Indian sports wrap, July 19
TABLE TENNIS
Indian boys’ teams finish with bronze medal in Asian Youth TT
India’s U-15 and U-19 boys’ squads defeated Singapore and Hong Kong in the quarterfinals before settling for bronze medals at the 27th Asian Youth 2023 here.
The two teams failed to cross the semifinal hurdles and ended up with the bronze medals from the outing, a qualification event for the World Youth Championships in Slovenia in December.
The U-15 girls lost in the quarterfinals 0-3 to Japan, but the U-19 girls managed to take a game off Japan before bowing out 1-3.
In the Under-15 category, PB Abhinand beat Le Ellsworth of Singapore 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 to set the ball in motion.
Priyanuj Bhattacharyya dropped a game against Xing Yao before overpowering to win 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 12-10, and the two Indians struggled against the pair of Irle Eles and Zhou Jinghe but won 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 6-11, 11-7. In the semi-final on Wednesday, they went down 0-3 to China.
As for the U-19 boys, the Indians had a tough time against Hong Kong, with their quarterfinal going down to the last rubber in which Jash Modi turned the tables against Yiu Kwan to win 6-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 11-2.
Modi, who lost his opening tie to Chan Baldwin Ho Wah 8-11, 5-11, 5-11, lost the first two games to Yiu before pulling up his socks to outwit him and put India in the semifinal.
Earlier, Ankur Bhattacharjee beat Yiu 11-8, 11-8. 11-7 before Divyansh Srivastava defeated Li Hon Man 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10 to seal the fate of Hong Kong players.
Like their juniors, the U-16 boys met championship favourites China in the semifinal and lost 0-3.
In position matches, the Under-19 girls finished seventh after beating Iran 3-0.
-PTI
TENNIS
Yuki-Saketh duo reaches quarters in Newport; Nagal beats Vesely in Finland Challenger
Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni beat Tommy Paul and Eliot Spizzirri 3-6, 6-1, [10-8] in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $718,245 ATP tennis tournament in Newport, USA.
Qualifier Mukund Sasikumar was beaten 6-3, 6-1 by wild card entrant Ethan Quinn of USA.
In the €73,000 Challenger in Tampere, Finland, Sumit Nagal beat Jiri Vesely 6-4, 6-1 in the first round.
The results
$718,245 ATP, Newport, USA Singles (first round): Ethan Quinn (USA) bt Mukund Sasikumar 6-3, 6-1.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Yuki Bhambri & Saketh Myneni bt Tommy Paul & Eliot Spizzirri (USA) 3-6, 6-1, [10-8].
$130,000 Challenger, Granby, Canada Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Purav Raja & Divij Sharan bt Maxime Janvier (Fra) & Malek Jaziri (Tun) 1-0 (retired).
€73,000 Challenger, Tampere, Finland Singles (first round): Sumit Nagal bt Jiri Vesely (Cze) 6-4, 6-1.
$25,000 ITF men, Brazzaville, Congo Singles (first round): Calvin Hemery (Fra) bt Atharva Sharma 6-0, 6-2; Ishaque Eqbal bt Eytan Messen (Bel) 6-0, 6-0; Chirag Duhan bt Jagmeet Singh 6-3, 6-1; Mateo Reyes (Bra) bt Arjun Mahadevan 6-3, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Christopher Bulus (Ngr) & Chirag Duhan bt Mateo Reyes (Bra) & Michael Sobhy (Egy) 6-3, 7-6(3).
$15,000 ITF men, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand Singles (first round): Manish Sureshkumar bt Siwanat Auytayakul (Tha) 6-3, 6-1; Yurii Dzhavakian (Ukr) bt Raghav Jaisinghani 6-3, 6-2.
$100,000 ITF women, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain Singles (first round): Ankita Raina bt Carolina Gomez (Esp) 6-1, 6-2.
$60,000 ITF women, Evansville, USA Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Dalayna Hewitt & Christina Rosca (USA) bt Maria Oliva (Mex) & Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-3, 4-6, [14-12].
$25,000 ITF women, Roehampton, Britain Singles (first round): Naho Sato (Jpn) bt Rutuja Bhosale 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rutuja Bhosale & Sarah Grey (GBR) bt Destinee Martins & Summer Yardley (GBR) 6-2, 7-6(5).
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia Singles (first round): Sofia Rojas (USA) bt Zeel Desai 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
$15,000 ITF women, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand Singles (first round): Akanksha Nitture bt Watsachol Sawatdee (Tha) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
-Team Sportstar
ARCHERY
Indian archers make final, secure Paris Paralympics compound mixed team quota
Indian archers Sarita and Rakesh Kumar advanced into the final in the compound mixed team open section at the Para World Championships, here on Wednesday.
The duo assured India a medal by defeating Jessica Stretton and Nathan Macqueen 150-146 en route to the final, which also secured a mixed team quota at the next year’s Paris Paralympics.
At the last edition in Tokyo, Harvinder Singh won a bronze medal in the men’s individual recurve open category, thereby becoming the first-ever Indian archer to secure a medal at the Paralympics.
-PTI