Indian sports wrap, August 1: National squash championship starting from Aug 4

Here are all the major updates, scores, and results of Indians in the world of sports on August 1.

Anahat Singh, champion of the last edition, is expected to be seen in action at the National Squash Championship. | Photo Credit: KRISHNAN VV/The Hindu

SQUASH

80th National squash championship scheduled to be held from August 4 to 10

The 80th National squash championship sponsored by HCL will be staged at the Bombay Gymkhana Club in Mumbai from August 4 to 10.

About 670 players, a record number compared to the figures of 450 and 417 in the last two editions, will be competing in the championship, which would also serve as the selection criteria for the World Team Championship in Hong Kong in December.

Anahat Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar, the champions of the last edition, are expected to be seen in action along with a host of other prominent players.

“HCL aims to foster the growth of squash by increasing awareness and participation while unlocking the full potential of athletes, coaches and referees by providing them with global opportunities,” said Rajat Chandolia, the Brand Head of HCL.

“The overwhelming response to this year’s championship is a testament to the growing popularity of squash in India. We anticipate fierce competition and believe this event will inspire countless individuals to take up the sport,” said the Secretary General of SRFI.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

ATHLETICS

Services Championship: Kartik surprises Gulveer, takes 10,000m title

Kartik Kumar surprised national record-holder Gulveer Singh and won the men’s 10,000m title in the 73rd Services athletics championships which concluded at the SAI-LNCPE Stadium here on Thursday.

Meanwhile, former national champion U. Karthik, who produced a 17.10m effort in 2022 which put him in the fifth spot in India’s all-time list, won the triple jump gold with 15.89m.

Army Red won the overall championship with 83.5 points while Navy (77) and Air Force (41) took the next two spots.

Commodore V.Z. Job, Station Commander-Kochi and Commanding Officer, INS Venduruthy, was the chief guest at the closing function and gave away the prizes.

Results

200m: 1. Lovepreet Singh (IN) 21.12s, 2. Harjit Singh (AF) 21.27, 3. Sandeep Singh (AR) 21.37.

10,000m: 1. Kartik Kumar (AR) 29:48.85s, 2. Gulveer Singh (AR) 29:49.04, 3. Sunil Kumar (AG) 29:54.38.

3000m steeple chase: 1. Rohit Verma (IN) 8:44.35s, 2. Shankar Lal Swami (AR) 8:49.53, 3. Balkishan (AR) 8:52.76.

4x400m relay: 1. Army Red (Angrej Singh, Mohit Kumar, Nowajis Shaikh, Rince Joseph) 3:09.89s; 2. Army Green (3:10.26), 3. Navy (3:10.30).

Triple jump: 1. U. Karthik (AF) 15.89m, 2. Puneet Kumar (AR) 15.85, 3. T. Vimal Mugesh (IN) 15.84. Hammer throw: 1. Taranveer Singh (IN) 64.91m, 2. Niraj Kumar (IN) 64.15, 3. Ashish Jakhar (AR) 63.60.

-Stan Rayan

TENNIS

Mukund beats Australia’s Pham to reach ITF tourney quarters in Taiwan

S Mukund sailed past Derek Pham of Australia 6-4, 6-1 into the quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in Taipei, Taiwan, on Thursday.

In the $75,000 ITF women’s event in Lexington, USA, qualifier Shrivalli Bhamidipaty reached the pre-quarterfinals with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Fiona Crawley.

The results:

€148,625 Challenger, Porto, Portugal

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Joshua Paris (GBR) & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Pedro Araujo & Joao Domingues (Por) 6-4, 6-4; Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Hunter Reese (USA) & Divij Sharan 6-3, 6-7(7), [10-6]; Arjun Kadhe & Arthur Reymond (Fra) bt Jonathan Eysseric (Fra) & George Goldhoff (USA) 2-6, 6-4, [10-6].

€74,825 Challenger, Liberec, Czech Republic

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Nikolas Izquierdo & Carlos Taberner (Esp) bt Siddhant Banthia & Courtney Lock (Zim) 6-2, 6-7(5), [10-8].

