Indian sports wrap, December 3: Esports among flagship events at Hornbill Festival

ESPORTS

Esports championship gets flagship event status at Nagaland’s Hornbill Festival

The Department of Youth Resources and Sports (YRS) in the Nagaland Government on Tuesday announced that the Hornbill E-Sports Championship Season 2 will be held as a flagship event of the ongoing Hornbill Festival.

Addressing a press conference in Kohima, YRS director Kethosituo Sekhose said the event scheduled for December 8 and 9 at Indira Gandhi Stadium will feature expanded game titles, increased prize money, and the highest-ever esports participation recorded in the state.

The tournament, being organised in collaboration with the E-Sports Association of Nagaland (ESAN), will see 512 athletes and teams, with an additional 240 individual competitors. The prize money has been raised from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.

The championship will feature BGMI (Battlegrounds Mobile India), Moba Legends 5v5, E-Chess, E-Football and FC 2025.

The first edition last year drew more than 1.5 lakh online viewers and over 500 on-ground spectators, Sekhose said.

-Team Sportstar

SQUASH

Joshna upsets second seed Nardine; four Indians move to semis

Former world number 10 Joshna Chinappa rallied to beat Egyptian second seed Nardine Garas in a five-game thriller to move to the semifinals of the HCL Squash Indian Tour 4 here Wednesday.

Velavan Senthilkumar and Anahat Singh, the reigning men’s and women’s National champions respectively, and top seeds, recorded straight-games victories at the Indian Squash Academy, while men’s second seed Veer Chotrani bowed out.

In the semifinals on Thursday, Joshna, 39, who won the Japan Open in October and finished runner-up in the Daly College Indian Open last month, will meet sixth seed compatriot Tanvi Khanna, who edged out Hong Kong fourth seed Nga Ching Cheng over five games.

The results (Quarterfinals; Indians unless specified): Men: 1-Velavan Senthilkumar bt 6-Joseph White (Aus) 11-9, 11-3,11-5; 5-Diego Gobbi (Bra) bt 3-Daniel Poleshchuk (Isr) 11-5, 11-4, 11-3; 7-Maceo Levy (Fra) bt 4-Ibrahim Elkabbani (Egy) 5-11, 11-5, 3-11, 14-12, 11-6; Adam Hawal (Egy) bt 2-Veer Chotrani 11-9, 11-7, 11-8.

Women: 3-Hayley Ward (RSA) bt 5-Ching Hei Fung (HK) 11-9, 11-8, -11, 7-11, 11-7; 1-Anahat Singh bt 8-Akari Midorikawa (Jpn) 11-2, 11-2, 11-8; 6-Tanvi Khanna bt 4-Nga Ching Cheng (HK) 7-11, 12-10, 14-12, 7-11, 11-4; Joshna Chinappa bt 2-Nardine Garas (Egy) 6-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7.

-PTI

BADMINTON

Indian shuttlers dominate at Guwahati Masters

Indian shuttlers, including Tanvi Sharma and Tharun Mannepalli, produced a dominant display at the Guwahati Masters Super 100 tournament as several home players progressed to the next round with commanding wins across men’s and women’s singles draw here Wednesday.

Besides Tanvi, other top performers included Tanya Hemanth, Tasnim Mir, Ashmita Chaliha, Anmol Kharb, Anupama Upadhyaya, Isharani Baruah and Shreya Lele in women’s singles.

While in the men’s singles, Meiraba Luwang Maisnam, Sanskar Saraswat, Manav Choudhary, Saneeth Dayanand, Samarveer, Aryamann Tandon, Tushar Suveer, Pranay Shettigar, Mithun Manjunath and Ginpaul Sonna — all reached the pre-quarterfinals.

Eighth seed Tanvi, a world junior silver medallist, showcased remarkable grit as she bounced back from a shaky start to defeat Indonesia’s Dalila Aghnia Puteri 6-21, 21-11, 21-19 in a tense three-game battle.

In an all-Indian clash, Tanya overcame Aditi Bhatt 21-16, 21-12, former junior world No. 1 Tasnim Mir also advanced with a steady 21-13, 23-21 win over Aalisha Naik and local favourite Ashmita Chaliha had to dig deep to secure her place in the next round, beating Devika Sihag 21-17, 21-23, 21-18.

