HOCKEY
Senior National men’s hockey c’ship: Maharashtra confirms place in quarters
As the Senior National men’s hockey championship approaches the knock-out stage, Maharashtra confirmed its place in the quarterfinals with a resounding 5-0 win over Goa in a Pool G encounter at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Sunday.
Barring Pool B, where the match between Mizoram and Haryana on Monday will decide as to who will make it to the knock-outs, the remaining teams from their respective Groups have more or less made it to the last eight.
Maharashtra was in a must-win situation against Goa. After Jharkhand put it across Gujarat 18-2 in Pool G, it was clear that Maharashtra had to win – a draw will not suffice-to progress to the second stage, and it did it quite comfortably.
The results:
Pool E: Odisha 9 (Amandeep Lakra 5, 25, Nilam Sanjeep Xess 11, Ajay Kumar Ekka 15, 50, Pratap Lakra 23, Sudeep Chirmako 35, Kerobin Lakra 47, 53) bt Arunachal 0; Le Puducherry 13 (P. Mahendran 2, 7, 29, 32, T. Arun Kumar 3, 21, 25, 26, R. Ranjith 8, 37, 42, 50, V. Veerathamizhan 55) bt Rajasthan 2 (Vijendra Singh 15, Keshav Pandey 47).
G: Jharkhand 18 (Dilbar Barla 2, 16, 38, Atish Dodrai 9, 11, 49, 60, Junul Purti 16, Simon Bodra 18, 23, 42, Sunil Xaxa 26, Oreya Birsa 28, Michael Topno 31, Anurud Bhengra 34, Daniyal Soy 37, 45, Joseph Topno 59) bt Gujarat 2 (Gajera Meet 5, Ajay Neel Patel 25); Maharashtra 5 (Devinder Walmiki 2, Pratap Shinde 17, Aditya Lalage 21, Aniket Gurav 23, Ajinkya Jadhav 26) bt Goa 0.
– Team Sportstar
POLO
Achievers win Cavalry Gold polo tournament
Abhimanyu Pathak scored four goals in guiding Achievers to a 7-5 victory over Jindal Panther in the final of the Habanos Cavalry Gold polo tournament at the Jaipur polo ground here on Sunday.
Abhimanyu was adjudged the “most valuable player’, while mare El Colica, ridden by Simran Shergill, was declared the ‘best polo pony’.
The results (final):
Achievers 7 (Abhimanyu Pathak 4, Chris Mackenzie 2, Aryaman Singh) bt Jindal Panther 5 (Simran Shergill 2, Siddhant Sharma 2, Naveen Jindal).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
TENNIS
Dalibor Svrcina wins ITF men’s tennis tournament
Top seed Dalibor Svrcina of the Czech Republic sailed to a 6-2, 6-0 victory over seventh seed Nick Chappell of the USA in the final of the USD 25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the Kalinga Stadium on Sunday.
It was the fourth singles title of his career for the 22-year Dalibor, who was ranked a career best 154 in October last year.
The results (final):
Dalibor Svrcina (Cze) bt Nick Chappell (USA) 6-2, 6-0.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
