Indian sports news wrap: March 12
KHELO INDIA
Sports Minister launches Nation wide talent hunt scheme KIRTI
The Khelo India Rising Talent Identification (KIRTI) programme was launched by the Union Sports Minister, Anurag Singh Thakur, at the Sector-7 Sports Complex on Tuesday.
The scheme, aimed at school children in the age group of nine to 18 years, will focus on using sports as a tool for healthy life and primarily keep the youngsters away from drugs and gadgetry distractions.
“KIRTI wants to reach out to every block in the country and connect with those kids who want to play a sport. I urge every child to register through the MyBharat portal, and the onus will be on us to go to them and provide the opportunity through KIRTI”, said the Sports Minister.
The launch was also made in 50 centres across the country. Fifty thousand applicants were being assessed in the first phase across 10 sports disciplines, including athletics, boxing, wrestling, hockey, football and wrestling.
It was stated that 20 lakh assessments would be done in the first year to identify and assess talent through notified talent assessment centres.
Data analytics based on artificial intelligence would be used to assess the sporting acumen of aspiring athletes.
It was stressed that there would be tactical collaboration with the national sports federations and State governments.
The minister stated that the government had already spent about Rs.3000 crore on infrastructure, and there were more than 1000 Khelo India centres across the country.
Asian Games silver medallist Kishore Kumar Jena was present at the launch and said the scheme was engaging kids at the right age to nurture them.
The Member of Parliament from Chandigarh, Kiron Kher said, “Every parent wants their child to achieve something in life. Many a time dreams and reality don’t meet. At least in sports, KIRTI will help bridge that gap. Now every child wanting to play and excel in a sport will have a pathway”.
The Minister reiterated the government’s intention to host the Youth Olympics in 2030 and the Olympics in 2036.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
CRICKET
India defeats Sri Lanka by 134 runs in second T20, take 2-0 lead in Samarth Championship for Blind Cricket
Ajay Kumar Reddy and Nakula Badanayak smashed fifties as Indian men’s blind cricket team defeated Sri Lanka by 134 runs in the second T20 of the Samarth Championship for Blind Cricket, an International bilateral blind men’s cricket series here on Tuesday in Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi.
Gudadappa (B1), on his debut, played an incredible innings with 48 runs. Ajay slammed 84 runs in 26 balls, while Badanayak smashed 65 in 46 balls as India posted 273 runs in the allotted 20 overs.
In response, Sri Lanka were restricted to 139/4, thereby losing the match by 134 runs. Gudadappa was adjudged the player of the match for his overall performance with the Bat and Ball. With this win, India has taken a 2-0 lead in the five-match T20 series for the blind.
-Team Sportstar
TENNIS
$25,000 ITF men’s tennis: Manish makes comeback win against second seed Khumoyun
Manish Sureshkumar played gutsy and clawed back from the sight of defeat to knock out the second seed Khumoyun Sultanov of Uzbekistan 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the first round of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Tuesday.
Manish trailed 2-4 in the decider but won the next four games, dropping a mere four points to close out the match.
Earlier, the Uzbek was serving for the match at 6-4, 5-4, but Manish turned the tide by winning the next three games, holding serve in the 11th by capitalising on his fifth game point.
The 877th-ranked Manish had 11 aces in the match and converted six of seven break points in beating the 329th-ranked Uzbek.
In another upset, Karan Singh played the big points well to beat fourth seed S Mukund 7-6(4), 6-1. Quite charged up to show his firepower, Karan fired nine aces and converted three of four break points.
After failing to serve out the first set in the tenth game, Karan did well to win six points on the trot in the eventual tiebreak from 1-4. He broke Mukund’s serve in the fourth and sixth games of the second set to race past him.
The results:
Singles (first round): Evgeny Donskoy bt Shivank Bhatnagar 6-2, 6-0; Karan Singh bt S Mukund 7-6(4), 6-1; Manish Sureshkumar bt Khumoyun Sultanov (Uzb) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Chirag Duhan & Yuichiro Inui (Jpn) bt Oges Theyjo & Suraj Prabodh 6-4, 6-7(5), [10-2]; Kazuma Kawachi (Jpn) & Woobin Shin (Kor) bt Raghav Jaisinghani & Aditya Balsekar 6-2, 6-0; Nitin Kumar Sinha & Siddharth Vishwakarma bt Parth Aggarwal & Yunseok Jang (Kor) 6-2, 6-3; Kabir Hans & Faisal Qamar bt Thanapet Chanta (Tha) & Rishi Reddy 7-6(9), 6-3; Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (Tha) & Bang Shuo Yin (Tpe) bt Udit Kamboj & Maan Kesharwani 6-1, 7-5.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Rithvik Bollipalli and Niki Poonacha win in €74,825 Challenger tennis tournament
Rithvik Bollipalli and Niki Poonacha beat wild card entrants Attila Boros and BOtond Kisantal 6-4, 6-4 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the €74,825 Challenger tennis tournament in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, on Tuesday.
The results:
€74,825 Challenger, Szekesfehervar, HungaryDoubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rithvik Bollipalli & Niki Poonacha bt Attila Boros & Botond Kisantal (Hun) 6-4, 6-4.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
SHOOTING
Para shooting world cup result
Rudransh Khandelwal was beaten to the gold despite the same score of 364 by Kim Jungnam of Korea, on the basis of better inner-10s 9-2 in 5 mixed air pistol int he Para shooting @SPS World Cup at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Tuesday.
Earlier, in PT2 mixed trap, Rajveer Singh Sekhon had finished fourth.
The results:
P5 mixed air pistol: 1. Kim Jungnam (Kor) 364(9x); 2. Rudransh Khandelwal 364(2x); 3. Huang Xing (Chn) 361.
PT2 mixed trap: 1. Filip Marinov (Svk) 42 (119); 2. Ignacio Sanz (Esp) 41 (112); 3. Miroslav Lidinsky (Cze) 31 (112); 4. Rajveer Singh Sekhon 24 (109).
-Kamesh Srinivasan