Asian Games: India wins silver in women’s 50m rifle 3P team event; Tilottama, Vidarsa reach individual final

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Aichi, Sep 26 (IANS) India’s Tilottama Sen, Vidarsa Vinod Kochalumkal and Ashi Chouksey secured the silver medal in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions team event at the Asian Games 2026, with the trio combining for a total of 1763 points in the qualification round.

China claimed the team gold with 1773 points, while Kazakhstan finished third with 1754.

The Indian trio stayed in medal contention throughout the qualification, with their scores across the kneeling, prone and standing positions adding up to a strong team total. Tilottama and Ashi were among the leading shooters through the early stages, while Vidarsa made a significant recovery after a difficult start in kneeling.

Tilottama was particularly consistent, moving into the top three after the kneeling and prone stages. She eventually finished the individual qualification in third place with 590 points, earning a spot in the eight-shooter final.

Vidarsa also produced a crucial late surge. After dropping down the standings during kneeling, she recovered strongly in prone and standing to finish the qualification in sixth place with 588 points, joining Tilottama in the final.

Ashi, meanwhile, was unable to make the individual final after a difficult standing series. She finished 15th with 585 points, but her contribution remained important to India’s silver-medal finish in the team standings.

The qualification format required the shooters to complete 20 shots each in kneeling, prone and standing. The combined scores of the three athletes determined the team medal positions, while the top eight individual performers advanced to the final, with a maximum of two shooters from each country eligible to qualify.

China’s Han Jiayu topped the individual qualification with 594 points, while Tilottama’s 590 placed her third. Vidarsa’s 588 was enough for sixth.

With the team silver already secured, attention now shifts to the individual final, where Tilottama and Vidarsa will return to the range with a chance to add another medal to India’s shooting campaign in Nagoya.

–IANS

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Cummins targets return to action in IPL 2025, aims for playing WTC final and WI tour

New Delhi, Feb 21 (IANS) Australia Test captain Pat Cummins said he is targeting a return to action from an ankle injury layoff in the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and expressed confidence over leading Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa and subsequent tour of the West Indies.

Cummins has been out of action due to a left ankle niggle following Australia sealing a 3-1 victory over India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Sydney. The fast bowler had led Sunrisers Hyderabad to a runners-up finish in IPL 2024 and was retained by the franchise ahead of the 2025 mega auctions.

“That’s the aim. It’s four overs in T20s. So physically it’s quite a nice build up for the World Test Championship final, and then the Test matches after that. That’s the aim at this stage – start bowling over the next week or so, building up, and should be right for IPL. It’s probably just making sure you’re still bowling quite a few balls (during the IPL).”

“The good thing about a T20 tournament is the intensity is really high, so that obviously helps quite a bit. But maybe the back half the tournament, you ball a few extra balls in warm-ups and nets, just to make sure your body’s used to bowling quite a bit.”

“I feel like it’s a little bit different now that I’m 30 now as opposed to my early 20s. I feel like my body’s had plenty of balls in it over the years, and it’s pretty hardened,” Cummins was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au on Friday.

The ankle injury ruled Cummins out of Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka and their Champions Trophy campaign. In between, Cummins and his wife Becky welcomed their second child, a daughter named Edi. “It’s been an amazing month or so just having full focus on family time and not having to do too much training or have my eye on a tour. Just being totally present has been really special.”

“It was weird watching the Sri Lanka Test series. I haven’t seen the boys play on TV really for years. They were fantastic, the boys were basically faultless. I could follow along and just enjoy it really. The ankle is starting to come good.”

“It’s a funny one – it’s not like a hamstring where you need six weeks (to recover). It’s one of those ones where it really just needs a bit (more) rest to settle down. I’ve been doing loads of rehab in the gym and trying to build back up slowly. Especially for a fast bowler, you’ve got to kind of step towards things.”

“Once you have a bit of time off, you’ve got to start running again, and then you got to start bowling, and start building up. So we just ran out of time for Pakistan. It’s not necessarily a new (injury), it’s not anything that’s going to be long-term, but it’s just one of those ones you’ve got to manage. A bit of a break now, hopefully it sets it up for the next year or so,” he concluded.

–IANS

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IPL 2025: RCB collapse as Malinga, Cummins star for SRH in 42-run win

Lucknow, May 24 (IANS) Eshan Malinga and Pat Cummins triggered a batting collapse for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru as they were dismissed for 189 in 20 overs in Match 65 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Ekana Stadium here on Friday. Sunrisers Hyderabad thus registered a 42-run victory over the Jitesh Sharma-led side and prevented it from surging to the top spot in the points table.

In the first innings, Ishan Kishan’s unbeaten 94 saw Sunrisers Hyderabad set a massive total of 231/6 in 20 overs. For the fielding side, Romario Shepherd was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2-14 in two overs.

In his first innings after confirming retirement from Tests, Virat Kohli (43) took the fight to the SRH bowlers. He began the proceedings with a late cut off Pat Cummins, before punching Jaydev Unadkat through wide mid-off with authority in the next over. A pull shot towards deep mid-wicket, which just evaded Nitesh Kumar Reddy, off Cummins, saw the veteran take the charge from one side, while Phil Salt (62) struggled to get going, a contrast to their regular dynamics.

