Indian sports wrap, February 26

BADMINTON

Indian shuttler Raksha Kandasamy wins Italian Junior singles title

Indian shuttler Raksha Kandasamy maintained her dominant run to clinch the Italian Junior singles title, defeating compatriot Ananya Agrawal in the final 21-14, 21-12.

Raksha had an impeccable run in the tournament held in Milan, Italy, from February 23-25, as she did not drop a single game through the course of the competition from the round of 64 to lift the title.

In the semifinal, Raksha had produced another one-sided effort, getting the better of Indian player Prakriti Bharat 21-10, 21-8. In the quarterfinals, Raksha defeated Slovenia’s Anja Blazina 21-9, 21-14.

“This win is really motivating, and I am really happy with how my game has developed over the last few months,” said Raksha, who won the silver medal in All England Junior Open Championships last year.

“This performance has been really boosting, and I am looking forward to competing in many more tournaments here in Europe this year,” she added.

The 17-year-old shuttler from Mumbai, who is studying in 11th standard, will remain in Europe to participate in a few more events with the aim of making it to World Juniors.

“I believe in staying focused, working on my physical fitness as I have been doing for the last 2-3 months and being patient and trusting the process to achieve my goals,” said Raksha, who also won gold medals at Cyprus Junior International Series Tournament and Bulgarian Junior Open Championships last year.

“Next up are a couple of senior international tournaments here itself in Europe, and my main target for this year is to compete in the World Juniors,” Raksha added.

-PTI

Aakarshi Kashyap wins women’s singles title in Uganda International Challenge

Indian shuttler Aakarshi Kashyap beat compatriot Shruti Mundada in the final to clinch the women’s singles title at Uganda International Challenge, but Raghu Mariswamy finished runner-up in the men’s final.

Aakarshi had to work hard for her win in the summit clash as Shruti pushed her opponent in both the sets, but the former emerged winner by a margin of 25-23, 21-18 in 48 minutes.

On the other hand, Mariswamy found it tough going against Vietnam’s Le Duc Phat who beat the Indian shuttler 21-18, 21-14 to emerge winner in the men’s category.

In men’s doubles, the Indian pair of Arjun MR and Dhruv Kapila did not face much trouble in brushing aside the challenge from Vinson Chiu and Joshua Yuan, beating the American pair 21-14, 21-13 to clinch victory in the title clash in just 30 minutes.

Similarly, in the mixed doubles category, the Indian pair of Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath went on to win in the final.

Satish and Aadya had to battle it out against the Australian pair of Kenneth Zhe Hooi Choo and Gronya Somerville over three sets for over one hour and seven minutes to emerge 22-20, 18-21, 21-19 winners.

-PTI

TENNIS

Ankita seeded second for ITF event in Gurugram

It will be another spell of fine chance for the Indian players to bolster their world rank and make progress when the Federal Bank $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament starts at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, on Tuesday.

Ankita Raina has been seeded second behind Dalila Jakupovic of Slovenia, and Sahaja Yamalapalli is the only other Indian player to get a seeding, at No.5.

Sahaja and Shrivalli Bhamidipaty had put Indian women’s tennis in a better perspective with a superb performance in the recent WTA event in Mumbai, against top-100 players. They would be hungry to capitalise on the events at home, as there will be tournaments in Nagpur and Indore over the subsequent fortnight.

Ankita will have the first round against wild card Akanksha Nitture, while Sahaja will be up against Japanese Ayumi Koshishi. Shrivalli will play a qualifer.

Sowjanya Bavisetti, Vaishnavi Adkar and Sonal Patil will be eyeing a berth in the main draw when they play their third and final round of qualifying event on Tuesday.

Zeel Desai and Vaidehi Chaudhari face each other in the first round. Riya Bhatia will also be keen to show her game at home.

With a bunch of strong foreign players present in the field, it should be a lively event.

-Kamesh Srinivasan