Indian sports wrap, September 8: Sandhu wins women’s 50-metre rifle gold in World Deaf shooting championship

Here are all the major updates, scores, and results of Indians in the world of sports on September 8.

Mira Biatovszki, champion Mahit Sandhu and Violeta Lykova, the women’s rifle 3-position medallists in the World Deaf shooting championship in Hannover, Germany. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

SHOOTING

Mahit Sandhu wins women’s 50-metre rifle gold in World Deaf shooting championship

Mahit Sandhu won the women’s 50-metre rifle 3-position gold in the second World Deaf shooting championship in Hannover, Germany.

Abhinav Deshwal won the men’s 25-metre standard pistol gold with a world record score of 565 in enhancing the rich collection of the Indian contingent.

In fact, the 17-year-old Abhinav was honoured by the organisers for a rich haul of two gold and three silver medals. The women’s air pistol gold medallist, the 16-year-old Anuya Prasad, was the other shooter to be honoured by the organisers. The two youngsters were presented with the Nana figure, a well-known sculpture of Hannover, in acknowledgement of their achievements.

India topped the medals table with seven gold, seven silver and six bronze medals. Ukraine was a close second with seven gold, five silver and seven bronze.

The results:

Men: 25m standard pistol: 1. Abhinav Deshwal 565 (WR); 2. Oleksii Lazebnyk (Ukr) 554; 3. Chetan Sapkal 545; 5. Shubham Vashist 535.

Women: 50m rifle 3-position: 1. Mahit Sandhu 458.0 (WR) 576; 2. Mira Biatovszki (Hun) 445.3 (568); 3. Violeta Lykova (Ukr) 435.7 (576); 4. Natasha Joshi 426.3 (568).

- Kamesh Srinivasan

PARALYMPICS

Union Sports Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya felicitates paralympic athletes

The Union Sports Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, along with Minister of State, Ms. Raksha Khadse, felicitated a big batch of athletes, coaches and support staff, who returned from the Paralympics in Paris on Saturday.

Rifle shooter Avani Lekhara who has won gold medals in back to back Paralympics in Tokyo and Paris was the star attraction.

Congratulating the athletes and commending their performance, the Sports Minister said that “some returned with medals, and others gained valuable experience”.

The 84-member Indian contingent finished with the best ever performance of seven gold, nine silver and 13 bronze medals. The total of 29 medals proved the assessment of the president of Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), double Paralympic gold medallist Devendra Jhajaria, who had said that India would win more than 25 medals and place in the top-20.

India placed 18th among the 79 countries that won medals.

“Let us build on these experiences and continue to move forward with determination, always aiming for the gold”, the Sports Minister said.

The Minister reiterated the government’s stand to ensure international-standard training facilities apart from best support for athletes and coaches.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Golf and Turf Summit scheduled to be staged at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune on October 17-18

The 11th edition of the Golf and Turf Summit is scheduled to be staged at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune on October 17 and 18.

The summit brings together golf course owners, course managers, equipment suppliers and other stakeholders and helps them align their strategies towards contributing to the growth of the sport and its sustainability.

The president of the Golf Industry Association (GIA), Anirudha Seolekar, announced that the summit this year would focus on integrating advanced turf management techniques and exploring the future of golf tourism.

“New investments in golf course infrastructure, building new courses, upgrading existing ones and enhancing amenities have been prevalent. This has further stimulated the golf industry by attracting more tourists and creating a cycle of growth,” said Anit Mehrotra, the vice president of GIA.

A suggestion was made to both government bodies and corporates to focus on making the sport more inclusive.

“Reducing the cost of participation, investing in public golf facilities, subsidising green fees for the youth and creating awareness about opportunities of employment in golf courses and industries related to golf,” was suggested as the way forward for the sport, by Deepali Shah Gandhi, a member of GIA.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

FOOTBALL

Results of quarterfinals of the 63rd Subroto Cup junior boys

Banganson hammered a hat-trick of goals in the space of seven minutes to help Myngken Christian Higher Secondary School, Meghalaya, to a 3-1 victory over Minerva Public School, Mohali, in the quarterfinals of the 63rd Subroto Cup junior boys football tournament on Saturday. Hemneichung pulled one back for the Mohali team.

Teams from Arunachal Pradesh, Sri Lanka and Manipur were the others to book their semifinal berths.

The results (quarterfinals):

Myngken Christian HSS, Meghalaya, 3 (Banganson 3) bt Minerva Public School, Mohali, 1 (Hemneichung).

Government HSS, Yazali, Arunachal Pradesh, 4 (Byabang 3, Tage) bt Lord Krishna SSS, Fatehabad, Haryana, 3 (Sameer, Sonu, Yaman).

Sri Lanka Schools Football Association 2 (Aman, Humaid) bt RMSA HS, Mizoram, 1 (Isak).

TG English School, Bishnupur, Manipur, 1 (Mianithoba) bt Amenity Public School, Rudrapur, 0.

- Team Sportstar

MOTORSPORT

Chennai racers Varun Hari, Eshanth, Rivaan shine in the FMSCI National Karting Championship 2024

Bengaluru, September 8: Chennai racers, Varun Hari Praveen, Eshanth Vengatesan and Rivaan Dev Preetham emerged champions in their respective categories in the fourth round of the Meco-Fmsci National Karting Championship Rotax Max 2024 at Meco Kartopia track here on Sunday.

