Joshna Chinappa stuns third seed to win Japan Open squash title
New Delhi, Oct 13: Indian squash ace Joshna Chinappa clinched her 11th PSA Tour title, beating Egypt’s Haya Ali in four games in the Japan Open final in Yokohama on Monday. The former women’s world No. 10 Indian defeated the third seeded Egyptian 11-5, 11-9, 6-11, 11-8 in 38 minutes in the summit clash of the $15,000 Challenger event. Earlier, Chinappa, currently ranked 117 in the world, beat fourth seed Rana Ismail of Egypt 11-7, 11-1, 11-5 in the semifinals. Meanwhile, reigning men’s national champion and world No. 29 Abhay Singh went down to French world No. 9 and fifth seed Victor Crouin 4-11, 2-11, 1-11 in the round-of-16 match of the Silicon Valley Open, a $130,500 PSA Gold event in Redwood City (USA) on Sunday. (PTI)
10-year-old Atiqa Mir bosses male pack for win in RMC UAE C’ship
Al Ain, Oct 13: Indian racing prodigy Atiqa Mir bossed a male-dominated grid to become the first-ever female winner in the minimax category of the RMC UAE Karting Championship here. In a fledgling career of many firsts, the 10-year-old took the race lead on lap four before breaking away from the pack and eventually completing a commanding win by over four seconds at the Al Ain Raceway on Sunday. The 15-driver diverse grid represented eight different nationalities. With her stellar performance, the F1 Academy-backed driver made it a memorable RMC debut for her team Akcel GP. Atiqa fought adversity from third on the grid before coming out on top in a tight race. She made a decisive move on the inside for the lead and never looked back, setting blistering pace in rather windy conditions. The win came after a difficult last weekend when Atiqa injured her hand but still managed a top-10 finish in the UAE IAME series. (PTI)
Nishchay smashes meet record; Maharana, Neeru shine in sprints
Bhubaneswar, Oct 13: Haryana’s teenage discus thrower Nishchay produced a record-breaking effort to win the boys’ U-18 gold on the fourth day of the 40th National Junior Athletics Championships, here on Monday. The 17-year-old hurled the 1.5kg disc to 63.69m, smashing the previous meet record of 60.17m set by Atul in 2022 in Guwahati. His series read 63.56m, 63.69m, 61.22m, no mark, 62.62m and no mark. Nishchay, who had earlier bagged the shot put gold with a best of 19.48m, thus underlined his all-round strength in the throws events. Rajasthan’s Vishal Kumar won silver with 60.90m, also bettering the old record, while Usman Ali Khan of Madhya Pradesh took bronze with 58.81m. With the qualification standard for next year’s World U-20 Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA, set at 56m, Nishchay’s performance has placed him among the leading contenders for national selection. Records were also seen in the U-20 200m events with home favourite Pratik Maharana clinching the men’s gold in 21.24 seconds, eclipsing the previous meet record of 21.26 seconds set by Veeresh Mathur in 2023. In the women’s U-20 200m, Uttar Pradesh’s international sprinter Neeru Pathak clocked 24.05 seconds to better Sakshi Chavan’s 2024 meet record of 24.14 seconds. Neeru had earlier claimed the 400m gold in the same age group. (PTI)
