Indian sports news wrap, January 4

Here are all the updates, results and developments from the world of Indian sports on January 4, 2024.

FILE PHOTO: Rethin Pranav in action during National junior U18 clay court tennis championship in Chennai. | Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B

TENNIS

ITF Juniors: Rethin advances to semifinals

Second-seeded Rethin Pranav fought his way past Lovro Maricic of Croatia 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the boys quarterfinals of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex on Thursday.

In the semifinals, Rethin will play his doubles partner Moise Kouame of France. The other semifinal will be between Shanker Heisnam and Seo Hyeon Seok of Korea.

In the girls section, Maaya Rajeshwaran was beaten 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 by Maria Golovina. The other Indian in the fray, Samaira Phawa was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Rioko Umekui of Japan.

Maaya also got beaten 12-10 in the super tie-break of the doubles semifinals in partnership with Rishitha Basireddy by Aishi Bisht and Laxmisiri Dandu.

RESULTS

Boys (quarterfinals): Shanker Heisnam bt Kim Moo Been (Kor) 1-0 (retired); Seo Hyeon Seok (Kor) bt Luc Wieland (Sui) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; Moise Kouame (Fra) bt Daniil Stepanov 6-2, 6-0; Rethin Pranav bt Lovro Maricic (Cro) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Doubles (semifinals): Rohan Belday (USA) & Hitesh Chauhan bt Vihaan Reddy & Roshan Santhosh (USA) 7-5, 6-4; Daniil Stepanov & Luc Wieland (Sui) bt Debasis Sahoo & Jaden Tan (Ina) 5-7, 6-4, [10-5].

Girls (quarterfinals): Rioko Umekuni (Jpn) bt Samaira Pahwa 6-3, 6-4; Shihomi Leong (Mas) bt Aishi Bisht (USA) 6-0, 6-1; Tzeng Mu-Jie (Tpe) bt Maayan Laron (Isr) 6-4, 6-4; Maria Golovina bt Maaya Rajeshwaran 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles (semifinals): Aishi Bisht (USA) & Laxmisiri Dandu bt Rishitha Basireddy & Maaya Rajeshwaran 3-6, 7-5, [12-10]; Yu-Chen Llin & Tzeng Mu-Jie (Tpe) bt May Fadida & Maayan Laron (Isr) 7-6(4), 6-4.

-Team Sportstar

ATP Challenger, Thailand: Bollipalli/Poonacha go down in quarterfinals

Rithvik Bollipalli and Niki Poonacha were beaten 7-6(4), 6-1 in the doubles quarterfinals by Arthur Fery and Joshua Paris of Britain in the $82,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Nonthaburi, Thailand, on Thursday.

RESULTS

$82,000 Challenger, Nonthaburi, Thailand - Doubles (quarterfinals): Arthur Fery & Joshua Paris (GBR) bt Rithvik Bollipalli & Niki Poonacha 7-6(4), 6-1.

$15,000 ITF men, Kish Island, Iran - Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Gergely Madarasz (Hun) bt Parth Aggarwal 0-6, 6-3, 6-2; Doubles (quarterfinals): Matyas Fuele & Gergely Madarasz (Hun) bt Parth Aggarwal & Sergo Sikharulidze (Geo) 6-4, 7-6(5).

$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia - Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Constantin Kouzmine (Fra) bt Chirag Duhan 6-3, 6-4.

-Team Sportstar

WEIGHTLIFTING

Pooja, Jagdish clinch titles in National Championships

Pooja Yadav secured a narrow victory to emerge as the women’s 76kg champion in the National weightlifting championships at Itanagar on Thursday.

Pooja, who was second in both snatch and clean and jerk rankings, eventually won the title by totalling 204kg and beating Harmanpreet Kaur by one kg.

Jagdish Vishwakarma claimed the men’s 96kg gold medal convincingly.

The results: 

Men: 96kg: 1. Jagdish Vishwakarma (SSCB) snatch 151kg, clean and jerk 189kg, total 340kg; 2. Harshad Wadekar (RSPB) 146kg, 188kg, 334kg; 3. Suresh Kumar Yadav (Odi) 133kg, 178kg, 311kg.

Women: 76kg: 1. Pooja Yadav (AIP) 91kg, 113kg, 204kg; 2. Harmanpreet Kaur (Chd) 89kg, 114kg, 203kg; 3. Pompi Saikia (Chd) 92kg, 108kg, 200kg.

- Team Sportstar

TABLE TENNIS

Kerela State table tennis championships: Jayanth returns from injury, lifts State under-15 title

Four months ago, R.S. Jayanth suffered a hairline fracture in a bike accident. That forced the 13-year-old to take a three-month break from table tennis. He is now back and troubling boys much senior to him.

Kozhikode’s Jayanth, a stylish left-hander and one of Kerala’s most promising players, staved off a strong challenge from under-13 State champion Devaprayag Sarika Sreejith, his doubles partner, at 3-2 and retained his under-15 boys singles title in the Canara Bank Kerala State table tennis championships at the V.K. Krishna Menon indoor stadium in Kochi on Thursday.

“I had won six times in the eight matches I had played against Devaprayag but this time it was a bit difficult because I was coming back after the injury,” said Jayanth who also won the under-15 doubles title.

Meanwhile, Palakkad won the under-19 boys team title with a 3-0 verdict against host Kozhikode.

RESULTS

Boys: Under-15 singles, final: R.S. Jayanth (Koz) bt Devaprayag Sarika Sreejith (Tvm) 3-2 (11-2, 11-13, 11-5, 6-11, 11-7). Semifinals: Jayanth bt M. Yadukrishna (Alp) 3-0; Devaprayag bt Blaze P. Alex (Alp) 3-1. Doubles final: R.S. Jayanth (Koz) & Devaprayag Sarika Sreejith (Tvm) bt Canute Correya & Navneet Varma (Ekm) 2-0 (11-6, 11-8).

Under-17 doubles final: A. Gourisankar & Mohammed Naffil (Pkd) bt Canute Correya & Navneet Varma (Ekm) 2-0 (11-7,11-9).

Team championship:

Boys, under-19 final: Palakkad bt Kozhikode 3-0 (Mohammed Naffil bt Yunus Shariff 3-0; A. Gourisankar bt R.S. Jayanth 3-2; V.B. Abhinav bt Anas Krishna 3-0).

Alappuzha retains men’s team title

Meanwhile Alappuzha suffered some mid-series doubts and worries before defeating Thiruvananthapuram 3-2 to retain the men’s team title.

Team championship Result:

Men’s final: Alappuzha bt Thiruvananthapuram 3-2 (Aamir Afthab bt B.S. Bharath Krishnan3-0; Udit Bhattacharjee lost to R. Senthil Kumar 2-3; Milan B. Nair lost to Renjith Benny 1-3; Amir Afthab bt Senthil Kumar 3-0; Udit Bhattacharjee bt Bharath Krishnan 3-0).

-Stan Rayan