Indian sports news wrap, December 23

Here all the updates, results and developments from the world of Indian sports on Friday, December 23.

BOXING

National women’s boxing championship: Saweety Boora beats Kanishka in pre-quarterfinals

World champion Saweety Boora beat Kanishka with the referee stopping the contest in the third round of the light heavyweight pre-quarterfinals in the National women’s boxing championship at the Gautam Buddha University Sports Complex on Saturday.

In the quarterfinals, defending champion Saweety will meet Saie Davkhar of Maharashtra who secured a 5-0 verdict from the judges against Sheeba Hetchiyal of Tamil Nadu.

Lalfakmawii Ralte of Mizoram and Anjali of Punjab also set up a quarterfinal in the same weight category.

In the lightfly weight section, Anamika who had lost to Nikhat Zareen in the final last year, set up a quarterfinal against Malika Mor.

In fly weight section, Simran Verma got past last year’s bronze medallist Radha Patidar, as the latter was disqualified in the second round. Jyoti of Railways set up a quarterfinal against Palak Bhatt of Uttarakhand.

In the feather weight section, Vinakshi will meet Sonia Lather in the quarterfinals. The two had won silver and bronze respectively in the last event.

Jaismine of Services, Poonam Kaithwas of Maharashtra, PS Girija of Tamil Nadu and Menka Devi of Himachal made the quarterfinals in the light weight category.

In the heavy weight section, Elura Borgohain of Assam beat Mehak Mor of Chandigarh, with the referee stopping the contest in the first round. In the quarterfinals, Elura will face Sandra SS of Kerala.

– Team Sportstar

VOLLEYBALL

Kochi Blue Spikers sign Poland’s Jan Krol

The Kochi Blue Spikers, owned by the Muthoot Pappachan Group, has signed Poland’s universal Jan Krol for the Prime Volleyball League which begins in Chennai on February 19, 2024.

Krol is the Blue Spikers’ first foreign signing. The 34-year-old has played for top clubs in Poland, Romania and Austria, says a release from the team

– Team Sportstar.

KHO KHO

Ultimate Kho Kho Season 2 kicks off on Sunday as Odisha Juggernauts take on Rajasthan Warriors

The second season of Ultimate Kho Kho will begin with defending champions Odisha Juggernauts engage in spirited competition against Rajasthan Warriors at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday.

A total of 145 athletes, inclusive of 33 promising youths aged between 16 and 18, hailing from diverse corners of the nation, shall engage in the competition for 21 days.

The league phase of the competition shall witness 30 matches unfolding over an 18-day period, wherein each team shall face its counterparts twice. The top four teams emerging from this preliminary stage shall progress to the semifinals, and the eventual champions shall be determined on January 13.

MOTOR SPORTS

MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Drag Racing Championship 2023 results

Notching four wins in as many starts, Mumbai’s Shah Rukh Khan (Mantra Racing) and Jagathishree Kumaresan from Chennai (One Racing) annexed the titles in the 4-Stroke 361-550cc and Girls (4S 165cc, Novice) categories, respectively, in the MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Drag Racing Championship 2023 Powered by Vamcy Merla at the Madras International Circuit, here on Saturday.

Meanwhile, two Bengalureans, Mohammed Arfath (2-Stroke 131-165cc Super Sport), Mohammed Fazil (2S 165cc Super Sport India), and Chennai’s Madhan Kumar R (2S Up to 130cc Super Sport) also topped the championship in their respective categories.

It was hectic action at the MIC as the backlog of races from Round 2 in September that was affected by rains, were conducted along with the third and fourth rounds. The championship will conclude tomorrow (Sunday) when races of Rounds 3 and 4 in the remaining categories will be run.

While the championships were being decided, the attention was on the “big boys” of drag racing. Bengaluru’s Hemanth Muddappa (Mantra Racing) notched a double by topping the Round-2 races in the Unrestricted and 1051-1650cc (Super Sport) categories ahead of his main rivals, Hyderabad’s Mohammed Riyaz and Mirza Jahangir, and fellow-Bengalurean Sugan Prasad.

TENNIS

$25,000 ITF women’s tennis: India’s Sahaja beats Japan’s Saki in semis

Sahaja Yamalapalli recovered from being down 3-5 in the first set to beat Saki Imamura of Japan 7-6(3), 6-2 in the semifinals of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the MSLTA Centre on Saturday.

From being down 1-2 in the second set, Sahaja reeled off five games in a row to seal the contest that spanned two hours.

In the final, the 23-year-old Sahaja, who won two singles titles in the professional circuit last year in Nagpur and Gurugram, will face second seed Ekaterina Makarova.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

ITF conducted 1135 professional tournament in 2023

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has done a stupendous job towards the development of the game around the world this year, by conducting 1135 professional tournaments in 73 countries, catering to about 10,600 players.

