Merykom

New Delhi: Sixteen-year-old Saina Nehwal, who lost to top seed Wang Yihan of China in the girls’ singles final at the World Junior Badminton Championships in South Korea on Saturday, is undoubtedly the country’s most promising shuttler after Aparna Popat.

Without taking anything away from her creditable run in Korea, it has to be said that Saina she lost out on the opportunity to join an elite group of Indian sportspersons who are reigning world champions in their respective fields.

Following is a list of current Indian world champions:

BILLIARDS

Pankaj Advani: Nineteen-year-old Pankaj Advani outplayed compatriot Devendra Joshi 6-2 to win his maiden world title (points format) in Qawra (Malta) in March, 2005. He also won the time format title beating Geet Sethi in the final. Advani became only the second cueist after Malta’s Paul Mifsud to have won both the billiards and snooker amateur world titles. Advani had won the snooker crown in 2003.

BOXING

M.C. Merykom: Having started her career only in 2001, the boxer from Manipur has already been world champion twice. She currently holds the world 46 kg title, which she won in 2005 in Moscow. An inspector with Manipur Police, Merykom is preparing to defend her world crown next week.

CHESS

C. Mohineesh: The Visakhapatnam kid won the boys’ under-8 title, one of India’s five gold medals in the World Youth Chess Championship held in Batumi (Georgia) last month. Mohineesh won nine games and drew one against compatriot Prince Bajaj to tally an amazing 9.5 points (out of a maximum 10).

Girish Koushik: The Mysore boy won the under-10 title in Batumi. Girish played out a draw against fellow-Indian Y.V.K. Chakravarthi to seal his triumph before drawing with Shiven Khosla to finish on 9.5 (out of 11).

Evana Furtado: The kid from Goa stunned the world by emerging champion in the girls’ under-8 event. A student of Rosary HS in Panjim, Ivana won the title on tie-break, pushing fellow-Indian Mannepalli Navyavyshnavi to silver position. Both had tallied 8.5 out of 11.

C. Sahajsri: The Andhra girl required a draw to clinch the under-10 title and got it to reach 9 Points. In the same category, Sai Nirupama would have bagged silver with victory in the final round, but lost to finish sixth.

Dronavalli Harika: Harika won the girls’ under-18 title after outwitting Atousha Pourkashiyan of Iran with black pieces in a long game lasting of moves. She had previously won the girls’ under-14 title in 2004.

SHOOTING

Abhinav Bindra: He became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the World Shooting Championship with a spectacular performance in Zagreb last July. The 23-year-old Delhi lad went into the final round as joint leader with two others at 597, and shot a 102.1 in a nerve-racking climax to emerge on top of a strong field comprising 122 competitors from nearly 100 countries.

Manavjit Singh: The Delhi trap shooter won gold with 143 (out of 150) in the World Shooting Meet in Zagreb. The 29-year-old just about made the final, but moved from No. 6 to gold medal position after returning the best score (22 out of 25) in tough conditions in Round I.

Navnath Fartade: The 20-year-old village lad from Maharashtra won the gold in junior men’s rifle event in Zagreb. Born in a poor farmer family, Fartade was a kabaddi player before being admitted in 1996 to Kolhapur-based Sports Academy where he took to shooting.