Indian sports wrap, July 8: Wrestlers win nine gold medals at Asian U-15 Championships

WRESTLING

Grapplers win big at Asian Under-15 Championships

Indian male freestyle wrestlers tasted massive success as they secured six gold medals apart from a silver and a bronze apiece to claim the top spot in team rankings at the Asian under-15 championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Japan was a distant second.

The country’s female wrestlers collected three gold, five silver and a bronze to finish second behind Japan, which had six gold, two silver and a bronze. In seven out of 10 finals featuring wrestlers from India and Japan, the Indians won two while the Japanese emerged victorious in five.

In Greco Roman, India took the fifth place with a silver and a bronze.

– Team Sportstar

WEIGHTLIFTING

Sairaj wins bronze at Asian Junior Championships

Sairaj Pardeshi delivered a commendable performance during 2025 Asian Junior (Men & Women) Weightlifting Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, clinching the bronze medal in the 86kg weight category (Junior Men) with a total lift of 338 kg.

His individual lifts included:

Snatch: 152 kg

Clean & Jerk: 186 kg

Total: 338 kg

– Team Sportstar

KABADDI

Uday Parte reaps reward of six years of hard work with PKL contract in season 12

Uday Parte became the second most expensive player from Category D in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 12 player auction hall on June 1. The 23-year-old from Seoni, Madhya Pradesh, was bought by Jaipur Pink Panthers for ₹50.10 lakhs.

“Nothing was going on in my mind at that time, I was just thinking, taking it all in, that’s it,” he recalled with humility about the life-changing moment.

For Uday, the journey to professional kabaddi began in the most traditional way – following in his elder brother’s footsteps. “My elder brother plays Kabaddi, so from there, I went to the ground with my brother,” he explained. What started as brotherly companionship on the ground would eventually evolve into a six-year journey that has now culminated in his first PKL contract.

Unlike many professional athletes who begin their sporting careers in childhood, Uday’s kabaddi journey started relatively late. “At that time, I was in school at the age of 17,” he said. Despite the late start, his progress was rapid and determined. After playing locally in Seoni, he made his mark at the Junior National level in 2021, which opened doors to academy training and All India tournaments.

– Team Sportstar

SHOOTING

Mairaj misses final at Shotgun World Cup

Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan shot 121 and missed the skeet final by two points in the Shotgun World Cup in Lonato, Italy, on Tuesday.

After having missed only two of the first 100 birds over four rounds, Mairaj missed two in the fifth round, and thus slipped to the 34th spot in a strong field of 176 shooters.

Asian Games silver medallist Anantjeet Singh Naruka shot 119 and placed 64th, while World University champion Bhavtegh Singh Gill placed 75th with the same score, after a below par 21 in the fifth round.

Competing in the RPO section, world record holder Angad Vir Singh Bajwa shot 117, while Rajveer Singh Rathore mustered 107.

In women’s skeet, Ganemat Sekhon shot 20 in the fifth round, after 96 out of 100 earlier, and thus placed 35th with 116. Maheshwari Chauhan also had the same score for the 31st place. Olympian Raiza Dhillon shot 115.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

TENNIS

Sahaja Yamalapalli in second round

Sahaja Yamalapalli beat Katherine Sebov of Canada 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the $200,000 WTA tennis tournament in Newport, USA.

In the pre-quarterfinals, Sahaja will play the third seed Talia Gibson of Australia.

In the $145,250 Challenger in Trieste, Italy, Sumit Nagal won two rounds in the qualifying event to make the main draw. He will challenge top seed Chun-Hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei in the first round.

– Kamesh Srinivasan