Category: Sports

On Tuesday, Teenager Suraj Vashisht became the first Indian to win Gold at Greco-Roman U17 World Championship in 1990, in Rome. The last gold won in Greco-Roman Cadet World Championship was Pappu Yadav 32 years ago.

Up until Vashisht’s victory, five different Indian grapplers have reached the U17 World Championships final but none have achieved gold. At the Junior Worlds in 1992, Yadav won the last gold medal for India at any level at the GR Worlds. Hence, there hasn’t been an Indian Greco Roman World Champion in the past 30 years.

Defeating Azerbaijan’s Faraim Mustafayev in the 55kg weight class, the 16-year-old smashed him 11-0. Azerbaijan’s passive behavior caused the referee to award a point to Vashisht at the end of the first half after judging his attacking intent.

Suraj secured a takedown early in the second half to increase his advantage to 3-0 before making two outstanding four-point throws to defeat Mustafayev. A change in his technique made just before the competition allowed him to play with such authority.

Indian coach Indrajeet Singh said, “He had a very open stance so we told him to close his hand”.

Nigerian Tobi Amusan won gold in the 100 meters hurdles final at the World Championships held in Eugene, United States, becoming the first sportsperson from her country to bag gold at such an event.

On Sunday, the 25-year-old clocked 12.12 seconds in the semi-final at Hayward Field, which was initially announced as a world record but was later ruled out, as the wind speed surpassed the legal limit.

In the final, she made a slow start but recovered to give a perfect performance over the barriers, 0.17 seconds clear of Jamaican silver medallist Britany Anderson.

“The goal was to come out and to win this gold,” said Amusan. “I believe in my abilities, but I was not expecting a world record at these championships. You know, the goal is always just to execute well and get the win. So the world record is a bonus.”

Puerto Rico’s Olympic champion Camacho-Quinn lost a close battle with Anderson, settling with bronze in her first World Championships.

Anderson told reporters she was happy with her performance, despite facing a few obstacles.

Meanwhile, US Olympic silver medallist Kendra Harrison, whose 2016 record was broken by Amusan in the semi-final, was disqualified.

On Friday, 22-year-old McLaughlin beats second-place finisher, Femke Bol of the Netherlands and sets a new world record by 1.59 seconds. For the fourth time in 13 months, McLaughlin ran for 400-meter hurdles at the World Championship in 50.68 seconds by shattering her old mark by 0.73 seconds.

In an absurd amount for a race of this length and a period of time that, prior to McLaughlin, had required 33 years to shorten. Her main opponent, Dalilah Muhammad came third by finishing third in 53.13 seconds. It was one of the must-see events in the track which McLaughlin declared she had run a perfect race.

She said, “I haven’t had a chance to watch it, so I’ll have to do that and go back and talk to my coach. But I think there are always things to improve on. I think we are pushing boundaries of the sport, especially in our event.”

McLaughlin was awarded a $100,000 payment by World Athletics President Sebastian Coe as compensation for breaking the world record after hearing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and receiving her gold medal. She improved the mark in this, her fourth straight big race.

On Sunday, ‘India’s Golden Boy’ Neeraj Chopra created yet another milestone in Indian history by winning India its very first silver medal in the World Athletics Championships 2022. His best effort of 88.13m in Hayward Field was a little short of Anderson Peter’s gold medal mark of 90.54. In the meantime, Jakub Vadlejch won his bronze with 88.09m.

Neeraj Chopra ended India’s 19-year-old wait for a medal by winning the first podium finish and second medal at the World Championship. Anju Bobby George’s bronze medal at the Paris 2003 world championships was India’s first medal at the world championships.

With a foul throw, Neeraj opened the competition before producing throws of 82.39m and 86.37m in the opening round. He threw a massive 88.13m throw during his fourth attempt in the final to secure a historic silver medal at the World Athletics Championship, but his fifth and sixth throws were fouls, as he finished second in the World Championships final.

Interestingly, since 2009, no athlete has taken home medals from both the Olympics and the World Championships. Neeraj has taken home a medal in practically every event in which he has competed while representing India at the highest level. The 24-year-old is the first Indian sportsperson to take home a silver medal at the World Championships.

Norah Jeruto won the women’s 3,000 meters steeplechase gold, creating a World Championships record while China’s Feng Bin defeated Olympic champion Valerie Allman in the discus final in Eugene, Oregon on Wednesday.

The former Kenyan National Jeruto, who switched allegiance to Kazakhstan earlier this year, clocked eight minutes, 53.02 seconds, the third-fastest time ever, surpassing the previous winner Beatrice Chepkoech’s mark in Doha in 2019, by five seconds.

Ethiopian Werkuha Getachew claimed silver, while her compatriot Mekides Abebe settled for bronze.

“At the starting line, I was afraid of my friends from Ethiopia,” Jeruto remarked of her competitors. “They are also champions like me, so I was scared of them. I tried my best to win the race, and it was not easy.”

In the women’s discus final, Feng’s 69.12-meters opener, which was also her personal best, helped her secure a gold while Croatia’s Sandra Perkovic and American Allman finished with silver and bronze, respectively. Reigning champion Yaime Perez finished in the seventh position.

“I am so excited and I have to say all opponents did a very good job today,” said Feng, who ended in 17th place in Tokyo last year. “I did not expect this result coming to Eugene. I just wanted to show my best.”

India finished their ISSF Shooting World Cup campaign in Changwon on Wednesday by leading the medal tally with a haul of 15 medals, including five gold, six silver, and four bronze.

