Indian sports wrap, January 2: Lakshya Cup returns, Bihar excels in Rugby7s at National School Games

SHOOTING

Lakshya Cup: International stars to be in action on January 4, 5

Some of the best air rifle shooters, including the newly crowned national champions, Shahu Mane and Ananya Naidu, will be in action in the 15th Lakshya Cup Shooting Championship to be hosted at the Karnala Sports Academy in Panvel on January 4 and 5.

Former world No. 1 Divyansh Singh Panwar and two other Olympians Arjun Babuta and Sandeep Singh will be part of the competition, which was started in 2008 by Olympic finalist and world record holder Suma Shirur, who has the distinction of winning the Arjuna and Dronacharya awards for her rich contribution to shooting.

“We aim to recognise talent, reward excellence and provide a platform for shooters to showcase their skills at the highest level. This tournament is not just a competition, but a celebration of hard work, dedication and the spirit of sportsmanship,” said the High Performance Director of the Lakshya Club, Suma Shirur, when she addressed the media on Thursday.

“We value Lakshya Club’s contribution to Indian sport. We remain committed to supporting the growth of Indian sport,” said the Managing Director of RR Global, a company that has been supporting the competition since 2017.

Gender equality was first introduced in this competition right from the first edition, with men and women shooting the same number of shots, an idea that was eventually adopted by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) in 2017.

The field will have past champions and others with rich international achievements, including Rudrankksh Patil, Shriyanka Sadangi, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Kiran Jadhav, Hriday Hazarika, Ashi Chouksey, Deepak Kumar and Meghana Sajjanar.

After the qualification process on the first day, the finals of juniors will be held at 2 p.m. and the seniors at 3.30 p.m. on January 5.

-Team Sportstar

RUGBY SEVENS

Bihar excels in Rugby7s at Nationals School Games

Bihar Under-14 girls beat Odisha 10-5 on Thursday to win the Rugby Sevens Championship at the 68th National School Games at the Pataliputra Sports Complex in Patna. Maharashtra finished third.

Meanwhile, Bihar’s boys gave Maharashtra a taste of the humble pie with a score of 50-0.

Sanjay Kumar, Assistant Director of Sports at the Students and Youth Welfare Directorate distributed the trophies.

Earlier, at the U-19 championship, Bihar’s girls had won the first place, while the boys team had secured the second place. In the U-17 competition, both the boys and girls teams had emerged champions.

-Team Sportstar

GOLF

More stars confirm for Inernational Series at DLF

A few more top stars have confirmed their entry for the $2 million International Series golf tournament to be played at the DLF Golf and Country Club from January 30 to February 2.

Paul Casey joins Bryson DeChambeau, Anirban Lahiri and Joaquin Niemann, who had confirmed their entry earlier.

Champions Carlos Ortiz, Harold Varner III, Mito Pereira and Sebastian Munoz will be the other leading golf players competing in the first ever International Series event in India.

“We are confident that the course will offer the world’s best a stern test. We are looking forward to welcoming India’s golf fans and sports fans from all over the world,” said Aakash Ohri, the Joint Managing Director of DLF.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

TENNIS

Zhukov beat Dhakshineswar at the Indore ITF pre-quarters

Maxim Zhukov beat Dhakshineswar Suresh 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $30,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the Indore Tennis Club on Thursday.

Maxim, who had earlier beaten second seed Ramkumar Ramanathan in straight sets, will play Samir Banerjee of the USA in the quarterfinals.

Samir beat Dev Javia in straight sets, while qualifier Sidharth Rawat went down in three sets to Egor Agafonov.

Yuvan Nandal, Vishnu Vardhan, Chirag Duhan and Aryan Shah also bowed out, bringing the curtains down on the Indian challenge in singles.

However, three Indian pairs made it to the doubles semifinals, including Parikshit Somani and Dhakshineswar Suresh who edged out Yuichiro Inui and Sidharth Rawat 12-10 in the super tie-break of the quarterfinals. Parikshit and Dhakshineswar had earlier knocked out top seeds Egor Agafonov and Grigoriy Lomakin in straight sets.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

ITF women’s tennis tournament : Sahaja advances to quarterfinal

Sahaja Yamalapalli fought her way past third seed Han Shi of China 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $60,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Nonthaburi, Thailand, on Thursday.

In the quarterfinals, Sahaja will play eighth-seed Maria Mateas of USA.

The results:

$766,290 ATP, Brisbane, Australia

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rinky Hijikata & Jason Kubler (Aus) bt Rithvik Bollipalli & Robin Haase (Ned) 6-4, 6-2.

$100,000 Challenger, Nonthaburi, Thailand

Doubles (quarterfinals): Zdenek Kolar (Cze) & Neil Oberleitner (Aut) bt Ray Ho (Tpe) & Niki Poonacha 6-3, 6-3.

$60,000 ITF women, Nonthaburi, Thailand

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Sahaja Yamalapalli bt Han Shi (Chn) 5-7, 6-0, 6-2.

