Indian girl Keerthana wins IBSF world U-16 snooker title
Mumbai, Oct 7 : India's Keerthana Pandian has won the girls' title in the IBSF World Under-16 Snooker Championships, her maiden international crown.
In the corresponding boys category, Ben Martens of Belgium clinched the title in St Petersburg, Russia, according to information received from the media cell of International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF).
Keerthana won the girls' title by outclassing Belarussian rival Albina Leschuk 3-1 in the final.
After qualifying for knockout stage as seed 4, Keerthana knocked out her compatriot Manasvini Sekar and Russian girl Alina Khairulina in straight frames 3-0 before meeting the defending champion and countrymate Anupama Ramachandran in the semis.
Keerthana had lost the first frame, but after that she played flawlessly to win next three frames and defeated Anupama 3-1.
Similarly, in the final, Keerthana went down after winning the first frame, but with scoreslevel at 1-1, she geared up and played with full control to win next two frames and the championship.
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I am back home: All England missed, Sindhu lands back in Bengaluru from Dubai
Bengaluru (PTI): Two-time Olympic medal-winning Indian badminton star P V Sindhu, who was stranded in Dubai due to closure of airspace in the Gulf region, has returned to the country after pulling out of the All England Championships in Birmingham.
Sindhu posted on X to announce that she is back in the city.
"Back home in Bangalore and safe. The last few days have been intense and uncertain, but I'm truly grateful to be back to my house," she posted.
"A heartfelt thank you to the incredible ground teams, Dubai authorities, airport staff, immigration, and every single person who stepped up and took such good care of us during a very difficult time. The empathy and professionalism meant more than words can say.
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"For now, it's time to rest, reset, and figure out the next steps," she added.
The former world champion was on her way to Birmingham via Dubai, when she was stranded after the flight operations were suspended in the Gulf region following the US and Israeli bombing of Iran.
Iran subsequently retaliated, hitting Dubai as well.
"Moments like these remind you how fragile normal life really is," she had posted on February 28 while revealing some details of her ordeal, which included an explosion near her place of stay.
She had described the experience as "extremely tense and scary moment" for her and her team, including Indonesian coach Irwansyah Adi Pratama.
