Author: Abhishek Shukla

Owner of Sports India Live.
by Abhishek Shukla

Upbeat Indian Women’s Hockey Team leaves for Hockey World League Semi Final

New Delhi, 30 June 2017: With eyes set on their mission to qualify for the 2018 Women’s World Cup in London, the Indian Women’s team will leave in the early hours of Saturday morning for the Hockey World League Semi Final at Johannesburg, starting July 8.

The 18-member Indian team led by striker Rani was based in New Delhi for the last six days before leaving for the World Cup Qualifier. “We played a couple of matches over the past one week against U18 Boys. The whole idea of playing these matches was to see how the team copes with handling speed considering the boys play faster hockey. The physical aspect too was put to test,” stated team’s Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne prior to their departure from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.

Earlier this month, the squad trained at the SAI Centre in Shillaroo to get acclimatized to the testing conditions in Johannesburg. Under Scientific Adviser Wayne Lombard, the team was put through intense training, with focus on improving speed, agility and attaining a greater level of fitness. “We would do four sessions a day and it is not easy training so hard at high altitude. The sessions were very challenging but the girls are eager and excited to earn a berth for the World Cup. Barring a couple of us in the team, most of them have not participated in a World Cup event and that anticipation is driving the team to give their 100 per cent each session, each match and I am confident of a good show,” expressed skipper Rani.

Ahead of their first Pool B match against hosts South Africa, the team will play two practice matches against England and Ireland on Monday and Wednesday respectively. “We can test ourselves against these two countries and analyze the areas we need to improve before we play our first match. While the recent camp was focused on improving speed and fitness, we also worked individually with strikers, midfielders and defenders, created more awareness about the techniques and strategies we need to adapt to and I am happy with the kind of progress the team has shown,” Marijne said.

India are grouped with South Africa, USA, Chile and Argentina. Chief Coach insists that the team can excel if they stick to the structure and execute the team’s plans effectively. He emphasized that they do not want to repeat the mistakes they made against New Zealand where they lost 0-5 in a five-match series in May this year. “Here in Delhi, we tried out different activities in which tennis too was one of them. I wanted the girls to understand what unforced errors are in tennis. When we played against New Zealand last month, it’s not that we played badly but we made unforced errors which led to them scoring many goals. If we can avoid these slip ups then I believe we stand a good chance,” stated an optimistic Dutchman.

India will take on South Africa on July 8 at 21.30 hours IST.

by Abhishek Shukla

U-23 INDIAN TEAM SET TO PLAY TWO INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES AGAINST SINGAPORE

NEW DELHI: All India Football Federation has arranged for two International matches for the Indian U-23 National Team as part of the preparation process for the forthcoming AFC U-23 Championships slated to be held in Doha.

National Coach Stephen Constantine felt the games would be a “learning experience” for the team.

“It’s been two weeks that we have been together and the U-23 boys need competitive games. The tour to Singapore would be a valuable experience for the squad to gauge the intensity of International encounters. I thank AIFF for arranging the matches ahead of our AFC Qualifiers,” he stated.

“The games would be competitive and provide us the much needed exposure,” he further added. It has been under Constantine’s coaching that the Senior Indian National Team has jumped 73 places in the FIFA Rankings to be currently placed 100.

AIFF General Secretary Mr. Kushal Das said the primary objective of the AIFF is to provide the “best exposure to all National Teams.”

“It is really frustrating that despite applying well in advance and after multiple follow-ups for the US visas we failed to get any response from the concerned authorities. I need to thank the Singapore FA for agreeing to the two International matches which would provide valuable practice for our U-23 boys prior to the AFC U-23 Qualifiers,” he said.

The U-23 Team presently preparing in the Capital since June 19 will fly to Singapore in the first week of July from where they will directly proceed to take on Turkmenistan, Qatar and Syria in Group C from July 19 onwards.

by Abhishek Shukla

Neeraj Chopra set for Diamond League debut in Paris

Paris: A confident Neeraj Chopra will be in action at the IAAF Diamond League, to be held at the Charlety Stadium in Paris, where he will go up against three of the world’s finest javelin throwers, on Saturday. German Olympic champion Thomas Rohler, Johannes Vetter and Czech thrower Jakub Vadlejch, last year’s Diamond Trophy winner, will be part of the list that includes Chopra, who ranks 14 in the world.

Following a three-medal show at the Asian Grand Prix in Jixiang in May, Chopra claimed Gold at the Federation Cup Athletics meet in Patiala with a meet record throw of 85.63 meters.

“I’m really looking forward to making my Diamond League debut and giving my best. This competition has been a target ever since the World Championships in Bydgoszcz and I’ve been working really hard in Patiala in the run up to this,” said Chopra.

The youngster believes this run of competitions will serve him well ahead of the IAAF World Championships, to be held in London in August.

“The Diamond League is a competition where I stand to gain a lot of exposure and the experience will be of huge importance as I work my way towards the World Championships. I am really eager to be in the same fray as some of the finest in the sport,” he added.

by Abhishek Shukla

I-LEAGUE CLUBS GIVE CONSENT TO CONCURRENT LEAGUES

NEW DELHI: Representatives of the I-League clubs met with AIFF officials at Football House, New Delhi to discuss the way forward for the I-League for the 2017-18 season till the roadmap for Indian Football in the medium and long term is finalised with assistance and guidance from the Asian Football Confederation.

The meeting was attended by Mr. Subrata Dutta, Chairman League Committee, Mr. Kushal Das, General Secretary, AIFF and Mr. Sunando Dhar, CEO, I-League.

The Clubs agreed to the concurrent running of ISL and I-League for the season 2017-18 but stated that the I-League must be broadcast on the Star Sports platform with good quality production and proper marketing and promotion and scheduling of matches. They also recommended that a task force with the I-League Clubs be set up to review the I-League on a regular basis.

They also stated that the travel subsidy needs to be increased and that AIFF should also allocate a budget for the promotion of the I-League for 2017-18 season.

Furthermore, the Clubs recommended for permission to register 8 foreign players out of which 2 should be of Asian origin, and a maximum of five foreign players should be allowed to play on the field, one among which needs to be a player of Asian origin.

Mr. Subrata Dutta who chaired this meeting said all the recommendations of the I-League Clubs will be placed before the League Committee whose meeting is scheduled on July 5, 2017, and the final decisions of the Committee will be communicated to the clubs.

Meanwhile, the AFC has sent a communication to AIFF expressing happiness that the AIFF Executive Committee has approved the project to determine the medium and long term road map for top Indian Club football. A draft project plan will be sent by AFC soon in this regard.

However, for the season 2017-18 the AFC Secretariat is prepared to accept the concurrent running of the ISL and I league as a temporary short term “bridging” solution. The special dispensation has been reviewed and agreed by FIFA.

AIFF General Secretary, Kushal Das thanked AFC for their guidance and support. “The growth of Indian Football is our primary objective and we will take every step necessary to ensure positive results. We look forward to working with AFC and the other stakeholders to determine the most suitable medium to long term road map for Indian Football,” he said.

by Abhishek Shukla

Naushad Moosa joins Bengaluru FC as Indian Assistant Coach

Bengaluru: Indian Super League side Bengaluru FC on Thursday, announced the appointment of AFC Pro-Licensed Coach Naushad Moosa as Indian Assistant Coach for the first team as well as Head Coach of the newly formed BFC reserve side.

