SQUASH
Anahat enters pre-quarters
India’s teen prodigy Anahat Singh entered the pre-quarterfinals at the World Junior Championships on Tuesday in Cairo after beating France’s Ines Guyot 3-0.
She will meet Brazil’s Laura Souza Bezerra Da Silva on Wednesday for a place in the quarterfinals.
In the boys’ category, Arihant K S, Yusha Nafees, and Aryaveer Dewan entered the Round of 32, which will be played later today.
– Team Sportstar
GOLF
Vani seeks more success in 10th leg as Jasmine eyes another win in Hero WPGT
Vani Kapoor, a four-time champion on the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour this season, and last week’s winner Jasmine Shekar have been drawn together for the first round of the 10th leg at the Zion Hills Golf County.
They will have the talented Vidhatri Urs as the third player in the group.
Thirty seven players, including seven amateurs, will tee off in the event that carries a prize purse of Rs 16 lakh.
Other leading professional players in the field are Ridhima Dilawari, Seher Atwal, Sneha Singh, Amandeep Drall and Neha Tripathi, who was runner-up to Jasmine in the last leg.
Vani leads the Order of Merit with Amandeep Drall, Sneha Singh and Jasmine Shekar trailing behind her in that order.
– PTI
FOOTBALL
Iker Guarrotxena extends contract with FC Goa
FC Goa on Monday announced that Spanish forward Iker Guarrotxena has extended his contract with the Club by a year, keeping him with the Gaurs until the end of the 2025-26 season.
With 14 goal involvements for the club last season, the highest for the club. He first joined the club in the 2022-23 and scored 13 goals in his debut season.
His consistency on the pitch makes him a reliable presence for the team, having been called “a complete player, who is both decisive and dangerous” by Head Coach Manolo Marquez. The 2025-26 season will be his third for the club.
ARCHERY
Parneet tops rankings
World championships team gold medal-winning archer Parneet Kaur topped the compound women’s individual rankings in the qualification round at the World University Games in Essen, Germany, on Tuesday.
Parneet, who scored 701 points, was one of the two archers to score more than 700.
Madhura Dhamangaonkar was sixth with 687 points, while Avneet Kaur was 22 nd with 673.
In the recurve men’s division, Aryan Rana collected 640 points to be at 29th spot. Vishnu Chaudhary (627) and Mrinal Chauhan (622) managed 42nd and 47th places respectively.
– YB Sarangi
TENNIS
Sumit Nagal beats Jay Clarke Tampere Challenger Open first round
Alternate entrant Sumit Nagal beat top seed Jay Clarke of Britain 7-6(4), 6-1 in the first round of the €91,250 Challenger tennis tournament in Tampere, Finland.
In the €596,035 ATP event on clay in Kitzbuhel, Austria, Sriram Balaji and Rithvik Bollipalli progressed into the quarterfinals without playing a match. The first round opponents of the Indian pair, the top seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany, withdrew with an injury.
The results:
€91,250 Challenger, Tampere, Finland
Singles (first round): Sumit Nagal bt Jay Clarke (GBR) 7-6(4), 6-1.
€91,250 Challenger, Segovia, Spain
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Clement Chidekh (Fra) & Roy Stepanov (Isr) bt Robin Bertrand (Fra) & Adil Kalyanpur 6-4, 6-3.
$30,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia
Singles (first round): Vaidehee Chaudhari bt Julia Adams (USA) 6-4, 6-2.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Maaya Rajeshwaran, Rethin win best player awards in TNTA annual day function
Rethin Pranav and Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi were the winners of the T.K. Ramanathan award for the best player of the 2024-25 season (₹30,000 each) in the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) annual day function at the Madras Cricket Club (MCC) in Chennai on Tuesday.
Speaking at the event, TNTA president Vijay Amritraj said that there has been significant interest among the players to participate in the second edition of the Chennai Open, a WTA 250 event, set to take place from Oct. 27 to Nov. 2.
“I think it will be a good (player) field because the previous week is in Tokyo in Japan (Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis – WTA 500). So, they will be on their way here. There are two other tournaments (Jiangxi Open, Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open) as well in China at the same time (as the Chennai Open). But again, there has been a lot of interest (among the players) in coming to our own city,” he said.
He added that there’s a plan to set up video screens (for streaming the Chennai Open matches) across the city to enhance public engagement.
