Indian sports wrap, July 6: Deepika’s goal nominated for Poligras Magic Skill Award

HOCKEY

Deepika’s field goal against Netherlands nominated for Poligras Magic Skill Award

Indian Women’s Hockey Team forward Deepika has been nominated for the Poligras Magic Skill Award for her incredible solo field goal against World No.1, the Netherlands, during the 2024-25 FIH Hockey Pro League season.

Deepika’s iconic moment took place in February 2025 during the Bhubaneswar leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League when the Indian Team defeated the Netherlands in shootout after a 2-2 draw at the Kalinga Stadium.

 In the 35th minute, Deepika dribbled down the left flank brilliantly as she went around the Netherlands’ backline, kissed the baseline, dinked the ball over a defender’s stick and finished the move with a wonderful strike past the keeper and into the net.

“That goal against the Netherlands is one of the most special moments of my career. Everything just clicked and it helped us equalise and win the game in shootout,” the 21-year-old attacker said.

The winner of the Poligras Magic Skill Award is decided by hockey fans across the world through an online vote.

– Team Sportstar

SQUASH

Rathika Seelan finishes runner-up at Women’s City of Greater Shepparton International 2025

Rathika Seelan, seeded 8th, achieved her best result on foreign soil by finishing runner-up at the Women’s City of Greater Shepparton International 2025, held at the Goulburn Valley Squash Centre, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia.

In the semi-final, Rathika battled past her opponent in a five-game thriller to win 11–6, 7–11, 4–11, 11–9, 11–9 in 47 minutes.

She went down in the final to the defending champion Gigi Yeung, losing 5–11, 2–11, 5–11.

This performance follows her title win at the HCL Indian Tour in May last year.

– Team Sportstar

GOLF

Diksha moves up three spots in Irish Open

Diksha Dagar closed her third round with a birdie to gain three places to move to Tied 53rd at the 2025 KPMG Women’s Irish Open on the Ladies European Tour.

Diksha with cards of 75-73-73 is 2-over. She moved three places up from her previous T-56th when she made the cut on the line.

English amateur Lottie Woad continued her excellent form, firing a bogey-free 67 (-6) to hold a seven-shot lead heading into the final day.

– PTI

Bhullar moves up to Tied-24th in Morocco

Gaganjeet Bhullar leapt a dozen places upwards in the third round as he added a round of 2-under 71 to move to T-24th place in the International Series Morocco.

Bhullar, a 11-time winner on the Asian Tour, had four birdies against two bogeys to move from T36. His best finish this season in an International Series event has been T-24.

The other Indian in the field to make the cut, Ajeetesh Sandhu (75) was T-65.

Scott Vincent was rewarded for a late birdie on the 17th hole that edged him ahead by one shot at the end of the third round in the USD 2 million International Series Morocco.

Vincent’s round was one of only two bogey-free rounds of the day.

– PTI

CRICKET

OCA announces inaugural Odisha Pro T20 League

The Odisha Cricket Association on Sunday announced the launch of the Odisha Pro T20 League, a franchise-based T20 tournament that will debut in September featuring six teams.

As part of the league’s rollout, the OCA invites organisations to come forward and participate in the franchise ownership process.

The Expression of Interest (EOI) document for securing Franchise Rights will be available for download from the official OCA website (www.odishacricket.in) from July 7-13, it added.

– PTI

WEIGHTLIFTING

Asian youth and junior weightlifting c’ship: Maharaja bags gold, Sunil gets silver

A. Maharaja and Sunil Singh captured gold and silver medals, respectively, in the 60kg men’s youth category at the Asian youth and junior weightlifting championships in Astana.

Maharaja lifted 255kg (snatch 115kg, clean and jerk 140kg), while Sunil totaled 238kg (snatch 105kg, clean and jerk 133kg).

-Team Sportstar

BOXING

Dominant Sakshi opens India’s gold medal account at World Boxing Cup

Two-time youth world champion Sakshi bagged India’s first gold medal at the World Boxing Cup – Astana, Kazakhstan 2025, with a dominant performance in the women’s 54kg final on Sunday.

The 24-year-old was at her attacking best against USA’s Yosline Perez to get a unanimous verdict from the judges.

The Indian contingent has had a fruitful outing at the World Boxing Cup here and is assured of a total of 11 medals. India had bagged six medals in the first leg in Brazil, including a gold and a silver.

There were four Indian boxers in action in the first session on Sunday, and it was Sakshi who managed to stand atop the podium with a stellar display that combined speed and combination punches.

Earlier, Meenakshi pushed hard for victory against local favourite Nazym Kyzaibay in the 48kg final but ended on the wrong side of a 3:2 verdict.

Jugnoo (men’s 85kg) and Pooja Rani (women’s 80kg) will also return home with silver medals after losing their respective finals.

Jugnoo lost 0:5 against Bekzad Nurdauletov of Kazakhstan while Pooja went down by an identical score line against Australia’s Eseta Flint.

Four more Indians will be vying for gold medals in the evening session, with Brazil leg gold medallist Hitesh Gulia (men’s 70kg) leading the charge along with Abhinash Jamwal (men’s 65kg), Jaismine (women’s 57kg) and Nupur (women’s 85+ kg).

-Team Sportstar

TENNIS

AITA Championship junior series: Sangram wins doubles crown

Sangram Bhadury won a double crown in the AITA Championship series junior tennis tournament at the Harvest Academy in Jassowal.

Qualifier Sangram beat Yatharth Wadhera 6-3, 6-0 for the under-16 boys title. He partnered with Vedant Sharma to win the doubles title.

Japji Kaur Badohal beat top seed Bavanjot Sandhu 6-3, 6-4 for the under-16 girls title.

-Team Sportstar

Krisha Mahendran loses semifinals

Qualifier Krisha Mahendran’s fine run was stopped in the semifinals as she was beaten 6-2, 6-3 by fellow qualifier Veronika Miroshnichenko in the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Los Angeles, USA.

-Kamesh Srinivasan