Neeraj strikes another gold, beats Cheng of Taipei
NEW DELHI: Star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra on Sunday won gold in the Savo Games in Finland with an impressive performance, beating his Chinese Taipei rival Chao-tsun Cheng as the duo warmed up for an Asian Games showdown.
Neeraj, the reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Asian season leader, threw 85.69m in the event held at Lapinlahti, Finland, where he is undergoing training as part of preparations for the Asian Games.
Cheng managed 82.52m to take the second place. The 23-year-old Cheng is the only Asian to have thrown the javelin beyond 90m. He threw 91.36m during the World University Games in Taipei last year to shatter the previous Asian record of 89.15m.
KAPUR FINISHES SECOND AT ROYAL CUP,
PATTAYA: Defending champion Shiv Kapur of India made a mistake on either side of the turn at the ninth and 10th holes to finish tied second at the Royal Cup golf tournament here on Sunday.
Kapur battled to an one-over 71 and ended at eight-under with three others as South African Justin Harding (68) carried on his excellent form to complete backto-back wins on the Asian Tour.
Harding finished way ahead at 14-under for a six-shot win over Kapur, Jake Mcleod (67). Chapchai Nirat 68) and Kurt Kitayama (67), all of whom finished at eightunder. Gaganjeet Bhullar (70) finished tied 10th for another good result. S Chikkarangappa (67) and Viraj Madappa (68) were tied 14th.
ADITI FALLS BACK ON WINDY DAY TO T-45
GULLANE (SCOTLAND): Aditi Ashok had a nightmarish back nine with six bogeys in last eight holes as she fell to four-over 75 in the third round of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open. The Indian slipped from T-17 to T-45 on an extremely windy day at the Gullane Golf Club.
Overall she had seven bogeys and three birdies and she is now one-over 214 for 54 holes. Ariya Jutanugarn and Amy Yang lead the pack at eight-under par through 54 holes after facing extremely windy conditions.
American Tiffany Joh led through the first and second rounds, but a round of 9-over par 80 on Saturday set her way back in T-7 at 4-under.
SECOND GOLD FOR BAJRANG
NEWDELHI: Bajrang Punia won his second consecutive international gold while Sandeep Tomar had to be content with silver at the Yasar Dogu International as Indian wrestlers returned with 10 medals, including seven by women, from the ranking event in Istanbul, Turkey.
In the women’s competition, Pinki was the lone gold medallist in 55kg with 6-3 win over Ukraine’s Olga Shnaider in the final but Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik failed to reach the medal round in 62kg category.
R1 R2
JAGAT-CHETAN WIN
NEWDELHI: Veteran rallyist Jagat Nanjappa and co-driver Chetan Changappa of Coorg’s Team V5 Offroaders are champions of ISUZU RFC India 2018. They won the fifth season of India’s toughest international off-road motorsport competition with a total score of 2006 points out of 2600. With this win, this pair has become the second Indian, and the first offroader from the south, to win the coveted title ever since its launch in the country in 2014. As the ISUZU RFC India 2018 Champions, Jagat and Chetan will represent the country at RFC 2018 Global Series Grand Finale.