Indian sports wrap, October 17: Manav, Ayhika and other top players to compete in UTT National Ranking tournament

Here are all the major updates, scores and results of Indians in the world of sports on October 17.

FILE PHOTO: Indian table tennis player Manav Thakkar. | Photo Credit: G RAMAKRISHNA/THE HINDU

TABLE TENNIS

Country’s top paddlers to participate in UTT National Ranking TT

India’s top paddlers including Manav Thakkar, G Sathiyan, Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee will be in action in the season’s second UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships beginning in Margao on Friday.

On the senior men’s side, the top-seeded Manav, fresh from a stellar performance at the Astana Asian Championships, will lead the charge alongside Sathiyan (PSPB) and Manush Shah (RBI).

Both Achanta Sharath Kamal and Harmeet Desai have decided to skip the event.

In the women’s section, Ayhika and Sutirtha, who created history by winning a women’s doubles medal and contributed to India’s bronze-medal finish in team events of the Asian Championships, will look to extend their winning streak.

With the top-ranked Sreeja Akula and Manika Batra missing the tournament, the stage is open for the likes of Diya Chitale to shine again.

The tournament will also feature competitions in U-19, U-17, U-15 and U-13 categories.

-PTI

HOCKEY

Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya beats Guru Nanak HSS in final league game of Kanwarji 52nd Nehru junior hockey tournament

A goal each from Mayank Kumar, Daksh and Ritik Kumar secured a crucial 3-1 victory for Government Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Bankner, Delhi, against Guru Nanak Higher Secondary School, Rajnandgaon, in the last league match of the Kanwarji 52nd Nehru junior hockey tournament at the Shivaji Stadium on Thursday.

The results:

Directorate General NCC, Blue, 11 (Shahrukh Ali 3, Mohd. Atif Raynee 2, Ajay Kumar Gond 2, Rahul Yadav, Mohd. Aqib Raynee, Mitranshu Rastogi, Neeraj Prajapati) bt Hockey Assam 0.

Krida Prabodhini, Pune, 4 (Laxman Chimnaji 2, Shlok Ravindra, Suraj Dipak) bt Government Senior Secondary School, Gurugram, 2 (Raj 2).

Dashmesh Jyoti English Medium School, Nanded, 3 (Manpreet Singh, Simranjeet Singh, Balpreet Singh) bt SNBP Institute, Pune, 0.

Manmohan Singh Academy, Shahabad, 10 (Ritesh Pandey 4 Nakhil Rana 2, Sonu Yadav, Aviraj Singh, Suraj Kumar, Arbaj Khan) bt Janta High School, Mapusa, Goa, 0.

Government Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Bankner, Delhi, 3 (Mayank Kumar, Daksh, Ritik Kumar) bt Guru Nanak HSS, Rajnandgaon, 1 (Vivek Kumar Yadav).

-Kamesh Srinivasan

BASKETBALL

St. Xavier’s beats Mira Model in 35th Hansraj Prabhakar basketball tournament

Parv scored 14 points to help St. Xavier’s School to a 31-28 victory over Mira Model School in the under-18 boys section of the 35th Hansraj Prabhakar basketball tournament at the Oxford School courts, Vikaspuri, on Thursday.

The results:

Under-18 boys:

Montfort 26 bt Sanskriti 8.

APS, Dhaula Kuan, 57 (Ishant 21) bt Brain International 28 (Tanuj 21).

St. Xavier’s 31 (Parv 14) bt Mira Model 28 (Akash 10).

Under-17 girls:

St. Xavier’s 23 bt Manavsthali 6.

Under-16 boys:

Montfort 44 (Maadhyam Batra 13) bt Fr. Agnel 43 (Ethan Massey 16).

Maxfort 35 (Vikram 14) bt Mira Model 28 (Arnav 10).

Brain International 22 bt Deepalaya 2.

Under-14 boys:

Bal Bharati 16 bt Sanskriti 8.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

EQUESTRIAN

Team India Dressage selection: Young rider Inaara Mehta shines at trials

The Federation Equestrian Internationale (FEI) held the selection trials for the selection of the Indian team for the FEI Dressage World Dressage Challenge 2024, under 21 (South India) at Bengaluru.

