Indian boxers assured of 26 medals at Belt and Road Youth Gala in ChinaIndia’s junior boys and girls have ensured 26 medals after reaching the semifinals at the 3rd “Belt and Road” International Youth Boxing Gala – U17 International Training Camp & Tournament, in Xinjiang, China.The junior boys’ semifinalists include Dhruv Kharb (46kg), Uday Singh (46kg), Falak (48kg), Piyush (50kg), Aditya (52kg), Udham Singh Raghav (54kg), Ashish (54kg), Devendra Chaudhary (75kg), Jaideep Singh Hanjra (80kg), and Loven Gulia (+80kg) who defeated tough opponents from China, Korea, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan to reach the last four.Khushi (46kg), Bhakti (50kg), Radhamani (60kg), Harsika (60kg), Diya (66kg), Priya (66kg), Laxmi (46kg), Chahat (60kg), Himanshi (66kg), Harnoor (66kg), and Prachi Khatri (+80kg) were the junior girls who reached the semifinals.The competition phase of the tournament continues till August 29 in Urumqi and Yili.- Team SportstarU.S. Open: Bhambri, Bopanna to lead India’s challenge in men’s doublesYuki Bhambri, India’s number one doubles player, and veteran Rohan Bopanna will lead the country’s challenge at the U.S. Open, season’s last Grand Slam.Bhambri has teamed up with New Zealand’s Michael Venus, while Bopanna, India’s number two doubles player, has joined forces with Monaco’s Romain Arneodo.Bhambri and Venus, seeded 14th, are facing solid singles players in Marcos Giron and Learner Tien, who have joined as a team.Bopanna and Arneodo open their campaign against the American team of Robert Cash and JJ Tracy.Arjun Kadhe has partnered with Ecuador’s Diego Hidalgo and they are up against second-seeded team of Marcelo Arevalo from El Salvador and Mate Pavic from Croatia.There will also be an all-Indian team of N Sriram Balaj and Rithvik Bollipalli, who will face the American-Dutch combination of Vasil Kirkov and Bart Stevens.- PTISajal enters semifinalsSajal Kesharwani beat Priyanshu Chaudhary 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Rs. 100,000 AITA men’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex.- Kamesh SrinivasanNiki Poonacha in doubles semifinalsNiki Poonacha in partnership with Pruchya Isaro of Thailand beat Masamichi Imamura and Rio Noguchi 7-5, 6-7(7), [10-5] in the doubles quarterfinals of the USD 100,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Zhangjiagang, China, on Thursday.The Indo-Thai pair will play Petr Bar Biryukov and Alexandr Binda in the semifinals.- Kamesh SrinivasanPKL 12 to introduce Bhojpuri and Haryanvi commentaryFor the first time, Pro Kabaddi League will be available in eight languages: English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Marathi, along with new additions Haryanvi and Bhojpuri. The feeds will be powered by a mix of celebrated voices and former stars. Bhojpuri will be headlined by Ravi Kishan, while the Telugu feed will feature former coach Srinivas Reddy. 2019 championship winner K. Prapanjan (Tamil), U-Mumba champions Mohit Chhillar (Haryanvi) and Vishal Mane (Marathi), former India women’s captain Mamatha Poojary (Kannada) and raider Rishank Devadiga add depth to the line-up.Commentary and storytelling will also be enriched by well-known voices such as Sunil Taneja, Vrajesh Hirjee, Padamjeet Sehrawat, NC Kaushik and Chaitanya Sant.Season 12 will also see the debut of immersive broadcast features. Two new dugout views will capture the tension and energy on the sidelines, while a split-screen feature will allow fans to watch live action alongside the revival sequence. Adding further drama, a ‘Referee Cam’ will provide a unique first-person perspective of the intensity on the mat, switching between live play and bodycam angles in real time.- Team SportstarHaasana knocks out top seed Negi in India Junior International Grand Prix BadmintonUnseeded Haasana Sree Mallavarapu defeated top seed Ishita Negi 22-20, 21-18 to enter the girls’ singles second round of Late Sushant Chipalkatti India Junior International Grand Prix Badminton Tournament.Dianka Waldia upset eighth-seeded Tanvi Reddy Andluri 21-15, 21-19 while Rishika Nandi edged out 13th seed Tanvi Patri 21-14, 14-21, 21-8.As many as six upsets were recorded in the boys singles as well. Jagsher Singh Khangurra got the better of UAE’s Riyan Malhan 21-18, 21-19, whereas Japan’s Yuzuno Watanabe beat the fifth seeded Xiao-Ting Su of Chinese Taipei 21-18, 21-12 to move into the next round.India’s Dev Ruparelia knocked out the 13th seed Toshiki Nishio of Japan 23-25, 21-19, 21-9 to record a hard fought win. The other players to cause upsets on Thursday included Mithes Rameshwaran, Tankara Gnana Dattu Talasila and Anish Thoppani.- PTIMadappa makes a solid start in IndonesiaViraj Madappa who missed a major part of the 2024 season due to a back injury, showed signs of recovery and form with a solid first round of 5-under 67 that placed him Tied-fourth at the Mandiri Indonesia Open in Jakarta Thursday.Madappa had 10 pars in a row from the first and then had six birdies, one bogey and one par in the last eighth holes.Among other Indians with solid rounds were Karandeep Kochhar (68) at T-12, while S Chikkarangappa and Yuvraj Sandhu with 69 each were T-22.Khalin Joshi (70) was T-40, SSP Chawrasia and Rahil Gangjee were TN-57 with 71 each, Ajeetesh Sandhu (72) was T-75 and Aman Raj was 4-over through 16 holes.- PTIFour players locked for lead in a tight battle in 12th leg of Hero WPGTAmandeep Drall roared back into form with a solid card of 4-under 68 to take a share of the four-way lead after two rounds in the 12th Leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at Clover Greens.Amandeep (75-68) shares the lead with Khushi Khanijau (75-68), Ananya Garg (72-71) and the first-round leader amateur Mannat Brar (70-73).Sneha (76-68), who was one of the four players to shoot the day’s best card, was fifth, one place ahead of Ridhima Dilawari, who also put herself in contention with a 68 that included an eagle-two, after a first round 77.Ridhima was tied-sixth with Karishma Govind (74-71) at 145.Anvitha Narender (75-71) and Jasmine Shekar (72-74) were tied eighth at 146. Amateur duo Lavanya Gupta (74-74) and Aaradhya Shetty (73-75) were tied for tenth at 147.The cut fell at 9-over 153 and 23 players will play in the final round. Among those missing out was Vidhatri Urs.- PTI
