never happened. It finally did as I played the Pro-Am with the legendary cricketer, Mahela Jayawardene and it was great fun, and he plays very well.” “As for today, it was my first competitive round in Colombo. It was very hot but I got used to it as I went along. After being two-under for the first 12 holes, it was great to finish with five birdies in the last six holes.”

-PTI

SHOOTING

Ramita Jindal, Himanshu Dhillon claim 10m air rifle mixed team gold at NSCC 2025-26

Haryana’s pairing of Ramita Jindal and Himanshu Dhillon displayed a dominant performance to claim the 10m air rifle mixed team gold medal during the 68th National Shooting Championship Competitions (NSCC) at the Madhya Pradesh State Shooting Academy.

The duo defeated Maharashtra’s Arya Borse and Parth Mane 16–12 in the gold medal match to secure the title, extending Himanshu’s fine run after he set a new national record and junior national record of 634.5 in men’s 10m air rifle event the previous day.

In the bronze medal match, Delhi’s Rajshree Sancheti and Paarth Makhija held their nerve to claim third place with a hard-fought 17–15 victory over the Madhya Pradesh pairing of Shreya Agrawal and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar.

The junior 10m air rifle mixed team gold medal went to West Bengal, as Sandrata Roy and Abhinav Shaw delivered a composed performance to defeat Tamil Nadu’s Maneshika Tarun Senthil and Shaktivel Senthilvel 16–8 in the final. Karnataka’s Hrudya Shri Kondur and Naraen Pranav secured the bronze medal after registering a 17–9 win over the Andhra Pradesh team of Nishitha Bommidi and Ummahesh Maddineni.

In the youth category’s gold medal match, Isha Anil Taksale and Pritam Kendre from Maharashtra emerged winners after a closely fought contest, edging past Tamil Nadu’s Maneshika and Shaktivel 16–14 to claim the gold medal. The bronze medal was secured by Karnataka’s Tilottama Sen and Abishek Sekhar, who defeated West Bengal’s Sandrata and Shaw 17–9 in the bronze medal match.

The championship action now shifts to New Delhi after Christmas, with the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol final scheduled for Friday, December 26 at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range.

-Team Sportstar

Published on Dec 23, 2025