Moosa has formerly served as Head of Youth Development and Head Coach of the U19 side at Pune FC and was head coach of Air India Limited in 2012. A former youth Coach at Mumbai FC, his most recent appointment was as U14s coach at Reliance Foundation Young Champs.

“As a coach, it is a privilege to join a club that has a winning mentality. Bengaluru FC has won a trophy in each of its four seasons and the professionalism of this team is second to none. I’m really looking forward to being a part of the setup here,” said Moosa following his appointment.

A former footballer himself, Moosa has turned out for Air India, Churchill Brothers, East Bengal FC, Mahindra United and Mohammedan Sporting in a career that spanned over 12 years. As coach of the Pune FC U19s, Moosa claimed the U18 I-League twice in three years and won the Pune League in 2016.

“We are very happy to add Naushad to our backroom staff. His experience as a player and coach will add a lot of value to our team and the added responsibility of managing the reserve squad will see him nurture the future stars at BFC,” said club COO Mustafa Ghouse.

While joining Albert Roca and Carles Cuadrat as  the Blues’ first team coaches, 46-year-old Moosa will also be at the helm of things for the newly formed BFC reserve side, which looks to bridge the gap between the clubs Residential Youth Academy in Bellary and the first team.

by Abhishek Shukla

Schedule of 22nd Asian Athletics Championship

Click HERE TO SEE INDIA’s RESULTS

Day 1

6th July 2017 – Morning

Start Time Gender Event Round
08.30 Men 100m Decathlon
08.50 Women 1500m Round 1
09.10 Men 1500m Round 1
09.20 Men High Jump Qualification
09.35 Women 400m Round 1
09.10 Men Long Jump Decathlon
10.00 Men 400m Round 1
10.15 Men Shot Put Decathlon

6th July 2017 – Afternoon

Start Time Gender Event Round
18.00 Men Discus throw Final
18.00 Men High Jump Decathlon
18.05 Men Pole Vault Final
18.10 Women Long Jump Final
18.15 Women 100m Round 1
18.45 Men 100m Round 1
18.40 Women Shot Put Final
19.25 Women 400m Semi Final
19.40 Men 400m Semi Final
19.45 Women Javelin Final
19.45 Women Javelin Final
20.00 Women Long Jump MC
20.10 Women 5000m Final
20.35 Men Discus Throw MC
20.40 Women Long Jump MC
20.40 Men 5000m Final
21.00 Men Pole Vault MC
21.05 Women Shot Put MC
21.10 Men 400m Decathlon
21.20 Women Javelin MC
21.25 Women 5000m MC
21.30 Men 5000m MC

Day 2

7th July 2017 – Morning

Start Time Gender Event Round
09.00 Men 110m Decathlon
09.20 Women 400m Hurdles Round 1
09.40 Men Discus Throw Decathlon
10.00 Men 400m Hurdles Round 1
10.30 Women 4×100 Relay Round 1
10.45 Men 4×100 Relay Round 1
10.50 Men Pole vault Decathlon

7th July 2017 – Afternoon

Start Time Gender Event Round
18.00 Men Javelin throw Decathlon
18.05 Women 100 Semi Final
18.15 Men Triple Jump Final
18.20 Women High Jump Final
18.25 Men 100 Semi Final
18.30 Men Shot Put Final
18.55 Women 100m Hurdles Round 1
19.25 Women 110m Hurdles Round 1
19.55 Women 400m Final
20.05 Men 400m Final
20.15 Women 1500m Final
20.25 Men 1500m Final
20.30 Women Hammer Throw Final
20.35 Women 400m MC
20.40 Men 400m MC
20.45 Men 1500 Decathlon
21.10 Men Triple Jump MC
21.05 Men 400H Semi Final
20.55 Men Shot Put MC
21.35 Men Decathlon MC
21.25 Women 100m Final
21.10 Women 1500m MC
21.30 Men 1500m MC
21.40 Men 100m Final
21.50 Women 100 MC
21.55 Men 100 MC
22.00 Women Hammer Throw MC

Day 3

8th July 2017 – Morning

Start Time Gender Event Round
09.00 Women 100 m Hurdles Heptathlon
09.10 Men Long Jump Qualification
09.20 Women 800m Round 1
09.35 Men 800m Round 1
09.40 Women High Jump Heptathlon
10.00 Women 100m Hurdles Semi Final
10.20 Men 110m Hurdles Semi Final

8th July 2017 – Afternoon

Start Time Gender Event Round
18.00 Men Hammer throw Final
18.00 Women 100m Hurdles Final
18.15 Men 110m Hurdles Final
18.25 Men High Jump Final
18.30 Women Shot put Heptathlon
18.30 Women 3000m SC Final
18.35 Women Triple Junp Round 1
18.45 Men 3000m SC Final
19.00 Women 100m Hurdles MC
19.05 Men 110m Hurdles MC
19.10 Women 200m Round 1
19.30 Women Short put Final
19.35 Women 3000m SC MC
19.40 Men 3000m SC MC
19.45 Men 200m Round 1
20.15 Women Triple Jump MC
20.20 Women 400m Hurdles Final
20.35 Men 400m Hurdles Final
20.45 Women 4x100m Relay Final
21.00 Men High Jump MC
21.05 Men 4x100m Relay Final
21.25 Men Hammer throw MC
21.30 Women Shot Put MC
21.35 Women 200m Heptathlon
21.50 Women 400m Hurdles MC
21.55 Men 400m Hurdles MC

Day 4

9th July 2017 – Morning

Start Time Gender Event Round
09.10 Women Long Jump Heptathlon
09.20 Women 200m Semi Final
09.35 Men 200m Semi Final
09.50 Women Javelin Heptathlon
10.00 Women 4x400m Heats
10.15 Men 4x400m Heats

9th July 2017 – Afternoon

Start Time Gender Event Round
17.30 Women Pole Vault Final
17.30 Women Discus Final
17.40 Women 200m Final
17.45 Men Long Jump Final
18.30 Women Shot put Heptathlon
17.50 Men 200m Final
18.05 Women 800m Final
18.15 Men 800m Final
18.20 Women 4x100m MC
18.25 Men 4x100m MC
18.30 Women 800m Heptathlon
18.40 Women 10000m Final
19.20 Women 200m MC
19.25 Women Discus MC
19.30 Men 10000m Final
19.35 Men Javelin Final
20.10 Men 200m MC
20.15 Men 800m MC
20.20 Women 4x100m Relay Final
20.25 Women 800m MC
20.30 Women 10000m MC
20.35 Men 10000m MC
20.40 Men 4x400m Relay Final
20.45 Women 4x400m Relay Final
20.50 Men 4x400m Relay MC
by Abhishek Shukla

India enters strong 95-member squad:AFI chief confident of good showing

Bhubaneswar :: India has entered a strong 95-member squad, including 47 women, in the 22nd Asian Athletics Championship to be held at the refurbished Kalinga Stadium here from July 5 to 9. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) believes that the performance of the home side will enhance the profile of track and field sport in the country.

