Manu Bhaker and Javad Foroughi win air pistol mixed team gold in President's Cup
Wroclaw (Poland) (PTI): India's woman pistol ace Manu Bhaker and Iran's reigning Olympic champion Javad Foroughi won the 10m air pistol mixed team gold at the inaugural ISSF President's Cup here.
The Indo-Iranian pair got the better of the French-Russian duo of Mathilde Lamolle and Artem Chernousov 16-8 in the gold medal match on Friday.
Bhaker and Foroughi were placed third in qualification with a combined scored of 582/600 to qualify for the first semi-final where they topped the field of four pairs to make it to the final.
Lamolle and Artem came through by winning the second semi-final.
Among the other Indians in the field, Abhishek Verma paired up with Ukranian Olena Kostevych to finish sixth while the pairing of Saurabh Chaudhary and Swiss Heidi Gerber Diethelm also made it among the top eight semi-finalists to finish seventh.
Yashaswini Deswal, the fourth Indian in the fray and who was paired with Slovakian Juraj Tuzinsky, ended 10th among the 12 teams in the competition.
International mixed teams were formed by the ISSF randomly in accordance with the draw.
In the day's other medal event, China's Lihao Sheng and Romania's Laura-Georgeta Ilie won the 10m air rifle mixed team competition.
The inaugural ISSF President's Cup is a rechristened version of the World Cup Finals, where the year's top 12 athletes according to world ranking are invited to determine the best individual athletes of the year in their respective Olympic events.
Individual winners will be awarded The Golden Target along with prize money. Cash awards will also be awarded to all athletes in the individual competitions.
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Karnataka police constable arrested for forging passport verification records
Mangaluru: A police constable attached to the Vitla Police Station has been arrested for allegedly forging documents and manipulating passport verification records to obtain a clearance certificate from the authorities.
Police said on Tuesday that a person identified as Shakti Das, who claimed to be residing within the jurisdiction of the Vitla Police Station, first applied for a passport in February 2025.
During police verification, it was found that the address mentioned in the application did not match official records, following which the application was not recommended.
In June 2025, Shakti Das reportedly submitted a second passport application. Police alleged that Pradeep, a staff member at the Vitla Police Station, processed the reapplication without informing the concerned beat constable, Sabu Mirji, who was responsible for verifying the applicant’s address.
Pradeep allegedly prepared a verification report in the name of the beat constable, forged his signature, secured approval from senior officers, and forwarded the report. He is also accused of destroying verification-related documents to conceal the irregularities.
As per the report, the matter came to light on December 19 during a scrutiny of records. Police said the acts amounted to criminal breach of trust, as a crucial identity document issued by the Central government was fraudulently obtained.
Police further said that Shakti Das claims to hail from West Bengal, and his address is currently being verified.
Based on the findings, Vitla Police have registered a case against Pradeep and passport holder Shakti Das under Sections 336, 337, 316(5), and 238 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
Pradeep has been arrested and produced before a court, which remanded him to judicial custody. Further investigation is underway, police said.
