Ambekar, Aditya, Sikander shine at Asian boxing championships
Jakarta, July 7: Ambekar Meetei (50kg), Aditya (55kg), Sikander (60kg) and Devendra Choudhary (75kg) produced strong shows as Indian pugilists continued their impressive run on day 3 of the Asian U-19 & U-23 Boxing Championships here on Tuesday. Ambekar secured a commanding victory over Chinese Taipe’s Qi-You Xiao via RSC in the first round of men’s division. In the boys’ division, Aditya registered a convincing 5:0 win over Kyrgyzstan’s Daniel Tashtanbekov, while Sikander followed it up with a clinical 5:0 victory against Korea’s Taemin Yang. Devendra also produced a strong performance to defeat Chinese Taipei’s Sung-Lin Tsai via RSC in the second round. (PTI)
Indian skeet shooters draw blank in Shotgun World Cup
Lonato (Italy), July 7: Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan, who was placed seventh overnight, squandered a strong position to finish 16th and miss out on the final of the men’s skeet event at the ISSF World Cup (Shotgun) here on Tuesday. Khan, who was in contention for a place in the eight-man final, was tied for seventh overnight. He shot rounds of 24, 25, 25, 25 and 23 with an aggregate score of 122, which was not enough to secure a place in the final. Bhavtegh Singh Gill finished 45th with a combined score of 120, while the other Indian in the fray, Anant Jeet Singh Naruka was a lowly 72nd with a score of 118. In women’s skeet event, young Parinaaz Dhaliwal made great progress but still failed to make it to the final, finishing 13th with a combined score of 118, while Raiza Dhillon finished 25th with a score of 116. (PTI)
Shot putter Vidhi fails dope test, out of Asian U-23 C’ships
New Delhi, July 7: Uttar Pradesh’s promising shot putter Vidhi Choudhary has failed a dope test and she has been pulled out of the Asian U23 Athletics Championships beginning in Ordos, China, from Thursday. The 21-year-old Vidhi, who won gold in the 2025 National Games, was earlier named in the 54-member strong Indian team for the Asian U23 Championships July 9-12). Meanwhile, India’s fastest female junior athlete and Asian U20 Championships medallist Nipam Chauhan has tested positive twice for anabolic steroid Stanozolol and its metabolites, and has been placed under provisional suspension. (PTI)
Abhijeet, Aswath, Kushagra get crucial wins in Pune Chess
Pune, July 7: Top-seed Indian Abhijeet Gupta strengthened his grip on the leaderboard with a commanding victory in the eighth round of the Pune International Grandmaster Round Robin Chess Tournament. Indian International Masters Aswath S and Kushagra Mohan also posted impressive victories to remain firmly in contention for the title. With one round remaining, Abhijeet leads the standings with 6.5 points, while Aswath and Kushagra are placed second and third respectively with 6.0 points each. (PTI)
