Indian sports news wrap, January 11

Here are all the major developments in Indian sport on January 11, 2023.

Donghyun Hwang of Korea who beat Rethin Pranav in the second round of ITF junior tennis in Delhi on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan

TENNIS

Bopanna, Ramkumar exit in Adelaide

Rohan Bopanna, seeded fifth with Matthew Ebden of Australia, was beaten 7-6(4), 7-5 by Nicolas Mahut and Tim Puetz in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $713,495 ATP tennis tournament in Adelaide on Wednesday.

Ramkumar Ramanathan in partnership with Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by the second seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer.

Bopanna and Ramkumar had won the doubles title in Adelaide last year when they chose to partner as a temporary arrangement.

THE RESULTS

$713,495 ATP, Adelaide, Australia

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Nicolas Mahut (Fra) & Tim Puetz (Ger) bt Matthew Ebden (Aus) & Rohan Bopanna 7-6(4), 7-5; Marcelo Arevalo (Esa) & Jean-Julien Rojer (Ned) bt Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (Mex) & Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3, 6-4.

$80,000 Challenger, Nonthaburi, Thailand

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Arthur Cazaux (Fra) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-7(5), 7-6(40, 6-3.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Yuki Bhambri & Saketh Myneni bt Zdenek Kolar (Cze) & Jason Taylor (Aus) 7-5, 6-3; Christopher Rungkat (Ina) & Akira Santillan (Aus) bt Fernando Romboli (Bra) & Arjun Kadhe 6-4, 6-2.

$40,000 ITF women, Nonthaburi, Thailand

Singles (first round): Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Rutuja Bhosale 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Chompoothip Jundakate & Tamachan Momkoonthod (Tha) bt Rosalie van der Hoek (Ned) & Ankita Raina 7-5, 6-7(1), [11-9]; Erika Sema (Jpn) & Rutuja Bhosale bt Ku Yeon Woo & Park Sohyun (Kor) 3-6, 6-3, [11-9].

- Kamesh Srinivasan

ITF junior tennis

Rethin Pranav was unable to hang on to a dazzling start and allowed his challenge to fizzle out against sixth seed Donghyun Hwang of Korea in the pre-quarterfinals of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Wednesday.

The Korean, who had won the tournament last week in Chandigarh, regrouped his game to race to a 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory.

Playing at full pace, smacking winners at will on either flank was like eating chocolate for the 15-year-old Rethin, one of the bright talent in the country. However, when the Korean became judicious, Rethin could not retain his grip on the match.

The Indian challenge may have ended in singles, but players of Indian origin, top seed Adhithya Ganesan and Rohan Belday put up a good game to reach the quarterfinals.

Second seed Amir Milushev who had endured a marathon in the first round against Cahir Warik, edged out Korean qualifier Se Hyuk Cho in the third set tie-break.

In the girls section, Tejasvi Dabas got off to a dream start, but was unable to handle the climax well against the crafty Indira Lepage of Belgium.

THE RESULTS (PRE-QUARTERFINALS)

Boys: Adhithya Ganesan (USA) bt Ke Hau Hung (Tpe) 6-3, 6-2; Manvydas Balciunas (Ned) bt Yu Maeda (Jpn) 6-1, 3-0 (retired); Rohan Belday (USA) bt Satoru Nakajima (Jpn) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5; Kim Jangjun (Kor) bt Shingo Masuda (Jpn) 6-3, 6-1; Donghyun Hwang (Kor) bt Rethin Pranav 3-6, 6-2, 6-0; Ivan Iutkin (Rus) bt Aayush Bhat (USA) 6-1, 4-3 (retired); Timofei Derepasko (Rus) bt Poonthong Komopisut (Tha) 6-2, 6-2; Amir Milushev (Uzb) bt Se Hyuk Cho (Kor) 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(5).

