Indian Sports Wrap, March 20: Top-seeded Bax beats Mukund in quarterfinal clash at MSLTA $25K ITF Men’s Tournament
TENNIS
Top-seeded Bax saves four match points to scrape past Mukund at the MSLTA $25K ITF Men’s Tournament
Top seeded Florent Bax of France saved four match points to overcome seventh seed Sasikumar Mukund 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3) in a marathon contest lasting over three hours to enter the mens singles semifinals at the MSLTA $25,000 ITF Men’s Tennis Tournament, organized by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association at the Dr. G.A. Ranade Tennis Centre.
In the semifinals, he took on India’s Sidharth Rawat, who made a strong statement, and ousted fourth seed Italian Alexandr Binda 6-4, 4-0 before the latter was forced to retire.
Fifth seed Philip Sekulic registered a solid 7-5, 6-3 win over Timofei Derepasko of Russia. Sekulic will take on Sweden’s Leo Borg, who delivered a dominant performance, toppling second seed Luca Castelnuovo 6-0, 6-2 in under an hour.
In the doubles semifinals, the top-seeded Indian pair of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Ramkumar Ramanathan cruised past Alexandr Binda and Timofei Derepasko 6-3, 6-4 to enter the final. The Indian top seeds will take on the duo of Leo Borg and Yurii Dzhavakian, who also progressed to the final with a 6-3, 6-2 win, stopping the good run of local wildcards India’s Anup Bangargi and Nirav Shetty.
Results: Singles: Quarterfinal Round:
Florent Bax(1)(Fra) bt Sasikumar Mukund(7)(Ind) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3); Sidharth Rawat(Ind) bt Alexandr Binda(4)(Ita) 6-4, 4-0; Philip Sekulic(5)(Aus) bt Timofei Derepasko 7-5, 6-3; Leo Borg(Swe) bt Luca Castelnuovo(2)(Sui) 6-0, 6-2;
Doubles: Semifinal Round:
Jeevan Neduncehzhiyan/Ramkumar Ramnathan(Ind)(1) bt Alexandr Binda(Ita)/Timofei Derepasko 6-3, 6-4; Leo Borg(Swe)/Yurii Dzhavakian(Ukr) bt Anup Bangargi/Nirav Shetty(Ind) 6-3, 6-2;
BADMINTON
Tanvi beats Nidaira to storm into semis at Orleans Masters
India’s Tanvi Sharma stunned Japan’s sixth seed Natsuki Nidaira in straight games to storm into the semifinals of Orleans Masters Super 300 badminton tournament on Friday.
The 17-year-old, who is a silver medallist at the BWF World Junior Championships, registered a 21-14, 21-14 in 43 minutes in the women’s singles quarterfinals.
Tanvi, who is the youngest Indian to reach a BWF World Tour final at the 2025 US Open Super 300, will take on either former World champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan or Vietnam’s Nguyen Thuy Linh next.
In the men’s doubles quarterfinals, Leo Carnando and Bagas Maulana of Indonesia ended the campaign of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun with a 21-12, 22-20 win.
Later in the day, Isharani Baruah and Malvika Bansod will lock horns in an all-Indian quarterfinal clash.
-PTI
-Team Sportstar
GOLF
Aditi has slow start in California
India’s Aditi Ashok opened her campaign at the Fortinet Founders Cup with an even-par 72 to be placed tied 60th, nine shots behind leader Hyo Joo Kim here.
Ashok began her round in the back nine and made one birdie and one bogey before the turn and another birdie and a bogey on the front nine.
The birdies were made on the 17th and third holes, while the bogeys came on the 11th and sixth holes.
The 27-year-old is playing her second event of the year and would be looking to continue her fine form from China, where she finished in the top five.
Hyo Joo Kim leads the field by two strokes after carding 9-under 63 on the first day.
-PTI
CRICKET
Top stars to turn out for Dr. Vece Paes Cup
Cricketers Kapil Dev, Karsan Ghavri, Yusuf Pathan and Kirti Azad along with tennis legend Leander Paes will be part of the Dr. Vece Paes Cricket Cup, featuring a match between CCFC and Dr. Vece Paes XI, to be held here on Sunday. Other well known cricketers such as Arun Lal, Ashok Malhotra and Manoj Tiwary will also be seen in action.
-Team Sportstar
ATHLETICS
7th Indian Open 400m to feature competitve men’s field with Asian Games in sight
The 400 metres is one of India’s strongest events at the continental level. In an Asian Games year, the 7th Indian Open 400m meet, which will be held at the LNCPE Athletics Stadium, gets special attention and will be the testing ground for the country’s leading quarter-milers.
The season opener has evoked strong interest in the men’s category with 67 entries. V. Mohammed Ajmal, Mohamed Anas, T.S. Manu Amoj Jacob are some experienced runners who will be participating in the men’s event, while a few youngsters like T. Shar who graduated from the Under-20 category will be competing in the men’s event for the first time.
The focus will also be on the national campers attached to NCOE in Thiruvananthapuram and the event will be an opportunity for the coaches to assess their fitness and progress.
The women’s event has attracted a significantly lesser number of entries with only 27 runners in fray.
Hima Das, R. Vithya Ramraj, Dandhi Jyothika Sri, Prachi, Gowrinandan, Anu Raghavan and Poovama Raju are some of the prominent runners taking part in the event. Competition will also be held in Under-20 and Under-18 categories for boys and girls respectively.
-Team Sportstar
Published on Mar 20, 2026