Indian sports wrap, February 6: Indian Navy’s Niraj upstages Olympic bronze medallist Swapnil and Aishwary to win National Games gold

SHOOTING

Indian Navy’s Niraj upstages Olympic bronze medallist Swapnil and Aishwary to win National Games gold

Indian Navy’s Niraj Kumar stunned Paris Olympics bronze medallist Swapnil Kumar and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar to win gold in the men’s 50-metre rifle 3 positions event at the National Games on Thursday.

Representing Services Sports Control Board (SSCB), the 25-year-old Niraj, who is no stranger to winning medals in top competitions, shot a remarkable score of 464.1 to secure the top spot.

Madhya Pradesh’s Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar secured the silver with a score of 462.4, while Maharashtra’s Swapnil, who made history as the first Indian shooter to win an Olympic medal in this event with his bronze at the Paris Games last year, settled for third place (447.7).

Niraj has undergone training at the Elite Shooting Academy at the Padukone Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence (CSE) in Yelahanka, Bangalore.

Meanwhile, in the 10-metre air pistol mixed team event, Haryana’s Suruchi Singh and Parmod defeated Rajasthan’s Anjali Shekhawat and Umesh Choudhary 17-7 to clinch the gold medal.

The bronze went to the Maharashtra combine of Rahi Sarnobat and Pranav Arvind Patil after the pair crushed Uttarakhand’s Abhinav Deshwal and Yashasvi Joshi 17-3.

These two events marked the end of the shooting competitions at the ongoing Games.

In the mixed event qualification, 19 teams fought for slots in the medal rounds.

In the 3P final, Niraj, who has 1 World Championship, 1 World Cup and 2 Asian Championship medals under his belt, maintained his lead through the competition to pip his more fancied opponents.

Niraj has beaten the likes of Swapnil and Aishwary in the selection trials for the Paris Olympics too.

-PTI

FOOTBALL

IWL: East Bengal edges past HOPS FC through Soumya Guguloth goal

East Bengal shrugged off its defeat in the previous match to collect full points when it beat hosts HOPS FC 1-0 in the Indian Women’s League on Thursday.

Soumya Guguloth struck the winner in the 40th minute.

The win helped East Bengal stays on the top of the table with 15 points from six matches. So far, they have won five and lost the only tie in the away encounter against former champions Gokulam Kerala FC.

HOPS continues to languish at the bottom with just one point in its kitty from the drawn match against Kickstart FC in Bengaluru.

Ironically, the match hardly had any reflection of a battle between the league leaders and the bottom spooners. The majority of the proceeding was a listless affair with both teams indulging in some aimless play.

While East Bengal, with a star studded line-up, struggled in the middle to create the necessary space, HOPS were happy to withstand the storm at the back and make occasional raids on the counter.

In fact, the home side had an opportunity to walk home with a point at least but they conceded a rather chance goal five minutes before the breather. It was a situation of sheer horror, for the HOPS FC bench at least.

After successfully keeping the table toppers at bay for a considerably long time, the hosts found their fort breached with a goal that simply wasn’t there.

East Bengal striker Soumya, a regular with the national team, received a ball just inside a crowded HOPS box. She first failed to tap the ball with her left and then unleashed a side volley with her right that took a few drops before lazily rolling over the goalline.

HOPS goalkeeper Jyoti Tumung failed to collect as it slipped through her hands.

The second half belonged to East Bengal, but that was all they could do.

The Kolkata team camped themselves in the Delhi half and raided vigorously, but poor finishing and some good defending allowed HOPS to keep the margin of defeat to bare minimum.

East Bengal definitely lacked the rhythm they displayed in their earlier matches and missed opportunities they shouldn’t have. Shots fired by their strikers hit the post and flew over the crosspiece on more than one occasion, but never made the designated area.

-PTI

CRICKET

WPL 2025: Gujarat Giants set for historic home debut in Vadodara

L – R Shabnam Shakil, Harleen Deol, Michael Klinger, Sanjay Adesara at Gujarat Giants Jersey Launch for WPL S3.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

As the third season of the Women’s Premier League approaches, Gujarat Giants is gearing up for its home debut at a new venue in Vadodara. On Thursday, the team held a press event in Ahmedabad attended by Head Coach Michael Klinger, players Harleen Deol and Shabnam Shakil, and Adani Sportsline’s CBO, Sanjay Adesara.

