Indian sports news wrap, November 24

Here are all the major updates and results from Indian sports on November 24.

Seher Atwal in action. | Photo Credit: The Hindu

GOLF

Seher wins 16th and final leg of Hero WPGT, Sneha bags Order of Merit

Seher Atwal holed two birdies in the last three holes to round off her season with a win in the 16th and final leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Cosmo Golf Club here on Friday.

She produced the round of the week with 2-under 68 as the players finished 18 holes in a day for the first time this week.

Sneha Singh held on with one birdie and eight pars in a tense situation on the back nine and was tied for second place with Shweta Mansingh.

Neha Tripathi, however, faltered on the back nine and that allowed Sneha to walk away with the Hero Order of Merit.

The first two rounds were reduced to nine holes each, so the tournament was decided on a total of 36 holes.

Seher, with 36-37 in the first two nine-hole rounds, ended at 1-over 141 for 36 holes and was a winner by two over Sneha (71) and Shweta (71), who came close to her first-ever win on the Tour.

As Sneha managed to hold on to her top position, Neha, who needed to finish ahead of Sneha and earn at least Rs 27,792 more, ended the third round with 73.

Neha was in the picture for the title and the Order of Merit till she arrived on the 16th tee. A double bogey on 16th followed by a bogey on 17th saw her finish fourth.

Seher birdied the third and fifth but dropped a shot on the ninth to turn in 1-under. On the back she followed up a birdie with a bogey on 11th and 12th and then bogeyed the 15th but made up with a birdie on 16th. She closed the issue with a birdie on 18th.

Sneha had bogeys on fifth and ninth but that birdie on the 12th was crucial for her and she hung in for vital pars on the rest.

Shweta had two birdies against three bogeys for a 71 but fell short of the title by two.

Neha had a disappointing final day but began well with birdies on the second and the third. The back nine was a disaster as she bogeyed 10th, 12th and 14th and there was further misery with a double bogey on the 16th and a bogey on 17th. She had just one more birdie in between on the Par-3 13th.

The round of 73 also meant she stayed second on the Order of Merit as Sneha remained on top and took the honours.

Seher finished third on the Order of Merit, with Khushi Khanijau and Tvesa Malik finishing in fourth and fifth spots respectively.

Khushi Khanijau (75) was fifth, while Ridhima Dilawari (73) and Ananya Datar (76) were tied sixth .Snigdha Goswami (76) was eighth, while Jasmine Shekar (73) and Durga Nittur (76) rounded off the top-10.

- PTI

Gauri Monga wins DGC Ladies Amateur Open Golf C’‘ship

Gauri Monga (236) staved off a spirited fight from Amreen Sandhu (237) to take top honours in the 13th DGC Ladies Amateur Open Golf Championship at the Delhi Golf Club here on Friday.

The two golfers were tied till the final hole before Gauri took a one-stroke lead to come first against the 16-year-old Amreen.

The 3-day golfing event, presented by Usha, saw 102 participants, aged between 10 and 83, engage in a battle of the greens across the 54-hole WAGR event.

While Gauri (236) finished on top, Amreen (237), Mayali Kashyap (239), Diya Brar (248) and Shiraz Singh (251) finished in the top 5

- PTI.

TENNIS

ITF tournament: Ramkumar Ramanathan wins quarterfinals

Davis Cupper Ramkumar Ramanathan battled for three hours and 16 minutes to beat fifth seed Ryuki Matsuda of Japan 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-5 in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament organised by the MSLTA at the GA Ranade Centre on Friday.

The 29-year-old Ramkumar saved a set point in the tie-break to pocket the first set. In the decider, he did take a 4-1 lead but it became a tussle before Ramkumar won five points in a row to break serve and clinch the contest in the 12th game.

In the semifinals, Ramkumar will play second seed Louis Wessels of Germany who put out seventh seed SD Prajwal Dev in straight sets.

Qualifier Harison Adams beat top seed Evgeny Donskoy in straight sets to set up a semifinal against national champion Siddharth Vishwakarma, who eased past sixth seed Sidharth Rawat for the loss of six games.

Ramkumar made the doubles final as well in partnership with Purav Raja.