$30,000 ITF women, Nairobi, Kenya

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Joanna Garland (Tpe) bt Yashaswini Panwar 6-1, 6-1; Francesca Pace (Ita) bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 6-4, 6-0.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

CHESS

Nidhish Shyamal, Kiyanna Parihaar win open and girls’ titles in National U-9 Chess Championships

Telangana’s Nidhish Shyamal and Rajasthan’s Kiyanna Parihaar won the open and girls’ titles respectively in the 37th National U-9 Chess Championship here on Thursday.

Shyamal defeated Oishik Mondal of West Bengal by 9.5 points to take the top position. A student in Class 5 who had previously won the U-7 National Chess Championship in Ahmedabad, Shyamal, finished his win in 63 moves.

Parihaar got the better of Gujarat’s Ashwi Singh to win the title with 10 points while recording her win in 66 moves. A student in Class 4, Parihaar had won the title at the Asian Youth Championship in UAE in 2023.

Shyamal walked away with a prize money of Rs 50,000 with the winner’s trophy while the runner-up Aarit Kapil also got a trophy and Rs 36,000. Parihaar bagged the winner’s trophy and Rs 50,000 prize money while runner-up Divi Bijesh too got a trophy and Rs 36,000.

Results: Open: Thavish S (8.5pts, TN) drew with Aarit Kapil (9.5pts, DL); Oshik Mondal (8.5pts, WB) lost to Nidhish Shyamal (9.5pts, TS); Ayaan Phutane (8.5pts, KA) lost to Divith Reddy (9pts, TS); Garvit Jain (7.5pts, UP) lost to Advik Agrawal (8.5pts, MH); Sattwik Swain (8.5pts, OD) bt Saicharan Srinivasan (7.5pts, TN); Lishanth B (7.5pts, TN) lost to Arjun Singh (8.5pts, MH); Mani Sarbartho (8.5pts, WB) bt Anand Takkshanth (7.5pts, TN); Krithik Muthukumar (8pts, TN) drew with Parv Hakani (8pts, MH); Vishprajesh Anand (7.5pts, TN) lost to Sragvidha S (8.5pts, KA); Muhammad Ibrahim (8pts, KL) bt Hriday Garg (7.5pts, DL); Mohd Siddiqui (8pts, UP) bt Sidhant Rana (7pts, HR); Siddhant Kothari (7pts, MH) lost to Aadwik Krishna (8pts, KA): Heyan Reddy (7.5pts, MH) drew with Advik Mundhada (7.5pts, WB); Timmaraju Sathvik (7.5pts, TS) drew with Pratyush Kumar (7.5pts, UP); Shivin K (7.5pts, TN) drew with Shreyan Thipparthi (7.5pts, TS); Varchas Jayaraman (7.5pts, TN) drew with Varad Patil (7.5pts, MH); Ishaan Laddha (7.5pts, MH) drew with Devansh Keshri (7.5pts, BR).

Girls: Aashvi Singh (8pts, GJ) lost to Kiyanna Parihaar (10pts, RJ); Annanya Chinta (8pts, AP) lost to Divi Bijesh (9.5pts, KL); Vanshika Rawat (9pts, DL) bt Marksim Sriiyukthaa (7.5pts, TN); Radhya Malhotra (8.5pts, PB) bt Rajeswari Aiyappan (7.5pts, KA); Anvi Hinge (7.5pts, MH) lost to Aryahi Bhattacharya (8.5pts, WB); Shruti Sarkar (7.5pts, WB) lost to Karthik Uthaara (8pts, MH); Nakshatra Gumudavelly (7pts, KA) lost to Tvesha Jain (8pts, MH); Kaushi Kulkarni (8pts, KA) bt Deepanjali Srivastava (7pts, UP); Hariprana B (8pts, TN) bt Sahasra Varma Penumastha (7pts, AP); Srijani Naskar (7pts, WB) lost to Aarini Singh (8pts, GJ); Sai Puvvala (8pts, TS) bt Sloka Sujith (7pts, KL); Swara Phasge (6.5pts, TS) lost to Vihana, Kothari (7.5pts, RJ); Harshika M (7.5pts, TN) bt Darshvi Rai (6.5pts, KA); Kashika Goyal (7pts, HR) drew with Vamshika Boga (7pts, TS); Ghritakshi Lalwani (6.5pts, RJ) lost to Hanishka Mishra (7.5pts, KA); Yakshini P (7.5pts, TN) bt Sanskriti Yadav (6.5pts, UP); Anjali Shrivastava (6.5pts, MP) lost to Narayani Marathe (7.5pts, MH).

-PTI

Equestrian

 Chennai Equitation Centre shines in Junior National Championships 2024

The young horse-riders from the Chennai Equitation Centre secured 18 medals from the Junior National Championships 2024 in New Delhi. It is an all-time record for the team from Tamil Nadu.

Shubh Chowdhari was one of the most successful riders, returning with a total of three golds – two in Dressage one from the Show Jumping.

“Our team around the horses and riders was very dedicated throughout the year. It’s a great pleasure to see that our riders performed the best in the team competitions because they also support and challenge each other in training” says Vikas Pandey, one of the horse riding instructors at CEC.

-TEAM SPORTSTAR