HOCKEY
Hockey Manipur qualifies for quarterfinals of Senior Women National Championship
Manipur progressed to the quarterfinals with an 11-2 win over Uttarakhand in a Pool G match as the league stage of the Senior Women National Championship concluded in Pune on Tuesday.
Karnataka also ended its campaign on a high, beating Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu Hockey 13-0 in another pool G game.
With the top team from each Pool qualifying for the knock-outs, the stage is set for some high-octane action. All the quarterfinals are scheduled to take place on March 20.
The first quarterfinal will be played between defending champion Madhya Pradesh and Bengal, while host Maharashtra will face off against Manipur in the second quarterfinal.
The third quarterfinal will see Jharkhand play Mizoram, while Haryana will play Odisha in the fourth quarterfinal.
For Manipur, it was its third win in three matches as it topped Pool G.
Sarita Dev Bramhacharimayum (8th, 24th), Prabhleen Kaur (14th, 45th) and Chingshubam Sanggai Ibemhal (53rd, 60th) scored a brace each, while Vartika Rawat (5th), Sonia Devi Kshetrimayum (7th), Ranjita Sanasam (44th), captain Lily Chanu Mayengbam (57th) and Chanu Lanchenbi Khundrakpam (59th) scored a goal each for Manipur.
The two goals for Uttarakhand were field goals that came from the sticks of Komal Dhami (36th) and Monika Chand (41st).
Earlier the day, Karnataka defeated Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu Hockey 13-0.
Captain of Hockey Karnataka, Kruthika SP (15th, 26th, 56th, 56th) led from the front with four goals, while MG Yashika (20th, 38th, 58th) scored a hat-trick, Chandana J (33rd, 37th) scored a brace and Adira S (43rd), Prashu Singh Parihar (48th), Anjali H R (55th) and Gedela Gayatri (60rg) scored a goal each.
– PTI
GOLF
Kolkata Challenge to start from March 21
Seasoned golfers Arjun Atwal and S.S.P. Chawrasia will be among the leading Indian golfers to be seen in action in the inaugural Kolkata Challenge at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) course here from Thursday as international golf returns to the city after a gap of 25 years.
All eyes will be on Atwal, a PGA Tour and three-time DP World Tour winner, and Chawrasia, a four-time DP World Tour winner, as they will play on their home course. In the last international event staged at the RCGC, the 1999 Indian Open, Atwal had emerged as the winner whereas Chawrasia was joint second.
Other top Indians including Gaganjeet Bhullar, Om Prakash Chouhan, Manu Gandas, Rashid Khan and Challenge Tour stars John Parry, Mikael Lindberg, Björn Åkesson, Martin Couvra and Lucas Bjerregaard will also feature in the event, as per an announcement at a press conference here on Tuesday.
The tournament, co-sanctioned by the European Challenge Tour and Tata Steel Professional Golf Tour of India, carries a prize purse of $300,000 and constitutes the second event in the two-week Indian leg (also including Delhi) of the Challenge Tour.
-Team Sportstar
TENNIS
ITF men’s tournament: Yuvan Nandal defeats Adil Kalyanpu
Yuvan Nandal beat Adil Kalyanpur 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the HPCL-Mittal $15,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex on Tuesday.
One of the brightest juniors, the 18-year-old Yuvan was ranked world No.38 last year. With the win he ensured an ATP point and entry into the men’s ranking list. Yuvan will play the winner of the match between Siddharth Vishwakarma and qualifier Shivank Bhatnagar.
In the doubles pre-quarterfinals, top seeds SD Prajwal Dev and Nitin Kumar Sinha were beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Thanapet Chanta and Kazuma Kawachi.
The results:
Singles (first round): Yuvan Nandal bt Adil Kalyanpur 7-5, 6-3; Bang Shuo Yin (Tpe) bt Kazuma Kawachi 6-2, 6-2; Sidharth Rawat bt Yuchiro Inui (Jpn) 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-1; Woobin Shin (Kor) bt Ajay Kundu 6-3, 6-1.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Thanapet Chanta (Tha) & Kazuma Kawachi (Jpn) bt SD Prajwal Dev & Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-4, 6-2; Kabir Hans & Khumoyun Sultanov (Uzb) bt Ivan Deisov & Adil Kalyanpur 6-3, 6-4; Parth Agarwal & VM Ranjeet bt Madhwin Kamath & Mitsuki Leong (Mas) 6-2, 6-4; Bharath Kumaran & Rishi Reddy bt Rakshit Dhankhar & Ashwajit Senjam 6-4, 6-2; Siddhant Banthia & Karan Singh bt Chen-Yu Lu & Bang Shuo Yin (Tpe) 4-6, 6-4, [15-13]; Manish Sureshkumar & Vishnu Vardhan bt Yash Chaurasia & Jagmeet Singh 6-4, 6-4.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Adiya Omarbek defeats second seed Priyanka Rana
Qualifier Adiya Omarbek of Kazakhstan beat second seed Priyanka Rana of USA 6-1, 6-2 in the girls pre-quarterfinals of the Indian Tree ITF junior tennis tournament at the Shanti Academy on Tuesday.
In the boys pre-quarterfinals, top seed Aarjun Pandit fought his way past Vishal Prakash 7-6(4), 7-5.
The results (pre-quarterfinals):
Boys: Aarjun Pandit bt Vishal Prakash 7-6(4), 7-5; Praneel Sharma bt Prakaash Sarran 6-1, 6-1; Oswaldo Tirado (Mex) bt Varchasva Thapliyag 6-2, 6-1; Rian Sharma bt Ojas Mehlawat 6-4, 6-2; Pratyaksh bt Tavish Pahwa 7-6(2), 6-3; Samarth Sahita bt Aarav Chawla 6-1, 6-4; Sriniketh Kannan bt Shaurya Swarup 6-1, 6-0; Hyu Kawanishi (Jpn) bt Aashravya Mehra 6-2, 0-6, 6-4.
Girls: Rioko Umekuni (Jpn) bt Maelys James (Fra) 6-2, 6-1; Diya Chaudhary bt Harithashree Venkatesh 7-5, 6-1; Viktoria Sedova bt Reet Arora 6-4, 6-2; Eva Korysheva (Kaz) bt Pehal Kharadkar 7-5, 6-3; Yu-Ching Huang (Tpe) bt Anvi Punaganti 6-4, 6-2; Dinara De Silva (Sri) bt Diya Ramesh 6-0, 6-4; Polina Nikitina bt Asmi Adkar 7-5, 7-6(2); Adiya Omarbek (Kaz) bt Priyanka Rana (USA) 6-1, 6-2.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
BADMINTON
Sathish Kumar Karunakar advances in Swiss Open
India’s Sathish Kumar Karunakar won the first two men’s singles matches and progressed in the Swiss Open badminton here on Tuesday.
The seasoned Sameer Verma rallied to beat fourth-seeded Brazilian Ygor Coelho 11-21 21-10 21-14, while Karunakar first won his match against Uriel Francisco Canjura Artiga of Salvador 21-18 21-12 and then defeated Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Ji in the qualification.
However, Verma lost his next qualification match to Alwi Farhan 18-21 12-21.
In mixed doubles qualification, the team of Sumeeth B Reddy and Sikki Reddy got the better of Brazil’s Davi Silva and Samia Lima 21-12 21-17.
In the men’s doubles qualification, Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasa beat Natan Begga and Baptiste Labarthe of France 21-17 21-15.
-PTI
