Indian sports news wrap, March 31
SAI forms internal committee to inquire into alleged incident at Bangalore Girls Hostel
Representative Image| Photo Credit: Twitter @Media_SAI
Sports Authority of India in a statement told that a diploma trainee was allegedly filmed by another student at the common girls washroom of the SAI Diploma Girls Hostel in Mallathahalli, Bengaluru on March 28.
Having brought to the notice of officials at the Sports Authority of India centre in Bengaluru, an internal committee has been formed to inquire further into the matter that has taken place at the SAI Diploma Girls Hostel in Mallathahalli.
The Committee has been directed to submit its report at the earliest. SAI has also facilitated the alleged victim in helping her lodge a police complaint. Considering the sensitivity of the issue, the matter was reported to the police and on March 29, the FIR was lodged.
Further, SAI officials have also brought out a suspension letter against the alleged miscreant and asked her to vacate the hostel. She has been allowed to vacate the hostel on March 30th after clearance from police.
-Team Sportstar
TENNIS
Ankita Raina in semifinals
Ankita Raina fought for three hours and eight minutes to beat Gao Xinyu of China 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF womens tennis tournament in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Friday.
It was the third victory in four meetings for the 30-year-old Ankita over the Chinese. Ankita converted five of 11 breakpoints, as against four of 10 by the Chinese.
Ankita bounced back from being down 3-6, 1-3, by winning five games in a row and forcing the third set. She did lead 3-1 and 5-3 in the decider, but the Chinese managed to stretch the contest further before Ankita served it out in the 12th game.
In the semifinals, Ankita will play another Chinese, qualifier Guo Hanyu.
The results
$25,000 ITF women, Jakarta, Indonesia Singles (quarterfinals): Ankita Raina bt Gao Xinyu (Chn) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Guo Hanyu (Chn) & Hong Yi Cody Wong (Hkg) bt Rutuja Bhosale & Peangtarn Plipuech (Tha) 6-3, 6-4.
Kamesh Srinivasan
TENNIS
Prajwal Dev upsets 4th seed Mukund Sasikumar to enter singles semifinals
S D Prajwal Dev of India showed immense tenacity in carving out a 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) win over compatriot Mukund Sasikumar to waltz into the singles semifinals of the ITF Mysuru Open here on Friday.
Mysuru-based Prajwal, a world No 1027, came as the underdog against fourth-seeded and 401-ranked Mukund but dished out a performance that masked the difference in ranking.
The USD 25,000 event is being hosted by the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA).
Cutting back to the match, once Mukund won the first set 6-1, a canter for him seemed the most possible outcome. But Prajwal showed massive dollops of fighting spirit despite being down by a break in the second set to win it 7-5 eventually.
Both the players battled neck to neck in the decider as it stretched to the tie-break. Prajwal played the crucial points a lot better in the tie-break to come out as the winner after a battle that lasted precisely 3 hours.
In the semis, Prajwal will face George Loffhagen. Earlier, unseeded Loffhagen of Britain continued his winning spree in the tournament, beating Indias Karan Singh 7-6 (4), 6-3.
In the doubles, top-seeded Indian pair of B Rithvik Choudary and Niki Poonacha strolled past fourth seeds and compatriots Parikshit Somani and Manish Sureshkumar 6-3, 6-3 to enter the final.
Later, Mukund Sasikumar made up for his defeat in singles when he along with Vishnu Vardhan reached the doubles semifinals, defeating Indian duo Faisal Qamar and Fardeen Quamar 7-6 (7), 3-6, 10-7. The match was carried over from Thursday.
Results:
(Singles, QF) S D Prajwal Dev (IND) beat (4) Mukund Sasikumar (IND) 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) (2) Oliver Crawford (USA) beat Florent Bax (FRA) 6-4, 6-0 George Loffhagen (GBR) beat Karan Singh (IND) 7-6 (4), 6-3 (8) Ellis Blake (AUS) beat (3) Orlov Vladyslav (UKR) 7-6 (4), 6-4 Results: Doubles (Quarterfinals, Carried over from Thursday) Mukund Sasikumar (IND) / Vishnu Vardhan (IND) beat Faisal Qamar (IND)/ Fardeen Quamar (IND) 7-6 (7), 3-6, 10-7 Results: Doubles (Semifinals) (1) B Rithvik Choudary / Niki Poonacha (IND) beat (4) Parikshit Somani / Manish Sureshkumar 6-3, 6-3.
-PTI
Asia Oceania world juniors: India beats Kyrgyzstan
The Indian boys beat Kyrgyzstan 2-0 in the match for minor placings in the Asia-Oceania World Junior under-14 tennis tournament in Kuching, Malaysia, on Friday.
In the match for 13th place, India will play Uzbekistan.
In the semifinals, Japan beat Korea 2-1, and Pakistan beat Hong Kong by the same margin. With the top four teams qualifying for the world group stage from the region, there was no worry for the four semifinalists.
The results:
Play-off (13-16th place): India bt Kyrgyzstan 2-0 (Rudra Batham bt Ridvan Loianov 6-2, 6-1; Shivtej Shirfule bt Roman Kim 6-3, 6-1).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Friday, March 31, 2023 at 11:42 am