TENNIS
Ramkumar shines in Bengaluru SG Mavericks’ win in Tennis Premier League
Ramkumar Ramanathan played his part brilliantly to help Bengaluru SG Mavericks to a 46-34 victory over Gujarat Panthers in the Tennis Premier League on the charcoal grey courts of the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on Friday.
Ramkumar beat the current No. 1 of the country Sumit Nagal 14-6 in singles, and later combined with Olympian Vishnu Vardhan to beat Sumit and Mukund Sasikumar 13-7 in doubles.
Vishnu also won his mixed doubles with Arina who had stumbled to a8-12 start in the women’s singles against Ekaterina Yashina.
Bengaluru shot up to the top of the table with 173 points. It will meet Mumbai Leon Army in the last league match on Saturday.
The semifinals between the top four teams, and the final will all be played on Sunday.
Delhi Binny’s Brigade inflicteed a 45-35 defeat on overnight leader Bengal Wizards thanks to the final performance of Sahaja Yamalapalli, Denis Novak and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan.
Bengal and Punjab teams were in second place with a total of 164 points each from their four matches.
RESULTS
Delhi Binny’s Brigade bt Bengal Wizards 45-35 (Sahaja Yamalapalli bt Maria Timofeeva 13-7; Dennis Novak bt Sriram Balaji 12-8; Sahaja & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan lost to Maria & Anirudh Chandrasekar 9-11; Dennis & Jeevan bt Balaji & Anirudh 11-9).
Punjab Patriots bt Mumbai Leon Army 43-37 (Conny Perrin bt Sowjanya Bavisetti 11-9; Digvijay Pratap Singh lost to Ernests Gulbis 9-11; Conny & Arjun Kadhe bt Sowjanya & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 12-8; Digvijay & Arjun bt Ernests & Vijay 11-9).
Bengaluru SG Mavericks bt Gujarat Panthers 46-34 (Arina Rodionova lost to Ekaterina Yashina 8-12; Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Sumit Nagal 14-6; Arina & Vishnu Vardhan bt Ekaterina & Mukund Sasikumar 11-9; Ramkumar & Vishnu bt Sumit & Mukund 13-7).
-Team Sportstar
AITA women’s tournament: Chandana Potugari beats top seed Riya Sachdeva
Sixth seed Chandana Potugari beat top seed Riya Sachdeva 6-2, 7-5 in the final of the Rs.100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Saturday.
Riya did save three match points at 4-5 in the second set, but Chandana was able to pull through, winning the next two games.
It was a commendable effort from the 22-year-old Chandana, who trains with coach Ganesh Raman in Hyderabad, as she had dropped only 10 games in all in winning the earlier four matches.
The results (final): Chandana Potugari bt Riya Sachdeva 6-2, 7-5.
-Team Sportstar
AITA National series juniors: Shanker beats top seed Chandan to reach final in Chandigarh
Shanker Heisnam beat top seed Chandan Shivaraj 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to set up title clash against Jatin Nain in the boys section of the AITA National series junior tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex on Friday.
Shanker won the doubles title in partnership with Chandan.
In the girls section, Rubani Kaur Sidhu will meet Shatakshika Sahayak in the final.The doubles title was bagged by Sia Mahajan and Shatakshika.
RESULTS
Under-18 boys (semifinals): Shanker Heisnam bt Chandan Shivaraj 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Jatin Nain bt Yashasvi Balhara 6-2, 6-4.
Doubles (final): Shanker Heisnam & Chandan Shivaraj bt Parth Deorukhakar & Jay Prakash Pawar 6-0, 6-4.
Under-18 girls (semifinals): Rubani Kaur Sidhu bt Ananya Dhankhar 6-4, 7-5; Shatakshika Sahayak bt Devashree Shailesh 7-5, 6-4.
Doubles (final): Sia Mahajan & Shatakshika Sahayak bt Radha Sadhra & Rubani Kaur Sidhu 6-7(4), 6-4, [10-5].
-Team Sportstar
CUE SPORTS
National Billiards & Snooker: Pankaj Advani knocked out in 15-Red snooker round of 32
Reigning IBSF world champion Pankaj Advani was beaten by his PSPB colleague Sourav Kothari in a 15-Red snooker’s Round of 32 match in the National Billiards & Snooker Championships here on Friday.
Kothari, who was at the receiving end of Advani in the world billiards finale in Doha last month, prevailed in the best-of-nine frames 64-50, 62-33, 23-51, 80-56, 84-34, 70-16.
Last week, Advani was knocked out in the semi-final of the 6-Red snooker event by eventual champion Malkeet Singh. Advani had finished fourth.
Meanwhile, defending champion Kamal Chawla (RSPB) overpowered Luv Kukreja (Delhi) 5-2 to advance to the pre-quarterfinals.
Chawla’s RSPB colleague Md Hussain also moved to the pre-quarterfinals after pulling off a shock win over last year’s runner-up Sparsh Pherwani (Maharashtra) 5-3.
Shahbaaz Khan (Maharashtra) also drew eyeballs after seeing off last year’s semi-finalist Brijesh Damani (PSPB) 5-3.
-PTI
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