Indian sports news wrap, December 5: Vivaan win’s men’s trap in National selection trials; Sonal into AITA women’s quarters

Here are all the major updates and results from Indian sports on December 5.

Former World Champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu was third, ahead of Gyanchand Susheel Sharan, Balabhadra Tarasia and Shardul Vihan | Photo Credit: Marco Dalla Dea / The Hindu

Here are all the major updates, results and developments from the world of Indian sports on Tuesday, December 5.

WEIGHTLIFTING

Akta wins title

Akta Banjare rode on her clean and jerk performance to win the 71kg gold medal in the Asmita Khelo India women’s weightlifting championships in Kolkata on Tuesday.

THE RESULTS

71kg

1. Akta Banjare (Cht) snatch 77kg, clean and jerk 98kg, total 175kg; 2. Songita Sadhanidar (Asm) 79kg, 95kg, 174kg; 3. Shandrella (Man) 73kg, 98kg, 171kg.

76kg

1. Maganthi Keerthi (Odi) 75kg, 95kg, 170kg; 2. Soweta Kundu (WB) 68kg, 90kg, 158kg; 3. Cindy Lalparmawii (Miz) 53kg, 67kg, 120kg.

- Y.B. Sarangi

SHOOTING

Vivaan Kapoor beat Zoravar Singh Sandhu 4-3 in the shoot-off to win men’s trap in the National shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Tuesday.

Both Vivaan and Zoravar had shot very well in qualification to top the list with 121 out of 125. Former World Champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu was third, ahead of Gyanchand Susheel Sharan, Balabhadra Tarasia and Shardul Vihan.

World Cup medallist this season, Prithviraj Tondaiman was 10th with 117. Olympic quota winner Bhowneesh Mendiratta was 13th with 116. Olympian Kynan Chenai was 25th with 114 in a field of 82 shooters.

In women’s trap, Olympic quota winner Rajeshwari Kumari beat Bhavya Tripathi 1-0 in the shoot-off after being tied on 43 for the top spot. Rajeshwari had topped qualification with 118.

THE RESULTS

Trap: Men: 1. Vivaan Kapoor 44(3) 121; 2. Zoravar Singh Sandhu 44(2) 121; 3. Manavjit Singh Sandhu 35 (118). Women: 1. Rajeshwari Kumari 43(1) 118; 2. Bhavya Tripathi 43(0) 114; 3. Shreyasi Singh 32 (116).

- Kamesh Srinivasan

TENNIS

Prarthana and Anastasia sail into quarters in Dubai

Prarthana Thombare in partnership with Anastasia Tikhonova beat Alevtina Ibregimova and Anastassia Kovaleva 3-6, 6-1, [11-9] in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $100,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Dubai, UAE, on Tuesday.

THE RESULTS

$100,000 ITF women, Dubai, UAE: Singles (first round): Emily Appleton (GBR) bt Ankita Raina 6-2, 6-2. Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Prarthana Thombare & Anastasia Tikhonova bt Alevtina Ibregimova & Anastasia Kovaleva 3-6, 6-1, [11-9]; Stefania Bojica (Rou) & Ekaterina Yashina bt Eva Busaad & Jigyasa Narsinghani 6-0, 6-1.

$15,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt: Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Filiberto Fumagalli & Samuel Ruggeri (Ita) bt George Gregoriou (Gre) & Aryan Lakshmanan 6-3, 6-3.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

Sonal Patil beats Aditi Rawat to enter quarterfinals of AITA Women’s tournament

Top seed Sonal Patil overcame a sluggish start to beat qualifier Aditi Rawat 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals of the Rs.2,50,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Ace Academy, Padilia, on Tuesday.

In the quarterfinals, Sonal will play fifth seed Priyanshi Bhandari. Second seed Nemha Sarah Kispotta was also in a spot of bother before recovering for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 victory over Richa Chougule. Nemha will play Vidula Amar in the quarterfinals.

THE RESULTS (PRE-QUARTERFINALS)

Sonal Patil bt Aditi Rawat 2-6, 6-2, 6-4; Priyanshi Bhandari bt Apurva Vemuri 6-3, 6-2; Yubrani Banerjee bt Vidhi Jani 6-2, 6-1; Khushali Modi bt Divya Bhardwaj 6-0, 6-1; Sanjana Sirimalla bt Saily Thakkar 6-3, 6-4; Pooja Ingale bt Siri Patil 6-3, 6-2; Vidula Amar bt Nidhitra Rajmohan 6-2, 6-2; Nemha Sarah Kispotta bt Richa Chougule 5-7, 6-4, 6-0.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

Lakshya and Amalgam Steel launch programme for girls

Lakshya Sports in collaboration with Amalgam Steel has launched Project Grand Slam to nurture girls in tennis from the grassroots level to Grand Slam stage.

The brainchild of Lakshya’s Vice President, Sunder Iyer, and Sourav Mishra, the Joint Managing Director of Amalgam Steel, the project aims to support the chosen players in every possible way to help them evolve into world class stars.

“Though this program, we want to see at least four to five girls play at all the junior Grand Slams regularly, and start a new chapter for Indian tennis. This will also help the girls make an entry via the junior wild cards into the professional events”, said Sunder Iyer.

Maaya Rajeshwaran with Sunder Iyer of Lakshya Sports and Vijay Pandey of Amalgam Steel at the launch of Project Grand Slam in Pune. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

“We believe that sports is essential for holistic development, building character and instilling values such as team work, discipline and resilience. We want to have junior Grand Slam champions from India. Our objective is to give selected players essential resources and assistance”, said Vijay Pandey, president of HR at Amalgam Steel.

