Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Sports Shorts: Bajrang, Pinki win gold; Sakshi disappoints

Last updated on: July 29, 2018 13:33 IST

Bajrang Punia

IMAGE: India's Bajrang Punia celebrates. Photograph: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Bajrang Punia won his second consecutive international gold while Sandeep Tomar had to be content with a silver medal at the Yasar Dogu International as Indian wrestlers returned with 10 medals, including seven by women, from the ranking event in Istanbul, Turkey.

In the women's competition, Pinki was the lone gold medallist in the 55kg category with her 6-3 win over Ukraine's Olga Shnaider in the final but Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik endured a disappointing result as she failed to reach the medal round in the 62kg category.

 

Overall Indian women grapplers outperformed the men's by winning seven medals.

CWG champion Bajrang, who won a gold at the Tbilisi Grand Prix in Gerogia early this month, did not have to break a sweat as his gold medal opponent Andriy Kvyatkovskyy from Ukraine withdrew from the 70kg final due to an injury.

In the 61kg final, Sandeep, who was the last Indian to grab a place in Indian men's Asian Games squad, lost 2-8 to Iran's Mohammadbagher Yakhkeshi.

Vicky had won a bronze in the 57kg on Saturday.

All other Indian men's wrestlers -- Amit (65kg), Jitendra (74kg), Pawan (86kg), Deepak (92kg), Jashkawar Singh (97 and 125kg) failed to reach the medal rounds.

Today two gold medals were at stake in the women's 53kg and 57kg categories but Seema and CWG silver medallist Pooja Dhanda lost their final bouts.

Seema was outplayed 2-10 by Ukraine's Khrystyna Bereza while Pooja was outclassed 0-11 by another Ukrainian Irnya Khariv.

In the 62kg, Sarita grabbed a bronze with a commanding 10-0 win over Turkey's Cansu Aksoy. In the same category Sakshi also competed but she won only her qualification round before suffering a defeat by fall against Elmira Gambarova in the quarterfinals.

It was Sakshi's first competition since winning a bronze at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games this year.

In the three-player 72kg category, Rajni finished second after losing the final 3-4 to local girl Beste Aitug.

Sangeeta Phogat (59kg) and Geeta (65kg) won bronze medals in their respective categories.

Both Pooja and Pinki are in India's women's Asian Games squad along with Sakshi and Kiran, who also failed to reach the medal round in the 76kg category.

Biles wins comeback after two-year break

Simone Biles

IMAGE: Simone Biles of the United States competes. Photograph: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Competing for the first time since winning four gold medals at the Rio Olympics, Simone Biles recorded the top score in the vault, balance beam and floor exercise to win U.S. Classic in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday.

While Biles was just 10th in the uneven bars she still had enough to prevail in the city where she was born.

 

Her return to competition represents the start of what she hopes will culminate in further Olympic glory in Tokyo in 2020.

Biles, 21, is among more than 100 gymnasts who say they were abused by former Gymnastics USA team doctor Larry Nassar. Nassar received a prison sentence of up to 175 years after pleading guilty to criminal sexual conduct.

Sourabh wins Russian Open, Kuhoo-Rohan finishes runners-up

Former national champion Sourabh Verma pulled off a come-from-behind win over Japan's Koki Watanabe in the summit clash to claim his first title of the season at the $ 75,000 Russia Open Tour Super 100 tournament in Vladivostock.

The 25-year-old Indian, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from injuries, overcame world no 119 Watanabe 19-21, 21-12, 21-17 in the finals that lasted exactly an hour at the Sport Hall Olympic.

Second seeded Indian mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg, however, suffered a 19-21, 17-21 loss to Russia's Vladimir Ivanov and Min Kyung Kim of Korea in the finals to settle for a runners-up finish.

Sourabh was left to do the catch up act in the opening game as Watanabe slowly and steadily distanced himself after opening up an initial slender lead of 2-0. The Japanese entered the first interval with a healthy 11-5 advantage.

The Indian led a fightback to narrow the gap to 11-12 but Watanabe again jumped to a 18-13 lead. Sourabh reeled off five straight points to draw parity but the Japanese managed to move ahead and pocket the opening game.

In the second game, Sourabh cut down his errors and surged to 7-3 lead and held an 11-6 advantage at the break. After the breather, he continued to march ahead and eventually roared back into contest comfortably.

In the decider, Watanabe zoomed to a 9-3 lead early on and held an 11-7 advantage at the interval. However, a gritty Sourabh slowly erased the deficit and clawed back at 15-15.

The Japanese tried to break away but Sourabh ensured there were no hiccups as he reeled off four straight points at 17-17 to shut the door on his rival.

Sourabh had won the All India senior ranking tournament in Bangalore to make the cut for the Asian Games squad. He had clinched the Chinese Taipei Grand Pri Gold and finished runners-up at the Bitburger Open in 2016.

Kapur finishes second at Royal Cup, Bhullar 10th

Defending champion Shiv Kapur of India made a mistake on either side of the turn at the ninth and 10th holes to finish tied second at the Royal Cup golf tournament in Pattaya.

Kapur battled to an one-over 71 and ended at eight-under with three others as South African Justin Harding (68) carried on his excellent form to complete back-to-back wins on the Asian Tour.

Harding finished way ahead at 14-under for a six-shot win over Kapur, Jake McLeod (67). Chapchai Nirat 68) and Kurt Kitayama (67), all of whom finished at eight-under.

Gaganjeet Bhullar (70) finished tied 10th for another good result. It was his third top 10 finish in last four starts while his other start fetched him tied 11th in Sarawak.

S Chikkarangappa (67) and Viraj Madappa (68) were tied 14th. Himmat Rai (70) was tied 36th, Khalin Joshi (71) was tied 42nd, Rashid Khan (71) was tied 56th and Honey Baisoya (77) was tied 59th.

Kapur started the day with eight straight pars and during the stretch he also missed a couple of makeable putts.

Meanwhile, Harding had three birdies against one bogey in the first eight holes.

Baker sets 100m backstroke world record at US champs

Rio Olympics silver medallist Kathleen Baker set a world record in the women's 100 metres backstroke at the US championships on Saturday, clocking a time of 58.00 seconds in Irvine, California.

The 21-year-old had a sizzling first 50m and turned in 27.90 before going on beat the previous mark of 58.10 set by Canadian Kylie Masse.

AGENCIES