Indian sports news wrap: March 28

Here are all the major updates, scores, and results of Indians in the world of sports on Thursday, March 28.

Niki Poonacha in action. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

TENNIS

Challenger tennis tournament: Rithvik and Niki in quarterfinals

Second seeds Rithvik Bollipalli and Niki Poonacha beat Thomas Fancutt and Hunter Reese 6-3, 7-6(6) in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $82,000 Challenger tennis tournament in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

In the $40,000 ITF women’s event in Kofu, Japan, eighth seed Ankita Raina was beaten in the singles pre-quarterfinals by Lanlana Tararudee of Thailand, but made the doubles semifinals in partnership with Rutuja Bhosale.

The Results:

$82,000 Challenger, San Luis Potosi, Mexico: Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rithvik Bollipalli & Niki Poonacha bt Thomas Fancutt (Aus) & Hunter Reese (USA) 6-3, 7-6(6).

€120,950 Challenger, Girona, Spain: Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sander Arends & Matwe Middelkoop (Ned) bt Anirudh Chandrasekar & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-4, 6-4; Francisco Cabral (Por) & Henry Patten (GBR) bt Sriram Balaji & Andre Begemann (Ger) 6-4, 6-3.

$40,000 ITF women, Kofu, Japan: Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Lanlana Tararudee (Tha) bt Ankita Raina 6-3, 7-6(6).

Doubles (quarterfinals): Rutuja Bhosale & Ankita Raina bt Lizette Cabrera & Priscilla Hon (Aus) 7-6(7), 1-6, [11-9].

-Kamesh Srinivasan

CUE SPORTS

National champion Sitwala records second win to enter pre-quarterfinals in CCI Billiards

National champion Dhruv Sitwala defeated Kamal Chawla 667-250 in a second round Group E league match to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the All India CCI Billiards Classic 2024 in Mumbai on Thursday.

On an adjacent table, Mumbai challenger Rohan Jambusaria scored a stunning 520-403 win over former world champion Sourav Kothari of Kolkata in a Group F game.

Raayan Razmi also registered his second win as he got the better of Rovin D’Souza by a comfortable 820-234 victory in a Group A contest.

On another table, Gujarat’s Dhvaj Haria compiled breaks of 189,103,176, 71 and 90 enroute a fluent 894-276 win against Raajeev Sharma in Group G match.

Last year’s runner-up Rob Hall of England played steadily and easily defeated CCI cueist Nishant Dossa 644-293 in a Group B match. The Englishman did not bring out his best but still managed to roll in breaks of 77, 82, 57, 57, 89 and 95.

The left-handed India number one Sitwala, who was not at his best, enjoyed a marginal lead initially. But he suddenly produced a solid 220 break at the halfway stage which helped him take a sizable lead.

Thereafter, he continued to maintain the momentum and with breaks of 83, 83, 56 and 82 went on to close out the contest for his second successive win.

In a battle between former world champions, Rupesh Shah managed to overcome Ashok Shanidlya by a 473-362 margin in a low-scoring Group B match.

-PTI