Indian sports news wrap, August 22

Here are all the major updates and results from Indian sports on August 22.

India’s Ashish Kumar in action. (File Photo) | Photo Credit: PTI

GYMNASTICS

Ashish lands bronze in Pharaohs Cup international tournament

Returning to international competition after two years, 2010 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games medallist Ashish Kumar landed a bronze medal in men’s floor exercise in the recently concluded Pharaohs Cup international tournament in Cairo, Egypt.

The 33-year-old Ashish, who had been dealing with injuries, scored 12.80, after a penalty of 0.4, to secure an international medal after nine long years.

-Y.B. Sarangi

TENNIS

ITF women’s tennis tournament: Rutuja and Vaidehi in doubles quarterfinals

Rutuja Bhosale and Vaidehi Chaudhari beat Nagi Hanatani and Man Ying Maggie Ng 6-2, 6-1 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

In the $25,000 men’s event in Tainan, Chinese Taipei, Digvijay Pratap Singh beat Ke Hau Hung 6-4, 6-2 in the first round.

The results:

€36,000 Challenger, Prague, Czech Republic

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Szymon Kielan (Pol) & Kirill Kivattsev bt Niki Poonacha & Adam Taylor (Aus) 6-3, 6-4.

$25,000 ITF men, Tainan, Chinese Taipei

Singles (first round): Digvijay Pratap Singh bt Ke Hau Hung (Tpe) 6-4, 6-2.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jake Delaney & Jesse Delaney (Aus) bt Rishab Agarwal & Sai Karteek Reddy 6-3, 6-4.

$15,000 ITF men, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Grigoriy Lomakin (Kaz) & Khumoyun Sultanov (Uzb) bt Faisal Qamar & Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-3, 6-3; Siddhant

Banthia & Maximus Jones (Tha) bt Han Seon Yong (Kor & Thantub Suksumrarn (Tha) 7-6(5), 7-5.

$40,000 ITF women, Hong Kong

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rutuja Bhosale & Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Nagi Hanatani (Jpn) & Man Ying Maggie Ng (Hkg) 6-2, 6-1.

$15,000 ITF women, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Prathyusha Rachapudi & Sandeepti Singh

Rao bt Amittalai Prasutriawin & Natasha Sengphrachanh (Tha) 6-3, 7-5; Britney Chiu (USA) & Lisa-Marie Rioux (Jpn) bt Jennifer Luikham & Demi Tran (Ned) 6-3, 7-6(7).

$15,000 ITF women, Baku, Azerbaijan

Singles (first round): Ingrid Vojcinakova (Svk) bt Sravya Shivani 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Francesca Dell Edera (Ita) & Snehal Mane bt Umayra Hashimova (Aze) & Anastasia Sereda 7-5, 7-5.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

CHESS

National Championship: Sethuraman stays in lead; Setback for Abhijeet

Top seed Abhijeet Gupta’s comeback bid suffered a serious blow when youngster Neelash Saha punished him for a series of errors in 51 moves after S. P. Sethuraman stayed in the lead at the end of seven rounds of the National chess championship in Pune.

Tuesday also saw Sethuraman’s run of six victories come to an end following his 31-move draw with second seed Abhimanyu Puranik.

Half-a-point behind Sethuraman were Puranik, Saha, N. R. Visakh, P. Iniyan, Mitrabha Guha, Diptayan Ghosh, Aronyak Ghosh and Deep Sengupta at six points.

The results:

Sixth round: S. P. Sethuraman (6.5) drew with Abhimanyu Puranik (6); Mitrabha Guha (6) drew with Aronyak Ghosh (6); Abhijeet Gupta (5) lost to Neelash Saha (6); Anuj Shrivatri (5.5) drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly (5.5); Diptayan Ghosh (6) bt Arghyadip Das (5); Sidhant Mohapatra (5) lost to N. R. Visakh (6); P. Iniyan (6) bt M. R. Venkatesh (5); Mehar Chinna Reddy (5.5) drew with N. R. Vignesh (5.5); Bhoopnath Yadav (5) lost to Deep Sengupta (6); P. Shyaamnikhil (5.5) drew with L. R. Srihari (5.5); Deepan Chakkaravarthy (5.5) drew with Apoorv Kamble (5.5); G. Akash (5.5) bt Kolla Bhaavan (5).

- Rakesh Rao

CRICKET

Maharaja Trophy 2023: Hubli Tigers defeats Bengaluru Blasters by six wickets

Mayank Agarwal in action. | Photo Credit: KUMAR SS

Bengaluru Blasters remain rooted to the bottom after losing its seventh match of the 2023 Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20, to Hubli Tigers by six wickets, at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday.

Batting first, Mayank Agarwal (68, 38b, 3x4, 6x6) helped his side put up a challenging 188-run total. But the Tigers romped home with nine balls to spare, as opener Mohammed Taha scored a quick-fire 66 (35b, 5x4, 5x6) and found support in K.L. Shrijith (45, 30b, 2x4, 3x6) and captain Manish Pandey (35 n.o., 22b, 3x4).

The Blasters, until Mayank was at the crease, looked set for more. With D. Nischal (54, 42b, 5x4) he had combined for a 122-run second-wicket partnership off 78 balls. But their dismissals in a span of four balls by spinner K.C. Cariappa (3/31) pegged back the outfit. Shubhang Hegde scored a brisk 29 (18b, 3x4, 1x6) but couldn’t save the day.

In the second encounter, Shivamogga Lions defeated Mysuru Warriors by two wickets. After electing to field, the Lions restricted the Warriors to 162. The Shivamogga side then reached the target with two balls to spare, courtesy a late assault by Kranthi Kumar (20 n.o., 13b, 1x4, 1x6), who was adjudged the player of the match having also picked up two wickets (2/40).

Brief scores: Bengaluru Blasters 188/5 in 20 overs (Mayank Agarwal 68, D. Nischal 54, Shubhang Hegde 29, K.C. Cariappa 3/31) lost to Hubli Tigers 190/4 in 18.3 overs (Mohammed Taha 66, K.L. Shrijith 45, Manish Pandey 35 n.o.); PoM: Taha.

Mysuru Warriors 162/8 in 20 overs (Karun Nair 46, Lankesh 25) lost to Shivamogga Lions 163/5 in 19.4 overs (Nihal Ullal 45, Abhinav Manohar 27); PoM: Kranthi Kumar.

Wednesday’s matches: Gulbarga Mystics vs. Hubli Tigers; Mangalore Dragons vs. Mysuru Warriors

-N. Sudarshan

PARA SPORTS

India win gold and silver at World Para Powerlifting Championships

Honey Dabas and Rahul Jograjiya clinched gold and silver respectively in the junior men’s 72kg category at the World Para Powerlifting Championships here on Tuesday.

Dabas lifted a best total of 135kg, while Jograjiya had his best total lift of 132kg.

India is fielding 21 athletes in the nine-day championship.

-PTI