Indian sports news wrap, September 17

Here are all the major updates and results from Indian sports on September 17.

Podium finishers of the National Karting Championship 2023 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

MOTORSPORT

National Karting Championship 2023: Double for Rivaan; Abhay, Ishaan win finals

Chennai’s 10-year-old Rivaan Dev Preetham dominated the Micro Max class while Bengaluru’s Abhay M and Ishaan Madesh topped their respective categories in the third round of the Meco-Fmsci Rotax Max National Karting Championship 2023 which concluded at the Meco Kartopia circuit in Bengaluru on Saturday.

MSPORT’s Rivaan, bounced back after a forgettable Round 2, and dominated the third round, winning both the pre-final and final, and clocked the fastest laps in both races.

In the Junior Max class, championship leader Ishaan from Peregrine Racing, suffered a rare loss in the pre-finals, but came back strongly to clinch the final, beating Aarav Dewan (Gurugram) of Leapfrog Racing by a comfortable margin.

Last year’s junior champion, Abhay from Birel Art, who could only take a third place in the Senior Max pre-final, won the finals with ease. Pune’s Arjun Chheda (Crest Motorsport) came second while Raiden Samarvel from Mumbai (Rayo Racing) completed the podium.

Round 4 of the five-round Karting Nationals will be held from October 20 to 22 at the same venue.

Results

Senior Max – Final (16 laps): 1. Abhay M (Bengaluru, Birel Art India) (14mins, 51.497secs); 2. Arjun Chheda (Pune, Crest Motorsport) (14:53.072); 3. Raiden Samarvel (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (14:58.639). Pre-Final (14 laps): 1. Arjun Chheda (12:53.488); 2. Veer Rajwade (Pune, Crest Motorsport) (12:58.030); 3. Abhay M (12:58.199).

Junior Max – Final (14 laps): 1. Ishaan Madesh (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (13:04.584); 2. Aarav Dewan (Gurugram, Leapfrog Racing) (13:06.267); 3. Hunner Singh (Gurugram, Birel Art India) (13:07.561). Pre-Final (11 laps): 1. Hunnder Singh (11:30.527); 2. Nikhilesh Raju (Bengaluru, Peregrine Racing) (11:31.066); 3. Aarav Dewan (11:31.296).

Micro Max – Final (12 laps): 1. Rivaan Dev Preetham (Chennai, MSPORT) (12:05.803); 2. Zephaan Ardeshir (Mumbai, Peregrine Racing) (12:10.589); 3. Danish Dalmiya (Mumbai, Rayo Racing) (12:13.488). Pre-Final (10 laps): Rivaan Preetham (10:11.977); 2. Zephaan Ardeshir (10:19.948); 3. Darsh Nawalgaria (Bengaluru, MSPORT) (10:20.364)

- Special Arrangement

TENNIS

Asian under-12 championship: Srishti Kiran helps India beat Chiese Taipei

The Indian girls and boys teams with their trophies in the Asian under-12 tennis championship in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Srishti Kiran won both her singles and doubles matches to help India beat Chinese Taipei 2-1 in the girls final of the Asian under-12 tennis championship in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Srishti beat Pin Tsen Chou 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-4 in the opening singles. She partnered Karthika Padmakumar after the latter had lost the second singles in three sets, to script a 7-6(9), 6-1 victory over Tsai Jung Chiang and Chen Yun Tsai.

The Indian boys, however, were beaten 2-0 by Hong Kong in the final and could collect only seven games in all.

The Indian girls had earlier beaten Thailand, Uzbekistan, Malaysia and Hong Kong in the knock-out and league stages.

The Indian boys had beaten Myanmar, Iran, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei and Turkmenistan earlier.

Results:

Boys (final): Hong Kong bt India 2-0 (Chun Kiu Lok bt Smit Undre 6-2, 6-2; Fu Wang Choi bt Vivaan Mirdha 6-1, 6-2).

Girls (final): India bt Chinese Taipei 2-1 (Srishti Kiran bt Pin Tsen Chou 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-4; Karthika Padmakumar lost to Tsai Jung Chiang 3-6, 6-2, 2-6; Srishti & Karthika bt Tsai Jung Chiang & Chen Yun Tsai 7-6(9), 6-1).

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Niki Poonacha loses doubles final

Niki Poonacha in partnership with Antoine Escoffier was beaten 6-3, 6-2 in the doubles final by second seeds Sander Arends and David Pel of the Netherlands in the €118,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Rennes, France, on Sunday.

The Indo-French pair, which had earlier beaten the top seeds, collected 60 ATP points and €4,050. The champion team won 100 points and €6,845.

In the $15,000 ITF women’s event in Monastir, Tunisia, Vaishnavi Adkar was beaten 7-6(6), 6-0 in the final by third seed Aruzhan Sagandikova of Kazakhstan.

The results:

€118,000 Challenger, Rennes, France

Doubles (final): Sander Arends & David Pel (Ned) bt Antoine Escoffier (Fra) & Niki Poonacha 6-3, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia

Singles (final): Aruzhan Sagandikova (Kaz) bt Vaishnavi Adkar 7-6(6), 6-0.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

BASKETBALL

Khalsa School wins Junior NBA nationals

Khalsa School, Ludhiana, won both the under-14 and under-12 titles in the Reliance Foundation Junior NBA inter-school national finals at the Jaypee Greens, Greater Noida, on Sunday.

In the boys section, Chhotu Ram Modern Senior Secondary School, Delhi won the under-14 trophy. Don Bosco High School, Matunga, Mumbai, bagged the under-12 title.

The 3x3 finals was played among the regional champions who had assembled from the 14 cities Chennai, Kottayam, Mumbai, Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Delhi, Aizawl and Jamshedpur.

The tenth edition of the competition attracted participation from about 7000 children from more than 600 schools across the country.

The results:

Under-14 boys: Chhotu Ram Modern Senior Secondary School, Delhi, bt Vibgyor High School, Malad, Mumbai, 21-9.

Under-12 boys: Don Bosco High School, Matunga, Mumbai, bt Vidyagyan School, Sitapur, Lucknow, 13-12.

Under-14 girls: Khalsa School, Ludhiana bt Phoenix Greens School of Learning, Hyderabad, 13-8.

Under-12 girls: Khalsa School, Ludhiana bt Sacred Heart School, Chandigarh, 9-8.