SWIMMING
Manna Patel of Gujarat sets a new national record (29.79) in women’s 50m Backstroke at the 75 Senior National Aquatic championship in Guwahati on Friday.
TENNIS
AITA women’s tournament: Bhatia beats Ahamed in final;
Top seed Kashish Bhatia beat qualifier Shimreen Ahamed 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the Rs. 100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Joygan Academy on Friday.
It was a double crown for Kashish, as she in partnership with Riya Uboveja beat Divya Bhardwaj and Shefali Arora 6-4, 6-2 in the doubles final.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
AITA National series juniors: Yadav beats Sharma to set up title clash
Manish Yadav beat second seed Swastik Sharma 7-5, 7-5 to set up a title clash against top seed Tanishq Jadhav in the AITA Naitonal series under-18 tennis tournament at the Singha Sports Academy on Friday.
In the girl’s section, Aakruti Sonkusare bounced back from a slow start to beat sixth seed Kkaira Chetnani 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. In the final, Aakruti will play Sejal Bhutada who beat the third-seeded Shagun Kumari for the loss of four games.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
AITA men’s tournament: Top seed Ishaque Eqbal wins
Top seed Ishaque Eqbal won the Verka Rs. 100,000 AITA men’s tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex on Friday.
In the final, Ishaque led 6-1, 3-1 when the former national champion and second seed Dalwinder Singh retired.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
AITA Wheelchair Tournament: Karthik defeats Mariappan to reach final
K Karthik defeated top seed D Mariappan 6-1, 6-2 to make the men’s final of the AITA wheelchair tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Friday.
In the final, Karthik will play second seed V Shekar who beat S Balachandar 1-6, 6-4, [10-6].
The women’s final will be between N Prathima and MK Mubina.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Cassis Open Provence: Yuki and Saketh lose semifinals
Top seeds Romain Arneodo and Allbano Olivetti pipped third seeds Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni 6-3, 4-6, [10-8] in the doubles semifinals of the €45,730 Challenger tennis tournament in France on Friday.
The Indian pair collected 30 ATP points and €930.
In the Challenger in Thailand, Anirudh Chandrasekar in partnership with Yuta Sshimizu was beaten by Francis Casey Alcantara and Christopher Rungkat 6-1, 6-4 in the doubles semifinals.
In the $25,000 ITF men’s event in Portugal, Sasikumar Mukund beat Adria Soriano Barrera of Spain 7-6(6), 6-4 to make the semifinals.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy to host Rifle and Pistol shooting World Cup
The Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy in Bhopal will host the World Cup shooting in rifle and pistol from March 20 to 31, next year. The event will have Olympic quota places for the Paris Games.
The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) allotted the World Cup to India during its executive committee meeting in Lamarca, Cyprus. The president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), Raninder Singh, attended the meeting.
“It is extremely satisfying for us to add another city to the World shooting map. It is due to the untiring efforts of the Government of Madhya Pradesh, particularly that of the Sports Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia that this was made possible”, said Raninder Singh in a statement here on Friday.
India has been regularly hosting the World Cups in recent times, and the last one, featuring rifle, pistol and shotgun, was staged in Delhi in March 2021.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
MOTORSPORTS
National motorcycle racing meet: Sarvesh Balappa storms to pole
Hubballi's Sarvesh Balappa (Axor Sparks Racing), with five wins this season, warmed up for the weekend's double-header by grabbing pole position in the Novice (Stock 165cc) in the fourth round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2022 at the Madras International Circuit near here on Friday.
The 23-year old Balappa, who leads the championship race in the Novice category, came up with a lap of 02 mins, 08.591 secs in the qualifying session in blazing afternoon sunshine.
Filling up the front row were Mumbai's Kayan Zubin Patel (Axor Sparks Racing, 02:08.616) and Bengaluru’s 12-year old Shreyas Hareesh (Rockers Racing, 02:08.839).
Meanwhile, Petronas TVS Racing's K Y Ahamed was the quickest in both the premier categories, the Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open and the Pro-Stock 165cc Open during the free practice sessions earlier in the day.
Later, Ahamed was again in top form, clocking a flying lap of 01:57.379 in the Pro-Stock 165cc Open class, ahead of Pacer Yamaha’s Prabhu Arunagiri (01:58.344), while points table topper Mathana Kumar (Pacer Yamaha) was the seventh quickest in 01:58.740.
Less than a second covered the top eight, thus holding out the promise of an intriguing qualifying session and the race to follow.
-PTI