TOP 10 in ASIA – Page 2 – Global Records India

Bhanwala becomes first Indian to win medal at U23 Worlds, takes bronze

PONTEVEDRA: Sajan Bhanwala became the first Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to win a medal at the Under-23 World Championship when he edged past Ukraine’s Dmytro Vasetskyi on ‘criteria’ to emerge winner in the bronze play-off, here.

It was the Ukrainian who pulled off a four-pointer on the edge of the circle for a solid start but Bhanwala bounced back immediately with a strong move that got him into a position from where he could pin his rival.

Though he could not pin his rival, it was good enough to earn four points. Bhanwala lost two more points and got into defensive mode.

For staying passive, Bhanwala put on a ‘Par Terre’ position, something Indian wrestlers are very poor at defending and the Ukrainian pulled off another four-pointer from the ground position for a handsome 10-4 lead.

Bhanwala scored two points with a take-down move and with 35 seconds left in the bout, managed to push his rival on the back to level the scores.

The bout ended at 10-10 but since the Indian had scored the last point he was declared winner on criteria.

Bhanwala had begun with a 3-0 win over Lithuania’s Aistis Liaugminas but lost his pre-quarterfinal bout to Moldova’s Alexandrin Gutu.

As Gutu made the final, Bhanwala bounced back into medal contention via the repechage route and he made full use of that with a 9-6 win over Kazakhstan’s Rassul Zhunis.

Meanwhile, Vikas will fight for a bronze in the 72kg after losing his semifinal by technical superiority to Croatia’s Pavel Puklavec.

He will be up against the winner of the repechage contest between Georgios Theodoros Sotiriadis and Jpana’s Daigo Kobayashi.

Before losing his semifinal clash, Vikas beat Kyrgyzstan’s Adilkhan Nurlanbekov and home team rival Marcos Sanchez Silva Mejias by technical superiority, losing just one point across bouts.

In the 60kg category, Sumit got back to medal reckoning when he made the repechage round. He will be up against Kazakhastan’s Olzhas Sultan.

In the 67kg competition, Ashu bowed out after losing his qualification bout by technical superiority to Georgia’s Diego Chkhikvadze.

Six Greco-Roman wrestlers travelled to the Spanish city for the championship along with two women and one free-style wrestler while visas of 21 other Indians were rejected by the Embassy of Spain.

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India crush Sri Lanka by 8 wickets to win women’s Asia Cup

India maintained their dominance in the Women’s Asia Cup with an eight-wicket demolition of a self-destructing Sri Lanka in the final here on Saturday for their seventh title in eight editions.

Sri Lanka, who were playing their first tournament final in 14 years, imploded after opting to bat on a slow and turning pitch.

They could only manage 65 for nine which India knocked off in 8.3 overs. Smriti Mandhana struck a sublime 51 not out off 25 balls.

It was a procession after Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu got run out in the third over following a mix-up with Anushka Sanjeewani who too got run out six balls later.

Renuka, who has been in top form since the Commonwealth Games in August, sent back Hasini Perera on the very first ball she faced. The left-hander checked her shot only to be caught at cover, leaving Sri Lanka at nine for four.

The Sri Lankans were in dire need of a partnership but Kavisha Dilhari’s fall made it 16 for five as she was bowled while trying to play an incoming delivery from Renuka across the line.

Rajeshwari Gayakwad got her first wicket after Nilakshi de Silva played onto her stumps while trying to cut a ball close to her body.

At 32 for eight, being bowled out for a sub-50 total was very much on the cards, but Ranaweera saved them from that ignominy with an unbeaten 18 off 22 balls.

The Indians bowled with discipline but poor shot selection contributed more to Sri Lanka’s steep slide. After a memorable win over Pakistan in the semifinals, it seemed the occasion got the better of Sri Lanka. India lost Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues cheaply in the run chase.

However, both the batters did well in the tournament, with Shafali getting back to form and Jemimah making a successful comeback from injury.

The elegant Mandhana played some exquisite strokes on way to completing the formality alongside skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (11 not out of 14).

Smriti’s effort included three sixes and six boundaries. Fittingly, she sealed the win with a maximum off Oshadi Ranasinghe. The win is a shot in the arm for India’s preparations for the T20 World Cup next year.

They were able to test players for different roles during the competition, though that also contributed to their only loss in the tournament, against Pakistan in the league stage.

The Indians took a lap of the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium and, in a fine gesture, got clicked with the entire ground staff after their triumph, which was witnessed by a sizeable turnout.

