PADEL

World Padel League heads to Mumbai for its India debut

Following its tremendous success in United Arab Emirates, the World Padel League (WPL) is all set to make its mark in India with a thrilling showcase of the sport, featuring 32 of the world’s top padel players, across 4 teams.

With support from the Indian Padel Federation (IPF), the event is scheduled to take place at the Nesco Center, Mumbai from February 5-8, 2025, WPL will have seven matches played over four days.

Elite international padel players such as Claudia Fernandez Sanchez (Women’s World No. 3), Marta Ortega Gallego (Women’s World No. 7), Sofia Araujo (Women’s World No. 8), Alejandra Salazar Bengoechea (Women’s World No. 15), Federico Chingotto (Men’s World No. 4), Jon Sanz (Men’s World No. 9), Carlos Daniel Gutierrez (Men’s World No. 19), and many other stars will compete for the first time on Indian soil.

With little less than a month to go for the World Padel League, Sneha Abraham Sehgal, President, Indian Padel Federation expressed, “The preparations for the World Padel League are in full swing, and we’re looking forward to witnessing its highly anticipated debut in India.

“With some of the biggest names in padel set to showcase their skills, this event promises to elevate the sport’s profile in India. It surely marks a new chapter for padel, inspiring more Indian fans across age groups to engage with this exciting sport.”

Navdeep Arneja, COO, World Padel League added, “We are proud to bring the World Padel League to India, where the sport is growing rapidly.

“In the last 2 years, padel has seen a remarkable uptake in the Indian market and it is a great time to help kickstart a notable padel revolution in India. We are looking forward to delivering a spectacular experience and hope it inspires a lasting legacy for the sport in India.”

-Team Sportstar

WEIGHTLIFTING

Mina Santa wins two golds Khelo India women’s National Weightlifting Competition

Mina Santa of Odisha clinched two golds and a silver medal on day two of the Khelo India women’s National Weightlifting Competition on Friday.

-Team Sportstar

Tennis

Bhambri-Olivetti team exits ASB Classic with semifinal defeat

India’s Yuki Bhambri and his French partner Albano Olivetti frittered away a solid start to make a semifinal exit from the ASB Classic in Auckland on Friday.

The unseeded Indo-French combine had the momentum but the top seeded pair of Nikola Mektic and Michael Venus bounced back strongly to win 3-6 6-1 5-10 in the last-four pairs match of the ATP 250 event.

Bhambri and Olivetti took 90 points each and spilt USD 10150 for their effort in the hard court tournament.

-PTI

Maaya Rajeshwaran beats Eleejah Inisan in semifinals

Maaya Rajeshwaran was in irrepressible form, and brought considerable intensity to her game, to beat second seed Eleejah Inisan of France 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2 in an entertaining semifinals of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Friday.

In the reassuring presence of coach Miguel Fragoso from the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain, the 15-year-old Maaya competed hard, serving strong, stroking with punch and flair, as she glided around the court to persistently probe the quality of the 70th ranked opponent.

In the second set, Maaya fought back from 2-5 down to force the tie-break. She was a little tired to pull through then, but regrouped her game for the climax as she raced away to a 3-0 lead in the decider.

It was a revenge victory for Maaya as she had lost to Eleejah in three sets on the clay courts of Mexico last November.

In the final, Maaya will play Ekaterina Tupitsyna who also had to endure a three-setter against Polina Berezina.

In the boys section, top seed Rethin Pranav was beaten in straight sets by his doubles partner Donghyun Hwang of Korea. Roshan Santhosh of USA beat another Korean, Hyeon Seok Seo for the loss of four games to book his spot in the final.

The results:

Under-18 boys (semifinals): Donghyun Hwang (Kor) bt Rethin Pranav 6-4, 6-1; Roshan Santhosh bt Hyeon Seok Seo (Kor) 6-4, 6-0.

Doubles (final): Artem Bogomolov & Roman Kharlamov bt Alan Aiukhanov & Alexey Shibaev 5-7, 7-6(6), [10-1].

Under-18 girls (semifinals): Ekaterina Tupitsyna bt Polina Berezina 6-3, 4-6, 6-1; Maaya Rajeshwaran bt Eleejah Inisan (Fra) 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2.

Doubles (final): Yoana Konstantinova & Rada Zolotareva bt Yesung choo (Kor) & Yu-Chen Lin (Tpe) 6-3, 6-2.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

 BR Adityan ITF Men’s M25 Futures tournament to begin on January 13

The next edition of the BR Adityan ITF Men’s M25 Futures is scheduled to be held at the SDAT Tennis stadium in Chennai from the January 13 to 19.

This edition of the tournament will be bigger and better than last year’s edition, with an improved prize money, which saw an increase to $30,000 from $25,000 last year. The winner will get 25 ATP points while the runner-up will recieve 16 points.

-Team Sportstar

ITF men’s tennis tournament: Sidharth Rawat extends winning streak

Qualifier Sidharth Rawat extended his fine run as he beat S.D. Prajwal Dev 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the $30,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the Arera Club on Friday.

It was the second straight-set victory in two meetings for Sidharth over Prajwal in the professional circuit.

In the semifinals, Sidharth will play Maxim Zhukov. The other semifinal will be between Alastair Gray of Britain, the champion of the event last week in Indore, and Eric Vanshelboim of Ukraine.

Chirag Duhan and Dev Javia made the doubles final and will play a Korean pair.

The results:

Singles (quarterfinals): Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) bt Luca Castelnuovo (Sui) 6-4, 6-4; Alastair Gray (GBR) bt Egor Agafonov 6-1, 7-6(4); Maxim Zhukov bt Sergey Fomin (Uzb) 6-3, 6-4; Sidharth Rawat bt SD Prajwal Dev 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles (semifinals): Yeongseok Jeong & Uisung Park (Kor) bt Sai Karteek Reddy & Vishnu Vardhan 6-7(4), 6-3, [10-7]; Chirag Duhan & Dev Javia bt Maan Kesharwani & Rohan Mehra 7-5, 6-3.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

FOOTBALL

ISL: AIFF’s disciplinary committee changes Aiban’s red card to yellow after review

The national football body AIFF’s Disciplinary Committee has changed Kerala Blasters’ defender Aiban Dohling’s red card to yellow after reviewing video evidence of the Kochi-based team’s Indian Super League match against Punjab FC held in New Delhi on January 5.

“The committee, after a thorough review, concluded that there was neither intentional serious foul play nor violent conduct on Aiban’s part. Consequently, the red card issued has been rescinded and replaced with a caution (yellow card) following the club’s appeal,” said the Blasters in a statement on Friday.

Aiban was given the marching orders after a messy collision with Punjab forward Leon Augustine in the 72nd minute in the Blasters’ last match. That reduced the Blasters to nine men (defender Milos Drincic had been sent off earlier with a second yellow in the 58th minute) but the Kerala side, now managed by interim head coach T.G. Purushothaman, still went on to win the match 1-0.

The decision now makes Aiban eligible to play in the upcoming match against Odisha FC in Kochi on January 13.

-Stan Ryan

Golf

Rhea Purvi grabs maiden pro title with a play-off win over Saanvi

Rhea Purvi Sarvanan got off to a fine start in the 2025 season of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour with a maiden win in the opening leg at the Golmuri Golf Club here on Friday.

The 22-year-old golfer from Kolar edged out amateur Saanvi Somu in the first play-off hole after both players were tied at 1-under 215 for three days. They shot 71 each on the final day.

Rhea had rounds of 72-72-71, while Saanvi, who has time and again finished runner-up, shot 75-69-71.

Rhea, who is now in her fifth season as a pro, lives and trains at Zion Hills, which is two hours away from Bengaluru. She bettered the Tied-eighth place finish in the 14th Leg of the 2024 HPWGT season.

-PTI

Basketball

National basketball championship: Anil Kumar shines as Karnataka defeats Delhi in extra time

Anil Kumar converted two free throws to fetch a thrilling 100-98 victory for Karnataka over Delhi in extra time in the quarterfinals of the 74th National basketball championship at the Sidsar Sports Complex on Friday.

The teams had locked 86-86 at the end of four quarters, thanks to a three pointer in time by Joginder Singh for Delhi.

Karnataka has been playing right through the tournament and was able to lift itself together as a team at the crunch.

Punjab got into the attacking mode in racing to a 105-62 victory over Services in another quarterfinal encounter.

In the women’s section, Delhi scored a 69-63 victory over Chhattisgarh. Tamil Nadu women beat Madhya Pradesh 77-45 to enter the semifinals.

The results:

Men (quarterfinals): Punjab 105 (Amjyot Gill 28, Kanwar Gurbaz Singh Sandhu 22, Amritpal Singh 16, Gurwinder Singh 15, Nawaz Singh Panaich 12) bt Services 62 (Sahil 22, VP Abhishek 14, Gaurav Chandal 11).

Karnataka 100 (Abhishek Gowda 27, Pratyanshu Tomar 19, Aravind Arumukam 16, Aaron Michael 16, BK Anil Kumar 15) bt Delhi 98 (Joginder Singh 26, Prince Tyagi 22, Vishesh Bhrighuvanshi 15).

Tamil Nadu 82 (Anantharaj 22, Arvind Kumar Jeevanathan 11, Pranav Prince 11) bt Uttar Pradesh 32 (Satyajeet Chaprana 11, Kushal Singh 10).

Pre-quarterfinals: Uttar Pradesh 97 (Harsh Dagar 25, Kushal Singh 24, Devendra Choudary 20) bt Chandigarh 41.

Rajasthan 93 (Akshit Hooda 23, Sharad Dhadich 20, piyush Meena 11) bt Gujarat 83 (Mirant Italia 22, Naman Kanjani 21, ahaj Kumar Patel 18, Krishnapalsinh Ghoil 10, Kasi Rajan 10).

Women (quarterfinals): Delhi 69 (PrakritiRanjan 18, Bala Banusri 14) bt Chhattisgarh 63 (Divyani Gangwal 16, Shanti Xaxa 14).

Tamil Nadu 77 (Krithika Sureshkumar 27, J Iswarya 12, Nitika Amuthan 11) bt Madhya Pradesh 45 (Khushi Singh 15).

Railways 99 (K Sathya 17, Vaishnavi Yadav 14, Dharshini Thirunavukkarasu 13) bt Gujarat 33 (Naomi Lakhanpal 13).

Pre-quarterfinals: Maharashtra 62 (Shireen Limaye 14, Siya Deodhar 14, S Rajeswari 10) bt Karnataka 44 (S Sobana 14).

Gujarat 78 (Aditi Vasudev 18, Hemangnee Gamit 18, Naomi Lakhanpal 17) bt West Bengal 59 (Nima Doma Butia 17, Kiran Yadav 13, Avanti Vardhan 13).

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Football

IWL 2024-25: Odisha FC, Gokulam Kerala play out draw; East Bengal beats Kickstart FC

The battle between the defending champion and the runner-up proved even in the end at the Indian Women’s League football. Odisha FC was held to a 1-1 by Gokulam Kerala, whose ambition of winning the four IWL titles in a row was thwarted by the former last season.

After a barren first half, it was the reigning champion that went ahead, in the 61st minute. The goal came off a left-footer from S. Lynda Kom.

The host, however, equalised with three just three minutes remaining in the normal time. The scorer was Hemam Shilky Devi, who punished Odisha for some inadequate defending.

In the season opener, East Bengal beat Kickstart FC 2-0 with goals from Sandhiya Ranganathan and Uganda’s Resty Nanziri.

The results: Gokulam Kerala 1 (Hemam Shilky Devi 87) drew with Odisha FC 1 S. Lynda Kom 61); East Bengal 2 (Sandhiya Ranganathan, Resty Nanziri) vs Kickstart FC

– Team Sportstar

Football

I-League: Shillong Lajong FC beats Real Kashmir FC 1-0

Shillong Lajong FC rode on Aman Ahlawat’s 34th-minute strike to return to winning ways with a thrilling 1-0 victory over Real Kashmir FC in a closely contested I-League 2024-25 fixture at the SSA Stadium on Friday.

This was Lajong’s first-ever win against Real Kashmir.

-Team Sportstar