Indian sports news wrap, September 15

Here are all the major updates and results from Indian sports on September 15.

Saurabh Chaudhary  | Photo Credit: ISSF

SHOOTING

Saurabh Chaudhary finishes 30th, Sagar Dangi sixth in Rio World Cup

Sagar Dangi qualified in the second spot with 581 but ended up sixth eventually in men’s air pistol in the shooting World Cup in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

India has fielded a 16-member team for the World Cup, giving a chance mostly for shooters who have not made it to the team for the Asian Games.

Former world No.1 and multiple World Cup gold medallist and Asian Games champion, Saurabh Chaudhary shot 572 and placed 30th in a field of 62.

Elavenil Valarivan and Sandeep Singh had shot 629.1 in mixed air rifle. They were fourth in the first batch with the top score being 629.7.

Results:

10m air pistol: Men: 1. Federico Maldini (Ita) 237.8 (580); 2. Emils Vasermanis (Lat) 2236.4 (586); 3. Lauris Strautmanis (Lat) 217.3 (580); 6. Sagar Dangi 157.4 (581); 15. Sharvan Kumar 576; 16. Kedarling Uchaganve 576; 30. Saurabh Chaudhary 572.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

CRICKET

WPL: Gujarat Giants players, coaches meet team owners

Former India women’s captain Mithali Raj, India star Harleen Deol were among those from Gujarat Giants who met the team owners Adani Sportsline team and Pranav Adani on Friday.

Team mentor and advisor Mithali and assistant coach Nooshin Al Khadeer were present at the meeting along with players Harleen Deol, Sushma Verma, Shabnam Shakil, Hurley Gala, Sneh Rana, Parunika Sisodia, Mansi Joshi, Meghna Sabbineni, Tanuja Kanwar, Ashwani Kumari, and Monica Patel. 

Currently, the WPL has five teams: the champions Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Giants, Royal Challengers Bangalore, UP Warriorz and Delhi Capitals. The inaugural edition was played in Mumbai, with the games distributed between the DY Patil Stadium and the Brabourne Stadium at the Cricket Club of India. The dates and the venues for the second season are awaited from the BCCI. 

The squad’s head coach is Australian legend Rachael Haynes. Harleen Deol was one of the best Indian performers, scoring 202 runs in 8 games. That apart, South African opener Laura Wolvaardt and Ashleigh Gardner scored two fifties each, while England’s Sophia Dunkley scored the fastest half-century of the tournament, reaching the landmark off 18 deliveries.

- V. V. Subrahmanyam

TENNIS

Riya Sachdeva with the girls singles and doubles trophies in the Asian under-16 tennis tournament in Jalandhar. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Asian U-16: Riya Sachdeva wins singles, doubles title

Riya Sachdeva won a double crown in the Asian under-16 tennis championship at the Singha Sports Academy on Friday.

Riya beat Aakruti Sonkusare 6-2, 7-6(3) for the singles title. She won the doubles title in partnership with Divya Ungrish.

Hruthik Katakam won the boys title, and the doubles title was bagged by Kartikey Agassi and Pratheek Sheoran.

Results:

Under-16 boys (final): Hruthik Katakam bt A Mhasde 6-3, 6-1; Third place: Ranvir Singh bt Nirvaan Thingbaijam 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles (final): Kartikey Agassi & Pratheek Sheoran bt Ranvir Singh & Nirvaan Thingbaijam 7-6(6), 6-2.

Under-16 girls (final): Riya Sachdeva bt Aakruti Sonkusare 6-2, 7-6(3); Third place: Divya Ungrish bt Samaira Kohli 6-7(5), 6-2, [10-4].

Doubles (final): Riya Sachdeva & Divya Ungrish bt Savitha Bhuvaneswaran & Sherry Sharma 6-3, 1-6, [10-6].

-Kamesh Srinivasan

ITF Juniors: Prisha Shinde beats Priyanka Rana

Top seed Prisha Shinde edged out fourth seed Priyanka Rana 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) in the girls semifinals of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the Ahmedabad City Foundation courts on Friday.

