May 18 India Sports Wrap | Nikhat Enters World Boxing Finals

IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship,  Istanbul, Turkey

India’s Nikhat Zareen progressed to the 52kg final at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship.

Nikhat beat Brazilian Caroline De Almeida by a unanimous decision in the semifinal. In the summit clash, Nikhat will face Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong.

However, Manisha Moun’s and Parveen’s campaign ended with bronze medals in their respective semifinal bouts.

While Manisha lost by a unanimous decision to Italy’s Irma Test in 57kg, Parveen was beaten by Ireland’s Amy Sara Broadhurst in a closely-contested 63kg final four bout by a split decision.

Thailand Open

Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the men’s singles second round of the Thailand Open with a tough three-game win over Brice Leverdez of France. Srikanth, seeded eighth in the BWF Super 500 tournament, won the match 18-21, 21-10, 21-16. He next faces qualifier Nhat Nguyen of Ireland.

Saina Nehwal started on a positive note, taking the opening game 21-11 but lost to Kim Gaeun of Korea 21-11, 15-21, 17-21.

The men’s team reached the final, while the women claimed the bronze medal.

Fourth-seeded India – comprising Abhishek Verma, Aman Saini and Rajat Chauhan – defeated Italy 235-229, the USA 234-228 and host and top-seeded Korea 233-233 (shoot-off 29-26) to make it to the men’s team final. India will meet sixth-ranked France in the title clash.

In a limited field, the fifth-placed Indian women’s team – consisting of Avneet Kaur, Muskan Kirar and Priya Gurjar – got a first round bye and beat Chinese Taipei 228-226 before losing to top-seeded host Korea 230-228 in the semifinals.

India beat Turkey 232-231 in the bronze medal match.

India was seventh with 1960 points in men’s team,  fifth with 1856 points in women’s team and seventh with 1291 points in mixed team rankings.

Junior World Cup

The domination of India in the Junior World Cup shooting in Suhl, Germany, continued with the team adding two gold and a silver in the 25-metre rapid fire pistol event.

In the mixed team competition of rapid fire pistol, Simranpreet Kaur Brar and Vijayveer Sidhu beat compatriots Anish Bhanwala and Tejaswani 17-9 for the gold.

The men’s team competition, Anish, Vijayveer and Sameer helped India win the gold outclassing Thailand 17-1.

Women’s skeet team event, Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Darshna Rathore and Areeba Khan qualified for the bronze medal match against Germany.

India took its tally to 13 gold, 14 silver and four bronze.

French Open Qualifying event

Ramkumar Ramanathan bowed out of the French Open Qualifying event with a straight set defeat against 18-year-old French player Sean Cuenin, bringing curtains on India’s singles challenge at the major event.

Ramkumar, ranked 178th, had knocked out ninth seed and world number 114, Yannick Hanfmann from Germany in the opening round but could not sustain the momentum.

ITF Italia

Angelica Reggi beat Ankita Raina 7-6(5), 6-2 in the first round of the $60,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Rome, Italy.

In a similar tournament in the US, Sharmada Balu made the doubles quarterfinals with Maria Kononova. In the $25,000 event in Portugal, Riya Bhatia outplayed Sara Lauca 6-0, 6-2 in the first round.

Asian U-16 tournament

Levin Safoor Mydeen fought his way past eighth seed Priyansh Barthwal 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the tournament at the Modern School courts, Barakhamba Road.

The U-14 champion last week at the same venue, Levin will play Dhruv Sachdeva in the semifinals. The other semifinal will be between second seed Jason David and Akshat Dhull.

In the girls section, top seed Riya Bhatia battled past Sree Tanvi Dasari in three sets to meet Aakruti Sonkusare in the semifinals. The other semifinal will be between Nainika Bendram and Saumrita Verma.

Boys:

Dhruv Sachdeva bt Anuj Pal 6-0, 6-2;

Levin Safoor Mydeen bt Priyanssh Barthwal 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-1;

Akshat Dhull bt Antarksh Tamuly 3-6, 6-2, 6-1;

Jason David bt Vanchasa Thapliyaq 6-4, 7-5.

Girls:

Riya Sachdeva bt Sree Tanvi Dasari 6-3, 2-6, 6-4;

Aakruti Sonkusare bt Ishi Maheshwari 6-2, 3-0 (retired);

Saumrita Verma bt Shaivi Dalal 7-6 (3), 6-3;

Nainika Bendram bt Divya Ungrish 7-5, 6-2.