Amit, Sachin strike gold; Nikhat signs off with silver
SOFIA, Feb 11: World Championship medallist Amit Panghal and Sachin Siwach won a gold each, while Nikhat Zareen and three other Indians signed off with silver medals at the 75th Strandja Memorial tournament here on Sunday.The 2019 worlds silver medallist Panghal (51kg) pulled off a dominating 5-0 triumph over Kazakhstan’s Sanzhar Tashkenbay in the men’s flyweight final.Sachin (57kg), a world youth champion, changed the colour of his medal from the last edition from bronze to gold as he out-punched Uzbekistan’s Shakhzod Muzafarov by a 5-0 verdict.However, two-time world champion Zareen (50kg), Arundhati Choudhary (66kg), Barun Singh Shagolshem (48kg) and Rajat (67kg) settled for silver medals after going down in their respective bouts.In a commanding performance, Panghal landed powerful punches and Tashkenbay simply had no answers.Panghal had clinched the bronze medal in 2017 while winning back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019.However despite his dominant run here, the Armyman from Haryana, who has lost his spot in the Indian team to 2023 worlds bronze medallist Deepak Bhoria, will not be competing at the Paris Olympic qualifiers later this month.Zareen went down to 20-year-old Sabina Bobokulova of Uzbekistan, who beat Asian Games champion Wu Yu in the light flyweight semifinals. The first six minutes of the bout were intense with both boxers going at each other. However, Zareen wasn’t to tight with her defence and Bobokulova was able to land decisive punches on counter attack.Trailing after the first two rounds, Zareen came out all guns blazing in the final three minutes. She was able to land clean and precise punches and won the third round. But Bobokulova had done enough and the judges ruled in her favour. National champion Arundhati went down 1-4 to reigning world champion Liu Yang of China in the 66kg final, while Barun lost to Khodzhiev Anvarzhan of Kyrgyzstan. (PTI)
Sheeraz, Ganemat top Indian finishers in skeet
RABAT, Feb 11: Sheeraz Sheikh and Ganemat Sekhon were the top Indian finishers in men’s and women’s skeet, respectively, at the ISSF World Cup for Shotgun in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday.Sheeraz shot 120, courtesy five identical rounds of 24 across two days and 125 targets. He finished 11th with the sixth and final qualifying spot going at 121.Abhay Singh Sekhon (116) and Munek Battula (109) finished further down the standings.In women’s skeet, Ganema’’s tally of 114 gave her 12th spot with the final qualification spot going at 117. Areeba Khan’s 107 gave her 26th spot.Monday will see the final event – the mixed team skeet competition. (PTI)