Verma pockets gold in Paris World Cup

Paris

Star compound archer Abhishek Verma stunned American heavyweight Kris Schaff in a shoot-off to bag a gold at the Archery World Cup Stage 3 here today. In a neck-and-neck final clash, the duo dropped just two points each to be locked 148-each after the regulation five ends. World No. 5 Schaff started the shoot-off with a nine and Verma, showing nerves of steel, clinched the contest in style with a perfect 10 to open India’s account.

New Delhi
Sreejesh, Deepika nominated for Khel Ratna

Hockey India has nominated veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and former women’s team player Deepika for this year’s Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Also, men’s team member Harmanpreet Singh and women’s team players Vandana Katariya and Navjot Kaur were nominated for the Arjuna Award.

New Delhi
Wrestler Bajrang suffers knee injury

Freestyle wrestler Bajrang Punia will take a week off to recover from a knee injury sustained on Friday during the Ali Aliyev wrestling competition in the Russian city of Kaspiysk. His coach Shako Bentinidis said Punia will be “off from mat training for nearly a week”.

Bristol
Shafali set for ODI debut

Teen sensation Shafali Verma is set to make her eagerly-anticipated ODI debut as the Indian women’s team takes on world champions England in the first game of the three-match series here on Sunday.

Spielberg (Austria)
Verstappen takes pole in Austria

Red Bull’s Formula One Championship leader Max Verstappen seized pole position for the team’s home Styrian Grand Prix in Austria today. Mercedes’ seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will join his title rival on the front row after qualifying third and behind teammate Valtteri Bottas, who has a three place grid penalty.

Osijek (Croatia)
Manu, Saurabh win silver in mixed event

Continuing their impressive run, the Indian duo of Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker clinched the silver in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the ISSF Shooting World Cup here. The Indian duo was on par with Russia’s Vitalina

Batsarashkina and Artem Chernousov at 12-12 before losing the last two shooting series to go down 12-16.

Rome
Sajan makes history with direct Oly qualification

Sajan Prakash achieved the automatic qualifying standard for the Tokyo Olympics at the Sette Colli Trophy here, becoming the first-ever Indian swimmer to automatically qualify for the Olympics. He clocked 1 minute 56.38 seconds in the 200m butterfly event. — TNS/Agencies