Two young riders, Inaara Mehta Luthria (14) of the Amature Riders’ Club and Anaya Vazirani (12), showcased exceptional equestrian skills at the selection trial for team India. A total of 18 best riders from across South India participated in the selection trial. The event was held under the aegis of the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI).

Inaara secured first with an impressive score of 79.530 riding Dasha Deluxe. Anaya, one of the youngest riders in the competition, secured second with a score of 75.405 riding Ferry.

Speaking of her achievement, Inaara said, “I couldn’t believe the results. For me, it was just great to participate with such fabulous riders, many of whom are much older and far more experienced than me in international competitions.”

-Team Sportstar

TENNIS

Rithvik-Arjun pair beats french second seed Sadio-Fabien in Almaty Open quarterfinal

Rithvik Bollipalli and Arjun Kadhe knocked out the second seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul of France 6-4, 6-4 in the doubles quarterfinals of the $1,117,465 ATP tennis tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Thursday.

Sriram Balaji also made the doubles semifinals in partnership with Guido Andreozzi of Argentina.

The results:

$1,117,465 ATP, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Doubles (quarterfinals): Guido Andreozzi (Arg) & Sriram Balaji bt Alexander Shevchenko & Timofey Skatov (Kaz) 6-3, 6-4; Rithvik Bollipalli & Arjun Kadhe bt Sadio Doumbia & Fabien Reboul (Fra) 6-4, 6-4.

€767,455 ATP, Stockholm, Sweden

Doubles (quarterfinals): Petr Nouza & Patrik Rikl (Cze) bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-4, 6-4.

$133,250 Challenger, Shenzhen, China

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Kris van Wyk (RSA) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 7-6(6).

Doubles (quarterfinals): Sai Karteek Reddy & Rio Noguchi (Jpn) bt Kaichi Uchida & Kaito Uesugi (Jpn) 6-7(3), 6-4, [11-9].

$25,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Doubles (quarterfinals): Maximus Jones (Tha) & Parikshit Somani bt Daniel Blazka & Marek Gengel (Cze) 6-3, 7-6(5).

$25,000 ITF men, Sintra, Portugal

Singles (first round): Tyler Stice (USA) bt Siddhant Banthia 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF men, Kampala, Uganda

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Manuel Plunger (Ita) bt Bharath Kumaran 6-3, 6-4; Gregor Ramskogler (Aut) bt Tarun Karra 6-3, 6-0; Maik Steiner (Ger) bt Kiruthik Kalyaan 6-1, 6-3; Pranav Karthik bt Julian DeSousa (Ned) 7-5, 7-6(4); Dev Javia bt Rishi Reddy 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Vasilios Caripi (RSA) & Rishi Reddy bt Simon Ayella (Uga) & Etienne Niyigena (Rwa) 6-4, 6-1.

$15,000 ITF men, Winston-Salem, USA

Singles (first round): Dhakshineshwar Suresh bt Eric Hadigian (USA) 4-6, 7-5, 6-0.

$100,000 ITF women, Macon, USA

Singles (first round): Maya Joint (Aus) bt Rutuja Bhosale 6-3, 1-1 (retired).

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Whitney Osuigwe & Alana Smith (USA) w.o. Rutuja Bhosale & Hiroko Kuwata (Jpn).

-Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Sweden’s Kajsa Arwefjall gets invitation for Hero Women’s Indian Open golf tournament

Kajsa Arwefjall of Sweden has been given an invitation to compete in the $400,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open golf to be played at the DLF Golf and Country Club, Gurugram, from October 24 to 27.

The 24-year-old Swede was given the chance after she had won two titles and six other top-10 placings to top the Order of Merit in the Access Tour for the Ladies European Tour.

Her entry for the next season has been fast-tracked and she will join nine other Swedes in a strong field of 114 players. One of the Swedes, Caroline Hedwall had won the title in 2011 and had finished runner-up thrice.

“It is super exciting and a great opportunity to try my game against the LET players before I officially start my season there,” said Arwefjall.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

India’s Kartik Singh stays in top-10 at Nomura Cup in Vietnam

Indian teenager Kartik Singh maintained his position in the top 10 with a third-round card of one-under 71 card at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Team Championship for Nomura Cup.

The 14-year-old is now 2-under for 54 holes and lying tied-ninth in the individual section.

Kartik began the day with a flourish as he birdied three times in the first four holes, but dropped shots on the sixth and the 16th and was unable to pick any more birdies.

