Indian sports news wrap, February 27

Catch the updates and scores of all Indians in action on February 27.

Champions all: Tamil Nadu’s P.B. Abhinand (right, under-15), PSPB Academy’s Sahil Rawat (left, under-13) and West Bengal’s Rishan Chattopadhya (centre, under-11), the winners of the singles titles in the National sub-junior table tennis championships in Alappuzha on Monday. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

TABLE TENNIS

Abhinand lifts maiden National under-15 title

P.B. Abhinand bounced back nicely after losing the first two games to defeat PSPB Academy’s Sarthak Arya 4-2 and lift the under-15 boys singles title in the UTT 84th National sub-junior table tennis championships at the YMCA’s N.C. John Memorial Arena here on Monday. It was the Tamil Nadu’s youngster’s maiden national title and it came with a prize of Rs 38,500.

Sahil Rawat, from PSPBA, defeated West Bengal’s Aditya Das 4-1 and won the under-13 singles title.

The results:

Boys: Under-15 singles, final: P.B. Abhinand (TN) bt Sarthak Arya (PSPBA) 11-13, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6. Semifinals: Sarthak bt Priyanuj Bhattacharyya (Asm) 15-13, 12-10, 12-10, 11-8; Abhinand bt Punit Biswas (WB) 5-11, 11-8, 16-14, 11-7, 8-11, 10-12, 11-5. Doubles final: Priyanuj Bhattacharyya/Divyaj Roy (WB) bt Punit Biswas/Rupam Sardar 10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9.

Under-13 singles, final: Sahil Rawat (PSPBA) bt Aditya Das (WB) 13-15, 11-8, 11-4, 12-10, 14-12.

Semifinals: Sahil bt Aarav Negi (Ukd) 11-4, 11-6, 11-7; Aditya bt Keshav Rao (Kar) 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 13-11. Doubles final: Sahil Rawat/Dhairya Rawat (PSPBA) bt Aditya Das/Shrestho Chakraborty (WB) 11-3, 11-9, 11-9.

-Stan Rayan

HOCKEY

MP beats Maharashtra 5-1 to win Senior National Women’s Hockey C’ship

Madhya Pradesh defeated Maharashtra 5-1 to win the 13th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship 2023 in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh on Monday.

Madhya Pradesh lived up to its top billing, conceding only three goals during the tournament.

MP coach Paramjit Singh was delighted with the victory.

“Unfortunately, we lost in the quarter-finals last year in Bhopal and we knew that we needed to buck up if we wanted to stand a chance to lift the trophy. So we focused on the skills of a few players to help us in set pieces, namely Diksha Tiwari’s penalty corner hit and we also shored up our defence,” said Singh.

“We also built great chemistry within the team after playing practice matches against the junior team, which is where we changed the defence pattern.

“We played with three deep defenders instead of two, which worked perfectly for us throughout the championships,” he added.

- PTI

RSPB, AISPB, PSPB win in Hockey India Inter-Departmental C’ship

Railway Sports Promotion Board, Air India Sports Promotion Board, Petroleum Sports Promotion Board and All India Police Sports Control Board registered victories on the second day of the third Hockey India Senior Men Inter-Department National Championship here on Monday.

While Railway Sports Promotion Board defeated Food Corporation of India 2-1 in the opening match of the day in Pool A, Air India Sports Promotion Board beat the Sports Authority of Gujarat Hockey Academy 14-0.

In another match, Petroleum Sports Promotion Board defeated Canara Bank 7-3 to register their second consecutive victory in the tournament.

In the last match of the day, All India Police Sports Control Board defeated Tamil Nadu Police 9-1.

- PTI