Indian sports wrap, April 26: Nayar, Paras Mhambrey join T20 Mumbai League 2025 as mentors

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Nayar, Paras Mhambrey join T20 Mumbai League 2025 as mentors

Season 3 is scheduled to take place at the Wankhede Stadium from May 26 to June 8

Abhishek Nayar and Paras Mhambrey joined T20 Mumbai league 2025 as mentors, the state association (MCA) announced on Saturday.

While Nayar has been appointed mentor for Mumbai South Central Maratha Royals, Mhambrey join ARCS Andheri.

Apart from them, the T20 league will also feature seasoned names like Omkar Salvi (SoBo Mumbai Falcons), Rajesh Pawar (ARCS Andheri), Atul Ranade (Triumph Knights Mumbai North East), Amit Dani (Mumbai South Central Maratha Royals), Prashant Shetty (Eagle Thane Strikers), Pravin Tambe (North Mumbai Panthers) and Vinod Raghvan (Aakash Tigers Mumbai Western Suburbs) as head coaches. Namo Bandra Blasters head coach is yet to be announced.

– Team Sportstar

SHOOTING

Shambhavi takes double gold at the 23rd Kumar Surendra Singh Memorial Shooting Championship

Shambhavi Kshirsagar of Maharashtra won the 10m air rifle gold at the KSSM.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Shambhavi Kshirsagar of Maharashtra trumped world championship medallists, Olympic finalists and national champions, on her way to winning the women’s 10m air rifle event of the 23rd Kumar Surendra Singh Memorial Shooting Championship (23rd KSSM), at Delhi’s Dr. Karni Singh Shooting range.

The 16-year-old, who was fifth in the junior worlds in Lima last year, topped qualifications with a high 633.5, before closing with a brilliant 10.8 for her last shot of the 24-shot final, to outgun Haryana’s Ramita, a Paris Olympic finalist. World championship bronze medallist Mehuli Ghosh of West Bengal won bronze.

She was, in fact, the star of Saturday at the Karni Singh, coming back later to take the silver in the junior women’s event and a second gold in the youth women’s competition.

The one to cherish would be the senior women’s crown surely, where she found herself alongside Mehuli, Ramita, Ananya Naidu, the recently crowned national champion and Shreya Agrawal, a junior world championship medallist, among others.

Heading into the final two shots of the 24-shot decider, it was Ramita who led by 0.1. Both shooters then shot identical 10.2s for their 23 ^rd shot, but then Shambhavi’s final salvo left the Olympian way short with a total of 252.1 to the winner’s 252.9. Mehuli had bowed out after the 22 ^nd with 231.0.

Ramita however got one back on Shambhavi, winning the next junior women’s final over her by a bigger margin of 1.5. Manya Mittal of Uttar Pradesh was third.

To Shambhavi’s credit, she did not let that deter her and displaying determination, she came back yet again to take the youth women’s crown, this time over Nidhi Mittal of Karnataka with a tally of 253.6. Nidhi was 1.8 behind while Madhya Pradesh’s Gautami Bhanot was third.

The senior qualification field attracted a total of 411 shooters.

-Team Sportstar

BOXING

India guaranteed 43 medals at Asian age-group Boxing Championships

India has confirmed 43 medals at the inaugural Asian U-15 & U-17 Boxing Championships, organised by the newly recognised Asian Boxing body under World Boxing, with four more pugilists punching their way into the semifinals on Day 7 in Amman. India is now assured of at least 25 medals in the U-15 category and 18 in the U-17, as all semifinalists are guaranteed bronze.

Aman Siwach (63kg) and Devansh (80kg) led the charge in the U-17 boys’ section, both securing Referee Stopped Contest (RSC) wins over opponents from the Philippines and Jordan, respectively, in the last set of quarterfinals bouts.

In the girls’ division, Simranjeet Kaur (60kg) posted a commanding 5-0 win over Jordan’s Aya Alhasanat, while Himanshi (70kg) ended her bout in the very first round with an RSC against Palestine’s Farah Abou Layla, joining their cohorts in the penultimate round.

