April 6: Indian sports news wrap of the day

Here is the action from Indian sports on Wednesday.

Niyati Kukreti, who won her match against Iran in the Junior Billie Jean King Cup tennis in Delhi on Wednesday.

TENNIS-

The Indian team stepped up its game and won both its singles matches for the first time in getting past Iran and top the group in the Asia-Oceania Junior Billie Jean King Cup under-16 girls tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Wednesday.

Niyati Kukreti overcame a shaky start to outclass Nili Atfi 7-5, 6-0. Being receptive to the suggestions from captain Archana Venkataraman, Niyati was able to recover from being 1-4 to get a grip on her game and the match.

Shruti Ahlawat continued to assert her confident game as she outplayed Mandegar Farzami for the loss of one game.

In the inconsequential doubles, the Indian team retired after four games, with Riya Sachdeva complaining of cramps.

With only three teams qualifying from the zone, India will have its task cut out in the knock-out stage, as it plays the quarterfinals against the second team from group-A, Hong Kong.

Japan topped the three-member group-A without any trouble and will play Uzbekistan, which qualified as the second team behind India.

India finds itself in the same half as Korea and Thailand. Australia was pushed to the second spot by Thailand, while Korea finished second to Kazakhstan.

It should be an interesting battle between Australia and Kazakhstan. The heat was already having an impact on the players, and whichever team handles the energy sapping conditions better will have the best chance of progress.

 

-by Kamesh Srinivasan

SHOOTING-

The Indian trio of Amrinder Cheema, Parampal Guron and Munek Battula shot 207 and missed the chance to fight for a medal by four points in men’s skeet team competition in the shotgun World Cup in Lima, Peru.

The top four teams in qualification, Italy, Puerto Rico, Peru and Argentina eventually finished in that order after the medal matches. Host Peru and Argentina were tied on 211 with US, but had pulled through to the bronze medal match after the shoot-off.

There were only two teams in the women’s skeet team event, and the US beat Italy 6-0 to take the gold.
 

The results :

Men’s skeet team: 1. Italy 6 (218); 2. Puerto Rico 4 (213); 3. Peru 6 (211); 4. Argentina 4 (211); 7. India (Munek Battula, Amrinder Cheema, Parampal Singh Guron) 207.

-by Kamesh Srinivasan

Basketball

Defending champion Punjab suffered a 84-101 loss to Services in a second round match of the men's event in the 71st Senior National Basketball Championship here on Wednesday.

In another upset result, Uttarakhand defeated a strong Indian Railways team 101-92 with Vishesh Bhriguvanshi leading the way with 48 points.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu men beat Haryana 75-48 in a Group F match.

 

- by PTI