Indian sports news wrap, November 21

Here are all the major updates and results from Indian sports on November 21.

FILE PHOTO: Colin Jackson. | Photo Credit: MOORTHY RV/ The Hindu

ATHLETICS

Former 110m hurdles world record holder Colin Jackson will be the international event ambassador of the Kolkata 25K road race to be held here on December 17.

Welsh sprinter Jackson set a world record of 12.91s to win the gold medal at the 1993 Stuttgart World Championships and won the World title again in Seville in 1999 with 13.04s. His world record stood for more than a decade. He won a silver medal at the 1998 Seoul Olympics.

Jackson also claimed a World Indoor hurdles title, Commonwealth Games gold medals and European outdoor and indoor championships.

- Team Sportstar

TENNIS

ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour: Vaidehi reaches quarters; Rutuja felicitated

The fancied players who played their first-round matches advanced to pre-quarterfinals of the ITF Bowring Institute ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour without much ado at the Bowring Institute tennis courts here on Tuesday.

In a first-round clash, fourth-seeded Vaidehi Chaudhari of India overcame the challenge of wild card entrant and countrymate Anjali Rathi in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 while sixth seed Jenny Duerst of Switzerland crashed the hopes of qualifier Yashaswini Panwar of India with a 6-3, 6-2 win. Italy’s seventh-seeded Diletta Cherubini outclassed Anastasia Sukhotin in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.

Rutuja Bhosale being felicitated. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

In a notable result, recently crowned National champion Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty overcame a late fightback by Humera Baharmus before emerging a 6-1, 7-5 victor. Using her strong forehand to the maximum, the 21-year-old Rashmikaa achieved an early break in the second game, to take a 3-0 lead before breaking her opponent’s serve once again in the sixth game before wrapping up the first set 6-1.

However, her 22-year-old opponent waged a fightback in the second set. After breaking her opponent’s serve in the second game, Humera fought hard to hold her serve to make it 3-0. The momentum changed in the seventh game where Rashmikaa achieved a crucial break after several deuce and advantages and won the eighth to level at 4. With one more break in the 11th game, Rashmikaa served out for the match.

Later, Rashmikaa teamed up with Vaidehi Chaudhari to beat the pair of Suhitha Maruri and Prathiba Narayan Prasad 6-0, 6-3 to enter the quarterfinals in the doubles.

Earlier, Asian Games gold medallist Rutuja Bhosale was felicitated by the historic Bowring Institute, while KSLTA presented the champion with a cheque of Rs 1 lakh for her brilliant achievement at the quadrennial Games. Rutuja, who has been seed third for the singles main draw, will begin her campaign tomorrow but gave a sample of her form when she paired with Kazakhstan’s Zhibek Kulambayeva and almost blanked the pair of Akanksha Dileep Nitture and Nidhitra Rajmohan 6-1, 6-0 to enter the doubles last four.

Results  (All Indians unless mentioned in brackets)

Women’s singles (Round oAf 32)

Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty bt Humera Baharmus 6-1, 7-5; 4-Vaidehi Chaudhari bt WC-Anjali Rathi 6-3, 6-3; 6-Jenny Duerst (SUI) bt Q-Yashaswini Panwar 6-3, 6-2; 7-Diletta Cherubini (ITA) bt Anastasia Sukhotin 6-1, 6-2; WC-Suhitha Maruri bt Q-Paavanii Paathak 6-3, 6-3; Vaishnavi Adkar bt WC-Sahira Singh 6-0, 6-1.

Women’s Doubles (Round of 16)

1-Rutuja Bhosale/Zhibek Kulambayeva (KAZ) bt Akanksha Dileep Nitture /Nidhitra Rajmohan 6-1, 6-0; Pooja Ingale/Sandeepti Singh Rao bt Sharmada Balu/Demi Tran (NED) 7-5, 6-0; 2-Jenny Duerst (SUI)/Ekaterina Yashina bt Zeel Desai/Anastasia Sukhotina 6-4, 7-5; 4-Punnin Kovapitukted (THA)/Anna Ureke bt Humera Baharmus/Smriti Bhasin 6-2, 6-2; Diletta Cherubini (ITA)/Antonia Schmidt (GER) bt Vaishnavi Adkar/Sravya Shivani Chilakalapudi 6-2, 6-2; Kashish Bhatia/Vanshita Pathania bt Laalitya Kalluri/Priyanka Rodricks 6-3, 6-2; 3-Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty/Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Suhitha Maruri/Prathiba Narayan Prasad 6-0, 6-3; Sai Samhitha Chamarthi/Soha Sadiq bt Saumya Vig/Pranjala Yadlapalli 6-3, 6-2.

- Team Sportstar

ITF: National champion Sidharth knocked out in first round

National champion Siddharth Vishwakarma knocked out fourth seed Vladyslav Orlov of Ukraine 7-6(2), 6-3 in the first round of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the GA Ranade Centre here on Tuesday.