– Team Sportstar

TENNIS

AITA U-18 National series: Top seed Swaraaj beats Ribhav in boys final

Top seed Swaraaj Dhamdhere beat Ribhav Saroha 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in the boys final of the AITA National series under-18 tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex on Saturday.

Qualifier Ranjhana Sangram won the girls title as Nainika Bendram retired after five games.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Shubhankar Sharma falters in second round, misses cut in China

India’s Shubhankar Sharma was unable to build on his good start as he shot 3-over 75 in the second round and missed the cut at the Hainan Classic golf tournament.

His 69-75 meant he was even par for two rounds.

As play on the second day was suspended due to darkness, Sharma’s fate was left hanging, but early in the morning when play ended in round two, the Indian was on the wrong side of the cut line.

Sharma had four bogeys and a birdie during the second round with the sole birdie coming on the third and the bogeys on the first, fourth, ninth and the 10th holes.

Sharma has had a difficult start to the year as he failed to make the cut in his first four events before he found rhythm and made the cut in the next four including the Hero Indian Open.

The Volvo China Open last week marked a downturn in fortunes as he failed to make the cut there.

Sean Crocker (67-68) was in lead at nine-under with Elvis Smylie (68-68) next at eight-under. Six players were tied at seven-under and that included Jack Senior, Martin Couvra, Daniel Hillier, Fabrizio Zanotti, Edorardo Molinari and Kiradech Aphibarnrat.

Day one leader Haotong Li had a tough second day as he hit three-over par 75 after a first round 66 to fall down to T-27th.

– PTI

Aditi Ashok likely to make cut at Chevron Classic

Indian golfer Aditi Ashok endured a difficult second day at the Chevron Championship at The Woodlands, USA, as she finished with a round of two-over par 74.

Put alongside her first round even par 72, she was two-over for 36 holes and on the cut line.

Though there are nine players yet to finish the second round, Aditi should make the cut on the line.

Recent Epson Tour graduate Yan Liu held onto the top spot at the end of the second round as Haeran Ryu slipped down the order to tied sixth.

Yan Liu played even par for the day as she made three bogeys and a rare albatross on the front nine. On the back nine Liu dropped a bogey on the 17th and picked a birdie on the 18th.

Lindy Duncan moved up 32 places with a round of 5 under par to sit at tied second alongside Sarah Schmelzel, Mao Saigo and Hyo Joo Kim.

Top-ranked Nelly Korda rallied late in the afternoon to make the cut in her title defence, following an opening 77 with a 68. She won last year at The Club at Carlton Woods for the last of her record-tying five straight victories.

Aditi had two birdies and four bogeys. She started her round with bogeys on the first and second holes and then a birdie on the eighth hole. On the back nine she had a bogey on the 11th and 13th holes and a birdie on the 12th hole for a total of 74.

So far in 2025, Aditi has made the cut in two of the three events she has played, and her best finish for the year was a tied 34th at the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands.

– PTI

Theegala and Rai in top 10 at Zurich Classic

Sahith Theegala holed a 10-footer for an eagle and with his teammate Aaron Rai, he moved into top 10 with a second round 69 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

They were playing the alternate shot format.

The Indian-origin pair had a birdie on the first, an eagle on the second and a birdie on the seventh. They dropped a shot on the fifth and parred the remaining holes, including all nine on the back stretch.

Akshay Bhatia, who with Theegala, is signed up with Hero, missed the cut as he played with Carson Young.

PGA TOUR rookies Isaiah Salinda and Kevin Velo shot a 3-under 69 in alternate-shot play to remain atop the leaderboard.

Defending champions Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry were six strokes back.

Salinda and Velo had a 17-under 127 at breezy TPC Louisiana after breaking the tournament better-ball record with a 58 on Thursday in the TOUR’s only team event. Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin were a stroke back after a 66.

The teams will play better ball Saturday and alternate shot Sunday.

Playing the back nine first, Salinda and Velo made the turn at 1 over, then rallied with four birdies on the easier front nine.

Novak is coming off a playoff loss last week to Justin Thomas in the RBC Heritage, his second straight top-three finish.

