Indian sports wrap, April 29: Premier League set to open India office in Mumbai
SHOOTING
Kumar Surendra Singh Championship: Anjum wins 50m 3P gold, Prachi pockets junior gold
Olympian Anjum Moudgil was in top form as she won the 50-metre rifle 3-positions gold with a 5.9 point margin over the junior champion Prachi Gaikwad in the 23rd Kumar Surendra Singh championship at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Tuesday.
Anjum had earlier topped qualification with 590, along with Kashika Pradhan, who eventually placed fourth.
Ayushi Podder did well to shoot the second best qualification score of 584, but eventually placed seventh.
Prachi beat Ramita Jindal by four points for the junior gold, after having topped qualification with 583.
Suraj Sharma, Neeraj Kumar and Mandeep Singh, the medallists of rapid fire pistol at the Kumar Surendra Singh shooting in Bhopal on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Suraj Sharma, Neeraj Kumar and Mandeep Singh, the medallists of rapid fire pistol at the Kumar Surendra Singh shooting in Bhopal on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Neeraj Kumar won the rapid fire pistol gold 33-26 against Suraj Sharma in the competition staged at the Madhya Pradesh Academy in Bhopal. Mandeep Singh pipped the young Sameer Ghulia and Olympian Gurpeet Singh for the bronze.
RESULTS
25m rapid fire pistol: Men: 1. Neeraj Kumar 33 (582); 2. Suraj Sharma 26 (577); 3. Mandeep Singh 17 (580)
Juniors: 1. Jatin 28 (573); 2. Tanishq Naidu 24 (570); 3. Sahil Choudhary 16 (567)
50m rifle 3-position: Women: 1. Anjum Moudgil 464.4 (590); 2. Prachi Gaikwad 458.5 (583); 3. Aakriti Dahiya 443.7 (583)
Juniors: 1. Prachi Gaikwad 454.4 (583); 2. Ramita Jindal 450.4 (575); 3. Sharanya Lakhan 435.6 (575)
– Kamesh Srinivasan
FOOTBALL
Premier League set to open India office in Mumbai
The English Premier League will open its India office in Mumbai to build on its longstanding work in promotion and development of football in the country, the league announced on Tuesday.
Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said: “We and our clubs have a fantastic and knowledgeable fanbase in India, and we know football continues to grow in popularity. We are proud of our longstanding commitment to India, having worked to deliver community football programmes for 18 years and, more recently, our partnership with the Indian Super League.
“Opening this office marks a significant milestone for the Premier League. It will allow us to operate more effectively locally as we build on our existing work to establish more ways to strengthen our relationship with fans, JioStar and other partners. We are looking forward to the opportunities it will create in the region.”
The Premier League opened its first international office in Singapore in 2019, established primarily to fight piracy of content and support broadcast partners. It then opened office in New York in 2023 and later in Beijing.
– Team Sportstar
BADMINTON
Top Clubs for Motiram Cup
The Rs 1 lakh prize money, Motiram, Ullal & Kanji Cup, the Inter-Club Badminton Tournament for Men, Women and Juniors, will be held at the Willingdon Sports Club from May 1 to 4, 2025.
The event is being organized by the Greater Mumbai Badminton Association (GMBA), hosted by the Willingdon Sports Club, managed and promoted by Badminton Gurukul with Equipment Partners Yonex Sunrise.
The event, which is the first and most prestigious Inter-Club Badminton Championship in the city will see participation from Clubs from all over Mumbai.
– Team Sportstar
TENNIS
Jensi wins first round match in Asian U-14 tourney
Champion of the first tournament, Jensi Kanabar eased past Muslimakhon Turdimurodova of Uzbekistan 6-0, 6-1 in the girls first round of the Asian under-14 Development tennis championship at the DLTA Complex on Tuesday.
Jensi also made the doubles semifinals in partnership with Srishti Kiran, beating the Kazakh duo of Yasmin Dyussembayeva and Tamina Saken 6-4, 4-6, [10-7].
The results:
Under-14 boys (first round): Vivaan Mirdha bt Phee Sei (Mya) 6-4, 6-0.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Komang Purustama & Ethan Frans (Ina) bt Vivaan Mirdha & Viraj Choudhary 6-3, 6-3; Pre-quarterfinals: Vivaan & Viraj bt Mika Mohamed & Looth Agleem (Mdv) 6-1, 6-1; Wu Yuting & He Xiande (Chn) bt M Sendilkumar & Nicholas Pak (Sgp) 6-4, 6-1.
