Indian sports news wrap, November 25

TENNIS

Zeel, Rashmikaa meet in all Indian final; Cherubini-Schmidt win doubles title at ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour

Zeel Desai truly showed her zeal to come back from the brink of defeat after being a match point down against Rutuja Bhosale to set up an all-Indian final clash against reigning National champion Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty in the Bowring Institute ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour.

In contrasting semifinals played at the Bowring Institute courts here on Saturday, Zeel won a hard-fought 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over third seeded Rutuja while Rahsmikaa stunned second seed Lanlana Tararudee of Thailand 6-2, 6-1.

The Italian-German pair of Diletta Cherubini and Antonia Schmidt came back from a set down and lifted the women’s doubles title beating the fourth seeded duo of Punnin Kovapitukted of Thailand and Anna Ureke 4-6, 7-5, 10-4. The winners took home a cheque of US$ 1437 and 50 WTA points while the runners-up pocketed US$ 719 and 30 WTA points for their effort.

Results  (All Indians unless mentioned; pre-fix denotes seeding)

Women’s singles (Semifinals)

Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty bt 2-Lanlana Tararudee (THA) 6-2, 6-1;

Zeel Desai bt 3-Rutuja Bhosale 3-6, 6-4, 7-5

Doubles (Final)

Diletta Cherubini (ITA)/Antonia Schmidt (GER) bt 4-Punnin Kovapitukted (THA)/Anna Ureke 4-6, 7-5, 10-4

-Team Sportstar

ITF men’s tennis tournament: Ramkumar Ramanathan beat second seed Louis Wessels

Ramkumar Ramanathan beat second seed Louis Wessels of Germany 7-6(3), 6-3 in the semifinals of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the GA Ranade Centre on Saturday.

In the final, Ramkumar will play the national champion Siddharth Vishwakarma, who beat qualifier Harrison Adams in straight sets.

Ramkumar won the doubles title in partnership with Purav Raja.

The results:

Singles (semifinals): Siddharth Vishwakarma bt Harrison Adams (USA) 7-6(5), 6-4; Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Louis Wessels (Ger) 7-6(3), 6-3.

Doubles (final): Purav Raja & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Harrison Adams (USA) & Vladyslav Orlov (Ukr) 6-3, 6-3.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

ITF juniors: Rishitha Basireddy outclasses top seed Sohini Mohanty

Rishitha Basireddy outclassed top seed Sohini Mohanty 6-3, 6-0 to win the girls title in the ITF junior tennis tournament on Saturday.

In the boys final, top seed Rethin Pranav beat Sehaj Singh Pawar 6-2, 7-5.

It was a double crown for both Rishitha and Rethin.

Earlier, Rishitha had won the girls doubles title in partnership with Sohini Mohanty.

Rethin had won the doubles title as the top seed, along with Moise Kouame of France.

The results (finals):

Boys: Rethin Pranav bt Sehaj Singh Pawar 6-2, 7-5.

Girls: Rishitha Basireddy bt Sohini Mohanty 6-3, 6-0.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Teja Tirunelveli loses semifinals

The fine run of Teja Tirunelveli was stopped, as she got beaten 6-1, 6-1 by third seed Kateryna Lazarenko of Ukraine in the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on Saturday. The sixth seed Teja had earlier beaten the top seed Evgeniya Burdina.

The results:

€118,000 Challenger, Valencia, Spain

Doubles (semifinals): Andrea Pellegrino & Andrea Vavassori (Ita) bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-4, 6-4.

$15,000 ITF women, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt Singles (semifinals): Kateryna Lazarenko (Ukr) bt Teja Tirunelveli 6-1, 6-1.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

SQUASH

Northern India championship- Shireen Kalra through to second round

Shireen Kalra fought past Arnavi Negi 11-9, 5-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6 in the under-11 girls first round of the Northern India squash championship at the Delhi Gymkhana Club here on Saturday.

The results (first round):

Under-17 boys: Rayansh Gupta bt Sahir Sethi 11-4, 11-5, 11-3; Ayaan Kuchhal bt Zrawar Sandhu 11-8, 12-10, 11-8; P Meyyappan bt Jiyad Ahmed 11-2, 11-3, 11-3; Advay Bhuwalka bt Shiv Dev Mittal 11-0, 12-10, 11-9; Vairaj Singh bt Suhaan Jauhar 11-3, 11-1, 11-4; Adit Kabade bt Chetan Rao 11-6, 11-2, 11-3; Udit Mishra bt Mohd. Azad 11-1, 11-0, 11-2; Abhinav Singh bt Vihaan Bahl 11-6, 11-5, 11-6; Ahaan Bera bt Vansh Khurana 11-2, 11-2, 11-1.

