Indian Sports Wrap, August 19: Tanvi, Unnati to lead strong Indian line-up BWF World Junior C'ships

The Hindu

12 hours ago

BADMINTON
Fast-rising shuttlers Tanvi Sharma and Unnati Hooda, along with boys' doubles pair of Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu, will lead a 25-member Indian squad at the BWF World Junior Championships to be held in Guwahati from October 6 to 19.
The Indian contingent also features Asian Junior Championships bronze medallist Vennala Kalagotla and Rakshitha Sree, making it one of the strongest Indian line-ups for the marquee junior event.
The Suhandinata Cup (mixed team championships) will be played from October 6 to 11, followed by the individual events from October 13 to 19 at the National Centre of Excellence.
'We are very excited that India will be fielding one of its strongest contingents for the World Junior Championships on home turf,' said Badminton Association of India Secretary Sanjay Mishra in a release.
'Our squad boasts two World Junior No. 1s and a few players who have already made their mark on the senior circuit, and I am confident that we will see Indian players on the podium this time.'
India last hosted the tournament in 2008 when Saina Nehwal became the first Indian shuttler to win gold, while RMV Guru Sai Dutt bagged the bronze in boys' singles. The country has so far won 11 medals at the event, including four silver and six bronze.
The final squad was picked through a two-stage trial that featured Asian Junior Championships participants, world junior top-20 players, BAI singles top-8, BAI doubles top-4 pairs and juniors inside the BWF senior top-50. Tanvi and Vennala, both Asian Junior bronze medallists, earned direct selection.
Indian team:
Boys' Singles (U19): Rounak Chouhan, Gnana Dattu T.T., Lalthazuala H, Suryaksh Rawat
Girls' Singles (U19): Tanvi Sharma, Vennala Kalagotla, Unnati Hooda, Rakshitha Sree S.
Boys' Doubles (U19): Sumith A.R./Bhavya Chhabra, Bhargav Ram Arigela/Viswa Tej Gobburu, Vishnu Kedhar Kode/Mithileish P. Krishnan
Girls' Doubles (U19): Vennala Kalagotla/Reshika U, Gayatri Rawat/Mansa Rawat, Aanya Bisht/Angel Punera
Mixed Doubles (U19): Bhavya Chhabra/Vishakha Toppo, Lalramsanga C/Taarini Suri, Vishnu Kedhar Kode/Keerthy Manchala, Vansh Dev/Dianka Waldia.
-PTI
WRESTLING
World U-20 Championships: Sumit Malik wins silver medal in men's 57kg freestyle event
Sumit Malik lost 5-8 to European under-20 bronze medallist Magomed Ozdamirov in the 57kg freestyle final to take the silver medal at the World under-20 wrestling championships in Samokov, Bulgaria, on Tuesday.
Women wrestlers Tapasya (57kg) and Srishti (68kg) reached their respective finals to ensure two more medals for India. Tapasya pinned Dolzhon Tsyngueva and France's Romaissa El Kharroubi before pipping Japanese Sowaka Uchida 4-3 to secure a place in the title clash. Srishti gave authoritative performances to beat Brazil's Eduarda Batista 10-0, Poland's Dominika Pochowska 'by fall', Serbia's Masa Perovic 10-0 and Germany's Laura Koehler 7-3 on her way to the final.
-Team Sportstar
TENNIS
Dhakshineswar Suresh makes ATP main draw
Dhakshineswar Suresh lost the main draw first round 6-3, 6-3 to Mariano Navone of Argentina, after winning two rounds of qualifying event in the $798,335 ATP tennis tournament in Winston Salem, USA.
The big serving Dhakshineswar who beat seeded Alejandro Tabilo and Aidan Mayo in the qualifying event, collected eight ATP points for qualification and $4,260.
He has also got a wild card for doubles with Luca Pow and will challenge the top seeds Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski.
In the Challenger in Sofia, Bulgaria, Sumit Nagal beat lucky-loser Filip Pieczonka of Poland 6-4, 6-3 in the first round.
RESULTS
$798,335 ATP, Winston Salem, USA
Singles (first round): Mariano Navone (Arg) bt Dhakshineswar Suresh 6-3, 6-3.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Romain Arneodo (Mon) & Rohan Bopanna bt Luciano Darderi (Ita) & Alexandre Muller (Fra) 6-1, 6-1.
€91,250 Challenger, Sofia, Bulgaria
Singles (first round): Sumit Nagal bt Filip Pieczonka (Pol) 6-4, 6-3; Marat Sharipov bt Aryan Shah 7-5, 6-2.
$15,000 ITF men, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
Singles (first round): Ammar Alhogbani (KSA) bt Parth Aggarwal 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): M Rifqi Fitriadi (Ina) & Junhyeon Lee (Kor) bt Atharva Sharma & Yuta Tomida (Jpn) 7-6(4), 6-4; Sai Karteek Reddy & Thantub Suksumrarn (Tha) bt Dmitry Bessonov & Jerko Brkic (Cro) 6-2, 6-2.
