TENNIS
Vaishnavi Adkar defeated wild card Madhurima Sawant 6-0, 6-1 in the first round of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the District Sports Complex on Tuesday.
Second seed Sahaja Yamalapalli went one better by shutting out qualifier Ishwari Matere.
In the doubles pre-quarterfinals, Smriti Bhasin and Sravaya Shivani beat top seeds Valentini Grammatikopoulou and Ekaterina Yashina in straight sets.
The results:
Singles (first round): Thasaporn Naklo (Tha) against Viktoria Morvayova (Svk) 6-4, 6-1; Bunyawi Thamchaiwat (Tha) against Riya Bhatia 6-0, 6-3; Zhibek Klambayeva (Kaz) against Paavanii Paathak 6-1, 6-3; Vaishnavi Adkar against Madhurima Sawant 6-0, 6-1; Punnin Kovapitukted (Tha) against Bela Tamhankar 6-1, 6-1; Tiantsoa Rajaonah (Fra) against Pooja Ingale 7-5, 6-2; Sahaja Yamalapalli against Ishwari Matere 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles (pre-quarter-finals): Smriti Bhasin & Sravaya Shivani against Valentini Grammatikopoulou (Gre) & Ekaterina Yashina 6-4, 6-2; Viera Deeperm (Tha) and Madhurima Sawant against Sonal Patil and Abhaya Vemuri 6-1, 2-6, (10-8); Akanksha Nitture and Soha Sadiq against Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) and Viktoria Morvayova (Svk) 6-0, 0-6, (10-7); Ishwari Matere and Yashaswini Panwar against Aakruti Sonkusae and Sahira Singh 7-6 (7), 6-3; Zuzanna Pawlikowska (Pol) and Tiansoa Rajaonah (Fra) against Maria Mikhailova and Sofia Nagornaia (Isr) 6-3, 6-2.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
ATHLETICS
Rajesh Vetcha elected for a four-year term at the International Association of Marathons and Distance Running
Rajesh Vetcha, founder of Hyderabad Runners and Race Director of NMDC Hyderabad Marathon, on becoming the first individual from the running community and the second Indian to be elected to a four-year term at the International Marathon and Running Association (AIMS) since its creation in 1982.
Rajesh was a pioneer of the Indian running movement, founding Hyderabad Runners in 2007.
Currently the Race Director for the NMDC Hyderabad Marathon, a World Athletics Basic Label event and India’s second largest marathon, Rajesh has also played a pivotal role in mentoring and establishing running groups and events. marathon across the country including Chennai, Kochi, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Bhopal, Raipur and Visakhapatnam.
-VV Subrahmanyam
Pooja breaks U-18 national record, wins heptathlon gold
Haryana girl Pooja, the under-18 high jump champion, overcame a mix-up in the 200m that slowed down her performance a bit overnight to total 5,102 points and win gold in the heptathlon with a national record on the penultimate day of the national junior athletics championships in Kalinga. Bhubaneswar Stadium on Tuesday.
A good jumper, Pooja fought hard to place third in the final 1000m race and edge out Sriteja Tholem by 15 points in a neck-and-neck contest for her second gold medal.
Amid a spell of rain in the morning, Vinod Singh, the Asian under-20 silver medalist who won gold in the 10,000m on the first day, set another meet record in the 5,000 m while achieving the coveted double. The top four (Gaurav Bhosale, Vivek Chand and Vikas Bind) also fell below the competition record.
Sanjana Singh, another athlete from Haryana, who has been training for the upcoming All-India inter-university competition, clocked 2:46.45 to create a new national mark in the under-18 women’s 1000m .
Bhavya Pilania registered a significant improvement to reach 52.70m and beat title favorite and training comrade Poonam in the under-18 women’s javelin.
National record holder Dev Meena was beaten by fellow Madhya Pradesh athlete Anshu Patel. The top three, including Kuldeep Kumar, recorded an identical 4.90m.
The results: Winners only:
Under 20 years old:
Men: 5,000m: Vinod Singh (MP) 14:12.67 (NMR, Old, 14:13.95, Sunil Dawar, 2021); Pole vault: Anshu Patel (MP) 4.90 m
Women: Shot put: Jaskanwal Kaur (Pun) 14.27m; Heptathlon: Nishi Kumari (Bih) 5063.