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Rudrankksh, Arjun, Kiran win India’s fifth gold in ISSF Worlds

Payal Khatri and Sahil Dudhane won India’s fourth bronze of the championships in the same event, defeating Ane Torgersen and Hans Noestvold of Norway 16-14 in a close encounter.

Indian men’s 10m air rifle troika of Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil, Kiran Ankush Jadhav and Arjun Babuta won the country’s fifth gold medal in the ISSF World Championship, routing China 16-10 in the title round.

It was also Patil’s second senior world championship gold in his very first outing, having won the individual 10m air rifle event earlier. India also picked up a silver and two bronze medals on the day to take their tally to five gold, one silver and five bronze, to maintain their second place behind China in the standings. With the women’s 10m air pistol team also making the gold medal match, that tally is certain to go up further by the end of the tournament.

The Indian team raced ahead 14-2 in the final against a Chinese side which had Yang Haoran (double Olympic gold medallist and two-time world champion), Lihao Sheng (Tokyo Olympics silver medallist) and Song Buhan (world championship silver medallist). China mounted a strong comeback to win the next four series and narrow the gap to 14-10, but the Indians held their own in the final series to clinch the crown. Both the teams were at each other from Saturday itself when the Chinese prevailed over the Indians, both in round one of qualification of 28 teams and then in the top eight second round as well.

In round one, China edged India by 0.4, while 0.9 was the difference in round two. In the match that mattered the most, however, it was the Indians who finally stamped their supremacy over the Chinese in men’s air rifles in this world championship edition at least, winning both the individual and team titles. The air rifle women, who had a heartbreak in the individual event, redeemed themselves with a bronze in the team event, prevailing 17-11 in a nail-biter against Germany.

Meghana Sajjanar shot two consecutive 10.9s in the crucial stages to clinch the deal along with partners Elavenil Valarivan and Mehuli Ghosh. They had earlier finished third in qualification stage two to miss out on the gold match by 0.6 points. In stage one, they had shot 947.0 to finish second, a mere 0.1 behind China, among 30 teams. Manvi Jain and Sameer won India’s first silver of the championships, going down to China’s Feng Sixuan and Liu Yangpan 17-03 in the gold medal match of the 25m standard pistols mixed team junior competition.

They had come second in stage one of qualification with a score of 564 and then topped stage two with a combined effort of 378 to make it to the title decider. Payal Khatri and Sahil Dudhane won India’s fourth bronze of the championships in the same event, defeating Ane Torgersen and Hans Noestvold of Norway 16-14 in a close encounter. The pair had finished third in stage one with 563 and then third again in stage two with 368, to qualify for the bronze match. In the men’s 10m air pistol team competition, the Indian trio of Shiva Narwal, Naveen and Vijayveer Sidhu shot 580 in qualification stage two to finish fifth eventually.

Also, in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions team Junior event, India’s Nishchal, Nikita Kundu and Nupur Kumrawat ended 10th in qualification with a score of 1278

Rudrankksh Patil wins World Championship, rallying from 4-10 down to beating Sollazzo 17-13 in gold duel

Indian 18 year old had topped 10m air rifle qualification, and brought India its first Paris Games quota place in air rifle.

India’s Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil scored a sensational come-from-behind victory in the men’s 10m Air rifle final, beating Italy’s Danilo Sollazzo 17-13 in a shootout, to win the gold medal at the ongoing World Championships in Cairo on Friday. In the process of winning gold, Patil also earned India its first pistol/rifle event quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The other two quotas besides India and Italy went to China (Lihao Sheng finishing 3rd & Haoran Yang 4th) and Czech Republic through Jiri Privatsky (5th).

India’s last World Champion in the men’s air rifle was Abhinav Bindra at Zagreb in 2006, while Gagan Narang picked a bronze at the World Championships at Munich in 2010. Anjum Moudgil won silver in women’s in 2018.

The final was a glimpse into what the ISSF has in plans for the Paris Games with regards to the format. The last rule change meant that the eight participants in the final compete for rankings from 1-8. After a series of three, consisting of five shots per series, the two shooters with the least number of points are eliminated. From thereon out, two shooters get eliminated at the end of every series, until only the top 2 remain. Those two are then supposed to battle it out in a first-to-16 duel scenario, where a level score for both nets a point, and the higher score between both leads to two points to the winner.

