Indian sports wrap, October 1: Mane leads air rifle dominance with double gold at ISSF Junior World Championships

SHOOTING

Mane leads air rifle dominance with double gold as India surges at Lima Junior Worlds

It was double delight for Parth Rakesh Mane as he was crowned junior world champion in 10m air rifle and also claimed a team gold to lead India’s impressive performance at the ongoing ISSF Junior World Championships in Lima, Peru.

In a thrilling 24-shot final, the 16-year-old Mane overcame a field oozing class with consummate ease, shooting 250.7 to edge out reigning junior Asian champion Huang Liwanlin of China by 0.7 points.

Braden Peiser of the USA took the bronze medal. Paris Olympics silver medallist Victor Lindgren of Sweden was fourth while reigning double junior world champion Romain Aufrere was sixth.

Parth’s own compatriots, the in-form Ajay Malik and the seasoned-at-15 Abhinav Shaw finished fifth and seventh, respectively. Ajay went down in shoot-off to Lindgren to finish with 186.7 while Abhinav bowed out in seventh with 144.2.

Mane also won the men’s team event alongside Malik and Shaw.

India’s third gold of the day came when Gautami Bhanot, Sambhavi Kshirsagar and Anoushka Thakur also picked up the junior women’s 10m air rifle team title.

Earlier, in the 62-strong qualification round, Malik secured second place with a score of 628.8, followed by Mane in fourth with 627.7, and Shaw in sixth with 627.0 after 60 shots.

Their combined total of 1883.5 easily surpassed teams from the USA (1877.6) and Germany (1873.9) to win the team gold.

Two other Indians in the fray, Umamahesh Maddineni (625.5) and Talwar Singh (625.2), finished 13th and 14th, respectively.

Three Indians also made the junior women’s air rifle final but missed out on individual medals.

Bhanot finished second in the 90-strong qualification field with a score of 634.7 as China’s Wang Zifei topped with a junior world record score of 635.7.

Kshirsagar finished fourth (632.6) and Ojasvi Thakur (631.4) qualified in fifth place. Anoushka was 17th with 627.5, while Saumya Khedkar was 20th with 627.4.

Bhanot then finished fourth in the final, going down to the bronze-winning US athlete by 0.2 after the 20th shot. She finished with a score of 209.3. Kshirsagar (188.4) was fifth and Ojasvi (146.1) bowed out in seventh place.

Bhanot and Kshirsagar, however, combined effectively with Anoushka to clinch the team competition, bossing USA with a junior world team record score of 1894.8. Norway was third.

The Indians also competed in the junior men’s and women’s skeet competition at the shotgun ranges but couldn’t reach the finals.

Gurfateh Singh Sandhu finished 29th with a score of 112 in qualification, while Bhavtegh Singh Gill shot the same score in the junior men’s skeet to finish 31st on countback.

Harmehar Singh Lally was 44th with 107.

In junior women’s skeet, Mansi Raghuwanshi was the best-placed Indian in shotgun. Her score of 109 gave her the eighth place as she missed out on qualification by a point.

Mufaddal Dessawala and Shivani Raikwar shot scores of 98 each to finish in 30th and 31st positions, respectively.

With five gold medals till date, India continues to lead the overall medal tally at the championship.

– PTI

GOLF

Sirohi, Krishnav ready for AAC challenge in Japan

Four Indians will be competing in the 2024 edition of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship with three of them trying their luck for the second consecutive year in the event, which offers a handsome prize money to amateur golfers.

Krishnav Nikhil Chopraa, who played college golf in the US, will be back for a second successive year along with Vedant Sirohi and Kartik Singh, a member of the Internationals team at the junior Presidents Cup.

Rakshit Dahiya, who has had a fair amount of success on the home circuit of the Indian Golf Union, is the only debutant in the four-member team.

The 14-year-old Kartik was brimming with confidence having flown straight from Canada, where he played the Junior Presidents Cup and secured 1.5 points out of three, as he lost in the four-ball, won the foursomes, and tied the singles.

“I have played in the US, but the Junior Presidents Cup and the Junior Players before that, was amazing, and it was a great experience,” said Kartik, who won the Singapore Juniors and was third at Junior Players.

Krishnav, son of former India cricketer Nikhil Chopraa, said, “Last year, my game was not at its best, but this time, the game is shaping up well.” Established in 2009, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship is the brainchild of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), The R&A and the Masters Tournament to develop amateur golf in the Asia-Pacific region.

The champion will receive an invitation to compete in the 2025 Masters Tournament and The 153rd Open, while the runners-up will gain a place in the Final Qualifying for The Open.

-PTI