McIlroy, making his first start since winning the Masters, and Lowry were tied for 16th at 11 under after a 69. The Irish stars eagled the par-5 second and played the first 12 holes in 6 under. They were 3 over on the last six, dropping strokes on the par-4 13th, par-3 17th and par-5 18th.

Danish identical twins Nicolai and Rasmus Højgaard were third at 15 under after a 70. They shot 59 on Thursday.

– PTI

Angad Cheema wins Kapil Dev Grant Thornton Invitational

Chandigarh golfer Angad Cheema fired a six-under 66 to win the Kapil Dev Grant Thornton Invitational, his fourth Pro title, at the Prestige Golfshire Club in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Cheema’s (66-64-66) sublime final round effort helped him for a total 20-under 196 in the 54-hole event as he clinched his third win on the PGTI main tour by a two-stroke margin.

The victory saw the 35-year-old pocketed Rs 30 lakh for his effort that also propelled him to 10th place in the PGTI Order of Merit from 28th.

Pranavi Urs (71-65-72) had the best finish among the lady professionals as she ended the tournament in tied 18th place with a total of eight-under 208.

-PTI

MOTORSPORTS

Karna Kadur and Musa Sherif Top the Leaderboard of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship

Reigning national champion Karna Kadur, along with co-driver Musa Sheri,f continued their dominance, topping four of the five special stages today in the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) India Round promoted by Vamcy Merl, which is being held here at the Madras International Circuit.

K. Kadur in action.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Kadur and Sherif, representing Arka Motorsports, increased their overnight lead on defending APRC winners and teammates Harkrishan Wadia and Kunal Kashyap. They topped today’s first stage, the short 4.9km Special Stage (SS) 3 and followed up by setting the quickest time in the 19k.2km in SS2. However, the pair lost 5.9 seconds in SS3, but that did not matter much in the end, as Karna Kadur switched up gears and took a huge lead in the last two stages, which were the Avisa stage and the Track stage, to top the time sheets on the penultimate day of the competition.

Wadia and Kashyap finished the day in second place, followed by two-time National champion Amittrajit Ghosh and co-driver Ashwin Naik, also of Arka Motorsports finished in third place. Despite having issues with the fuel pump, Ghosh, who was trailing in sixth place, bounced back to finish third at the end of the day. Incidentally, the top four places on the leaderboard belong to drivers from Arka Motorsports.

The APRC will conclude tomorrow with five more special stages, at the end of which the winner will be decided.

-Team Sportstar

TENNIS

Zeel Desai enters singles final in Tunisia

Fifth seed Zeel Desai beat second-seeded Arabella Koller of Austria 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 in the semifinals of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Monastir, Tunisia, on Saturday.

Zeel will challenge her doubles partner Anastasiia Gureva in the final. The top seeded Zeel and Anastasiia lost the doubles final in straight sets to third seeds Abigail Rencheli and Hibah Shaikh of USA.

In the $60,000 Challenger in Ivory Coast, Prajwal Dev made the doubles final in partnership with Aleksandre Bakshi of Georgia.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Asia U-14 championship: Jensi Kanabar sets final clash with Lim Yerin

Jensi Kanabar beat Sun Jiarui of China 6-3, 7-5 in the girls semifinals of the Asian under-14 Development tennis championship at the DLTA Complex on Saturday.

In the final, Jensi will play top seed Lim Yerin of Korea who stopped a fighting Srishti Kiran for the loss of three games.

– Team Sportstar

CUE SPORT

Kotwani, Habib in main draw of CCI Billiards

Hitesh Kotwani showed great touch to effortlessly get the better of Vivek Narayan and qualify for the main draw of the CCI Billiards Classic in Mumbai on Saturday.

At the Wilson Jones Billiards hall, Kotwani came up with significant breaks of 80, 55 and 52 in the second round of qualifying to win 430-266.

In another second-round qualifying match, veteran Tamil Nadu challenger Rafat Habib prevailed over Shubham Randhe 248-210.

Habib’s efforts of 73 and 63 saw him keep ahead of Randhe, who put up a strong fight and managed a break of 66.

Nikhil Ghadge managed to beat a spirited Piroze Patel, snatching a 192-153 win to also confirm a berth in the main draw.

– PTI