“Our athletes have had a string of solid performances in the run-up to the competition and we believe they are primed to deliver their best here,” AFI President Adille Sumariwalla said. “We are sure they would win more than the 13 medals claimed in the last edition at Wuhan in China. Our team has  a number of proven performers and some exciting new talent.”

An Olympian sprinter himself, the AFI President said he was confident Odiya sprinters Dutee Chand and Srabani Nanda as well Amiya Kumar Malick in the men’s sprints would secure podium finishes. “Besides, there are a number of talented athletes like javelin throwers Neeraj Chopra and Annu Rani, long jumper Ankit Sharma, steeplechaser Sudha Singh and quarter-miler Nirmala besides the 4x400m women’s relay team that we have pinned our hopes on.”

AFI announced that the entry of seven athletes would be subject to their passing fitness trials here in Bhubaneswar ahead of AAC2017. Two women athletes, hurdler and long jumper Nayana James and triple jumper Joyline Murali Lobo as well as discus thrower Vikas Gowda, long jumper Siddharth Mohan Naik and triple jumper Karthik U would undergo trials on June 30 while high hurdler Siddhanth Thingalaya would face a trial on July 2.

The Men squad :

  • 100m and 200m : Amiya Kumar Mallick;
  • 400m :Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jacob and Arokia Rajiv;
  • 800m :Jinson Johnson and Vishambhar Keolkar;
  • 1500m :Ajay Kumar Saroj and Siddhantha Adhikari;
  • 5000m :G Lakshmanan and Murli Kumar Gavit;
  • 10,000m : Lakshmanan, Gopi Thonakal and Kalidas Hirave;
  • 3000m steeplechase : Naveen Kumar and Durga Bahadur Budha;
  • 110m hurdles : Siddhant Thingalaya* and Prem Kumar;
  • 400m hurdles : Jabir MP, Santhosh Kumar T and Durgesh Kumar Pal;
  • Pole vault : S Siva;
  • High jump : Chethan B and Ajay Kumar;
  • Long jump :Ankit Sharma, Samsheer SE and Siddharth Mohan Naik*;
  • Triple jump : Arpinder Singh and Karthik U*;
  • Shot put : Tajinder Pal Toor, Jasdeep Singh Dhillon and Omprakash Singh Karhana;
  • Discus throw : Vikas Gowda*, Dharamraj Yadav and Kirpal Singh;
  • Hammer throw :Niraj Kumar;
  • Javelin throw : Neeraj Chopa, Davinder Singh Kang and Abhishek Singh;
  • Decathlon : Jagtar Singh and Abhishek Shetty;
  • 4x100m relay : Amiya Kumar Mallick, Jyotishankar Debnath, Anuroop John, VK Elakkiya Dasan, Pravin Muthukumaran and Chintha Sudhakar;
  • 4x400m relay: Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jaco, Arokia Rajiv, Sachi Roby, Mohan Kumar and Kunju Muhammed.

The Female Squard :

  • 100m and 200m : Dutee Chand and Srabani Nanda;
  • 400m : Nirmala, MR Poovamma and Jisna Mathew;
  • 800m :Tintu Luka, Archana Adhav and Lili Das;
  • 1500m :Monika Choudhary;
  • 5000m :L Suriya and Sanjivani Jadhav;
  • 10,000m : L Suriya, Sanjivani Jadhav and Meenu;
  • 3000m :steeplechase: Sudha Singh and Parul Chaudhary;
  • 100m hurdles : Nayana James*;
  • 400m hurdles :Anu R, Jauna Murmu and Arpitha M.
  • Pole vault :KM Sangeeta; High jump: Sahana Kumari and Swapna Barman;
  • Long jump :Nayana James*, Neena V and  G Karthika;
  • Triple jump :Sheena NV and Joyline Murali Lobo*.
  • Shot put :Manpreet Kaur, Ramanpreet Kaur and Anamika Das;
  • Discus throw :Kamalpreeet Kaur Bal, Seema Punia and Himani Singh;
  • Hammer throw :Sarita R Singh and Gunjan Singh;
  • Javelin throw :Annu Rani, Poonam Rani Singh and Suman Devi.
  • Heptathlon :Swapna Barman, Purnima Hembram and Liksy Joseph.
  • 4x100m relay :Dutee Chand, Srabani Nanda, Merlin Joseph, Reena George, Ruma Sarkar and Himashree Roy;
  • 4x400m relay :Nirmala, Poovamma, Jisna Mathew, Vijayakumari GK, Sarita Ben Gayakwad and Debashree Mazumdar.
by Abhishek Shukla

FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2017: Logo unveiled

BENGALURU, India (FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2017) – The official FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2017 logo was revealed to the world via FIBA’s social media platforms on Wednesday.

The logo was designed to reflect three key elements – India, Basketball and the City of Bengaluru. They are represented through the tri-color (of the Indian flag) flames covering a basketball, with the Ashoka lion – the official Emblem of India – sitting on the peak of Vidhana Soudha, the Government of Karnataka building which is recognised across India and the world for its architecture.

The FIBA Women’s Asia Cup 2017 will take place in Bengaluru, India from 23-29 July, 2017.

Eight Division A teams will battle for the cup and bragging rights in Asia, while another eight teams will be hoping to clinch Division B and earn promotion to Division A for the 2019 edition.

Both Division A and Division B participating teams will be divided into two groups (A & B) of four teams each. Each team will play all the other teams in its own group a total of three games for each team.

by Abhishek Shukla

Indian Men’s Hockey team go down 2-3 to resilient Canada

London, 25 June 2017: The Indian Men’s Hockey team went down 2-3 to a resilient Canada who have booked their berth for the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018 by finishing 5th at the Hero Hockey World League Semi Final, London 2017 on Sunday. It was goals by Gordon Johnston (3’, 44’), Keegan Pereira (40’) and an incredible effort by goalkeeper Antonie Kindler that pushed India to the sixth spot in the tournament. Harmanpreet Singh was the lone goal scorer for India with PCs in 7th and 22nd minutes.
There was plenty of action in the first quarter with Canada taking the lead through a PC scored by Gordon Johnston in the 3rd minute. Johnston’s well-timed flick found the space between the post and India keeper Vikas Dahiya to take a 1-0 lead. Just four minutes later Harmanpreet Singh levelled the score with a fierce flick, slightly moving to the right before striking the ball low to the corner of the post. This was Harmanpreet’s fifth goal of the tournament. The next few minutes saw India win two more PCs but couldn’t quite make use of the chances. Only seconds before the final hooter, Akashdeep Singh set up Mandeep Singh with a beautiful pass but Mandeep’s diving effort didn’t make the post.
In the second quarter, India increased the tempo with an improvised attack. Their effort won them two back-to-back PCs but Canadian defenders were up to the task to deny a lead. Minutes later, Mandeep did well to find Scott Tupper’s feet in the circle to win India their fifth PC. This time Harmanpreet was right on target, picked up the ball beautifully after Sardar Singh’s near-perfect injection to fire the ball past Canadian keeper in the 22nd minute to give India a 2-1 lead. Though both team traded PCs in the next few minutes, neither could make it count. However, a brilliant opportunity came by when Akashdeep and Talwinder Singh worked in tandem, with a well-timed run into the circle and perfect interchange to convert a goal. But Talwinder’s shot was blocked away by the keeper Antonie Kindler.
Going into the third quarter with 19 circle penetrations, six PCs chances and better ball possession, India showed that they were the better team in the first half and had done well to recover from an early 0-1 setback. They hoped to keep up the momentum, and initially did so by denying Canada a shot on goal when they won a PC in the 32nd minute. Desperate defence from Canada saw them give away India their 7th PC of the match in the 35th minute. But Canadian goalkeeper Kindler came up with a brave save to deny Harmanpreet his third goal of the match. A turn-around in the match came in the 40th minute when Mark Pearson set up Keegan Pereira to score a brilliant goal to equalize 2-2. After missing a PC chance early on, Johnston scored a splendid field goal in the 44th minute to hand Canada a 3-2 lead. The hero of this quarter however was Kindler who came up with a spectacular save off the tip of his stick to deny Ramandeep Singh a goal that cost India greatly.
The final 15 minutes saw India make desperate attempts to make a come-back. Forward Sunil did well to win India a PC in the 47th minute when he found Johnston’s foot in the circle. But nothing came off the opportunity for India. In the 50th minute, Sunil set up Mandeep who used a reverse hit to smash the ball to the goal but Kindler was up to the task with an impressive save to deny India an equalizer. India pulled off their goalkeeper Akash Chikte in the final three minutes of the match, playing with an extra defender. Canadian keeper however stayed resilient in his defence to deny India any goal to end the match 3-2 in favour of Canada.
by Abhishek Shukla

