Indian sports news wrap, April 3

Here are all the major updates in Indian sports on April 3.

FILE PHOTO: Manas Dhamne will spearhead the Indian under-16 boys team in the Asia-Oceania Junior Davis Cup tennis tournament | Photo Credit: PTI

TENNIS

Indian teams announced for Junior Davis Cup, Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers

Manas Dhamne will spearhead the Indian under-16 boys team in the Asia-Oceania Junior Davis Cup tennis tournament to be played in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, in May.

The 15-year-old Manas, who trains at the Piatti Centre in Italy, has already played the men’s ATP tournament in Pune, apart from a bunch of men’s tournaments including a Challenger.

He was ranked 43 in the world in under-18 in January this year, and managed to win a round at the junior event of the Australian Open.

Kriish Tyagi and Aarjun Pandit will be the other members of the team. Sajid Lodi will be the captain.

The girls team will have Asmi Adkar, Aakruti Sonkusare and Sejal Bhutada, with Shivika Burman as the captain.

The girls tournament is scheduled from May 1. The boys event will be played the following week.

Interestingly, Kazakshtan has visa-free regime for 14 days for India, Iran and Hong Kong. Countries like Australia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan have visa-free regime for 30 days.

Visa is required for Chinese Taipei, Pakistan and Sri Lanka teams.

SQUADS

Boys (Junior Davis Cup)

Manas Dhamne, Kriish Tyagi, Aarjun Pandit.

Captain: Sajid Lodi.

Girls (Junior Billie Jean King Cup)

Asmi Adkar, Aakruti Sonkusare, Sejal Bhutada.

Captain: Shivika Burman.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

ITF Chennai Open: Yash Chaurasia upsets top seed Abhinav Sanjeev, qualifies for main draw

Yash Chaurasia upset top seed Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 7-5, 7-6(4) to reach the main draw of the BR Adityan Memorial ITF M15 tournament at the Gandhi Nagar Club, Adyar on Monday.

In the main draw, which begins from Tuesday, Chaurasia will face former national champion Vishnu Vardhan in the opening round.

Results (Qualifying Final Round)

[10] Yash Chaurasia bt [1] Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 7-5, 7-6(4); [12] Jagmeet Singh bt [WC] Dhananjay Athreya 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-1; [2] Fardeen Quamar bt [13] Suraj R Prabodh 3-6, 6-3, 10-6; [3] Bharath Nishok Kumaran bt [WC] Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar 6-2, 6-3; [4] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan bt [14] Lohithaksha Bathrinath 6-1, 2-6, 10-6; [6, WC] Kabir Hans bt Chandril Sood 6-3, 4-6, [10-8]; [7] Ajay Malik bt [15] Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta 7-5, 0-3 retd.; [8] Lakshit Sood bt [9] Rushil Khosla 7-5, 6-3

-Team Sportstar

CHESS

Vaishali holds Humpy; Harika loses

Aleksandra Goryachkina stamped her authority over D. Harika in 60 moves to stay in contention for the title after R. Vaishali proved equal to K. Humpy in the ninth round of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix chess tournament here on Monday.

Harika erred early on and then tried to catch up but in vain. Eventually, Goryachkina had four connected passed pawns to Harika’s lone pawn on the kingside when the Indian gave up.

Humpy failed to get any advantage against a solid Vaishali on this day during their 31-move deadlock.

The results (Indians unless stated):

Ninth round: R. Vaishali (2) drew with K. Humpy (3.5); Aleksandra Goryachkina (FIDE, 5) bt D. Harika (3); Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz, 5.5) drew with Nana Dzagnidze (Geo, 2.5); Nino Batsiashvili (Geo, 2.5) bt Polina Shuvalova (FIDE, 3.5); Zhu Jiner (Chn, 4.5), Kateryna Lagno (FIDE, 4) bye.

-Rakesh Rao