TENNIS
ITF Women’s Open: Harshini, Sharmada through to second round of qualifying
Harshini Viswanadh and Sharmada Balu entered the second and final round of qualifying at the Federal Bank ITF Women’s Open Gurugram W35 in contrasting styles.
In the opening round of qualifiers played at The Tennis Project on Sunday, the 17-year-old Harshini who is ranked 37 th on the AITA rankings was stretched by Abhaya Vemuri, ranked 13 ranks below her before eking out a 7-5, 3-6, 10-8 victory in the only match of the day that went to the decider.
Sharmada who is trying to make a comeback in the ITF circuit, upset a better ranked opponent than her - Snigdha Patibandla in straight sets 6-1, 6-3.
Meanwhile, the highest seeded Indian in the qualifying draw 4 th seed Vaishnavi Adkar, 6 th seed Sowjanya Bavisetti and 8 th seed Madhurima Sawant were amongst the 16 players who didn’t have to break a sweat to advance the final round earning byes.
Results
Singles Qualifying 1 st Round (all Indians except where mentioned)
Siri Patil bt Mahi Trivedi 6-4, 6-4; Riya Sachdeva bt Suhani Gaur 7-5, 6-2; Richa Dadasaheb Chougule bt Ananya Yadav 6-0, 6-4; Divya Harindra Bhardwaj bt Rachita Talwar 6-2, 6-3; Samaira Malik bt Omna Yadav Davunaboina 6-2, 6-1; Shria Atturu (USA) bt Gayathri Sivakumar 6-2, 6-1; Apurva Vemuri bt Saily Prashantkumar Thakkar 6-2, 6-0; Ishwari Matere bt Ritu Rai 6-1, 6-2; Yubrani Banerjee bt Vanshika Choudhary 6-2, 6-3; Harshini Viswanadh bt Abhaya Vemuri 7-5, 3-6, 10-8; Himaanshika Singh bt Sanya Yadav 6-2, 6-2; Sharmada Balu bt Snigdha Patibandla 6-1, 6-3; Sahira Singh bt Arthi Muniyan 6-2, 6-2; Diva Bhatia bt Vidhi Jani 6-3, 7-5; Sachi Sharma bt Jigyasa Narsinghani 6-0, 6-2; Shefali Arora bt Esha Singh 6-2, 6-2.
-Team Sportstar
Indian Masters team for World Championship announced
Vibha Chaudhary will lead the Indian women’s over-55 team in the ITF World Masters tennis team championship to be held i Mexico from April 29 to May 3.
Making the announcement, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) stated that the players would take care of all the expenses for competing in the championship, including the team entry fee.
The team:
Men: Over-50: Jagdish Tanwar (captain), Ajit Maruti Sail, Nitten Kirrtane, Narendra Kankaria.
Over-55: Pawan Kapoor, George Varghese, Alok Bhatnagar, Nishit Pandey (captain).
Over-60: Nagaraj Revanasiddaiah, Chandra Bhushan (captain), Bhushan Akur, Pawan Jain.
Women: Over-55: Vibha Chaudhary (captain), Sohini Kumari, Sonia Milkha Singh, Chetana Arjun.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
SHOOTING
Mehuli, Anish, Ganga win in national selection trials
World Championship medallist Mehuli Ghosh pipped Ashi Chouksey by 0.1 point for the top spot in women’s air rifle in the third National shooting selection trials at the Madhya Pradesh Academy on Sunday.
After being tied before the last two shots, Mehuli came up with 10.8 and 10.2 in the 24-shot final, while Ashish had 10.6 and 10.3. It was a commendable effort from Ashi who had qualified in the seventh place with 629.4. Mehuli had qualified with 631.5, the same as the eventual third place winner Jasmeet Kaur.
Qualification topper Narmada NIthin (632.5) placed fourth. Shreya Aggarwal, Nisha Kanwar, Arya Borse and Kashika Pradhan were the others to make the final.