Chennai’s 11-year-old Rivaan (MSPORT) dominated the Micro Max category, winning both the Pre-Final and Final races as did his team-mate Eshanth in the Junior Max class.

In contrast, Varun Hari Praveen shrugged off a P3 finish in the Pre-Final behind former champion Rohaan Madhesh (Peregrine Racing) and Hunner Singh (Birel Art) to win the Final comfortably. He finished ahead of another multiple champion Ruhaan Alva (MSPORT) and Madesh.

The results (Provisional):

Senior Max – Final (16 laps): 1. Varun Hari Praveen (Chennai, Peregrine Racing) (15:11.207); 2. Ruhaan Alva (Bengaluru, MSport) (15:14.077); 3. Rohaan Madesh (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (15:16.317). 

Pre-final (5 laps): 1. Rohaan Madesh (04:53.038); 2. Hunner Singh (Gurugram, Birel Art India) (04:54.067); 3. Varun Hari Praveen (04:54.838).

Junior Max – Final (14 laps): 1. Eshanth Vengatesan (Chennai, MSport) (14:01.468); 2. Arafath Sheikh (Pune, Crest Motorsport) (14:03.229); 3. Aarav Dewan (Gurugram, Leapfrog Racing) (14:05.584). 

Pre-final (12 laps): 1. Eshanth Vengatesan (11:13.275); 2. Arafath Sheikh (11:13.371); 3. Aarav Dewan (Gurugram, Leapfrog Racing) (11:14.202).

Micro Max – Final (12 laps): 1. Rivaan Dev Preetham (Chennai, MSport) (12:40.762); 2. Hamza Balasinorwala (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (12:40.836); 3. Yug Jain (Vadodara, Peregrine Racing) (12:41.217). 

Pre-final (10 laps): 1. Rivaan Dev Preetham (10:17.041); 2. Hamza Balasinorwala (10:17.246); 3. Yug Jain (10:23.919).

- Team Sportstar

CRICKET

MP Kesineni Sivanath elected as Andhra Cricket Association chief

Mr. Kesineni Sivanath, a Member of Parliament, and Mr. S. Sathish Babu were elected as President and Secretary respectively of the Andhra Cricket Association, here on Sunday.

With only one nomination filed for each of the posts to the ACA, all the office-bearers were elected unanimously at the general body meeting held here.

Mr. Sivanath said that so far the focus had been only on Visakhapatnam as the major hub of cricketing activity and henceforth Mangalagiri (where a new international cricket stadium has been in place) and other districts would also be developed to become major cricketing centres in the State.

“We will also explore the possibility of hosting international matches in other centres including Kadapa.

The list of office-bearers: President - K. Sivanath. Secretary - S. Sathish Babu. Vice-president - P. Venkata Rama Prashant. Joint-secretary - P. Vishnu Kumar Raju. Treasurer - D. Srinivas. Council - D. Gour Vishnu Tej.

The new ACA Apex Council also announced a contribution of Rs 1 crore to the Andhra Pradesh State Government towards flood relief fund.

- V.V. Subrahmanyam

TENNIS

Mukund Sasikumar loses final in Thailand

Kasidit Samrej beat second seed S Mukund 6-3, 6-3 in the final of the 25,000 USD ITF men’s tennis tournament in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, on Sunday.

In the doubles final, Sai Karteek Reddy, in partnership with Nick Chappel, was beaten by Jake Delaney and Jesse Delaney of Australia 7-6(4), 7-6(3).

The results:

€148,625 Challenger, Seville, Spain

Doubles (semifinals): George Goldhoff (USA) & Fernando Romboli (Bra) bt Guido Andreozzi (Arg) & Sriram Balaji 6-7(6), 7-6(2), [10-6].

$133,250 Challenger, Shanghai, China

Doubles (final): Cristian Rodriguez (Col) & Matthew Romios (Aus) bt Rithvik Bollipalli & Arjun Kadhe 7-6(4), 1-6, [10-7].

$25,000 ITF men, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand

Singles (final): Kasidit Samrej (Tha) bt S Mukund 6-3, 6-3; Semifinals: S Mukund bt Yurii Dzhavakian (Ukr) 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles (final): Jake Delaney & Jesse Delaney (Aus) bt Nick Chappell (USA) & Sai Karteek Reddy 7-6(4), 7-6(3).

$15,000 ITF men, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Singles (semifinals): Petr Biryukov bt Sidharth Rawat 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Doubles (final): Adam Jones & Matthew Summers (GBR) bt Adil Kalyanpur & Vishnu Vardhan 6-1, 3-6, [10-7].

$25,000 ITF women, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Singles (semifinals): Darja Vidmanova (Cze) bt Sahaja Yamalapalli 1-6, 6-2, 6-3; Quarterfinals: Sahaja bt Valentina Arias (Col) 6-4, 6-4.

$25,000 ITF women, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand

Singles (semifinals): Mariia Tkacheva bt Vaidehi Chaudhari 7-5, 6-1.

Doubles (final): Kanako Morisaki & Hikaru Sato (Jpn) bt Shrivalli Bhamidipaty & Vaidehi Chaudhari 6-3, 2-6, [10-8].

- Kamesh Srinivasan