After a 51.8 in his first series, Patil never shot under 52 for the next four series. The result – a score of 261.9, the second position in hand and the chance to go for gold with the slate all clean. Facing him in the final duel would be Italian shooter Danilo Sollazzo who had shot a monstrous 262.7 to qualify for the shootout.

In the shootout the first two attempts for both led to an identical 10.5 score which meant the scores were tied at 2-2. Sollazzo then took the lead in the next two shots as he continued to hit 10.5 and Patil managed only a 10.3 in his next couple of attempts. The scores now were 6-2. The Italian attempted to seize the initiative of the shootout, scoring yet another 10.5. But the 18-year-old Indian shooter responded with a perfect 10.9 to some loud shouts from the Indian contingent watching in support. At 6-4 though, Sollazzo won the next two rounds making the score 10-4.

At this point, it seemed hard to imagine a comeback for the Thane-teen. But the Italian’s next shot was a 10.3 and Patil responded with a 10.6. Both shooters then shot an identical 10.4 to claim a point apiece and make the scores 11-7 in favour of the Italian. The Italian lost two further points when he shot 10.2 and his counterpart replied with a 10.6.

But Sollazzo was far from done. In the next set, he dropped a 10.7 to Patil’s 10.4 to take his lead to four points again. But at 13-9, the Italian would not score any more points.

The comeback

Patil has been in shootouts before. In fact, before the World Championships, he found himself in one against Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar at the T6 national shooting trials. Patil eased to a 16-6 victory then and made his way to Cairo.

Here, down by four points, Patil began his comeback. But it began with a strategically placed time out, one where the Italian shooter, who was in some fine rhythm, was disrupted and had to wait for 30 seconds to take his shot. This moment was crucial as Rudrankksh returned from the timeout with a 10.5 to Sollazzo’s 10.3

The crowning moment of the match though was the next shot. With the scores tied at 13-apiece, Sollazzo brought out the calibre he had shown all through the event and dropped a 10.7. The Italian was cheered by his contingent and then all of a sudden, those cheers died a quick death as Patil dropped a 10.8. It was the turning moment of the match – one that gave the Indian a 15-13 lead. He quickly won the next two points as well to seal the gold medal at a World Championship.

Pragathi tops FIA Rally Star Asia-Pacific final

Australia’s 19-year-old Taylor Gill, a mechanic by profession, and Pragathi Gowda from India were declared winners of the FIA Rally Star Asia-Pacific final which concluded at the Madras International Circuit here on Wednesday.

A four-member jury after considering the timesheets and then interviewing the finalists declared Gill, who hails from New Castle, as the overall winner of the final, while Pragathi won in the women’s category.

TN women trump Goa

S Anusha’s all-round performance (41 n.o & 1/11) and Niranjana Nagarajan’s three-fer helped Tamil Nadu beat Goa by 15 runs in the Group B clash of the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy held in Gauwahati on Wednesday. Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 115 in 20 ovs (Anusha 41 n.o, Nikita 5/27) bt Goa 100/9 in 20 ovs (Sanjula 35; Niranjana 3/19).

MOP Vaishnav bags title
MOP Vaishnav College for Women defeated Stella Maris college 3-0 in the final and won the inter-zone (women) table tennis organised by University of Madras. Stella Maris came second, while ‘B’ Zone Combined team came third. ‘A; Zone Combined team came fourth.

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Sreejesh, Savita voted FIH Men’s and Women’s Goalkeepers of Year

Sreejesh played in all six games at 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games where India won the silver medal

India’s P. R. Sreejesh and Savita Punia were on Wednesday voted FIH Men’s and Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year respectively for the second year running, on the back of their strong shows under the bar.

In his 16th year as a full international for India, Sreejesh once again showed his value to the team, playing in all 16 games in the FIH Hockey Pro League as India finished in the third position.

He also played in all six games at 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games where India won the silver medal.

“The longevity of P. R. Sreejesh’s career continues to defy logic as the 34-year-old Indian shot-stopper continues to raise his game as the years roll on,” the FIH said in a statement on Sreejesh, who had also won the award last year.

Sreejesh got 39.9 total points in the voting, followed by Belgium’s Loic van Doren (26.3 points) and Netherlands’ Primin Blaak (23.2 points). The votes were cast online by experts (40%), teams (20%), fans (20%) and media (20%).

Sreejesh is the third player to win back-to-back FIH Goalkeeper of the Year award. A similar feat was achieved in the past by David Harte (Ireland) who won the award in 2015 and 2016, and Vincent Vanasch (Belgium) who won it three consecutive times from 2017 to 2019.

