SHOOTING
Ganemat reclaims women’s skeet top spot after shining in third national trials
Punjab’s Ganemat Sekhon reclaimed the women’s skeet top spot in Indian rankings after the national selection trials (T3) for the shotgun shooters, courtesy her top score of 116 in qualification at the M.P. State Academy Shooting ranges here.
State-mate Abhay Singh Sekhon also climbed atop the men’s skeet rankings with his leading qualification score of 120 in the men’s T3 competition.
Both athletes, however, finished an identical fourth in the finals, with Ganemat bowing out at the 40-shot mark of the 60-shot decider with 32 hits to her name. Abhay had 35 shots.
Olympian Anantjeet Singh Naruka won the men’s event with a superb 58 in the final, leaving talented Punjab youngster Bhavtegh Gill (Q 119) way behind in 53 for silver.
Fellow Olympian and joint world record holder Angad Bajwa was third with 45 hits at the 50-shot mark.
The women’s title was clinched by Rajasthan’s Darshna Rathore who shot 50 to leave two Olympians in her wake. Raiza Dhillon won silver with 48 hits and settling for bronze was Maheshwari Chauhan with 40.
The trap T3 trials follow from Friday at the same venue. The shotgun shooters are currently preparing for the fourth ISSF World Cup stage scheduled for Lonato, Italy, next month.
– PTI
ARCHERY
Indian recurve teams lose bronze medal matches at World Cup Stage-3
Indian recurve men’s team and compound women’s team missed out on podium finishes after losing their respective bronze medal matches at the Archery World Cup Stage-3 in Antalya on Thursday.
The results:
Team:
Recurve: Men: India (B. Dhiraj, Atanu Das, Parth Salunkhe) got a bye (first round), bt Uzbekistan 6-0 (second round), bt Kazakhstan 6-2 (quarterfinal), lost to Korea 6-0 (semifinal), lost to France 5-1 (bronze medal match); Women: India (Ankita Bhakat, Deepika Kumari, Simranjeet Kaur) got a bye (first round), bt Ukraine 6-2 (second round), lost to USA 5-1 (quarterfinal).
Compound: Men: India (Rishabh Yadav, Abhishek Verma, Ojas Deotale) lost to Chinese Taipei 242-241 (first round); Women: India (Madhura Dhamangaonkar, Chikitha Taniparthi, V. Jyothi Surekha) got a bye (first round), bt Great Britain 240-236 (quarterfinal), lost to Korea 242-234 (semifinal), lost to USA 239-238 (bronze medal match).
– YB Sarangi
CRICKET
T20 Mumbai League: Siddharth Raut sets up SoBo Mumbai Falcons’ resounding win
Shreyas Iyer took charge of the SoBo Mumbai Falcons after finishing a successful Indian Premier League. But the rest of his teammates – led by Siddharth Raut’s new-ball exploits – ensured Shreyas wasn’t even required to bat as the Falcons registered their second consecutive victory in the T20 Mumbai league’s third edition.
Raut’s sensational spell of 4/14 in his four overs meant that the Falcons restricted Prithvi Shaw-led North Mumbai Falcons to 132 for eight at the Dr. D.Y. Patil Sports Stadium on Thursday evening.
And a dominant unbroken partnership of 130 runs off just 64 balls between opener Ishan Mulchandani and promising Harsh Aghav helped the Falcons romp home with nine wickets and a whopping 49 balls to spare.
The facile win catapulted the Falcons to the top of the points table, with the huge margin of victory giving them a fillip in terms of the Net Run Rate.
Brief scores
North Mumbai Panthers 132/8 in 20 overs (Gaurav Jathar 34, Sourabh Singh 28*; Siddharth Raut 4/14, Nikhil Giri 2/35) lost to SoBo Mumbai Falcons 135/1 in 11.5 overs (Harsh Aghav 64*, Ishan Mulchandani 61*).
– Team Sportstar
TENNIS
Shrivalli beats top seed
Shrivalli Bhamidipaty beat top seed Hanna Chang of USA 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the $60,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Sumter, USA.
Shrivalli, who had earlier knocked out the second seeds in doubles in partnership with Katherine Sebov of Canada, was scheduled to play Julia Fliegner of USA in the pre-quarterfinals.
The results:
€145,250 Challenger, Heilbronn, Germany
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Rodrigo Mendez (Mex) bt Sumit Nagal 7-5, 6-7(2), 6-0.
€181,250 Challenger, Birmingham, Britain
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Brnadon Holt (USA) & Tristan Schoolkate (Aus) bt Sergio Gornes (Esp) & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 7-6(15), 6-4.
€145,250 Challenger, Prostejov, Czech Republic
Doubles (quarterfinals): Daniel Cukierman (Isr) & Piotr Matuszewski (Pol) bt Anirudh Chandrasekar & Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-7(4), 7-5, [10-2]; Pre-quarterfinals: Alexander Merino (Per) & Christoph Negritu (Ger) bt Sriram Balaji & Miguel Reyes-Varela (Mex) 6-4, 2-6, [10-8].
$100,000 Challenger, Tyler, USA
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Hans Verdugo (Mex) & Joshua Sheehy (USA) bt Niki Poonacha & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 7-6(1), 4-6, [12-10].
$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Fares Zakaria (Egy) bt Arjun Rathi 6-4, 6-3.
$60,000 ITF women, Sumter, USA
Singles (first round): Shrivalli Bhamidipaty bt Hanna Chang (USA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
$60,000 ITF women, Caserta, Italy
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ariana Geerlings (Esp) & Wakana Sonobe (Jpn) bt Prarthana Thombare & Anita Wagner (BIH) 6-1, 6-4.
