SHOOTING
ISSF Junior World C’Ship: Indian shooters win two bronze medals to stay on top
Indian rifle and pistol shooters won two bronze medals in their respective 10m mixed team events at the ISSF Junior World Championship in Lima, Peru.
The bronze medals on day two of the competitions at the International Shooting Sport Federation event took India’s count to five medals (two gold and three bronze).
The rifle shooters went first and Gautami Bhanot and Ajay Malik shot a combined score of 628.9 after 30-shots each to finish third among 34 pairs.
The performance qualified them for the bronze medal match with the fourth-placed Croatian pair of Anamarija Turk and Darko Tomasevic, which they won 17-9.
China won its first gold of the competition defeating France in the final.
The second Indian pair, Abhinav Shaw and Shambhavi Kshirsagar finished sixth overall with a score of 628.1.
In the mixed pistol event, both the Indian pairs finished third and fourth respectively in the qualification to set up a bronze showdown between themselves.
Lakshita and Parmod prevailed in the end, getting the better of Kanishka Dagar and Mukesh Nelavali 16-8.
Germany went on to win gold while Ukraine bagged the silver.
It was Lakshita’s second medal of the competition, having won a gold in the air pistol team event on Saturday.
-Team Sportstar
BADMINTON
Young Indian shuttler Raksha Kandasamy wins titles in Croatia and Belgium
Young Indian badminton player Raksha Kandasamy continued her brilliant run as she clinched back-to-back titles in the Croatian International and Belgium Junior tournaments.
The 16-year-old remained unbeaten throughout the two tournaments as she won each of her five games en route to her title wins.
Raksha defeated England’s Leona Lee 21-9, 21-5 in the final of the Croatian International played at Samobor on Sunday. She had earlier defeated Bulgaria’s Stefani Stoeva 21-14, 21-23 in the semifinal and Poland’s Joanna Rudna 21-11, 21-10 in the quarterfinal.
Earlier, Raksha had crushed the challenge from Tammi van Wonterghem of Belgium 21-5, 21-8 in the quarterfinals of the Belgium Junior event.
Ireland’s Siofra Flynn presented a strong fight against Rakha, but the Indian prevailed 21-8, 19-21, 25-23 in their last-four clash.
Raksha beat Germany’s Gloria Poluektov 21-14, 10-21, 22-20 in the final played in the Belgian city of Herstal.
-PTI
GOLF
Sharma finishes T-57 as Hidalgo triumphs over Rahm in Spain
India’s Shubhankar Sharma posted a modest final round of one-over 72 to finish in a disappointing Tied-57th place at the 2024 Acciona Open de España.
Sharma, who held the spotlight with three eagles, two of them in the third, also dropped three double bogeys during the four rounds. He dropped a double in the first, third and final rounds, carding 74-70-69-72 to be one-over for the week.
Spaniard Angel Hidalgo secured his maiden DP World Tour title by defeating three-time champion Jon Rahm in a playoff. The duo faced off in an all-Spanish final group alongside David Puig, with both players finishing tied at 14 under par after Rahm’s birdie-birdie finish.
-PTI
MOTORSPORT
Sai Sanjay finishes on podium in British GT Championship
Indian driver Sai Sanjay finished creditable third overall and also made it to the podium in silver class in the GT4 category of the British GT Championship here.
The 21-year Indian driver from Chennai did a commendable job in the last round of the British GT championship, where popular Tamil actor Ajith Kumar will be making his debut in the GT4 next year.
Driving for Britain-based motorsports team Race-Lab, Sanjay qualified P4 overall in the class and finished third overall, in a rare feat by an Indian.
Sanjay, the 2022 Indian national champion in the MRF Formula 2000, drove a McLaren Artura GT4 car in the GT4 Silver category with British driver Callum Davies, and exhibited his driving skills to bag a podium finish.
This is Sanjay’s first year in international GT racing and he is also the first from Tamil Nadu to drive a whole season in British GT races.