Under-14 girls (first round): Jensi Kanabar bt Muslimakhon Turdimurodova (Uzb) 6-0, 6-1.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Jensi Kanabar & Srishti Kiran bt Yasmin Dyussembayeva & Tamina Saken (Kaz) 6-4, 4-6, [10-7]; Pre-quarterfinals: Jensi & Srishti bt Golsa Rahimian & Ailin Mohammadian (Iri) 6-1, 6-1.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
Yuki Bhambri loses to second seeds
Yuki Bhambri in partnership with Robert Galloway of USA was beaten by the second seeds Harri Heliovaara & Henry Patten 6-3, 7-6(4) in the doubles first round of the 8,055,385 euros ATP tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, on Tuesday.
The Indo-American pair did not get an ATP point, but collected 166,690 euros.
The results:
€227,270 Challenger, Estoril, Portugal
Qualifying singles (first round): Denis Yevseyev (Kaz) bt Manas Dhamne 6-0, 6-3.
$100,000 Challenger, Guangzhou, China
Qualifying singles (second and final round): Mats Rosenkranz (Ger) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4); First round: Ramkumar bt Lu Pengyu (Chn) 6-0, 6-0.
$30,000 ITF men, Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy
Singles (first round): Francesco Maestrelli (Ita) bt Chirag Duhan 6-1, 6-3.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ivan Gretskiy & Grigory Shebekin bt Bharath Kumaran & Rohan Mehra 6-2, 6-3.
$15,000 ITF men, Shymkent, Kazakhstan
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ivan Gretskiy & Grigory Shebekin bt Bharath Kumaran & Rohan Mehra 6-2, 6-3.
$100,000 ITF women, Gifu, Japan
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): I-Hsuan Cho & Yi Tsen Cho (Tpe) bt Arianne Hartono (Ned) & Prarthana Thombare 7-6(2), 2-6, [10-8].
$15,000 ITF women, Shymkent, Kazakhstan
Singles (first round): Jizel Fernandes (GBR) bt Pooja Ingale 6-1, 6-0; Valentina Steiner (Ger) bt Akanksha Nitture 6-1, 6-3.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ekaterina Maklakova & Anna Ureke bt Paavanii Paathak & Sonal Patil 6-1, 6 3; Ksenia Laskutova & Franziska Sziedat (Ger) bt Smiti Bhasin & Sravya Shivani 6-2, 6-0.
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Alessia Popescu & Maria Toma (Rou) bt Aaddi Gupta & Georgina Hays (GBR) 6-0, 6-1; Tanisha Kashyap & Arabella Koller (Aut) bt Sofia Avataneo (Ita) & Saumya Vig 6-1, 6-3.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
CRICKET
128 women players drafted for Bengal Pro T20 League
Altogether, 128 women players have been drafted from a pool of 188 for the second edition of the Bengal Pro T20 League here.
The eight franchises and their respective marquee players are: Rarh Tigers (Piyali Ghosh), ServoTech Siliguri Strikers (Priyanka Bala), Rashmi Medinipur Wizards (Richa Ghosh), Adamas Howrah Warriors (Dhara Gujjar), Lux-Shyam Kolkata Tigers (Mita Paul), Harbour Diamonds (Saika Ishaque), Murshidabad Kueens (Tanushree Sarkar), Sobisco Smashers Malda (Hrishita Basu).
-Y.B. Sarangi
CHESS
Karen Grigoryan given top billing in KCA’s GM chess tournament
Armenian Grandmaster Karen Grigoryan has been given the top billing in the KCA’s first international open GM chess tournament, which begins at the Courtyard Banquet Hall, Kanjikuzhi, on Wednesday.
The tournament, Kerala’s richest chess tournament organised by the Kottayam Chess Academy, will feature 16 GMs, including three from India and many other International Masters. Competitions will be held under two categories: category ‘A’, which carries a prize fund of Rs 20 lakh, and category ‘B’, with Rs 10 lakh as prize money.
Kerala is hosting a GM tournament after 24 years. The last GM tournament in the State was the All India Chess Federation’s golden jubilee event held in Kozhikode in 2001.
An invitation GM tournament was also held before that in Kozhikode in the late eighties.
-Stan Rayan