Indian sports wrap, June 25: India storms into three finals at Squash Asian Doubles Championships
India qualfies for three finals at Asian Doubles Championships
India continued its strong run at the Asian Doubles Squash Championships, hosted by the Asian Squash Federation in Kuching, Malaysia, with pairs reaching the finals in all three categories – Men's, Women's, and Mixed Doubles. India has now confirmed four medals at the event.
Abhay Singh and Anahat Singh defeated Malaysia's Ainaa Armani and Syafiq Kamal, winning 11-8, 10-11, 11-5 in a 46-minute battle. They will now face the Malaysian top pair, Rachel Arnold and Ameesshraj Chandran, who earlier defeated India's Velavan Senthilkumar and Joshana Chinappa 8-11, 11-7, 11-9 (37 mins) in another closely contested match.
Abhay and Velavan continued their strong run, defeating Hong Kong China's Chi Him Wong and Ming Tang 11-5, 11-9 in a physically demanding 42-minute semifinal to set up a final clash with Pakistan.
In the women's doubles semifinal, Joshana and Anahat defeated Hong Kong's Po You Kirstie Won and Yee Lam Toby 11-7, 11-6 in just 22 minutes.
- Team Sportstar
PICKLEBALL
World Pickleball League Launches 'WPBL On Tour'
The World Pickleball League (WPBL) today announced the launch of 'WPBL On Tour', a series of off-season events including a unique multi-city tournament. The off-season initiative of franchise-led tournaments and events aims to expand community engagement in India's fastest-growing sport.
WPBL on Tour will be held in the six franchise cities over four months, with each franchise hosting a city-based tournament. The World Pickleball League will enable the franchise to organise tournaments that will be open to local pickleball players and enthusiasts, and offer an unparalleled opportunity to them to compete under the banner of their city's team.
'WPBL On Tour' is our way of empowering our franchises to grow their local presence, build loyal communities, and embed pickleball into the cultural fabric of their cities with a year-round engagement,' said Gaurav Natekar, Co-founder & CEO, World Pickleball League.
- Team Sportstar
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- Indian Express
Annu Rani goes past 62m, Animesh Kujur takes 200m gold: Snippets from World Athletics Continental Tour event in Bhubaneswar
The highlight of India's first World Athletics Continental Tour event in Bhubaneswar was a dramatic last-ditch effort by the country's ace long jumper Sreeshankar Murali, who clinched his event with a last attempt of 8.13m to stave off the impressive teenager Shahnavaz Khan. The 17-year-old Khan was leading, on the verge of pulling off an upset with his fourth-round jump of 8.04m, while Sreeshankar was second with 7.95m. But the 26-year-old Sreeshankar saved the best for his last try to clinch top spot. Apart from men's long jump, here are four events that stood out at the Kalinga Stadium: The first event of the day started slowly with every eye on veteran Indian thrower Annu Rani. 'Since I have got my rhythm back, I want to achieve the World Championships qualification,' she had told The Indian Express on the eve of the competition. And staying true to her words, Annu came up with two big throws of 62.01m and 61.10m to further solidify her position in the World Championships qualification ranking. The 32-year-old was way clear of the rest of the field as second best thrower was NDL Lekamalage of Sri Lanka with 56.27m. 'Despite fatigue, if I can cross 60m easily, then I guess I am ready for a medal at the Worlds,' said Annu after her win. Probably the most competitive field of the day, men's javelin throw witnessed a stunning opening as Rumesh Pathirage threw 86.50m to record his personal best, set a new Sri Lankan national record, and qualify for the World Championships directly. However, it was a dull show after the starting high as only four Throwers crossed 80m. The latest Indian entrant to the 80m club, Shivam Lohakare denied a 1-2 Sri Lankan finish with 80.73m throw while former Sri Lanka NR holder Sumedha Ranasinghe finished third with 80.65m. World Championships bound Sachin Yadav and Yashvir Singh had poor outings with best throws of 79.80m and 78.53m. One of the most sought-after race of the evening, the men's 100m had an anti-climactic finish as the winner Muhammad Azeem Fahemi of Malaysia went down immediately after the finish, calling for medical help. The Malaysian clocked 10.35s to win but was in pain after evidently pulling a muscle. Sri Lanka's Chamod Yodhasing finished second with 10.43s and 18-year-old Malaysian Danish Iftikhar came third with 10.50s. It was a disappointing race for the Indians as the fastest man in heats, Harsh Raut finished fifth with 10.56s. The last individual race of the day drew the most cheers as the local lad Animesh Kujur walked on to the track nonchalantly. However, after winning the race with a timing of 20.77s, Animesh said,'Honestly, for the first time I saw a crowd here for athletics and it put a bit pressure on me. I knew I had to perform for them.' It was a special occasion for him as his parents were in attendance, watching him. This is the first time his parents have seen him running since 2022. 'It was exciting to see so many people cheering for him. Never thought of this moment,' his father Amrit Kujur told the media later on. With this win, Animesh has added more ranking points to his kitty, further solidifying his position in the World Championships qualification race.
