Indian sports wrap, March 25: Odisha defeats Mizoram via penalty shootout in women’s hockey nationals

HOCKEY

On day-6 of the Final Phase of National Women’s Hockey League, Odisha, Maharashtra and Bengal secured another win in their respective matches.

In the first match, Hockey Association of Odisha defeated Hockey Mizoram 1-1 (SO 2-0) in Pool A. Sanjana Kiro (5’) opened the account on the scoreboard as she scored the goal in the first quarter for Hockey Association of Odisha. On the other side, Laltlanchhungi (55’) scored the equaliser for Hockey Mizoram in the final minutes of the game.

Drupti Naik and Captain Sumi Mundari scored in the shoot-out out of the first three chances they got. Namsi Jarika (GK) stood out to be the star of the game as her heroics saved the day after saving all the four strikes by Hockey Mizoram in the shoot-out.

In the other match today, Hockey Maharashtra defeated Manipur Hockey 4-0. Sanika Chandrakant Mane (3’), Tanushree Dinesh Kadu (36’), Sanjana Raikwar (54’) and Nikku Gurjar (59’) scored for Hockey Maharashtra.

In the next match, Hockey Bengal defeated Hockey Maharashtra 1-0. Both the teams restricted each other throughout most of the game from scoring. But Shanti Horo (59’) had turned the fate of the game after scoring the deciding goal in the last minute for Hockey Bengal.

– Team Sportstar

TENNIS

Siddharth beats Zhukov in first round of ITF tournament

Davis Cupper Siddharth Vishwakarma played fluent to beat Maxim Zhukov 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of the $30,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the Altevol-Waske tennis academy on Tuesday.

Another Davis Cupper, Digvijay Pratap Singh, playing his second tournament after a long lay-off owing to injury, went down fighting to third seed Alexandr Binda of Italy in two well-contested sets.

In the doubles pre-quarterfinals, Chirag Duhan and Dev Javia combined well to beat the third seeds Sai Karteek Reddy and Vishnu Vardhan 10-8 in the super tie-break.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

Yuki-Borges pair advances to quarterfinals in Miami Open 2025

Yuki Bhambri in partnership with Nuno Borges of Portugal beat Jamie Murray of Britain and Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic 7-6(4), 6-2 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $9,193,540 ATP tennis tournament in Miami, USA.

Yuki and Borges will play sixth seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool of Britain in the quarterfinals.

– Team Sportstar

MSLTA felicitates players, coaches and officials

The Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) felicitated players, coaches and officials with cash awards of about Rs.15 lakh for their achievements. The awardees included the internationals like Rutuja Bhosale and Manas Dhamne, apart from a number of national champions and the various No.1s of the State.

Parthsarthi Mundhe was presented the “Outstanding junior” award, and Nagpur was adjudged the “best performing district”. The gold winning women’s team of Maharashtra and the men’s bronze medallists of the last National Games in Uttarakhand, were also felicitated.

Coaches Hemant Bendra, Sandeep Kirtane, Kedar Shah, Ravindra Pandey, Partha Chivate, Yash Deshmukh and Yash Pandit were given cash awards for grooming the State players to be national champions. Tennis officials Tejal Kulkarni and Dakshata Patel were felicitated for getting their international certification.

The presentation was done under the leadership of MSLTA president Prashant Sutar and Chairman Bharat Oza. “We are proud of our achievers and celebrate their achievements which inspire them and others from the State,” said the secretary general of MSLTA, Sunder Iyer.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

PARA SHOOTING

KIPG 2025: Tokyo Paralympian Akash wins 50m pistol SH1 gold

Uttar Pradesh shooter Akash bagged the gold medal in mixed 50m pistol SH1 category at the Khelo India Para Games here on Tuesday.

The shooting competition came to an end with Rajasthan topping the medal tally with nine medals that included four gold and two silver.

Uttar Pradesh (four medals with two gold) and Maharashtra (three medals with two gold) finished second and third respectively.

With two days of competition left in this edition of KIPG, 166 gold medals have been decided by the end of day six.

Haryana (95 medals with 30 gold) have a healthy lead over Tamil Nadu (67 with 25 gold) and Uttar Pradesh (54 medals with 22 gold).

Paris Paralympian Rudransh Khandelwal of Rajasthan, who had earlier claimed gold in the men’s 10m air pistol SH1, suffered loss on Tuesday after his pistol malfunctioned at a critical juncture of the finals.

It gave Tokyo Paralympian Akash a clear advantage and the UP shooter pipped Tamil Nadu’s Sanjeev Kumar for the gold.

Akash maintained his cool and scored 15.7 in his final two shots to maintain a lead by 0.2 to take the top spot.

– PTI

TABLE TENNIS

WTT Star Contender Chennai: Divyanshi overcame Srijanee in women’s second qualifying round

Divyanshi Bhowmick of India, the top seed, overcame Srijanee Dey 11-5, 4-11, 11-4, 11-5 in the women’s second qualifying round of the WTT Star Contender Chennai at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Monday. Divyanshi will take on Nikhat Banu of India on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Jieni Shao of Portugal, World ranked 52 and and the top seed in women’s qualifying draw, has pulled out due to an unspecified injury, thereby making Divyanshi the top seed. 

Organisers also informed The Hindu that Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah are not the top seeded pair in men’s doubles. That privilege has gone to Tomokazu Harimoto and Sora Matsushima of Japan. The Indian duo is now seeded two. 

Since two slots remained in the men’s doubles main draw, a higher ranked, Harimoto and Matsushima entered their names at the last minute as onsite entry, and it was accepted by the organisers.

– K Keerthivasan

KABADDI

Yuva All Stars Championship: Yuva Mumba, Sonipat Spartans progress to the next round of the competition

Yuva All Stars Championship in action.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Yuva Mumba, Warriorz K.C., Jaipur Pink Cubs, and Sonipat Spartans registered victories on Tuesday against their respective opponents at the Yuva All Stars Championship 2025.

Warriorz K.C. defeated Chandigarh Chargers 44-26 in the day’s first encounter. The Bengal-based club are second in Pool A with 64 points, while the Chargers are fourth in Pool B with 41 points.

In the second match of the day, Sonipat Spartans beat Kurukshetra Warriors 54-33 to move to the second position in Pool B with 49 points.

Later in the day, Jaipur Pink Cubs thrashed Vasco Vipers 68-18 in a one-sided encounter to retain first place in the Pool A standings with 67 points from 13 encounters.

Meanwhile, Yuva Mumba edged past Yuva Yoddhas 41-36 to qualify for the upcoming round of the Yuva All Stars Championship 2025.

– Team Sportstar