Indian sports news wrap: March 15
TENNIS
$25,000 ITF women’s tennis: Bhamidipaty beats Mikulskyte in quarters
Shrivalli Bhamidipaty blasted her way past the fifth seed Justina Mikulskyte of Lithuania 6-0, 6-0 in 49 minutes in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Indore Tennis Club on Friday.
Quite at home on the quick courts where she had trained in past with coach Sajid Lodi, the 22-year-old Shrivalli smashed her way past Justina, who had won the title in Gurugram a fortnight earlier.
Shrivalli started hesitantly with two double faults in the first game but rarely put a foot wrong thereafter. She conceded only 19 points to the 28-year-old Justina, ranked 249 in the world.
In the semifinals, Shrivalli will play Polina Iatcenko, who pipped third seed Ankita Raina in a tough encounter. Ankita fought back from being down 3-5 and saved two match points before the Russian nosed ahead in the eventual tie-break for a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory.
The other semifinal will be between Dalila Jakupovic and Mananchaya Sawangkaew, who were equally emphatic in thriving on the conditions.
Shrivalli later made the doubles final with Vaidehi Chaudhari, beating the other Indian pair of Sahaja Yamalapalli and Zeel Desai in an entertaining contest.
The Indian pair will face Ya-Hsuan Lee and Sohyun Park, who recovered from a slow start to outplay second seeds Jacqueline Cabaj Awad and Diana Marcinkevica 10-1 in the super tie-break.
The results
Singles (quarterfinals): Shrivalli Bhamidipaty bt Justina Mikulskyte (Ltu) 6-0, 6-0; Polina Iatcenko bt Ankita Raina 6-3, 7-6(4); Mananchaya Sawangkaew (Tha) bt Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (Swe) 6-1, 6-2; Dalila Jakupovic (Slo) bt Thasaporn Naklo (Tha) 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles (semifinals): Shrivalli Bhamidipaty & Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Zeel Desai & Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-1, 7-6(7); Ya-Hsuan Lee (Tpe) & Sohyun Park (Kor) bt Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (Swe) & Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) 4-6, 6-0, [10-1].
-Kamesh Srinivasan
$25,000 ITF men’s tennis: Karan beats Wishaya in quarterfinals
Karan Singh continued his fine run and beat Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul of Thailand 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Friday.
The 20-year-old Karan will challenge the top seed and former world No.75, Evgeny Donskoy in the semifinals.
Ramkumar Ramanathan was equally at ease in getting past seventh seed Siddharth Vishwakarma in straight sets. It was the second win for Ramkumar over the wiry Vishwakarma in as many meetings.
In the semifinal, Ramkumar will play fifth seed Nam Hoang Ly of Vietnam, who beat Manish Sureshkumar in straight sets.
In doubles, top seeds Parikshit Somani and Manish Sureshkumar set up a title clash against another Indian pair, third seeds Siddhant Banthia and Vishnu Vardhan.
The results
Singles (quarterfinals): Evgeny Donskoy bt Florent Bax (Fra) 6-2, 4-1 (retired); Karan Singh bt Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (Tha) 6-1, 6-4; Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Siddharth Vishwakarma 6-4, 6-2; Nam Hoang Ly (Vie) bt Manish Sureshkumar 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles (semifinals): Parikshit Somani & Manish Sureshkumar bt Kazuma Kawachi (Jpn) & Woobin Shin 9Kor) 6-0, 6-3; Siddhant Banthia & Vishnu Vardhan bt Ramkumar Ramanathan & Khumoyun Sultanov (Uzb) 6-2, 6-4.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
ITF Masters tennis tournament: Vaidik Munshaw, Monica Menon win over-30 titles
Vaidik Munshaw beat Kshitij Kamal 4-6, 6-2, [10-8] in the final of the over-30 event in the ITF Masters tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy.
In the women’s over-30 event, Monica Menon outplayed Jyoti for the loss of one game in the final.
