Indian sports wrap, October 1: Mane leads air rifle dominance with double gold at ISSF Junior World Championships

SHOOTING

Mane leads air rifle dominance with double gold as India surges at Lima Junior Worlds

Parth Mane crowned himself as the World junior champion as he won the air rifle gold by beating Huang Liwanlin of China by 0.7 point in the World junior shooting championship in Lima, Peru.

Parth, trailing before the last shot as the Chinese had shot a perfect 10.9 to nose ahead, delivered a 10.6 last shot to secure the gold, as the Chinese shot 9.6.

Parth along with Ajay Malik and Abhinav Shaw who also made the final, won the team gold for India.

The three Indian women also made the final, but could not win an individual medal. However, Gautami Bhanot, Shambhavi Kshirsagar and Anushka Thokur won the team gold with a world record. Gautami lost the race for an individual medal by 0.2 point.

India was on top of the medals table with five gold and three bronze. China was second with two gold and a silver.

In junior women’s skeet, Mansi Raghuwanshi did well to shoot 109, despite an 18 in the fourth round, but missed the final by one point. She placed eighth.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

TENNIS

Ramkumar to face Shevchenko in first round of Shanghai Masters

Davis Cupper Ramkumar Ramanathan will play Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan in the first round of Shanghai Masters tennis tournament on October 3.

Ramkumar who has been competing in the doubles circuit in recent weeks, won two rounds of the qualifying event in singles to make the main draw of the mega event.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Sirohi, Krishnav ready for AAC challenge in Japan

Four Indians will be competing in the 2024 edition of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship with three of them trying their luck for the second consecutive year in the event, which offers a handsome prize money to amateur golfers.

Krishnav Nikhil Chopraa, who played college golf in the US, will be back for a second successive year along with Vedant Sirohi and Kartik Singh, a member of the Internationals team at the junior Presidents Cup.

Rakshit Dahiya, who has had a fair amount of success on the home circuit of the Indian Golf Union, is the only debutant in the four-member team.

The 14-year-old Kartik was brimming with confidence having flown straight from Canada, where he played the Junior Presidents Cup and secured 1.5 points out of three, as he lost in the four-ball, won the foursomes, and tied the singles.

“I have played in the US, but the Junior Presidents Cup and the Junior Players before that, was amazing, and it was a great experience,” said Kartik, who won the Singapore Juniors and was third at Junior Players.

Krishnav, son of former India cricketer Nikhil Chopraa, said, “Last year, my game was not at its best, but this time, the game is shaping up well.” Established in 2009, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship is the brainchild of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), The R&A and the Masters Tournament to develop amateur golf in the Asia-Pacific region.

The champion will receive an invitation to compete in the 2025 Masters Tournament and The 153rd Open, while the runners-up will gain a place in the Final Qualifying for The Open.

-PTI

Vizag Open: Veer Ahlawat, Manu Gandas to lead Indian challenge

The second edition of the Vizag Open will be held at the East Point Golf Club (EPGC) here from October 2 to 5 with a total prize money of Rs 1 crore.

The leading Indian professionals participating in the event include TATA Steel PGTI Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat, Manu Gandas, Olympian Udayan Mane, Rahil Gangjee, Aman Raj, Shaurya Binu, Dhruv Sheoran and Shankar Das, to name a few.

The prominent foreign participants at the event are defending champion N. Thangaraja of Sri Lanka, another Sri Lankan K Prabagaran, Czech Republic’s Stepan Danek, Bangladeshis Jamal Hossain, Badal Hossain, Md Akbar Hossain, Andorra’s Kevin Esteve Rigaill, Nepal’s Subash Tamang, Canada’s Sukhraj Singh Gill, South Korea’s Si In Kim, Japan’s Makoto Iwasaki and American Dominic Piccirillo.

The local challenge will be led by professionals S Muthu and Rahman Mehboob Shorif and amateurs Bharath Kollapudi and G Durga Prasad.

For his part, Uttam Singh Mundy, PGTI CEO, said they were delighted to return to the East Point Golf Club for the second edition of the eagerly awaited championship.

-Team Sportstar

BASKETBALL

Champion Ernakulam off to a flying start in Kerala State Senior Basketball Championship

Defending champion Ernakulam-men was off to flying start, brushing aside Idukki 73-50, in the 68th Kerala State Senior Basketball Championship at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Tuesday.

Kottayam’s Noyal Jose attempts a basket against Pathanamthitta in the Kerala State senior basketball championship in Kochi on Tuesday. 
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Muhammed Shiras was the top scorer for Ernakulam with 18 points.

Meanwhile Thiruvananthapuram me-, last year’s runner-up and packed with KSEB stars, eased past Kozhikode 97-55 while Kottayam defeated Pathanamthitta 61-57.

In the women’s section, Kozhikode raced to a 110-24 victory over Kasaragod while Thrissur thrashed Kollam 76-35.

-Stan Rayan