Grapplers bag two medals
New Delhi: India pocketed one silver and one bronze through Bajrang and Satywart Kadian in their respective men’s freestyle categories on the second day of the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday. Bajrang won a silver in 61kg freestyle, while Kadian settled for a bronze in the 97kg freestyle. Bajrang, who had an otherwise fruitful day, faltered at the last hurdle as he proved no match to his Iranian opponent Masoud Esmaeilpour in the final and went down tamely 0-11 to be content with a second-place finish. En route to the final, Bajrang had first defeated Noriyuki Takatsuka of Japan 7-4 in the quarterfinals and then followed it up with another excellent show in the last four stage, where he got the better of Nazmomdakh lhamgarmaa of Mongolia 7-1. In 97kg men’s freestyle, Kadian earned the bronze medal by beating Alihan Djumaev of Kazakhstan by criteria, 5-5.
Somdev-Pavic pair crashes out
Barcelona: Somdev Devvarman and his Croatian partner Ante Pavic bowed out of the Barcelona Open, following defeat in the doubles quarterfinals here on Thursday. In the battle between the two lucky-losers, Somdev and Pavic frittered away a one-set lead to lose 6-4, 3-6, 5-10 to Jesse Huta Galung and Stephanie Robert in the last-eight stage contest of the euro 2,127,035 clay court event. With the loss, Somdev’s campaign has ended in this tournament, having lost the singles first round.
Archers misfire in Shanghai WC
Kolkata: Indians crashed out of the individual rounds of both recurve and compound sections to cut a sorry figure in the ongoing Archery World Cup Stage I in Shanghai on Thursday. According to information received here, Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan and Trisha Deb had the best finishes among the Indians making pre-quarterfinal exits in the compound section, while in recurve Jayant Talukdar, Viswash and lavanya Nomula bowed out in the last 32 rounds. India will now rely on the team events to open their medals tally. Abhishek Verma and Jyoti Surekha have made the bronze play-off in the compound mixed event, while the men’s team has grabbed pole in the recurve section.
Gaganjeet Bhullar tied 38th
Shenzhen (China): Gaganjeet Bhullar alone shot an under-par round from among the three Indians in the fray to be tied 38th at the Volvo China Open here on Thursday. Bhullar, who was two-under with two holes, including a par-5 to go, dropped a late bogey to finish at one-under 71. Shiv Kapur, who has missed just one cut in nine starts this season, carded 73 in tied 69th place while Jeev Milkha Singh, a former winner here in 2006, left himself a mountain to climb with a first round of 76 in tied 108th place.
Indiawin 8 medals in USA Open
New Delhi: India returned with a rich haul of eight medals, including two gold and six bronze, from the USA Open Karate Championship held at las Vegas from April 18 to 21. More than 3000 players from 15 countries participated in the event and India was represented by an eight-member team consisting of six players and two coaches. Karl Vatcha of Mumbai won one gold and one bronze medals while Toyesha Khatau of Mumbai bagged one gold and three bronze medals in the women’s section.
Solanki seals Youth Oly spot
New Delhi: Asian champion Gaurav Solanki (52kg) was third time lucky as he grabbed the final chance of qualifying for the Youth Olympics by beating Brazil’s Carlos Silva in a fiercely-contested box-off in the World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria on Thursday. The Haryana-lad emerged 2-1 triumphant to clinch the last available spot for the Youth Olympics after missing two chances earlier in the championship. Solanki won each of the three rounds on split decision.
Umadevi loses WlBSA final
leeds: Reigning national billiards champion Umadevi Nagraj failed to pass the international test after the Karnataka cueist lost the WlBSA World Billiards Championship final against seven-time champion Emma Bonney here on Thursday. Uma, who had won her first international title against Emma in 2012, was undone by the English pro in a tough final game that lasted around two hours. Uma missed a cannon at crucial juncture, which brought Emma to the table and she rode her vast experience to pocket her eighth WlBSA Billiards title. A Group of five players played each other to decide the finalists at the leeds Billiards and Snooker arena.
Adhiban loses to Ni Hua
Sharjah: Grandmaster B Adhiban ran out of steam and went down to Ni Hua of China in the seventh round of Asian continental chess championship to slip to joint fifth position in rankings from the pole position here on Thursday. Having done quite well so far, Adhiban was out-of-sort against former Asian champion Ni Hua and the loss proved costly.