Vishvanath, Ganga secure gold at Asian U-19 & U-23 Boxing
JAKARTA, July 16: Vishvanath Suresh (50kg) and Ganga (55kg) clinched gold medals as India concluded its Asian U-19 and U-23 Boxing Championships with strong performances in the finals here on Thursday.In the U-23 men’s finals, India delivered an impressive showing with two gold medal finishes.Vishvanath, the reigning senior Asian champion, eked out a closely fought 3-2 victory over Japan’s Daichi Iwai in the men’s 50kg event while Ganga edged past Kazakhstan’s Bexulatn Boranbek by a similar margin.Vanshaj (65kg) fought valiantly in the final but settled for silver after a 4-1 loss to Uzbekistan’s Ilkhomjon Ergashev.In the U-19 men’s finals, Indian boxers put up spirited efforts but finished with silver medals.Aditya (55kg) went down to Uzbekistan’s Elyor Rustamov by 5-0, while Shubham Rajput (90kg) lost to Uzbekistan’s Asadbek Sultanboev by a similar margin. (PTI)
U-17 Asian qualifiers: India drawn with Iraq, Syria and Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR, July 16: The Indian Under-17 women’s football team has been drawn with Malaysia, Syria and Iraq in Group E of the AFC Under-17 Asian Cup Qualifiers to be held here from October 5 to 11.The draw was conducted at the AFC House on Thursday. India will begin their campaign against Iraq, followed by a match against Syria, and then Malaysia.The group winners will qualify for the Under-17 Women’s Asian Cup in Suzhou, China next year.The Indian team had made a historic first-ever knockout stage appearance in the previous edition and will aim to qualify for back-to-back AFC U17 Asian Cups for the first time.The teams will compete in the Qualifiers in a single round-robin centralised league format.The eight group winners will advance to the 11th edition of the Finals where they will be joined by the top four finishers from the 2026 campaign who have directly qualified.Defending champions North Korea, runners-up Japan, and semi-finalists Australia and China are the direct qualifiers.The semi-finalists of the women’s Asian Cup will qualify for the FIFA U-17 women’s World Cup in Morocco next year. (PTI)
Golf: Ridhima leads by two shots in 10th leg of Women’s Pro Tour
KOLAR, July 16: Ridhima Dilawari got over a late double bogey to extend her overnight lead to two shots after the second round of the tenth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour here on Thursday.Ridhima, a three-time winner this season, had five birdies against two bogeys and a double bogey on the Par-17th. The birdie on the closing hole eased the pain as she carded 1-under 71 after a first round 68.At 5-under 139 Ridhima is two shots clear of Amandeep Drall (69-72) and Vidhatri Urs (69-72).Vani Kapoor dropped as many as four bogeys including back-to-back lapses on the eighth and the ninth as she shot 1-over 73 and is sole fourth.Young Saanvi Somu, armed with the experience of playing on the Ladies Access Tour in Europe, had a great start with four birdies in the first six holes.However, she lost that momentum as there were no more birdies and instead, she had two double bogeys on the Par-3 seventh and the Par-4 12th. She parred the rest and is even par 144 with cards of 71-73.Ridhima has been in good form this season, though she was some way off from the wins in the last two starts. The Order of Merit leader had two early birdies on the second and the fourth but gave away a shot on the eighth to turn in 1-under.A bogey on the 12th brought her to even par but back-to-back birdies on the 14th and the 15th restored some order before she ran into a double bogey on the Par-4 17th. A closing birdie on the 18th was a soothing balm.Young stars Kashika Misra (72-73), Mannat Brar (73-74) and Riya Jadon (73-75) were sixth, seventh and eighth respectively while five players, Ananya Datar (72-77), Jasmine Shekar (74-75), Anvvi Dahiya (76-73), Karishma Govind (76-73) and Anvitha Narender (78-71) were tied ninth at 5-over 149. (PTI)