In 25-metre rapid fire pistol for men, Anish Bhanwala was in top form, beating Gurmeet 32-29, after having topped qualification with 589. The other Olympic quota winner in the event after Anish, Vijayveer Sidhu was below par with 573 and placed seventh.
Ankur Goel, Pradeep Shekhawat and Neeraj Kumar were the others to make the rapid fire pistol final.
The results:
10m air rifle: Women: 1. Mehuli Ghosh 251.6 (631.5); 2. Ashi Chouksey 251.5 (629.4); 3. Jasmeen Kaur 229.9 (631.5).
25m rapid fire pistol: Men: 1. Anish Bhanwala 32 (589); 2. Gurmeet 29 (583); 3. Bhavesh Shekhawat 22 (583). 50m rifle 3-position: Men: 1. Ganga Singh 458.5 (580); 2. Goldi Gurjar 454.4 (579); 3. Lagad Saurav Gorakh 444.6 (578).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
ATHLETICS
Gurindervir, Sudheshna fastest athletes
Chandigarh University’s former National champion Gurindervir Singh and Shivaji’s Sudeshna Shivankar won the men’s and women’s 100m and emerged as the fastest athletes of the Khelo India University Games athletics which began here on Sunday.
The men’s 100m final had just three athletes and Gurindervir, who did not run the final in last month’s National varsities championships in Chennai, emerged as an easy winner. The women’s winner Sudheshna had taken the title at the varsities Nationals too.
The top eight finishers of the varsities Nationals automatically qualify for the Khelo India University Games but many events saw only five athletes in action today.
The results (winners only):
Men: 100m: Gurindervir Singh (Chandigarh) 10.54s. 1500M: Vikash (Chandigarh) 3:50.70s MR, OR 3:51.61. 10,000m: Rathod Arun Dhansing (Punyashlok Ahilyadev) 31:11.41s. 400M hurdles: Ruchit Mori (Swarnim Gujarat) 51.82s. Javelin throw: Yashvir Singh (Chandigarh) 75.66m.
Women: 100m: Sudeshna Hanmant Shivankar (Shivaji) 12.01s. 1500M: Amandeep Kaur (Panjab) 4:23.72s. 400M hurdles: Delna Philip (Kannur) 59.11s. Triple jump: Deepanshi Singh (Lovely Professional) 12.63m. Discus throw: A. Anisha (Lovely Professional) 48.69m.
Mixed: 4x400m relay: Chandigarh Uni. (3:29.50s).
-Stan Rayan
Sagen Murmu emerged winner
Sagen Murmu clocked 1:32:31 to emerge as the winner in the half-marathon race in the inaugural Ayodhya Hill long distance run at Purulia on Sunday.
Siddhartha Majumder and Mohitosh Gorain took the second and third spots respectively in the competition, which was organised to promote tribal youth of the area.
The results: 1. Sagen Murmu 1:32:31, 2. Siddhartha Majumder 1:36:53; 3. Mohitosh Gorain 1:38:10.
-Y.B. Sarangi
ARCHERY
Deepika secured two golds on return to international competition at Asia Cup Stage-1
Deepika Kumari returned to international competition by securing two gold medals as Indian archers made a clean sweep of titles on the final day of the Asia Cup Stage-1 in Baghdad on Sunday.
Deepika defeated compatriot Simranjeet Kaur 6-2 in the women’s individual final and was part of the Indian team that claimed the team gold.
B.Dhiraj beat Tarundeep Rai 7-3 in the men’s title clash.
Indian recurve archers bagged all five gold medals while the country’s compound archers secured both the individual crowns in a depleted field. Three of the four individual finals were all-Indian affairs.
