Indian sports wrap, February 19: Gopi Thonakal, Ashwini Jadhav to headline New Delhi Marathon

ATHLETICS

Defending champions Gopi Thonakal and Ashwini Jadhav return to New Delhi Marathon

Defending men’s and women’s champions Gopi Thonakal and Ashwini Madan Jadhav will headline the 10th edition of the New Delhi Marathon scheduled to take place here on February 23.

Recognised by Athletics Federation of India (AFI) as a national event, the marathon will also see participation from the country’s top runners including Anish Thapa, Belliyappa, Man Singh, Akshay Saini and Vikram Bangriya the men’s section.

The likes of Laxmi KM, Nirmaben Thakor Bharatjee and Disket Dolma will feature in the women’s field.

The event, which is also recognised by World Athletics, is a qualifying race for International Amateur races.

Runners will compete across four categories — full marathon, half marathon, 10k and 5k.

Former Indian cricket team captain Ajinkya Rahane and head badminton coach Pullela Gopichand will flag off the marathon.

The event is supported by Delhi Metro, offering free rides to and from JLN Stadium for participants with bibs.

The marathon will focus on reducing plastic waste by offering eco-friendly hyderation stations, minimising single-use plastic bottles and encouraging the use of reusable water containers.

The event will also implement waste segregation and promote recycling throughout the venue.

-PTI

POWERBOATING

Kohli, LeBron, Nadal are team owners in world’s first electric powerboating competition

Star India batter Virat Kohli, tennis legend Rafael Nadal, and basketball icon LeBron James are among the prominent team owners of the UIM E1 World Championship, the world’s first all-electric powerboating competition.

The event will feature a star-studded lineup of team owners from across sports, music, and entertainment, including Kohli, whose Team Blue Rising will compete in the global series.

Besides Kohli, the championship boasts of high-profile team owners such as basketball legend James (Team AlUla), music producer and DJ Steve Aoki (Aoki Racing Team), and NFL great Tom Brady (Team Brady).

Other teams include Team Drogba, owned by football Chelsea star Didier Drogba, Team Miami powered by Magnus, owned by Latin music star Marc Anthony, and Team Rafa, backed by tennis icon Nadal.

Additionally, Hollywood actor Will Smith leads Westbrook Racing, while Marcelo Claure helms Team Brazil by Claure Group.

The UIM E1 World Championship presented by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) is unique in its commitment to diversity and innovation, featuring mixed-gender pilots selected from various racing disciplines, including rally, jet ski racing, and Formula 1.

These pilots go through the E1 Pilot Academy, where they are chosen based on their racing skills.

The races will take place across iconic locations around the world including Jeddah, Miami, Monte Carlo and Doha.

The championship will be broadcast live on FanCode.

-PTI

ESPORTS

Finals of College Rivals season 2 to be played in Mumbai

The second season of College Rivals, one of India’s leading competitions to scout esports athletes, will have its final played in Mumbai on February 23.

Seven finalists will compete for the trophy across three gaming titles, Valorant, BGMI and EA FC 24.

The summit clash will take place at Hall 4, NESCO, Mumbai, after 224 days of nationwide qualifiers and, has a prize pool of 50 lakh rupees.

The previous season’s finale had drawn over 5,000 attendees who saw 28 finalists battling it out across six titles—BGMI, FIFA 23, Road to Valor, Valorant, Tekken 7, and Counter Strike-2—in a best-of-three format.

Sahil Nagpal had won the tournament and got a dream ticket to become a professional BGMI player for Rivals Ape X, the youth team of Orangutan, a leading Esports team in the country.

The popularity of College Rivals has only burgeoned in the second season, with over two lakh registrations across 55 colleges in 22 cities and over 11 lakh students witnessing the competition.

This season’s finale will also feature Indian hip-hop stars Seedhe Maut, Pho and Dizlaw, giving it a synergy of entertainment and gaming.

The competition is a joint venture of Ampverse, Asia’s leading Gaming ecosystem, and DMI Finance, the NonBanking Financial Company (“NBFC”) of the DMI Group.

-Team Sportstar

TENNIS

AITA Ranking Tennis Tournament: Jaya Kapoor beats Saily Thakkar

Qualifier Jaya Kapoor beat third seed Saily Thakkar 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the women’s quarterfinals of the HPCL-Mittal Rs. 200,000 AITA ranking tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex in Chandigarh on Wednesday.

In the men’s event, Yash Yadav beat second seed Sarthak Suden in straight sets.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Defending champion Valentin Vacherot sails into quarterfinals of Pune Challenger

Defending champion Valentin Vacherot of Monaco eased past qualifier Masamichi Imamura of Japan 6-2, 6-3 in the pre-quarterfinals of the Pune Challenger Tennis Tournament at the Balewadi Stadium on Wednesday.

In the quarterfinals, Vacherot will play eighth-seed Alexis Galarneau of Canada.

In doubles, there was a lot of success for the Indian players in the top half of the draw, while three Indian teams in the bottom half of the draw could not find their way forward.

Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan beat Michael Geerts and Billy Harris 6-0, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinal against top seeds Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth.

NIki Poonacha in partnership with Courtney Lock, the finalists of the Delhi Challenger last week, set up a quarterfinal against third seeds Blake Ellis and Tristan Schoolkate of Australia.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Qatar Open: Bopanna and Borges enter quarterfinals

Rohan Bopanna in partnership with Nuno Borges of Portugal beat the fourth seeds Simone Bolelli & Andrea Vavassori of Italy 7-6(2), 7-6(4) inthe doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $3,035,960 ATP tennis tournament in Doha, Qatar.

In the quarterfinals, Bopanna and Borges will play Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool.

Yuki Bhambri, who had made the quarterfinals with Ivan Dodig of Croatia earlier, will challenge the top seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Shweta takes one-shot lead in third leg of Hero WPGT

Shweta Mansingh, who has come close to winning her maiden title on the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour multiple times, put herself in pole position after the first round of the third leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour 2025 at the Poona Club Golf Course in Pune.

Shweta shot 2-under 69 and took a one-shot lead over Sneha Singh and Vani Kapoor, who carded 1-under 70 each.

Experienced Neha Tripathi and last season’s Hero Order of Merit winner Hitaashee Bakshi, making her first start of the season, were tied for fourth at even-par 71.

Hitaashee recovered from an opening bogey to finish with a birdie.

Four players — Amandeep Drall, Kriti Chowhan, Shagun Narain and Vidhatri Urs — were tied for sixth place with scores of 1-over 72 each.

Seher Atwal (73) was tied for 10th with the top amateur of the day, Saanvi Somu.

Shweta, who was tied for second with Sneha in leg 16 of the 2023 season at TNGF, was also tied for second earlier at leg 15 of the 2021 season at RCGC.

Shweta dropped an early bogey on the second, but she made up with three birdies in four holes between the fourth and the seventh.

She turned in 2-under and added another birdie on the 10th to go three-under.

A late bogey on the Par-5 18th hole pulled her back as she finished at 2-under 69.

Sneha, winner of the second leg this season, had one bogey on Par-5 but made up with birdies on the 10th and the 13th to ensure she was under par for the day.

Vani, who was runner-up behind Sneha in the second leg, saw all the action on the front nine with one bogey on the third and birdies on the fourth and the ninth. She parred the entire back nine.

Neha’s four birdies were undone by two bogeys and a double bogey, while Hitaashee had two each of birdies and bogeys.

-PTI

Yuvraj Sandhu, Manu Gandas enjoy two-shot advantage at halfway stage

Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu and Manu Gandas of Gurugram enjoyed a two-shot advantage at the halfway stage of the Rs 1 crore Gujarat Open In Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

Yuvraj (32-34), winner of the PGTI season-opener last week, and Manu (31-35), a former winner at Glade One Golf Resort & Club, were placed atop the leaderboard with identical totals of six-under 66 as they carded second-round scores of 34 and 35 respectively.

Saptak Talwar (34-34) of Greater Noida posted a second straight 34 to be placed third at four-under 68.

Defending champion Abhinav Lohan (36) and Ahmedabad’s Varun Parikh (34) were both placed tied for 10th at two-under 70.

The first two rounds of the event consisted of nine holes each.

After the completion of 18 holes on Wednesday, the cut was applied at even-par 72.

Fifty-two professionals made the cut.

The third and fourth rounds will now consist of 18 holes each. The tournament will be played over a total of 54 holes.

The par for the course in the first two rounds was 36. The par for the course in the third and fourth rounds will be 72.

Sandhu produced two birdies on day two to rise one spot into the joint lead.

Overnight leader Manu continued on top of the pack as joint leader as a result of his two birdies and one bogey.

-PTI

HOCKEY

Delhi University Alumna wins Shyam Lal Hockey Tournament with a 2-1 victory in final

Akshita scored two goals to guide Delhi University Alumna to a 2-1 victory over Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences in the women’s final of the Shyam Lal hockey Tournament at the Shyam Lal College ground.

Manita of the champion team was declared the “player of the tournament”, while Akshita was presented the “player of the match” award.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

BASKETBALL

INBL Pro basketball league: Punjab Warriors beats Gujarat Stallions;

Lucas Barker emerged the unlikely hero as he beat the hooter with a three-pointer to help Punjab Warriors to a 74-73 victory in the INBL Pro basketball league at the Thyagaraj Stadium on Wednesday.

It was Gujarat that called the shots right through before the last few seconds, after leading 47-38 at halftime. With five seconds left on the clock it was Gujarat that led 73-71.

When play resumed after the time-out, Punjab made the last seconds count as Barker, who had missed the earlier five 3-point attempts and had scored only four points in the match, was put in possession. This time, with seconds ticking away, Barker slotted it neat to trigger celebrations in the Punjab ranks.

It was the fourth victory for the Punjab team from seven matches, and it was on par with four other teams except Delhi Dribblers, which had three wins from eight matches.

-Kamesh Srinivasan