June 16: Indian sports news wrap of the day

June 16 daily sports wrap: Here are all the major developments from Indian sports today.

Meghana Sajjanar and Shahu Mane, the mixed air rifle gold medalists in the Kumar Surendra Singh shooting championship in Delhi on Thursday.

SHOOTING

Meghana, Mane win air rifle mixed team gold in the 20th Kumar Sudendra Singh C'Ships

Meghana Sajjanar and Shahu Mane outplayed Nisha Kanwar and Divyansh Singh Panwar 16-6 for the air rifle mixed team gold in the 20th Kumar Surendra Singh shooting championship at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Thursday.

The Railway pair came up with a high quality fare, consistently hitting an average of 10.4 or more on each shot in racing to victory after the two teams were on par at 4-4.

Delhi duo of Paarth Makhija and Rajshree Sancheti bagged one of the two bronze medals by beating Arshdeep Singh and Ramita Jindal 16-14. Delhi shot 20.6, a decimal point better than Haryana to clinch the decisive two points after the teams were tied on 14-14.

Karnataka looked to be cruising to victory in the first bronze medal match when Darius Saurastri and Smriti Prabhu led 15-7, but Surya Pratap Singh and Zeena Khitta caught up for HImachal Pradesh by drawing level. The Karnataka pair clinched the bronze with a score of 20.3 as against 20.0.

Nancy and Samarvir Singh won the junior gold for Haryana, by beating Uttar Pradesh duo of Anushree Rai and Vidit Jain 16-12.

Uttar Pradesh did bag the youth gold through Ajay Malik and Kruti Rai, as the pair prevailed 16-12 against Umamahesh Maddineni and Rashi Mittal of Andhra Pradesh.

The results:

Mixed air rifle : 1. Railways (Meghana Sajjanar, Shahu Mane) 16 (629.4); 2. Rajasthan (Divyansh Panwar, Nisha Kanwar) 6 (630.0); 3. Delhi (Paarth Makhija, Rajshree Sancheti) 16 (626.3); 4. Haryana (Arshdeep Singh, Ramita Jindal) 14 (627.6); 3. Karnataka (Darius Saurastri, Smriti Prabhu) 17 (627.0); 4. Himachal Pradesh (Surya Pratap Singh, Zeena Khitta) 15 (627.2). Juniors: 1. Haryana (Nancy, Samarvir Singh) 16 (627.4); 2. Uttar Pradesh (Anushree Rai, Vidit Jain) 12 (628.5); 3. Gujarat (Muskaan Kacholia, Rushiraj Jadeja) 17 (626.3); 4. Andhra Pradesh (Umamahesh Maddineni, Yashika Shriramoj) 13 (624.3); 3. West Bengal (Abhinav Shaw, Arnisha Chowdhury) 16 (625.6); 4. Punjab (Jasmeen Kaur, Parikshit Brar) 12 (624.8). Youth: 1. Uttar Pradesh (Ajay Malik, Kruti Rai) 16 (625.3); 2. Andhra Pradesh (Umamahesh Maddineni, Rashi Mittal) 12 (623.3); 3. Rajasthan (Dakshveer Singh, Devanshi Katara) 16 (621.3); 4. Karnataka (Darius Saurastri, Yukthi Rajendra) 12 (623.3); 3. Maharashtra (Parth Mane, Shikha Nanda) 17 (621.5); 4. Punjab (Mridvika Bhardwaj, Ripudaman Pnaech) 13 (622.0).

-Kamesh Srinivasan

TABLE TENNIS

Junior National TT C'Ships kicks off; Chitale, Swastika missing

Reigning champions Diya Chitale Parag (youth) and Swastika Ghosh (junior) will not be defending their titles when the 83rd Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships gets underway at the YMCA TT Arena here on Friday.

Diya Chitale has chosen to skip this event for personal reasons while Swastika is away playing in an ITTF event in Zagreb.

In the absence of these two players, Maharashtra's Jennifer Varghese, who recently won the under-15 title in the WTT Youth Contender event in Havirov, Czech Republic, will be the star attraction.

However, Jennifer, who will be competing in the under-17 category, will face a tough challenge from the top-ranked Suhana Saini (Haryana), Kavyasree Bhaskar (TN), Laksishita Narang and Riddhima Kapoor (both from Delhi).

Suhana Saini, who is the highest-ranked player in the under-19 category, will have to quell the challenge from the second-ranked Yashwini Ghorphade.

Tamil Nadu's Nithyasree Mani and Maharashtra's Pritha Vartikar are other players capable of winning the tournament. There is a lot at stake for the players as the Indian squad for the Asian Junior championships in Laos in September will be selected on the basis of performance in the nationals.

The top eight ranked players in each category will get direct entry into the main draw. The rest of the players are divided into groups and the winner of each group will qualify for the main draw.

