Indian sports wrap, November 9: Manipur beats Bengal 3-1 in Senior National men’s hockey championship

HOCKEY

Manipur overcomes Bengal hurdle

In a potential clash to decide the table topper, Manipur blunted the challenge of Bengal 3-1 in a Pool-H contest of the 14th Hockey India Senior National men’s championship at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Saturday. While Bengal completed its quota of three matches with a sole defeat, an unbeaten Manipur will take on Assam on Monday in its final group match.

From Pool-F, Uttar Pradesh scored its third straight win and qualified for the quarterfinals, with a 11-1 victory over Jammu & Kashmir.

For all its dominance throughout the tie, Manipur could find the target only as late as the third quarter when Rabichandra Singh scored off a penalty corner. From there on, it was largely Manipur’s show. Bengal was at the receiving end for the major part. It did have its chances but at the final third.

The results:

Pool-A: Punjab 8 (Gurjinder Singh 8, 11, Jobanpreet Singh 14, Surdarshan Singh 38, 39, Pardeep Singh 42, 50), Gursahibjit Singh 44) bt Dadra Nagar & Daman & Diu 0.

B: Haryana 5 (Pankaj 29, Joginder Singh 32, 48, Deepak 35, Rajinder Singh 37) bt Telangana 1 (Venkatesh Telugu 58).

F: UP 11 (Vishnukant Singh 13, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay 14, 39, 50, Atul Deep 16, Chandan Singh 22, Faraz Mohd. 30, 57, Iktidar Ishrat 40, Arun Sahani 52, Jay Prakash Patel 60) bt J&K 1 (Karanjit Singh 8); Delhi 6 (Dheeraj Vats 4, 28, Govind Singh Bisht 19, Nitesh 22, 41, 44) bt Kerala 1 (Rishabh Kushwaha 41).

H: Assam 4 (Abdul Qadir 10, 30, 40, Aniket Tiwari 44) bt Bihar 1 (Ravi Kumar 21); Manipur 3 (Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh 39, Nilakanta Sharma 45, Cyril Lugun 55) bt Bengal 1 (Nitesh Neupane 51).

-K. Keerthivasan

TENNIS

Ramkumar Ramanathan, Mukund Sasikumar headline ITF Championship

Indian stars Ramkumar Ramanathan and Mukund Sasikumar headline a strong field of players from across the world to feature in the men’s ITF Championship to be held here from November 10 to 17.

The event, which will mark the beginning of a busy season for the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) till March next year, will have a prize money of USD 25,000 and the players will have an opportunity to earn ATP points.

While the winner of the event will get 50 ATP points, the runner-up will get 30 points. The semifinalists will get 18 points and those making the final eight will get nine points each.

There will be five points up for grabs for those who finish in round of 16 and one point for finishing in round of 32.

The qualifying rounds will be held on November 10 and 11 while the main draw will start from November 12-17.

“This event is part of three men’s ITF events in a row hosted by AITA for a third year in a row, which will also give opportunity to Indian players to earn valuable prize money and ATP points,” MSLTA secretary Sundar Iyer said in a release.

Other Indians to feature in the event are: Aryan Shah, Karan Singh, the 17-year-old men’s national champion Rethin Pranav, runner-up Nitin Kumar Sinha, 15-year-old Manas Dhamne and Siddanth Bhantia, who have been awarded the main draw wild cards.

The overseas players in the main draw include Uzbekistan’s Khumoyun Sultanov, Dalibor Svrcina, Bogdan Bobrov and Egor Agafonov from Russia and Louis Wessels from Germany.

-PTI

Aryan Shah loses to Dalibor Svrcina

Top seed Dalibor Svrcina proved strong for Aryan Shah as he raced to a 6-0, 6-4 victory in the semifinals of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the Kalinga Stadium on Saturday.

In the final, Dalibor will play seventh seed Nick Chappell of the USA.

The top seeds, Egor Agafonov and Bogdan Bobrov won the doubles title beating Rishab Agarwal and Kabir Hans in straight sets.

The results:

Singles (semifinals): Dalibor Svrcina (Cze) bt Aryan Shah 6-0, 6-4; Nick Chappell (USA) bt Bogdan Bobrov 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles (final): Egor Agafonov & Bogdan Bobrov bt Rishab Agarwal & Kabir Hans 6-4, 6-3.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Moselle Open: Rithvik-Cabrall duo lose to French team of Herbert-Olivetti

Rithvik Bollipalli in partnership with Francisco Cabrall was beaten 6-3, 7-6(4) by the French team of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Albano Olivetti in the €651,865 ATP tennis tournament in Metz, France.

The Indo-Portugal team that had beaten the top seeds in the quarterfinals, collected 90 ATP points and €9,600.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

FOOTBALL

Calicut FC takes on Forca Kochi in Super League Kerala final

It is only apt that the two teams that finished atop the league table should contest the final of the inaugural Super League Kerala. The expectations are high about Sunday night’s clash at the Corporation Stadium between host Calicut FC and Forca Kochi.

When the two sides met in the league phase, Calicut FC had won a match (1-0) while the other was drawn (1-1). Calicut is also the league’s highest-scoring team, having pumped in 20 goals on its way to the final.

But the league’s top-scorer is a Kochi striker though – Dori, the Brazilian striker who has netted five. There are two Calicut players with four goals apiece – Kervens Belfort and Gani Nigam.

Calicut coach Ian Gillan said his team wasn’t going to underestimate Forca. “Their defensive record speaks for itself, and we will need to be smart in breaking them down,” he said. “We have worked on our offensive movements, transitions, and creating spaces to exploit, and we’ll look to put that into action from the first whistle.”

His counterpart Mario Lemos said the final could be a tactical battle. “Our team has worked hard to refine both our defensive organization and our attacking patterns,” he said. “We will look to neutralize Calicut’s attacking threats while exploiting the spaces that will open up as the match progresses. It is about finding that perfect balance between defense and attack, and we are confident we can do that against a quality side like Calicut.”

The kick-off is at 8 p.m.

-P.K. Ajith Kumar