In the final, Prisha will be challenged by Ruma Gaikaiwari.

In the boys section, Aniketh Venkataraman set up a title clash against second seed Samarth Sahita.

Results:

Boys: Aniketh Venkataraman bt Tavish Pahwa 6-3, 3-6, 6-0; Samarth Sahita bt Vatsal Manikantan 6-1, 6-2.

Girls: Prisha Shinde bt Priyanka Rana 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5); Ruma Gaikaiwari bt Mehak Kapoor 6-3, 7-5.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Vaishnavi Adkar in semifinals

Vaishnavi Adkar outplayed Luisa Hrda of Germany 6-0, 6-1 to reach the semifinals of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Monastir, Tunisia, on Friday.

The results:

$25,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia: Doubles (quarterfinals): Daniil Ostapenkov & Kris Van Wyk (RSA) bt Dev Javia & Cyril Vandermeerssch (Fra) 6-4, 6-1.

$25,000 ITF men, Kigali, Rwanda: Singles (quarterfinals): Damien Wenger (Sui) bt Ishaque Eqbal 6-4, 6-2; Corentin Denolly (Fra) bt SD Prajwal Dev 6-2, 6-2. Doubles (semifinals): SD Prajwal Dev & Ishaque Eqbal bt Siddhant Banthia & Sai Karteek Reddy 6-3, 3-6, [10-7].

$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia: Doubles (semifinals): Cengiz Aksu (Tur) & Chirag Duhan bt Fabien Salle (Fra) & Imran Sibille (Mar) 6-4, 6-3.

$80,000 ITF women, Le Neubourg, France: Doubles (semifinals): Fiona Ferro (Fra) & Aline Korneeva bt Tiphanie Lemaitre (Fra) & Vasanti Shinde 6-4, 6-3.

$25,000 ITF women, Perth, Australia: Doubles (quarterfinals): Monique Barry (Nzl) & Shrivalli Bhamidipaty bt Mia Horvit (USA) & Tenika Mcgiffin (Aus) 4-6, 7-6(2), [12-10].

$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia: Singles (quarterfinals): Vaishnavi Adkar bt Luisa Hrda (Ger) 6-0, 6-1.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

FOOTBALL

Sreenidi Deccan FC continues to produce young talents

“Sreenidi Deccan Football Club (SDFC), founded in 2015 with the vision of nurturing football talent in the country by providing an environment that inspired young players to be self-motivated and contribute positively to the sport, takes pride in informing that two of its players - Levis Zangminlun and Aiborlang Khartangmaw - played a key role in India winning the recent SAAF (under-16) championship in Bhutan,” said Dr. K.T. Mahhe, chairman of Sreenidhi Educational Group which owns the Club.

Aiborlang Khartangmaw | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

“Having developed world-class facilities and ensuring that promising players have access to the best coaching, training and support, SDFC has become an integral part of developing football in the country, and making India a globally competitive football nation,” he said.

“Levis and Aiborlang are just two of many success stories SDFC can be proud of, having put in considerable time and resources into developing young Indian football players,” said Dr Mahhe.

“We are immensely proud of Levis and Aiborlang for making their debut for the Indian team and their performance in the tournament, with multiple goals scored, demonstrates the quality of the work that our Youth Academy has been doing over the past few years,” he said.

Levis Zangminlun | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Earlier this year, two more Academy boys - Sahil Tamang and Pauminthang Munsong - were called up for the India under-19 national camp which was held in Bhubaneswar. Sreenidi Deccan FC also participated in various key youth tournaments across age groups like the Reliance Foundation Development League (U-21), AIFF Youth Cup (U-17) and the JSW Youth Cup (U-15 and U-13).

SDFC has also made it its mission to identify promising football talent in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to help them develop their skills and achieve their potential. Two Academy boys - Tikam Reddy (Andhra Pradesh) and Rayyan bin Ghanam (Telangana) - have been promoted to the Sreenidi Deccan FC senior team for the upcoming I-League 2023-24 season.