Gujarat Giants also unveiled its jersey for WPL 2025, which is set to begin on March 14 and will be played across multiple venues, including Vadodara, Bengaluru, Lucknow, and Mumbai.

Addressing media at the event, Head Coach Michael Klinger laid down the ambitions for his team this season, aiming to win the ultimate prize this year.

Sharing insights into the team’s preparations, he said, “All the players are really excited. The overseas players will start arriving over the next day or two and then we can all start work together.”

“We’re certainly here to compete really hard. We’re looking forward to playing some really strong cricket and hopefully qualify for the finals. We’re not shying away from it, that’s going to be our aim this season. I feel we’ve got the team to do it, in terms of a few additions, but also one of the things I was really proud of is, since the last WPL season that we’ve had, is that six of our players playing in the A team, and some someone of them playing for the first time playing in the senior team. So, just with those experiences and exposure to the top-level cricket and other franchise cricket as well. That’s going to hold us in good stead,” he added.

Having missed the previous season due to injury, India all-rounder Harleen Deol also expressed her excitement to be back with the team, especially in Vadodara, where she has some fond memories.

She mentioned, “I missed the last season because of an injury, so I am even more keen to play this edition. I’ve got a lovely memory of scoring my maiden ton in Vadodara, but in cricket, you have start from zero every day. If you’ve scored runs before that doesn’t mean you have those runs in your pocket already. So, I’m very excited to be playing there for this tournament, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Fresh from her second consecutive U19 World Cup triumph with Indian team, Shabnam Shakil, highlighted how being a part of the Gujarat Giants in the WPL has helped her in her growth as a player.

She said, “There have been plenty of learnings with the exposure to experienced players and foreign players. They helped me a lot, especially in season two when I got opportunities to play four matches. I would say that the Gujarat Giants and the WPL gave me the platform to have a lot of experience and exposure to express myself.”

Gujarat Giants will take on the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the WPL 2025 opener on February 14, 2025 at BCA Stadium in Vadodara.

-Team Sportstar

TENNIS

ATP tennis tournament: Rithvik Bollipalli loses a close match

Rithvik Bollipalli in partnership with Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia was beaten 7-6(4), 5-7, [10-6] by the fourth seeds Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram of USA in the doubles quarterfinals of the $3,035,960 ATP tennis tournament in Dallas, USA.

Yuki Bhambri was entered in the $2,563,150 ATP event in Rotterdam, Netherlands, along with Giovanni Perricard of France, but had to with draw as his partner fell sick.

Qualifier Manas Dhamne reached the quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF men’s event in Monastir, Tunisia, by beating the third seed Alejo quillez of Spain 6-3, 6-3.

The results:

$3,035,960 ATP, Dallas, USA

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Austin Krajicek & Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Nicolas Brrientos (Col) & Rithvik Bollipalli 7-6(4), 5-7, [10-6].

$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Manas Dhamne bt Alejo Quilez (Esp) 6-3, 6-3; First round: Manas bt ikolai Barsukov (Ger) 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

BASKETBALL

INBL Pro basketball league: Hyderabad Falcons defeats Delhi Dribblers

Jack Purchase top scored with 26 points in guiding Hyderabad Falcons to a 100-77 victory over Delhi Dribblers in the INBL Pro basketball league match at the Thyagarj Indoor Stadium on Thursday.

It was an all-round performance by the towering Jack, as he slotted three 3-pointers, converted all his nine free throws, apart from having his hand on 10 rebounds and three assists.

It was the second victory in as many matches for the Hyderabad team, which led 51-37 at half time, after taking off to a 33-18 whirlwind start in the first quarter.

Delhi had scored 93 points in beating Mumbai Titans in its first match, but it was not allowed to be that fluent in the match against Hyderabad.

After slowing down in the second quarter, Hyderabad stepped it up in the last two quarters to touch the three-figure mark in style with its 11th 3-pointer of the match.