Social Buzz: A week of firsts and focus

An action-packed week of sports saw Indian athletes making their presence felt at global events.

Sourabh Verma's Vietnam Open triumph kicked off the good news and it was only a matter of time when other athletes stepped up to shine in the spotlight.

While Vinesh Phogat held her head high at the World Wrestling Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, the likes of Amit Panghal and Manish Kaushik made sure they will return with at least a bronze medal each from the Men’s World Boxing Championships in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Here's a quick run-through of all the social buzz in Indian sports.

‘World’ moments to cherish

Victories for Panghal and Kaushik in Russia not only assured India of two medals but also made the 2019 edition of the competition the most successful one in the history of the nation. Before the duo’s triumph, India had failed to return with more than one medal from a single edition of the tournament.

That success was later doubled by India’s wrestling star Phogat, whose brilliant performance at the Worlds earned her a maiden medal at the tournament. And not so surprisingly, former Indian hockey team captain, Viren Rasquinha‏ was left stunned with all these achievements.

Panghal’s message

Locking horns with Philippines’ Carlo Paalam on Wednesday, life looked out of sorts for the 23-year-old pugilist who was trailing after the first round. After a brilliant comeback, however, he was awarded with a split decision (4-1) victory over his opponent - and unsurprisingly delighted.

Gnanasekaran’s heroics

An encouraging show at the 24th ITTF Asian Table Tennis Championships saw the Indian men’s team finish fifth in the team event, their best-ever result at the competition.

And while they lost to Japan in the quarterfinals,Sathiyan Gnanasekaran’s win over World No. 5 Tomokazu Harimoto in that tie was something for the Indian paddler to be proud of.

Eye on the prize

All eyes will be on the 2018 Youth Olympic Games gold medallist Jeremy Lalrinnunga when he lines up at the World Weightlifting Championship.

The 16-year-old Aizawl-born champion started his year by clinching silver in the EGAT’s Cup. He backed up his performance at the Asian Championships, where he went on to break the Youth World as well as the Asian records.

As for the ongoing tournament, here’s how he’s been training for it:

Time to unwind

A dominant display at the 10m air rifle mixed team event of the ISSF Shooting World Cup resulted in gold for shooters Apurvi Chandela and Deepak Kumar earlier this month. Dominating China’s Yang Qian and Yu Haonan, the Indian shooters were simply a class apart.

However, as the Asian Shooting Championships draw close, Chandela seems to have found the tranquillity we are all searching for: