HOCKEY

Punjab Hockey League: Roundglass Hockey Academy beats Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee Hockey Academy to win title

Roundglass Hockey Academy beat Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) Hockey Academy 6-0 in the last league match and emerged the champion of the Punjab Hockey League at the Surjit Stadium in Jalandhar on Monday.

Roundglass was tied with Surjit Hockey Academy with 23 points from 10 matches but topped the table by virtue of its better goal difference of 30 to 22.

Namdhari Sports Academy finished third, while SGPC Academy placed fourth ahead of Punjab Institute of Sports teams from Mohali and Ludhiana in the six-team competition.

The champion and runner-up won Rs.200,000 and Rs.100,000 respectively. The third to sixth-placed teams shared Rs.150,000 between them.

Varinder Singh was declared the “best player” of the league. Jarman Singh and Gursahil Singh, were adjudged the ‘best forward’ and ‘best goalkeeper’ respectively. Navraj Singh and Sukhdev Singh were declared the ‘best defenders’ full back and half back respectively.

The awards were presented by Olympians Ashok Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, Mukhbam Singh, Baljit Singh Dhillon, Chand Singh, Rajinder Singh and Hockey Punjab general secretary Amrik Singh Powar.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

TENNIS

$40,000 ITF women’s tournament: Ankita Raina, Sahaja Yamalapalli, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Vaidehi Chaudhari get bye

With the main draw featuring 48 players, it is a much-needed opportunity for the fringe players to compete in the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament being staged at the Ahmedabad Tennis Foundation courts from Tuesday.

With the top 16 players getting a bye in the first round in a draw of 64, Ankita Raina, Sahaja Yamalapalli, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Vaidehi Chaudhari get to conserve their energy, among the Indian players.

Anjali Rathi infused more life into the ranks as she beat second seed Maria Kalyakkina 7-6(1), 6-2 in the second and final qualifying round. She will play Weronika Ewald of Poland in the first round of the main event.

Akanksha Nitture, Humera Baharmus, Sonal Patil and Smriti Bhasin were the other Indian players to qualify for the main draw.

Indian women’s tennis would aspire to churn out quality from quantity as 18 players try to play their best game for collective progress.

With the top eight players spearheaded by Arina Rodionova of Australia and Carlota Cirez of Spain figuring in the top 300 of the world ranking, the rest of the field would get a thorough reality check about the quality of its game.

Overall, it should be an entertaining week of tennis that would possibly serve as a good preparation for the Indian team in the run-up to the Billie Jean King Cup Asia-Oceania event scheduled to be held in Pune in April.

The seedings:

1. Arina Rodionova (Aus), 2. Carlota Cirez (Esp), 3. Ekaterina Makarova, 4. Mei Yamaguchi (Jpn), 5. Haruka Kaji (Jpn), 6. Amandine Hesse (Fra), 7. Ankita Raina, 8. Maria Tkacheva.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Mane, Gandas among Indians to headline Chhattisgarh Open

Some of the leading professionals Om Prakash Chouhan, Udayan Mane, Rashid Khan, Manu Gandas, Aman Raj and S Chikkarangappa apart from 13 foreign players from seven countries, including the much successful Jamal Hossain of Bangladesh will compete in the Rs.1 crore SECL Chhattisgarh Open golf championship at the Fairway Golf and Lake Resort from Tuesday.

“I am delighted to support the staging of the first-ever professional golf event in Chhattisgarh in association with PGTI. This event will promote the State as an attractive golfing destination and place it firmly on the international golf map. It will inspire budding golfers in the State to dream big and aim high,” said the Deputy Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Arun Sao, in a press conference on Monday.

The president of PGTI, former cricket captain Kapil Dev thanked the Chhattisgarh government and the title sponsor South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) for the support and sharing the vision of “growing professional golf in the country”.

The Fairway Golf and Lake Resort course is beautifully located on the banks of the Jhanjh lake and surrounded by a 500-acre forest. The par for the 18-hole course is 69. The top 50 players and ties will make the cut after two rounds in a strong field of 123 professionals and three amateurs.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

BASKETBALL

INBL Pro basketball league: Hyderabad Falcons defeats Chennai Heat

An all-round performance by Alex Robinson jr. who scored 18 points, made 10 rebounds and 17 assists, took Hyderabad Falcons to a 97-76 victory over Chennai Heat in the INBL Pro basketball league at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium on Monday.

Both Hyderabad and Chennai teams finished their engagements with 10 points each from five wins and qualified for the semifinals.

Punjab Warriors wound up the league stage with a 79-56 victory over Mumbai Titans for its sixth win and qualified for the semifinals on top with Gujarat Stallions.

Both Mumbai Titans and Delhi Dribblers finished with four wins and placed fifth and sixth respectively.

The semifinals will be played on Friday, and the final on Saturday.

The results:

Punjab Warriors 79 (Uche Dibiamaka 23, Stokley Chaffee 17, Brijesh Tiwari 11, Vaisakh Manoj 10, Taane Samuel 10) bt Mumbai Titans 56 (Lamar Patterson 13, Lokendra Singh 10).

Hyderabad Falcons 97 (Alex Robinson jr. 18, Kushal Singh 17, Jack Purchase 15, Callum Dalton 15, Prashant Singh Rawat 14) bt Chennai Heat 76 (Jack Stanwicx 18, Jaideep Rathore 17, Matt Gray 13, Keith Kiner 12).

-Kamesh Srinivasan