The results (Finals):
Recurve: Individual: Men: B. Dhiraj bt Tarundeep Rai 7-3 [28-27, 29-28, 28-28, 25-26, 30-25]; Women: Deepika Kumari bt Simranjeet Kaur 6-2 [24-26, 27-26, 29-27, 29-24]; Team: Men: India (B. Dhiraj, Pravin Jadhav, Tarundeep Rai) bt Bangladesh (Abdur Rahman Alif, Mohd. Sagor Islam, Mohd. Hakim Ahmed Rubel) 6-2 [54-55, 55-49, 57-53, 56-53]; Women: India (Simranjeet Kaur, Bhajan Kaur, Deepika Kumari) bt Uzbekistan (Ziyodakhon Abdusattorova, Nilufar Hamroeva, Jasmina Nurmanov) 5-4 [55-49, 46-52, 50-52, 55-49, T-24*-24 (shot closer to centre)]; Mixed: India (Simranjeet Kaur, B. Dhiraj) bt Bangladesh (Diya Siddique, Mohd. Sagor Islam) 6-0 [37-32, 38-35, 37-32].
Compound: Individual: Men: Prathamesh Jawkar bt Kushal Dalal 146-144; Women: Parneet Kaur bt Fatemeh Hemmati (Iri) 138-135.
-Y.B Sarangi
GOLF
Indian golfers falter at Oman International
Karandeep Kochhar was the best performer among the Indians bagging a tied 31st place while other golfers faltered at the International Series Oman on Sunday.
Kochhar fired rounds of 72-69-72-73 for 2-under, while Gaganjeet Bhullar (74) was the next best at tied 43rd.
Honey Baisoya (71) was tied 48th, Jeev Milkha Singh (78) was on tied 58th, Rashid Khan (79) ended at tied 67th and S Chikkarangappa (85) was 71st.
Earlier SSP Chawrasia, Shiv Kapur, Veer Ahlawat, Anirban Lahiri, Yuvraj Sandhu and Ajeetesh Sandhu were among the Indians who missed the cut.
Carolos Ortiz of Mexico fired seven birdies in a span of nine holes between sixth and the 14th for a round of 65 as he raced away to a comfortable win at 19-under.
Louis Oosthuizen (69) was second at 15-under with Joaquin Niemann (67) third at 14-under.
-PTI
Pranavi earns first career top-5 finish, Diksha ends up on 9th
Indian golfers Pranavi Urs and Diksha Dagar capped a fine week registering creditable top-10 finishes at the Lalla Meryem Cup on Sunday.
Pranavi shot 6-under 67 for her first career top five finish on the Ladies European Tour (LET) to get to 8-under 211, while Diksha carded a final round of 72 for 5-under to finish ninth.
England’s Bronte Law fired a phenomenal final round of 64 (-9) to come from behind and clinch a three-shot victory on a low-scoring final day.
Pranavi, who had rounds of 71-73 on the first two days, was off to a flyer with four birdies and an eagle on the front nine for a stunning 6-under 31.
She added a birdie on the 11th but gave away a shot on the Par-3 17th and finished with 67.
Diksha birdied second, third and 14th and dropped shots on 13th and 15th for 71.
Winner Law got off to a hot start rolling in a birdie on the first before dropping a shot on the next.
Law powered her way into the lead by carding eight birdies, one eagle and one bogey in the next 16 holes to take her third LET victory.
France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard was the runner-up on ten-under-par after rounds of 71, 67 and 71.
The overnight leader Mexico’s Maria Fassi and Spain’s Fatima Fernandez Cano tied for third on nine-under-par.
The LET has a week off before heading to Florida for the Aramco Team Series which takes place from March 8 to 10.
-PTI
SNOOKER
Parikh, Swaminathan enter main draw of CCI Snooker Classic
Seasoned Indian cueist Siddharth Parikh displayed a clinical approach as he brushed aside Danish Khan 4-0 in a best-of-7-frame final round qualifiers to enter the main draw of the CCI Snooker Classic 2024 here on Sunday.
Parikh put his experience to good use, outclassing Khan 73-44, 45-37, 64-23, 72-60.