Malaysia cause upset win; beat Indian Men’s Hockey Team 3-2

London, 22 June 2017: Malaysia came up with a brave performance to put India out of the podium finish at the Hero Hockey World League Semi Final, London 2017 with a 3-2 win here on Thursday. It was a double goal by Razie Rahim (19’ and 48’), Tengku Tajuddin (20’) that helped Malaysia win a semifinal berth and also qualify for the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018.

Though India were tipped as favourites to win, a stubborn Malaysian outfit kept India in the hunt the right from the beginning. While successful circle penetrations were not easy to come by for India, Malaysia surprised them with two goals in the first five minutes of the second quarter that dented India’s start. It was Razie Rahim who scored Malaysia’s first goal through a PC in the 19th minute flicking the ball to the right corner of the post. Tengku Tajuddin doubled Malaysia’s lead in the 20th minute with another splendid PC, choosing to fire the ball to the top corner giving no chance for Vikas Dahiya to stop it.

India however shook off the starting jitters with a better performance in the later part of the second quarter. They made better attempts on goal but India’s breakthrough came in the 24th minute when a well-thought through pass by midfielder Sumit set up the goal for forward Ramandeep Singh who stepped in front of Malaysian defender to nick the ball into the post. This spectacular goal narrowed India’s gap to 1-2.

Almost immediately Ramandeep Singh doubled his score in the 26th minute when he picked up a rebound off Chinglensana Singh’s shot on goal to fire the ball past Malaysian keeper Kumar Subramiam. It was originally a PC attempt when Harmanpreet Singh tried a variation where he pushed the ball to Manpreet Singh but India skipper could not make a strong connect. The ball was then picked up by Chinglensana and improvised by Ramandeep to ensure India levelled the score.

With the score board reading 2-2 at half-time, the third quarter began with India trying to keep up their momentum. Midfielder Sardar Singh helped India win a PC in the 35th minute, but the opportunity to take the lead when amiss with Harmanpreet Singh’s flick being well-defended. With a little less than two minutes to go for the third hooter, Manpreet set up forward Talwinder Singh for what could have been a brilliant goal. However, Talwinder’s strike was slightly wide with Mandeep having little chance to deflect the ball into the post.

With no goals scored in the third quarter, the final 15 minutes kept the spectators at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Stadium on the edge of their seats.  Malaysia won a PC when Najmi Jazlan found defender Surender Kumar’s foot in the circle. But Razie Rahim’s flick was blocked away by India’s first runner with the umpire awarding another PC to Malaysia. India were unfortunate to lose their referral with Manpreet suggesting that the ball struck his hand and not his feet.

Rahim was ruthless with his dragflick pumping the ball behind India keeper Akash Chikte to take a 3-2 lead in the 48th minute. Malaysia keeper Subramiam came up with a brilliant save to deny Akashdeep Singh when he was set up by Chinglensana for a goal. It didn’t help India’s cause with Malaysia winning another PC in the 57th minute but Razie Rahim’s flick went far wide. Another chance went amiss for India when Ramandeep’s deflection going wide of the post ending the match in Malaysia’s favour.
by Abhishek Shukla

Indian Men’s Hockey team beat Pakistan 6-1

London, 24 June 2017: The Indian Men’s Hockey team scored a convincing 6-1 win against Pakistan in the classification match of the Hero Hockey World League Semi Final, London 2017, here on Saturday. It was goals by Ramandeep Singh (8′, 28′), Talwinder Singh (25′), Mandeep Singh (27′, 59′), Harmanpreet Singh (36′) that dented Pakistan’s hopes of booking a berth to participate at the Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup 2018 in Bhubaneswar.
India displayed good attack right from the start with their first real shot on goal coming as early as the opening minute when Ramandeep Singh set up the goal for an unmarked Akashdeep Singh in the circle. But unfortunate for Akashdeep, he could not make a powerful connection to put the ball past Pakistan goalkeeper Amjad Ali.
Mandeep Singh, meanwhile, helped India win their first PC in the 6th minute but Harmanpreet Singh’s flick was defended well by Pakistan. Soon after, India were seen putting pressure on Pakistan, interrupting their counter attack cornering Pakistan player with a three-man defence. The strategy worked, with Pakistan losing the possession. Satbir Singh, playing his 50th international match, was quick to spot Ramandeep in the circle who seized the opportunity for India to take a 1-0 lead in the 8th minute.
India took their lead to a convincing 4-0 in the second quarter. First it was Pardeep Mor who did well with a fierce pass to Talwinder Singh who simply had to angle his stick to beautifully deflect the ball into the post in the 25th minute. Brilliantly assisted by SV Sunil, Akashdeep, who had missed a golden opportunity early on, was exceptional with his dribble in the baseline to get past the defender to nick the ball towards the net. It was Mandeep Singh who got the touch on the ball before it beat the keeper to take India’s lead to a healthy 3-0 in the 27th minute. India’s fourth goal came in the 28th minute when Sunil assisted Ramandeep from the far post. It was a diving effort by Ramandeep that ensured he scored his second goal of the match.
Pressure mounted on Pakistan when India won their second PC in the 36th minute. Harmanpreet Singh made use of the opportunity as he came up with an improvised dragflick, kept the ball low to beat the Pakistani keeper and take India’s lead to a formidable 5-0. Pakistan finally found a breakthrough in the 41st minute when Ajaz Ahmad took advantage of a defensive error on India’s part to put the ball past keeper Vikas Dahiya.
The final quarter saw Pakistan make some desperate attempts on goal but India did well to contain their opponents with good defence. With less than six minutes for the final hooter, Talwinder Singh swiftly dribbling into the striking circle did well to find his man Ramandeep on the far post who made a rapid attempt on goal. But Pakistani defender Rizwan Jr. Muhammad was impeccable in his effort to deny Ramandeep his third goal of the match. Mandeep Singh managed to take India’s lead to 6-1 in the 59th minute scoring the goal off a rebound. India won a PC in the dying seconds of the match when Pakistan defender fouled in the circle through a stick tackle but Harmanpreet’s effort was defended well and India walked away with a comfortable 6-1 win.
On June 25, India will take on Canada for the 5th/ 6th position at 16.15 Hours IST.
by Abhishek Shukla

India put nine past China to go to top of table in Asian Champions Trophy

Kuantan, Malaysia, 25 October 2016: India beat China 9-0 in their Asian Champions Trophy group stage encounter today.