Fifth seed Anmol Kharb, one of India’s brightest young prospects, registered a clinical 21-18, 21-19 victory over Surya Charisma Tamiri, while fourth seed Anupama Upadhyaya registered a 21-15, 21-10 win against Meghana Reddy Mareddy.

Isharani Baruah cruised past Taiwan’s Yi En Hsieh 21-15, 21-8 and Shreya Lele stunned second seed Pornpicha Choeikeewong of Thailand 21-19, 21-18.

In men’s singles, Meiraba defeated Aditya Tripathi 22-20, 21-12, Mannepalli beat Indonesia’s Richie Duta Richardo 21-13, 21-16. The two will face off in an all Indian clash next.

There were more Indian successes as Sanskar Saraswat upset Syed Modi International winner Jason Gunawan 21-18, 21-19, while Samarveer fought back from a game down to beat Darshan Pujari 13-21, 21-13, 12-7 and set up an all-Indian clash with Sanskar.

Among other results, Manjunath set up a clash with Settigar after getting a walkover from sixth seed S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian.

Manav Choudhary defeated Govind Krishna 21-14, 18-21, 21-18, and Saneeth Dayanand eased past Numair Shaik 21-19, 21-11.

The mixed doubles top seeds also impressed, with Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde rallying from a game down to overcome Indonesia’s Kenzie Yoe and Luna Rianty Saffana 18-21, 21-9, 21-18.

-PTI

EQUESTRIAN

India registers historic success at FEI Asian Equestrian Championship 2025

India finished its campaign at the FEI Asian Equestrian Champioship in Pattaya, Thailand on Wednesday with a historic medal haul. A total of five medals were bagged across the Eventing and Dressage events. This was only the second edition of the Asian Championship; India did not participate in the inaugural edition in 2019.

In Eventing, Ashish Limaye clinched an individual gold as well as a team silver alongside fellow Shashank Singh Kataria and Shashank Kanmuri. In Dressage, Shruti Vora remained the star of the competition for India, bagging three silvers – one in the individual category, the second in Intermediate Freestyle–I, and the third in the Dressage Team event. The Indian team, consisting of Divyakriti Singh, Gaurav Pundir and Shruti were a part of the team that clinched the silver.

“This was a very emotional win for us because the last Asian Games didn’t turn great for us. So, I think it was a huge redemption kind of feeling and a big relief,” Ashish Limaye said. “From the organising committee to our very own Sports Ministry, everybody was very supportive. I think it was also a very well-organised trip for us arranged by the Ministry. They actually made it quite easy for us and in the end it all worked out, and I’m so happy.”

Showing gratitude to his horse, Ashish added, “My horse ‘Willy Be Dun’ is a 13-year-old Anglo-European. I think it would have been impossible to bag this gold without him because he really fought for us and he was always giving 100% to come here. I think he knew that we were at a championship and he was really different and special!”

A 16-member delegation (including six athletes, six grooms, two coaches and one vet and ferrier each), travelled for the championship in Pattaya, at full cost to the Government. The Sports Ministry facilitated an extensive logistics operation covering the transport and care of 12 horses, including air and road movement, pre-export quarantine, feed and bedding, farrier services, insurance and continuous veterinary supervision for over 40 days.

The expenditure, amounting to Rs 2.73 Crore was provided through the Assistance to National Sports Federations (ANSF) scheme, for the travel of the contingent. It included the athletes’ and coaches’ travel, visas, insurance, boarding and lodging, entry fees, mandatory veterinary tests, and essential equipment. The Sports Authority of India’s TAGG scheme also extended individualised support to its core athletes competing at Pattaya, including Ashish Limaye, Shashank Singh Kataria and Divyakriti Singh. The trio were provided with dedicated training assistance, equipment support, and highly specialised horse-care requirements.

GOLF

Kushal Singh’s sizzling 63 helps him surge ahead on day two

Kushal Singh’s terrific seven-under 63 helped him surge ahead on day two of the Jaipur Open, a Rs 1 crore event, being played at the Rambagh Golf Club here.

Gurugram’s Kushal Singh (64-63), whose fortunes have been on the upswing since his runner-up finish at the PGTI NexGen event in Bhubaneswar last month, totalled 13-under 127 at the halfway stage to gain one spot from his overnight tied second place and hold a one-shot lead.