The results (finals):
Mens:
Over-30: Vaidik Munshaw bt Kshitij Kamal 4-6, 6-2, [10-8];
Over-35: Mishal Javia bt Hafiz Beg 6-2, 6-0;
Over-40: Aditya Khanna bt Raj Kumar 1-6, 6-3, [10-3];
Over-45: Rohan Bhasin bt Swarandeep Singh Dhodi 6-2, 6-4.
Women:
Over-30: Monica Menon bt Jyoti 6-0, 6-1;
Over-40: Rani Kaur Marwa bt Pinky Sharma 6-0, 6-4;
Over-45: Neelam Chopra bt Sonal Vohra 6-2, 6-2.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
SHOOTING
National shotgun selection trials: World Cup gold medallist Mairaj wins skeet final
World Cup gold medallist Mairaj Ahmad Khan beat Asian Games silver medallist and Olympic quota winner Anantjeet Singh Naruka 56-54 in the final of skeet in the fourth National shotgun selection trials at the Madhya Pradesh Academy on Friday.
Mohd. Sheeraz Sheikh placed third ahead of Harmehar Singh Lally, qualification topper Kuldeep Sanyashi (120) and Bhavtegh Singh Gill.
Olympian and world record holder, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa shot 115 and missed the final by two points following a below par score of 20 in the fifth round.
In women’s skeet, Maheshwari Chauhan beat World Cup medallist Ganemat Sekhon 56-48 for the top spot. Shivani Raikwar placed third and was followed by Darshna Rathore, Areeba Khan and Olympic quota winner Raiza Dhillon.
The results
Skeet: Men: 1. Mairaj Ahmad Khan 56 (116); 2. Anantjeet Singh Naruka 54 (117); 3. Mohd. Sheeraz sheikh 43 (118).
Women: 1. Maheshwari Chauhan 56 (114); 2. Ganemat Sekhon 48 (115); 3. Shivani Raikwar 41 (113).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
HOCKEY
Senior Women National Championship:Deepika strikes five to hand Haryana big win over Assam
Deepika slammed five goals as Hockey Haryana thrashed Assam Hockey 15-0 in the Senior Women National Championship here on Friday.
Deepika (2nd, 40th, 42nd, 49th, 56th minutes) led the show in the opening match of the day as she shone brightly for Hockey Haryana.
Known for her prowess from set pieces, Deepika converted two penalty corners besides scoring three field goals at the Major Dhyanchand Hockey Stadium Nehrunager in Pimpri.
Sharmila Devi (2nd, 35th), Mahima Choudhary (15th, 47th), Udita (32nd from PC, 36th from PC) too sparkled scoring a brace each, while Neha Goyal (8th), Navneet Kaur (26th), Ekta Kaushik (44th), Jyoti (50th) were the other goal getters in Hockey Haryana’s emphatic win.
Udita too was in her element from penalty-corners as she scored both her goals from set pieces.
By virtue of its maiden win, Hockey Haryana are now atop Pool D with three points. Puducherry Hockey is the other team in the pool.
In a Pool E match, Dipti Lakra (5th, 12th minutes), Dipi Monika Toppo (10th, 51st minutes) and Aten Topno (12th, 34th) struck twice each to hand Hockey Association of Odisha an emphatic 9-1 win over Goans Hockey.
Besides, Jiwan Kishori Toppo (29th), Nitu Lakra (57th) and Anupa Barla (60th) also registered their names in the scoresheet for Hockey Association of Odisha.
Geeta Rathod scored the consolation goal for Goans Hockey in the 47th minute from a field strike.
Hockey Association of Odisha also registered its first win in the tournament and is on top of its pool. Hockey Chandigarh is the other side in Pool E.
Heavyweights Hockey Punjab slammed Hockey Rajasthan 11-2 in a Pool F match.
Sarabdeep Kaur (15th, 39th, 56th) slammed a hat-trick, while Taranpreet Kaur (1st, 42nd) and Kirandeep Kaur (18th, 45th) scored a brace each for Punjab in its dominating show.