Indian sports news wrap, October 18

Here are all the major updates and results from Indian sports on October 18.

Palani Tuskers and Chola Veerans among eight teams extended their sensational run to qualify for the final round of the Yuva Kabaddi Series Monsoon Edition. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

KABADDI

Eight teams qualify for playoffs of Yuva Kabaddi Series 2023; title race begins in Madurai

Palani Tuskers and Chola Veerans among eight teams extended their sensational run to qualify for the final round of the Yuva Kabaddi Series Monsoon Edition 2023, which kickstarts at the Fatima College Indoor Stadium in Madurai.

The kabaddi tournament, which empowers India’s budding kabaddi stars with a highly competitive platform, brought thrilling action for the fans in an exciting format wherein 116 nail-biting matches were played in the first five rounds.

While Palani Tuskers, Chola Veerans and Nilgiri Knights made their way into the Summit round after powerful performances in the promotion round, Aravalli Arrows, Murthal Magnets, Panchala Pride, Vijayanagara Veers and Hampi Heroes held their nerves well in the Survival round to progress into the playoffs stage.

The final will be played on October 22.

The tournament witnessed some stellar performances from the young Indian players, showcasing glimpses of India’s bright future in the sport.

The 23-year-old Suresh Veeraswami Oruganti of Vijayanagara Veers has impressed the most in the attacking department with the highest 192 raid points whereas Murthal Magnets’ Sonu Mahender Rathee currently leads as the top-defender with 66 points followed by Lokesh Jaisaram Ghosliya of Aravalli Arrows (54 pts) and Gowtham Murgan of Chola Veerans (53 pts).

Fans can enjoy the exciting live action on DD Sports, and the streaming is available on FanCode.

-Team Sportstar

TENNIS

Yuki Bhambri reaches doubles quarterfinals in Stockholm

Yuki Bhambri in partnership with Julian Cash of Britain beat the second seeds Niola Cacic and Mate Pavic 6-4, 6-3 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the ATP 250 tennis tournament in Stockholm, Sweden, on Wednesday.

In the quarterfinals, the Indo-British team will play Harri Heliovaara and Patrik Niklas-Salminen of Finland.

In the €145,000 Challenger in Olbia, Italy, Rithvik Bollipalli and Arjun Kadhe beat the champions of last week, Sriram Balaji and Andre Begemann 6-3, 6-4 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals.

RESULTS

€750,950 ATP, Stockholm, Sweden

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Yuki Bhambri & Julian Cash (GBR) bt Nikola Cacic (Srb) & Mate Pavic (Cro) 6-4, 6-3.

$259,303 WTA, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jodie Burrage (GBR) & Jil Teichmann (Sui) bt Vivian Heisen (Ger) & Ankita Raina 7-6(4), 4-6, [11-9].

€145,000 Challenger, Olbia, Italy

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ivan Sabanov & Matej Sabanov (Srb) bt Inigo Cervantes (Esp) & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6-2, 4-6, [10-4]; Anirudh Chandrasekar & Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Peter Buldorini & Lorenzo Carboni (Ita) 6-3, 7-6(3); Rithvik Bollipalli & Arjun Kadhe bt Sriram Balaji & Andre Begemann (Ger) 6-3, 6-4.

$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia

Singles (first round): Zeel Desai bt Ximena Senties (Mex) 6-0, 6-1.

$15,000 ITF women, Hua Hin, Thailand

Singles (first round): Punnin Kovapitukted (Tha) bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 6-2, 6-1; Patcharin Cheapchandej (Tha) bt Priyanshi Bhandari 6-4, 6-2; Wakana Sonobe (Jpn) bt Kundali Majgaine 6-2, 6-1; Shrivalli Bhamidipaty bt Man Ying Maggie Ng (Hkg) 6-4, 6-2; Demi Tran (Ned) bt Saumya Vig 6-2, 6-3.