On the tournament’s last day, the Indian trio of Anish Bhanwala, Vijayveer Sidhu, and Sameer bagged the silver in the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol team event.

The Indians were expected to top the podium and, at one point, had a good lead of 10-2 against the formidable Czech side of Martin Podhrasky, Tomas Tehan, and Matej Rampula. But the Indians were panicky and went down 15-17 to finish second. In the skeet mixed team event, Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Mufaddal Deesawala finished ninth out of 17 teams with a score of 138 out of 150.

India was victorious in all five ISSF World Cup stages in 2019, one in the abridged 2021 season and once again in Cairo in the first stage this year.

The next major championship for the Indian rifle and pistol shooters will be the long-awaited ISSF World Championship scheduled in Cairo in October this year.

A good performance by the Indian shooters at the World Championships may give them a chance to represent India at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

On Monday, 18-year-old Indian lifter Harshada Garud won the women’s 45kg gold medal at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The championship is being held from July 15 to July 25, 2022.

Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) athlete and weightlifter Garud won the yellow metal after putting in a total effort of four kilograms. The Pune lifter made history in May this year by becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal at the world junior championships. This time the aggregate was 157kgs (69kg+88kg), which was better than her junior world championship title-winning lift of 153kgs (70kg+83kg).

After her win, the tweeter flooded with best wishes and congratulated her for her big win. 

Meanwhile, in the youth division, Soumya Dalvi took the bronze with 145kg (63kg+82kg). L Dhanush won bronze in the snatch portion of the men’s 49 kg youth event with an 85 kg effort.

India, with an excellent performance of 185 kilograms (85 kilograms + 100 kilograms), still placed fourth overall.

At the Olympic Games, however, only one medal is awarded for total lift, while the continental and world championships award medals separately for snatch, clean and jerk, and total lift.

Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola won the men’s marathon in a dominant style at the World Athletics Championships on Sunday. Tola clinched the Gold as he finished the race in 125 minutes 37 seconds, breaking the previous best record held by Kenya’s Abel Kirui, who clocked 126 minutes 54 seconds in Berlin in 2009.

The cool conditions offered by the 6.15 am local start time offered an advantage to the Ethiopian, who, with a sustained acceleration, continued to move towards the finishing line.

Mosinet Geremew won his second successive silver while Belgium’s Bashir Abdi claimed a bronze, bagging his country’s first medal in the event for men or women. Canada’s Cameron Levins finished fourth, while Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor, who resumed racing after a broken leg that resulted because of a motorbike hit during a training run in 2020, finished fifth.

Tola had won bronze in the Olympic 10,000m at the 2016 Rio Games and silver at the 2017 London worlds. In the last few hundred meters, the 30-year-old waved to the crowd, enjoying the biggest win of his career.

“It was a dream come true,” Tola said. “I learned from my mistake in 2017 (World Championships) and I made sure it did not happen again.”

Veteran Indian shooter Mairaj Ahmed Khan scripted history on Monday by winning the first-ever ISSF World Cup gold medal for the country in men’s skeet in Changwon.

In the 40-shot final, the double Olympian shot 37 to finish ahead of Korea’s Minsu Kim (36) and Britain’s Ben Llewellin (26), who clinched the silver and bronze, respectively.

Khan is the oldest member of the Indian contingent in Changwon this year. He shot 119/125 during two days of qualifying before winning his first individual gold. The 46-year-old from Uttar Pradesh bagged a silver at the 2016 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro.

Earlier in the day, Anjum Moudgil, Ashi Chouksey, and Sift Kaur Samra outplayed the Austrian team to claim bronze in the women’s 50m rifle 3P team event.

But Khan was the show stealer. After finishing with 119, he competed for two final qualification places along with four others, including two-time Olympic medallist Abdullah Al Rashidi of Kuwait. Khan was certain of a top-eight spot When Japanese Shotaro Toguchi missed his eighth shoot-off shot.

In the ranking round, he was facing difficulty against German Sven Korte, Korean Minki Cho, and Cypriot Nicolas Vasiliou for another 30-target round. With his 27 hits, he topped the round with Sven following him to the medal round with 25 hits.

Ace Indian badminton player and Olympic medalist PV Sindhu clinched the Singapore Open 2022 title after overpowering China’s Wang Zhi Yi in the women’s singles final on Sunday. Playing on court 1, Sindhu won the match by 21-9, 11-21, and 21-15. She had an excellent start, winning the first game by an impressive margin. Zhi Yi rose to action in the next game, winning it by 11-21. In the final game, the top Indian shuttler kept her calm to claim it 21-15 and win the title.

PV Sindhu moved on to the finals of the women’s singles category by defeating Japan’s Saena Kawakami in the semifinals on Saturday. The match lasted for 58 minutes and showcased Sindhu’s dominance over the Japanese as she pulled off a victory in two straight games, 15-21 and 7-21. This is Sindhu’s third title of 2022 and her first Super 500 title this year.

Earlier this year in January, Sindhu defeated Malvika Bansod 21-13, 21-16 at the Syed Modi International tournament, thereby winning the women’s singles title. The match was played at the Babu Banarasi Indoor Stadium and lasted 35 minutes.

Thereafter, in March, Sindhu claimed the Swiss Open 2022 women’s singles crown at St. Jakobshalle arena in Basel, by defeating the Thai Busanan Ongbamrungphan by 21-16, 21-8 in 49 minutes.