PGTI Order of Merit leader Yuvraj Sandhu (65-63) too shot a 63 to end round two in second place at 12-under 128, thus rising four spots from day one.

Veer Ahlawat, the 2024 PGTI Ranking winner, produced a tournament low score of eight-under 62, an error-free round, that propelled him nine spots to tied third at 11-under 129.

Joining Veer in joint third place was Ravi Kumar who moved up six positions as a result of his 63, another bogey-free effort.

-PTI

Bhullar rises to third, chases internationals Shah and Fuentes in IGPL Ahmedabad

Top Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar fired four birdies in his last eight holes to turn in a five-under 67 in the second round and jump 11 places to Tied-third at the IGPL Invitational Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

Bhullar, who was 1-under for the first round, carded six birdies against one bogey to rise to 6-under with one round to go.

In the first round, Bhullar had a hole-in-one.

Bhullar is chasing the international duo of Indian American Manav Shah (67) who had a bogey free round, and Mexican Santiago de la Fuentes (70). They are now 7-under and one ahead of Bhullar.

Bhullar is bidding to make it three in three on the IGPL Tour after having won the first two IGPL events of the season in Chandigarh and Jaypee Greens. He then skipped the next six events to play International Series events and to attend family matters.

A win tomorrow will make him the first player to grab three wins on the IGPL Tour. Apart from Bhullar, the only other player to win twice on the IGPL is Aman Ran.

Bhullar was tied third with young rookie pro Raghav Chugh (68) who also is at 6-under for two days.

Shah, a former winner on the PGA Tour of Latin America, had one birdie on the front nine and four more on the back stretch against no bogeys.

Mexican Fuentes, who is a former winner of the Latin America Amateur championships and has played Majors, shot 70. He had five birdies, including two on the 16th and the 17th, against three bogeys.

Young Veer Ganapathy, who shot 8-under on the first day, dropped to 3-over for the second day and is now Tied-5th with 5-under total. Ganapathy is tied fifth with Karandeep Kochhar (69) at 5-under.

Another Indian American Varun Chopra (68), young Kartik Singh (70) and Filipino Justin Quiban (70) are tied seventh, while the legendary SSP Chawrasia (72) and Sachin Baisoya (73) round off the Top-10 and are both 3-under.

IGPL Pune winner, Kapil Kumar (73) at 2-under total is sole 12th.

The top woman pro was Ridhima Dilawari (72) at 1-under and was Tied-13th overall. She is tied with M Dharma (71), Aalaap IL (73) and Yashas Chandra (73).

Aman Raj, who leads the IGPL Order of Merit, is tied 17th with Pukhraj Singh Gill and both are even par for two rounds, as is Saarthak Chibber.

OTHERS

Khelo India University Games: Chandigarh University sweep canoe and kayak, go top of KIUG medal tally

Chandigarh University clinched nine out of 10 gold medals on offer in Canoe and Kayaking on Wednesday to go top of the table after Day 10 of the Khelo India University Games Rajasthan here on Wednesday.

Chandigarh also secured a men’s team gold in table tennis to push Guru Nanak Dev university to the second place in the overall standings with 33 gold, 13 silver and 9 bronze medals.

Further, four meet records tumbled at the athletics venue inside the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here for the second consecutive day.

Guru Kashi University’s Tongbram Roshan Singh clinched the Canoe single 500m race to avoid a Chandigarh University clean sweep in Udaipur.

On Wednesday, most action in Jaipur was concentrated on the athletics track and it was an exciting day of competition.

Panjab University (men’s 4x400m), Shintomon CB (men’s 110m hurdles) of Mahatma Gandhi University, Guru Kashi University’s Sanya Yadav (women’s Discus Throw) and Aleena T Saji (women’s Triple Jump) of Mahatma Gandhi University bettered the meet records to take the total count of meet records broken so far in this edition to nine.

The race that kept everyone on the edge of their seats was the men’s 4x400m final in which Mumbai University led the race till the last 100m stretch when Panjab University’s Lokesh Singh Gurjar overtook Yash Joshi to clinch the gold medal for his team with a time of 3:12.40s.

In fact, Mumbai University’s timing of 3:12.73s was also better than the previous meet record of 3:13.44s set by Mangalore University.

Earlier, Shintomon CB led the men’s 110m final from start to finish as he get the better of former KIUG record holder Vikas Khodke and All India University record holder Rahil Sakeer VP of University of Calicut.