“Our commitment to developing football in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh is undoubted and we look forward to having more players from these regions playing at the highest level and representing the country very soon,” reiterated Dr. K. T. Mahhe.

-V V Subrahmanyam

CHESS

The champions at the Asian junior championship (from left): Mayank Chakraborty (rapid), G. Tejaswini (girls’ classical), Aleksey Grebnev (classical and blitz), Nazerke Nurgali (girls’ rapid) and Bommini Mounika Akshaya (girls’ blitz). | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Asian Junior Chess: Grebnev scores a double for Russia; Tejaswini, Mounika emerge girls’ champions

After moving its affiliation from Europe to Asia earlier this year, Russia scored its biggest moment on the continental chessboard on Friday. That was thanks solely to Aleksey Grebnev.

After claiming the Tata Steel Asian junior title in the afternoon, Grebnev, playing under the FIDE flag, added another championship before the day ended. He claimed the blitz title to bring some cheer to Russian chess.

For the host, it was the girls who brought joy. After G. Teswaini claimed the championship in the classical event, Bommini Mounika Akshaya won the blitz title.

Standings:

Important results (ninth round, Indians unless specified):

Open: Ayush Sharma 6.5 drew with S. Rohith Krishna 6.5; Aleksey Grebnev (FIDE) 7 bt Alekhya Mukhopadhyay 5.5; S. Aswath 7 bt Sambit Panda 5.5; Ajay Parvathareddy 6 drew with Manish Cristiano 6; L. Srihari 5.5 lost to Mayank Chakraborty 6.5; Dilshan Liyanage (SL) 5.5 drew with Zhangir Bizhigitov (Kaz) 5.5; Tahsin Zia (Ban) 6 bt Dhyey Agarwal 5; L.R. Srhari 5.5 drew with Kushagra Mohan 5; N.B. Hari Madhavan 5.5 bt Vrashank Chouhan 4.5.

The standings:

1-2. Aleksey Grebnev (FIDE) and S. Aswath 7; 3-5. S. Rohith Krishna, Ayush Sharma and Mayank Chakraborty 6.5; 6-8. Manish Cristiano, Tahsin Zia and Ajay Parvathareddy 6; 9-19. Sambit Panda, Ritvik Krishnan, Gilbert Tarigan (Ina), Dilshan Liyanage (SL), L.R. Srihari, G.B. Harshavardhan, L. Srihari, Alekhya Mukhopadhyay, Abilmansur Abdilkhair (Kaz), N.B. Hari Madhavan and Zhangir Bizhigitov (Kaz) 5.5.

Girls: Bommini Mounika Akshaya 6.5 drew with G. Tejaswini 7.5; Bristy Mukherjee 7 bt Nazerke Nurgali (Kaz) 6; Mrudul Dehankar 6 drew with Saina Salonika 6; Ayaulym Kaldarova (Kaz) 5.5 lost to Mrittika Mallick 6.5; Anastasia Ivanova (FIDE) 5.5 lost to V. Rindhiya 6; Shubhi Gupta 5.5 drew with Bhagyashree Patil 5.5; Keerti Reddy 5.5 drew with M.K. Poorna Sri 5.5; Mohitha Vakcheri 5 drew with Zeinep Sultanbek (Kaz) 5; H.G. Pragnya 5.5 bt Wadifa Ahmed (Ban) 4.5; Sherali Pattnaik 4.5 lost to Sachi Jain 5.5.

The standings:

1. G. Tejaswini 7.5; 2. Bristy Mukherjee 7; 3-4. Bommini Mounika Akshaya and Mrittika Mallick 6.5; 5-8. Saina Salonika, Nazerke Nurgali (Kaz), V. Rindhiya and Mrudul Dehankar 6; 9-17. Keerti Reddy, Shubhi Gupta, Ayaulym Kaldarova (Kaz), Bhagyashree Patil, M.K. Poorna Sri, Anastasia Ivanova (FIDE), H.G. Pragnya, Sachi Jain and Masanam Divyabharathi 5.5.

-P.K. Ajith Kumar