BOXING
Boxers Simranjit, Ananta off to winning starts in Elorda Cup
Olympian Simranjit Kaur and Thailand Open gold medallist Ananta Chopade recorded wins to reach the quarterfinals of the inaugural Elorda Cup boxing tournament in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday.
Simranjit, a 2018 World championships bronze medallist, defeated experienced Kazakh boxer Nazym Ischanova 5-0 in a women’s 60kg first round match.
Chopade warded off a strong challenge from promising Mongolian Dorjnyambuu Ganbold to post a 3-2 win in a men’s 54kg contest.
Simranjit will meet China’s Xu Zichun, while Chopade will take on Kazakhstan’s Altynbek Nursultan in the quarterfinals.
Three other Indians lost their opening round matches of the tournament, which would offer $700, $400 and $200 to gold, silver and bronze medal winners respectively.
The results (Indians unless specified): Pre-quarterfinals:
Men: 54kg: Ananta Chopade bt Dorjnyambuu Ganbold (Mgl) 3-2; 60kg: Muhammed Etash Khan lost to Samchuk Vassily (Kaz) 5-0; 63.5kg: Kaisham Johnson Singh lost to Bazarbai Uulu Mukhammedsabyr (Kaz) 5-0; +92kg: Manjeet Singh lost to Saparbay Nurlan (Kaz) 5-0.
Women: 60kg: Simranjit Kaur bt Nazym Ischanova (Kaz) 5-0.
- Y. B. Sarangi
TENNIS
Sahaja Yamalapalli beat defending champion
Sahaja Yamalapalli knocked out the champion of the last event Karman Thandi 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, on Wednesday.
In the cool environment of the evening, and under the floodlights, Sahaja played a sharp game, moving energetically, hitting with purpose and precision, to close the escape routes of the wiry Karman.
With Sahaja matching Karman stroke for stroke, as she had done last week while losing 4-6 in the decider in the first round, there was pressure on Karman’s serve. Karman could not get into her rhythm and was unable to arrest her dipping fortunes on court.
There was a bit of nervousness when Sahaja missed a couple of match points, but closed it out for a memorable victory.
Photo of Sahaja Yamalapalli who beat Karman Thandi in the first round of the ITF women's tennis in Gurugram.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Sahaja will meet Sowjanya Bavisetti.
Second seed Ankita Raina had a strong start but got caught in a tight match against qualifier Elena Pridankina who was particularly fluent with her nicely timed backhand. Ankita had led 6-0, 2-0 before losing the second set in tie-break. In the decider, she asserted her authority, after enduring a three-hour battle under the hot sun in the morning session.
Humera Baharmus dictated terms to the top seed Diana Marcinkevica in the first set, but the Latvian turned it around thereafter.
Qualifier Sanjana Sirimalla stretched fourth seed Ekaterina Yashina to three sets. Mihika Yadav got past seventh seed Misaki Matsuda, who retired early in the second set.
Rutuja Bhosale warmed up with a 6-4, 6-4 win over qualifier Farhat Aleen Qamar. Shreya Tatavarthy recovered from being down 3-5 in the decider, saved a match point to beat Kashish Bhatia 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(8).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Yuki and Saketh in quarterfinals
Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni beat Evgeny Donskoy and Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 7-6(4) in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the €45,730 Challenger tennis tournament in Spain on Wednesday.
In the $100,000 ITF women’s event in the US, Prarthana Thombare and Joanne Zuger outclassed Victoria Osuigwe and Kariann Pierre-Louis for the loss of one game in the doubles pre-quarterfinals.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
