Indian sports wrap, July 31: Subroto Cup to kick-off on August 5
FOOTBALL
63rd Subroto Cup to kick-off on August 5 with the highest participation in tournament history
The 63rd Subroto Cup football tournament will start with the Junior girls event in the National Capital Region (NCR) from August 5 to 14.
Four grounds including the iconic Ambedkar Stadium will be used for the tournament. It will be followed by the sub-juniors boys competition in Bengaluru from August 19 to 28.
The junior boys event is scheduled to be played in Delhi NCR from September 2 to 11.
A record 111 teams are scheduled to participate this year from across the country apart from teams from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.
The best players from the junior boys and girls sections will be given exposure at the Indian Football Centre in Austria/Germany.
“The Indian Air Force (IAF) is committed to make the tournament bigger and better every year, providing a platform for the young to take the next step in their career,” said Air Marshal R. K. Anand, addressing the media on Wednesday.
– Team Sportstar
TENNIS
ITF Women: Niki Poonacha-Hans Verdugo win in pre-quarterfinals
Niki Poonacha in partnership with Hans Verdugo beat Govind Nanda and Cooper Williams 6-3, 6-4 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $82,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Lexington, USA.
The results:
$82,000 Challenger, Lexington, USA
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Hans Verdugo (Mex) & Niki Poonacha bt Govind Nanda & Cooper Williams (USA) 6-3, 6-4.
$25,000 ITF men, Taipei, Taiwan
Singles (first round): S Mukund bt Chung Yun Seong (Kor) 6-1, 2-1 (retired).
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sai Karteek Reddy & Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (Tha) bt Takuya Kumasaka & Taiyo Yamanaka (Jpn) 6-1, 6-3.
$25,000 ITF men, Brazzaville, Congo
Singles (first round): Dev Javia bt Anurag Agarwal 6-1, 6-0; Aayush Bhat ((USA) bt Rishi Reddy 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(8); Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) bt Aditya Balsekar 6-2, 6-0; Yuvan Nandal bt Harry Thursfield (GBR) 7-5, 7-5.
$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia
Singles (first round): Theo Herrmann (Fra) bt Chirag Duhan 6-4, 6-4.
$75,000 ITF women, Lexington, USA
Singles (first round): Iryna Shymanovich bt Sahaja Yamalapalli 7-5, 6-4.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Shrivalli Bhamidipaty & Mananchaya Sawangaew (Tha) bt Destanee Aiava (Aus) & Dalayna Hewitt (USA) 6-3, 6-4.
$25,000 ITF women, Roehampton, Britain
Singles (first round): Eri Shimizu (Jpn) bt Ankita Raina 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
$25,000 ITF women, Mohammedia, Morocco
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Vaishnavi Adkar & Rinko Matsuda (Jpn) bt Chelsea Fontenel (Sui) & Sandra Samir 5-2 (retired).
$15,000 ITF women, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan
Singles (first round): Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Anastasiya Krymkova (Kaz) 6-0, 6-2.
$15,000 ITF women, Tbilisi, Georgia
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Haine Ogata (Jpn) bt Saumya Vig 6-1, 6-3. Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Selina Atay (Tur) & Haine Ogata (Jpn) bt Shria Atturu (USA) & Smriti Bhasin 6-3, 6-3.
– Team Sportstar
ATHLETICS
Services Athletics Championships: Afsal breaks 800m meet record
Asian Games silver medallist Mohammed Afsal (Air Force) broke the 800m meet record, clocking 1:47.06s, in the 73rd Services athletics championships at the SAI-LNCPE Stadium here on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Navy’s former Asian bronze medallist M.P. Jabir won the 400m hurdles in 49.99s.
Army Red was on level with Navy (55 points) on top of the points table with Air Force (32) in the third spot at the end of day three.
Results
800m: 1. Mohammed Afsal (AF) 1:47.06s MR, OR 1:48.02; 2. Prakash Gadade (AR) 1:47.93 BR, 3. Parvej Khan (IN) 1:48.19.
400m hurdles: 1. M.P. Jabir (IN) 49.99s, 2. Dhaval Utekar (AF) 50.34, 3. Nikhil Bhardwaj (IN) 50.63.
Pole vault: 1. R. Yugendran (IN) 5.00m, 2. Rambeer Singh (AG) 5.00m, 3. Gaurav (AG) 4.80.
Discus throw: 1. Gagandeep Singh (IN) 55.57m, 2. P. Malik (AF) 55.08, 3. Praveen Kumar (AR) 51.43. Decathlon: 1. S. Stalin Joes (AR) 6859 pts, 2. K.R. Gokul (IN) 6777, 3. Kamal Singh (AG) 6750.
-Stan Rayan
SURFING
Top Indian surfers to take part in 3rd edition of Mahabs Point Break Challenge
The Mahabs Point Break Challenge will be the third stop of the ongoing National Surf Series, where top Indian surfers will vie for top honours.
The event will be held adjacent to the Shore Temple here on August 1 and and will also be its third edition, a press release said.
In the men’s Open category, defending champion Ramesh Budihal will return and will eye a hat-trick of victories. However, he will be up against strong competitors like Srikanth D, Ajeesh Ali, Harish M, Sivaraj Babu, and Sanjay S.
Ajeesh, Harish and Srikanth had also been recently named in the Indian squad for the Asian Surfing Championship.
Meanwhile, Under-16 surfing champions Kishore Kumar and Tayin Arun will also compete in the Open category.
In the women’s Open category, current national number one P Kamali will be looking to secure her overall national championship.
Also, Sugar Shanthi Banarse will be eyeing a win to keep her championship ranking hopes alive.
The event will witness a total of 76 surfers participating including 48 in the Open Men category.
The championship will see participation from different states, the release said.
“The level of competition in the Open Men category is quite fierce, and the quality of surfing in India is growing. We are excited to witness such a high calibre of talent at this year’s Mahabs Point Break Challenge,” said Arun Vasu, President of the Surfing Federation of India.
-PTI