Indian Sports News Wrap: March 2

Here are all the major updates and results from Indian sports on Saturday, March 2.

ATHLETICS

Long jumper Aldrin finishes 13th in World Indoor Championships

National record holder long jumper Jeswin Aldrin finished a disappointing 13th with a 7.69m effort in the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow on Saturday.

The 22-year-old, who was world leader for a few months in 2023 with his 8.42m jump, cleared 7.69m in his first attempt but fouled the next two. He could not be among the top eight after three attempts and thus eliminated, along with eight other competitors.

The top eight long jumpers after three rounds are permitted to have another three attempts.

Reigning Olympic and world champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece won gold with a best jump of 8.22m, while 19-year-old Mattia Furlani (8.22m) of Italy and Carey McLeod (8.21m) of Jamaica were second and third, respectively.

Aldrin has taken part in three other international events last month and had recorded 7.70m, 7.74m and 7.83m, respectively. He had finished eighth in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.

National record holder triple jumper Praveen Chitravel is also competing in the world indoor showpiece.

– PTI

TENNIS

Ishaque and Adil in doubles final

Ishaque Eqbal and Adil Kalyanpur beat Rishi Reddy and Gheorghe Schinteie 6-2, 7-5 in the doubles semifinals of the $15,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in Kish Island, Iran.

In the final, the second seeded Indian pair will play Matyas Fuele and Gergely Madarasz of Hungary.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

Ankita lose singles semis, wins doubles title

Ankita Raina missed the lines pretty close with her sharp strokes and got beaten by Yeonwoo Ku of Korea 7-6(4), 6-3 in the semifinals of the Federal Bank $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, on Saturday.

The 20-year-old Ku, ranked a modest 527, was understandably nervous, and was unable to serve out the first set in the 10 and 12th games, but did well overall to convert seven of 11 break points to beat the 226th ranked second seed.

In contrast, Ankita, who was stroking with punch and moving with energy, failed to get the accuracy level tuned better for her benefit. The 31-year-old Ankita converted six of 11 break points to stay in contention despite the errors.

Ankita did well to brush away the disappointment and came back strongly in the doubles final, in partnership with Zhibek Kulambayeva, to clinch her 28th title. The top seeded Indo-Kazakh pair beat the second seeded Jacqueline Cabaj Awad and Justina Mikulskyte for the loss of six games.

Justina was perhaps exhausted after beating the top seed Dalila Jakupovic in a three-hour battle, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(0). Quite sharp, third seed Justina, ranked 249, converted six of seven break points to beat the 218th ranked Dalila.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

POLO

Salim Azmi and Daniel Otamendi scored seven goals between them to help Mayfair Polo beat Jindal Panther 9-8 in the semifinals of the Radha Mohan Rajinder Mohan polo tournament at the Jaipur Polo ground in New Delhi on Saturday.

In the final on Sunday at the same venue, Mayfair Polo will play Rajnigandha Achievers, which eased past Delta Polo 7-2.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

CUE SPORT

Chawla outwits Lee to storm into CCI Snooker Classic final

Kamal Chawla produced a remarkable fight back to outclass Englishman Stephen Lee 7-3 in the semifinal of the CCI Snooker Classic in Mumbai on Saturday.

Chawla, the former India No. 1, beat Lee 66-76, 107-10, 42-70, 34-101, 59-31, 88-0, 65-33, 62-24, 66-21, 72-59, avenging his loss to Briton at the same stage in the last edition of this competition.

“Although I was down 2-3 at the break, it did not bother me. I decided that I have to come back stronger, and played positively and went for my shots,” a modest Chawla said in a release.

“We both missed some easy shots, but I was able to play more consistently and make timely breaks, which helped me clinch the win.”

In the final, Chawla will meet the winner of the second semifinal between defending champion Pankaj Advani and Laxman Rawat.

The lanky Indian cueist trailed 2-3 at the end of the first session, but he returned rejuvenated and played with greater intent as he potted more consistently to turn the heat on Lee, the former World number 5.

Chwala rolled in a break of 88 to win the sixth and level the frame scores at 3-all. He then compiled a break of 65 to pocket the seventh and went on to take the next two to move within distance of the finish line.

Having gained confidence, he constructed a break 52 to nose ahead. Lee tried his best to catch up but failed to capitalise on the chances.

– PTI

MOTORSPORT

Maini finishes creditable 7th after starting from back in Bahrain Formula 2 race

India’s Kush Maini finished a creditable seventh after starting from the back of the grid in the opening round of the Formula 2 Championship Feature Race in Bahrain on Saturday.

Maini, who is part of the Alpine academy driving for the Invicta team, drove an amazing feature race after starting absolutely last.

Maini, in fact, secured the pole position in the qualifying but was disqualified because of some technical infringement with his car.

He went on the Prime tyres like the majority of the drivers and ensured that he had a long and consistent stint before changing to the faster soft tyres.

He was the last to pit and fortunately well timed with a safety car and he exited the pits in P11.

With fresh tyres, he made good progress through the field by first passing both the Prema cars driven by Bearman and Antonelli.

“I was really happy when we got provisional pole on Thursday because that meant that we were able to deliver over one lap. It was a day with the highest of highs and then the low when we were told much later that my qualifying times won’t count because I was disqualified due to a technical reason,” Maini said.

“Even though it did not change the performance, I had to start both races from the back of the grid. I tried to make as many positions as I could in both races and so as a team we also have enough data to go into the next round. It was also good to get some points in the feature race. Looking forward to racing in Saudi next week,” he added.

Formula 2 returns next week alongside F1 in Saudi Arabia.

– PTI