TENNIS
Wildcards for Manas Dhamne, Aryan Shah, Karan Singh in ATP tennis meet
Upcoming players Manas Dhamne, Aryan Shah and Karan Singh were on Thursday handed wildcard entries for the Pune Open ATP Challenger 100 men’s tennis championship in which top players from 28 countries will be seen in action here from February 16-23.
The tournament, to be organised by Maharashtra State Lawn tennis Association (MSLTA) in association with the department of sports and youth services in the Maharashtra government, will be held at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex at Mhalunge Balewadi.
The Pune event is the third of a series of four ATP Challenger events being held in India. The previous tournaments were held at Chennai and Delhi while the last event will be played at Bengaluru.
As far as the wildcard entries are concerned, 17-year-old Dhamne is coming off a USD 15000 ITF win at Monastir, Tunisia last week, 19-year-old Shah has been performing well in the last year at ITF events, and Karan, 21, made his Davis Cup debut two weeks ago.
The tournament carries a total prize purse of Rs 1.12 crore. The winner will receive 100 ATP ranking points and Rs.15.50 lakh and the runner-up will get 60 ATP points and Rs 9 lakh.
The first round loser will receive Rs 1.10 lakh, and the the qualifier will also get an incentive of Rs 33,000.
The main draw consists of 32 players – 23 direct acceptances, 3 wild cards, and 6 qualifiers. Qualifying will comprise 24 players with 4 wild cards.
Entry for spectators to witness the matches is free.
– PTI
Bhambri-Middelkoop pair loses in Marseille quarterfinals
Yuki Bhambri, in partnership with Matwe Middelkoop, was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by second seeds Sander Gille and Jan Zielinski in the doubles quarterfinals of the ATP 250 tournament in Marseille, France.
RESULTS
ATP 250, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Singles (first round): Correntin Moutet (Fra) bt Sumit Nagal 7-5, 6-2.
ATP 250, Delray Beach, USA
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Nicolas Barrientos (Col) & Rithvik Bollipalli bt Fernando Romboli & Marcelo Zormann (Bra) 7-6(4), 7-6(5).
ATP 250, Marseille, France
Doubles (quarterfinals): Sander Gille (Bel) & Jan Zielinski (Pol) bt Yuki Bhambri & Matwe Middelkoop (Ned) 6-3, 6-4;
Pre-quarterfinals: Yuki & Middelkoop bt David Pel (Ned) & Patrik Trhac (USA) 5-7, 6-2, [10-6].
– Team Sportstar
GOLF
TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship: Yuvraj Sandhu retains his sole lead after round three
Yuvraj Sandhu in action in round three.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Yuvraj Sandhu in action in round three.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Yuvraj Sandhu’s two-under 68 helped him retain his sole lead by one stroke after the third round of the season-opening TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship on the Tollygunge Club course in Kolkata on Thursday.
Yuvraj recovered after dropping shots on the first two holes to collect four birdies and gather a three-day total of 18-under 192.
Bangladesh’s Jamal Hossain (65-62-66) narrowed down the gap with the leader by aggregating 193.
Rahil Gangjee, playing on a course where he spent most of his childhood, struck 66 to be third with 196.
S.S.P. Chawrasia (71) was the highest-placed among the city-based professionals as he was tied for the 14 th place with 201.
Local amateur Anshul Mishra (69) was tied-20 th after totalling 203.
The scores (third round):
192-Yuvraj Sandhu (63, 61, 68); 193-Jamal Hossain (65, 62, 66); 196-Rahil Gangjee (63, 67, 66); 198-Shamim Khan (67, 64, 67); 199-Akshay Sharma (71, 62, 66), Arjun Sharma (63, 67, 69).
-Y.B. Sarangi
HOCKEY
National Games: Hockey gold for Karnataka men and Haryana women
Karnataka men and Haryana women won the National Games hockey titles in Haridwar on Thursday.
Karnataka men defeated Uttar Pradesh 3-2 while Haryana, riding on Ishika’s two goals, women crushed Madhya Pradesh 4-1 in the finals.
The results:
Men’s final:
Karnataka 3 (C. Shamnath 8, Bharath Mahalingappa Kurtakoti 18, Abharan Sudev 39) bt Uttar Pradesh 2 (Faraz Khan 1, Sharda Nand Tiwari 45). For third place: Maharashtra bt Punjab 1-0.
Women’s final:
Haryana 4 (Mahima Choudhary 37, Ishika 45 & 50, Monika 55) bt Madhya Pradesh 1 (Aishwarya Chavan 5). For third place: Jharkhand bt Maharashtra 2-1.
-Stan Rayan
BASKETBALL
INBL Pro Basketball: Jack Stanwix starts in Chennai Heat’s win against Hyderabad Falcons
Jack Stanwix top scored with 20 points as Chennai Heat scored a thrilling 85-82 victory over Hyderabad Falcons after a dominant 49-39 first half in the INBL Pro basketball league at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium on Thursday.
Both the Chennai and Hyderabad teams found themselves at the top of the table with three wins each from five matches.
In another match, Punjab Warriors beat Delhi Dribblers 81-72 after leading 51-40 at halftime. The two teams figure in the fifth and sixth spots in the six-team competition.
The results:
Chennai Heat 85 (Jack Stanwix 20, Matt Gray 17, Tad Dufelmeier 15, Arvind Kumar 13) bt Hyderabad Falcons 82 (Jack Purchase 21, Alex Robinson jr. 19, Harry Morris 12).
Punjab Warriors 81 (Uche Dibiamaka 20, Boston Mazlin 14, Stokley Chaffee 11, Lucas Barker 10, Vaisakh Manoj 10, bt Delhi Dribblers 72 (Lachlan Barker 23, James Montgomery 11, Daniel Poelsma 11).
-Kamesh Srinivasan