After rigorous assessment, the project has already chosen players in the 14-15 age group, Maaya Rajeshwaran, Prisha Shinde, Kaashvi Sunil, Aishwarya Jadhav, Rishitha Basireddy, Nainika Reddy, Yashika Shokeen, Sejal Bhutada and Akruti Sonkusare.

These players will be further assessed through a series of ITF junior events in India, before further pruning by April. There will be coaches traveling for these events to support the players and evaluate them. The project will have renowned coach Hemant Bendrey as the guide. Coaches S Narendranath, Shivika Burman and Namita Bal will travel for the tournaments, along with physios and strength conditioning experts.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Leading Indian golfers to be in action at SSP Chawrasia Invitational from Dec 7

Leading golfers including current Order of Merit leader Om Prakash Chauhan, defending champion Manu Gandas, Kapil Dev-Grant Thornton Invitational champion Karan Pratap Singh and Rashid Khan will be seen in action in the second edition of the S.S.P. Chawrasia Invitational event to be played at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club course from December 7 to 10.

The Rs. 1 crore event, jointly staged by Take Sports and the Tata Steel Professional Golf Tour of India, will feature 124 professionals.

The city-based Chawrasia, a multiple Asian Tour winner and a two-time Indian Open champion, is the second Indian professional golfer after Jeev Milkha Singh to have a PGTI event named in his honour.

“This is very special for me. I am hosting the event at my home course. I will try to put up a good show,” said 45-year-old Chawrasia at a press conference here on Tuesday.

Sixteen-year-old Canadian Sukhraj Singh Gill is the youngest golfer in the field, which will have around 10 city-based players.

- Team Sportstar

BADMINTON

Namita Pathania clinches women’s title in Inter-Ministry tournament

Namita Pathania of Delhi Audit beat team mate Bhavya Rishi 21-19, 22-20 to clinch the women’s title in the Inter-Ministry badminton tournament at the AIIMS Gymkhana courts on Tuesday.

Lalita Dahiya of Ministry of Finance pipped Swati Sharma of Delhi Audit, after losing the first game, for the bronze medal.

The secretary of Central Civil Services Cultural and Sports Board (CCSCSB), Kulbhushan Malhotra, had inaugurated the tournament.

THE RESULTS

Women (final): Namita Pathania bt Bhavya Rishi 21-19, 22-20; Third place: Lalita Dahiya bt Swati Sharma 16-21, 21-7, 22-20.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

Ayush Shetty, Isharani Baruah qualify for main draw at Guwahati Masters

Junior world championship bronze medallist Ayush Shetty convincingly booked a main draw spot in the inaugural Guwahati Masters Super 100 badminton tournament on Tuesday.

Shetty first defeated seventh seed Kiran Kumar Mekala 21-12, 21-15 before taking down Siddharth Pratap Singh 21-14, 22-21. The youngster will face compatriot Arunesh Hari in the opening round. 

Assam’s upcoming star Isharani Baruah was the lone Indian qualifier in women’s singles.

Isharani first defeated compatriot Shriyanshi Valishetty   21-15, 21-12 before getting the better of Indonesia’s Deswanti Nurtertiati 21-19, 21-16 to qualify.

The youngster, who had played an important role in helping the state clinch the women’s team gold in the recently concluded National Games in Goa, will now face third seed Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei in the opening round.

- Team Sportstar

BASKETBALL

Railways women march into National Championship quarters

Railways women won their matches with conviction to ensure a quarterfinal berth in the 73rd National basketball championship at the Guru Nanak Dev Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.

Railways outplayed West Bengal 152-50, after having beaten Tamil Nadu 89-53 overnight.

Kerala women also confirmed their berth from the second group. In the men’s section, defending champion Punjab and Tamil Nadu stayed unbeaten to ensure their quarterfinal berths.

THE RESULTS (LEAGUE)

MEN

Group A: Madhya Pradesh 86 (Rakesh Kumar 20, Shreyesh Raj 18, Harsh Tomar 14) bt Telangana 63 (Billa Nathan Abraham 27, G Suryakumar 17). Punjab 106 (Kanwar Gurbaj Singh 24, Nawaz Singh 22, Amritpall Singh 19, Manjot Singh 16, Yadwinder Singh 10) bt Madhya Pradesh 67 (Akash Bhasin 15, Harsh Singh 12, Deepak Chowdary 11).

Group B: Delhi 84 (Arjjun Singh 15, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi 14, Joginder Singh 14, Ravi Bhardwaj 13, Rachit 11, Vishal Kumar 11) bt Gujarath 69 (Kuldeep Thamalia 19, Sagar Modi 17).

WOMEN

Group-A: Railways 152 (H Bhandhavya 23, Sruti Aravind 23, Madhu Kumari 18, Priyanka 17, Poonam Chaturvedi 16, Nisha Sharma 15, Kiran Yadav 10, Harshita 10) bt West Bengal 50 (Paulami Chatterjee 11, Megha Singh 10). Karnataka 72 (Roshni John 24, Varsha Nandhini 20, Chandana 11) bt Chhattisgarh 47 (Divani Ganwal 14, D Kirti 14). Railways 89 (Pushpa Senthilkuar 23, Sruti Aravind 15, Madhu Kumari 12, Rasi Kotan 12, Harshita 10) bt Tamil Nadu 53 (Nitika 13, Iswarya 11, Nishanthi 11).

Group-B: Kerala 79 (Aneesha Cleetus 17, Kavitha 13, Grima Merlin 11) bt Uttar Pradesh 48 (Megh Singh 19, Liprmaye Satapathy 16). Delhi 67 (Raspreet Sidhu 33, Ishika Choudhary 16) bt Punjab 64 (Manmeet Kaur 37, Kavya Singhla 18).

- Kamesh Srinivasan