Indian sports wrap, January 6: Chennai rider wins silver at Junior National Equestrian Championships
EQUESTRIAN
Chennai’s Kevin Gabriel and Soulmate win silver at Junior National Championships 2024, help team secure historic gold
The young riders from Chennai Equitation Centre have returned from the Junior National Championships 2024 in New Delhi with a historic 18 medals, setting an all-time record for the team. This victory marks a landmark achievement for the Chennai-based equestrian academy, which has consistently placed at the top in Dressage competitions.
In the Children 2 (10-12 years) category, Kevin Gabriel , riding his horse Soulmate (competition name: Sechs Richtige), played a key role in securing the team’s gold in Children- 2 category. Kevin also earned an individual silver medal, while teammate Eshan Sundaram claimed Gold with his black mare, Fame of Viberty. The team also featured Punav Suresh on Grandduke and Hasini B from Coimbatore. Miraya Dhadabhoy with her horse Knock-out claimed the team gold alongside Sankara Rathore with FT in the Junior category.
“In horse-riding the partnership between horse and rider is essential to perform at the top. It is a great sport for children and juniors to make them mentally and physically strong as well as build a trusted relationship with their 500 kg sport-partner: the horse. The kind of experience and life-lessons they learn with us stay with them for life and benefit them well beyond their active riding career. “says Isabelle Futnani.
Kevin Gabriel, who began riding at the age of 10, has already established an impressive track record. In 2022, he won his first national competition and was honored with the Best Youngest Rider award. Under the mentorship of Isabelle at the Chennai Equitation Centre, Kevin earned an individual Silver medal and contributed to the team’s historic Gold at the Junior National Championships. To date, Kevin has won 21 medals and 3 trophies and remains committed to reaching new milestones in his equestrian career.
Chennai Equitation Centre, known for its world-class training facilities and experienced instructors, has been a nurturing ground for equestrian talent in India. Over the years, it has consistently produced top riders who have represented the country at both national and international competitions.
Results from Junior National Championships New Delhi 2024:
Age Group: Children 2
Dressage Event:
Team Gold – Hasini B – FT
Team Gold – Punav Suresh – Grandduke
Team Gold – Kevin Gabriel- Soulmate
Team Gold – Eshan Sundaram – Fame
Children 2
Individual Dressage Event:
Gold – Eshan Sundaram – Fame
Silver – Kevin Gabriel – Soulmate
Age Group: Children 1
Dressage Event:
Team Gold – Shubh Chowdhari – FT
Team Gold – Pranav Deepak- Fame
Team Gold – Ananya Sajith Haridas- Knock-out
Team Gold – Inaraa Milan Mehta – Soulmate
Children 1
Individual Dressage Event:
Gold – Shubh Chowdhari – FT
Silver – Pranav Deepak- Fame
Age Group: Juniors
Dressage Event:
TeamGold – Miraya Dadhabhoy- Knock-out
TeamGold – Sanskar Rathore – FT
Junior
Individual Dressage Event:
Silver – Sanskar Rathore – FT
Age Group: Young Rider
Team Dressage Event
TeamGold – Jaiveer Varma – Soulmate
TeamBronze – Samanna Everaa – Knock-out
Young Rider
Individual Dressage Event
Silver – Jaiveer Verma – Soulmate
– Team Sportstar
MARATHON
Bugatha, Nirmaben aim to defend Indian men’s and women’s crowns in Mumbai Marathon
Defending men’s and women’s champions Srinu Bugatha and Thakor Nirmaben will headline a star-studded Indian elite field for the Tata Mumbai Marathon (TMM) to be held on January 19.
Reigning Asian marathon champion Man Singh, Olympian Gopi T, a two-time winner and three-time runner-up, and the experienced Kalidas Hirve are among the leading contenders in the men’s race.
Gopi won the 2024 New Delhi Marathon with a time of 2:14.40, pipping second-placed Army-mate Bugatha by one second.
Maharashtra’s Hirve, who finished third in the 2023 edition underlined his current form by winning the recent Vasai-Virar Mayor’s Marathon.
The World Athletics Gold Label race will also see Kartik Kumar, the 2023 Asian Games 10,000m silver medallist, making his debut over the classic distance in Mumbai.
Kartik’s best marathon time is 2:22:50, which he recorded in Bengaluru in October last year. Also in the mix is young Harshad Mahtre, who finished fifth in the last edition.
