MOTORSPORTS
TVS Racing creates a new top speed record in the first round of 2023 TVS Asia One Make Championship
With a 40-year heritage of racing, TVS Racing, the flagbearer of One Make Championship in India rung in the 2 nd edition of TVS Asia One Make Championship 2023 in a thrilling manner by breaking its last year records at the Chang International Circuit, Thailand.
Further solidifying its position as India’s leading racing team in the two-wheeler motorsports arena, TVS Racing created a new top speed record of 215.9 km/hr in the first round of the global championship that happens on the side lines of ARRC.
Speaking on this momentous occasion, Mr Vimal Sumbly, Head Business – Premium, TVS Motor Company, said, “We and our customers are extremely proud of the record-breaking performance by TVS Racing at the 2023 TVS Asia One Make Championship. This is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the team, and their pursuit of excellence in all aspects of motorsports.”
-Team Sportstar
TENNIS
Asia Oceania World juniors: Honk Kong beats India
The Indian boys fought valiantly but Hong Kong asserted itself with a 3-0 victory in the last league match of Group-C in the Asia-Oceania World junior under-14 tennis tournament in Kuching, Malaysia, on Wednesday.
Having only beaten New Zealand in the league, India placed third behind Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei, which qualified for the quarterfinals.
Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Pakistan and Australia were the other teams to make it to the knock-out stage.
India will play Iran in the first play-off match to decide the lower placings from the ninth spot.
Results (league):
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Top seed Karthik Karunakaran ousted at National Wheelchair Championship
Balachandar Subramanian beat top seed Karthik Karunakaran 4-6, 7-6(4), [10-5] in the semifinals of the National wheelchair tennis championship at the Indore Tennis Club on Wednesday.
In the final, Subramanian will play his doubles partner and second seed Shekar Veerasswamy who eased past Sathasivam Kannupayan for the loss of two games.
In the doubles final, Subramanian and Veeraswamy will play the top seeds Mariappan Durai and Karunakaran.
In the women’s section, top seed KP Shilpa won her third and last league match against Sheranthi Thomas 9-1 to emerge the champion in the four-player field. She had earlier beaten Prathima Rao and Nalina Kumari, with equal ease.
RESULTS:
-Kamesh Srinivasan
India’s SD Prajwal Dev advances to pre-quarterfinals of Mysuru Open
India’s SD Prajwal Dev made his way into the singles pre-quarterfinals of the ITF Mysuru Open with a 6-4 7-5 win over compatriot S Abhinav Sanjeev at the Mysore Tennis Club on Wednesday.
Prajwal was scheduled to meet experienced Indian player Ramkumar Ramanathan, who was seeded fifth here, but the latter had to withdraw from the tournament owing to an injury.
Prajwal, the 26-year-old Mysuru player, will face his countryman Vishnu Vardhan in the Round of 16.
The USD 25,000 event is being hosted by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA).
But the biggest shock of the day came when unseeded Briton George Loffhagen, a world number 182, shocked top-seeded Nam Hoang Ly of Vietnam 6-3 6-4.
However, the second-seeded Oliver Crawford of the USA and Oriov Vladyslav of Ukraine had better fortunes on the day, advancing to the pre-quarterfinals.
Crawford had little trouble in vanquishing Manish Ganesh, a wildcard entrant from India, with a 6-1 6-3 victory. But Vladyslav faced a stiff challenge from India’s Niki Poonacha before emerging a 4-6 6-2 6-3 victor.
Eighth-seeded Australian Ellis Blake too booked a berth in the pre-quarterfinals after his Indian opponent Siddharth Vishwakarma, a qualifier, withdrew from the match while leading 2-0 in the first set.
Fourth-seeded Mukund Sasikumar took to court late in the evening against Serbia’s Boris Butulija. But the skies opened up to interrupt the match when the Indian player was leading 2-1 in the first set. The match will resume on Thursday.
-PTI
Arjun Kadhe reaches doubles quarterfinals in Lille Challenger
Arjun Kadhe and Igor Zelenay of Slovakia beat the fourth seeds Andrew Harris and John-Patrick Smith of Australia 6-3, 3-6, [10-3] in the doubles quarterfinals of the €118,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Lille, France, on Wednesday.
