TENNIS

ITF W50: Ankita-Naiktha duo eases past Riya-Vaidehi to reach women’s doubles final

The Second seed Panna Udvardy overcame a slow start to beat Laura Samson of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Friday.

It was the second three-set victory for the Hungarian, who does play a solid game once she settles down. In the semifinals, Panna will play fourth seed Yuriko Miyazaki of Britain, who put out sixth seed Dalila Jakupovic for the loss of four games.

The other semifinal will be between top seed Darja Semenistaja, who has dropped only 10 games in all in three rounds, and seventh seed Tatiana Prozorova.

In the doubles semifinals, Ankita Raina combined strongly with Naiktha Bains of Britain to score a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Riya Bhatia and Vaidehi Chaudhari.

Riya and Vaidehi did lead 4-1 in the second set but were unable to drive home the advantage against the crafty opponents.

In the final, Ankita and Naiktha will play the American pair of Jessie Aney and Jessica Failla.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

ITF Juniors: Maaya Rajeshwaran loses to Polina Kuharenko

Maaya Rajeshwaran’s fine run was stopped by Polina Kuharenko with a 6 3, 6-3 defeat in the semifinals of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Friday.

The champion of the last tournament in Delhi, the 15-year-old Maaya had kept the Indian hopes alive by winning three matches. It was physically a hard task and the talented girl from Coimbatore who is accompanied by the coach from the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain, Miguel Fragoso, had  commendably sustained her strong game till she found her match.

In the boys doubles final, Hitesh Chauhan and partner Ilya Maltsev were beaten 10-8 in the super tie-break by Aaron Gabet and Hyeon Seok Seo.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

BR Adityan ITF Men’s Future Tennis Championship: Oliver Crawford storms into semifinal

Oliver Crawford of Great Britain the second seed blanked Yurii of Ukraine 6-0,6-0 with a superlative display of precision and power in 42 minutes to move into the semifinals of the BR Adityan ITF Men’s Future Tennis championship being held at the SDAT Tennis Stadium Chennai.

Eriv Vancshonhiem of Ukraine proved to be too solid for Manish Suresh Kumar, the lone Indian in the quarterfinals. The calm-looking Eric got off to a solid start, while Manish looked to still recover from the long three-hour match he played the previous day.

Egor got the better of the lanky Grigor Lomakin of Kazakhstan, a qualifier in straight sets. Egor was firm in his groundstrokes and served with venom to take the upper hand and gave Grigor no chance to recover. Egor’s quick recovery after every shot and anticipation were of high quality.

The Doubles final is to be an all-Indian affair with youngsters Chirag Duhan and Dev Javia facing Ishaq Iqbal and Aryan Shah. Both teams scored comfortable wins against their respective opponents.

-Team Sportstar

ATHLETICS

Bugatha, Man Singh bank on high-altitude training for success in 20th Tata Mumbai Marathon

Indian top elite athletes at the Tata Mumbai Marathon media centre on Friday (L to R), Defending champion Thakor Nirmaben Bharatjee; Shymali Singh; Asian Marathon 2024 Champion Man Singh; Defending Champion Srinu Bugatha and Olympian Gopi T. along with Sir MO Farah, International Event Ambassador, Tata Mumbai Marathon 2025.  
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Defending Indian Elite men’s champion Srinu Bugatha and his Army mate Man Singh are hoping their high-altitude training in Ooty will give them an edge in the landmark 20th edition of the Tata Mumbai Marathon to be held on Sunday.

“I am looking to break the course record. I have been training in Ooty. This is my fifth time at the Tata Mumbai Marathon, which is India’s best and biggest marathon. It is nice for us Indian runners to get to run alongside the Kenyans and Ethiopians. And for those of us who are familiar with the course, it helps to know the layout as it also helps in our training,” Bugatha said. 

