10-05-2025
Indian sports wrap, May 7: Abhay, Maheshwari miss out on final in Shotgun World Cup
SHOOTING
Abhay Singh Sekhon faltered with a 23 out of 25 in the last round and missed the skeet final by one point in the Shotgun World Cup in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Wednesday.
Abhay shot 121 out of 125, following rounds of 25, 24, 24, 25 on the first two days, before slipping in the fifth and final round. He missed the chance to make the final six out of 109 shooters.
Elia Sdruccioli of Italy beat qualification topper Jesper Hansen (124) 55-52 for the gold.
In women's skeet, Maheshwari Chauhan did shoot a perfect 25 in the last round, but missed the final by two points with her total of 118. She had missed six birds, with 22 each in the first two rounds. Thereafter, she missed only one of the next 75 over two days, but fell short.
The results: Men
1. Elia Sdruccioli (Ita) 55 (123); 2. Jespen Hansen (Den) 52 (124); 3. Charalambos Chalkiadakis (Gre) 41 (123); 18. Abhay Singh Sekhon 121; 42. Mairaj Ahmad Khan 119; 75. Ritu Raj Bundela 114. RPO: Angad Vir Singh Bajwa 117. Women
1. Arina Kuznetsova (AIN) 54 (121); 2. Samantha Simonton (USA) 52 (120); 3. Che Yufei (Chn) 41 (121); 11. Maheshwari Chauhan 118; 17. Parinaaz Dhaliwal 116; 37. Yashasvi Rathore 112. RPO: Agrima Kanwar 109.
- Kamesh Srinivasan
CHESS
Pantsulaia wins Kottayam GM tournament
Levan Pantsulaia, the third-seeded Grandmaster from Georgia, won the KCA's first international open GM chess tournament at the Courtyard Banquet Hall, Kanjikuzhi, on Wednesday.
Georgian GM Levan Pantsulaia being presented with the trophy after winning the Kottayam Grand Master chess tournament. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Pantsulaia was tied with Kyrgystan's Semetei Tologon Tegin with 8.5 points from the 10-round event but he won the title, and the top prize of Rs 3 lakh, with a superior tiebreak score.
International Master Tegin, the 12th seed, outwitted Belarusian GM Alexei Fedorov in the last round to finish second while Armenia's top-seeded GM Karen Grigoryan was third.
Select results (round 10):
Levan Pantsulaia (Geo) 8.5 drew with V.A.V. Rajesh (Ind) 8; Karen Grigoryan (Arm) 8 drew with Manual Petrosyan (Arm) 7.5; Alexei Fedorov (Blr) 7 lost to Semetei Tologon Tegin (Kgz) 8.5; David Gochelashvili (Rus) 7 lost to Boris Savchenko (Rus) 8; J.P. Karan (Arm) 7.5) lost to Mehar Chinna Reddy (Ind) 7.5; Karen Movsziszian (Arm) 7.5 bt N.R. Jaidambareesh (Ind) 6.5; EU. Ahaz (Ker) 6.5 lost to Deepan Chakkravarthy (Ind) 7.5; P. Karthikeya (Ind) 6 drew with O.T. Anilkumar (Ind) 6.5. Final placings (top 10):
1. Levan Pantsulaia (Geo) 8.5 pts, 2. Semetei Tologon Tegin (Kgz) 8.5, 3. Karen Grigoryan (Arm) 8, 4. Boris Savchenko (Rus) 8, 5. V.A.V. Rajesh (Ind) 8; 6. Deepan Chakkravarthy (Ind) 7, 7. Manuel Petrosyan (Arm) 7, 8. Mehar Chinna Reddy (Ind) 7.5, 9. Karen Movsziszian (Arm) 7.5, 10. R.R. Laxman (Ind) 7.5.
- Stan Rayan
TENNIS
Ankita, Shrivalli into second round of ITF Georgia
Ankita Raina beat her doubles partner Anastasia Tikhonova 7-6(2), 6-4 in the first round of the $40,000 ITF women's tennis tournament in Lopota, Georgia, on Wednesday.
It was a good day for Indians, as Shrivalli Bhamidipaty also made it to the second round of singles, while Rutuja Bhosale made it to the semifinals of doubles with Paige Hourigan of New Zealand.
Meanwhile, qualifier Guy Den Ouden of the Netherlands beat the eighth seeded Sumit Nagal 6-1, 6-1 in the first round of the €91,250 Challenger tennis tournament in Prague, Czech Republic.
