Indian sports news wrap, September 15

SHOOTING

Saurabh Chaudhary finishes 30th, Sagar Dangi sixth in Rio World Cup

Competing in his first major international event in over a year and a half, former world number one Saurabh Chaudhary finished 30th in the men’s 10m air pistol event on day one of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol in Rio De Janeiro.

The multiple time World Cup gold medallist Saurabh, whose last senior ISSF event was in Cairo in February-March in 2022, shot 572 in the 60-shot qualification round to finish 30th as he failed to advance to the final on Thursday.

Sagar Dangi finished sixth in the event. The 21-year-old shot 157.4 in the final and was the lone Indian to make it to the top eight stage.

Sagar shot 581 in the qualification round to finish second in the 62-strong field. Among the other Indians in the fray, Shravan Kumar shot 576 to finish 15th while Kedarling Uchaganve, competing for ranking points only, shot 576.

Italian Federico Maldini won gold in the event.

A 16-member Indian team is taking part in the Rio World Cup in as many as seven Olympic events. The other gold of the day went to Armenia in the women’s 10m air pistol, where India had no representative.

-PTI

CRICKET

WPL: Gujarat Giants players, coaches meet team owners

Former India women’s captain Mithali Raj, India star Harleen Deol were among those from Gujarat Giants who met the team owners Adani Sportsline team and Pranav Adani on Friday.

Team mentor and advisor Mithali and assistant coach Nooshin Al Khadeer were present at the meeting along with players Harleen Deol, Sushma Verma, Shabnam Shakil, Hurley Gala, Sneh Rana, Parunika Sisodia, Mansi Joshi, Meghna Sabbineni, Tanuja Kanwar, Ashwani Kumari, and Monica Patel. 

Currently, the WPL has five teams: the champions Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Giants, Royal Challengers Bangalore, UP Warriorz and Delhi Capitals. The inaugural edition was played in Mumbai, with the games distributed between the DY Patil Stadium and the Brabourne Stadium at the Cricket Club of India. The dates and the venues for the second season are awaited from the BCCI. 

The squad’s head coach is Australian legend Rachael Haynes. Harleen Deol was one of the best Indian performers, scoring 202 runs in 8 games. That apart, South African opener Laura Wolvaardt and Ashleigh Gardner scored two fifties each, while England’s Sophia Dunkley scored the fastest half-century of the tournament, reaching the landmark off 18 deliveries.

– V. V. Subrahmanyam

TENNIS

Asian U-16: Riya Sachdeva wins singles, doubles title

Riya Sachdeva won a double crown in the Asian under-16 tennis championship at the Singha Sports Academy on Friday.

Riya beat Aakruti Sonkusare 6-2, 7-6(3) for the singles title. She won the doubles title in partnership with Divya Ungrish.

Hruthik Katakam won the boys title, and the doubles title was bagged by Kartikey Agassi and Pratheek Sheoran.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

ITF Juniors: Prisha Shinde beats Priyanka Rana

Top seed Prisha Shinde edged out fourth seed Priyanka Rana 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) in the girls semifinals of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the Ahmedabad City Foundation courts on Friday.

In the final, Prisha will be challenged by Ruma Gaikaiwari.

In the boys section, Aniketh Venkataraman set up a title clash against second seed Samarth Sahita.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

FOOTBALL

Sreenidi Deccan FC continues to produce young talents

“Sreenidi Deccan Football Club (SDFC), founded in 2015 with the vision of nurturing football talent in the country by providing an environment that inspired young players to be self-motivated and contribute positively to the sport, takes pride in informing that two of its players – Levis Zangminlun and Aiborlang Khartangmaw – played a key role in India winning the recent SAAF (under-16) championship in Bhutan,” said Dr. K.T. Mahhe, chairman of Sreenidhi Educational Group which owns the Club.

“Having developed world-class facilities and ensuring that promising players have access to the best coaching, training and support, SDFC has become an integral part of developing football in the country, and making India a globally competitive football nation,” he said.

“Levis and Aiborlang are just two of many success stories SDFC can be proud of, having put in considerable time and resources into developing young Indian football players,” said Dr Mahhe.

“We are immensely proud of Levis and Aiborlang for making their debut for the Indian team and their performance in the tournament, with multiple goals scored, demonstrates the quality of the work that our Youth Academy has been doing over the past few years,” he said.

Earlier this year, two more Academy boys – Sahil Tamang and Pauminthang Munsong – were called up for the India under-19 national camp which was held in Bhubaneswar. Sreenidi Deccan FC also participated in various key youth tournaments across age groups like the Reliance Foundation Development League (U-21), AIFF Youth Cup (U-17) and the JSW Youth Cup (U-15 and U-13).

SDFC has also made it its mission to identify promising football talent in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to help them develop their skills and achieve their potential. Two Academy boys – Tikam Reddy (Andhra Pradesh) and Rayyan bin Ghanam (Telangana) – have been promoted to the Sreenidi Deccan FC senior team for the upcoming I-League 2023-24 season.

“Our commitment to developing football in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh is undoubted and we look forward to having more players from these regions playing at the highest level and representing the country very soon,” reiterated Dr. K. T. Mahhe.

-V V Subrahmanyam