TENNIS
Legends League: PG Joygaon Giants wins over Rebound Ace India
Anav Vadehra and Mohit Phogat beat Aditya Khanna and Arjun Uppal 18-12 to achieve a thrilling 128-127 victory for PG Joygaon Giants over Rebound Ace India in the final of the Legends Tennis League at the Modern School courts, Barakhamba Road, on Sunday.
In an interesting format, featuring players from the over-30 to over-60 age groups apart from women in the over-30 singles and mixed doubles, it was Rebound Ace that had shone bright in the five-team competition till the semifinals.
In fact, Rebound had beaten Joygaon Giants 140-115 in the league stage, asserting its authority.
In the final also, Rebound Ace led 67-38 after the first six matches, with Arnav Alok, Arjun Uppal, Aditya Khanna and Dilip Mohanty dominating the matches. However, Joygaon fought back thereafter through Manish Aggarwal, Alok Bhatnagar, Pawan Jain, Monica Menon and Syed Babar Zaidi to bridge the gap.
Before the last doubles match, Rebound Ace led 115-110 and needed 13 points out of maximum possible 30. In the event, Anav and Mohit won 18 points to secure a memorable victory.
Interestingly, in the last eight matches only Chandra Bhushan managed to win for Rebound Ace, as he beat Alok Bhatnagar 8-7. Joygaon won the rest, securing 90 points from its last eight matches as against 60 by its opponent.
The results:
Final: PG Joygaon Giants bt Rebound Ace India 128-127 (Anav Vadehra lost to Arnav Alok 4-11; Mohit Phogat lost to Arjun Uppal 5-10; Anav & Mohit lost to Arnav & Arjun 7-8; Rohan Narayan lost to Aditya Khanna 3-12; Syed Zaidi lost to Dilip Mohanty 5-10; Rohan & Babar lost to Aditya & Dilip 14-16; Manish Aggarwal bt Vikram Kapur 8-7; Alok Bhatnagar lost to Chandra Bhushan 7-8; Manish & Alok bt Vikram & Bhushan 18-12; Pawan Jain bt Arun Aggarwal 12-3; Pawan & Manish bt Arun & Dilip 10-5; Monica Menon bt Sonal Vohra 9-6; Monica & Babar bt Sonal & Arnav 8-7; Anav & Mohit bt Aditya & Arjun 18-12).
Semifinals: Rebound Ace bt Royal Deccan Tuskers 143-97; Joygaon Giants bt Aviraj Warriors 120-105.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
ITF women’s tennis tournament: Darja Semenistaja to start as top seed
The champion of the last tournament Darja Semenistaja of Latvia will start as the top seed in the NECC $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament to be played at the Deccan Gymkhana from Tuesday.
Darja will open against Sahaja Yamalapalli who had done very well to win a $25,000 event recently.
Ankita Raina is the only Indian player to be seeded in the strong field, and the seventh seed will play Sapfo Sakellaridi of Greece in the first round.
None of the 15 Indian players in the qualifying event could win two rounds. Only two of them, Humera Baharmus and Zeel Desai made the second and final round. Zeel did lose a tough three setter to eighth seed Viktoria Morvayova of Slovakia, but made the main draw as a lucky-loser.
Zeel will play compatriot Rutuja Bhosale in the first round of the main draw. Vaidehi Chaudhari, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty, Vaishnavi Adkar and Madhurima Sawant have been given wild card entries.
In doubles, Prarthana Thombare has been seeded No.2 with Sapfo Sakellaridi. Rutuja Bhosale and Ankita Raina combine to be seeded third.
The seedings: 1. Darja Semenistaja (Lat), 2. Anastasia Tikhonova, 3. Moyuka Uchijima (Jpn), 4. Himeno Sakatsume (Jpn), 5. Alexandra Eala (Phi), 6. Carole Monnet (Fra), 7. Ankita Raina, 8. Tatiana Prozorova.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
VOLLEYBALL
PVL: Serb Vulicevic is Kochi Blue Spikers’ new head coach
The Kochi Blue Spikers has appointed Serbia’s Dejan Vulicevic as their head coach for the third edition of the Prime Volleyball League which begins in Chennai on February 15.
The 47-year-old has coached national teams in Iran, Chinese Taipei, Sri Lanka and Slovenia and club sides in the super leagues in Serbia, Saudi Arabia and in Iran.
