Representative Image: Tamil Nadu men won 80-56 against Punjab, after leading 48-26 at half time at the 74th National basketball championship. | Photo Credit: AP
Representative Image: Tamil Nadu men won 80-56 against Punjab, after leading 48-26 at half time at the 74th National basketball championship. | Photo Credit: AP
BASKETBALL
Tamil Nadu, Railways clinch titles at National basketball championship
Champions Tamil Nadu and Railways comfortably defended their title in the men’s and women’s sections respectively in the 74th National basketball championship at the Sidsar Sports Complex on Sunday.
Tamil Nadu men won 80-56 against Punjab, after leading 48-26 at half time. Equally, Railways was assertive in its 86-53 victory over Kerala in the women’s final, after leading 46-36 at the interval.
The ‘Most valuable player’ awards, with a Maruti WagonR car as prize, were bagged by Pranav Prince of Tamil Nadu and Dharshini Thirunavukkarasu of Railways.
The champion teams received five lakh rupees each, and the runner-up, three lakh rupees. Railways men and Tamil Nadu women won the third place and collected two lakh rupees each.
R Sreekala of Kerala and Kanwar Gurbaz Singh Sandhu were presented Rs.50,000 each for their prowess in shooting three-pointers.
The results:
Men (final): Tamil Nadu 80 (Anantharaj 17, Aravind Kumar 17, Muin Bek Hafeez 15) bt Punjab 56 (Amritpal Singh 20, Amjyot Singh 15).
Third place: Railways 71 (Sahaj Pratap Singh Sekhon 16, Santhosh Mani 14, Principal Singh 13, Tushal Singh 11, Papreet Singh 10) bt Karnataka 50 (Abhishek gowda 19, Pratyanshu Tomar 11).
Women (final): Railways 86 (Dharshini Thirunavukkarasu 16, Pushpa Senthil Kumar 14, Poonam Chaturvedi 13) bt Kerala 53 (R Sreekala 18, Susan Florentina 17, VJ Jayalakshmi 12).
Third place: Tamil Nadu 86 (Nitika amuthan 26, Krithika Sureshbabu 16, Harima Sundari 11, R Sruthy 10) bt delhi 64 (Garima Gosain 16, Namrata 12).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
TENNIS
Karman awarded wild card entry for ITF women’s tennis tournament
Karman Kaur Thandi, returning to the professional circuit after more than a year, has been awarded a wild card entry for the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament to be played at the DLTA Complex from Tuesday.
The 26-year-old Karman, who was ranked a career best 196 in the world in 2018, had last played the WTA tournament in Hong Kong in October 2023.
Vaishnavi Adkar, Riya Bhatia and Akanksha NItture were the others to be given the wild cards for the main event.
Only Ankita Raina, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Vaidehi Chaudhari could get direct entry into the main draw, in which Darja Semenistaja of Latvia has been seeded No.1.
Another top player, Pranjala Yadlapalli, returning to the circuit after missing the whole of last year, got beaten in the first round of the qualifying event by Misaki Matsuda of Japan.
Five other Indian players, Diva Bhatia, Shefali Arora, Lakshmi Gowda, Yashika Shokeen and Lakshmi Prabha also found it hard against high quality players and failed to win a set between them in the first round of the qualifying event.
The second and final qualifying round will be played on Monday.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Gray clinches second successive title on Indian soil
Alastair Gray of Britain won his second successive title on Indian soil as he beat Maxim Zhukov 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the $30,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the Arera Club on Sunday.
Gray who had won the title last week in Indore, has not dropped a set in 10 singles matches over the fortnight.
It was the eighth singles title in the pro circuit for the 26-year-old Briton who was ranked a career-best 237 in 2022.
The results (final): Alastair Gray (GBR) bt Maxim Zhukov 6-3, 6-4.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
MOTORSPORTS
Ashad Pasha claims triple crown, maiden national title for Pallavi Yadav
Multiple National champion Ashad Pasha clocked the fastest time of the finals and also won a triple crown in the Fmsci Indian National Autocross Championship 2024, organized by Madras Motor Sports Club at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.
FMSCI Indian National Autocross Championship 2024 title winners. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
FMSCI Indian National Autocross Championship 2024 title winners. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Pasha, the 31-year-old Chikkamagaluru driver, who is based in Muscat, added three more National titles to his kitty. Ashad Pasha clocked 4min 05.41sec in the premier INAC1 Open Class C finals and later clinched the Class B titles. His win in Class C though is awaiting ratification following a protest.
In INAC3 stock classes, Amey Desai (Mapusa, Goa), and Kushal Chaudhari (Kolkata) won two titles each. While Desai bagged National titles in the Class A and Class C, Chadhari took Class B and Class E honours.
