Indian sports news wrap: April 1
FOOTBALL
Namdhari FC holds Aizawl FC after late equaliser
Aizawl FC was held to a 1-1 draw by Namdhari FC in their I-League match on Monday.
With an all-Indian starting line-up, Aizawl took the lead in the 40th minute thanks to 21-year-old R Ramdinthara’s third league goal of the season.
Namdhari left it late to equalise, doing so in the 85th minute courtesy of its Spanish striker Ivan Garrido scoring for the second successive match.
With the draw, Aizawl moved up to the eighth spot in the table with 25 points from 21 matches. Namdhari, on the other hand, remained in 11th spot with 24 points from 23 games.
Aizawl will now travel to Vasco da Gama to face Churchill Brothers on April 5, while Namdhari have a 12-day gap until it takes on Real Kashmir FC in Srinagar on April 13 to end its first-ever I-League campaign.
– PTI
BADMINTON
KBSA introduces scholarship scheme for young shuttlers
The Kerala Badminton (Shuttle) Association has introduced a scholarship scheme for the singles winners and runners-up of its State championships in the under-13, 15, 17 and under-19 age groups.
Each player will receive an annual amount of Rs 24,000 which will be paid on a monthly basis as long as they are State champions in singles events in the above age groups.
This was decided at the KBSA executive committee meeting held in Kochi on Saturday.
“We are planning to start the scholarship in doubles too in future,” said R. Rakesh Sekhar, the KBSA secretary, on Monday.
Eligible players for KBSA’s scholarship scheme (Rs 24,000 per year, 2023-24)
Nandan B. Nair (Ekm), Sreeswar Shijo (Idk), Shivani Sivakumar (Alp), Shreya Maria Mathew (Ktk), Kiran Noguchi (Ekm), Hamdal Fikham (Koz), Hitha Maria Jose (Ekm), Mainu Sara Vinod (Ekm), P.G. Alakananda (Ekm), Aparna Sajeev (Tsr), Bjorn Jaison (Ekm), Dharmik Sreekumar (Ekm), S.M. Aman Suresh (Tvm), S. Abhishek (Ekm), Andrea Sarah Kurien (Ekm), Farza Nazrin (Tvm)
ZONAL TRAINING CENTRES
The KBSA has also decided to run three zonal training centres, at Ernakulam, Karunagapally (Kollam) and Ottapalam (Palakkad) where promising players will be offered long-term coaching either at ‘no cost’ or on subsidised rates.
– Stan Rayan