Challenging Nirmaben, runner-up at the 2024 New Delhi Marathon, will be Sonika Parmar and Reenu, winner and runner-up respectively at the 2024 Coal India Ranchi Marathon.
In the fray also is Mumbai Marathon regular Arati Patil, who finished second in the 2023 edition.
The top three finishers in the Indian elite men’s and women’s categories will receive prize money of Rs 5 lakh, 4 lakh and 3 lakh respectively from the total prize fund of USD 390,238.
An incentive reward of Rs 2 lakh is up for grabs for setting a new TMM mark, which is currently held by Nitendra Singh Rawat in the men’s 2016 edition (2:15:48) and Sudha Singh in the women’s 2019 edition (2:34:56).
– PTI
TENNIS
Adelaide International 2025: Bopanna beaten by compatriot Balaji in men’s doubles
Rohan Bopanna, and new partner Nicolas Barrientos, was ousted of the Adelaide International on Monday by fellow compatriot N. Sriram Balaji and partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela in a thriller.
Bopanna/Barrientos was beaten by Balaji/Reyes-Varela 6-4, 2-6, [7-10] in the Round of 32 match.
Both the pairs will be taking part in the upcoming Australian Open which will begin from January 12.
– Team Sportstar
Arnav Paparkar outwits Kerem Yilmaz in ITF junior
Arnav Paparkar played a sharp game to outwit the fifth seed Kerem Yilmaz of Turkey 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Monday.
Arnav was joined in the second round by top seed Rethin Pranav, Samarth Sahita, Varun Verma and sixth seed Hitesh Chauhan.
Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar in action.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arranegement
Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar in action.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arranegement
In the girls section, Aishwarya Jadhav beat Daria Koreshkova for the loss of five games, and Rishitha Basireddy had a tougher outing against Eva Korysheva of Kazakhstan while winning 7-6(4), 6-3.
Maaya Rajeshwaran will play fourth seed Ada Kumru of Turkey on Tuesday.
In the boys section, Aarjun Pandit, Arjun Rathi and Sehaj Singh Pawar will play their first-round matches on the morrow.
The results (first round):
Under-18 boys: Rethin Pranav bt Eito Komada (Jpn) 6-3, 6-4; Alexey Shibaev bt Jay Lin Gibson (Can) 6-4, 6-4; Samarth Sahita bt Alan Aiukhanov 6-1, 6-4; Varun Verma bt Ilya Maltsev 7-5, 7-5; Donghyun Hwang (Kor) bt Rian Sharma 7-5, 6-2; Arnav Paparkar bt Kerem Yilmaz (Tur) 6-1, 6-4; Roman Kharlamov bt Shanker Heisnam 6-1, 6-2; Hyeon Seok Seo (Kor) bt Aarav Chawla 6-2, 6-1; Hitesh Chauhan bt Ruslan Kastsiukevich 6-3, 6-4; Roshan Santhosh (USA) bt Artem Bogomolov 6-2, 6-1.
Under-18 girls: Polina Berezina bt Masa Jankovic (Srb) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Irem Kurt (Tur) bt Riya Sachceva 6-3, 7-5; Polina Kuharenko bt Margot Phanthala (Fra) 6-0, 6-4; Anna Perelman bt Daphnee Perricard (Fra) 6-0, 2-0 (retired); Aoi Watanabe (Jpn) bt Aishi Bisht 6-4, 6-3; Allegra Davies (GBR) bt Eva Desvignes (Fra) 2-6, 6-1, 6-3; Rishitha Basireddy bt Eva Korysheva (Kaz) 7-6(4), 6-3; Petra Konjikusic (Srb) bt Dune Vaissaud (Fra) 6-4, 6-1; Aishwarya Jadhav bt Daria Koreshkova 6-2, 6-3.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
-Team Sportstar
Mathys Erhard seeded No. 1 in Bhopal ITF men’s tennis tournament
Mathys Erhard of France has been seeded No. 1 in the $30,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament to be played at the Arera Club from Tuesday.
In the absence of Ramkumar Ramanathan, none of the Indian players have got the seeding.
However, some of the good players like Sidharth Rawat, Dhakshineswar Suresh, Sai Karteek Reddy, Yuvan Nandal, Rohan Mehra and Parth Aggarwal qualified to strengthen the home challenge.