The ITF posted the details on its website, mentioning that the year had 571 men’s and 564 women’s tournaments.

The women had a better deal from ITF in terms of prize money, as the tournaments offered about $17.5 million. The men played for a total prize purse of $11.2 million.

The women’s prize money was higher as the ITF tried to match the men’s Challenger tournaments organised by the ATP.

The higher prize money ITF tournaments for women, ranging from $40,000 to $125,000, were 189, only marginally less than the 196 Challenger events of the year for men.

The ITF only conducts developmental events for men and women. The big purse events for men and women are conducted by the ATP and WTA respectively.

– Team Sportstar

SHOOTING

National selection trials: Saurabh Chaudhary tops men’s air pistol

Former world No.1 and Asian Games champion Saurabh Chaudhary was back to winning ways as he topped men’s air pistol with a 0.1 point victory over qualification topper Ravinder Singh (586) in the National shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Saurabh shot 244.5 in the final, winding up with shots of 10.5 and 10.3 to pip Ravinder by the narrowest of margin.

Naveen had placed third ahead of Aditya Malra, Jonathan Antony, Sagar Dangi, Udhayveer Sidhu and Omprakash Mitharval.

In women’s air pistol, qualification topper Suruchi (579) beat Olympian Yashaswini Singh Deswal by 0.8 point. Manu Bhaker finished third ahead of Malaika Goel, Anjali Shekhawat, Sainyam, Muskan Verma
and Neha.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Gangjee, Cheema, Bhullar in three-way tie at top after round three

Rahil Gangjee and Angad Cheema emerged as top contenders for the title after their brilliant rounds of seven-under 65 placed them in a joint three-way lead along with Gaganjeet Bhullar after the third round of TATA Steel Tour Championship here on Saturday.

Bhullar fired a 67 as the trio was tied at the top with totals of 19-under 197 at the PGTI’s season-ending event.

Divyanshu Bajaj (65), Arjun Prasad (65), Kartik Sharma (66) and Shivendra Singh Sisodia (66) were a distant tied fourth at 15-under 201 at the Beldih and Golmuri Golf Courses.

The first three rounds of the richest event on the PGTI saw one half of the field play their first nine holes at Golmuri Golf Course and second nine at Beldih Golf Course, while the other half of the field played Beldih first followed by Golmuri.

This format will also be followed for the fourth and last round of the tournament in Jamshedpur with the par for the round being 72. The leading groups will start at Golmuri and finish at Beldih.

Gangjee (70-62-65), who shot a personal best of 62 on day two, made three birdies and a bogey on the front-nine where his bunker shot on the fourth that set up a tap-in stood out.

Unlike previous rounds, the 45-year-old Gangjee, a winner of three international titles, had a better back-nine at Beldih where he picked up an eagle and three birdies.

His eagle putt on the 12th was from 30 feet while he also rolled in two 12-footers for birdies and played a great wedge shot to leave himself a short birdie conversion on the 13th.

Cheema (66-66-65), like Gangjee, also rose one place. The Chandigarh golfer went bogey-free as he was brilliant with his chipping. The 33-year-old Cheema, currently ninth on the PGTI Order of Merit, landed it within three feet on four occasions to set up birdies.

Bhullar (64-66-67), the overnight leader by two shots, kept himself in the hunt on Saturday by putting together an eagle and five birdies at the expense of two bogeys

– PTI.

SNOOKER

Defending champion Chandra off to winning start, Rao ousts Habib

Defending champion Manan Chandra of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) was off to a winning start as he sailed past Bhadresh Panchal of Gujarat 3-1 in the round-robin stage of the Snooker National Championship here on Saturday.

Siddharth Rao of Tamil Nadu produced a dominant show against Rafath Habib of RSPB, winning 3-0.

J Varun Kumar of Tamil Nadu registered a hard-fought win over Akram Khan of West Bengal 3-2.

However, Tamil Nadu’s Kunal Jain, Manoj Dhasarathan and Dhasarasthan suffered losses, going down to Mahesh Jagdale (Maharashtra), Mahesh Aditya (Karnataka) and Dhruv Verma (Punjab), respectively.

– PTI

FOOTBALL

Priyadharshini sparkles in Gokulam Kerala’s big win

Midfielder S. Priyadharshini scored three goals as Gokulam Kerala FC blanked FC Kerala 9-0 in the Scoreline Kerala Women’s League football at the Corporation Stadium in Thrissur on Saturday night.

Baby Lalchhandami and K. Manasa also scored two goals each in the match.

-Stan Rayan