During the course of the season, Sreejesh also completed 250 international appearances, becoming the eighth Indian and the only goalkeeper to achieve the feat.

“No doubt, this is a special award because the hockey fans are voting for us. This is a big honour for me and a testimony to all the hard work,” said Sreejesh who is currently at the SAI Centre, Bengaluru along with his teammates in the national camp for the upcoming FIH Hockey Pro League.

“Winning awards, no matter at what stage in your career you are at, is always a motivating factor. This award surely motivates me to further improve and do well in an all-important year where we will play the FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar-Rourkela 2023.” The 32-year-old Savita finished on top of the voting with 37.6 points. Argentina legend Belén Succi received second most points with 26.4, followed by Australia stalwart Jocelyn Bartam (16 points).

‘Big surprise’ for Savita

Savita is now only the third athlete to win the Goalkeeper of the Year (women) for consecutive years since the inception of the award in 2014.

“This surely is a big surprise and a very pleasant one. I am sure many Indian hockey fans voted for us and I thank each one of them,” said Savita who is currently playing for Haryana in the National Games in Gujarat.

Savita was instrumental in leading India to a podium finish in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2021-22, in their debut campaign, pulling off an astounding 57 saves in the 14 games she played.

Her form only improved at the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup, as she pulled off some incredible saves as India held the eventual gold medallists England to a draw in the pool stages. She also had a remarkable game in the cross-over match against Spain, making seven saves that had the viewers rubbing their eyes in disbelief.

Savita then inspired the team to a bronze medal in the 2022 CWG in Birmingham, as India ended a 16-year podium drought at the Games. She had a stellar game in the bronze medal match against New Zealand, which included multiple match-winning saves in the shoot-out.

“Savita was magnificent in defense of the Indian goal, often astounding her opponents with her ability to pull off saves from impossible situations. It therefore comes as no surprise that she received nearly twice as many votes from her peers around the world, as anyone else nominated in the best goalkeeper category at the FIH Hockey Stars Awards,” the FIH said.

“Savita’s win comes from her goalkeeping heroics, but her impact on her team looms even larger, as not only is she the backbone of the Indian defense, but also plays a crucial role in leading the side, having taken over captaincy from the talismanic Rani Rampal, who missed large parts of the previous year due to injury.”

On Tuesday, India forward Mumtaz Khan was voted the FIH Women’s Rising Star of the Year on the back of her stellar role during the country’s campaign at the Junior World Cup in South Africa earlier this year.

Tel Aviv Open: Rohan Bopanna wins men’s doubles title with Matwe Middelkoop, his third of season

The 42-year-old Indian now breaks back into the top 20 rankings for the first time since August.

Rohan Bopanna partnered Matwe Middelkoop to win his third tour title of the year, when the pair beat third seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 6-2, 6-4, in the ATP 250 Tel Aviv Open on Sunday.

With the doubles crown, the 42-year-old now breaks back into the top 20 rankings for the first time since August, currently placed 19. Earlier this year, he had partnered Ramkumar Ramanathan to win titles in Adelaide and Pune.

But this was the first title he won with his Dutch partner. The duo had reached the final at the Hamburg Open and semifinals at the French Open earlier this year. They also hold a 16-10 record this season.

The top seeds in Israel however, had to work their way back into each of the three matches they played before getting to the final.

They beat Hamad Medjedovic and Yshai Oliel 4-6, 7-6(4), 10-6 in the first round. In the quarterfinal they beat Denys Molchanov and Franko Skugor 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-5 before beating the all-French team of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-8.

In the final though, they played their best tennis.

“I think those close matches, pulling through those you’re obviously having more court time, you’re trying to come through and fight some close battles,” Bopanna said to the ATP website.

“We were a couple of points or one point away from losing those matches, so sometimes those weeks make a huge difference for your confidence.”

This was Bopanna’s first event since the US Open. He was scheduled to compete for India in the Davis Cup World Group 1 tie against Norway, but pulled out because of a knee injury.

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Ind vs Eng 2nd WODI | Harmanpreet powers India to first series win in England in 23 years

Harmanpreet Kaur scored a magnificent 143 not out (111 balls) as India put on board a mammoth 333 for 5 against England in the 2nd ODI. India won by 88 runs

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur smashed a scintillating unbeaten ton to power India to a comprehensive 88-run win in the second ODI, that sealed country’s first series win against England since 1999.

A vintage Harmanpreet rekindled the memories of 2017 World Cup with a magnificent 143 not out which came off just 111 balls as India put on board a mammoth 333 for 5.

