The major developments from the world of sports on August 2 where Indians took part are as follows:
TENNIS
WTA tournament: Ankita Raina beats Barbora Strycova
Lucky loser Ankita Raina beat former world No.16 Barbora Strycova 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the $259,303 WTA tennis tournament in Prague, Czech Republic, on Wednesday.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Ankita will challenge fourth seed Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic.
World University Games: Bhavani picks bronze in women’s long jump
Bhavani Yadav brought India its first medal in athletics, a bronze in women’s long jump with a last-round 6.32m, at the World University Games in Chengdu on Wednesday.
Bhavani, with a personal best of 6.44m, had finished third at the inter-State Nationals in Bhubaneswar in June.
Meanwhile, Samardeep Singh Gill (17.84m) finished sixth in men’s shot put while Nirbhay Singh (53.91m) was eighth in men’s discus throw and Pradeep Kumar and Rohit Kumar finished 13th and 14th in men’s 10,000m.
Avanti Narale was sixth in the women’s 100m semifinal in 11.70s and failed to enter the final while Laxita Sandilea (2:10.50s) finished eighth in women’s 800m heats and failed to progress further. In the women’s 400m hurdles, Dhivya Jayaram crashed out after finishing eighth (1:01.24s) in the semifinal.
THE RESULTS (GOLD MEDALLISTS & INDIAN PERFORMANCES IN FINALS)
Discus throw: 1. Oskar Stachnik (Pol) 63.00m; 8. Nirbhay Singh (Ind) 53.91s, Hari Behera (no mark).
Shot put: 1. Konrad Bukowiecki (Pol) 20.23m, 6. Samardeep Singh Gill (Ind) 17.84, 10. Sahib Singh (Ind) 16.98.
Women: 100m: 1. Patrizia Weken (Lux) 11.22s,
Long jump: 1. Nikola Horowska (Pol) 6.60m, 3. B. Bhavani Yadav (Ind) 6.32.
BASKETBALL
All-India Tournament: Navy, Income Tax, KSEB and Central GST in semifinals
Indian Navy, Chennai’s Income Tax, Thiruvananthapuram’s, KSEB and Kochi’s Central GST and Customs entered the men’s semifinals of the CBC all-India basketball tournament at the SB College indoor stadium here. Central GST defeated Kerala Police 83-80 in an extra-time thriller on Wednesday while Navy breezed past Changanassery’s St. Berchmans College 93-55 on Tuesday night and confirmed their semifinal berths.
Tuesday’s late match: Indian Navy, Lonavala 93 (Lalith 18, Gourav Chandal 16, Vivek Goti 11, A.J. Thomas 10) bt SB College, Chgy 55 (Jinu Devasia 20, Anand 16).
ARCHERY
The Indian compound women’s team, consisting of V.Jyothi Surekha, Aditi Swami, and Parneet Kaur, held its nerve to enter the final in the World archery championships in Berlin on Wednesday.
The second-ranked Indian women got a bye and beat Turkey 230-228, and Chinese Taipei 228-226 before getting past third-placed Colombia 220-216 in a closely fought semifinal. India won the first 59-55 to grab a four-point lead before tying the second 58-58. Colombia levelled the scores winning the third 55-51 as the Indians slipped a bit. However, India won the final end 52-48 to set up a title clash with top-ranked Mexico.
Other Indian teams crashed out before the medal rounds.
THE RESULTS (TEAM EVENTS)
Recurve: Men: 9-India (B. Dhiraj, Tushar Shelke, Mrinal Chauhan) bt Malaysia (Khairul Anuar Mohamad, Muhamad Zolkepeli, Muhammad Busthamin) 5-4 (28-26), bt France (Baptiste Addis, Jean-Charles Valladont, Nicolas Bernardi) 5-3, lost to Korea (Kim Woojin, Lee Woo Seok, Kim Je Deok) 1-5 (QF);
Women: 13-India (Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur, Simranjeet Kaur) bt Kazakhstan (Alua Mukhtarkhanova, Alina Ilyassova, Medina Murat) 6-2, bt Ukraine (Anastasia Pavlova, Solomiya Hnyp, Veronika Marchenko) 6-0, lost to Netherlands (Laura van der Winkel, Quinty Roeffen, Gaby Schloesser) 2-6 (QF);
Mixed: 4-India (Ankita, Dhiraj) got a bye, lost to Italy (Tatiana Andreoli, Mauro Nespoli) 4-5 (16-17).
Compound: Men: 3-India (Ojas Deotale, Prathamesh Jawkar, Abhishek Verma) got a bye, bt France (Adrien Gontier, Nicolas Girard, Jean Philippe Boulch) 233-230, lost to Netherlands (Mike Schloesser, Jay Tjin-A-Djie, Sil Pater) 230-235 (QF);
Mixed: 1-India (Jyothi Surekha, Deotale) got a bye, bt Australia (Rhiannon Mills, Brandon Hawes) 156-152, lost to USA (Alex Ruiz, Sawyer Sullivan) 153-154.