India finish at 11th in Asian Senior Weightlifting C’hips
Gandhinagar, May 17: India finished 11th in the medal table with 11 medals while the women’s team ended third in the rankings in the Asian Senior Weightlifting Championships which concluded here on Sunday. India won one silver and 10 bronze to be placed 11th in the medal tally, with China perched at the top with 21 gold, 12 silver and 8 bronze. North Korea finished second with 30 medals (18 gold, 11 silver, 1 bronze) while Chinese Taipei took the third spot with 3 gold, 7 silver and 3 bronze. India stood third in the women’s team rankings with 487 points. China led the women’s team rankings with 578 points, followed by Chinese Taipei (491 points). China also led the men’s team rankings with 593 points while India were placed at fifth with 379 points. There were 25 world records broken while 27 new Asian records were set, according to a release from Indian Weightlifting Federation, the organisers of the continental meet. Ri Suk (63kg category) of North Korea was declared the best lifter among women while China’s He Yueji (65kg category) was adjudged the best among men. A total of 30 nations competed in the championships with participation of 172 top lifters — 97 men and 75 women. The competition featured eight women’s bodyweight categories and seven men’s categories. (PTI)
Svitolina beats Gauff to win Italian Open
Rome, May 17: Elina Svitolina claimed a third Italian Open title on Saturday by beating Coco Gauff, who lost in the final in Rome for the second straight year. Svitolina took nearly three hours to prevail 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 and win her first WTA 1000 title since lifting the title in Rome in 2018. The Ukrainian also won in 2017. “It’s very hard to believe that it’s been eight years when I had this trophy here and very, very, very pleased of course with the two weeks here,” Svitolina said on court after her 20th career title. “I told my coach that it would be nice before I finish my career to have a round number. So he told me that hopefully we’re going to get this this year. So, I’m very, very happy.” Gauff, who was hoping to become the first American to win in Rome since 2016, lost to Jasmine Paolini last year but went on to win the French Open. Gauff started brilliantly, breaking Svitolina and holding to love. She also had the chance to go 5-2 up but Svitolina fended off three break points and won four straight games to take the opener. The third-ranked Gauff struggled on her serve throughout the second set but managed to take it to a tiebreak and level the match. However, Svitolina dominated the decider and broke Gauff’s serve twice to leave her serving for the title. The seventh-ranked Svitolina sealed the result on her third match point with a volley at the net. (PTI)
