Indian sports wrap, July 20: India’s Priya Malik wins silver in Budapest Ranking Series

WRESTLING

Budapest Ranking Series: Priya Malik wins silver, Manisha grabs bronze

Priya Malik picked up a silver medal after being beaten 4-3 by Brazil’s Pan-American silver medallist Thamires Machado in the women’s 76kg final at the Ranking Series wrestling event in Budapest.

The 20-year-old Indian, a former World under-20 champion and a two-time Asian under-23 champion, performed well to upset 2016 Olympics bronze medallist Elmira Syzdykova of Kazakhstan 7-2 and World under-23 bronze medallist Valeriia Trifonova 11-1 to book a place in the final.

Asian champion Manisha Bhanwala (62kg) bagged a bronze medal.

India topped the women’s team ranking with two gold, two silver and two bronze.

India’s Greco Roman wrestlers clinched two medals with Sumit winning a silver and Anil Mor securing a bronze.

Competing in the 60kg category, Sumit produced a dominant run before falling to Azerbaijan’s Nihat Mammadli 0-5 in the final.

Earlier, he began with a 9-3 win against Sadyk Lalaev, and pinned Korea’s Dahyun Kim and Kazakhstan’s Galym Kabdunassarov en route the final.

In the 55kg, world number one Anil lost his quarterfinal 1-6 to Emin Narimanovitch Sefershaev. Since his rival made it to the final, Anil bounced back in medal contention through the repechage route.

Up against world number three Artium Deleanu, the 18-year-old Indian won 7-0 and in the bronze medal play-off, he got the better of Uzbekistan’s Iktiyor Botirov, ranked fourth in the world.

-Team Sportstar (with inputs from PTI)

GOLF

Average day for Bhatia and Rai at British Open

Indian American golfer Akshay Bhatia shot a 1-under 70 in the third round to be Tied 34th at the British Open here.

Bhatia had two birdies on the seventh and the ninth and seemed to be ready to get more before two bogeys on the back nine.

Indo-British Aaron Rai, who had shown a lot of promise in the first eight holes on the first day, seemed to have lost that momentum. He shot even par 71 and was 18 places down on his second round to be T-44.

Sahith Theegala had missed the cut.

-PTI

BADMINTON

Badminton Asia Junior Mixed Team Championships: India beats Hong Kong China 110-100 to top Group D; to face Japan in quarterfinal

India maintained its all-win record in the group stage of the Badminton Asia Junior Mixed Team Championships in Indonesia by beating Hong Kong China 110-100 in the last Group D clash on Sunday to top the group standings.

India and Hong Kong China had already qualified for the knock-out stage before they faced-off on Sunday.

Rujula Ramu once again gave India a winning start, beating IP Sum Yau 11-8. World number 6 junior boys doubles combination of Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu then extended the lead to 22-13 against Cheung Sai Shing and Deng Chi Fai.

Hong Kong’s Lam Ka To helped his team close the gap as he scored 13 points before Rounak Chouhan could take India’s tally to 33.

With just six points separating the two teams at 55-49 after five matches, junior world no. 1 Tanvi Sharma dominated Liu Hoi Kiu Anna in the second girls’ singles to once again put India in the driver’s seat by extending the lead 66-54.

Though the next four matches were close, India kept its nose ahead and ensured that it topped the group and will now face Japan in the quarterfinals on Monday.

Japan finished second behind Thailand in Group A.

-Team Sportstar

MOTORSPORT

Arjun Chheda, Ishaan Madesh share honours

Teenagers put on a memorable show as they took the honours in both the premier categories, the MRF F2000 and F1600, as the first round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Car Racing Championship 2025 concluded at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore on Sunday.

Two 16-year-old drivers, Bengaluru’s Ishaan Madesh and Arjun Chheda from Pune won a race apiece in the MRF Formula 2000 class with the latter completing a double, having won Race-1 yesterday.

In the MRF Formula 1600 category, two Bengalureans, Arjun Nair, 20, and Nigel Abraham Thomas, 19, won one race each. All the races were highly competitive with more than their share of wheel-to-wheel racing.

– Team Sportstar

TENNIS

Dhakshineshwar-Nicolas pair wIn Loiusville ITF men’s doubles title

Dhakshineswar Suresh, in partnership with Nicolas Kotzen, beat Sekou Bangoura and Benjamin Kittay 6-3, 6-2 in the doubles final of the $30,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in Louisville, USA.

It was the second doubles title of the season for the 25-year-old Dhakshineswar, following the one in Indore in partnership with Parikshit Somani.

The Indo-American pair dropped only 17 games in all in four rounds, and not more than five games to any opponent.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

SQUASH

Anahat Singh to spearhead India’s challenge at World Junior Squash Championships

Teen squash sensation Anahat Singh will lead a 12-member Indian contingent at the World Junior Squash Championships, starting Monday at the Black Ball Sporting Club in Cairo.

The championships, running from July 21 to 26, will feature 234 of the world’s top under-19 players.

India’s squad comprises six men and six women competing in singles.

Anahat, seeded second in the women’s draw behind Egypt’s three-time defending champion Amina Orfi, is carrying rich form into the tournament. The 17-year-old, ranked 54th in the senior world rankings, recently clinched the U19 Asian girls’ title and also secured Asian senior doubles gold earlier this year.

Joining her in the women’s section is Anika Dubey, a bronze medallist in U17 at the Asian Junior Championships in South Korea last month.

In the men’s draw, Arihant KS and Yusha Nafees are seeded, while Aryaveer Dewan, the reigning U17 Asian champion, is also part of the squad. Egypt’s Mohamad Zakaria, the defending champion, is top seed in the men’s category.

No Indian has won an individual junior world title so far. Joshna Chinappa came closest as runner-up in 2005.

-PTI

CUE SPORTS

Five Indian cueists assure knockout berths in World 6-Red Snooker

Indian cueists had a good day in office as five of them were assured knockout berths in the IBSF World 6-Red Snooker Championships in Bahrain on Sunday.

Reigning champion Kamal Chawla, Manan Chandra, Brijesh Damani, Paras Gupta and Pankaj Advani registered twin wins apiece in their respective groups.

National champion Paras and three-time world champion Advani were solid from the get-go. The duo didn’t need much time to get accustomed to the conditions as they outplayed their rivals without breaking a sweat.

-PTI