Table Tennis Association of Kerala (TTAK), which is organising the tournament, has decided to award equal prize money to winners in the girl's category in this tournament itself though the Committee of Administrators (COA) had decided to restore parity in prize money from next season.

"As an added incentive we decided to implement the COA's decision in this tournament itself. The total prize money on offer is Rs 6.06 lakhs. The tournament has attracted entries from 500 players and to avoid a rush we will be conducting the girl's events first The boy's events will begin on June 21 and the finals will be played on June 23. The matches will be played on 16 tables at the renovated YMCA, TT Arena'' said N. Ganeshan, the TTAK president. Alappuzha District Collector Dr. Renju Raj will inaugurate the tournament.

-Praveen Chandran

AITA Super series juniors: Vatsal reaches U-18, U-16 finals

Vatsal Manikantan made both the finals of under-18 and 16 boys events in the AITA Super series junior tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex on Thursday. Vatsal beat Bhicky Sagolshem 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to set up a title clash with Anmol Nagpure in the under-18 section. In the under-16 event, Vatsal beat top seed Dhruv Sachdeva 6-3, 6-1 to set up a final with Kabir Chothani who beat the second seed Swastik Sharma 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-5. In the girl's section, Jaya Kapoor made both the finals. She will play Riya Kaushik in the under-18 final, and Aarushi Raval in the under-16 event. The results:

Boys: Under-18 (semifinals) : Vatsal Manikantan bt Bhicky Sagolshem 6-3, 1-6, 6-3; Anmol Nagpure bt Om Yadav 6-1, 6-2. Doubles (final): Shankar Heisnam & Bhicky Sagolshem bt Vatsal Manikantan & Anmol Nagpure 6-1, 6-2. Under-16 (semifinals): Vatsal Manikantan bt Dhruv Sachdeva 6-3, 6-1; Kabir Chothani bt Swastik Sharma 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-5. Doubles (final): Dhruv Sachdeva & Swastik Sharma bt Kabir Chothani & Jevin Kanani 2-6, 6-4, [10-7]. Girls: Under-18 (semifinals): Jaya Kapoor bt Suhani Gaur 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; Riya Kaushik bt Harleen Kaur Dhanda 6-1, 6-4. Under-16 (semifinals): Aarushi Raval bt Saijayani Banerjee 6-4, 1-6, 6-1; Jaya Kapoor bt Isheeta Midha 6-4, 6-4.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

TENNIS

ITF South Asia under-12 C'Ships: India beats Sri Lanka 3-0 to set up final against Pakistan

Indian boys defeated Sri Lanka 3-0 in the semifinals to set up a title clash with top seed Pakistan in the ITF South Asia under-12 tennis championship in Kathmandu on Thursday. In the girls round robin league, Indian continued with its victory run and beat Bangladesh 3-0, dropping a solitary game in all in the three matches. The Indian girls will play Sri Lanka in the last league match on Friday. With top two teams qualifying for the ITF Asian under-12 event to be held in Kazakhstan later in the year, both the Indian teams have already confirmed their entry and will play for pride on the morrow. The results:

Boys (semifinals): India bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Tavish Pahwa bt Minhas Muthuthanthri 6-1, 6-1; Fazal Ali Meer bt Bomullage Somaratna 6-4, 6-1; Kushagra Arora & Tavish bt Gracen Mayooran & Bomullage) 6-0,6-0). Pakistan bt Bangladesh 3-0 (Muhammad Rizwan bt Md. Rajib 6-2, 6-0; Abubakar Talha bt Kabbo Gayen 6-1, 6-0; Omar Jawad & Abubakar bt Mushfiqur Aron & Md. Rajib 6-1, 6-1). Girls (league): India bt Bangladesh 3-0 (Anandita Upadhyay bt Humayrah Zara 6-0, 6-0; Prachi Malik bt Sara Jasim 6-0, 6-1; Aahan & Prachi bt Sara & Humayrah 6-0, 6-0).

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Para Powerlifting

Asia-Oceania Para Powerlifting C'ships: Basha wins 2 silver medals on Day 2

New Delhi, Jun 16 (PTI) Veteran powerlifter Farman Basha clinched two silver medals at the ongoing Asia-Oceania World Para Powerlifting Open Championships in Pyeongtaek, South Korea on Thursday.

Basha, whose last medal came at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Indonesia, cleared the bar in all three rounds starting with 130kg, 132kg and 135kg for a total of 397kg, enough to clinch the silver in men's upto 54kg event.

He finished behind South Korea's Keun Jin Choi, who clinched the gold with a total of 465kg while Kyrgyzstan's Azizbek Zamirbek Uluu took the bronze with 362kg.

This was Choi's first major medal since the 2006 Asian Para Games.

"It's nice to win medals after a long time but I hope that our efforts are being recognised. My next target is the Asian Para Games following which I am planning retirement," said Basha, who was recovering from an injury in the last two years.

-PTI