“We hope to have LED video screens across the city, so that people can actually sit on the Marina Beach or in T. Nagar or wherever and have snacks and watch the matches, which I think will be a great boost for our sport and create even more interest in the State,” he said.
The award-winners
T.K. Ramanathan award (Best player of the 2024-25 season): Rethin Pranav, Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi.
President award for the most promising youngster: Ishaan Sudharshan, Hemdev Mahesh, Deepthi Venkatesan, Diya Ravikumar Janaki
Justice P.S. Kailasam Memorial award for performance in junior Nationals: Boys: Singles: u-18: Winner: Kandhavel Mahalingam; Runner-up: Varun Verma.
Doubles: u-12: Runner-up: Ronnie Vijay Kumar
Girls: Singles: u-18: Winner: Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi; Runner-up: Diya Ramesh.
Doubles: u-14: Runners-up: Deepshika Vinayagamurthy and A.S.R. Bawyasri; u-16: Runners-up: Sanmitha Harini Lokesh and Savitha Bhuvaneswaran; u-18: Doubles: Winner: Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi.
Performance in National c’ships: Men: Singles: Winner: Rethin Pranav.
Women: Singles: Runner-up: Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi; Doubles: Runner-up: Sai Samhitha Chamarthi.
Performance in National Games (Dehradun): Men: Manish Suresh Kumar (singles and doubles bronze, team gold); V.M. Ranjeet (team gold); Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (doubles bronze, team gold); Lohith Aksha Bathrinath (mixed doubles and team gold); K.S. Dheeraj (team gold)
Women: Lakshmiprabha Arunkumar (mixed doubles gold, team bronze); Janani Ramesh (team bronze); Mirudhula Palanivel (team bronze); Diya Ramesh (team bronze)
Performance in Deaf & Hard Hearing c’ship: Men: Prithvi Shekar (Australian Open singles champion and doubles runner-up).
Performance in Wheelchair Tennis Nationals: Karthik Karunakaran (singles winner, doubles runner-up); Mariappan Durai (doubles runner-up); Balachandar Subramanian (doubles winner).
Representing India: Davis Cup / Fed Cup / u-12, u-14, u-16 / Wheelchair: Ramkumar Ramanthan, Sriram Balaji; BNP Paribas World Cup Asia Qualifying: Karthik Karunakaran, Mariappan Durai, K. Sathasivam; Billie Jean King Cup u-14 & u-16: Diya Ramesh (Junior Billie Jean King Cup Asia Oceania Final Qualifying, Kazakhstan).
Muthukrishnan Memorial award for most promising and performing player (Boy): Varun Verma.
Nagamani Mahadevan award for most promising and performing player (Girl): Diya Ramesh.
32nd Sanmar TNTA Chennai City club tennis league: Veterans (60+): Winner: MGC; Runner-up: Cosmopolitan Club-A;
45+: Zone-A: Winner: MCC-A; Runner-up: Besant Nagar Club-B; Zone-B: Winner: BNC-B; Runner-up: Nungambakkam Tennis Club-A; Zone-C: Winner: Anna Nagar Club; Runner-up: Madras Race Club.
Regular: Zone-A: Winner: MCC-A; Runner-up: NTC-C; Zone-B: Winner: GNC-A; Runner-up: Anna Nagar K Block-A; Zone-C: Winner: Presidency Club-A; Runner-up: BNC-B; Zone-D: Winner: MCC-M; Runner-up: Gandhi Nagar Club-C; Zone-E: Winner: Besant Nagar Club-C; Runner-up: Madras Club-B; Zone-F: Winner: Presidency Club-B; Runner-up: YMCA Kilpauk.
16th UCAL-TNTA Chennai inter-club league-cum-knockout c’ship: Winner: MCC; Runner-up: BNC
– Prasanna Venkatesan
World University Games: Vaishnavi Adkar to become second Indian to win a tennis medal after reaching semis
India is assured of a rare medal in tennis as Vaishnavi Adkar made it to the women’s singles semifinals while most of her compatriots across sports failed to make a mark in the World University Games in Berlin on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old Vaishnavi beat home favourite Sina Herrmann 6-1, 6-4 in a dominant display in the women’s singles quarterfinals. She will face Eszter Meri of Slovakia in the semifinals on Thursday.
She will become only the second Indian to win a medal in the World University Games, after Nandal Bal clinched a silver in men’s singles in the 1979 edition in Mexico City.
Under the rules, two bronze medals are awarded in tennis competition in the WUG.
– PTI
Content Source: sportstar.thehindu.com