Indian sports news wrap, August 16

SURFING

Competition continued today at the Tamil Nadu International Surf Open World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS) 3,000 with the men’s top seeds hitting the water at Mahabalipuram Beach.

Performance levels lifted as conditions improved with clean surf in the two-foot-plus range. The Round of 48 and 6 Heats of the Round of 32 were completed before the competition went on hold due to onshore winds.

Fresh of a Semifinal finish at the recent Bonsoy Chiba Ichinomiya Open in Japan, Joh Azuchi (JPN) carried his form into Heat 1 of the Round of 32, posting the highest two-wave total of the event so far. Azuchi was in last place with eight minutes left but he was able to find his two scores with only minutes remaining.

“I was trying to get as many waves as I could from the start of the heat but I had a hard time getting good waves,” Azuchi said.

“I was kind of nervous if I could pull it off or not, but in the end, somehow I managed to get two decent scores. I didn’t expect to get such good scores but knew it would be enough to have me progress into the Round of 16.”

Japanese duo Raiha Onou (JPN) and Daiki Tanaka (JPN) also looked solid, posting mid-range scores to progress into the Round of 16. Swedish representative Kian Martin (SWE) showed flashes while it was Dhany Widianto (INA) who won his heat with the manoeuvre of the day, a radical lay-back snap that was enough to get him over the line.

Earlier in the day, Indian competitors Sivaraj Babu (IND), Ajeesh Ali (IND) and Kishore Kumar (IND) all progressed through their Round of 48 heats, each putting up solid performances. Unfortunately for the local fans, Ali and Kumar were eliminated in the Round of 32.

– Team Sportstar

TENNIS

Second seed Digvijay Pratap Singh was beaten 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 by Kazuki Nishiwaki of Japan in the first round of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in Tainan, Chinese Taipei, on Wednesday.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

SWIMMING

Assam’s Jananjoy smashes national record in 100m butterfly

The opening day at the 39th Sub Junior and 49th Junior National Aquatic Championships 2023 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha witnessed three new national records being created. Making the most of the state-of-the-art Indoor Aquatic Centre which added an international flavour to the meet, at the iconic Kalinga Sports Complex top swimmers of the country produced exhilarating races.

In the 100m butterfly for group I boys, Jananjoy J Hazarika of Assam clocked 55.99 to win the gold ahead of Karnataka’s Kartikeyan Nair (56.66). Earlier in the day, Hazarika smashed the national record in the prelims where he eclipsed Maharashtra’s Mihir Ambre’s record of 55.65 secs created in 2017.

Karnataka girls dominated on day one, with Manavi Varma opening the medal tally with a gold in the 200m IM for group I. She touched the pads at 2:22.86 to beat Raghvi Ramanujam of Maharashtra who clocked 2:30.56 to take home the silver. Adding to Karnataka’s tally, Tanishi Gupta not only won the 200IM in group II, but she also created a new national record. She clocked 2:24.83 to erase state-mate Manavi Varma’s record of 2:26.99 created in 2022. Karnataka’s Naisha bagged the silver with a time of 2:29.84.

The day’s third national record came in 50m breaststroke for group I boys, with Vidith S Shankar of Karnataka clocking 29.40 to better his own record of 29.47 clocked in the prelims earlier in the day. He broke Haryana’s Vansh Pannu’s record of 29.59 created in 2022.

Declaring the meet open ahead of the evening session, R Vineel Krishna, Secretary-cum-Commissioner, Sports and Youth Service, Odisha said, “We are working in close partnership with Swimming Federation of India and we are taking their help in developing our own swimming eco system in Odisha. We have constructed this new Aquatic Centre which is one of a kind in the country. We are also the sponsors for junior level aquatics, hence we have hosted back-to-back nationals here and we have a lot of emerging talent in this category, hence we want to give them best exposure and facilities.”

Monal Chokshi, SFI Secretary General further added, “We appreciate the efforts of Odisha State Government who have put in great efforts to create this world class Aquatic Centre. It is certainly one of the most modern facilities in the country and a fine opportunity for our swimmers to race here.”

Results:

Boys:

Group I: 400m Freestyle: 1. Yug Chelani (Raj) 4:04.45; 2. Ronak Nitin Sawant (Mah) 4:05.40; Saswata Roy (Ben) 4:06.65;

100m butterfly: 1. Jananjoy J Hazarika (Assa) 55.99 (clocked NMR 55.61 in heats); 2. Kartikeyan Nair (Kar) 56.66; 3. Parambrata Biswas (Ben) 57.63.

50m breaststroke: 1. Vidith S Shankar (Kar) 29.40 NMR; 2. Rana Pratap (Jhar) 29.75; 3. Kevin Jinu (Ker) 30.37

Group II: 400m Freestyle: 1.Yuvraj Singh (Del) 4:14.29, 2. Prthviraj Menon (Kar) 4:19.23; 3. Akshai Thakuria (Kar) 4:22.12

100m butterfly: 1. Ishaan Mehra (Kar) 59.14; 2. Harijarthik Velu (Kar) 1:01.24; 3. Manash Pratim (Assa) 1:01.35

Group III: 200m freestyle: 1. Jas Singh (Kar) 2:22.24; 2. Vihaang Ashishkumar (Guj) 2:23.21; 3. Kabir Aryaman (Mah) 2:23.66

100m backstroke: Krishiv Doshi (MP) 1:13.34; 2. Vihaan S P (Goa) 1:14.50; 3. AP Arya (TN) 1:15.54.

