HANDBALL
Asian Women’s Handball Championship 2024: India begins campaign against Hong Kong
Host India will aspire to play its best in the 20th Asian women’s handball championship to be played at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi from Tuesday when it opens its campaign against Hong Kong at 6 pm IST.
The team had a training camp at the SAI Centre in Gandhinagar, and exuded confidence to demonstrate its improvement from the last edition when it had placed sixth.
The giant of world handball, 16-time champion Korea, which has been crowned the Olympic champion twice, will lead the campaign along with other prominent teams in the region in Japan and Kazakhstan.
India has been clubbed with Japan, Hong Kong and Iran in the league phase. The other group has Korea, Kazakhstan, China and Singapore.
The top-two teams from each of the two groups will qualify for the semifinals. The top four teams make the World Championship next year.
“The tournament means a lot for our players. They are ready to give it their all,”, said the coach of the Indian team, Sachin Chaudhary. The coach pointed out that the team had a preparatory stint at the SAI Centre in Gandhinagar, when all efforts were made to unite the players as a cohesive unit.
Doordarshan will broadcast the tournament.
India squad
Bhawana, Mitali Sharma, Manika Pal, Nina Shil, Shalini Thakur, Priyanka, Diksha Kumari, Sushma, Sonika.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
TENNIS
Snigdha knocks out third seed in ITF junior tourney
Snigdha Kanta knocked out third seed Sara Oliveriusova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4 in the girls first round of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the Deccan Gymkhana on Monday.
In the boys section, Shanker Heisnam got past fourth seed Roshan Santhosh, as the latter retired midway through the second set.
The results (first round):
Under-18 boys: Samarth Sahita bt Kunanan Pantaratorn (Tha) 7-6(5), 6-3; Vihaan Reddy (USA) bt Om Patel 6-3, 6-2; Egor Shcherbakov bt Tavish Pahwa 7-5, 6-2; Cody Atkinson (Nzl) bt Swaraaj Dhamdhere 6-3, 6-3; Izyan Ahmad (USA) bt Pratyaksh 6-3, 6-3; Sehaj Singh Pawar bt Taisei Hata (Jpn) 6-4, 6-1; Aarjun Pandit bt Maximus Zavier Wong (Sgp) 7-5, 6-4; Snir Morag (Isr) bt Sriniketh Kannan 6-3, 2-1 (retired); Shanker Heisnam bt Roshan Santhosh (USA) 6-3, 3-0 (retired); Kandhavel Mahalingam bt Kanata Ozaki (Jpn) 7-6(3), 6-2; Alan Aiukhanov bt Aradhya Kshitij 6-2, 6-4.
Under-18 girls: Alexandra Bayuschenko (Blr) bt Prisha Shinde 6-4, 1-6, 6-4; Parthsarthi Mundhe bt Priyanka Rana (USA) 7-6(2), 7-5; Yasaman Yazdani (Iri) bt Anvi Punaganti 6-2, 6-3; Yuzuha Negishi (Jpn) bt Harsha Oruganti 6-1, 6-2; Laxmisiri Dandu bt Diya Ramesh 6-2, 6-4; Aishwarya Jadhav bt Malika Amirgalieva (Kaz) 7-6(3), 6-4; Nainika Bendram bt Riya Sachdeva 6-2, 6-0; Snigdha Kanta bt Sara Oliveriusova (Cze) 6-1, 6-4; Sai Janvi bt Rio Wakayama (Jpn) 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4; Cocomi Saito (Jpn) bt Aakruti Sonkusare 6-3, 6-2.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
