HOCKEY
Former Kerala player Rajagopal passes away
Former Kerala State hockey player A.V. Rajagopal passed away in Alappuzha on Thursday. He was 73.
Rajagopal did his schooling in Chennai and picked up the sport from the St. Thomas Mount area. Later, he went on to represent Kerala in three senior Nationals in the late 1960s.
“He was a left half-back and later he was a coach in Alappuzha,” said his brother A.V. Suresh, also a former State hockey player.
“Hockey in Alappuzha was controlled by people from Gujarat those days. Rajagopal was the one who introduced hockey among the local people and developed Alappuzha hockey. He was popularly called as the father of Alappuzha hockey.”
– Stan Rayan
TENNIS
Ankita in quarterfinals
Ankita Raina beat Cadence Brace of Canada 6-4, 6-2 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Vigo, Spain, on Thursday.
In the $867,750 ATP event in Winston-Salem, USA, Dhakshineswar Suresh, in partnership with Luca Pow of Britain, reached the doubles semifinals with a 6-1, 4-6, [10-8] victory over Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov, who had knocked out the second seeds earlier.
THE RESULTS
$867,750 ATP, Winston-Salem, USA
Doubles (quarterfinals): Luca Pow (GBR) & Dhakshineswar Suresh bt Gonzalo Escobar (Ecu) & Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kaz) 6-1, 4-6, [10-8].
$15,000 ITF men, Arad, Romania
Doubles (semifinals): Matteo De Vincentis (Ita) & Milos Karol (Svk) bt Felix Balshaw (Fra) & Manas Dhamne 6-2, 6-7(6), [10-8]; Quarterfinals: Balshaw & Manas bt Dominic Ducariu (Ger) & Matei Onofrei (Rou) 7-5, 6-4.
$15,000 ITF men, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Ilia Simakin bt Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-2, 6-4; Leo Borg (Swe) bt Vishnu Vardhan 6-4, 6 7(1), 7-6(5); S Mukund bt Lu Pengyu (Chn) 6-2, 6-2.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Markos Kalovelonis (Gre) & Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Leo Borg (Swe) & Lu Pengyu (Chn) 4-6, 6-4, [10-7]; Jirat Navasirisomboon & Pawit Sornlaksup (Tha) bt Sai Karteek Reddy & S. Mukund 7-5, 6-2.
$25,000 ITF women, Vigo, Spain
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Ankita Raina bt Cadence Brace (Can) 6-4, 6-2.
$15,000 ITF women, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Vaishnavi Adkar bt Alexandra Iordache (Rou) 2-6, 6-1, 6-1. Doubles (quarterfinals): Alexandra Iordache (Rou) & Wi Hwuiwon (Kor) bt Akanksha Nitture & Soha Sadiq 7-5, 6-2.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
GOLF
Chennai Pro Championship: Dhruv shoots 67 to emerge joint leader along with Manu
Dhruv Sheoran shot a brilliant five-under 67 to grab a share of lead at the Chennai Pro Championship with an aggregate of 13-under 203 on Thursday.
Manu Gandas signed for a four-under 68 to stay in lead for the third day running at the TNGF Cosmo Golf Course.
Pune’s Rohan Dhole Patil, the co-leader at the halfway stage, struck a 71 to end the day in third place at 10-under 206.
Faridabad’s Abhinav Lohan (69) and Bangladesh’s Jamal Hossain (70) were tied for fourth at eight-under 208.
Sheoran (69-67-67), who was overnight third and one off the lead, posted a second consecutive 67. He carried the momentum from round two, where he had gone bogey-free.
After one birdie on the front-nine, the 29-year-old Sheoran, a two-time winner on the PGTI Feeder Tour, produced a moment of magic when he holed out his second with a terrific punch shot from close to the trees to sink an eagle on the par-4 10th hole.
Sheoran, currently 23rd in the PGTI Ranking, then got on a run with his putter, sinking three 12-feet birdies on the 13th, 14th and 17th. His only blemish of the round was a bogey on the 15th.
“I was focusing on one shot at a time and not getting too ahead of myself. The key was staying in the moment. I recently changed something in my putting that helped me put up good scores yesterday and today,” said Sheoran Gandas (67-68-68), the co-leader on the first two days, who continued at the top of the pack as a result of his 68 that featured six birdies and two bogeys.
Currently second on the PGTI Order of Merit and looking for his ninth professional win, he made a number of quality up and downs for birdies even as he struggled with his ball-striking.
“It was once again an inconsistent round. I made quite a few mistakes and my putting was not up to the mark. I had three-putts on two occasions. The tee shots and approach shots weren’t up to my expectations either,” Gandas said.
Chennai-based S. Prasanth was placed tied 49th at four-over 220.
– PTI
FOOTBALL
Subroto Cup: Infocus India Public School enters quarterfinals of Sub-Junior boys
Infocus India Public School of West Bengal entered the quarterfinals of the Subroto Cup Sub-Junior Boys International Football Tournament after beating Govt. Chawngfinga Middle School, Mizoram 2-0 in a winner takes match to decide the winners of Group H.
Pritam and Rajdeep scored the goals for the winners.
Infocus India Public School joins St. Stephen’s, Chandigarh, Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan, Major Dhyanchand Sports College, Uttar Pradesh, Manikpara Vivekananda Vidyapeeth, West Bengal and Army Boys Sports Company, Bengaluru in the quarterfinals.
The remaining two quarterfinalists will be decided tomorrow after the final group stage matches.
In the other matches of the day, JNV, Pakur I, Jharkhand beat Mother’s Pride Public School, Himachal Pradesh 2-1 in Group D for its first win of the tournament. In a Group B encounter Nongiri Presbyterian Secondary School, Meghalaya thrashed Navrachna International School 6-0 for its second straight win. In a Group C match, Tashi Namgyal Academy, Sikkim got the better of Hyderabad Public School 3-0.
RESULTS
GROUP B: Nongiri Presbyterian Secondary School, Meghalaya bt Navrachna International School (ISSO) – 6-0
GROUP C: Tashi Namgyal Academy, Sikkim bt Hyderabad Public School (IPSC) – 3-0
GROUP D: JNV, Pakur I, Jharkhand bt Mother’s Pride Public School, Himachal Pradesh – 2-1
GROUP H: Infocus India Public School, West Bengal bt Govt. Chawngfinga Middle School, Mizoram – 2-0
– Team Sportstar
Content Source: sportstar.thehindu.com