Under-11 girls: 1. Naina Goel bt Seher Chaudhary 11-5, 3-11, 11-6, 11-6; Alekha Jalan bt Anam Yadav 11-0, 11-1, 11-0; Kavya Jhawar bt Aadhya Chauhan 11-0, 11-0, 11-1; Mansirat Kaur bt Aki Kojima 11-3, 11-4, 11-6; Kanishkaa Vishnoi bt Garvi Choudhary 11-4, 11-3, 11-5; Shireen Kalra bt Arnavi Negi 11-9, 5-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6; Isha Shelke bt Dia Anand 11-0, 11-0, 11-3; Naina Anand bt Suhasini Mishra 11-3, 11-7, 11-4.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

SHOOTING

66th National shooting championship: Sarabjot Singh and Surbhi Rao clinch mixed air pistol gold

Sarabjot Singh and Surbhi Rao beat qualification toppers Anjali and Abhinav Choudhary 16-14 to clinch the mixed air pistol gold for Haryana in the 66th National shooting championship at the Madhya Pradesh Academy, Bhopal, on Saturday.

In the mixed air rifle event, held at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, Mehuli Ghosh and Abhinav outplayed Darius and Tilottama Sen 16-6, in winning the gold for West Bengal. R Narmada and Sri Karthik Sabari Raj won the bronze, beating Punjab’s Arjun and Samiksha Dhingra 17-15.

The results:

Mixed air pistol: 1. Haryana (Sarabjot Singh, Surbhi Rao) 16 (576); 2. Rajasthan (Anjali, Abhinav Choudhary) 14 (578); 3. Services (Vikram, Yogita) 16 (576); 4. Uttarakhand (Yashasvi, Abhinav) 14 (576).

Juniors: 1. Haryana (Shiva, Palak) 16 (576); 2. Uttar Pradesh (Yash, Urva) 10 (577); 3. Andhra Pradesh (Mukesh Melavalli, Dwaram) 17 (576); 4. Rajasthan (Anjali, Abhinav Choudhary) 9 (575).

Mixed air rifle: 1. West Bengal (Mehuli Ghosh, Abhinav) 16 (633.0); 2. Karnataka (Darius, Tilottama Sen) 6 (631.3); 3. Tamil Nadu (R Narmada, Sri Karthik Sabari Raj) 17 (630.2); 4. Punjab (Arjun, Samiksha Dhingra) 15 (629.9).

Juniors: 1. Haryana (Himanshu, Shruti) 17 (629.9); 2. Madhya Pradesh (Gautam, Satyarth) 13 (628.2); 3. West Bengal (Abhinav, Swati) 16 (627.6); 4. Andhra Pradesh (Maddineni, Nishitha) 10 (627.2).

-Kamesh Srinivasan

ARCHERY

National archery championships 2023: Tarundeep, Sangeeta top qualification round

Tarundeep Rai and Sangeeta topped recurve men and women charts in the qualification round of the National archery championships at Ayodhya on Saturday.

Tarundeep scored 689, bettering Atanu Das’ 687, to set a championships record.

B. Dhiraj, who recently earned an Olympic qualifying spot, was second with 683.

Sangeeta collected 668 to stay four points clear of second placed Bhagora Bhargavi Vargishkumar.

The results: Recurve: Qualification round:

Men: 1. Tarundeep Rai (SSCB) 689, 2. B. Dhiraj (SSCB) 683, 3. Mrinal Chauhan (Jha) 680, 4. Juyel Sarkar (WB) 679, 5. Yashdeep Bhoge (Mah) 678, 6. Goldi Mishra (Jha) 677, 7. Neeraj Chauhan (AIP) 674, 8. Takhellambam Sen Meitei (Man) 672, 9. Sunny Kumar (Miz) 672, 10. Rampal Choudhary (Raj) 671.