“It is a great honour to coach a team from Kerala, which has produced some of the best volleyball players in the country. We have a strong team, which includes young as well as experienced players, for the upcoming edition,” said Vulicevic.
The Serb is the Blue Spikers’ first foreign coach.
“We are delighted to rope in Vulicevic, who has the experience of coaching various national teams as well as clubs, for the upcoming PVL. We are confident that the team will be able to perform well under him,” said Thomas Muthoot, the Blue Spikers team owner.
-Stan Rayan
HOCKEY
Beighton Cup: Sheshe Gowda scores a hat-trick
Sheshe Gowda scored a hat-trick as South Central Railway held Central Secretariat to a 3-3 draw in the Coal India 125 th Beighton Cup hockey tournament at the SAI astro-turf ground here on Monday.
The results: Canara Bank 1 (Pruthviraj G.N.) bt All India FCI 0; Central Secretariat 3 (Mohd. Sharique, Vikash Choudhary, Pradeep More) drew with South Central Railway 3 (Sheshe Gowda-3); Indian Air Force 2 (Lovedeep Singh, Manip Kerketta) bt Uttar Pradesh XI 1 (Lalit Negi).
-Y.B. Sarangi
6th KHELO INDIA GAMES
Haryana bags a double in kabaddi
Haryana bagged a ‘double’ in Kabaddi by bagging the boys’ and girls’ titles in the 6th Khelo India Youth Games held in Chennai on Monday. In the boys’ final, Haryana defeated Rajasthan 43-28, while in the girls’, it outwitted Tamil Nadu 40-33 in the summit clash.
Other Results:
Cycling (finals)
Boys: Time trial (1km): 1. Aashirwad Saxena (TS) 1:12.652; 2. Vedant Jadhav (Mah) 1:13.362; 3. Gurmoor Poonia (Har) 1:14.192; Team sprint: 1. Kerala 1:09.856; 2. Maharashtra 1:10.434; 3. TN 1:11.156.
Girls: Time Trial (500m): 1. J. Srimathi (TN) 39.752; 2. Vimla (Raj) 40.211; 3. R. Tamilarasi 41.028; Team Sprint: 1. TN 1:20.036; 2. Rajasthan 1:20.528; 3. Maharashtra 1:20.814
Gymnastics (finals)
Boys: Artistic: All-Round: 1. Aaryan Davande (Mah); 2. Pranav Mishra (UP); 3. D. Harshit (UP); Girls: Artistic: All-Round: 1. Sanyukta Kale (Mah); 2. Muskin Rana (J&K); 3. Life Adlakha (Har)
Hockey
Girls: Group A: Mizoram bt Tamil Nadu 7-0; Boys: Group A: Punjab bt Tamil Nadu 2-1.
Squash
Boys: (semifinals): Tanveet Singh Mund (MP) bt Pr Sarvesh (TN) 11-6, 10-12, 12-14, 11-8, 11-6.
Girls: (semifinals): R. Pooja Arthi (TN) bt V. Deepika (TN) 11-5, 11-4, 11-5.
Judo
Boys: 60Kg: 1. Lucky Lucky (Har); 2. Inder Aakash Singh (Har); 3. Damal Kapil (CH) & Rattan Om (Pun); 66Kg: 1. A. Wanglen (Man); 2. M. Wanghoi (Man); 3. Mohit Yadav (Del) & Shaurya Pawar (Del); 73Kg: 1. Gulia Hitesh Kumar (Del); 2. Atesh Chaturvedi (Raj); 3. W. Agashin (Man) & Ram Kashvala (Guj).
Girls: 52Kg: 1. Makhwana Mherudkh (Guj); 2. Popy Bhowmik (TRP); 3. Riya Kashyap (UP) & Shaily Shukla (Guj); 57Kg: 1. Darjada Shahin (Guj); 2. Rupanshi Rupanshi (HP); 3. Nikita Nikita (Har); Shaan Shaan (Har).
Yogasana: Artistic: Singles: Boys: Rohan Sunil (Mah); 2. S. Chittesh (TN); 3. Swaraj Sunny Fiske (Mah); Girls: Rudrakshi Pankaj Bhave (Mah); 2. Tejaswani Jagdishrai Khinchi (Mah); 3. Pranjal Somnath Vhanna (Mah).
In Coimbatore
Basketball: Boys: Group A: Punjab bt Mizoram 105-66; UP bt Madhya Pradesh 106-83; Girls: Group B: Chhattisgarh bt Uttar Pradesh 81-50.
-K. Keerthivasan
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