Here are all the Indian sporting news of the day:
TENNIS
Thailand accelerated to a dramatic finish as it beat host India 2-1 in the semifinals of the Asia-Oceania Junior Billie Jean King Cup under-16 girls tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Friday.
Shruti Ahlawat continued to keep the Indian hopes alive as she won the second singles with ease with her robust game. However, in the decisive doubles she was unable pull her weight in the climax with Niyati Kukreti. The Thais, Lidia Podgorichani and Assaphorn Wannapho won the doubles 6-4, 5-7, 10-7 for a memorable celebration, after the Indian pair had saved three match points.
Shruti’s serve was broken five out of six times in the doubles match, and the Indian pair did fight on gamely, at least till the super tie-break in which the Thais took a 6-1 lead and stretched it to 9-4, leaving the staunch home supporters only with the hope of a miracle.
Lidia was once again the heroine for Thailand as she had won the opening singles against Niyati to pave the foundation for the team’s progress.
In the final, Thailand will play Australia which beat the top seed Japan 2-0 with Emerson Jones and Lily Taylor getting the job done in four hours of battle between them, against Hayu Kinoshita and Sara Saito respectively.
With the top three teams from the zone qualifying for the World Group competition, there is still hope for India and Japan as they meet on Saturday for the third place match.
-by Kamesh Srinivasan
SHOOTING
Ayushi Podder topped the women’s rifle 3-position event in the thirdNational shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Friday.
Ayushi beat Sift Kaur Samra 16-10 to top the list. Ashi Chouksey who had shot the same score as Ayushi in the first stage of the final but did not qualify for the gold match, place third. She got the second place behind Nischal in the junior event.
Women’s qualification topper Meena Kumari (589), Bandhvi Singh (586), Olympian Anjum Moudgil (586) and Lajja Gauswami (583) also did not make it to the top three position after qualifying for the knock-out stage.
-by Kamesh Srinivasan
TENNIS
Yuki Bhmabri and Saketh Myneni beat Benjamin Lock and Courtney John Lock of Zimbabwe 6-3, 6-4 to reach the doubles semifinals of the $53,120 Challenger tennis tournament in Ecuador.
In the semifinals, the Indian pair was scheduled to play AkiraSantillan and Rubin Statham.
The results:
$53,120 Challenger, Salinas, Ecuador
Doubles (quarterfinals): Yuki Bhambri & Saketh Myneni bt Benjamin Lock & Courtney John Lock 6-3, 6-4.
-by Kamesh Srinivasan
TENNIS
Rohan Mehra beat Abhishek Gaur 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the Rs.100,000 AITA men’s ranking tennis tournament at the Base Academy.
Abhishek Gaur won the doubles title with Kanav Kashyap.
The results (finals):
Men: Rohan Mehra bt Abhishek Gaur 6-2, 6-3; Doubles: Abhishek Gaur & Kanav Kashyap bt Ankit Rao & Shashank Singh 6-4, 6-4.
-by Kamesh Srinivasan
TENNIS
India's Sania Mirza and her doubles partner Lucie Hradecka from Czech Republic defeated Jessica Pegula of America and Chile's Alexa Guarachi 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 to enter the semifinals of the Charleston Open on Friday.
Winning against the third seeded pair of Pegula and Guarachi, the Indo-Czech duo became the first finalist in the doubles category.
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