CMYK

A ND-NDE

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DELHI THE HINDU

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 202020EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

SPORT

The absence of Chinese andNorth Korean wrestlers wasexpected to impact the qual­ity of the women’s section atthe senior Asian Champion­ships and India was the big­gest  benefi��ciary,  winningthree gold medals and a sil­ver on Thursday.

With Japan also sending alargely  second­string  squad— barring  former  Worldchampion  Mayu  Mukaida  —the  Indians  were  favouritesfor medals. Barring the 50kg,the other four weight catego­ries in action on the day hadseven or fewer competitors,forcing the organisers to con­duct bouts in Nordic (round­robin) format. 

Emphatic winsAsian Games bronze medal­ist Divya Kakran was the fi��rstto ensure a gold in the 68kg,winning all four of her boutsin  the  morning  session  by

pinning her opponents.“I had to win by fall to get

fi��ve points from all my boutsbecause  the  Japanese  waswinning all her bouts by bigmargins,  so  I  took  the  riskeven  though  my  coach  toldme I didn’t have to.”

She admitted the absenceof China made a diff��erence.

“Yes, it did benefi��t but if youhave just fi��ve wrestlers, it be­comes  tough  because  youhave  to  fi��ght  everyone  andwin big,” she added.

In  the  evening  session,Pinki (55kg) and Sarita (59kg)added  to  the  gold  tally  butnot before being pushed bytheir Mongolian opponents. 

While  Pinki  won  2­1  in  alargely  defensive  bout  thatsaw  all  three  points  beingscored  through  the  oppo­nent’s passivity, Sarita had todig  deep  in  the  fi��nal  15  se­conds for a 3­2 victory.

“I already had a slight el­bow injury and it got aggra­vated a bit in the morning so

I wanted to be cautious. Also,I am simply happy to win myfi��rst medal, that too gold, inthe competition,” Pinki said.

On  her  part,  Sarita  saidshe was confi��dent even whenBattsetseg Altantsetseg tooka crucial  point  with  21  se­conds left to level 2­2, liftingher out for the winner.

Nirmala  Devi  won  silverafter  going  down  2­3  to  Ja­pan’s  Miho  Igarashi  in  the50kg.  “I  tried  my  best  butshe was very strong and alsohad  very  good  defence.  Ineed to work on my leg de­fence a lot more now aheadof  the  Olympic  qualifi��ers,”she admitted.

Kiran was the only disap­pointment  for  the  host  onthe day, crashing out of  themedal rounds in the 76kg af­ter  losing  two  of  her  threebouts in the morning.

The results: 50kg: 1. Miho Iga-rashi (Jpn), 2. Nirmala Devi(Ind), 3. Valentina Ivanova Isla-mova (Kaz) & Dauletbike Yakh-shimuratova (Uzb).

55kg: 1. Pinki (Ind), 2. DulguunBolormaa (Mgl), 3. MarinaZuyeva (Kaz); 59kg:  1. Sarita(Ind), 2. Battsetseg Altantset-seg (Mgl), 3. Madina Bakberge-nova (Kaz); 68kg: 1. Divya Kak-ran (Ind), 2. Naruha Matsuyuki(Jpn), 3. Delgermaa Enkhsaik-han (Mgl); 76kg: 1. Hiroe Mina-gawa Suzuki (Jpn), 2. Aiperi Me-det Kyzy (Kgz), 3. ElmiraSyzdykova (Kaz). 

Indian women pin three gold medals in freestyle Divya, Pinki and Sarita triumph while Nirmala comes off�� second­best

Taking advantage: Pinki cashed in on Dulguun Bolormaa’s passivity to emerge on top. * SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

ASIAN WRESTLING

Uthra Ganesan

NEW DELHI

Amandeep stays on top BENGALURU

Amandeep Drall remained in

the lead after another steady

round of golf on the second

day of the Hero Women’s Pro

Golf Tour (Leg 4). Amandeep

shot 1-over 71 at the BGC

here on Thursday to sign for a

two-day total of 140 and

lead Vani Kapoor by two

strokes. Oviya Reddi climbed

from tied eighth overnight to

tied third after shooting the

day’s best round of 68.Top scores: 140: AmandeepDrall (69, 71); 142: VaniKapoor (71, 71); 145: OviyaReddi (77, 68), AsmithaSathish (A) (73, 72); 147:Neha Tripathi (74, 73); 148:Khushi Khanijau (77, 71).

India’s  A.  Sharath  Kamalentered  the  quarterfi��nalsof both men’s doubles andmixed doubles at the ITTFWorld  Tour  HungarianOpen on Thursday.

Sharath partnered Mani­ka Batra to a marathon 11­8,9­11,  6­11,  11­9,  11­7  victoryover  home  hope  AdamSzudi and Szandra Pergel.

Later, Sharath paired upwith G. Sathiyan to registeryet  another  hard­fought11­6, 11­8, 8­11, 9­11, 11­9 winover  Japan’s  rising  starsShunsuke Togami and Yu­kiya Uda in men’s doubles.

The results:

Pre­quarterfi��nals: Men: Dou­bles: A. Sharath Kamal & G.Sathiyan bt Shunsuke Togami& Yukiya Uda (Jpn) 11-6, 11-8,8-11, 9-11, 11-9; Hang Siu Lam& Nam Pak Ng (HK) bt Har-meet Desai & Manav Thakkar13-11, 11-8, 11-13, 6-11, 11-2.