India were completely dominant in the first quarter, pressing high and hard at the Chinese defence constantly. They held most of the possession and were constantly making forays into the Chinese circle, albeit with little success.

Midway through the quarter though, a loose back pass from Meng Dihao was picked up by Akashdeep Singh and the midfielder kept his cool, cutting past China’s last defender and then reverse hitting his shot perfectly to give India the lead. It was a lead they held on to as they went into the first break.

Akashdeep was back in the centre of it all again for the second goal in the 19th minute, collecting a pass from SK Uthappa before playing it through to Affan Yousuf in the circle. Affan made no mistake, opening his body to guide the ball into the bottom  corner and double India’s lead.

The wet and slippery conditions made defending difficult for both teams and it was China who paid the price; a defensive lapse allowing Jasjit Singh to surge through into the circle to drive in India’s third.

India’s first PC came in the 25th minute and Rupinder Pal Singh was inch perfect again, scoring his eight goal of the tournament and increasing India’s lead to four as they went into half time.

If India’s dominant passing and possession was a feature in first half, they decided to showcase their finishing skills in the third quarter, putting four goals past China in the fifteen minutes after half time. The rout started early, Nikkin Thimmaiah scoring in the 34th minute, after a neat swerve and flick finish. Lalit Upadhyay (37′), Akashdeep Singh (39′) and Affan Yousuf (40′) scored at intervals to take India into the final break with an 8-0 lead.

China had their chances too, winning two PCs in the quarter, but both were expertly parried away by Akash Chikte, to ensure India kept a clean sheet in the game.

In the final quarter India were content with passing the ball around neatly in their own area, switching flanks with ease. Jasjit Singh added a second to his tally in the 51st minute, as India ran out clear winners.

India will be in action against Malaysia on October 26, 2016. The match will be shown LIVE on Star Sports 4/HD4 & Hotstar at 6:00 PM IST.

 

by Abhishek Shukla

Hosts Vijaya Bank to face Indian Bank in the finals

Bengaluru, 22nd October 2016: The Vijaya Bank organised 3rd Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament for Men 2016entered its knockout stages at Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in the city.  The tournament is being conducted under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India and the Karnataka State Basketball Association.

Hosts Vijaya Bank set up a summit clash with fellow Group A rivals Indian Bank. The finals will be played tomorrow evening from 5:30 pmonwards. The third and fourth place match between Customs and Central Excise, Kochi vs SDAT, Chennai will be held earlier in the afternoon from 3:30 pm onwards.

Vijaya Bank bt Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu 106-75

Group A toppers Vijaya Bank took on Group B’s second placed team Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT), Chennai in the first semifinal of the day.

The first quarter began in scary fashion for SDAT, with their starting centre P Vijay getting injured and found grimacing on the floor. Luckily, Vijay would stay on in the game and be the anchor of a full court press defense by SDAT that had Vijaya Bank in a spot of trouble. SDAT had started the game playing an active zone defence which Vijaya Bank had the measure of in the initial goings. The switch to the full court press did wonders for the side as they tied the game at 19 at the end of the first quarter, thanks to a buzzer beater by R Karthick. The fact that Vijaya Bank had brought in veteran Sanjay Raj, arguably the slowest player on court, did not help the hosts as SDAT were able to force Vijaya Bank into multiple turnovers and capitalize during the ensuing transition opportunities.

In the second quarter, Vijaya Bank started with back to back threes, first by former India point guard Rajesh Uppar, followed by another by shooting guard Anil Kumar. Two transition buckets followed and in a matter of minutes Vijaya Bank had opened up a 10 point lead. Small forward Karthickeyan then proved unstoppable with his repeated slashing drives to the basket.

SDAT Coach James Daniel could be overheard berating his young players to play better defence and the talk seemed to have a positive effect as P Vijay registered a huge block to spark an SDAT run. SDAT were able to bring it within five points midway through the second quarter before quick transition buckets by Anil Kumar had Vijaya Bank taking a 11 point lead, 48-37 going into the second half.

Having crucially weathered SDAT’s storm, all that Vijaya Bank needed to do in the second half was reduce their mistakes on both ends of the floor and look for quality possessions. On their part, SDAT would need to play a near perfect second half to have a chance for a comeback. Unfortunately that didn’t happen as they missed fairly open looks.

Vijaya Bank kept their scoring tempo going, building on their double digit lead to finish with a final score of 106-75 and memorably seal their maiden spot in the finals of their home tournament. India international PF/C Arvind Arumugam of Vijaya Bank was once again the top scorer with 30 points, benefiting from numerous easy putbacks.

Small forward S Karthickeyan of Vijaya Bank was named the player of the match and received a trophy and cash prize from Vijaya Bank’s former Olympian basketballer Dilip Gurumurthy.

Vijaya Bank (Arvind Arumugam 30, Anil Kumar 26, Karthik 21, Rajesh Uppar 11) bt Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, Chennai(Justin 24, P Vijay 15, R Karthick 12) 106-75 [19-19, 29-18, 23-19, 35-19]

Indian Bank bt Customs and Central Excise, Kochi 78-75

Group B’s top team Customs and Central Excise, Kochi took on Group A’s second placed side Indian Bank, Chennai in the second semifinals.

Indian Bank started off with Tamil Nadu’s senior state player PS Arun in place of junior India captain P Baladhaneshwar. The move worked wonders as Indian Bank built up an early 9-2 lead.

Customs and Central Excise did not play former India international forward Eudrick Pereira (who sustained an injury in the previous game) and in his absence fellow international Basil Philip handled the bulk of the defensive load. Philip did a commendable job in hindering current senior India debutant Hariram Ragupathy.

In the second quarter, Customs started to pull away with Philip impacting the game on both ends of the floor. He was ably supported by PF/C Shinumon who played some strong defence down low. PS Arun of Indian Bank though kept the side close. Indian Bank’s P Baladhaneshwar finally made an entry into the game and provided some much needed spark, but Indian Bank’s defence still left a lot to be desired. The Bankers made a late surge with timely buckets to cut Customs’ lead to 4 at halftime.

At halftime, Customs led 41-37.

In the third quarter, Customs was struck a big blow when Philip got fouled out of the game. Sensing an opportunity, the young Indian Bank turned up their aggression to convert a 51-55 deficit at the time of Philip’s departure into a tied game 55-55. At the end of the third quarter though, Customs regained a precarious 59-57 lead.

The final quarter started with a lot of back and forth, as both teams found the basket. Former India international Monish Wilson came off the bench and made some late threes but Indian Bank’s trio of Baladhaneshwar, Hariram and Puvaneshwaran kept their scoring going too in the clutch to seal the emotion three point win.

Sudhakar Shetty, Deputy General Secretary of Vijaya Bank Employers Union presented the player of the match trophy and cash prize to forward A Surya of Indian Bank.