The results:

Singles (quarterfinals): Harrison Adams (USA) bt Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 7-6(4); Siddharth Vishwakarma bt Sidharth Rawat 6-3, 6-3; Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Ryuki Matsuda (Jpn) 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-5; Louis Wessels (Ger) bt SD Prajwal Dev 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles (semifinals): Purav Raja & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Ryuki Matsuda & Ryotaro Taguchi (Jpn) 6-3, 6-4; Harrison Adams (USA) & Vladyslav Orlov (Ukr) bt SD Prajwal Dev & Nitin Kumar Sinha 7-5, 7-5.

- Team Sportstar

Ankita loses doubles semifinals

Third seed Sehaj Singh Pawar fought his way past second seed Juan Kim of Korea 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(2) in the boys semifinals of the ITF junior tennis tournament on Friday.

In the final, Sehaj will challenge top seed Rethin Pranav, who has dropped 11 games in all in winning his four matches so far.

In the girls section, Rishitha Basireddy beat Aishwarya Jadhav to set up a title clash against top seed Sohini Mohanty.

The results:

€118,000 Challenger, Valencia, Spain Doubles (quarterfinals): Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Scott Duncan (GBR) & Kelsey Stevenson (Can) 6-2, 6-2.

$60,000 ITF women, Brisbane, Australia Doubles (semifinlas): Talia Gibson & Priscilla Hon (Aus) bt Darya Astakhova & Ankita Raina 6-1, 6-7(4), [10-7]; Quarterfinals: Roisin Gilheany & Maya Joint (Aus) bt Jessy Rompies (Ina) & Prarthana Thombare 6-4, 1-6, [10-5].

$15,000 ITF women, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Singles (quarterfinals): Teja Tirunelveli bt Evgeniya Burdina 6-2, 6-3.

$15,000 ITF women, Heraklion, Greece Doubles (quarterfinals): Klaudija Bubelyte (Ltu) & Liisa Varul (Est) bt Kiara Cvetkovic (Sui) & Annnika Kannan 6-0, 6-4.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

Karan, Bawyasri triumph AITA Championship Series under-16 tennis tournament

Karan Thapa, the third seed from the host Regional Sports Centre, defeated his sixth-seeded Kerala State-mate Shrikanth C. Menon in straight sets and won the boys singles title in the Kalyan Jewellers AITA Championship Series under-16 tennis tournament at the Regional Sports Centre here on Friday.

A.S.R. Bawyasri took the girls title after a fighting win over Lanika Ramu in the all-TN final.

The results (singles, finals):

Boys: Karan Thapa (Ker) bt Shrikanth C. Menon (Ker) 6-4, 6-4.

Girls: A.S.R. Bawyasri (TN) bt Lanika Ramu (TN) 6-3, 5-7, 6-0.

- Stan Rayan

The results:

Boys (semifinals): Rethin Pranav bt Kashit Nagrale 6-1, 6-2; Sehaj Singh Pawar bt Juan Kim (Kor) 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(2).

Doubles (final): Moise Kouame (Fra) & Rethin Pranav bt Smit Patel & Samprit Sharma 6-3, 6-4.

Girls (semifinal): Sohini Mohanty bt Snigdha Kanta 6-1, 6-0; Rishitha Basireddy bt Aishwarya Jadhav 6-3, 6-0.

Doubles (final): Rishitha Basireddy & Sohini Mohanty bt Ishi Maheshwari & Priyanka Rana (USA) 6-2, 6-3.

- Team Sportstar

POLO

Abhimanyu Pathak slammed five goals to guide Vimal Arion Achievers to a 9-5 victory over Delta Foundation in the semifinals of the Habanos Cavalry Gold Cup polo tournament at the Jjaipur Polo ground here on Friday.

In the final, scheduled for Sunday at 3.30 p.m., Achievers will play Jindal Panther which beat 61st Cavalry/Royal Enfield 7-4.

The results (semifinals):

Vimal Arion Achievers 9 (Abhimanyu Pathak 5, Daniel Otamendi 2, Hurr Ali 2)bt Delta Foundation 5 (Santiago Marambio 3, Padmanabh Singh, Akshai Malik).

Jindal Panther 7 (Salim Azmi 4, Simran Shergill 2, Siddhant Sharma) bt 61st Cavalry/Royal Enfield 4 (Dhruvpal Godara 3, Angad Kalaan).

