Indian sports news wrap, January 2

Here are all the updates, results and developments from the world of Indian sports on January 2, 2024.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: In the girls section, fifth seed Yu-Chen Lin of Chinese Taipei recovered from a slow start to beat qualifier Vennela Reddy 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round. | Photo Credit: GETTY IMAGES

TENNIS

ITF Juniors: Croatia’s Maricic beats wild card entrant Samarth

Lovro Maricic of Croatia beat wild card entrant Samarth Sahita 6-2, 6-3 in the boys first round of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex on Tuesday.

In the girls section, fifth seed Yu-Chen Lin of Chinese Taipei recovered from a slow start to beat qualifier Vennela Reddy 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round.

The results (first round):

Boys: Lovro Maricic (Cro) bt Samarth Sahita 6-2, 6-3; Dev Kanbargimath (Rou) bt Arnav Paparkar 6-2, 6-3; Roshan Santhosh (USA) bt Tanussh Ghildyal 6-2, 6-3.

Girls: Anya Murthy (USA) bt Shatakshika Sahayak 6-2, 6-4; Yu-Chen Lin (Tpe) bt Vennela Reddy 4-6, 6-2, 6-2; Priyanka Rana (USA) bt Harithashree Venkatesh 6-0, 7-6(11); Jaya Kapoor bt Sreenidhi Balaji 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

$164,000 Challenger tennis: Nagal loses to Italy’s Vavassori in first round

Sumit Nagal was beaten 6-7(1), 6-4, 7-5 by qualifier Andrea Vavassori of Italy in the first round of the $164,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Canberra, Australia.

Sumit was laso beaten in the doubles pre-quarterfinals in partnership with Lloyd Harris.

In the $82,000 Challenger in Bangkok, Thailand, Rithvik Bollipalli and Niki Poonacha beat Marco Cecchinato and Giovanni Fonio of Italy 6-3, 6-1 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals.

The results

$739,345 ATP, Brisbane, Australia Doubles (first round): Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) & Sebastian Korda (USA) bt Sriram Balaji & Victor Vlad Cornea (Rou) 2-6, 7-5, [10-4].

$164,000 Challenger, Canberra, Australia Singles (first round): Andrea Vavassori (Ita) bt Sumit Nagal 6-7(1), 6-4, 7-5.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Andrew Harris & Matthew Romios (Aus) bt Anirudh Chandrasekar & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 4-6, 6-4, [10-8]; Marcelo Demoliner (Bra) & Bart Stevens (Ned) bt Lloyd Harris (RSA) & Sumit Nagal 6-1, 6-3.

$82,000 Challenger, Bangkok, Thailand Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rithvik Bollipalli & Niki Poonacha bt Marco Cecchinato & Giovanni Fonio (Ita) 6-3, 6-1; Ray Ho (Tpe) & Chung Yun Seong (Kor) bt Saketh Myneni & Ramkumar Ramanathan 7-5, 3-6, [10-8].

-Kamesh Srinivasan

WRESTLING

National weighlifting championship: Nipane beats Sheuli for 81kg gold

Abhishek Nipane pipped Achinta Sheuli for the men’s 81kg gold medal in the National weightlifting championships at Itanagar on Tuesday.

Nipane lifted 310kg to beat Sheuli, the Commonwealth Games gold winner in 73kg, by one kg.

Another prominent lifter, Deepak Lather gave a tough fight before taking bronze with 308kg. Fourth-placed Valluri Ajaya Babu also totalled 308kg but was beaten through tie-breaker.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Bindyarani Devi managed a narrow win in women’s 55kg.

The results

Men

81kg: 1. Abhishek Nipane (Mah) snatch 139kg, clean and jerk 171kg, total 310kg; 2. Achinta Sheuli (SSCB) 141kg, 168kg, 309kg; 3. Deepak Lather (Har) 144kg, 164kg, 308kg.

Women

55kg: 1. Bindyarani Devi (RSPB) 81kg, 109kg, 190kg; 2. Sneha Soren (Odi) 82kg, 107kg, 189kg; 3. Gauri Pandey (RSPB) 79kg, 105kg, 184kg.

59kg: 1. Usha (Har) 87kg, 103kg, 190kg; 2. Harjeet Kaur (AIP) 83kg, 106kg, 189kg; 3. Davinder Kaur (AIP) 83kg, 105kg, 188kg.

64kg: 1. S. Nirupama Devi (RSPB) 88kg, 112kg, 200kg; 2. Ditimoni Sonowal (Asm) 87kg, 110kg, 197kg; 3. S. Pallavi (AP) 84kg, 104kg, 188kg.

-Y.B.Sarangi

TABLE TENNIS

Pranati tames Maria, lifts women’s state title, double for Edwina and Harshitha

Despite beating Maria Rony in the team event earlier, Pranati P. Nair knew the women’s singles final against the tall star would be a lot tougher. The 17-year-old handled the big-match pressure well and defeated Maria, a former Kerala and Karnataka champion, 3-2 to lift the title in the Canara Bank Kerala State table tennis championships at the V.K. Krishna Menon indoor stadium here on Tuesday night.

She lost the opening game and was down 1-2 after the third but she fought back and forced Maria to the decider. Pranati, who had played double the number of matches here compared to Maria since she was also in under-19 action, raced to a three-point lead at 4-1 in the decider and hung on to it.

The match between the two attacking players was a thriller and towards the end, Maria appeared to crack under pressure and lose control, sending her forehand and backhand shots out.

“We were both under pressure and I played a bit safely towards the end. I tried to keep the rallies going and then tried to attack,” said Pranati, also the under-19 champion here, who was winning the State women’s title after three years.

Meanwhile Edwina Edward, who is coached by her dad at home in Kollam, overcame a strong challenge from Thrissur’s Tisha Mundenkurian to win the under-15 girls title. Edwina was trailing 6-10 in the third game but the 14-year-old slowed down her opponent, who loves to attack, by employing the push effectively and went on to win her second singles title here.

Also winning a double was Palakkad’s N.K. Harshitha who added the under-13 title to the under-11 trophy she had taken earlier.

-Stan Rayan