Only five Indian players Aryan Shah, Siddharth Vishwakarma, Chirag Duhan, Dev Javia and S.D. Prajwal Dev got direct entry into the main draw. As luck would have it, Aryan plays Prajwal in the first round. Chirag will challenge the champion of the last tournament Alastair Gray of Britain in the first round.
The seedings:
1. Mathys Erhard (Fra), 2. Oliver Cawford (GBR), 3. Bogdan Bobrov, 4. Florent Bax (Fra), 5. Yurii Dzhavakian (Ukr), 6. Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr), 7. Dominik Palan (Cze), 8. Egor Agafonov.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
KHO KHO
Odisha government announces three-year sponsorship for Indian kho kho team
The Odisha government on Monday announced a three-year sponsorship deal for the Indian national kho kho team, marking a significant step forward in promoting indigenous sports in the country.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said the state will invest Rs 5 crore annually from January 2025 to December 2027, with funding provided through the Odisha Mining Corporation.
The total sponsorship package of Rs 15 crore demonstrates Odisha’s continued commitment to sports development, following its successful partnership with Indian hockey. This initiative aims to elevate Kho Kho’s status and provide essential support to the national team.
– PTI
BASKETBALL
Karnataka beats Punjab at National Basketball Championship
Karnataka beat the formidable Punjab 89-83 after trailing 28-37 at halftime in a group-B league match of the 74th National basketball championship at the Sidsar Sports Complex on Monday.
Aravind Arumugam, Pratyanshu Tomar, Abhishek Gowda and Anil Kumar combined well to tame Punjab for which Amjyot Gill and Amritpal Singh scored 38 points between them.
The defending champions in the men’s and women’s sections, Tamil Nadu and Railways beat the Delhi teams.
The results (league):
Men: Group-A: Services 92 (YP Abhishek 22, Rahul 22, Mahipal Singh 13, Sahil 11, Siva Sakthivel 10) bt Rajasthan 82 (Ashik Hooda 20, Mahaveer 18, Mohammad Ishan 13, Jaideep Rathore 12).
Tamil Nadu 95 (A Anantharaj 17, Lokeswaran 15, Muin Bek 14, Aravind Muthukumar 12) bt Delhi 56 (Ayush Sharma 18).
Group-B: Railways 98 (Amrendra Naik 22, Vishnu Prasad 15, Sahaj Pratap Singh Sekhon 12, Tushal Singh 11) bt Chandigarh 45 (Gandham Sai Roshan 14, Gautam Yadav 10).
Karnataka 89 (Aravind Arumugam 22, Pratyanshu Tomar 21, Abishek Gowda 17, Anil Kumar 16) bt Punjab 83 (Amjyot Gill 21, Amritpal Singh 17, Kanwar Gurbaz Singh Sandhu 14, Navkarman Singh 14, Nawaz Singh 11).
Punjab 89 (Amjyot Gill 25, Nawaz Singh 19, Kanwar Gurbaz Singh Sandhu 17, Gurwinder Singh 10) bt Madhya Pradesh 56 (Brijesh Tiwari 17, Surya Singh 10).
Women: Group-A: Railways 91 (Poonam Chaturvedi 31, K Satya 16) bt Delhi 62 (Prakriti Ranjan 22, Namrata 13).
Madhya Pradesh 81 (Yashika Singhal 22, K Riya 12, Kushi Singh 12) bt Punjab 41 (Manmeet Singh 14, Priyanka Behal 10).
Group-B: Kerala 68 (Susan Florentina 15, R Sreekala 12, Swapna Marin Jiju 12) bt Chhattisgarh 45 (Divyani Gangwal 25).
Tamil Nadu 65 (Lopamudra thimmaiah 19, R Sruthy 12, S Krithika 10) bt Gujarat 47 (Naomi Lakhanpal 12).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
SQUASH
Anahat Singh win U-17 Girls’ title at the British Junior Open
India’s rising squash star Anahat Singh on Monday won the U-17 title in the British Junior Open with a fighting win over Egypt’s Malika El Karaksy in Birmingham.
The 16-year-old Indian, seeded first, came from behind to beat her second seeded opponent 4-11, 11-9, 6-11, 11,5, 11-3.
Anahat has also won the tournament previously in the U-11 and U-15 category. She had lost in the U-17 final last year.
In 2022, Delhi-based Anahat had become the youngest Indian athlete to compete at the Commonwealth Games.
She is also a bronze medallist at the Asian Games and Asian Championships. She is currently 82 in the PSA world rankings.