The Hindu
4 days ago
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Indian Sports Wrap, August 10: Nisha, Muskan bag gold as India win nine medals in Asian U19 Boxing
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Indian Express
5 days ago
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‘Excited to run' Animesh Kujur leads India's pack of sprinters at World Athletics Continental Bronze level tour event
At any athletics meet globally, sprint is the blue-ribbon event but in India the attention is always on Javelin Throw, middle distance running, and jumps. However, for the first-time the eyes will be on the 100m and 200m as the World Athletics Continental Bronze level tour event takes shape for tomorrow at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. The likes of Animesh Kujur, Gurindervir Singh, Manikanta, and Amlan Borgohain have brought the Indian sprinting to headlines with the record breaking spree in 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relays. Currently, Animesh holds the both 100m and 200m record and the quartet holds the 4×100 record. The other reason for the sprint hype is the presence of Malaysian national record holder Muhammad Azeem Fahemi in the 100m who has a personal best of 10.01s (wind-assisted) and holds the Malaysian NR of 10.09s. Fahemi, who trains and competes at the NCAA in the US, ran 10.01s in May this year but it was wind-assisted. He will take on Amlan Borgohain of India who has blown hot and cold this season but will pose a serious threat to Fahemi in his favourable conditions. At the venue in Bhubaneswar, while Amlan does a few sit-ups and Fahemi warms up, the attention turns to Animesh as he is the hot property among the volunteers of the event as they take their turns to click a picture with him. The sprinter from Chhattisgarh has been the leader of the pack as he ran at the coveted Monaco Diamond League in the age-group 200m race alongside Australian prodigy Gout Gout. With the time for World Championships qualification coming to an end on 24th August, Animesh needs to perform well at this event in order to earn ranking points. 'I have been doing well in Europe this season and I am very excited to run in front of my home crowd. It feels good to be back home and run after traveling around the globe,' Animesh tells The Indian Express. Apart from being the first-ever World Athletics Continental Tour event in the nation, it holds important ranking points for Indian athletes eyeing World Championships qualification. One such athlete is triple jumper Abdulla Aboobacker who is currently placed 32nd in the race to World Championships. 'I know I am in the qualification race. A good result here will get me more ranking points to strengthen my qualification,' says Abdulla. On the other end of the warm up area, Sreeshankar Murali is just walking up and down. While he politely refuses to talk to the media before the event, he says, 'This event is very important to me and I have to go all out.' On a comeback trail after missing the Paris Olympics, Sreeshankar needs to breach the qualification mark of 8.27m as he is nowhere close through the ranking gateway. A jet-lagged Annu Rani wants to go past the World Championship qualification mark after finding her rhythm and throwing 62.59m this week in Poland. 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While both Yashvir and Sachin are well placed in the rankings to qualify for the Worlds, a good day might result in them breaking the qualification mark of 85.50m. While Kalinga Stadium has witnessed star power when current Olympic Champion Neeraj Chopra came to compete in the Federation Cup Athletics last year ahead of the Paris Olympics, the continental tour poses different challenges to the organisers. 'There have been certain challenges as we had to fit 19 events in the space of three hours. It is more like a small Asian Athletics Championships that was held here in 2017,' says an AFI official. The successful organization of this event can result in India getting more international events in the near future. 'We have been trying to get the World Continental Tour level event to India for a long time. We wanted to do a silver or a gold level event but World Athletics asked us to start with the bronze level. It is helpful for the aspirations of holding a Diamond League or World Championships in the future,' says Adille Sumariwalla, former AFI president and World Athletics Vice-president. India already conducted a World Athletics Category A level last month when Bengaluru hosted Neeraj Chopra Classic, a Javelin exclusive event. When asked about the aspiration of hosting a World Championship, Adille says,'There are a lot of parameters which World Athletics considers. We want to host this event successfully and upgrade to silver or gold next year.' Athletes to watch out for: India: Animesh Kujur, Sreeshankar Murali, Sachin Yadav, Abdulla Aboobacker, Shaili Singh, Annu Rani Overseas: Muhammed Azeem Fahemi (Malaysia), Sumedha Ranasinghe, Rumesh Pathirage (Sri Lanka), Alice Hopkins (Great Britain) Pritish Raj works with sports team at The Indian Express' and is based out of New Delhi. ... Read More