Vinay Swaminathan also pulled off another fine performance, defeating Sumeet Naidu 4-0 (78-11, 65-44, 53-25, and 66-45), assuring himself a main draw spot.
Pinak Anap from Pune played a bold game to overcome Mohsin Achhava 4-2 (51-60, 63-42, 60-59, 67-4, 67-42, and 71-50) to enter the main draw.
Results of other Indians: Nitesh Madan beat Rohan Kothare 4-1 (76-20, 40-66, 89-56, 51-18, 61-19); Shahbaz Adil Khan beat Nikhilesh Pillai 4-1 (95[54]-16, 54-68, 70-12, 73-22, 62-26), Abhijeet Ranade beat Rahul Narang 4-2 (34-66[44], 30-66[41], 65-24, 63-34, 74-29, 65[47]-32).
-PTI
POLO
Delta Polo defeats Mayfair Polo
Santiago Marambio scored six goals to power Delta Polo to a 8-5 victory over Mayfair Polo in the final of the Gen. Sparrow Cup polo tournament at the Jaipur Polo ground here on Sunday.
Mare Jummy ridden by Naveen Singh was adjudged the ‘best polo pony’. Angad Singh Sandhu was declared the ‘most valuable player’ of the match.
The results (final): Delta Polo 8 (Santiago Marambio 6, Hurr Ali 2, bt Mayfair Polo 5 (Naveen Singh 3, Angad Singh Sandhu, Salim Azmi).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
MORE SPORTS
Army tops KIWG tally, Karnataka close second
Alpine skier Bobby Pandey’s parallel slalom title helped Army finish on top of the medals tally with 10 gold in the Khelo India Winter Games in Gulmarg on Sunday.
Karnataka, with nine gold medals, and Maharashtra, with seven, finished second and third respectively.
In the day’s only other event, Mehak of Uttarkhand won the women’s version of the parallel slalom. Uttarkhand finished fifth in the standings with three gold medals.
Spearheaded by Aanchal Thakur’s double gold, Himachal Pradesh finished fourth with four gold medals.
Army, which had won the ice-hockey gold in the first leg of the KIWG held in Leh recently, returned with nine gold medals in the second leg in Gulmarg for an aggregate of 10 top-podium finishes.
Snowboarder Kulvinder Sharma and Nordic skier Padma Namgial produced outstanding performances with two individual gold medals each for the Army team.
Karnataka, which did well in Ladakh primarily due to its ice-skaters, competed well here as well with Thekkada Bhavani Nanjunda, the 28-year-old certified trainer and a mountaineer, winning a hat-trick of gold medals.
The technical aspects of this edition of the KIWG was managed by the Sports Authority of India.
- PTI
FOOTBALL
Kerala held by Mizoram as Goa nets its second successive win
Former champion Kerala was held to a 1-1 draw by last year’s runner-up Meghalaya in a Group A league match of the 77th National National Championship for Santosh Trophy at the Golden Jubilee Stadium in Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday.
Kerala went into the lead early in the fourth minute of the action when its forward Naresh Bhagyanathan found the target. Despite finding the net early, the southern powerhouse failed to produce the insurance goal as Meghalaya found a late equalizer off Sheen Sohktung in the 78th minute to snatch a point from the former.
Goa picked up its second successive win by downing a strong Services 2-1 in another match of the same group to reach the top of the current standings. All the goals came in the second session as Lloyd Cardozo put Goa in the lead in the 70th minute. Joshua D’Silva converted a penalty in the 89th minute to ensure the win for Goa. Services pulled one back through Christopher Kamei in the injury-time but that was not enough to stop Goa from bagging the win.
After three rounds of action in the group league, Goa displaced Services from the lead by netting seven points while the latter had six points. Assam, which beat host Arunachal Pradesh 2-0, took the third spot with six points while Kerala dropped to the fourth with four points.
The results:
- Amitabha Das Sharma
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