The Englishman was given a lifeline when he hit a Harshal Patel full toss, which was later deemed a no-ball citing height, straight to the fielder on the boundary. He was once again caught on the subsequent free hit that followed on another full toss.

One might have thought that Kohli would take notice of Harshal’s variation and navigate through the over with caution, but he responded with two cracking boundaries through cover and over mid-off respectively, with the latter marking his 800th boundary in T20s. Salt’s first boundary of the innings, barring the leg-bye four off his helmet, came in the fifth over and brought up RCB’s fifty.

Eshan Malinga was in for a rude awakening as his introduction saw Kohli smash him for six before Salt really grew in the game with a four and a six each. With the required run rate being matched, almost uncharacteristically, Virat failed to get on top of the bounce off Harsh Dubey and sliced the ball straight to Abhishek at backward point.

Mayank Agarwal (11), brought in as an injury replacement for Devdutt Padikkal, got off the mark with a four, while Salt really took the reins of the chase. A six each off Harshal and Malinga, with another four off the latter to bring up his fifty off 27 deliveries.

Reddy ended Agarwal’s return with a good length delivery in the channel, as the batter attempted to go over extra cover but edged to Klassen. Cummins smelled blood and brought himself into the attack. After an expensive opening spell, he added to RCB’s woes as a full-length delivery saw Salt mistime it with Harshal Patel taking the catch.

Stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma (24), alongside RCB’s regular skipper Rajat Patidar (18), acting as an impact player due to a finger injury, did not let RCB’s chase falter with the former launching Cummins for a six off the first ball he faced. Incredibly enough, RCB were able to keep up with the massive run rate with 10 runs off Harshal and 16 off Undakat and reached 167/3 at the end of the 15th over before disaster struck.

Reddy clamped up the pressure and allowed only four off the next six deliveries, which resulted in Malinga completely flipping the game on its head. A yorker saw RCB try to steal a quick single, but the pacer got to the ball first and dismissed Patidar, who was left in no man’s land, with a direct hit.

Malinga continued his fielding heroics by dismissing Romario Shepherd on his first delivery by caught & bowled. The game completely seemed to slip away from RCB when Jitesh miscued a slot delivery straight to Abhinav Manohar at deep mid-wicket.

Tim David (1), who was forced off the field after pulling up in the final over in the first innings, was struggling heavily and was concerningly unable to take singles. Malinga obliged by ending his innings with a lower full toss, saw the Aussie hit it straight to long-on.

Pat Cummins bowled over Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3) before Krunal Pandya (8) ended up hitting his own stumps with his bat. Harshal Patel rounded the game up for SRH as Yash Dayal (3) was caught in the deep to dismiss the side for 189/10 to seal the 42-run victory.

Brief scores:

Sunrisers Hyderabad 231/6 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 94*, Abhishek Sharma 34, Aniket Verma 26; Romario Shepherd 2-14) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 189 all out in 20 overs (Phil Salt 62, Virat Kohli 43; Pat Cummins 3-28, Eshan Malinga 2-37) by 42 runs

–IANS

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FIFA WC: ‘We still have a lot to prove,’ says Mbappe after France reach semi-final

Foxborough, July 10 (IANS) France’s leading goal scorer in FIFA World Cup history, Kylian Mbappe, heaped praise on his side’s potential but accepted that they are still not the strongest team after he helped the two-time champions reach their third consecutive semi-final of the tournament with a 2-0 win over Morocco in the quarter-final on Friday.

Mbappe started the match on a poor note as he missed the penalty, but the 27-year-old made a brilliant recovery, netting in the 60th minute to give France the lead. Dembele later doubled their advantage with another goal in the 66th minute, helping the side win the match 2-0.

“I don’t know if it’s the strongest. I was a world champion and a world runner-up, and this team hasn’t achieved that yet. However, it’s undoubtedly the one with the most potential. The one we can envision a future with. There’s a lot of quality in this team; it allows us to dream. But, until proven otherwise, it hasn’t won anything yet. I’ve always said that the strongest teams are the ones that win trophies. That’s not the case for this one yet, so no, it’s not the strongest,” Mbappe said after the match as quoted by L’Equipe.

Mbappe, who became the youngest player to feature in 20 FIFA WC matches and the fastest to reach the milestone of 20 WC goals, said that reaching the third consecutive semi-final is a special moment. Asked about their potential opponent between Belgium and Spain, the Frenchman said he has no preference.

It’s always a great moment. It’s an important step for the team , and for the more experienced players, it’s their third semi-final. Right now, I don’t have a preference for our next opponent, Spain or Belgium. I’m mainly focused on recovering. We’ll watch the match tomorrow. And whatever happens, it will be a chance for redemption for someone.”

With his eighth goal of the ongoing 2026 tournament, Mbappe has now taken his overall World Cup tally to 20 goals in just 20 appearances across three editions (2018, 2022, and 2026), just one goal shy of equalling Messi (21) for the most goals scored in the history of the competition. He will look to bridge the gap in the semi-final.

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