Indian sports wrap, February 21: Vaishnavi upsets second seed Tararudee to reach ITF Women’s Bengaluru Open final

TENNIS

Vaishnavi Adkar continued her giant-killing spree at the ITF Women’s Bengaluru Open, a USD 100,000 event, on Saturday as she stunned second seed Lanlana Tararudee in straight sets to reach the final.

Vaishnavi, the 21-year-old wildcard currently ranked 690 in the world, took down Thai World No. 126 Tararudee 6-3, 6-3 in 66 minutes at the S.M. Krishna Stadium. The Indian had earlier upset eighth-seeded Japanese Mai Hontama and fourth-seeded Australia Taylah Preston in the second round and the quarterfinals.

Against Tararudee, Vaishnavi impressed with a flurry of backhand winners. She also had a solid first-serve percentage – 73.1 – compared to the Thai’s 51.

World University Games bronze medallist Vaishnavi will face either third-seeded Belgian Hanne Vandewinkel (World No. 124) or fifth-seeded Russian Polina Iatcenko (World No. 160) for the biggest title of her career.

-Team Sportstar

ATHLETICS

Baboo and Manju walk away with full marathon titles on Day 1 of Indian Open Race Walk event

Uttar Pradesh’s international athlete Ram Baboo and Punjab’s Manju claimed gold medals in the newly-introduced men’s and women’s full marathon walk events respectively at the Indian Open Race Walk Competition held on Saturday.

The 26-year-old Baboo clocked three hours, nine minutes and 17 seconds to win the gold medal in the gruelling 42-km full marathon walk event introduced by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

On his way to gold in his season’s first event, the Asian Games bronze medallist in the 35km mixed walk team event, edged past his more fancied rival Sandeep Kumar of Haryana at the course just beside the picturesque Sukhna Lake.

Olympian and Commonwealth Games medallist Sandeep settled for silver with a time of 3:11:18.00.

Meanwhile, Manju emerged on top in a strong field that included experienced race walker and Olympian Priyanka Goswami of Uttar Pradesh.

Manju stayed with the leading group of three athletes, including Priyanka, till the 32km mark of the race. Thereafter, she made a decisive move. As the race progressed, she left behind Priyanka who finished second.

Manju’s winning time of 3:33:24.00 was nearly four minutes faster than Priyanka who finished second with a time of 3:37:25.00.

-PTI

Published on Feb 21, 2026