$40,000 ITF women, Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Iveta Dapkute (Ltu) bt Ankita Raina 1-6, 6-2, 7-5.
$30,000 ITF women, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Singles (second round): Rachel Gailis (USA) bt Sahaja Yamalapalli 7-6(9), 6-2.
$15,000 ITF women, Kayseri, Turkey
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Jasmine Conway (GBR) bt Tanisha Kashyap 4-6, 6-0, 7-6(5).
Doubles (quarterfinals): Jasmine Conway (GBR) & Meshkatolzahra Safi (Iri) bt Tanisha Kashyap & Adelina Lachinova (Lat) 6-4, 6-4.
$15,000 ITF women, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Akanksha Nitture bt Soha Sadiq 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; Vaishnavi Adkar bt Nigina Abduraimova (Uzb) 6-2, 6-4.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Vaishnavi Adkar & Punnin Kovapitukted (Tha) bt Ingkar Dyussebay & Anastasiya Krymkova (Kaz) 6-2, 6-2.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
TABLE TENNIS
Kolkata ThunderBlades beats Dempo Goa Challengers in UTT Juniors
Ritvik Gupta and Swara Karmarkar guided Kolkata ThunderBlades to a 5-4 victory over Dempo Goa Challengers in the league stage of the Dream UTT Juniors table tennis tournament at the EKA Arena on Thursday.
The Kolkata team completed its league engagements with 26 points, while Dempo Goa Challengers wound up with 27 points. Both the teams should be making the semifinals, along with U Mumba and Jaipur Patriots who have 23 points each so far, and have one more league match to play.
The results (league):
PBG Pune Jaguars bt Dabang Delhi TTC 7-2 (Atharva Nawarange bt Akkash Rajavelu 11-7, 11-3, 11-5; Atharva & Tushti Sood bt Akash & Dhaani Jain 11-8, 10-11, 11-9; Tushtii bt Dhaani 11-7, 11-8, 6-11).
Kolkata ThunderBlades bt Dempo Goa Challengers 5-4 (Ritvik Gupta bt Sahil Rawat 11-3, 11-10, 3-11; Ritvik & Swara Karmarkar lost to Sahil & Aarya Redkar 10-11, 11-9, 10-11; Swara bt Aarya 11-5, 11-7, 9-11).
– Kamesh Srinivasan
CHESS
Delhi GM Open offers prize purse of Rs 1.21 crore
The 21st Delhi International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament will be held from June 7-14 with participation of over 2,500 players from more than 15 countries and a prize purse of Rs 1.21 crore.
Organised by the Delhi Chess Association (DCA), the tournament will feature 20 Grandmasters in action across three rating-based sections.
Held under the aegis of the All India Chess Federation (AICF), the Delhi GM Open is Asia’s largest classical-format chess event.
Bharat Singh Chauhan, President, DCA, said: “For two decades, the Delhi GM Open has helped build the foundation of Indian chess. This is where young talent gets tested, where norms are earned, and where future Grandmasters cut their teeth.” This year’s prize pool reflects a significant increase over last year, with Rs 51 lakh allocated for Category A (open to rated players), and Rs 35 lakh each for Categories B and C (U-1900 and U-1700, respectively).
All categories will follow the FIDE Swiss System with 10 rounds per section.
– PTI
MOTORSPORT
Country’s top riders and teams congregate this weekend at the Madras International Circuit for an adrenaline-filled weekend of racing which will launch the first round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2025. The three-day event, commencing on Friday, will see 19 races with over 154 entries across all categories in the fray.
In the National Championship, much of the focus will be on a pair of Petronas TVS Racing riders, National champion Sarthak Chavan (Pune) and his arch-rival Chiranth Vishwanath (Bengaluru), in the Pro-Stock 301-400cc class.
Incidentally, Sarthak won nine of the 10 races last season while Chiranth topped the other. They will resume their rivalry this weekend after having gained rich experience from participating and scoring podium finishes in the Asia Road Racing Championship.
– Team Sportstar
GOLF
Amateur Saanvi joins Vani in shared lead at 8th Leg of Hero WPGT
Local amateur Saanvi Somu, who has finished runner-up multiple times, put herself in joint pole position once again with a second straight one-under 69 in the 8th Leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at the Bangalore Golf Club on Thursday.
Saanvi, who was runner-up in the opening leg this season at Golmuri in Jamshedpur, shares the lead with Vani Kapoor (67-71) at two-under 138 for 36 holes.
Gaurika Bishnoi, playing only her fourth event this season, is sole third as she shot one-under 69 after a first round par 70. She is one-under 139. Gaurika’s last win came in the seventh leg of the 2024 season at Mysuru and she was runner-up in the fifth and sixth legs.
Another amateur Zara Anand (69-72) was tied fourth with Durga Nittur (68- 73) at 1-over 141, while Jasmine Shekar (73-69) and Seher Atwal (72-70) were tied sixth at 2-over 142.
Three players Vidhatri Urs (73-70), Rhea Purvi (73-70) and Ananya Garg (70-73) were tied eighth at 3-over 143, while three players Neha Tripathi (76-68), Khushi Khanijau (72-72) and Anvitha Narender (70-74) were tied 11th.
Last week’s winner Amandeep Drall (75-70) was Tied 14th with Agrima Manral and Disha Kavery.
The cut fell at 10-over 150 and 26 players made the cut.
– PTI