Under 18 years old:
Men: 1000m: Mogali Venkatram Reddy (AP) 2:29.10; Heptathlon: P.Royshan (TN) 4942 (NR, Old, 4664, P.Royshan, 2024); 1,000m sprint medley: 1:54.55; High jump: Basant (Raj) 2.10 m; Javelin: Himanshu (Har) 74.56 m.
Women: 1000m: Sanjana Singh (Har) 2:46.45 (NR, Old, 2:51.11, Muskan, 2024), Javelin: Bhavya Pilania (Har) 52.70m; Heptathlon: Pooja (Har) 5102 (NR, Old, 4357, R. Khatun (WB) 4357; 1000m sprint medley: Tamil Nadu 2:12.80.
Under 16 years old:
Boys: 600m: Suraj Singh (Utk) 1:21.70; Pentathlon: Naini Srikanth (Tel.) 3905 (NR, Old, 3518, B. Sarma); 1,000m sprint medley: Karnataka 2: 00.35
Girls: 600m: Edwina Jason (TN) 1:33.26 (NR, Old, 1:35.74, Tannu, 2024), Long jump: Ananya S. (Ker) 4.05m (NR, Old, 3.91 m, Dixsha, 2024); High jump: Yashvitha Potanapalli (AP) 1.52 m; Pentathlon: Sathvika Sakthivel (TN) 3884 (NR, Old, 3616, B. Vyshali); 1,000m sprint medley: Haryana 2: 15.47.
Under 14 years old:
Boys: Javelin: Bhiky Barman (WB) 60.65 m (NR, Old, 57.27 m, Yarma Lingu, 2024)
Girls: Javelin: Minakshi (Har) 46.81 m (NR, Old, 36.50 m, Dhriti Anand, 2024).
-YB Sarangi
GOLF
Jamal Hossain takes lead on opening day of Viswa Samudra Open
Jamal Hossain of Bangladesh scored a 6-under 67 to take the lead on the opening day of the Rs.2 crore Vishwa Samudra Open Golf Championship at the Delhi Golf Club on Tuesday.
On a cold and windy day, the action was initially delayed due to fog and so 27 players were unable to complete their game when the light faded in the evening. They will resume on Wednesday and complete their first round, before the start of the second round.
Jamal Hossain. | Photo credit: Special arrangement
Jamal Hossain. | Photo credit: Special arrangement
Jamal, 39, is on a good run as he won the last event in Digboi. He started well with two birdies, and had the only bogey on the third. He made three more birdies on the front nine. He made eight pars on the back nine and finished with a 20-foot putt for birdie on the 18th hole.
“At the DGC, you have to go straight to the point and that’s what I did well today. The conditions were not easy as it was quite cold. I had to adapt because I come from a very hot place. I hit all the fairways and made 16 regulations, which is excellent for this course. I also rode well on the first nine,” summed up Jamal.
Ravi Kumar, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Sudhir Sharma, M Dharma and Manish Thakran were tied second with three-under 69.
Among other prominent players, Rashid Khan was tied for seventh with a two-under 70, while TATA Steel PGTI leaderboard leader Veer Ahlawat was at one under through 15 holes.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
HANDBALL
India loses to China, completes second Asian Women’s Handball Championship
Team India was defeated 41-30 by China in the fifth place match of the 20th Asian Women’s Handball Championship at the KD Jadhav Arena of the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on Tuesday.
Qu Wenna spearheaded the Chinese attack with 13 goals and was voted “player of the match”. Zhang Pingping (6), Liu Yuting (5) and Wang Jiayi (4) were the other main scorers for the Chinese team which led 23-15 at halftime.
Bhawana continued to excel for the home side and scored nine goals. She was ably assisted by Menika (7) and Gulshan Sharma (6).
India had also finished sixth in the last edition. India could have finished in the top four and qualified for the World Championship next year, had it not been for losing to plucky Iran by two goals in the championship stage.
Japan dethroned 16-time champions Korea 25-24 to emerge victorious for the second time in the championship. This ended Korea’s seven-game winning streak, after trailing 9-12 at halftime.
The results (final): Japan against Korea 25-24.
Third place: Kazakhstan against Iran 28-22; Fifth place: China vs. India 41-30; Seventh place: Hong Kong against Singapore 33-18.