Indian Bank (Hariram Ragupathy 21, A Surya 20, M Puvaneshwaran 16, Baladhaneshwar 11) bt Customs and Central Excise, Kochi (Basil Philip 19, Bony Mathew 17, Shinumon 12) 78-75 [19-21, 18-20, 20-18, 21-16]

About the Tournament

Venue: Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru

Dates: 19th to 23rd October 2016

The tournament is being held in the memory of the Late Shri Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty, a longstanding former Chairman of Vijaya Bank, who was instrumental in the growth of the bank through the 60s and 70s.

Matches are being played every evening on a league cum knockout basis. There are 7 teams in the fray in this tournament, divided into two Groups. The top two teams from each Group will progress to the semifinals followed by the finals.

This edition of the tournament is featuring some of the nation’s top men’s club sides such as hosts Vijaya Bank, Central Excise & Customs-Kochi, Indian Bank, Integral Coach Factory (ICF)-Chennai, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT)-Chennai and Karnataka State team (‘President’s 11’).

The following are the 13 international players who are participating: Indian Bank (Hariram- Senior India; Moses Jeevananth- Junior India; P Baladhaneshwar- Junior India), Vijaya Bank (Arvind Arumugam, Rajesh Uppar, Sanjay Raj- Senior India; S Karthickeyan- Junior India), Kerala State Electricity Board (Sreerag N Nair- Junior India, Arun Harikumar- Youth India), Cochin Customs (Eudrick Pereira, Basil Philip, Monish Wilson- Senior India), President’s 11, Karnataka (Guruprasad Nayak- Junior India).

Past Edition Details

The inaugural edition of the tournament was held in 2014 in Malleshwaram, with Indian Overseas Bank (IOB)-Chennai, ONGC, Vijaya Bank and Karnataka State finishing as the top four teams respectively.

The 2nd edition was held in 2015 at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, Bengaluru. Income Tax-Chennai emerged winners, with ONGC, Vijaya Bank and Kerala State Electricity Board rounding off the top four.

Vijaya Bank- A proud heritage in basketball

Notably, Vijaya Bank is the only recruiter of basketball talent in the state of Karnataka, and has contributed 10 international players to the country, starting with Olympian Gurumurthy Dileep, who joined the bank way back in 1984. Other international players honed by the bank are former India captain BS Gautham (1986), A Rajkumar (1988), S Stalin (1993), G Murali Mohan (1995), Roshan Thankachan (1999), Sanjay Raj (2002), Arvind Arumugam and Rajesh Uppar (both in 2012). Including these international stars, in all, the bank has recruited 25 national level players, who have represented their bank and the state of Karnataka with great pride and gusto.

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by Abhishek Shukla

Classy Sharath enters semifinals of National Ranking West Zone

Visakhapatnam, October 22: A. Sharath Kamal showed what a classy player that he is as he inched his way into the semifinals of the 11Even Sports National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here today.

Brushing aside his disappointment of having to play the qualifiers, the ace paddler defeated West Zone finalist Devesh Karia 4-2 to mark his fresh beginning in the domestic circuit fruitful and worth-a-while.

It was a classy show because Sharath was down 0-2 against the left-hander. With his determination intact, Sharath launched his attack and went about reducing the margin, slowly but surely, to lead 3-2. In the sixth game, some loose shots almost cost him dear but Sharath kept his date with destiny to win the extended game.

He will meet Harmeet Desai in the semifinal tomorrow. Harmeet beat Raj Mondal 4-1. In other quarterfinals, top-seed Sathiyan beat Manav Thakkar 4-2, Jubin Kumar defeated Sushmit Sriram by the same margin.

Meanwhile, Manika Batra, Mouma Das and Divya Deshpande were sent packing by their opponents in the quarterfinals. The toughest of all was the one between Mousumi Paul, finalist at Rajkot, and Mouma Das. The veteran tried her best but in the end Mousumi went through.

Earlier, Manika Batra was ill at ease in the pre-quarterfinals when she met qualifier Senhora D’Souza of Maharashtra but the No. 3 seed managed to win 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3, 11-6. In other matches, Krittwika Sinha Roy defeated eighth seed Pooja Sahasrabuddhe 4-2, Ankita Das beat K. Shamini 4-2, Madhurika Patkar disposed of Poulomi Ghatak 4-1, Mouma Das downed Ayhika Mukherjee 4-1, Mousumi struggled to overcome Priyanka Pareek 4-2, Divya Deshpande rolled past Reeth Rishya 4-0 and top-seed Suthirtha Mukherjee handed out a 4-0 thrashing to Chipia Frenaz.

 

TOUGH FOR SATHIYAN

In men’s pre-quarters, top-seed G. Sathiyan faced his toughest challenge before staging his recovery to beat Siddesh Pande 4-2 (7-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9). It was a shock of sorts for the top-seeded paddler when Siddhesh outplayed him in the first two games. Even in the sixth, Sathiyan and Siddesh were 9-all but the former prevailed.

Manav Thakkar was extended 4-3 by Nitin Thiruvengadam, AAI’s Sushmit Sriram made a fine comeback in the decider to beat Subhajit Saha 4-3, Haryana’s Jubin Kumar, a semifinalist at Rajkot, beat Sarthak Gandhi 4-2, Harmeet Desai advanced beating Aman Balgu 4-0, Raj Mondal beat Utkarsh Gupta 4-1, Devesh Karia won over Sougata Sarkar 4-0 and A. Sharatah Kamal decimated Nishaad Shah 4-0. Nishaad had beaten No. 2 seed Sanil Shetty in a second-round match yesterday.

In Youth Girls’ main draw, Abhinaya Ramesh beat Kritika Malik 3-1, Monika Manohar overcame Prati Sen 3-2, Anushka Dutta downed Manushree Patil 3-1, local girl Shailu Noorbasha beat Varuni Jaiswal 3-1, Kaushini Nath defeated Tanisi Kirtani 3-1, Seleenadeepthi outlasted Ishita Gupta 3-2 and Chipia Frenaz blanked out Yashini Sivasankar 3-0. Top players in the section were given first-round byes and they will begin their campaign from pre-quarters later tonight.

In Youth Boys, Abhimanyu Mitra, Sherayal Telang, Ali Mohammad and Shreyas Kulkarni entered the pre-quarters where they will be joined by those who received first-round byes to play a round tonight.

Trophies and cash prizes in six sections—Men, Women, Youth Boys and Girls, Junior Boys and Girls—will be decided tomorrow when the finals are slated. From the day after, the qualification matches for Sub-Junior and Cadet Boys and Girls will commence.

Results:

Men: Quarterfinals: G. Sathiyan bt Manav Thakkar 11-6, 11-3, 12-14, 11-5, 10-12, 11-9, Jubin Kumar bt Sushmit Sriram 11-13, 11-4, 11-7, 11-5, 6-11, 12-10, Harmeet Desai bt Raj Mondal 6-11, 11-6, 12-10,11-2, 141-12, Sharath Kamal bt Devesh Karia 9-11, 6-11, 11-9,11-7, 11-6, 13-11,

Women: Quarterfinals: Suthirtha Mukherjee bt Divya Deshpande 11-6, 15-13, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6, Mousumi Paul bt Mouma Das 11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 11-8, Krittwika Sinha Roy bt Manika Batra 7-11, 12-10, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 12-10, Ankita Das bt Madhurika Patkar 12-10, 11-2, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8.

by Abhishek Shukla

#Basketball: Indian Bank joins Vijaya Bank in semis

Bengaluru, 21st October 2016: The Vijaya Bank organised 3rd Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament for Men 2016entered its final day of league matches at Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in the city.  The tournament is being conducted under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India and the Karnataka State Basketball Association.