Women: 1. Sangeeta (Har) 668, 2. Bhagora Bhargavi Vargishkumar (Guj) 664, 3. Ridhi Phor (Har) 659, 4. Madhvi Chauhan (UP) 655, 5. Aditi Jaiswal (WB) 653, 6. Tanisha Verma (Har) 651, 7. Simranjeet Kaur (Pun) 651, 8. Ruma Biswas (WB) 650, 9. Kratika Bichpuriya (MP) 648, 10. Komalika Bari (Jha) 647.

-Y. B Sarangi

GOLF

Om Prakash Chouhan wins year’s third title

Om Prakash Chouhan fired a solid four-under 68 in the final round to pip Sachin Baisoya by one shot and clinch the IndianOil SERVO Masters, his third title of the year, here on Saturday The 37-year-old Chouhan, who originally hails from Mhow in Madhya Pradesh, ended with a total of 18-under 270 at the Rs 80 lakh event.

Chouhan, who is now attached with the Kalhaar Blues & Greens golf course in Ahmedabad, took home the winning cheque worth Rs 12 lakh that helped him set a new record for season’s earnings on the PGTI.

‘OP’, as he is popularly known on the tour, now has season’s earnings of Rs 96,41,659 which saw him extend his lead in the TATA Steel PGTI Ranking and also go past Manu Gandas’ 2022 previous season’s earnings record of Rs 88,50,688.

Baisoya’s strong finish with a 67 meant he took the runner-up spot at a tournament total of 17-under 271. He continued in second place on the PGTI’s merit list. He currently trails Order of Merit leader and good friend Chouhan by nearly Rs 25 lakh.

-PTI

Aditi Ashok lies tied second at Andalucia on LET

Indian golfer Aditi Ashok fired a bogey-free four-under 68 that catapulted her into the tied second spot after the second round of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España.

At seven-under for 36 holes, Aditi, who won the season-opener in Kenya, is just two shots behind Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley (66-69) who is nine-under. The Indian shot 69 in the first round.

India’s other player in the Tour Championships, Diksha Dagar shot 72-71 to lie at T-23. Currently she is third in the Race to Costa Del Sol, the order of Merit for Ladies European Tour.

Aditi had birdies on the third, fifth and ninth and added a four birdie on the 13th for her 68.

Diksha had a bogey on the first and two birdies on the ninth and 13th.

-PTI

Joburg Open: Shubhankar Sharma makes the cut

Shubhankar Sharma added 1-under 69 to his first round even-par 70 to make the cut in the Joburg Open placed tied-43rd.

Sharma, who is making an early start to his DP World Tour campaign, had two birdies and a double bogey in his first round.

He added three birdies against two bogeys in the second.

World No. 1,214 Nikhil Rama shot a brilliant, bogey-free round of 62 on day two to take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the Houghton Golf Club.

He is playing in only his 10th DP World Tour event and has made just two cuts with a best finish of tied-33rd here 12 months ago.

-PTI

BOXING

National boxing c’ship: Sanjeet, Sachin win

Leading boxers, including Sanjeet, Sachin Siwach and Kavinder Singh Bisht, made winning starts on the opening day of the National boxing championships at the SAI Indoor Hall in Shillong on Saturday.

Important results (preliminary rounds):

51kg: Nikhil Bhuiya (Jha) bt Rishi Kushwan (Raj) 4-1; 54kg: Pawan (SSCB) bt Jackson Pukhrambam (Man) 5-0; 57kg: Sachin Siwach (RSPB) bt Manish Rathore (UP) 5-0, Kavinder Singh Bisht (Utk) bt Kailash Jadhav (Mah) 5-0; 60kg: Harsh (AIP) bt V. Manikandan (TN) 5-0, Varinder Singh (RSPB) bt Amlesh Kumar (Bih) 5-0; 71kg: Akash Sangwan (SSCB) bt Hitesh Kumar (Dnh) 5-0, Nikhil Dubey (RSPB) bt Tinson Joseph (Ker) ABD-R2; 75kg: Pravesh Kumar (Har) bt Sai Teja Seela (AP) 5-0, M.Praveen Kumar (TN) bt Yash Kerketta (Cht) 4-1, Deepak (SSCB) bt R.Malsawmtluanga (Miz) 4-1; 86kg: Aswin Ramesh (TN) bt Lalit Kumar (Del) 5-0; 92kg: Sanjeet (SSCB) bt Jagadheeshwaran J. (Kar) RSC-R1.

-Y.B Sarangi