Indian sports wrap, January 13: IND thrashes SCO; USA beats NZ in Women’s U-19 T20 WC warm-up games
CRICKET
Women’s U-19 T20 World Cup 2025: India thrashes Scotland by 119 runs in warm-up match
Defending champions India thrashed Scotland by 119 runs in a warm-up match of the ICC Women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Monday.
Invited to bat, India made 164 for 7 in their allotted 20 overs with Kamalini G top-scoring with 32 off 23 balls.
Four Indian batters — Trisha G (26), Sanika Chalke (17), captain Niki Prasad (25) and Kamalini — were retired out to give chance to their colleagues to be in the middle in the practice match.
For Scotland, Ammy Baldie was the most successful bowler with two for 13 from three overs.
Later, the defending champions bowled Scotland out for a paltry 45 in 18.5 overs for a commanding win.
Shabnam Shakil, Vaishnavi Sharma and Sonam Yadav took two wickets apiece.
In other warm-up matches, Australia mauled hosts Malaysia by 140 runs, the West Indies won against Nepal by nine runs, the USA edged New Zealand by 13 runs, Bangladesh defeated Sri Lanka by four wickets, England thrashed Samoa by nine wickets while Pakistan scrapped past Nigeria by 11 runs.
The main tournament starts on Saturday, while India begin its campaign against the West Indies on Sunday.
India had won the last edition — also inaugural — held in South Africa in 2023, beating England by seven wickets in the final.
-PTI
BADMINTON
The UP-State Veterans Badminton Championship 2025, hosted by the Badminton Association of Agra, concluded on Sunday.
The three-day event (January 10 to 12) brought together over 300 veteran players from the state.
The 2025 championship was dedicated to the memory of Vijay Sharma.
-Team Sportstar
EQUESTRIAN
Inaara inspires India to top rank in South-East Asia in Dressage World Challenges 2024
The Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) has announced the final results of the prestigious Dressage World Challenges 2024, with Team India emerging as the top-ranked team in Zone 9 (South-East Asia).
The team achieved an impressive aggregate score of 228.319%, surpassing Singapore and Indonesia to claim the top spot.
Mumbai’s 14-year-old Inaara Luthria achieved a remarkable 6th place in the Individual Rankings for Under 16 in Southeast Asia, highlighting her as one of the region’s rising stars in equestrian sports.
“There were unexpected cyclonic conditions which made the ground extremely slippery and difficult to ride in. I was determined to give my best as we had worked very hard to get to this point. The test went well, but I never expected us to be the only Indian team to top the rankings in South-East Asia,” Inaara said.
– Team Sportstar
TENNIS
Wildcard Karman to face second seed Udvardy in ITF Delhi opener
Wild card entrant Karman Kaur Thandi will open against second seed Panna Udvardy of Hungary in the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex.
With the ITF Supervisor, Sina Ebrahimian restricting action only to doubles on Tuesday, the day of Pongal and Makar Sankranti, the players will have one more day to prepare for the singles action.
Karman is returning to the pro circuit after more than a year. The favourite words of Karman, as one remembers over the years are, “pressure is a privilege”.
The wiry Karman will be keen to test her game and fitness against the second seed, as and when the first round is scheduled.
More than anything, the return of Karman will strengthen Indian women’s tennis further at a time when Sahaja Yamalapalli, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Vaidehi Chaudhari have stepped up their game to the next level.
Shrivalli has drawn qualifier Maria Kozyreva, and so has Akanksha Nitture, who will play another qualifier Fangran Tian of China. Two-time national champion Vaidehi will challenge seventh seed Tatiana Prozorova.
Vaishnavi Adkar and Riya Bhatia will play Alevtina Ibragimova and Saki Imamura respectively.
The country’s No.1 player and Asian Games medallist, Ankita Raina will open against Laura Samson of the Czech Republic.
With a $100,000 event scheduled in Bengaluru next week, the foreign players have arrived in strength to gather maximum possible points and prize money from the Indian swing of events.
The seedings:
1. Darja Semenistaja (Lat), 2. Panna Udvardy (Hun), 3. Laura Pigossi (Bra), 4. Yuriko Lily Miyazaki (Jpn), 5. Georgia Pedone (Ita), 6. Dalila Jakupovic (slo), 7. Tatiana Prozorova, 8. Tina Nadine Smith (Aus).
– Kamesh Srinivasan
Third-seeded Hitesh has it tough against Neimanis
Third seed Hitesh Chauhan fought his way past Rihards Neimanis of Latvia 6-1, 6-7(6), 6-3 in the first round of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex on Monday.
In the girls section, Aishwarya Jadhav went down fighting 6-1, 5-7, 4-6 to Eva Korysheva of Kazakhstan.
The champion of the Delhi event, the fifth seed Maaya Rajeshwaran will play qualifier Yeseo Park of Korea in the first round on Tuesday.
The results (first round):
Under-18 boys:
Arjun Rathi bt Alan Aiukhanov 6-2, 6-3; Emanuel Ivanisevic (Cro) bt Sehaj Singh Pawar 7-5, 6-3; Damir Zhalgasbay (Kaz) bt Arnav Paparkar 6-1, 6-2; Erasyl Bakhtiyar (Kaz) bt Tanussh Ghildyal 6-2, 6-3; Alexey Shibaev bt Sumukh Marya 6-1, 6-2; Aaron Gabet (Fra) bt Artem Sidorov (Kaz) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1; Artem Bogomolov bt Akshat Dhull 6-1, 6-1; Hitesh Chauhan bt Rihards Neimanis (Lat) 6-1, 6-7(6), 6-3; Kerem Yilmaz (Tur) bt Eito Komada (Jpn) 6-4, 6-0.
Under-18 girls:
Yoana Konstantinova (Bul) bt Satima Toregen (Kaz) 6-2, 6-3; Miku Kitaoka (Jpn) bt Diya Chaudhary 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Daria Koreshkova bt Reet Arora 6-2, 6-3; Anna Perelman bt Yu-Nin Tsai (Tpe) 6-0, 6-0; Masa Jankovic (Srb) bt Yeri Hong (Kor) 7-6(4), 6-2; Manon Favier (Fra) bt Rira Kosaka (Jpn) 6-2, 6-3; Albina Kakenova (Kaz) bt Rishitha Basireddy 6-4, 7-5; Polina Berezina bt Nainika Bendram 6-4, 6-0; Yu-Chen Lin (Tpe) bt Yesung Chod (Kor) 6-2, 7-6(4); Eva Korysheva (Kaz) bt Aishwarya Jadhav 1-6, 7-5, 6-4; Polina Kuharenko bt Victoria Milovanova 6-2, 6-2.
– Kamesh Srinivasan