Indian sports wrap, January 11: Odisha’s Rima clinches gold in Khelo India weightlifting tournament

WEIGHTLIFTING

The third day of Khelo India Asmita Women National Zonal League-2024-25 at Mahatama Gandhi Indoor Sports Stadium, Brahmapur (Odisha) started today and will witness 59 kg and 64 kg weight categories.

The results concluded weight categories are as under:-

59 kg Youth Girls section

– Mina Santa of Odisha bagged the Gold medal with a total of 157 kg.

– Seema Marandi of Jharkhand bagged the Silver medal with a total of 147 kg.

– Aarti of Haryana bagged the Bronze medal with a total of 146 kg.

59 kg Junior Women section

– Bidhusmita Bhoi of Odisha bagged the Gold medal with a total of 189 kg.

– Rajyashree Biswas of West Bengal bagged the Silver medal with a total of 188 kg.

– Mina Santa of Odisha bagged the Bronze medal with a total of 157 kg.

59 kg Senior Women section

– Rima Bhoi of Odisha bagged the Gold medal with a total of 192 kg.

– Rajyashree Biswas of West Bengal bagged the Silver medal with a total of 188 kg.

– Seema Marandi of Jharkhand bagged the Bronze medal with a total of 147 kg.

– Team Sportstar

TENNIS

Maaya Rajeshwaran beats Ekaterina Tupitsyna to win ITF junior tournament in Delhi

Maaya Rajeshwaran showed great character and fighting spirit to bounce back from the brink of defeat to beat Ekaterina Tupitsyna 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the final of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Saturday.

In front of the packed stands on show court No.6, it was Tupitsyna who was serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set. However, she did not hold serve then, and thereafter in the whole match, perhaps because she was grappling with a painful stomach.

Of course, the Russian was unable to cope with the fiery strokes of Maaya who put all her energy into the match, much to the delight of the fans.

The 15-year-old Maaya herself was unable to go up on her serve owing to a pulled muscle. There was no dearth of grit though as Maaya rode on the vociferous home support to break the resistance of the high quality opponent in a match of brilliant rallies and imaginative stroke play.

It did help to have coach Miguel Fragoso from the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain in the stands, as there was considerable clarity for Maaya in dealing with the crafty opponent.

It may be a little far fetched to compare Emma Raducanu of Britain winning the same event in Delhi in 2018, before becoming the US Open women’s champion in 2021.

Coach Fragoso put things in perspective by saying that he was impressed with the ability of Maaya to work hard and give her 100 per cent on court.

“We have taken four girls and Maaya is one. The immediate goal is to get her ready for the junior Grand Slams,” said Fragoso.

In the boys final, Donghyun Hwang of Korea proved a hard nut to crack for Roshan Santhosh as he dropped only two games. The seasoned coaches, Balram Singh and Nar Singh, presented the trophies.

The Results:

Under-18 boys: Donghyun Hwang (Kor) bt Roshan Santhosh (USA) 6-1, 6-1.

Under-18 girls: Maaya Rajeshwaran bt Ekaterina Tupitsyna 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

ITF women’s tennis tournament: Rutuja loses doubles final

Rutuja Bhosale in partnership with Eudice Chong of Hong Kong was beaten 4-6, 6-0, [10-6] by Sujeong Jang and Wushuang Zheng in the doubles final of the $60,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Nonthaburi, Thailand, on Saturday.

The results:

$60,000 ITF women, Nonthaburi, Thailand Doubles (final): Sujeong Jang (Kor) & Wushuang Zheng (Chn) bt Rutuja Bhosale & Eudice Chong (Hkg) 4-6, 6-0, [10-6].

– Kamesh Srinivasan

 ITF men’s tournament: Sidharth Rawat’s winning run ends

Doubles champions Chirag Duhan and Dev Javia in the ITF men’s tennis tournament in Bhopal on Saturday.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Qualifier Sidharth Rawat’s fine run was broken by Maxim Zhukov in the semifinals of the $30,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the Arera Club on Saturday.

Zhukov won 6-4, 6-1 to set up a title clash against the champion of the last tournament in Indore, Alastair Gray of Britain who beat Eric Vanshelboim in straight sets.

There was a lot of cheer for the home fans, as two talented youngsters Chirag Duhan and Dev Javia combined strongly to beat the Koreans Yeongseok Jeong and Uisung Park 4-6, 6-1, [10-2] in the doubles final.

While it was the maiden title in the professional circuit for the 21-year-old Chirag, it was the third doubles title for the 22-year-old Dev.

The results:

Singles (semifinals): Alastair Gray (GBR) bt Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) 6-3, 6-4; Maxim Zhukov bt Sidharth Rawat 6-4, 6-1.

Doubles (final): Chirag Duhan & Dev Javia bt Yeonseok Jeong & Uisung Park (Kor) 4-6, 6-1, [10-2].

– Kamesh Srinivasan

Football

Sethu FC edges past Sribhumi FC in Chennai

Former champion Sethu FC defeated newly promoted Sribhumi FC 1-0 to make a winning start to its 2024-25 Indian Women’s League campaign at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.

After a closely-fought first half, Ugandan midfielder Amnah Nababi’s volley at the hour mark earned all three points for Shareef Khan’s side against last season’s IWL 2 champion.

-Team Sportstar

BASKETBALL

National basketball championship: Punjab to face defending champion Tamil Nadu in finals

Punjab beat Railways 69-63 to set up the title clash against defending champion Tamil Nadu in the men’s section of the 74th National basketball championship at the Sidsar Sports Complex on Saturday.

The women’s final will be between Railways and Kerala.

The results:

Men (semifinals): Punjab 69 (Nawaz singh Panaich 16, Kanwar Gurbaz Singh Sandhu 15, Amritpal Singh 15, Amjyot Singh 12) bt Railways 63 (Sahaj Pratap Sigh Sekhon 16, Palpreet Singh 14, Tushal Singh 14).

Tamil Nadu 78 (Anantharaj 17, Aravind Kumar Muthukrishnan 16, Muin Bek Hafeez 12) bt Karnataka 51 (Samanth Sathyanarayan 13, Abhishek Gowda 11).

Quarterfinals: Railways 79 (Sahaj Pratap Singh Sekhon 11, Sahil Kalyan 11, Princepal Singh 11, Amarendra Naik 10, Lokendra Singh 10) bt Rajasthan 53 (Sharad Dadich 14, Piyush Meena 12, Mahaveer 12).

Women (semifinals): Kerala 69 (R Sreekala 18, Susan Florentina 12, Swapna Merin Jiju 12) bt Delhi 62 (Namrata 17, Garima Goswami 15).

Railways 85 (K Sathya 18, Dharshini Thirunavukkarasu 14, P Priyanka 14, Vaishnavi Yadav 11, Poonam Chaturvedi 10) bt Tamil Nadu 62 (Ashmitha 16, CS Anumaria 13).

Quarterfinals: Kerala 68 (R Sreekala 16, Irin John 11, Susan Florentina 10) bt Maharashtra 27 (Shireen Limaye 17).

– Kamesh Srinivasan

Volleyball

Madras University triumphs

Madras University defeated Kerala University 25–21, 25-20, 25-22 and won the all-India men’s inter-university volleyball title at the St. Thomas College on Friday.

Madras’ Gerry Daniel was selected as the championship’s best attacker while Surya Neshil was named as the best setter. Kerala University’s Sanjay Manikandan (best libero) and Mohammed Jasim (championship’s best player) took the other awards.

Meanwhile, SRM University (Chennai) defeated Kurukshetra 25-16, 25-21, 25-19 and finished third.

-Stan Rayan