- Team Sportstar

Fancied players advance, Madhwin, Suraj continue their dream run in ITF Dharwad Men’s World Tennis Tour

The first round of the singles in the ITF Dharwad Men’s World Tennis Tour witnessed some long matches, which was a sign of quality tennis being played at the Dharwad District Lawn Tennis Association here on Wednesday. Luckily there were no casualties as all the seeded players breezed through to the pre-quarterfinals of US $ 25,000 prize money event.

Top seed Nick Chappell of USA overcame Korean Woobin Shin in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 while second seed Bogdan Bobrov quelled the challenge of qualifier Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 6-2, 6-4.

Sixth seed Florent Bax of Frace, who had won the last leg of the ITF 15K in Ahmedabad three days, was leading 6-2, 2-0 (2 ^nd set) when his opponent Stijn Pel from Netherlands threw in the towel. Fourth seed Ramkumar Ramanathan some stiff resistance from qualifier Faisal Qamar before prevailing 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Meanwhile, qualifiers Madhwin Kamath and Suraj Prabodh continued their dream run winning their opening round matches. While Madhwin was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over wild card entrant Manish Ganesh, Suraj played out the longest match of the day in outplaying another wild card Raghav Jaisinghani 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 20 minutes.

Results (All Indians Except Mentioned In Brackets; Seedings In Pre-Fix)

Singles round of 32

Q-Madhwin Kamath bt WC-Manish Ganesh 6-3, 6-4;  8-S D Prajwal Dev bt Q-Luke Sorensen (AUS) 7-5, 6-4; Ishaque Eqbal bt Manish Sureshkumar 6-3, 6-3; 4-Ramkumar Ramanathan Vs. Q-Faisal Qamar 7-6 (3), 6-27-Sidharth Rawat bt WC-Shivank Bhatnagar 6-4, 6-2; Rishab Agarwal bt Q-Jagmeet Singh 6-4, 6-2; 6-Florent Bax (FRA) bt Stijn Pel (NED) 6-2, 2-0 (retd); Q-Enrico Giacomini (ITA) bt Dev Javia 6-3, 7-6 (2); Q-Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan bt Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha 7-5, retd Q-Suraj R Prabodh bt WC-Raghav Jaisinghani 6-4, 6-4; 2-Bogdan Bobrov bt Q-Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 6-2, 6-4; 1-Nick Chappell (USA) bt Woobin Shin (KOR) 6-3, 6-3; 5-Kazuki Nishiwaki (JPN) bt Ryotaro Matsumura (JPN) 6-2, 7-5

Doubles round of 16 

(Unfinished match) 1-Purav Raja/Ramkumar Ramanathan Vs. Digvijay Pratap Singh/Karan Singh 6-7 (7) (suspended)

- Team Sportstar

HOCKEY

Nehru sub-junior hockey tournament results

Mohd. Atif scored the match-winner with a penalty corner conversion to help Vikas Inter College, Varanasi, to a 3-2 victory over Ghumanhera Risers Academy, Delhi, in a league match of the Steelbird 40th Nehru sub-junior hockey tournament at the Shivaji Stadium on Wednesday.

Amit Pal and Ankit Patel had scored the earlier goals for the Varanasi team. Charusha and Naman Sharma scored the goals for the Delhi team.

The results (league):

Vikas Inter College, Varanasi, 3 (Amit Pal, Ankit Patel, Mohd. Atif) bt Ghumanhera Risers Academy, Delhi, 2 (Charusha, Naman Sharma).

Round Glass Academy, Punjab, 5 (Amandeep Singh 3, Samuel, Sajan Rajbhar) bt Royal International SSS, Charkhi Dadri, 2 (Rahul 2).

SGPC Academy, Amritsar, 4 (Manjot Singh, Jagpreet Singh, Sukhveer Singh, Harjit Singh) bt SD SSS, Narwana, Jind, 1 (Sachin).

Guru Gobind Singh Sports College, Lucknow, 14 (Dheeraj Pal 4, Ajay Yadav 4, Krishna Banwanshi 4, Mohd. Danish 2) bt Rengarih HS, Simdega, Jharkhand, 1 (Anmol Tirkey).

