Indian sports wrap, March 21: Pranati Nayak qualifies for vault final at FIG World Cup

GYMNASTICS

Pranati Nayak qualifies for vault final at FIG World Cup

Indian gymnast Pranati Nayak has qualified for the Vault final after securing a third place in the qualification round at the FIG Apparatus World Cup in Antalya, Turkey.

The 29-year-old, who represented the country at the Tokyo Olympics, came up with an aggregate score of 13.317 in the vault qualification.

She finished behind the American duo of Jayla Hang (13.783) and Claire Pease (13.584). The Vault final is scheduled on Saturday.

“Pranati did well in the qualification and with better execution, she can be a medal prospect in the finals,” her coach Ashok Kumar Mishra told PTI.

Pranati had clinched the bronze medal in the women’s vault event of the FIG Apparatus World Cup in Cairo before the Paris Olympics last year.

She also won vault bronze medals at the Asian Championships in 2019 (Ulaanbaatar) and 2022 (Doha).

– PTI

CARROM

Prashant, Keerthana triumph in Carrom Nationals

Prashant More and L Keerthana won the men’s and women’s titles in the 52nd National carrom championship at the Harkishan Singh Surjeet Bhawan on Friday.

Former World champion Prashant proved too strong for Sandeep Dive as he raced to a 25-9, 10-25, 25-2 victory.

Keerthana of Tamil Nadu beat the World Cup champion, M Khazima of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) in a thrilling fashion in the women’s final, with the score of 16-20, 25-2, 14-12

The results (final):

Men (final): Prashant More (RBI) BT Sandeep Dive (JISL) 25-9, 10-25, 25-2; Semifinals: Prashant bt Zaid Ahmad Farooquee 21-18, 23-10; Sandeep Dive bt Abhijit Tripankar 21-20, 7-25, 25-2.

Women (final): L Keerthana (TN) bt M Khazima (PSPB) 16-20, 25-2, 14-12; Semifinals: M Khazima bt tuba Sehar 12-10, 25-6; L Keerthana bt V Mithra 11-25, 23-10, 25-8.

GOLF

Khelo India Para Games: Shanguman clinches gold in athletics

Ramesh Shanguman
| Photo Credit:
SAI Media

Ramesh Shanguman gave Tamil Nadu a flying start in the track and field events by winning a gold medal in the men’s 800m T53/T54 event on day two of the Khelo India Para Games on Friday.

A former basketball player, Chennai’s Shanguman hails from a farming family in Tiruchirappalli. He lost his legs in a truck accident when he was eight.

However, he did not let the setback hold him back and took to sports. He started as a para basketball player but then shifted to wheelchair racing.

“I have faced a lot of struggles in my life. I need to achieve something. Every day just comes and goes. But I had the desire to make a name for myself. I have to prove myself,” Shanguman told SAI Media.

“I motivate myself every day. Now my parents are very happy. In the first KIPG in 2023, I won the bronze medal; this time I won the gold medal. My family is a big support. Without them, I could not have been a medallist.” Tamil Nadu has won six of the 27 gold medals that have been decided so far. Haryana and Maharashtra were close second with four gold each.

In the para badminton competition, Paris Paralympics gold winner Nitesh Kumar and Tokyo Paralympics gold medallist Krishna Nagar showed their dominance. Kumar made the finals in his category while Nagar entered the semifinals. Nithya Sre and Palal Kohli, the other top names in the badminton competition, also advanced ahead in their respective sections.

-PTI

TENNIS

Prajwal Dev, Aryan Shah enter semifinals of M15 Ahmedabad 2025 Tennis Tournament

Prajwal Dev beat third seed Woobin Shin of Korea 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the ITF M15 Ahmedabad 2025 Tennis Tournament at the Gujarat University Tennis Academy on Friday.

The Korean had made it to the last week in Chandigarh and lost in three sets to top seed Jay Clarke of Britain.

Aryan Shah beat two-time national champion Siddharth Vishwakarma in three sets to set up a semifinal against Jay Clarke.

Prajwal will challenge the second seed Alexandr Binda of Italy.

Prajwal also made the doubles final in partnership with Nitin Kumar Sinha. The duo will play Maan Kesharwani and Rishi Reddy in the final.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Shanker Heisnam enters finals of ITF Juniors

Third seed Shanker Heisnam beat second seed Praneel Sharma 7-6(2), 7-6(6) in the semifinals of the ITF Junior Tennis tournament at the Shanti Academy in Dehradun on Friday.

In the final, Shanker will play the top seed Sehaj Singh Pawar who beat Gandharv Kothapalli in three sets.

Praneel won the doubles title in partnership with Yashwin Dahiya.

