April 16: Indian sports news wrap of the day

From India's triumph at the Asia-Oceania Junior Davis Cup to Rohan Bopanna's elimination from Monte Carlo Masters, here is the Indian sports news wrap for April 16.

From left: Indian team members Rushil Khosla, captain Sajid Lodi, Debasis Sahoo and Bushan Haobam with chief guest Anil Dhupar, Secretary general AITA.

TENNIS

India wins Asia-Oceania Junior Davis Cup tournament

Rushil Khosla and Bushan Haobam underlined their potential as they helped India win the gold in the Asia-Oceania Junior Davis Cup under-16 boys tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi on Thursday.

Even though qualifying for the World Group as one of the top three teams in the region was the basic goal, it was an icing on the cake as India beat Japan in the final 2-1, with Rushil and Bushan winning the decisive doubles 6-3, 6-4.

Rushil, playing the best tennis of his fledgling career so far, put up a high quality fare in reviving India’s fortunes in the final, by beating Yuta Tomida 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. Bushan had earlier lost the first singles in three sets to Naoya Honda.

After five hours of battle the teams were on par, when Rushil and Bushan played an inspiring spell, especially in the second set of doubles when they recovered from being down 1-4 to close out the match in straight sets.

Captain Sajid Lodi played a splendid role in pepping up Bushan with constant encouragements, and cajoling Rushil to keep a cool head during their singles matches. Rushil tended to get carried away in the second set, but recovered remarkably to play a superlative game in the decider of the singles in affixing his stamp of authority on the contest.

Australia took the third qualification spot by beating Kazakhstan 2-0, thanks to the efforts of Charlie Camus and Hayden Jones.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

Monte Carlo Masters: Bopanna-Murray pair loses in semifinals

Rohan Bopanna and his British partner Jamie Murray, a former world number one in doubles, were knocked out of the Monte Carlo Masters on Saturday.

Jamie Murray (left) and Rohan Bopanna (right) in action during their men's doubles semifinal at Monte Carlo Masters on Saturday.

Top seeds Rajeev Ram of USA and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain came back from a set down to beat Bopanna and Murray 3-6, 7-6 (4), [11-9] in a thrilling semifinal that went on for one hour 45 minutes.

Bopanna and Murray, who teamed up for the first time on the ATP Tour, saved three match points after being 6-9 down in the match tiebreaker but Ram and Salisbury clinched the next two points to avoid the upset.

- Nihit Sachdeva

CHESS

National Under-18 Chess Championship to begin from Monday

The six-day 31st National Under-18 Chess Championship will begin from April 18 in Pollachi with a total of 238 players, including 95 in the girls category, participating in the tournament.

The 14-year-old international master H Bharath Subramaniam of Tamil Nadu, who will be conferred with the grandmaster title later this month, is the top seed with a rating of 2,503 and the champion will represent India in the World Youth Chess Championships set to be held later this year, Tamil Nadu State Chess Association President Dr M Manickam told reporters on Saturday.

- PTI

SHOOTING

National selection trials: Ayushi Podder tops women's air rifle qualification

Ayushi Podder shot an impressive 632.1 in women’s air rifle in the qualification stage of the fourth National shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad.

She was followed by Vinita Bhardwaj (630.3); Nancy (630.2), Elavenil Valarivan (629.9), Riya Yadav (629.9), Mehuli Ghosh (629.4), Meghana Sajjanar (628.7) and Kashika Pradhan (628.7) into the semifinals stage.

In the 25-metre rapid fire pistol event, Anish Bhanwala led the qualifiers with 583, four points ahead of Vijayveer Sidhu. The finals of these events would be held on Sunday.

In the non-Olympic rifle prone event, which does not feature a final, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar emerged on top with a score of 623.3.

- Kamesh Srinivasan