From Group A, Indian Bank has joined Vijaya Bank in the semifinals. From Group B, Customs & Central Excise Kochi and Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT), Chennai are through to the final four.

Indian Bank bt Integral Coach Factory, Chennai 68-51

Indian Bank, Chennai has booked its spot in the semifinals after winning its second and final Group A league match against city rivals Integral Coach Factory. Both these teams had lost their opening games to hosts Vijaya Bank, and this was a win-or-go-home game in the context of securing a spot in the knockouts.

The desperation showed first in the case of ICF, which was aggressive on the defensive end and in terms of pushing the ball up the floor. ICF also had a measure of Indian Bank on the inside and were able to repeatedly back down their rival forwards for multiple points in the paint. At the end of the first quarter, ICF led 18-13.

In the second frame, the scales started tilting in favour of the young Indian Bank side and the scoring were tied 31-31 at halftime. Starting point guard, P Baladhaneshwar, who is the captain of the Indian U18 boys team sat out in the third, and in his absence, senior India debutant Hariram Ragupathy and Sandeep stepped up big time. There was no stopping the duo, as between them they scored 24 of the team’s 30 third quarter points.

ICF, Chennai struggled to connect in the woeful third period, scoring only 9 points to allow Indian Bank a 61-40 overall lead. Seenivasan top scored for ICF with 24 points, but that was not nearly enough to prevent Indian Bank winning easily, 68-51.

Indian Bank has now progressed to the semifinals as the second best team from Group A behind Vijaya Bank, which is already through to the final four. ICF, Chennai will head back home wondering what just happened in that forgettable third quarter.

Indian Bank (Hariram Ragupathy 26, Sandeep 20) bt Integral Coach Factory, Chennai (Seenivasan 24, Anthony 12) 68-51 [13-18, 18-13, 30-9, 7-11]

SDAT, Chennai bt Kerala State Electricity Board 79-46

The deep and disciplined Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT), Chennai team was too much to handle for Kerala State Electricity Board which fell to its third straight defeat to get knocked out of the competition.

SDAT meanwhile has finished 2-1 in Group B and is through to the semis. KSEB is knocked out.

The young SDAT, Chennai squad has been impressive throughout this tournament, starting with its close 2 point loss in the opening game to Customs, followed by the win over President’s 11 yesterday. Today, they exploded off the gate against a beleaguered KSEB, raking up a 23-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. Southpaw Justin led the charge yet again for SDAT with 17 points, while for KSEB, the two Aruns scored in double digits. While KSEB matched SDAT in the second and fourth quarters, the damage caused in the intervening periods was too much to overcome.

SDAT, Chennai (Justin 17, R Karthick 15) bt Kerala State Electricity Board (Arun 13, Arun Babu 12) 79-46 [23-9, 18-18, 26-7, 12-12]

Customs and Central Excise, Kochi bt President’s 11, Karnataka

Customs and Central Excise, Kochi started slow before settling into a nice rhythm to beat President’s 11, Karnataka in their final Group B league match. With this win Customs has gone 3-0 to coast into the semifinals as the top team from their Group. President’s 11, Karnataka (1-2) is now out of the tournament. The side had intervals where they matched Customs shot for shot, showing they can run with the big boys. But the seasoned Kochi side had done more than enough in the second quarter (outscoring President’s 11, 31 to 9) to get the easy win.

Kochi Customs will now face Group A’s second placed team Indian Bank in tomorrow’s second semifinals.

Customs and Central Excise, Kochi (Manoj 13, Shinumon 11) btPresident’s 11, Karnataka (Shivraj 17, Akash 11) 74-58 [16-19, 31-9, 12-15, 15-15]

About the Tournament

Venue: Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru

Dates: 19th to 23rd October 2016

The tournament is being held in the memory of the Late Shri Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty, a longstanding former Chairman of Vijaya Bank, who was instrumental in the growth of the bank through the 60s and 70s.

Matches are being played every evening on a league cum knockout basis. There are 7 teams in the fray in this tournament, divided into two Groups. The top two teams from each Group will progress to the semifinals followed by the finals.

This edition of the tournament is featuring some of the nation’s top men’s club sides such as hosts Vijaya Bank, Central Excise & Customs-Kochi, Indian Bank, Integral Coach Factory (ICF)-Chennai, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT)-Chennai and Karnataka State team (‘President’s 11’).

The following are the 13 international players who are participating: Indian Bank (Hariram- Senior India; Moses Jeevananth- Junior India; P Baladhaneshwar- Junior India), Vijaya Bank (Arvind Arumugam, Rajesh Uppar, Sanjay Raj- Senior India; S Karthickeyan- Junior India), Kerala State Electricity Board (Sreerag N Nair- Junior India, Arun Harikumar- Youth India), Cochin Customs (Eudrick Pereira, Basil Philip, Monish Wilson- Senior India), President’s 11, Karnataka (Guruprasad Nayak- Junior India).

by Abhishek Shukla

Sr. Indian Women’s Hockey Team departs for Singapore to participate in the 4th Women’s Asian Champions Trophy

Delhi, 21 October 2016: India’s Women team departed today for the Asian Champions Trophy in Singapore starting from 29th October 2016.

The squad, which has been training at the SAI centre in Bhopal will be led by forward Vandana Katariya at the tournament.

The tournament features the continent’s five best teams—Japan, China, Korea, Malaysia and India following a round-robin format, followed by the bronze and gold medal matches.

Besides Katariya, defenders Sunita Lakra, Namita Toppo and midfielder Rani Rampal will add the experience to the squad.

Speaking about their departure for the tournament, coach Neil Hawgood said, “After the Olympics, this is a key step to ensure we are in good form, and as a team we can keep improving our standards constantly. We have had a good training camp and are now looking forward to do well in the Asian Champions Trophy.”

The matches will be streamed live on Singapore Hockey’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCYmf5v1YVNk0MzIjuB7i6YA

by Abhishek Shukla

Sharath-Sanil PQF showdown expected

Visakhapatnam, October 21: With most favourites, including A. Sharath Kamal, taking top spots in men’s singles qualifying group matches, nobody expects anything contrary to happen even in main draw’s first round outings.

However, a few matches witnessed qualifiers under pressure to meet the standards with at least two matches going down to the wire in the 11Even Sports National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here today.

The first round outing for Nishaad Shah of Air India was a real tough one, thanks to his rival Suraj Das from West Bengal which the Air India boy won 4-3. But the match was a thriller in the sense it was decided in the seventh game when Nishaad closed out on his opponent 7-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-4, 11-9, 14-12, 11-6.

Suraj frittered away two match points in the sixth game and so did Nishaad when he lost two game points before winning it to heave a big sigh of relief. Drained out as he was, Suraj failed to motivate himself in the decider which Nishaad won without any trouble.