India is lying ninth in the team competition with Kartik’s teammates Anant Singh Ahlawat (76) and Rohit (77) in 30th and T-32nd places.

Nguyen Anh Minh and Le Khanh Hung (69) combined to raise Vietnam’s hopes of a historic victory in the 30th edition of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Team Championship. They lead favourite Japan by one shot. Vietnam is 12-under, Japan is 11-under and New Zealand is a distant third at 7-under.

In the individual Anh Minh, at 84th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking the highest-rated player in the field, leads the way with a third successive sub-par card, he has a 54-hole total of seven-under 209. He is one shot in front of New Zealand’s Robby Turnbull with Australian Declan O’Donovan alone in third on 212.

Kartik with two others, Wang Ngai Shen and China’s Lu Liangliang is tied ninth.

-PTI

Black Mountain Championship: Bhullar top Indian in tied fifth place in Thailand

Gaganjeet Bhullar shot a superb 7-under 65 to be tied fifth in the first round of the USD 2 million Black Mountain Championship in Hua Hin, Thailand.

Bhullar, who began from the back nine, had eight birdies against one bogey on the first, which was his 10th hole. He once had three birdies in a row from the 16th to the 18th and then four in a row from the third to the sixth.

Among other Indians, Honey Baisoya, Khalon Joshi and Varun Chopra shot 68 each to be T-34th.

In a low-scoring round, S Chikkarangappa, Karandeep Kochhar and Rashid Khan were T-102nd despite 1-under 71 at Black Mountain Golf Club.

Yuvraj Sandhu (72) was T-117 and SSP Chawrasia (73) was T0-128th, Ajeetesh Sandhu (74) was T-138th and Shiv Kapur (77) was T-143rd.

Sharing the fourth spot with Bhullar were Mexico’s Santiago De la Fuente, Thailand’s David Boriboonsub, Poosit Supupramai, Suteepat Prateeptienchai, Nitithorn Thippong, Nopparat Panichphol, Indonesian Jonathan Wijono, Malaysia’s Shahriffuddin Ariffin, Chanmin Jung from Korea, and Kevin Yuan from Australia who all returned 65s.

Former touring professional turned CrossFit Games athlete Pierre-Henri Soero was in a share of the lead.

The American carded an eight-under-par 64 along with Thailand’s CharngTai Sudsom, Liu Yanwei from China and Australian Todd Sinnott.

American John Catlin, the leader of both the Asian Tour Order of Merit and The International Series Rankings, shot a 69 and is tied for 58th.

-PTI

CHESS

Arnav Kherdekar emerges champion in All India FIDE Chess Rating tournament

Mumbai’s Arnav Kherdekar emerged as champion in All India FIDE Rating Open Chess Tournament here on Thursday.

Kherdekar and International Master Vikramaditya Kulkarni finished with 7.5 each at the end of the eighth and final round. The competition was organised by the SMCA Chess School and was held at the Russian House.

Kherdekar, with a better progressive tie-breaker score of 41.25 compared to Kulkarni’s 36.75, was declared the champion.

On the second board, Kherdekar (1846) defeated Darsh Shetty (1798) to stay in contention for the top position.

On the top board, Kulkarni (2185) maintained his fine winning streak and defeated Darsh Shetty (1968), but his inferior progressive score of 36.75 saw him finish second.

Pune’s Yash Watarkar (1963) came third with seven points. Watarkar beat Yuti Patel (1580) to finish third with seven points.

-PTI

Gurpreet Pal Singh wins ACO World Senior Championship chess

India’s FIDE Master Gurpreet Pal Singh won the gold medal at the ACO World Chess Championship in Crete, Greece.

Gurpreet is known to have coached the likes of Grandmaster and former under-10 world champion Sahaj Grover.

The nine-round tournament gave Gurpreet seven points out of a possible nine in a highly competitive field comprising 29 countries.

Winning his first game, Gurpreet was held to a draw by German Ralph Ennerbach but then the Indian railway employee picked up bits and pieces and ended up with five victories and four draws for his seven points.

Speaking about his distinction, Gurpreet dedicated the achievement to the support system.

“I would like to dedicate this victory to my late father who was pivotal in providing all possible support as a young child,” he said.

‘I am truly indebted to the ACO for this new World Championship format, I am sure many people will benefit from the new initiative,” he added.

-PTI