ARCHERY
Compound men archers assure of silver, women bag bronze in WC Stage 2
Indian compound archers ensured two team medals in the Archery World Cup Stage-2 in Gwangju, Korea, on Wednesday.
The men's team reached the final, while the women claimed the bronze medal.
The fourth-seeded India – comprising Abhishek Verma, Aman Saini and Rajat Chauhan – defeated Italy 235-229, the USA 234-228 and host and top-seeded Korea 233-233 (shoot-off 29-26) to make it to the men's team final. India will meet sixth-ranked France in the title clash.
In a limited field, the fifth-placed Indian women's team – consisting of Avneet Kaur, Muskan Kirar and Priya Gurjar – got a first round bye and beat Chinese Taipei 228-226 before losing to top-seeded host Korea 230-228 in the semifinals.
India pipped Turkey – comprising Ayse Bera Suzer, Yesim Bostan and Songui Lok – 232-231 in the bronze medal match.
In the recurve rankings, Tarundeep Rai (662), Neeraj Chauhan (651), Jayanta Talukdar (647) and Sachin Gupta (647) took 15th, 32nd, 39th and 40th spots respectively among men.
Ridhi Phor (629), Komalika Bari (621), Ankita Bhakat (606) and Simranjieet Kaur (588) placed 14th, 24th, 43rd and 53rd respectively among women.
India was seventh with 1960 points in men's team, fifth with 1856 points in women's team and seventh with 1291 points in mixed team rankings.
-Y. B. Sarangi
SHOOTING
The domination of India in the Junior World Cup shooting in Suhl, Germany, continued with the team adding two gold and a silver in the 25-metre rapid fire pistol event.
In the mixed team competition of rapid fire pistol, Simranpreet Kaur Brar and Vijayveer Sidhu beat compatriots Anish Bhanwala and Tejaswani 17-9 for the gold.
In the men’s team competition, Anish, Vijayveer and Sameer helped India win the gold in majestic fashion, outclassing Thailand 17-1, after having reigned supreme in the two stages of qualification.
In women’s skeet team event, Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Darshna Rathore and Areeba Khan qualified for the bronze medal match against Germany, while Slovakia and Britain were set for the gold match.
The Indian junior men’s skeet shooters could not make an impact. Abhay Singh Sekhon shot 113 for the 23rd spot, the best of the lot in a field of 64.
India took its tally to 13 gold, 14 silver and four bronze, comfortably on top of the table. Iraly was a distant second with four gold and five bronze. Poland (3), US (2), France (2), Germany, Australia and Bulgaria shared the rest of the gold medals decided so
far.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
TENNIS
Ramkumar exits French Open Qualifying event
Ramkumar Ramanathan bowed out of the French Open Qualifying event with a straight set defeat against 18-year-old French player Sean Cuenin, bringing curtains on India's singles challenge at the major event here on Wednesday.
Ramkumar's 6-7 (6) 4-6 defeat against a player, who is ranked 595, means that none of India's singles player will compete in the main draw of the Clay Court Grand Slam.
Ramkumar, ranked 178th, had knocked out ninth seed and world number 114, Yannick Hanfmann from Germany in the opening round but could not sustain the momentum.
Sumit Nagal and Yuki Bhambri have already exited from the qualifying event of the clay court major.
Nagal, who has returned to competitive tennis after recovering from a surgery, had lost to Argentina's Pedro Cachin (ranked 152).
Bhambri, who is also on a comeback trail, had lost 3-6 5-7 to Altug Celikbilek (183) from Turkey.
-PTI
Ankita Raina beaten in ITF Italia
Angelica Reggi beat Ankita Raina 7-6(5), 6-2 in the first round of the $60,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Rome, Italy.
In a similar tournament in the US, Sharmada Balu made the doubles quarterfinals with Maria Kononova. In the $25,000 event in Portugal, Riya Bhatia outplayed Sara Lauca 6-0, 6-2 in the first round.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Asian U-16 tournament
Levin Safoor Mydeen fought his way past eighth seed Priyansh Barthwal 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the Asian U-16 tennis tournament at the Modern School courts, Barakhamba Road, on Wednesday.
The U-14 champion last week at the same venue, Levin will play Dhruv Sachdeva in the semifinals. The other semifinal will be between second seed Jason David and Akshat Dhull.
In the girls section, top seed Riya Bhatia battled past Sree Tanvi Dasari in three sets to meet Aakruti Sonkusare in the semifinals. The other semifinal will be between Nainika Bendram and Saumrita Verma.
- Kamesh Srinivasan
GOLF
Tvesa, Aditi among 5 Indians at Jabra Ladies Open
Tvesa Malik and Aditi Ashok will lead a big Indian challenge at the Jabra Open as the Ladies European Tour returns to Europe this week.
The strong field of 132 includes five Indians.
Tvesa has played in Asia recently while Aditi Ashok hops from across the Atlantic where she plays the LPGA to get ready for the Majors in Europe.
The other Indians in the field are Amandeep Drall, who has travelled a lot over the past 18 months in search of events, Vani Kapoor and Suchitra Ramesh, who plays regularly on the Indian domestic Tour.
Tvesa is paired with former Hero Women's Indian Open winner, Camille Chevalier, and Spain's Harang Lee, while Aditi plays alongside Lucie Malchirand of France and Linn Grant of Sweden.
Amandeep Drall is paired with Ainil Bakar of Malaysia and England's Florentyna Parker, and Vani plays with Katja Pogacar and Emma Grechi of France.
Suchitra is drawn with Olivia Mehaffey of Norther Ireland and Klara Sionkava of Czech Republic.
Situated in the picturesque Evian Resort Golf Club on the banks of Lake Geneva, the French destination will see the LET stars compete for a Euro 250,000 purse over 54 holes from Thursday to Saturday this week.
The last year's winner Pia Babnik will be back to try to defend her crown, which she won in a playoff against 2020 champion Annabel Dimmock last time around, with Dimmock also in the field once again this week.
The 2010 Order of Merit winner Lee Ann Pace will also be looking to challenge at the top of the leaderboard, with the South African hoping to add to her 11 LET tournament victories in her career.
Pace has already tasted success this year at the Investec South African Women's Open, and there will be a further five 2022 winners in the field, with last week's Aramco Team Series -Bangkok winner Manon De Roey also in the field.
Meghan MacLaren (Australian Women's Classic) and Maja Stark (Women's NSW Open) will also be looking to make it two wins for the season, as will Linn Grant, who took the spoils at the Joburg Ladies Open back in March.
Johanna Gustavsson comes into the week off the back of a third second-place finish of the season is Bangkok, with the Swede also finishing as runner-up at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International earlier in the year, as well as at the Women’s NSW Open.
-PTI
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