Mixed  Doubles: Sharath &Manika Batra bt Adam Szudi &Szandra Pergel (Hun) 11-8, 9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7.

Good day forSharath Kamal

Press Trust of India

Budapest

HUNGARIAN OPEN

City sees off West HamMANCHESTER

Manchester City posted a 2-0

win over West Ham in the

Premier League on

Wednesday.The result: Manchester City 2(Rodri 30, De Bruyne 62) btWest Ham 0.

Gujrathi draws with Hari,stays in lead PRAGUE

Vidit Gujrathi played out a

draw with compatriot P.

Harikrishna in the seventh

round of the Prague Chess

Festival’s Masters category

here to maintain a one-point

lead over the field. With five

points, he is ahead of Russian

Nikita Vitiugov and Alireza

Firouzja.

The results (seventh round):P. Harikrishna 3 drew withVidit Gujrathi 5; David AntonGuijjaro (Esp) 3.5 drew withMarkus Ragger (Aut) 3; NikitaVitiugov (Rus) 3 drew withDavid Navara (Cze) 3; AlirezFirouzja (Iri) 4 bt Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol); SamShankland (USA) 3.5 bt NilsGrandelius (Swe) 2.5. PTI

HFC wallops NEUFC GUWAHATI

Hyderabad FC brought its ISL

season to a conclusion with a

thumping 5-1 win against

NorthEast United FC here on

Thursday.The result: NUEFC 1 (AndrewKeogh 35) lost to HyderabadFC 5 (Liston Colaclo 12, 41,Marcelinho 13, 88,Mohammed Yasir 55).

IN BRIEF

Some established names andrising stars will join the Euro­pean Tour regulars when the56th edition of $1.75 millionHero Indian Open tees off�� atthe  DLF  Golf  and  CountryClub at Gurugram on March19.

Almost all the leading In­dian names and a couple ofpast  champions  like  S.S.P.Chawrasia  (2016  and  2017),Anirban  Lahiri  (2015),  JyotiRandhawa (2000, 2006 and2007)  along  with  Shubhan­kar Sharma, Shiv Kapur, Ga­ganjeet  Bhullar,  RashidKhan, Udayan Mane and oth­ers  will  be  part  of  the  fi��eldthat  has  some  tough  over­seas challengers.

Though the fi��nal list of en­tries is yet to be fi��nalised, de­fending  champion  StephenGallacher  (Scotland),  AndySullivan (England), Joost Lui­ten  (Nederlands),  ThomasBjorn (Denmark), Yuta Ikeda( Japan) besides some youngtalents  like  Justin  Sub  (US),Akshay  Bhatia  (US),  NicolaiHojgaard  (Denmark)  andMathew  Jordan  (Great  Bri­tain) are part of the fi��eld.

The  winner  of  the  eventreceives  $291,660  (approxi­mately ₹��2.08 crore) while the70th  fi��nisher  takes  home$3,200 (₹��2.29 lakh).

Speaking  to  The Hindu,Kapur  said,  “I’ve  markedthree or four weeks to peakthis  season.  Indian  Openweek  is  among  them.  I’m

playing three weeks leadingup to it — New Zealand nextweek,  then  Malaysia  andThailand — working my wayback,  planned  it  in  such  away  that  travelling  gets  re­duced. Playing in Dubai hashelped me prepare for chal­lenges  that  courses  like  theDLF sort of presents — withsloppy, fast greens.”

Mane,  winner  of  threesuccessive titles on the dom­estic  PGTI  Tour  recently,could  well  follow  RashidKhan to the Tokyo Olympicsthis  year.  He  said,  “Indiangolfers do not have any great“home advantage” of playingat  the  DLF  course.  It  is  amodern  course  and  manyplayers  in  both  continentshave  adjusted  to  the  chal­

lenges such courses off��er. Wedo  have  the  crowd  backingus. But over all, it is a fair testfor everyone.

“I am looking to make mygame better.  I am just  look­ing to improve and sharpenmy sword for, when ever theday  comes  of  me  winning,that’s  the  ultimate  goal  oflearning  more  about  myswing, my game, polish andre­polish my skills.  I am go­ing  to  come  three  days  be­fore Indian Open and get my­self  as  acclimatised  to  theweather and the golf course.”

Shubhankar  said,  “I’vehad  a  few  good  results  re­cently but I really want to dowell here. DLF was once myhome  course  and  it  will  begreat to do well there.”

Chawrasia, Lahiri among strong home­grown golfers for India Open RAKESH RAO

NEW DELHI

The prize: Shubhankar Sharma, Udayan Mane and Shiv Kapurpose with the Hero Indian Open trophy on Thursday.

* SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Tottenham  needs  anotherChampions League escapeact  to reach the quarterfi��­nals  after  Timo  Werner’spenalty earned RB Leipziga deserved 1­0 last 16, fi��rstleg win in London.

Spurs captain Hugo Llo­ris kept his  side  in  the  tiewith a string of  importantsaves,  but  last  season’s  fi��­nalist  faces a huge  task  toturn the tie around in Ger­many on March 10.

The results: Atalanta 4 (Hate-boer 16, 62, Ilicic 42, Freuler57) bt Valencia 1 (Cheryshev66); Tottenham Hotspur 0lost to RB Leipzig 1 (Werner58-pen).

Leipzig beatsTottenham

Agence France-Presse

London