June 2, Indian sports news wrap: Swapnil Kusale wins silver in World Cup, Kerala Blasters to start Women's team

June 2 daily sports wrap: Here are all the major developments from Indian sports today.

Published : Jun 02, 2022 21:12 IST

(From left) Swapnil Kusale, champion Serhiy Kulish and Aleksi Leppa, the medallists of the rifle 3-position event in the shooting World Cup in Azerbaijan.

SHOOTING

Swapnil Kusale wins silver in World Cup

Swapnil Kusale was beaten to the gold 16-10 by the Rio Olympics silver medalist Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine in the 50-metre rifle 3-position event in the shooting World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Thursday.

Swapnil was consistently in the shadow of the eventual champion as he shot 591 in qualification and was marginally behind in the second stage while making the cut for the gold match.

It was the first significant individual milestone for the 26-year-old Swapnil, who has been part of the gold-winning Indian team in the World Cup.

With a gold and a silver, India was joint seventh in the medals table with France, Kuwait and US. Korea led with three gold and a bronze. Serbia was second with two gold, a silver and a bronze, while Australia, Poland, Bulgaria and Ukraine Finland, the Czech Republic and Greece had also managed to win a gold medals.

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In the women’s 50-metre rifle 3-position event, Olympian Anjum Moudgil shot remarkably well to score the third-best score of 587 in qualifying for the ranking stage for the top eight. She had shot 587 earlier in the day in the elimination round as well.

Ayushi Podder (585) finished 16th, as she shot two points less than Anjum in the prone round, while Ashi Chouksey (584) was 20th. Both improved on their elimination score of 581 and 578 respectively. The results:

50m rifle 3-position:Men: 1. Serhiy Kulish (Ukr) 16 (411.0) 594; 2. Swapnil Kusale 10 (409.1) 591; 3. Aleksi Leppa (Fin) 407.8 (589); 14. Goldi Gurjar 586; 23. Deepak Kumar 583.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

ATHLETICS

Arjun, Priyanka qualify for under-20 Worlds

Madhya Pradesh’s Arjun Waskale (men’s 1500m) and Uttar Pradesh’s Priyanka Sirakwar (women’s 100m) struck form at the 20th National Federation Cup junior (under-20) athletics championships here on Thursday and qualified for the under-20 Worlds in Colombia in August.

The 18-year-old Priyanka, from Agra, clocked 11.80s in the women’s 100m heats to make the cut (qual. Standard 11.90) while Arjun Waskale, 18, broke the men’s 1500m meet record even as he qualified for Colombia.

Meanwhile, Priya H. Mohan, last year’s under-20 Worlds mixed relay bronze medallist, was the fastest going into the women’s 400m final with 53.45s while Rupal, the silver medallist at the National varsities meet in Bhubaneswar in February, was next best (53.91). The two have already qualified for the under-20 Worlds.

The results (gold medallist only):

Men: 1500m: Arjun Waskale (MP) 3:46.31s MR, OR 3:48.54. 5000m: Gagan Singh (Har) 14:44.92s. Pole vault: R. Sakthi (TN) 4.60m. Discus throw: Shubhkarman Ghotra (Pun) 53.00m.

Women: 1500m: Akansha (Raj) 4:33.99s. 5000m: Drashtiben Chaudhri (Guj) 16:53.33s. Shot put: Jasmine Kaur (Pun) 13.90m.

-Stan Rayan

TENNIS

Ramkumar loses in the pre-quarterfinals of the Surbiton Trophy

Lucky loser Ramkumar Ramanathan was beaten by Jordan Thompson in the pre-quarterfinals of the €134,920 Challenger tennis tournament in Surbiton.

Ramkumar had beaten Yuichi Sugita of Japan 7-6(2) in the third set tie-break in the first round, after having lost the second round of the qualification event. He also progressed into the doubles quarterfinals in partnership with John-Patrick Smith, following a walkover.