Asian marathon champion Man Singh also has his eyes on the top prize. “I am targeting to break the course record on Sunday. If the weather supports, then all of us Indian runners can aim for a good timing this year. I have trained hard in Ooty, and I am looking for a personal best of 2.14,” he said. 

The star-studded India Elite line-up includes Olympian Gopi T, talented Kalidas Hirave and the 2023 Asian Games 10,000m silver medallist Kartik Kumar in the men’s section and Thakor Nirmaben and Shymali Singh, among others, in the women’s section. 

The top three finishers in the Indian Elite men’s and women’s categories will receive prize money of INR 5 lakh, INR 4 lakh and INR 3 lakh respectively from the total prize fund of USD 389,524. 

An incentive reward of INR 2 lakh is up for grabs for setting a new TMM mark which is currently held by NS Rawat (men, 2:15:48) (2016) and Sudha Singh (women, 2:34:56) (2019).

The experienced Gopi is a two-time winner and three-time runner-up among Indians at this World Athletics Gold Label race.

-Team Sportstar

MOTORSPORTS

Dakar Rally 2025: Sanjay Takale finishes 18th overall, 13th in Class

FILE PHOTO: India’s Sanjay Takale in picture.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Rally driver Sanjay Takale became the first Indian to finish the Dakar Rally in the 4W Classic.

Earlier, he was the first Indian to participate in the four-wheel section of the 4W class at the Dakar Rally 2025, which was held in Saudi Arabia from January 3 to 17.

Takale, who became the first Indian to win an Asia Pacific Rally Championship title (APRC) in the production class, has partnered with Compagnie Saharienne, a French Team, and will race a Toyota Land Cruiser HZJ78 at the 2025 Dakar Classic for 14 days and over 8,000 km, including 5,000 km of 12 special stages.

Takale finished 18 overall and 13th in his Class.

-Team Sportstar

KHO KHO

Women’s Kho Kho World Cup: Indian crushes Bangladesh to reach semifinals

The Indian women’s team produced a clinical performance to crush Bangladesh by a huge margin of 109-16 and book their spot in the semifinals of the Kho Kho World Cup in Delhi on Friday.

Led by captain Priyanka Ingle, India dominated the contest throughout all four turns, including an impressive dream run in turn 2 that lasted over five minutes and continued to record 100 or more points for the fifth time in a row.

India was dominant from the beginning of the quarterfinal against Bangladesh, hitting a half-century of points courtesy of Nasreen Shaikh and Priyanka in turn 1 as their points soared past the mark of 50.

India eventually won 109-16 at the end of turn 4.

In other matches, Uganda scored a decisive victory over New Zealand, securing their semi-final berth with a final score of 71-26, South Africa beat Kenya 51-46 to advance to the next round whereas Nepal crushed Iran 103-8.

In the men’s division, Iran showcased an exceptional performance against Kenya to win 86-18 while South Africa triumphed over England to secure their semi-final spot with a 58-38 victory. Nepal also made it to the final four after beating Bangladesh 67-18.

-PTI

Kho Kho World Cup: India men cruises into semifinals after big win over Sri Lanka

Ramji Kashyap, Pratik Waikar and Aditya Ganpule laid the foundation in turn 1 as the Indian men’s team marched into the semifinals of the Kho Kho World Cup with a 100-40 win over Sri Lanka in New Delhi on Friday.

The troika of Kashyap, Waikar and Ganpule impressed as India scored 58 points in turn 1 and prevented the Sri Lankans from scoring a single point via Dream Runs, ensuring a strong start to the game.

Sri Lanka worked hard in turn 2, as its attackers made the job difficult for its Indian opponents. But its efforts were not enough to bridge the gap as India remained ahead at the start of turn 3.

India took the aggressive route in turn 3 as Siva Reddy, V Subramani, and Waikar put in plenty of sky and pole dives to keep the Sri Lankans quiet. India reached 100 points at the end of turn 3, which was enough to help them seal a spot in the semifinals.

-PTI