- Team Sportstar

SHOOTING

Suruchi, champion Rhythm Sangwan, Manu Bhaker, the women’s air pistol medalists in the National shooting championship in Bhopal on Friday.  | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

National shooting championship: Rythm Sangwan wins women’s air pistol

Rhythm Sangwan won the women’s air pistol gold, beating Suruchi and Manu Bhaker in the 66th National shooting championship at the Madhya Pradesh Academy in Bhopal on Friday.

Suruchi won the junior gold while Rhythm was pushed to the sixth place. Suruchi won the bronze in the youth section.

In the air rifle event held at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, Darius Saurastri beat former world No.1 Divyansh Singh Panwar by one point for the gold. World Champion Rudrankksh Patil shot well in qualification with 632.6, but ended sixth in the final.

Divyansh went on to win the junior gold with a strong performance. The qualification topper Abhinav Shaw (633.3) bagged the youth and sub-youth gold medals.

The results:

10m air pistol: Women: 1. Rhythm Sangwan 243.1 (578); 2. Suruchi 241.3 (577); 3. Manu Bhaker 220.7 (578);

Junior women: 1. Suruchi 242.2 (577); 2. Anjali Shekhawat 242.0 (577); 3. Devanshi Dhama 219.2 (580).

Youth: 1. Lakshita 241.6 (576); 2. Anjali Shekhawat 240.5 (577); 3. Suruchi 217.6 (577).

Sub-youth: 1. Antara Dawn 575; 2. Sejal Kamble 574; 3. Drishti Sangwan 572.

10m air rifle: Men: 1. Darius Saurastri 251.3 (631.0); 2. Divyansh Singh Panwar 250.3 (630.5); 3. Sandeep 228.9 (630.0).

Junior men: 1. Divyansh Singh Panwar 253.6 (630.5); 2. Talwar Singh 251.2 (629.6); 3. Keval Prajapati 229.9 (629.8).

Youth: 1. Abhinav Shaw 252.2 (633.3); 2. Ansh Dabas 249.8 (627.6); 3. Baiduriya Biswas 228.8 (628.0).

Sub-youth: 1. Abhinav Shaw 633.3; 2. Parth Mane 628.3; 3. Ansh Dabas 627.6.

50m rifle prone: Men: 1. Chain Singh 629.9; 2. Sidhartha Babu 627.5; 3. Zahid Parray 627.0.

Junior men: 1. Nikhil Tanwar 626.1; 2. Deependra Singh Shekhawat 623.6; 3. Rohit Kaviti 621.1.

- Team Sportstar

BASKETBALL

Strong start by Girideepam in Girideepam Trophy all-India basketball tournament

The host Girdeepam Bethany boys opened the 30th Girideepam Trophy all-India basketball tournament with a comfortable 65-45 win over St. Ann’s (Kurianad) at Vadavathoor on Friday.

The results (league):

General category (all-India): Girideepam Bethany, Ktm 65 (Siddarth 13) bt St. Ann’s Kurianad 49 (Jomit Jojan 12); Lourdes PS, Ktm 44 (Amal 16) bt AKM PS, Chgy 39 (Aaron 26).

Girls: St Joseph’s MHSS, Salem 35 (Swetha 10) bt SH Mount, Ktm 5; SH HSS, Thevara 40 (Tiyona Philip 17) bt St. Michael’s, Koz 20; LF GCHSS, Koratty 27 bt Govt Girls HSS, Mavelikkara 12.

CBSE category (all-Kerala): Boys: Girdeepam CS 35 (Adithya Rajeev 14) bt De Paul, Kuravilangad 14.

CRICKET

Nikhil, Vinod hog limelight

M. Nikhil’s five wickets and P.V. Vinod’s half century helped Muthoot Microfin defeat Athreya CC by six wickets in a second round match of the 73rd Navio all-India Pooja cricket tournament at the Tripunithura Palace Oval on Friday.

The results: 

Athreya CC, Tsr 130 in 32.4 overs (Jofin Jose 46, Ujwal Krishna 33, M. Nikhil 5/17, Alwin Philip 3/23) lost to Muthoot Microfin, Ekm 134/4 in 26 overs (P.V. Vinod 51, M. Hariharan 38, T.M. Vishnu 3/44).

