Indian sports wrap, November 24: Kerala thrashes Pondicherry in Santosh Trophy qualifier

FOOTBALL

Santosh Trophy qualifiers: Kerala thumps Pondicherry 7-0, Railways beats Lakshadweep 1-0

Host Kerala expectedly qualified for the Santosh Trophy after finishing on top in Group H of the qualifying event with a crushing 7-0 win against Pondicherry at the Corporation Stadium on Sunday.

Kerala won all its three matches, having defeated Railways and Lakshadweep earlier.

Kerala went ahead in the 11th minute through a penalty kick awarded for a foul on Muhammed Roshal. Gani Nigam successfully converted the spot kick.

Three minutes later, Naseeb Rahman dribbled past the Pondicherry defenders to make it 2-0.

Then, a goal by E. Sajeesh had Kerala ahead 3-0 at half-time.

Sajeesh and Naseeb struck again in the second half. Christy Davis and T. Shijin were the other scorers.

Earlier, Railways defeated Lakshadweep 1-0, through a 57th-minute goal by Pavan Mali.

The results (Group H)

Kerala 7 (Gani Nigam 11, Naseeb Rahman 14 & 64, E. Sajeesh 20 & 66, Christy Davis 53, T. Shijin 71) bt Pondicherry 0.

Railways (Pavan Mali 57) bt Lakshadweep 0. 

-PK Ajith Kumar

POLO

International Realty Indian Masters polo championship: Naveen Jindal beats Jindal Delta in final

Naveen Jindal hammered five goals to guide Jindal Delta to a 12-11 victory over Panthers in the final of the International Realty Indian Masters polo championship at the Jaipur Polo ground on Sunday.

Naveen was declared the “most valuable player’, while mare Alcoholica, ridden by JP Clarkin, was adjudged the ‘best polo pony’.

The results (final): Jindal Delta 12 (Naveen Jindal 5, Santiago Marambio 3, JP Clarkin 2, Hurr Ali 2) bt Panthers 11 (Siddhant Sharma 5, Shamsheer Ali 3, Abhimanyu Pathak, handicap 2).

-Kamesh Srinivasan

TENNIS

ITF junior tennis tournament: Arnav Paparkar, Rishitha Basireddy to spearhead India squad

Arnav Paparkar and Rishitha Basireddy will lead the boys and girls fields in the ITF junior tennis tournament to be played at the DLTA Complex from Monday.

It will be interesting to see how well the strong bunch of Indian and foreign players give a hint about the future of the game with the quality of their performance.

Despite the persistent worry about the quality of air in the Capital, there is a good representation from the rest of Asia, apart from Europe and USA.

Vihaan Reddy who had a sensational run, winning a series of tournaments, returns as an unseeded player in the boys event.

Vraj Gohil, Tanussh Ghildyal, Aarav Samrat Hada and Aashravya Mehra made the main draw from the qualifying event in the boys section.

Harshini Nagaraj, Apara Khandare, Savitha Bhuvaneswaran and Nelli Ivanova made it from the girls qualifying event.

The seedings:

Under-18 boys: 1. Arnav Paparkar, 2. Varun Verma, 3. Cody Atkinson (Nzl), 4. Roshan Santhosh (USA), 5. Sehaj Singh Pawar, 6. Aarjun Pandit, 7. Aaron Gabet (Fra), 8. Egor Shcherbakov.

Under-18 girls: 1. Rishitha Basireddy, 2, Sara Oliveriusova (Cze), 3. PolinaSleptsova (Kaz), 4. Yasaman Yazdani (Iri), 5. Eva Kaliadina, 6. Harithashree Venkatesh, 7. Azuna Ichioka (Jpn), 8. Priyanka Rana (USA).

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Saketh wins title in Japan

Saketh Myneni in partnership with Benjamin Hassan of Lebanon beat Blake Bayldon and Calum Puttergill of Australia 6-2, 6-4 in the doubles final of the $82,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Yokohama, Japan, on Sunday.

The title was worth 75 ATP points and $4,665. The runners-up collected 50 points and $2,700.

It was the fourth Challenger title of the season for the 37-year-old Saketh, and his 38th career doubles title in the professional circuit.

In the $40,000 ITF women’s event in Caloundra, Australia, it was a long day of three matches for Ankita Raina, as she competed for about five hours in all, before losing the singles semifinals and the doubles final in partnership with Naiktha Bains of Britain.

The results:

$82,000 Challenger, Yokohama, Japan

Doubles (final): Benjamin Hassan (Lbn) & Saketh Myneni bt Blake Bayldon & Calum Puttergill (Aus) 6-2, 6-4; Semifinals: Benjamin & Saketh bt Naoya Honda & Shogo Sanada (Jpn) 6-4, 6-4.

$40,000 ITF women, Caloundra, Australia Singles (semifinals): Himeno Sakatsume (Jpn) bt Ankita Raina 6-2, 6-1; Quarterfinals: Ankita bt Kyoka Okamura (Jpn) 6-4, 1-6, [12-10].

Doubles (final): Eudice Chong & Hong Yi Cody Wong (Hkg) bt Naiktha Bains (GBR) & Ankita Raina 6-3, 6-2.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

AITA Championship series juniors: Adhiraj Dudhane and Erin Mir win

Adhiraj Dudhane and Erin Mir won the boys and girls titles respectively in the AITA Championship series under-14 tennis tournament at the Bharat Academy in Palam Vihar.

The results:

Under-14 boys (final): Adhiraj Dudhane bt Gaurish Khurana 6-1, 6-3; Semifinals: Adhiraj bt Ayush Kale 6-0, 6-0; Gaurish bt Jaiaditya Seth 6-3, 6-2.

Under-14 girls (final): Erin Mir bt Hanshita Khattar 6-2, 7-5; Semifinals: Erin bt Prisha Aggarwal 6-3, 6-1; Hanshita bt Priyangsi Chatterjee 7-5, 6-4.

-Kamesh Srinivasan