- Kamesh Srinivasan

POLO

QMG Championship: Army Service Corps defeat President’s Body Guard

Singh and Yatinder Kumar scored four goals each in guiding Army Service Corps (ASC) to a 13-6 victory over President’s Body Guard (PBG)/Armed Corps in a league match of the QMG polo championship at the Army Equestrian Centre, Delhi Cantonment, on Wednesday.

The results (league):

ASC 13 (Prithvi Singh 4, Yatinder Kumar 4, Mukesh Gujjar 3, Ravinder Mang 2) bt PBG/Armed Corps 6 (Navjit Singh Sandhu 4, Anant Rajpurohit 2)

Artillery 6 (Asish Samantaray 2, Irfan Khan 2, Narender Kumar, Prince Pal Singh) bt RVC 5 ½ (Vijay Singh 5, handicap ½)

- Kamesh Srinivasan

ATHLETICS

Kerala State schools meet: Double delight for Jyothika, Abiram

M. Jyothika, the golden girl among juniors at last year’s Kerala State schools athletics championships, has moved smoothly to the senior grade. The 17-year-old from Palakkad’s Parli School won the 400m hurdles, her second gold in the under-19 age group, in the championships’ 65 edition at the Government Boys VHSS ground in Kunnamkulam on Wednesday.

“The 400m hurdles is a tough event but my favourite one too,” said Jyothika, coached by the seasoned P.G. Manoj, who clocked a personal best time for the second consecutive day.

The victory also brushed away the bitter memories of a blackout she appeared to suffer in the event last year. She ‘froze’ towards the end of the race after gaining a strong lead.

Meanwhile M. Abiram, who had been harping that he had run too many events in the last few months, emerged as the championships’ fastest boy by taking the 100m title.

After Abiram had won the quartermile on Tuesday, his coach K. Surendran said he would probably be skipping the 100m to give the youngster some rest.

“This is my last State schools meet, I wanted to make the most of it. That’s why I ran the 100m. This is my first 100m at the State schools meet and this is a very special gold,” said Abiram.

Kasargod’s V. S. Anupriya, in the senior girls shot, set the lone meet record of the day.

RESULTS (Gold medallists only)

Boys: Seniors: 100m: P. Abiram (Pkd) 11.10s. 400m hurdles: Rabeeh Ahmed (Mlp) 55.27s. High jump: Mohammed Muhassin (Mlp) 1.96m. Javelin throw: P. Rahan (Mlp) 52.60m. 5km walk: Abhidev Sathyan (Idk) 24:24.75s.

Juniors: 100m: Answaf Asharaf (Ekm) 11.15s. 400m hurdles: Mohammed Ashfaq (Tvm) 56.43s. Pole vault: Milan Sabu (Ktm) 3.60m. Hammer throw: Jones Dominic (Ekm) 48.92m.

Sub-juniors: 100m: Jahir Khan (Pkd) 12.08s. Shot put: N.S. Karthik (Wyd) 12.36m.

Girls: Seniors: 100m: G. Thara (Pkd) 12.35s. 400m hurdles: M. Jyothika (Pkd) 1:02.11s. 3km walk: Miya Rose (Ekm) 16:20.91s. Shot put: V.S. Anupriya (Ksd) 16.15m MR, OR Megha M. Mathew, 14.91, 2018.

Juniors: 100m: Alphonsa Treesa (Ekm) 12.79s. 400m hurdles: P.T. Samredha (Koz) 1:06.98s. Long jump: P.V. Anjali (Koz) 5.28m. Pole vault: Jeena Basil (Ekm) 3.20m. Discus throw: Henin Elizabeth (Ksd) 37.41m.

Sub-juniors: 100m: T.V. Devasree (Knr) 13.37s. Discus throw: Ameya Thomas (Alp) 23.22m.

- Stan Rayan