Indian sports news wrap, September 10
BOXING
Manju Rani punches her way to gold in Mustafa Hajrulahovic Memorial Tournament
Manju Rani outpunched Afghanistan’s Sadia Bromand 3-0 in the final as India finished with nine gold and a silver medal in the 21st Mustafa Hajrulahovic Memorial Tournament in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Sunday.
Rani’s skills in the ring also earned her the title of the ‘Best Woman Boxer’.
In men’s 51kg category, Barun Singh Shagolshem defeated Poland’s Jakub Slominsk 3-0, while in the men’s 57kg category, Akash Kumar fought valiantly but narrowly went down in the final to Sweden’s Hadi Hadrous 1-2.
In the men’s 63kg category, Manish Kaushik dominated his bout, triumphing over Palestinian Mohammed Soud 3-0.
India’s dominance continued in the men’s 92kg category, where Naveen Kumar emerged victorious in a nail-biting encounter, edging out Mateusz Bereznicki of Poland with a 2-1 scoreline.
Jyoti, Shashi, Jigyasa, Vinakshi, and Satish Kumar were also declared winners after their opponents did not play the finals.
– Press Trust of India
TENNIS
Nagal ends runner-up in Tulln Challenger event
Sumit Nagal was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Vit Kopriva in the final of the €118,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Tulln, Austria, on Sunday.
The 26-year-old Sumit, ranked 189 in the world, had beaten the top seed along the way. It has been a fruitful season so far, for Sumit as he has won two of his four Challenger titles.
The title was worth €16,020 and 100 ATP points. Sumit collected 60 points and €9,415.
In the $259,303 WTA event in Osaka, Japan, Ankita Raina sailed into the main draw, as her opponent Kateryna Volodka of Ukraine retired after three games in the second and final qualifying round.
In the Challenger doubles final in Spain, Sriram Balaji and Fernando Romboli were beaten 11-9 in the super tie-break by the Spaniards Alberto Campos and Pedro Martinez.
The results:
$259,303 WTA, Osaka, Japan
Qualifying singles (second and final round): Ankita Raina bt Kateryna Volodko (Ukr) 2-1 (retired).
€145,000 Challenger, Seville, Spain
Doubles (final): Alberto Campos & Pedro Martinez (Esp) bt Sriram Balaji & Fernando Romboli (Bra) 3-6, 7-6(5), [11-9].
€118,000 Challenger, Tulln, Austria
Singles (final): Vit Kopriva (Cze) bt Sumit Nagal 6-2, 6-4; Semifinals: Sumit bt Flavio Cobolli (Ita) 6-3, 6-4.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
CHESS
Asian junior chess: Abdilkhair stuns Daakshin
On a day when decisive results proved elusive on the top three boards, Kazakhstan’s Abilmansur Abdilkhair sprang a surprise on the fourth. He defeated fourth seed Daakshin Arun to be among the early leaders of the Tata Steel Asian junior chess championship at the JRD Tata Sports Complex on Sunday.
Top seed Aleksey Grebnev from Russia was held to a draw on the first board by S. Aswath. Second seed L.R. Srihari and third seed Mayank Chakraborty, who had won the rapid title a couple of days ago, also drew their games.
In the girls’ section, second and third seeds Saina Salonika and Bommini Mounika Akshaya were among the joint leaders. Top seed Nazerke Nurgali of Kazakhstan is lying ninth. Seven rounds remain.
The results (second round, Indians unless specified):
Open: S. Aswath 1.5 drew with Aleksey Grebnev (FIDE) 1.5; L.R. Srihari 1.5 drew with M. Anees Mohamed 1.5; Mayank Chakraborty 1.5 drew with Rohith S. Krishna 1.5; Daakshin Arun 1 lost to Abilmansur Abdilkhair (Kaz) 2; Reeja Neer Manon (Ban) 1 lost to N.B. Hari Madhavan 2; Kushagra Mohan 2 bt L. Srihari 1; Ajay Parathareddy 1 lost to Dillshan Liyanage (SL) 2; G.B. Harshavardhan 2 bt Dhyey Agarwal 1; B. Vignesh 1 lost to Sambit Panda 2; Manish Cristiano 2 bt Ritvik Krishnan 1; Shashvat Gupta 1.5 drew with Ayush Sharma 1.5; Gilbert Tarigan (Idn) 2 bt Siddhant Jha 1.
Girls: Saina Salonika 2 bt Fatima Marium 1; Dakshita Kumawat 1 lost to Bommini Mounika Akshaya 2; Saparya Ghosh 1 lost to Mrittika Mallick 2; V. Rindhiya 2 bt Swara Lakshmi S. Nair 1; Mohitha Vakcheri 1 lost to G. Tejaswini 2; Keerti Reddy 1.5 drew with Bristy Mukherjee 1.5; A. Charvi 1.5 drew with Anastasia Ivanova (FIDE) 1.5; Wadifa Ahmed (Ban) 2 bt Kriti Patil 2; Divya Patil 1.5 drew with M.K. Poorna Sri 1.5; Shubhi Gupta 2 bt Y. Nischala 1; P. Adra 1 lost to Y. Sachi Jain 2.
– P. K. Ajith Kumar