RESULTS
€145,000 Challenger, Sanremo, Italy
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Roman Jebavy & Adam Pavlasek (Cze) bt Sriram Balaji & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6-3, 6-3.
€118,000 Challenger, Lille, France
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Arjun Kadhe & Igor Zelenay (Svk) bt Andrew Harris & John-Patrick Smith (Aus) 6-3, 3-6, [10-3].
€73,000 Challenger, Girona, Spain
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Yuki Bhambri & Saketh Myneni bt Zvonimir Babic (Cro) & Piotr Matuszewski (Pol) 6-3, 6-4.
$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia
Singles (first round): Alexandre Reco (Fra) bt Manas Dhamne 6-2, 7-5.
$25,000 ITF women, Jakarta, Indonesia
Singles (first round): Hanyu Guo (Chn) bt Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-0, 6-3; Ankita Raina bt Peangtarn Plepuech (Tha) 6-0, 6-2; Rutuja Bhosale bt Haruna Arakawa (Jpn) 6-2, 6-2.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
SHOOTING
Shotgun World Cup: India finishes 16th in mixed skeet event
Areeba Khan and Angad Vir Singh Bajwa shot a combined score of 131 and placed 16th in mixed skeet in the shotgun World Cup in Larnaca, Cyprus, on Wednesday.
The other Indian team of Raiza Dhillon and Man Singh had a total of 125 and placed 22nd among 32 teams.
Nadine Messerschmidt and Sven Korte of Germany, who had to win a shoot-off against the formidable team of Kimberly Rhode and Dustan Taylor to make the gold medal match, went on to beat the qualification toppers from Cyprus Anastasia Eleftheriou and Petros Englezoudis 6-4 for the gold.
RESULT
Mixed skeet: 1. Germany (Nadine Messerschmidt, Sven Korte) 6 (137); 2. Cyprus (Anastasia Eleftheriou, Petros Englezoudis) 4 (140); 3. Chile (Francisca Chadid, Hector Barrahona) 6 (136); 4. USA (Kimberly Rhode, Dustan Taylor) 2 (137)3; 16. India (Areeba Khan, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa) 131; 22. India-2 (Raiza Dhillon, Man Singh) 125.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
ATHLETICS
Kochi to host first marathon with prize money
The Federal Bank Kochi Marathon, the city’s first 42.195km run with a prize-money, will be held on May 1. Apart from the main event, there will be a half marathon, a 10-km event and a 3km green run which hopes to attract colleges, housing societies, institutions and women’s groups in big numbers.
The marathons held earlier in the city did not have any prize-money but the Kochi Marathon, which has Federal Bank as its title sponsor and which will be organised by CleoSportz, will carry a total prize fund of Rs 10 lakh. The organisers hope to rope in some of the national stars for the event.
Kerala High Court Judge Devan Ramachandran released the marathon’s logo and Kochi Metro Rail Limited’s MD Loknath Behera was presented the first bib of the event by Kochi City Police Commissioner K. Sethuraman.
Olympians Gopi Thonakal and O.P. Jaisha, also the national record holder in the women’s marathon, Federal Bank Group President and CFO Venkatraman Venkateswaran and Coast Guard DIG N. Ravi were among those who spoke.
Organised in association with Kerala Police, the marathon will be flagged off from the Maharaja’s Stadium and will run through a beautiful course.
-Stan Rayan
CHESS
Delhi International Open: Aravindh Chithambaram takes lead with win over Murzin
Aravindh Chithambaram took a giant step towards winning the Delhi International chess title when he defeated fellow joint-leader Volodar Murzin and opened a half-point lead going into Thursday’s 10th and final round.
The top-board battle in the ninth and penultimate round lasted 40 moves when Murzin, outplayed by the more experienced Indian, resigned.
Aravindh is followed by five overseas challengers at eight points. Further half a point behind are 14 players, including 10 Indians.
Since Aravindh does not enjoy the best tie-break score after nine rounds, he cannot be sure of winning the title with a final-round draw.
