Punjab wins Hockey India Sub Jr Men National C’ship title
CHENNAI, Aug 8: Punjab beat Jharkhand 4-3 in the final to win the 15th Hockey India Sub Junior Men National Championship title here on Friday.The summit clash between Jharkhand and Punjab was a closely contested one, with both teams fighting till the final whistle.Jharkhand scored two back-to-back goals in the second quarter through Ashish Tani Purti (21st) and Anish Dungdung (24th).However, Punjab equalised with Akshit Salaria (29th) and Varinder Singh (30th) scoring in quick succession.Jharkhand’s Sukhu Guria (42nd) scored to give his team the lead once again. But a brace from Punjab’s Mandeep Singh (45th, 53rd) sealed the deal for Punjab.Earlier in the day, Uttar Pradesh beat Madhya Pradesh 5-3 to win the bronze medal. (PTI)
Ahlawat 43rd, Shubhankar 77th in Nexo Championship
ABERDEEN, (Scotland) Aug 8: India’s Veer Ahlawat opened with a round of 1-over 73 and was placed 43rd, while compatriot Shubhankar Sharma endured another rough start before settling for the tied 77th position in the first round of Nexa Championship on the DP World Tour here.Ahlawat opened with four pars and then had five birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey in his 73.Sharma shot 3-over 75 in the opening round at Trump International Golf Links.Starting from the first tee he double bogeyed the third and then had three more bogeys to turn in 5-over. He did pick three birdies on the back nine against one bogey, but that was not enough to give him breathing space.South African Richard Sterne battled breezy conditions to post a flawless five under par round of 67 and take a one-shot lead after day one.Norwegian Andreas Halvorsen and South African Thomas Aiken, who teed off together in the opening group, nearly joined Sterne at five under, but both players bogeyed the last to sit one behind in second place alongside South Africa’s Louis Albertse. (PTI)
Top jockey Narredu to captain Team Asia in Shergar Cup
NEW DELHI, Aug 8: India’s top jockey Suraj Narredu, a four-time winner of the Indian Derby, the country’s most prestigious horse race, is all set to once again take his skills to foreign shores when he captains Team Asia in the Shergar Cup in Dubai. The Narredu clan has been bringing laurels to the country in the horse racing realm since the 1980s. Inspired by his father Satish’s journey and uplifted by his uncle Malesh’s performance at Ascot sixteen years ago, Suraj Narredu, who has won the Indian Derby thrice in a row, is all set to take the legacy abroad with the debut of Team Asia at the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup.Suraj is one of the youngest jockeys to have over 2,400 career wins, including 110 Classics and over 250 Group races. He has been named India’s Champion Jockey four times and has topped 27 different race meetings across the country.Launched in 2000, the Shergar Cup brings together top jockeys in a unique team-based format. With four teams – Asia, Europe, Great Britain and Ireland, and the Rest of the World – and a loyal title sponsor since day one, the event features six exciting races. Joining Suraj on Team Asia are Japanese jockeys Ryusei Sakai and Mirai Iwata, the latter having claimed the World All-Star Jockeys crown in 2023. (IANS)