The results: €91,250 Challenger, Francavilla al Mare, Italy Doubles (pre-quarterfinals):
Siddhant Banthia & Alexander Donski (Bul) bt Mats Hermans (Ned) & Tiago Pereira (Por) 6-1, 3-6, [10-4]. €91,250 Challenger, Prague, Czech Republic Singles (first round):
Guy Den Ouden (Ned) bt Sumit Nagal 6-1, 6-1.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Milos Karol (Svk) & Neil Oberleitner (Aut) bt Vijay Sundar Prashanth & Miguel Reyes-Varela (Mex) 6-4, 7-6(6). Marcelo Demoliner (Bra) & David Pel (Ned) bt Niki Poonacha & Marcelo Zormann (Bra) 6-4, 6-4. $30,000 ITF men, Baotou, China Singles (first round):
S Mukund bt Yuichiro Inui (Jpn) 6-0. $15,000 ITF men, Tehran, Iran Singles (first round):
Karan Singh bt Juan Jose Bianchi (Ven) 6-3, 7-6(5); Moein Moazam (Iri) bt Nitin Kumar Sinha 1-0 (retired); Prajwal Dev bt Atharva Sharma 6-1, 6-2; Artem Bogomolov bt Dev Javia 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ivan Denisov & Kabir Hans bt Juan Bianchi & Brandon Peez (Ven) 6-4, 6-4; Dev Javia & Karan Singh bt Parsa Ashjari & Sina Moghimi (Iri) 6-7(5), 6-2, [10-6]; Fadi Bidani (Lbn) & Dmitry Dolzhenkov bt Matteo Covato (Ita) & Maan Kesharwani 7-6(7), 3-6, [10-5]. $40,000 ITF women, Lopota, Georgia Singles (first round):
Ankita Raina bt Anastasia Tikhonova 7-6(2), 6-4; Shrivalli Bhamidipaty bt Ksenia Zaytseva 6-3, 6-3.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Varvara Panshina & Daria Zelinskaya bt Ankita Raina & Anastasia Tikhonova 2-6, 6-4, [10-7]; Rutuja Bhosale & Paige Hourigan (Nzl) bt Rinko Matsuda (Jpn) & Nina Rudukova 7-5, 6-1. $30,000 ITF women, Goyang, Korea Singles (first round):
Lin Zhu (Chn) bt Vaidehi Chaudhari 6-2, 6-3. $15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia Doubles (pre-quarterfinals):
Aaddi Gupta & Aurora Urso (Ita) bt Joody Elkady (Egy) & Ksenia Smirnova 2-6, 6-3, [10-6].
-Kamesh Srinivasan
CUE SPORT
Ketan Chawla beats Malkeet Singh in NSCI Baulkline Snooker contest
Ketan Chawla sprung a surprise as he defeated Malkeet Chawla in their round of 32 contest at the NSCI Baulkline Snooker competition in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Trailing 2-3, Chawla came back roaring to clinch a 5-3 win as he won three frames in a row in the contest which was set to nine frames.
Railways' Mohammed Hussain Khan defeated Gaurav Jaisinghani 5-1 to make it to the next round whereas E Pandurangiah and Himanshu Jain also recorded wins in their respective matches.
Results:
Mohammed Hussain Khan bt Gaurav Jaisinghani 5-1 (55-64, 65-64, 61-62, 66-14, 66-13, 56-21, 67-27); Himanshu Jain bt A Mudasir 5-2 (64-6, 81-11, 8-78, 67 -46, 40-68, 86-47, 63-17); E Pandurangiah bt Anant Mehta 5-1 (66-1, 14-64, 70-29, 100 (92)-4, 59-66, 73-28); Ketan Chawla bt Malkeet Singh 5-3(42-72, 86-5, 63-50, 21-68, 11-59, 73 -0, 60-25, 51-32).
- PTI
FOOTBALL
SAFF U-19 Championship is a good platform to start, says India coach Bibiano Fernandes, eyeing AFC U-20 Asian Cup Qualifiers
Bibiano Fernandes, one of the most successful coaches in Indian men's youth teams' history, having qualified the Blue Colts to three successive AFC U-16/17 Asian Cups from 2018 to 2023, is now set to begin a new cycle with a new batch of players.
It all starts with the SAFF U-19 Championship that will kick off on May 9 in Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh. The tournament will be streamed live on the Sportzworkz YouTube channel.
Fernandes has a 100 per cent record at SAFF age-group championships, winning all three tournaments he has led India in (U-15 in 2017 and 2019, and U-17 in 2022). The 48-year-old now not only targets his fourth, but also looks forward to nurturing a strong squad for next year's AFC U20 Asian Cup Qualifiers.
'We all know that the AFC (U20) Qualifiers are the main target, and I've been talking to the boys and trying to raise the bar. We need to do a lot of work with these boys to prepare them for next year. For sure, there will be more of them coming into the camp. This SAFF is a good platform to start preparing for it,' said Fernandes.
The Blue Colts begin their campaign in Group B against Sri Lanka on May 9 before taking on Nepal on May 13. Both matches will kick off at 19:30 at the Golden Jubilee Stadium, which also hosted the 2023-24 Santosh Trophy Final Round.
- Team Sportstar