Pallavi Shamrao Yadav, 43, from Kolhapur bagged her maiden National title winning the Ladies class. Last year she qualified from the West Zone at Goa but could not attend the finals.
Raunak Jana won INAC2 Class E while Nameer Pasha clinched the Amateur Class title. Sravan Kumar Kuttoor of Hyderabad claimed the 4WD Open crown
The results (Provisional – best laps):
INAC1 Open Class B: 1. Kiran Reddy (Bengaluru) (04mins, 17.28sec).
INAC1 Open Class C: 1. Ashad Pasha (Chikkamagaluru) (04:05.41); 2. Amandeep Singh (Delhi) (04:19.83); 3. Ashish Gupta (Chennai) (05:01.35).
INAC2 Class B: 1. Ashad Pasha (04:08.93).
INAC2 Class C: 1. Ashad Pasha (04:07.932); 2. Sunny Sharma (Faridabad) (04.14.89); 3. Raunak Jana (Kolkata) (04:16.62). Result is provisional pending decision on a protest.
INAC2 Class E: 1. Raunak Jana (04:12.66); 2. Karan Chaudhary (Kolkata) (04:13.34); 3. Nameer Pasha (Chikkamagaluru) (04:17.83).
INAC3 Stock Class A: 1. Amey Desai (Mapusa, Goa) (04:43.59); 2. Kartik Konchady (Mumbai) (04:43.63); 3. Karan Panikar (Navi Mumbai) (05:00.65).
INAC3 Stock Class B: 1. Kushal Chaudhari (New Panvel) (04:35.76).
INAC3 Stock Class C: 1. Amey Desai (04:32.18); 2. Sravan Kumar Kuttoor (Hyderabad) (04:44.63); 3. Pallavi Shamrao Yadav (05:50.75).
INAC3 Stock Class E: 1. Kushal Chaudhari (04:28.56); 2. Areeb Rahman (Kolkata) (04:31.43); 3. Nilanjan Banerjee (Kolkata) (04:42.11).
Ladies Open: 1. Pallavi Shamrao Yadav (Kolhapur) (05:57.36).
4WD Open: 1. Sravan Kumar Kuttoor (04:22.83); 2. Raunak Jana (04:31.32).
Amateur: 1. Nameer Pasha (04:30.95); 2. Ashish Gupta (05:48.66).
-Team Sportstar
ATHLETICS
Services take home men’s trophy, Railways win women’s team title in National Cross Country
Services’ Hukam and Ankita of Railways claimed the men’s and women’s 10km individual titles at the 59th National Cross Country Championships on Sunday.
While the Services won the overall team championship in the men’s group, Railways walked away with the women’s trophy.
Efforts of Services runners, including that of Hukam (1st place), Ishwar Verma (2nd), Pramod Singh (4th) and Ravi Dass (5th) ensured they stayed ahead of their rivals to take home the men’s trophy.
Railways finished second while Rajasthan was third on the table.
The women’s team title went to Railways. Uttar Pradesh and the Police Sports Control Board were second and third respectively.
The runners from Uttar Pradesh dominated the U-20 men’s race, winning both individual and team titles. Maharashtra won the women’s U-20 team trophy.
In cross country running, teams and individuals run races on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road and minor obstacles.
Results:
Men 10km: Individual: 1. Hukam (Services) 29:43.46, 2. Ishwar Verma (Services) 29:43.89, 3. Bhavishya (Railways) 29:43.98.
Men’s 10km team: 1. Services, 2. Railways, 3. Rajasthan.
Women 10km: Individual: 1. Ankita (Railways) 34:45.16, 2. Jyoti (Haryana) 34:46.85, 3. Shraddha Kathiriya (Railways) 34:49.07.
Women’s 10km team: 1. Railways, 2. Uttar Pradesh, 3. Police Sports Control Board.
-PTI
KHO KHO
Stage set for Kho Kho World Cup
The Indira Gandhi Stadium on Sunday was abuzz with activity as the 24 participating nations came together to create a carnival atmosphere in the build-up to the inaugural Kho Kho World Cup.
The Kho Kho Federation of India (KKFI) will hope that this tournament, which begins on Monday, acts as the catalyst for the traditional tag game to gain in popularity beyond the subcontinent.
After the opening ceremony on Monday evening, the first game of the tournament will see host India take on Nepal in the men’s section. “Nepal will be a tough opponent. When India won gold in the Asian Championship in 2023, we had faced Nepal in the final,” India women’s team coach Sumit Bhatia said.
There are 20 teams divided into four groups of five each in the men’s section. India is in Group A alongside Nepal, Peru, Brazil and Bhutan. In the women’s competition, 19 teams are taking part. Here too, India is in Group A with Iran, Malaysia and South Korea for company.
-Team Sportstar