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In the Challenger in Czech Republic, Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni made the doubles final by beating the top seeds Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler of Austria 6-4, 6-4.

In the $25,000 ITF women’s event in Thailand, Karman Thandi made the quarterfinals by beating the seventh seed Erika Sema of Japan 2-6, 6-1, 6-1.

The results:

€ 134,920 Challenger, Surbiton, UK

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Jordan Thompson (Aus) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 7-5, 6-3; First round: Ramkumar bt Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(2).

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): John-Patrick Smith (Aus) & Ramkumar w.o. Radu Allbot (Mda) & Victor Vlad Cornea (Rou).

€ 90,280 Challenger, Prostejov, Czech Republic

Doubles (semifinals): Yuki Bhambri & Saketh Myneni bt Alexander Erler & Lucas Miedler (Aut) 6-4, 6-4; Roman Jebavy (Cze) & Andrej Martin (Svk) bt Sriram Balaji & Arjun Kadhe 6-7(3), 7-5, [10-7]; Quarterfinals: Yuki & Saketh bt Denys Molchanov (Ukr) & Franko Skugor (Cro) 7-6(4), 3-6, [13-11]; Balaji & Arjun bt Vit Kopriva & Jarosslav Pospisil (Cze) 6-3, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg (Fra) bt Rishab Agarwal 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Arthur Bouquier & Martin Breysach (Fra) bt Alexander Crnokrak (Aus) & Rishab Agarwal 6-4, 6-0.

$25,000 ITF women, Chiang Rai, Thailand

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Nao Hibino (Jpn) bt Rutuja Bhosale 6-3, 6-0; Karman Kaur Thandi bt Erika Sema (Jpn) 2-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Akiko Omae (Jpn) & Rutuja Bhosale bt Anastasiya Poplavska (Ukr) & Anastasia Ssukhotina 6-2, 6-3.

$15,000 ITF women, Rancho Santa Fe, US

Singles (first round): Klara Kosan (US) btt Pratyusha Rachapudi 6-2, 1-6, 6-1.

Harshini beats Harithashri in the Sub-Junior National Championship

Karnataka’s N Harshini recovered from the brink of defeat to beat Harithashri Venkatesh of Tamil Nadu 3-6, 7-6(0), 6-0 in the girls quarterfinals of the Ramesh Desai memorial National under-16 tennis championship at the KDLTA Complex on Thursday.

Title aspirant Asmi Adkar overcame stiff resistance from Mmaaya Rajeshwaran 7-6(5), 6-4.

In the boys section, Kriish Tyagi, Rethin Pranv, Tanussh Ghildyal and Tejas Ahuja made the semifinals.

The results (quarterfinals):

Boys: Kriish Tyagi bt Venkat Batlanki 6-2, 6-2; Rethin Pranav bt Debasis Sahoo 6-3, 6-1; Tanussh Ghildyal bt Aradhya Ksshitij 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; Tejas Ahuja bt Arjun Rathi 6-3, 6-3.

Girls: Aishwarya Jadhav bt Manognya Madasu 6-2, 6-1; Aakruti Sonkusare bt Sree Tanvi Dasari 6-3, 6-2; Asmi Adkar bt Maaya Rajeshwaran 7-6(5), 6-4; N Harshini bt Harithashri Venkatesh 3-6, 7-6(0), 6-0.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

FOOTBALL

Kerala Blasters to start its women's team

The Kerala Blasters FC, the Indian Super League runners-up, will start a women’s football team soon.

The Blasters have now appointed Rajah Rizwan as the director of its women’s team and the club’s new academy.

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“The Blasters have told the KFA that they will be fielding a team in the next Kerala Women’s League which is likely to be held in October,” P. Anilkumar, the general secretary of the Kerala Football Association, told Sportstar on Thursday.

“We had six teams in the last women’s league and we are likely to have 10 in the next edition.”

-Stan Rayan