SHOOTING
Khushi secured a hard-fought bronze in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions at the ISSF Junior World Championship in Lima, dramatically qualifying for the final before rallying to claim the third spot.
Her medal on Wednesday took India’s tally to 15, including 10 gold, one silver, and four bronze medals, keeping the country at the top of the standings.
The youngster shot 447.3 in the final to finish behind Caroline Lund of Norway who won silver with 458.3. Caroline’s compatriot Synnoeve Berg won gold with 458.4.
However, Khushi’s path to the podium was far from easy. She narrowly made it to the medal round, rallying brilliantly in the final standing position in qualifying to clinch the seventh spot with a score of 585.
It got so tight that there were four others on the same score. However, Khushi and Italian Anna Schiavon clinched the final two qualifying spots, scoring 29 inner-10 shots, while two Swiss athletes -- Alexa Tela and Emely Jaeggi -- managed 27.
Khushi finished ahead of Anna on countback.
In the eight-woman final, Khushi was fourth at the end of the first two positions -- Kneeling and Prone.
A strong finish in the Standing position allowed her to pip Norwegian Pernille Nor-Woll after the 40th shot to move up to third.
Synnoeve and Caroline were having their own battle for top-two throughout the 45-shot final.
Khushi wobbled again on the 41st shot with 9.1 which put her back down to fifth, but a brilliant 10.7 in the 42nd and 10.4 in 43rd ensured the bronze.
In the team competition in junior women’s 3P, the trio of Sakshi Padekar, Melvina Joel Gladson and Prachi Gaekwad, finished fifth with a tally of 1757.
Anoushka Thakur also shot 585 in qualification, but 26 hits in the inner-10 ring meant she ended 11th.
Sakshi, Melvina and Prachi finished 24th, 32nd and 41st respectively.
- PTI
GOLF
Krishnav Chopraa at tied 12th at AAC golf
Krishnav Nikhil Chopraa, son of former India cricketer Nikhil Chopra, played a steady opening round of 2-under 68 to be placed at a creditable tied 12th on a day of unpredictable winds at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championships here.
It was Chopraa’s best round at the AAC and he now lies three shots behind the leader, Randy Bintang of Indonesia (65).
Among other Indians, Vedant Sirohi (69) was tied 16th and Kartik Singh had a roller-coaster 71 with a bogey-bogey finish to be tied 31st. Debutant Rakshit Dahiya had a rough day with 75 and was tied 69th.
Bintang, a 10th tee starter, was 5-under with six birdies and one bogey and played two groups behind Chopraa.
Hong Kong’s Wang Ngai Shen shot 4-under 66 and shared the second place with two Japanese golfers Rintaro Nakano and debutant Taishi Moto.
Nakano’s 66 included an eagle and two birdies and no bogeys.
The 19-year-old Chopraa, who plays college golf at Long Island, US, had four birdies against two bogeys in tough-to-read-wind at the tree-lined tight course.
“I played my first nine, the back stretch of the course, well, but didn’t hit it well for my second half,” said Chopraa.
“I didn’t have a great start. On my first hole, the 10th, it was confusing. I hit a 4-Iron and a 6-Iron, and I just about got away with a par.
“On Par-5 11th, I bogeyed. Then after that I played well. I got birdies on 12th and almost holed my second shot on the 16th (his seventh),” he said.
On his back nine, his hitting was good and holed a few good putts, too.
He had two good birdies on the third and the sixth, his 12th and the 15th and made some good pars.
Sirohi, who plays college golf at the Webber International University, had a great start with birdies on the third and the sixth as his approach shots were inside five feet and two feet.
He bogeyed the ninth but hit a superb shot with Gap Wedge on the Par-4 14th to four feet for a birdie.
On the 15th, he was in serious trouble and instead of trying any heroics he gave away a shot and finished at 1-under.
The 14-year-old Kartik, who last year became the youngest ever to make the cut at the AAC, finished bogey-bogey after a fine rally from an early double bogey.
Kartik admitted that he went into the bunkers too often. “Maybe I have had my share of bunkers for the week today,” he said.
He had an early double bogey on his second hole, the 11th of the course as he missed the fairway and found a bunker, too.
The tenacious teen fought back brilliantly with birdies on the 16th and the 18th to make the turn in even par.
“I was playing fine and then came bogeys on the eighth and the ninth, my last two holes. Bunkers cost me heavily,” said Kartik.
“It is not an easy course but I hope to fight back tomorrow,” he added.
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