India bundled out England for 245 in 44.5 overs with medium pacer Renuka Singh (4/57) claiming four wickets on Wednesday night.

Danni Wyatt’s 58-ball 65 was the lone bright spot, in an otherwise, dismal show by England batters.

The last time Indian women won an ODI series in England was in 1999 when they triumphed 2-1.

Indian bowlers come good

Chasing the imposing total, what England needed was a brisk start, but Renuka denied them by dismissing two top-order batter in Emma Lamb (15) and Sophia Dunkley (1).

Tammy Beaumont (6) was run out as the hosts were reduced to 47 for 3 by the end of the eighth over.

Alice Capsey (39) and Wyatt stitched 55 runs for the fourth wicket and then Wyatt shared another 65 runs with skipper Amy Jones (39) before the England’s chase fell apart with Renuka cleaning up Wyatt in the 30th over.

Towards the end, Charlie Dean (37) and Kate Cross (14) tried their best but the asking was too tall as India recorded a magnificent win.

18 fours, 4 sixes for Harmanpreet

Sent into bat, Harmanpreet smashed 18 fours and four sixes en route her 111-ball knock and also enjoyed a fine 112-run stand for the fourth wicket with Harleen Deol (58 off 72 balls).

She also added 50 with Pooja Vastrakar (18) and another 71 runs in four overs with Deepti Sharma (15 not out) for the unbroken sixth wicket stand.

However, it was in the last three overs in which Harmanpreet literally took the game away from England’s grasp as the 334-run target in a WODI always looked improbable even though the pitch being a batting belter.

In the last three overs, the Indian team scored 62 runs, courtesy its skipper, who was in imperious touch while reaching her fifth hundred in WODIs.

The innings had Harmanpreet’s trademark slog sweeps over cow corner which fetched him a couple of sixes while there were disdainful sixes over cover region.

With the pitch offering little help for bowlers, hitting through the line was very easy and England’s bowling attack did suffer a bit with only off-spinner Charlie Dean (1/39) ending with respectable figures.

The worst sufferer was debutant left-arm seamer Freya Kemp, who did decently till the end of her seventh over in which she had conceded only 28 runs.

Such was Harmanpreet’s dominance that Deepti Sharma, who still holds the individual record (188) by an Indian batter in WODIs, was more of a spectator during their sixth wicket stand.

Brief Scores

India Women 333/5 in 50 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 143 not out, Harleen Deol 58, Freya Kemp 1/82).

England: 245 all out in 44.2 overs (Danni Wyatt 65; Renuka Singh 4/57). PTI SSC SSC AT AT

World Para Athletics Grand Prix: Devendra Jhajharia won silver

Indian javelin thrower, Devendra Jhajharia has clinched a silver medal in the World Para Athletics Grand Prix, in Morocco.

Indian javelin thrower, Devendra Jhajharia has clinched a silver medal in the World Para Athletics Grand Prix, in Morocco. Paralympics gold medalist Devendra threw the javelin to a distance of 60.97 meters to capture the silver. Devendra is a three-time Paralympics medalist. While 2020 Tokyo Paralympics silver medallist Nishad Kumar won the gold medal in the men’s T47 high jump, javelin throwers Ajeet Singh and Devendra Jhajharia bagged gold and silver respectively in F46 category.

India has so far won 3 gold medals, two silver, and a bronze in the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Morocco. Other medalists for India include Neeraj Yadav (F55/56 discus- Gold), Anil Kumar (T54 100m- Silver), and Ranjeet Bhati (F57 javelin- Bronze).

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Badminton | Satwik-Chirag sign off with a maiden bronze medal at World Championships

The Indian duo flattered to deceive as it squandered an opening game advantage to go down 22-20 18-21 16-21

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty signed off with a maiden bronze medal in the men’s doubles competition of the World Championships after going down narrowly to Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the semifinals in Tokyo on Saturday.

The world number 7 Indian pair flattered to deceive as it squandered an opening game advantage to go down 22-20 18-21 16-21 in a pulsating 77-minute clash to bring an end to the Indian challenge at the prestigious tournament.

It was the sixth successive defeat against the Malaysian pair for Satwik and Chirag, who had lost to the same combination at the mixed team final of the Commonwealth Games early this month.

Despite the loss, it was a creditable show by the young Indian pair as it ensured India continued to return with a medal from the World Championships since 2011, the year the country won its first doubles medal with Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa returning with a bronze.