In the girls’ section, second seed Diya Ramesh overcame a slow start to beat Diya Chaudhary in three sets. She will play Jaya Kapoor in the final.

Diya Ramesh won the doubles title with Sohini Mohanty.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Luan ITF women’s tournament: Ankita Raina in doubles final

Ankita Raina, in partnership with Priska Nugroho of Indonesia, beat Jiaqi Wang and Chengyiyi Yuan of China 7-5, 7-5 in the doubles semifinals of the $60,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Luan, China, on Friday.

In the final, Ankita and Priska will play Kristina Dmitruk and Kira Pavlova.

-Team Sportstar

GOLF

Ford Women’s Open: Diksha Dagar on tied sixth; Pranavi, Avani share 19th spot

Diksha Dagar added another good round of 3-under 68 and moved to 7-under for a tied sixth spot after the second round of the Ford Women’s Open in Wollongong Golf Club.

Diksha who was tied-fourth after the first round, as Sara Kouskova (67-63) joined England’s Mimi Rhodes (68-62) to take the shared lead.

The leaders were at 12-under and five ahead of Diksha.

Pranavi Urs (71-68) and rookie Avani Prashanth (72-67) also made the cut and at 3-under for 36 holes they were tied-19th.

Diksha opened with a birdie on the first but dropped a shot on the fifth for the second day running.

She made up with a birdie on the seventh only to drop a shot on Par-5 ninth for the second time in as many rounds.

Diksha once again made ample use of scoring on back with three birdies on the 13th, 17th and the 18th and no bogeys for a 68.

On a course where the back nine starts on the ninth, Pranavi made a birdie start and added further birdies on the 14th, 16th, and 17th.

There were no more birdies and she dropped a shot on the seventh for a 68.

Avani, who has won pro titles on her home Tour, the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour and the LETAS while being an amateur, opened birdie-birdie on the front nine and had further birdies on the ninth, 10th, 13th, 15th and the 16th but closed with a bogey.

She earlier dropped shots on the fourth and the fifth in her 67

-PTI

Delhi Challenge: Lukas Nemecz jumps into joint lead with three others

Lukas Nemecz of Austria came up with the best score of eight-under 64 to jump into the joint lead with three others on the second day of the $300,000 Delhi Challenge golf tournament at the Classic Golf and Country Club on Friday.

Quim Vidal, Robin Sciot-Siegrist and Jasper Sandborg were the others in the lead with 11-under 133.

Kshitij Kaul was the best-placed Indian, at joint seventh with four others following rounds of 69 and 66.

Amardeep Malik made a hole-in-one on the fifth during his second round of 68, but missed the cut, with his score of one-under 143.

The cut fell at three-under 141, with 71 professionals getting into the third round, and 19 of them were Indians.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

BASKETBALL

Madhya Pradesh relied on Son Kumar (26) and Rakesh Kumar Sharma’s (22) fine showing to pip Maharashtra 84-79 and enter the men’s quarterfinals in the National under-23 basketball championships at the Sarusajai Stadium, Guwahati, on Friday.

Apart from Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Rajasthan, Kerala, Punjab and the winner of the match between Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal will feature in the men’s quarterfinals.

Kerala, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka have reached the last-eight stage in the women’s section.

-Y. B. Sarangi

KABADDI

Yuva All Stars Championship: Vasco Vipers, Sonipat Spartans, Warriorz K.C., Yuva Yoddhas win on Day 16

Yuva All Stars Championship – Day 16.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Warriorz K.C. and Vasco Vipers registered 10-point margin victories on Day 16 of the Yuva All Stars Championship 2025 on Friday.

Meanwhile, Yuva Yoddhas thrashed the Junior Steelers, and the Sonipat Spartans came from behind to beat Yuva Paltan at the Vandana Kataria Indoor Stadium in Haridwar.

-Team Sportstar

GOLF

Shubhankar tied-15th with 68 in Singapore

Shubhankar Sharma shot 4-under 68 with three birdies that saw him finishing on tied 15th after the first day of the weather-affected Porsche Singapore Classic on the DP World Tour here.

At the Laguna Golf and Country Club, his lone blemish was a double bogey in the middle of the round on the ninth hole.

Sharma, who had a rough start to the season, birdied the first, fourth, eighth, 10th, 12th and 13th and the double bogey came on the ninth.

Veer Ahlawat had a difficult day with 1-over 73 that had two birdies against three bogeys. He was T-83 and will need a low round to make the cut.

Matthew Jordan produced a back-nine birdie blitz to sign for an opening 65 and share the lead with fellow Englishman Marcus Armitage.

– PTI