$25,000 ITF men, Taipei, Taiwan

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): S Mukund bt Derek Pham (Aus) 6-4, 6-1; Tsung-Hao Huang (Tpe) bt Sidharth Rawat 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Makoto Ochi & Ryotaro Taguchi (Jpn) bt Sai Karteek Reddy & Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (Tha) 6-2, 6-4.

$25,000 ITF men, Brazzaville, Congo

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Rishab Agarwal bt Etienne Teboh (Cmr) 6-3, 6-4; Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) bt Parth Aggarwal 6-3, 6-1; Bor Artnak (Slo) bt Dev Javia 6-1, 6-0; Mathys Erhard (Fra) bt Muni Ananth Mani 6-0, 6-0; S.D. Prajwal Dev bt Hillel Rousseau (Hai) 6-1, 1-0 (retired); Karan Singh bt Yuvan Nandal 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles (quarterfinals): S.D. Prajwal Dev & Adil Kalyanpur bt Maxime Gouge (Fra) & Eytan Miessen (Bel) 6-2, 6-0; Rishab Agarwal & Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) bt Parth Aggarwal & Abraham Asaba (Gha) 6-3, 6-4; Isaac Nortey (Gha) & Karan Singh bt Ethan Sibanda & Mehluli Sibanda (Zim) 6-2, 6-4; Dev Javia & Rishi Reddy bt Aditya Balsekar & Yash Chaurasia 7-6(4), 6-3.

$75,000 ITF women, Lexington, USA

Singles (first round): Shrivalli Bhamidipaty bt Fiona Crawley (USA) 6-4, 7-5.

$25,000 ITF women, Roehampton, Britain

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sarah Grey (GBR) & Ankita Raina bt Lauryn John-Baptiste (GBR) & Eri Shimizu (Jpn) 6-4, 6-2.

$25,000 ITF women, Mohammedia, Morocco

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Ikumi Yamazaki (Jpn) bt Vaishnavi Adkar 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF women, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Aglaya Fedorova 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Vaidehi Chaudhari & Elena Malygina (Est) bt Ekaterina Khayrutdinova & Tatyana Nikolenko (Kaz) 6-1, 6-7(2), [10-4].

$15,000 ITF women, Tbilisi, Georgia

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Daria Egorova & Rada Zolotareva bt Saumya Vig & Elina Zakharova 7-5, 6-3.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

SURFING

National Surf Series: Kamali and Banarse to fight for top honours in women’s event

Top women surfers- P Kamali of Tamil Nadu and Sugar Shanti Banarse of Goa will be clashing for the title in the Open Women’s category of the Mahabs Point Break Challenge National Surf Series here.

Also, Shrishti Selvam and Sandhya Arun will be among the others competing. Kamali will also look to complete the double as she is the favourite in the Groms Under-16 Girls category finals, slated for Friday.

On the competition’s opening day, Kamali and Banarse qualified for the finals, finely winning their respective semifinals, securing a score of 13.17 and 8.16, respectively.

Shrishti and Sandhya qualified for the finals, finishing second in the first and second semifinals respectively.

Meanwhile, Kamali will compete alongside Dhayanthi Sriram, Mahati Srinivasabharathi and Saanvi Hegde in the Groms U-16 Girls category.

Up-and-coming surfers Tayin Arun and Kishore Kumar continued to impress with their performances at the national level, having qualified for the next rounds of both the Men’s Open category and the Groms U-16 Boys category.

Kishore won Heat 4 of Round 2, thus entering the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Arun came second in Heat 5, reaching the quarterfinals, and both surfers easily won their quarterfinal heats to cement their place in the semi-finals of the Groms U-16 category.

Defending champion from the last two editions, Ramesh Budihal and the top-ranked surfers Ajeesh Ali, Srikanth D, Harish M, M. Manikandan, Surya P and Sivaraj Babu have also sealed their quarterfinal place with convincing wins in their respective Round 2 heats, scheduled for Friday.

In the Groms U-16 Boys semi-finals, Arun will be joined by Yogesh A, S Lokesh and Som Sethi, whereas in the second semi-finals, Kishore Kumar will be up against P Harish, Pradeep Pujar and Prahlad Sriram for a place in the finals.

Head Judge Rory Symes from Australia praised the women surfers for their distinctive display of skills and boldness throughout the event.

-PTI