From Tamil Nadu turning heads with the announcement of an international esports championship to another day of jampacked action at the Yuva All Stars Kabaddi Championship, here is all that happened in the world of Indian sports on March 28.
ESPORTS
Tamil Nadu to host Chennai Esports Global Championship in 2025
The Tamil Nadu Government announced that the state will host the Chennai Esports Global Championship (CeGC) here, later this year.
The CeGC will be a multi-title esports competition featuring top teams from around the world.
The Youth Welfare and Sports Development Department of Tamil Nadu, which has been allocated an impressive INR 562 crore in the state’s 2025-2026 budget, is spearheading the initiative.
The full list of game titles and tournament specifics is yet to be announced.
The announcement comes at a pivotal moment for the industry, as esports has now been recognised as a medal sport at the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games, and is set to debut as a standalone Olympics Esports event in 2027.
-Team Sportstar
CHESS
FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 5th leg to be held in Pune from April 13-24
A host of top Indian chess players, including current world rapid champion Grandmaster Koneru Humpy, Olympiad gold winners GM Harika Dronavalli, GM Vaishali Rameshbabu and Divya Deshmukh will compete in the fifth leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix from April 13-24 in Pune.
The tournament will be organised by the Maharashtra Chess Association and will also feature China’s GM Zhu Jiner, Russia’s Polina Shuvalova, Alina Kashlinskya of Poland, Salimova Nurgyul of Bulgaria, Batkhuyag of Mongolia and Melia Salome of Georgia.
The FIDE Grand Prix series will feature 14 top players who have been selected on their performances in the earlier rounds of the series as well as six wild card entries.
International Master Divya is among the wild card entries.
-PTI
TENNIS
Bengaluru ITF Challenger: Aryan sets up semifinal against Kriish Tyagi
Aryan Shah beat third seed Alexandr Binda of Italy 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to set up a semifinal against Kriish Tyagi in the $30,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the Altevol Academy on Friday.
Qualifier Kriish sustained his fine run, as he fought his way past Siddharth Vishwakarma in three sets.
The other semifinal will be between Karan Singh and top seed Jay Clarke of Britain, the champion of the last two tournaments.
The results:
Singles (quarterfinals): Jay Clarke (GBR) bt Chirag Duhan 6-2, 6-4; Karan Singh bt Rytaro Taguchi (Jpn) 6-4, 6-4; Aryan Shah bt Alexandr Binda (Ita) 6-2, 2-6, 6-2; Kriish Tyagi bt Siddharth Vishwakarma 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-4.
Doubles (semifinals): Nick Chappell (USA) & Grigoriy Lomakin 9Kaz) bt Ryuki Matsuda & Ryotaro Taguchi (Jpn) 7-5, 6-3; Adil Kalyanpur & Kody Pearson (Aus) bt Chirag Duhan & Dev Javia 6-3, 7-6(2).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Anirudh, David enter men’s doubles semifinals in style
Anirudh Chandrasekar in partnership with David Hernandez of Spain beat Matej Vocel and Szymon Walkow 6-3, 7-6(7) in the doubles semifinals of the €141,250 Challenger tennis tournament in Girona, Spain, on Friday.
The results:
$200,000 Challenger, Morelia, Mexico Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Juan Ficovich (Arg) & Rodrigo Mendez (Mex) bt Sriram Balaji & Miguel Reyes-Varela (Mex) 6-3, 6-4; Marc-Andrea Huesler (Sui) & Stefano Napolitano (Ita) bt Nicolas Barrientos (Col) & Rithvik Bollipalli 6-4, 6-3.
€145,250 Challenger, Girona, Spain Doubles (semifinals): Anirudh Chandrasekar & David Hernandez (Esp) bt Matej Vocel (Cze) & Szymon Walkow (Pol) 6-3, 7-6(7); Quarterfinals: Anirudh & David bt Inigo Cervantes & Daniel Rincon (Esp) 2-6, 6-4, [11-9]; Pre-quarterfinals: Gregoire Jacq (Fra) & Orlando Luz (Bra) bt Niki Poonacha & Sergio Gornes (Esp) 6-4, 7-6(3); Oriol Batalla (Esp) & Marco Trungelliti (Arg) bt Saketh Myneni & Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-2, 6-2; Anirudh & David bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-3, 6-4.
$40,000 ITF women, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Hanne Vandewinkel (Bel) bt Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-2, 6-2; First round: Sahaja bt Tara Malik (USA) 6-0, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ariana Arseneault (Can) & Madison Sieg (USA) bt Aoi Ito (Jpn) & Sahaja Yamalapalli 1-6, 6-1, [10-7].
$15,000 ITF women, Nonthaburi, Thailand Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Mana Kawamura (Jpn) bt Akanksha Nitture 6-1, 6-4; First round: Akanksha bt Loes Koning (Ned) 6-4, 7-5.
Doubles (semifinals): Na Ri Kim (Kor) & Punnin Kovapitukted (Tha) bt Akanksha Nitture & Varvara Panshina 6-1, 6-3; Quarterfinals: Akanksha & Varvara bt Delia Gaillard (Fra) & Nicole Rivkin (Ger) 6-4, 6-3; Pre-quarterfinals: Akanksha & Varvara bt Smriti Bhasin & Pawinee Ruamrak (Tha) 7-6(2), 6-3; Mika Buchnik (Isr) & Marine Szostak (Fra) bt Yashaswini Panwar & Sonal Patil 6-2, 6-4.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
KABADDI
Yuva All Stars Championship: Palani Tuskers, Junior Steelers qualify for Super 6 round
Sonipat Spartans, Chandigarh Chargers, Junior Steelers and Jaipur Pink Cubs bagged victories on Day 23 of the Yuva All-Stars Championship 2025 in Haridwar.
Jaipur Pink Cubs defeated UP Falcons 49-29 to eliminate the latter from the qualification race. The Pink Cubs were leading 19-17 at half-time despite getting All Out once in the first half. They inflicted three All-outs on the Falcons to register a 20-point victory.
Parvinder was the star performer with 11 points. The Pink Cubs and Falcons are first and fifth, respectively in Pool A.
Meanwhile, the Junior Steelers beat Kurukshetra Warriors 46-34 to qualify for the next round. Haryana was leading 23-21 at half-time. Despite the Warriors putting up a tough fight, the Steelers won the match by 12 points.
Haryana’s Jaya Soorya was the top performer with 14 points (12 raid points and 2 tackle points). The Steelers are fourth in Pool A with 39 points.
Chandigarh Chargers defeated Vasco Vipers 56-31, riding on the back of Sandeep Saini’s 17 points and Paratp Singh’s 14 points. They were at the top of their game, getting the Vipers’ All out thrice in 40 minutes. The Chargers also registered four Super Tackles to register a comfortable 25-point victory. They have finished third in Pool B with 53 points.
Later in the day, the Sonipat Spartans registered a nine-point victory against Yuva Mumba.
They inflicted two all-outs on Mumbai and took a massive 27-13 lead at the end of the first half. In the second half, Yuva Mumba inflicted an All-out on the Spartans and reduced the deficit to eight points, but Sonipat was quick enough to extend their lead and win the match with a score of 49-40.
Despite the loss, Yuva Mumba’s Umesh Panwar earned 12 points and Abhimanyu Raghuvanshi bagged 11. They are fourth in Pool B with 48 points, while the Spartans have moved to the top of the standings with 60 points.
-Team Sportstar
Content Source: sportstar.thehindu.com