GOLF
The Dream Valley Vooty Masters golf championship will be held at the Vooty Golf County in Vikarabad near here from February 21 to 24 with a total prize money of Rs 1 crore, according to Mr. Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI.
The Pro-Am event will be staged on February 25.
The leading Indian professionals in the field are defending champion Manu Gandas, Aman Raj, Karan Pratap Singh, Rahil Gangjee, Udayan Mane, Sachin Baisoya and Khalin Joshi, to name a few.
The prominent foreign names competing are Sri Lankans N Thangaraja and K Prabagaran, Bangladeshis Jamal Hossain and Badal Hossain, Andorra’s Kevin Esteve Rigaill and Nepal’s Sukra Bahadur Rai as well as rookies including PGTI Qualifying School winner Matias Dominguez of Chile, Nepal’s Subash Tamang, Italy’s Michele Ortolani, Czechia’s Stepan Danek, American Dominic Piccirillo and Germany’s Wenzel Krzenck.
The local players in the field are Mohd Azhar and Rahul Malik of the Vooty Golf County and amateurs Vilok Gadwal and Suraj Joshi from neighbouring Hyderabad.
Mr. Santhosh Reddy Kancharla, CMD of Dream Valley Group, said they were thrilled to once again collaborate with PGTI.
“Our partnership brings forth a promising future of tournaments. Best wishes to all the talented participants gearing up for Vooty Masters 2024,” he said.
“This edition promises an exhilarating battle between the players and the Challenging course. With esteemed professionals and renowned golfers set to compete, we anticipate an extraordinary event. Our past collaborations with PGTI have been rewarding, and we eagerly anticipate a continued partnership for future tournaments,” said Mr. Prithvi Reddy Kancharla, CEO of Dream Valley Group.”
V. V. SUBRAHMANYAM
RACKETLON
Siddharth Nandal wins national racketlon title for third time
An Income Tax officer by profession and a racket sports aficionado in his time away from the high-pressure job, Siddharth Nandal clinched the singles as well as the doubles title of the All India Open Championship of Racketlon, a combination sport which requires mastery of four disciplines.
The Mumbai-based officer defeated Vikramaditya Chaufla from Udaipur in the singles final to emerge winner with a scoreline of 20-22, 21-16, 21-8, 7-2 in the event held here from February 16-18. This was his third national title.
In the doubles final, the 33-year-old partnered with Nikhil Mansukhani from Mumbai to win 21-6, 21-7, 2-21, 12-3 against the pair of Kunal Singh and Vaibhav Chauhan.
The competition was organised by the Wellington Catholic Gymkhana and featured more than 150 participants.
Racketlon is a combination sport in which players have to compete for one set of 21 points in all four racket games – table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis.
Nandal won two gold and one silver medals in the Racketlon World Championships in 2019 and 2022 in Germany and Austria respectively. He said the sport is witnessing growth by looking at the participants this year.
Both Nandal and Chaufla have represented India at the World Racketlon Championship multiple times.
Chaufla, a former badminton player, has also represented India in the World University Badminton Championships.
In the final of the 55 plus singles category, Krishna Kotak got the better of Sugato Thakur 21-9, 15-21, 11-21, 21-16. In the doubles of the same category, Kotak teamed up with Merwyn Fernandes, a member of the gold-winning hockey team at the 1980 Olympics, to win the title.
Varun Motasha defeated Aayush Bhansali 21-14, 21-11, 6-21, 21-7 in the B category final.
-PTI
Khelo India University Games
Swimmers give Jain University headstart
Swimmer Shubhrant Patra clinched the men’s 200m butterfly individual gold with a dominating performance and then returned to help Jain University claim the 4x100m freestyle relay crown in the Khelo India University Games here on Tuesday.
Kalyani Saxena of Sarvajanik University, Surat and Danush S of Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences also won a gold each on the second day of swimming competitions at the Dr Zakir Hussain Aquatic Complex.
With 32 gold medals decided in two days of competition, Jain University topped the standings with four gold, one silver and two bronze medals while Utkal University is second, thanks to three gold from swimmer Pratyasa Ray. She also claimed the yellow metal in women’s 200m backstroke on Tuesday.
Patra, who is originally from Odisha but now trains and studies in Bengaluru, bagged the 200m butterfly gold with a timing of 2:06.94s, finishing over half a second ahead of Chandigarh University’s Harsh Saroha. Shubham Dhaygude of Savitribai Phule University clinched the bronze with a timing of 2:11.18s.
He then returned to the pool for the 4x100m freestyle relay, swimming the third leg, as he teamed up with Xavier Dsouza, Dhyan Balakrishna and Sambhavv R to bag the gold with a time of 3:37.76s.
Anna University (3:39.35s) and University of Kerala (3:41.65s) bagged the silver and bronze respectively.
Earlier, Kalyani Saxena and Danush S clinched the women’s 400m medley and men’s 50m breaststroke gold medals respectively.
On Monday, Kalyani had won the women’s 200m breaststroke gold while Dhanush topped the men’s 200m breaststroke race.
Elsewhere, in the basketball competition, University of Madras will take on Jain University in the women’s final.
In the semifinal, the team from Tamil Nadu hammered Guru Nanak Dev University 105-48, while Jain University got the better of Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science 85-61.
In the men’s category, Panjab University upset defending champions Jain University 89-87 to reach the final, where they will face University of Madras, who got the better of University of Rajasthan 79-76.
In weightlifting competition, being held in Itanagar, KIIT’s Sneha won the gold in 55kg category with a total lift of 172kg with Punjabi University’s Ramandeep (165kg) and Kurukshetra University’s Shalu (159kg) taking home silver and bronze medals respectively.
-PTI
Tennis
Ankita and Prarthana lose in Dubai
Wild card entrants Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare missed their chances and got beaten 4-6, 6-3, [17-15] in the doubles first round of the $3,211,715 WTA tennis tournament in Dubai.
The Indian pair got 10 WTA points and $9,100 for the effort in a draw of 32. Ankita had lost in the first round of singles qualifying event to Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria.
Results
-Kamesh Srinivasan
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