- Stan Rayan

ATHLETICS

Kochi marathon on February 11

With a bigger prize-money and more categories, the second Federal Bank Kochi Marathon will be held here on February 11, 2024.

Organised by CleoSportz and with Federal Bank as the title sponsor, the event will be held in five categories - marathon (42.195km), half marathon (21.097km), 10km run, green run (3km) and a run for people with disabilities and the differently abled.

Anju Bobby George, senior vice president of the Athletics Federation of India and the 2003 World Championship long jump bronze medallist, was the chief guest at the marathon’s launch event held here on Thursday night. Registration can be done at www.kochimarathon.in.

- Stan Rayan

FOOTBALL

Kerala United to meet Gokulam Kerala in Kerala Premier League opener

Defending champion Kerala United FC will meet last year’s runner-up Gokulam Kerala FC in a high-profile opening fixture of the 11th Scoreline Kerala Premier League football at the Kottapadi Stadium here on Saturday (7 p.m. kickoff).

Twenty teams, divided into two groups, will be in action in the KPL which is in its last year as Kerala’s No. 1 league. The Super League Kerala, which is expected to begin in August 2024, will be the State’s top league from next year.

There will be only one match on the opening day and from the second day there will be two games, with a 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. start.

- Stan Rayan

TABLE TENNIS

National-ranking TT: Harmeet, Archana bag titles

Petroleum Board’s top-seeded Harmeet Desai brushed away a two-game deficit to defeat ninth-seeded Jeet Chandra 4-2 and win the men’s singles title in the UTT National-ranking table tennis tournament here on Friday.

Eighth-seeded Archana Kamath, also from PSPB, lifted the women’s title with a 4-0 verdict over Ayhika Mukherjee, the second seed.

The results (singles):

Men, final: Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Jeet Chandra (AAI) 10-12, 10-12, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8.

Semifinals: Harmeet bt Raj Mondal (RBI) 11-5, 7-11, 14-12, 11-6, 11-5; Jeet bt Anthony Amalraj (PSPB) 11-7, 11-7, 14-12, 11-6.

Quarterfinals: Harmeet bt Sudhanshu Grover (Del) 11-5, 10-12, 11-6, 4-11, 11-6; Raj bt Payas Jain (Del) 13-11, 9-11, 11-9, 8-11, 12-10; Anthony bt Manush Shah (RBI) 11-7, 12-10, 14-16, 11-13, 11-7; Jeet bt G. Sathiyan (PSPB) 12-10, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8.

Women, final: Archana Kamath (PSPB) bt Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) 11-7, 12-10, 11-5, 11-7. Semifinals: Archana bt Kavyashree Baskar (TN) 11-8, 12-10, 11-7, 9-11, 9-11, 9-11, 11-5; Ayhika bt Pritha Vartikar (Mah) 11-3, 11-8, 11-4, 11-2.

Quarterfinals: Archana bt Akula Sreeja (RBI) 4-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-8; Kavyashree bt Diya Chitale (RBI) 8-11, 11-7, 11-3, 6-11, 11-6; Pritha (Mah) 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 4-11, 11-9; Ayhika bt Trisha Gogoi (Asm) 12-10, 11-5, 11-3.

- Stan Rayan

SWIMMING

Top swimmers to feature in Nettakallappa All-India swimming championship from Saturday

Top swimmers from across the country such as Srihari Nataraj and Sajan Prakash will be seen in action when this year’s Nettakallappa All India Swimming Championship begins at the NAC here on Saturday.

The swimming event will be held across the weekend, and the total prize money is pegged at Rs. 10 lakh.

Apart from Nataraj and Sajan, other frontline swimmers in the country like Siva Sridhar, Ridhima Veerendra Kumar, AS Anand, Nina Venkatesh, Likith SP and Harshita Jayaram will vie for top honours in their respective categories.

“This is the first Pan-India swimming event wherein the short course – 50m – events are being organized in ‘SKINS’ format.

“The competition also comprises long course – 100m, 200m and 400m – events to provide diversity and options for swimmers,” said Dr Varun Nijhawan, Centre Head, NAC.

-PTI