Girls: Ashton Bowers (USA) bt Yu-Ning Tsai (Tpe) 6-1, 6-4; Margot Phanthala (Fra) bt Dominika Podhajecka (Pol) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2; Anna Sedysheva (Rus) bt Gabia Paskauskas (GBR) 6-1, 6-3; Indira Lepage (Bel) bt Tejasvi Dabas 0-6, 7-5, 6-1; Allegra Davies (GBR) bt Kamonwan Yodpetch (Tha) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; Alexia Harmon (USA) bt Liya Chu (Tpe) 6-2, 6-2; Vlada Mincheva (Rus) bt Asylzhan Arystanbekova (Kaz) 6-4, 6-1; Zuzanna Pawlikowska (Pol) bt Ria Bhakta (USA) 6-2, 6-1.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

SHOOTING

National selection trials

Mehuli Ghosh was at her fluent best as she beat qualification topper Narmada Nithin 17-9 in the women’s air rifle final of the National shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Wednesday.

Narmada was consistently strong, scoring 264.2 in the second stage, on par with Mehuli, after having shot an impressive 633.5 in qualification.

While former world No.1 Elavenil Valarivan finished third, 0.2 point ahead of Ramita Jindal, Tilottama Sen ended up sixth, after qualifyin in the second place with 632.6.

Narmada Nithin, champion Mehuli Ghosh and Elavenil Valarivan (left to right) in air rifle in the National shooting trials in Delhi on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Narmada’s cards in qualification ranged from 105.0 to 106.8. It meant that she had an average of 10.56 every shot over 60 shots, for an incredible level of accuracy.

In the second trial of 25-metre rapid fire pistol, Ankur Goel shot to the top as he beat Bhavesh Shekhawat 29-25. Vijayveer Sidhu, who had topped the first trial, finished third ahead of Anhad Jawanda.

Anish Bhanwala (583) and Adarsh Singh (585) shot bright in qualification, but got eliminated in the semifinal stage, along with Olympian Gurpeet Singh (578) and Arpit Goel (577).

THE RESULTS

10m air rifle:

Women: 1. Mehuli Ghosh 17 (264.2 (631.2); 2. Narmada Nithin 9 (264.2) 633.5; 3. Elavenil Valarivan 262.4 (629.3); 4. Ramita Jindal 262.2 (632.4).

Junior women: 1. Gautami Bhanot 16 (261.8) 628.7; 2. Swati Chowdhury 8 (263.0) 628.8; 3. Harshita 258.2 (626.6); 4. Manyata Singh 257.4 (626.4).

25m rapid fire pistol:

Men: 1. Ankur Goel 29 (15) 580; 2. Bhavesh Shekhawat 25 (15) 585; 3. Vijayveer Sidhu 19 (14) 580; 4. Anhad Jawanda 5 (14) 580.

Junior men: 1. Agneya Kaushik 29 (14) 570; 2. Abhinav Choudhary 28 (15) 575; 3. Jatin 16 (13) 575; 4. Sahil Vijay Dudhane 9 (12) 565.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

DGC captain Raj Khanna, two-time Indian Open champion Ali Sher; DGC President K. K. Bajoria, golfers Gaurav Ghei, Manav Jaini and Head of the International Series (Asian Tour) Rahul Singh, pose with the DGC Open Trophy in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

In a substantial increase in prize money, this year’s DGC Open golf tournament will see a 50% hike to a whopping $750,000.

After the $500,000 inaugural event last year was voted by the players as the third-best event among 20 tournaments on the Asian Tour, the much-awaited competition returns to the Delhi Golf Club course from March 16 to 19.

Defending champion Thailand’s Nitithorn Thippong, who got the better of Ajeetesh Sandhu in an exciting playoff, has confirmed his participation.

Since these are still early days leading to the event, more marquee names are expected to be part of the 132-player field. In all, participants are expected from about 25 countries.

At the formal announcement of the event on Wednesday, the DGC president K. K. Bajoria expected the creamy layer of Asian and Indian golfers to return to one of the most sought-after golf clubs in the contingent.

Mr. Rahul Singh, Head of the International Series, Asian Tour, was open to adding more events in India provided suitable patrons and partners came on board.

Three well-known products of the DGC - two-time Indian Open champion Ali Sher, Gaurav Ghei and Manav Jaini - were also present.

- Rakesh Rao