Olympic flame begins its journey to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
Ancient Olympia (Greece), Nov 26: The Olympic flame began its journey Wednesday to the Milan Cortina Winter Games – missing a little of its usual magic. Bad weather lashing western Greece forced organizers to move the torch-lighting ceremony indoors, from Olympia’s ancient stadium and temples to a nearby museum. The flame is lit by focusing the sun’s rays with a concave mirror. But with skies overcast, officials used a backup flame kindled during a brief spell of sunshine at Monday’s rehearsal. Greek rower Petros Gaidatzis launched the torch relay, which, after reaching Italy, will be carried across the host country by about 10,000 runners before the Feb. 6-22 competition. The sun ultimately made an appearance over rain-soaked OIympia on Wednesday during the indoor ceremony. (AP)
India bags silver and bronze in World Youth TT Championship
New Delhi, Nov 26: Indian table tennis players made a strong debut at the ITTF World Youth Championships in Romania, returning with a haul of two medals — a silver and a bronze — in Under-19 Boys and Under-15 Girls team events respectively. The Under-19 Boys squad produced the standout performance, reaching the final with confidence and tactical maturity before going down 0-3 to Japan. The title clash opened with a tense five-game battle, where Ankur Bhattacharjee pushed Ryuusei Kawakami to the limit before losing 17-15, 6-11, 12-10, 4-11, 11-13. Japan then extended their lead as Kazaki Yoshiyama beat Abhinand 11-7, 11-8, 11-6, followed by Tamito Watanabe’s straight-games 11-9, 11-7, 11-3 win over Priyanuj Bhattacharyya to seal the gold. Earlier, India entered the final with a thrilling 3-2 win over Chinese Taipei in the semifinals. (PTI)
Diksha, Pranavi among five Indians at season-ending event in Andalucia
Andalucia (Spain), Nov 26: Diksha Dagar and Pranavi Urs will be among the five Indians in the field at the season-ending Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de Espana here. The other three are Aditi Ashok, who has received a special invite as a former champion – she won the event in 2023 – Avani Prashanth and Hitaashee Bakshi, who made the big run with a third-place finish in her home event, the Hero Women’s Indian Open last month. Diksha is the top Indian at 23rd while Pranavi is 40th and Avani is 41st. Hitaashee is 58th. The presence of so many Indians in the season’s closing event also indicates how far the country’s women’s golf has come on the strength of a strong 15-event home Tour, the Women’s Pro Golf Tour, and some great show by the women golfers. The LET’s season finale featuring a field of 75 players takes place at Real Guadalhorce Club de Golf from November 27-30. (PTI)
KIUG: Trap shooter Neeru Dhanda wins fourth straight gold
Jaipur, Nov 26: Trap shooters Neeru Dhanda and Aditya Bharadwaj powered Guru Nanak Dev University to a clean sweep of all four shotgun medals, while their cyclists clinched both individual road race titles in the Khelo India University Games here on Wednesday. Neeru, the reigning Asian Shooting Championships gold medallist, secured her fourth straight individual gold with a final score of 47. Manisha Keer (39) and Nandika Singh (30) took the silver and bronze respectively. The trio also combined to win the team gold with a score of 344 at the Jagatpur Shooting Range. Neeru, who had finished second behind Manisha in qualifying, raised her performance in the final. Neeru first competed in the Khelo India Youth Games in 2020, winning a silver, and has since dominated the University Games. (PTI)
Asian Tour returns to India with Bharath Classic
Ahmedabad, Nov 26: India’s top golfers, led by Aman Raj and Yuvraj Sandhu, will look to either secure or save a card when the Asian Tour returns to India with the inaugural Bharath Classic, a new event on the Indian Golf Premier League (IGPL) Tour. Winning the Bharath Classic will assure the champion Asian Tour playing privileges through 2026 and 2027 and open pathways to the highly lucrative International Series and the Liv Golf Tour. Aman, the current leader on the IGPL Tour, will lead the home challenge at Kensville Golf Resort in what is the first Asian Tour event in India since the last one in March 2023. Aman, a two-time winner in Jaipur and Kolkata, leads the challenge of the Top-4 from the IGPL Money List. He is followed by the long-hitting Pukhraj Singh Gill, winner of the IGPL Jamshedpur and Sachin Baisoya and teen prodigy Kartik Singh. Another IGPL winner, Kapil Kumar, is also in the field. Baisoya and Kartik have delivered consistent results but are still looking for their maiden IGPL wins. “My aim is to top the IGPL Order of Merit and get to the Asian Tour Q-School, but I can short cut the route to Asian Tour by winning this week,” said Aman after a practice round. “The course is looking great, and the roughs are up, and the greens are rolling well. It will be a good challenge.” (PTI)