Siddharth will next play againsst the winner of the match between two qualifiers, Ryotaro Taguchi of Japan and Bharath Kumaran.

In another match, Siddhant Banthia recovered from the brink of defeat to beat Kazuma Kawachi of Japan 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1. In the pre-quarterfinals, Siddhant will play the winner of the match between SD Prajwal Dev and Manish Sureshkumar.

The results:

Singles (first round): David Pichler (Aut) bt Sarthak Suden 6-2, 6-0; Siddharth Vishwakarma bt Vladyslav Orlov (Ukr) 7-6((2), 6-3; Sidharth Rawat bt Nitin Kumar Sinha 7-5, 6-3; Jiang Yunseok (Kor) bt Sandesh Kurale 6-0, 6-2; Dev Javia bt Parth Aggarwal 6-1, 5-7, 6-3; Siddhant Banthia bt Kazuma Kawachi (Jpn) 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Siddhant Banthia & Manish Sureshkumar bt Yash Chaurasia & Jagmeet Singh 6-2, 6-1; Karan Singh & Parikshit Somani bt Sandesh Kurale & Dharmil Shah 6-2, 7-6(3); Kazuma Kawachi & Koki Matsuda (Jpn) bt Tushar Madan & Siddharth Vishwakarma 6-4, 6-1.

Qualifying singles (second and final round): Harrison Adams (USA) bt Gabriele Volpi (Ita) 6-3, 6-2; Ryotaro Taguchi (Jpn) bt Jagmeet Singh 6-0, 6-1; Madhwin Kamath bt Adil Kalyanpur 6-4, 6-2; Rohan Mehra bt Ha Minh Duc Vu (Vie) 6-3, 4-6, [10-7]; Bharath Kumaran bt Ajay Malik 3-6, 6-1, [10-7]; Kabir Hans bt Deepak Anantharamu 6-3, 6-3; Aryan Shah bt Rishi Reddy 6-4, 7-5; Shivank Bhatnagar bt Abhishek Bastola (Nep) 6-7(5), 6-1, [10-5]. Harrison Adams (USA) bt Gabriele Volpi (Ita) 6-3, 6-2; Ryotaro Taguchi (Jpn) bt Jagmeet Singh 6-0, 6-1; Madhwin Kamath bt Adil Kalyanpur 6-4, 6-2; Rohan Mehra bt Ha Minh Duc Vu (Vie) 6-3, 4-6, [10-7]; Bharath Kumaran bt Ajay Malik 3-6, 6-1, [10-7]; Kabir Hans bt Deepak Anantharamu 6-3, 6-3; Aryan Shah bt Rishi Reddy 6-4, 7-5; Shivank Bhatnagar bt Abhishek Bastola (Nep) 6-7(5), 6-1, [10-5].

- Team Sportstar

Sumit Nagal beaten in first round of €118,000 Challenger tennis tournament

Lucky loser Alejandro Moro Canas beat Sumit Nagal 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the €118,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Valencia, Spain, on Tuesday.

In the $60,000 ITF women’s event in Brisbane, Australia, Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare entered the doubles quarterfinals with their respective partners.

The results:

€118,000 Challenger, Valencia, Spain Singles (first round): Alejandro Moro Canas (Esp) bt Sumit Nagal 6-4, 6-3.

$60,000 ITF women, Brisbane, Australia Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jessy Rompies (Ina) & Prarthana Thombare bt Petra Hule & Taylah Preston (Aus) 6-3, 4-6, [10-6]; Darya Astakhova & Ankita Raina bt Lily Fairclough & Olivia Gadecki (Aus) 6-3, 7-5.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

WPGT: Neha chases Sneha in final leg to make bid for Order of Merit

Neha Tripathi, the only player to have won three legs of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour this year, will make a final bid for the Order of Merit when she tees up for the 16th and final leg of the 2023 season here on Wednesday.

Neha, who won the 15th Leg of the Tour, is only Rs. 27,792 behind long-time leader Sneha Singh on the Hero Order of Merit.

With a win here, Neha can take the Order of Merit even if Sneha finishes in second place.

If both fail to win the title here, Neha must make more than Rs. 27,792 to overhaul Sneha.

Sneha, meanwhile, must ensure that even if Neha does not win, she should not finish too far ahead of her.

Seher Atwal, who is Rs, 99,532 behind leader Sneha, also has a mathematical chance of getting to the top with a win. For that to happen, Seher would need to win and hope that Sneha finishes outside the top-14 and, at the same time, Neha to finish sixth or lower.

Neha and Seher can go into the week with a positive frame of mind as they along with Ananya Datar, who had tied for ninth at the LET Pre-Qualifier Asia in Gurugram, have been informed that they have been added to the field for the Final Stage next month in Morocco.

Tvesa Malik, who topped the Pre-Qualifier, has opted to miss the 16th Leg as she prepares for the Final Stage and also attends to personal matters.

The final leg of the Tour has 22 players with a purse of Rs. eight lakh. Though there will be no cut, only the top-14 will get the money.

- PTI