Girls:

Group I: 200m IM: 1. Manavi Varma (Kar) 2:22.86; 2. Raghvi Ramanujam (Mah) 2:30.56; 3. Subhranshini Priyadarshini (Assa) 2:30.57

100m backstroke: 1. Ridhima Veerendra (Kar) 1:05.85; 2. Shalini R Dixit (Kar) 1:06.51; 3. Sanjana Manguesh (Goa) 1:07.63

Group II: 200m IM: 1. Tanishi Gupta (Kar) 2:24.83 (NMR); 2. Naisha (Kar) 2:29.84; 3. Saanvi Deshwal (Mah) 2:32.39

100m backstroke: 1. Naisha (Kar) 1:08.10; 2. Tanishi Gupta (Kar) 1:08.72; 3. Sri Nithya (Tel) 1:09.33

Group III: 200m freestyle: 1. Anushka Sanjeev (Mah) 2:25.02; 2. Lasya Sri (AP) 2:26.12; 3. Adriza Rani Chetia (Assa) 2:27.56

100m backstroke: 1. Shivani Karra (Tel) 1:11.83; 2. Shreya Binil (Ker) 1:13.82; 3. Debopriya D (Ben) 1:16.56

-Team Sportstar

CRICKET

Hubli Tigers beats Bengaluru Blasters by five wickets for third consecutive win

L. Manvanth Kumar’s all-round effort (4/15 and 28) propelled Hubli Tigers to a hat-trick of wins in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 as it beat Bengaluru Blasters by five wickets at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday.

Chasing a modest 106, the Tigers were in a spot of bother, losing four wickets for 55 runs. But a 42-run partnership for the fifth wicket between skipper Manish Pandey (23 n.o., 16b, 2×4, 1×6) and Manvanth Kumar 28 (19b, 3×4, 1×6) eased the path to victory.

Earlier, having been asked to bat, the Blasters never got going. Captain Mayank Agarwal played a lone hand (50, 34b, 6×4, 1×6) but received little support.

In the day’s other contest, Mysore Warriors registered a comfortable 54-run win over defending champion Gulbarga Mystics. Karun Nair came good for the second successive match (57, 39b, 5×4, 2×6) while seasoned opener R. Samarth’s was a steady presence (48, 38b, 4×4, 2×6).

Manoj Bhandage provided the end-overs flourish, hammering an unbeaten 15-ball 32 (2×4, 2×6) to help the Warriors finish on 198. The all-rounder then rolled his arm over and struck gold again (4/19) as Mystics wilted for 144 to lose their second match on the trot.

Brief scores: Bengaluru Blasters 105 in 18.4 overs (Mayank Agarwal 50, L. Manvanth Kumar 4/15) lost to Hubli Tigers 111/5 in 13.3 overs (Luvnith Sisodia 33, L. Manvanth Kumar 28); MoM: Manvanth.

Mysore Warriors 198/5 in 20 overs (R. Samarth 48, Karun Nair 57, Manoj Bhandage 32 n.o., Abhilash Shetty 3/49) bt Gulbarga Mystics 144 in 19 overs (L.R. Chethan 44, Manoj Bhandage 4/19); MoM: Bhandage.

-N. Sudarshan

CHESS

Nimmy George’s becomes Kerala’s first WIM

Nimmy A. George’s long wait for a Woman International Master title is over.

Almost 11 years after she believed she had fulfilled all the conditions for the title, the 37-year-old multiple Kerala women’s chess champion got the confirmation from the world body FIDE on Thursday that she is finally a WIM.

“This had been a long wait not just for me but for our entire State,” said Nimmy, who is now Kerala’s first WIM, told Sportstar on Wednesday night.

“There are many conditions to get the WIM title and when I applied for it in 2012, FIDE said that one of the norms should be a foreign norm and that I did not fulfil the requirements for that Actually, the AICF (national federation) had accepted and approved my application but FIDE did not accept that.

“Now I have got my fifth norm (a foreign norm) from a tournament in Budapest in May and FIDE has accepted that and given me the title.”

Nimmy, an assistant professor at Bharatha Matha College here, feels her WIM title will inspire others too.

Stan Rayan

National Championship: Four surprises in opening round

Grandmaster R. R. Laxman and higher-rated International Masters Aronyak Ghosh, P. Shyaamnikhil and Sidhant Mohapatra were surprisingly held to draws while other fancied players won as expected in the first round of the National chess championship here on Wednesday.

Ashvin Makwana, rated 1680, proved equal to seventh seed Aronyak, the highest-rated IM in the country at 2538. Pranay Akula (1669) held Shyaamnikhil (2467), UP’s Shubhi Gupta (1653) drew with Sidhant (2420) and Andhra’s Nyna Gorli (1639) split the point with Laxman (2349).

RAKESH RAO