India Sports Wrap, March 15: Sekulic outguns Karan Singh to clinch ITF M25 singles title
TENNIS
Sekulic outguns Karan Singh to clinch ITF M25 singles title
Third seed Philip Sekulic of Australia caused a minor upset when he defeated second seed Karan Singh of India in straight sets to win the men’s singles title at the Central Excise and CGST – ITF M25 Tournament held at the Bengal Tennis Association Complex in Kolkata on Sunday.
Sekulic produced a powerful and controlled performance throughout the match and capitalised on an error-prone display from Karan to secure a 6-1, 7-6(1) victory. The Australian dominated the opening set, dictating the rallies with a strong baseline game and breaking Karan twice to take the set comfortably at 6-1.
Karan looked more confident in the second set and briefly shifted the momentum. He broke Sekulic in the fourth game and raced to a 4-1 lead, raising hopes of stretching the match to a deciding set. However, Sekulic quickly regained control, breaking Karan twice and holding his serve to level the contest.
The Indian managed to break back to make it 5-5, and the closely fought set eventually progressed to a tie-breaker. Sekulic produced near-flawless tennis in the tie-break, racing to a dominant 7-1 win to seal the set and the championship.
The result:
Men’s singles (final): Philip Sekulic (Aus) bt Karan Singh 6-1, 7-6(1).
-Team Sportstar
ATHLETICS
Pooja claims high jump crown at Indian Open jumps
JSW’s Pooja claimed the women’s high jump crown in the 5th Indian open jumps competition held at the Anju Bobby High Performance Centre here on Sunday.
Pooja’s 1.76m winning effort fell short of the qualification standard for the Asian Games 2026 (1.80m) and Commonwealth Games 2026 (1.92m).
Tamil Nadu’s Baranica Elangovan won the women’s pole vault, and attained the Asian Games 2026 mark (4.10m).
With 2003 World Championships long jump bronze medallist Anju Bobby George in attendance, Mubassina Mohammed won the women’s long jump gold.
The Lakshadweep-born Mubassina, now representing Anju Bobby Sports Foundation, went ahead of nearest rival Bhavani Yadav (6.27m) with a sixth and final jump of 6.38m.
The women’s long jump field was depleted, given the absence of established names like Shaili Singh and Ancy Sojan.
The results (winners):
Men:
Under-20 Long jump: K. Yuvaraj (NCOE, Trivandrum), 7.63m
Under-18 High jump: Rajeev Roy (NCOE, Trivandrum), 7.45m
Women:
Pole vault: Baranica Elangovan (TN), 4.10m
Long jump: Mubassina Mohammed (Anju Bobby Sports Foundation), 6.38m
High jump: Pooja (JSW), 1.76m
Triple jump: Mallala Anusha (AP), 13.18m
Under-20: Long jump: Tamanna (Har), 5.93m
High jump: Pooja (Anju Bobby Sports Foundation), 1.74m
Under-18:
High jump: R. Harshini (TN), 1.50m
Long jump: Kashish (Har), 5.58m
SNOOKER
Imran Khan, Vishal Gehani record wins in Snooker Classic’s main round
Imran Khan and Vishal Gehani struck form to win their fourth and main round matches in the CCI Snooker Classic here on Sunday.
Imran staved off a spirited challenge from Tathya Sachdev to record a hard-fought 4-3 (71-34, 71-35, 9-68, 86-4, 58-64, 38-61, 52-38) win.
Gehani defeated Om Sawant 4-2 (61-24, 62-32, 70-10, 16-57, 24-65, 74-37).
Earlier in third round, Peter Paul constructed breaks of 80 (third frame) and 63 (fourth) to get the better of Yash Trivedi, registering a 3-1 (69-20, 38-47, 80-0, 105-15) victory.
-PTI
Published on Mar 15, 2026