BADMINTON
Indian shuttler Raksha Kandasamy wins Italian Junior singles title
Indian shuttler Raksha Kandasamy maintained her dominant run to clinch the Italian Junior singles title, defeating compatriot Ananya Agrawal in the final 21-14, 21-12.
Raksha had an impeccable run in the tournament held in Milan, Italy, from February 23-25, as she did not drop a single game through the course of the competition from the round of 64 to lift the title.
In the semifinal, Raksha had produced another one-sided effort, getting the better of Indian player Prakriti Bharat 21-10, 21-8. In the quarterfinals, Raksha defeated Slovenia’s Anja Blazina 21-9, 21-14.
“This win is really motivating, and I am really happy with how my game has developed over the last few months,” said Raksha, who won the silver medal in All England Junior Open Championships last year.
“This performance has been really boosting, and I am looking forward to competing in many more tournaments here in Europe this year,” she added.
The 17-year-old shuttler from Mumbai, who is studying in 11th standard, will remain in Europe to participate in a few more events with the aim of making it to World Juniors.
“I believe in staying focused, working on my physical fitness as I have been doing for the last 2-3 months and being patient and trusting the process to achieve my goals,” said Raksha, who also won gold medals at Cyprus Junior International Series Tournament and Bulgarian Junior Open Championships last year.
“Next up are a couple of senior international tournaments here itself in Europe, and my main target for this year is to compete in the World Juniors,” Raksha added.
-PTI
Aakarshi Kashyap wins women’s singles title in Uganda International Challenge
Indian shuttler Aakarshi Kashyap beat compatriot Shruti Mundada in the final to clinch the women’s singles title at Uganda International Challenge, but Raghu Mariswamy finished runner-up in the men’s final.
Aakarshi had to work hard for her win in the summit clash as Shruti pushed her opponent in both the sets, but the former emerged winner by a margin of 25-23, 21-18 in 48 minutes.
On the other hand, Mariswamy found it tough going against Vietnam’s Le Duc Phat who beat the Indian shuttler 21-18, 21-14 to emerge winner in the men’s category.
In men’s doubles, the Indian pair of Arjun MR and Dhruv Kapila did not face much trouble in brushing aside the challenge from Vinson Chiu and Joshua Yuan, beating the American pair 21-14, 21-13 to clinch victory in the title clash in just 30 minutes.
Similarly, in the mixed doubles category, the Indian pair of Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath went on to win in the final.
Satish and Aadya had to battle it out against the Australian pair of Kenneth Zhe Hooi Choo and Gronya Somerville over three sets for over one hour and seven minutes to emerge 22-20, 18-21, 21-19 winners.
-PTI
FOOTBALL
Santosh Trophy: Manipur beats Karnataka to move to the top of group standings
Former champion Manipur got the better of defending champion Karnataka by a solitary goal in a final stage Group B match of the 77th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy at the Golden Jubilee Stadium in Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh on Monday.
Ngangbam Pacha Singh found the only goal of the match late in the first half to secure the full quota of points for Manipur which sailed to the top of the current group standings with seven points from two wins and a draw. Karnataka, which drew its first two matches, remained at the bottom of the table with just two points to its credit.
Former champion Mizoram produced the best result of the final stage action so far by overwhelming Delhi 5-1 in another match of the same group earlier in the day. M.C. Malsawmzuala and Malsawmzuala Tlangte shared four goals while Dawngliana found the net once to realize the big win for Mizoram, which tasted its first success to tally four points from three matches and jumped to the second spot in the current standings. Delhi also tallied four points but took the third spot on having an inferior goal difference.
Railways beat Maharashtra 2-1 in another match.
RESULTS
-Amitabha Das Sharma
TENNIS
Ankita seeded second for ITF event in Gurugram
It will be another spell of fine chance for the Indian players to bolster their world rank and make progress when the Federal Bank $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament starts at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, on Tuesday.
Ankita Raina has been seeded second behind Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia, and Sahaja Yamalapalli is the only other Indian player to get a seeding, at No.5.
Sahaja and Shrivalli Bhamidipaty had put Indian women’s tennis in a better perspective with a superb performance in the recent WTA event in Mumbai, against top-100 players. They would be hungry to capitalise on the events at home, as there will be tournaments in Nagpur and Indore over the subsequent fortnight.
Ankita will have the first round against wild card Akanksha Nitture, while Sahaja will be up against Japanese Ayumi Koshishi. Shrivalli will play a qualifer.
Sowjanya Bavisetti, Vaishnavi Adkar and Sonal Patil will be eyeing a berth in the main draw when they play their third and final round of qualifying event on Tuesday.
Zeel Desai and Vaidehi Chaudhari face each other in the first round. Riya Bhatia will also be keen to show her game at home.
With a bunch of strong foreign players present in the field, it should be a lively event.
Seedings
-Kamesh Srinivasan
ATHLETICS
Khelo India University Games: Jashanpreet, Gug take men’s and women’s 400m gold
Lovely Professional Unitersity’s Jashanpreet and Chandigarh’s Gug Kaur won the men’s and women’s 400m in the fourth Khelo India University Games athletics here on Monday.
Kerala’s Jomon Joy took the men’s high jump gold, while Jain’s Kusuma Ravada bagged the women’s long jump title.
The results (winners only):
Sunday’s events
-Stan Rayan
CYCLING
India ends Asian Track Cycling C’ships with 18 medals, para athletes win most of them
India wrapped up its campaign at the Asian Track Cycling Championships with an impressive haul of nine gold, six silver and three bronze, though the para athletes won the bulk of the country’s medals, here on Monday.
Para cyclists contributed eight gold and four silver to the Indian medal tally.
Malaysia topped the medal tally with 19 gold, 11 silver and 7 bronze, followed by Japan with 17 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze. Korea finished with 9 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze.
On the final day of the championships, India’s Harshita Jakhar and Dhanyadha JP won a bronze medal in the Madison event of junior women’s category.
BASKETBALL
FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers: Spirited India go down against world No. 27 Iran
India put up a spirited fight against a much higher ranked Iran in their Group E clash of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers but ended up on the losing side of a 53-86 score-line at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall, Indira Gandhi stadium in New Delhi on Monday.
Ranked 81st in the FIBA rankings, India was the underdog against 27th-ranked Iran, but the host started with a lot of gumption as the packed stadium cheered them throughout the hour-long match. Forward Pranav Prince impressed with the interceptions in the initial few minutes as the host took a two-point lead in the first minute.
Iran took time to get into its rhythm but moved ahead, using its superior physicality to get past the Indian defence, but the host was definitely in the game, trailing by just three points at the end of the first quarter.
The Indians tried to counter Iran with fast-paced runs and converted over 40% of their two-pointers but struggled to content Iran on the rebounds and paid the price for the same. India, which had lost its Group opener away to Kazakhstan, trailed 32-42 at halftime.
Pranav Prince top-scored for the hosts with 11 points, with Arvind Kumar Muthu Krishnan and Muin Bek Hafeez contributing nine points each.
For Iran, Benham Yakhchali scored 15 points, while Mohammad Amini and Salar Monji added 14 points each for the team.
Commenting on the team’s performance, Serbian Vaseline Matic, who is the head coach of the Indian team said, “India has talent, we need more experience. We have some gap now before the next qualifier in November, and the national team will be participating in the club championship and multiple other exposure trips. We are confident that we can give a winning performance.”
When asked which Indian player impressed him the most and in response the Iranian Coach, Hakan Demor spoke highly about the young Indian side. He said he was really impressed by the Indian forward Pranav Prince.
-Team Sportstar
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