$15,000 ITF women, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
Singles (first round): Primmada Thongkum (Tha) bt Pooja Ingale 6-1, 6-1.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Pooja Ingale & Paola Lopez (USA) bt Papitchaya Isaro & Sorvisa Kulphisanrat (Tha) 6-2, 1-6, [10-8].
-Team Sportstar
GOLF
Ridhima, Jasmine and Neha among top starters in 11th leg of WPGT
Ridhima Dilawari and Jasmine Shekar, winners of the last two events on the Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour, will headline the field alongside Vidhatri Urs and Neha Tripathi in the 11th leg of the tour at the picturesque Prestige Golfshire here from Wednesday.
The course is situated at the foothills of the Nandi Hills.
A field of 29 professionals and five amateurs will tee off in the event which carries a purse of Rs. 15 lakh.
In July, Ridhima won the 10th leg after being runner-up on two occasions this season. Earlier Jasmine won the ninth leg, edging past Neha Tripathi. Vidhatri is yet to taste success this season.
Other prominent players in the field include Seher Atwal, Kriti Chowhan, Durga Nittur, Khushi Khanijau and Anvitha Narender.
The amateurs are led by Mannat Brar, who has been performing well this season.
Ridhima, who is second on the Order of Merit, and has Rs. 9,58,000 in winnings this year, has a chance to become only the second player to cross the Rs. 10 lakh mark after Vani Kapoor, who is playing in the Hills Open in Sweden this week.
Ridhima is drawn with Jahaanvie Walia and amateur Mannat Brar in the first round, while Jasmine plays with Geetika Ahuja and amateur Riddhima Singh.
A large number of Indian players are playing on the Ladies European Tour this week and they include regulars like Vani Kapoor, Amandeep Drall, Sneha Singh and Hitaashee Bakshi.
-PTI
Yuvraj Sandhu continues hot streak, leads after opening round
Chandigarh's Yuvraj Sandhu, the Order of Merit leader and last week's winner in Mysuru, continued his hot streak with his opening round effort of eight-under 63 that gave him the lead at the Rs 1 crore PGTI Players Championship in Hosur on Tuesday.
The event is being played at the Clover Greens Golf Course & Resort.
The trio consisting of Nepal's Subash Tamang, Delhi's Shaurya Bhattacharya and Hyderabad's Milind Soni shot scores of seven-under 64 at the Par-71 course to occupy tied second position.
Mohd Azhar of Hyderabad was placed fifth at 65 while Bengaluru-based teenaged amateur Veer Ganapathy was placed tied sixth at 66.
As PGTI made its debut at Clover Greens, most of the professionals were playing their first ever competitive round at the picturesque venue.
Sandhu, also making his first visit to Clover Greens, outperformed all the others on day one in overcast, cool and extremely windy conditions as the temperature hovered between 20 to 24 degrees celsius.
Sandhu, a three-time winner this season on the PGTI, mastered the tree-lined narrow fairways and the wind by producing three birdies on the back-nine and then adding an eagle and four birdies at the cost of a solitary bogey on the front-nine.
The 28-year-old Sandhu's round was highlighted by a 20-feet eagle conversion on the second, a drive that found the Par-4 13th green and two terrific up and downs, one from the hazard and one from the rough, for birdies.
Sandhu said, 'I've started really enjoying playing in such gusty conditions, I feel I thrive in these situations. Like I said last week, I've developed my skills of playing in these conditions with all my experience of playing in Asia.
'It's also great to lead in my very first round at a venue, just like last week in Mysuru. Clover Greens is a short track but it has a lot of challenges to offer courtesy its narrow, tree-lined fairways and the pot bunkers.
'Fortunately, I played the Pro-Am couple of days back with the owner of the course Mr. Austin Roach who gave me a good insight into the challenges posed by this course. That was very helpful for me.' Subash Tamang, the 2023 All India Amateur champion, mixed eight birdies with a bogey on day one. His accurate approach shots left him six birdie putts within a range of four feet.
Shaurya Bhattacharya and Milind Soni, who were both tied second along with Tamang, produced two eagles each during their rounds of 64.
Shaurya, a winner this year, chipped-in for his eagle on the 12th and came up with a fabulous second shot from 190 yards to leave himself a tap-in for eagle on the second hole.
-PTI