RESULTS
Ninth round: Arvindh Chithambaram (8.5) bt Volodar Murzin (FIDE, 7.5); Levan Pantsulaia (Geo, 8) bt Neelash Saha (7); Deepan Chakkravarthy (7.5) drew with Kiheil Mchedlishvili (Geo, 7.5); Kirill Stupak (FIDE, 7) lost to Boris Savchenko (FIDE, 8); Anuj Shrivatri (7) drew with Michal Krasenkow (Pol, 7.5); Luka Paichadze (Geo, 8) bt Ameya Audi (7); Aleksej Aleksandrov (FIDE, 8) bt S. Nitin (7); Almas Rakhmatullaev (Uzb, 7) lost to Alexei Fedorov (FIDE, 8); S. P. Sethuraman (7.5) bt Eldiar Orozbaev (Kgz, 7).
-Rakesh Rao
FIDE WOMEN’S GRAND PRIX: Koneru Humpy, Vaishali lose in fourth round
K. Humpy and R. Vaishali crashed to fourth-round defeats on a day when all boards produced decisive verdicts in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix chess here on Wednesday.
Humpy, playing white against China’s Zhu Jiner, overlooked some tactical strokes after Move 20 and eventually surrendered after 36 moves with a bishop less on the board.
Vaishali yielded too much ground to Kateryna Lagno in the middle game in a closed position. Soon Kateryna traded her rooks for Vaishali’s queen and came within seven moves of checkmating her young rival. Vaishali resigned on the 40th move.
Aleksandra Goryachkina ended a two-win run for overnight leader Bibisara Assaubayeva by inflicting a 70-move defeat. Polina Shuvalova scored over Nana Dzagnidze in 52 moves. D. Harika and Georgian Nino Batsiashvili enjoyed a bye.
RESULTS
Fourth round: K. Humpy (1.5) lost to Zhu Jiner (Chn, 2.5); Kateryna Lagno (FIDE, 2) bt R. Vaishali (0); Polina Shuvalova (FIDE, 2.5) bt Nana Dzagnidze (Geo 1.5); Aleksandra Goryachkina (FIDE, 2) bt Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz, 2); D. Harika and Nino Batsiashvili (Geo, 0.5) bye.
-Rakesh Rao
GOLF
The Challenge 2023: Kartik Sharma is highest-placed Indian in tied fourth, Fitzpatrick leads
Kartik Sharma (66-67) was the highest-placed Indian golfer in tied fourth at 11-under 133 at The Challenge 2023, a USD 300,000 event being played at the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) course.
The others sharing fourth place were Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach (69-64), who shot the day’s joint best score of 64 as well as Frenchman Frederic Lacroix (67-66).
Englishman Alex Fitzpatrick seized the halfway lead with a second straight seven-under 6. Fitzpatrick (65-65), who was overnight tied second and one off the lead, took his total score to 14-under 130 in round two to lead by one shot at the event co-sanctioned by the Challenge Tour and PGTI.
Spain’s Ivan Cantero Gutierrez (66-65) occupied second place at 13-under 131 while Dutchman Lars Van Meijel (66-66) was in third position at 12-under 132. The cut was declared at two-under 142. Sixty-nine players including 66 professionals and all the three amateurs in the field made the cut. Twenty Indian players out of a total of 55 made the cut.
Twenty-four-year-old Alex Fitzpatrick, playing his rookie season on the Challenge Tour, also happens to be the younger brother of 2022 US Open champion Matthew Fitzpatrick. The man from Sheffield has gone bogey-free in the tournament so far. Fitzpatrick, who missed the cut at last week’s event at KGA, produced an eagle and five birdies on Wednesday.
The highlights of Alex’s second round included his outstanding drive on the par-4 first hole that landed on the green and set up a birdie, a 10-foot eagle conversion on the fifth and a chip-in from the bunker for birdie on the ninth.
The left-handed Kartik, lying tied fifth and two shots off the lead at the start of the day, sank three long birdie putts from a range of 10 to 30 feet on the back-nine. The 22-year-old Kartik, yet to register his first win, then added two more birdies courtesy his accurate chipping on the front-nine.
India’s Aman Raj, like Kartik, too fired a flawless 67, to move up six spots and end the day in tied 10th place at nine-under 135.
The Indian duo of Udayan Mane (64) and M Dharma (66) were tied 15th at eight-under 136. Udayan fired the day’s joint best score of 64.
- PTI
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