Khodke, who held the previous KIUG record of 14.40s, won the silver in a photo-finish with Rahil Sakeer as both finished with a time of 14.52.

In the field events, Guru Kashi University’s Sanya Yadav also improved the KIUG meet record in women’s Discus Throw with a distance of 50.73m in her second attempt, eclipsing the previous record of 50.60m set by Shalini Chaudhary of Barkatullah University.

The gold and silver medal winners in women’s Triple Jump also bettered the previous KIUG record with Aleena leaping to a distance of 13.09m in her second attempt while Arshdeep Kaur of Panjab University clearing a distance of 12.80m in her fourth try.

The previous record of 12.78m was held by Aishwarya B of Mangalore University.

At the Jagatpura shooting range, Paris Olympics bronze medallist Sarabjot Singh joined hands with Palak to win the 10m Air Pistol mixed team gold, beating Mukesh Nelavalli and Dwaram Pranavi of KLEF University 17-15 in the final. Guru Nanak Dev University bagged the bronze medal.

In the women’s football final at the Poornima University ground, Chaudhary Bansi Lal University, Bhiwani defeated Guru Nanak Dev University 2-0 thanks to a goal each by Pooja (10th minute) and Nancy (83rd minute) to grab the gold medal.

In the men’s hockey final, Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya defeated Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith 5-1.

-PTI

PICKLEBALL

Bengaluru Blasters score first win, Chennai on a roll, Hyderabad return to form

Bengaluru Blasters bounced back from successive defeats with a nail-biting 4-2 Grand Rally win over Mumbai Smashers, opening their account in the Indian Pickleball League (IPBL) here on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, league leaders Chennai Super Warriors stretched their winning run to three with a 5-1 victory over Capital Warriors Gurgaon and Hyderabad Royals returned to winning ways with a 5-1 win against Lucknow Leopards.

With both Bengaluru and Mumbai chasing their first IPBL win, the day’s opening match was exciting as Asia’s top two players— Quang Duong (Mumbai) and Phuc Huynh (Bengaluru) — lit up the centre court.

Huynh struck first, repeatedly pulling Duong toward the line before firing winners into the backcourt.

But the World No. 3 responded with trademark precision, flipping the momentum and closing out a sharp 15–10 win.

Huynh hit back, teaming up with teenager Arjun Singh to beat Duong and Ammol Ramchandani 15–11 in the men’s doubles.

Pei Chuan Kao then shifted the tie in Bengaluru’s way, sweeping past Allison Harris 15–7 in the women’s singles.

Mumbai answered through Harris and Pearl Amalsadiwala in the women’s doubles, pushing the contest into a nerve-wracking Grand Rally.

While Mumbai kept clawing back, Bengaluru held their nerve, edging a dramatic 21–20 golden-point finish.

Later, Capital Warriors Gurgaon came out swinging against unbeaten Super Warriors, stunning the league leaders in the opening tie.

Arik Badami set the tone, using sharp kitchen-line control to outplay Mitch Hargreaves 15–11 in the men’s singles.

But Chennai hit back, as Hargreaves and Harsh Mehta held firm in a high-speed men’s doubles battle, edging Stavya Bhasin and Jack Munro 15–14 to level the tie.

From there, Chennai shifted gears. Roos van Reek powered past Emilia Schmidt 15–12, before partnering Aaliya Ebrahim to claim the women’s doubles by the same margin.

Chennai capped their comeback in style, overturning a late deficit in the Grand Rally to win 21–18 and extend their flawless run.

In another match, Lucknow Leopards and Hyderabad Royals squared off with both sides looking for a quick return to winning ways. Ryler DeHeart gave Lucknow a clean start, dictating tempo in a calm 15–9 win over Divyanshu Kataria. Hyderabad hit back as Kataria and Ben Newell took the men’s doubles 15–12 to level the tie.

Megan Fudge then blitzed the women’s singles 15–4 and carried that control into the women’s doubles with Snehal Patil, winning 15–10. With a 3–1 cushion, Hyderabad sealed the Grand Rally 21–12 for a commanding victory.

Capital Warriors Gurgaon will face Lucknow Leopards on day 4, Bengaluru Blasters take on Chennai Super Warriors and Mumbai Smashers will be up against Hyderabad Royals.

Published on Dec 03, 2025