In the second, Sanmay Paranjape of West Bengal outwitted Kishore Kumar Divakar of Tamil Nadu 4-3 in a match of equals. The West Bengal boy scored more winners than his rival even as the TN boy failed to capitalize when situated presented him with chances.

EASY FOR SHARATH

There were quite a few matches that threw up 4-2 results like the ones between Harsh Sachnandani of Gujarat who beat Subham Ojha of Rajasthan,Talangana’s Lahoti Harshavardhan defeated Lalathunhlua of Mizoram, AAI’s Sarthak Gandhi downed Souvik Kar of PSPB and Sougata Sarkar of LIC overcame Rakshit Barigidad of Karnataka.

As for Sharath, he had an easy 4-0 passage against Subhra Roy Chouwdhury of MP and will now meet in the second round left-handed Abhishek Yadav of PSPB, who struggled to win 4-2 against Tamil Nadu’s Ananth Devarajan, later today.

By his standards, Sharath is expected to go through to the pre-quarterfinals where he is slated to meet No. 2 seed Sanil Shetty who will play his first outing this evening when he takes on Nishaad Shah.

SHAIILU’S BRAVE FIGHT

In women’s singles, with a well spread out byes, only 16 players were involved in the eight first-round matches, some of which kept everyone interested. Andhra’s promising prospect Shailu Noorbasha did put up a fight but Tamil Nadu’s Harshavardini won 10-12, 11-8, 11-1, 11-13, 11-7, 11-5 to move into the second round. AAI’s Selenadeepth Selvakumar was taken some distance by Haryana’s Riti Shankar before the former winning it 7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-4, 9-11, 11-9. So was the case with RBI’s Shweta Parte who had to bring in all her experience to account for Sikha Jacob of Kerala 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8.

NANDITA STRUGGLES

But it was the match between PSPB veteran Nandita Saha and Kritika Malik of Delhi that pushed spectators to the edge of their seats. Nandita squandered a 2-1 lead to trail 2-3 as Kritika put up a brave fight to outscore her rival in the fourth and fifth games. The experienced PSPB girl, however, managed to pull it off with two crispy sixth and seventh games to which the Delhi lass had no answer.

In Youth Girls, there were quite a few upsets in the latter groups. For instance, Shrubabati Moitra of West Bengal upstaged Puja Paul of North Bengal to enter the main draw. Her 3-1 (11-7, 1-14, 11-9, 7-11, 11-8) win against Puja in group 15 saw through to her stage 2 entry. In group 16, it was even worse as Maharashtra’s Shruti Amrute’s 11-6, 9-11, 3-11, 3-11 loss to Delhis Ishita Gupta sent her out of reckoning. Ishita, in fact, had to play a good game against Tulika Roy of West Bengal to win 11-7, 1-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6 and seal her main draw spot.

Seraha Jacob of Kerala beat Delhi’s Vanshika Bhargava 10-12, 11-8, 11-2, 11-5 to take the lone qualifier’s slot from group 17 while in group 18, Sumana Saha of West Bengal ousted Shrusti Gupta of Delhi in a clinching match which the Bengal paddler won 11-2, 13-11, 5-11, 11-5. Kushi Viswanath of Karnataka bowed out after a tie ensued between her and Kaushani Nath of West Bengal Despite both having five points, the latter moved in with better average.

But for these abnormalities, every other player from the rest of groups had no problem whatsoever as they sailed into the knockout stage.

by Abhishek Shukla

A hurt Sharath focuses on 2018 CWG

Visakhapatnam, October 20: It was rather an uncommon scenario for one and all, including the protagonist, on the opening day of the 11Even Sports National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here today.

Achanta Sharatrh Kamal, once the top-ranked Indian in the world, played today his first round qualification match against Syed Kalavath Abdul Kader of IA & AD in 19 years! He was a bit anxious and uncomfortable by his own admission.

No doubt, Sharath won the match 11-9, 12-10, 11-7 in group 13. The three-time Olympian has one more group match against Bharat Krishnan of Kerala later today and there is not an iota of doubt that he will top the group to qualify for the men’s singles main draw.

In a free-wheeling chat, the finest player that India has produced said that he had to take this conscientious decision after he has had a word with the top-brass of TTFI. “My main focus is 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast (Australia). Towards that end, I have now moved into India by about 50 percent. I have given myself two years initially and decided to revisit myself after a year before arriving at a final decision on whether to shift completely to India or go back to Germany,” he said.

Sharath admitted the problems of a sudden shift as it will be difficult for him to find playing partners as players will be travelling for the national ranking events. “This gives me little option but this is the best I can think of as I want to be at home, giving time to my family,” he added.

But the ace paddler was quick to point out the perils. “All these years I slogged out, playing day in and day out and my worry now is the home comfort I will get used to. It’s a trial and error method and hope to strike a balance,” said Sharath.

Coming back to the issue of having to play the qualifiers, Sharath felt he had no option. “But I definitely felt uncomfortable because when I saw the list of eight players that have been given direct entry to Stage 2. I was a bit upset because I have no problems about the top guys like Sathiyan, Sanil (Shetty) and Harmeet (Desai). But there are quite a few juniors in that list and when I have to play qualifiers, yes it did hurt me.”

But he was quick to come back to his old self and was honest that he needed to adapt to the Indian conditions if he were to continue playing. “Five years ago, it was easy and there was more or less a similar condition in India as well as in Europe. The main reason was the speed glue and it minimized external conditions. The glue was subsequently banned. Another reason is in Europe, balls with seams are used while in India we use seamless balls and both are approved by ITTF. You need two weeks to acclimatize.”

However, one thing he was certain about. “I want to play it the hard way and come through the process. I know of no short cuts,” was the parting shot from a much fitter Sharath.

by Abhishek Shukla

Naidu announces bonanzas for Vizag and AP

Visakhapatnam, October 20: Group leaders in both the men’s and women’s singles events were, mor or less, well entrenched themselves on the opening day and headed towards securing their top slots in the 11Even Sports National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium here today.

With the South Zone championships attracting quite a large number of entries, it was a tough job for the competition department, led by N. Ganeshan, to divide players into 48 groups (men) with G. Sathiyan, Sanil Shetty, Harmeet Desai, Jubin Kumar, Manav Thakkar, Subhajit Saha, Utkarsh Gupta and Devesh Karia getting direct entry into the main draw.

Similalry, Suthirtha Mukherjee, Madhurika Patkar, Manika Batra, Mouma Das, Mousumi Paul, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe, Anika Das and Reeth Rishya have been given qualification byes because of their overall rankings.

All the men and women players will play a couple of rounds today and after two days of qualification matches, a clear picture will emerge about who all make the second stage cut before the main draw events begin. Meanwhile, the Youth Boys (32 groups) and Youth Girls (20 groups) will also play one round of matches today.

Earlier in the morning, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu declared the meet open. At his inaugural address, the chief minister, stressing on the need to pursue sports announced a couple of bonanzas which included setting up of an exclusive table tennis academy at Kommadi. He also assured that his government will help Vizag host every year one national and one international table tennis tournament every year.

Naidu made this announcement after TTFI president Prabhat C. Chaturvedi’s made a request to him for a full-fledged academy in the state to nurture talent. The chief minister also gave his nod to the TTFI chief’s suggestion of AP’s continuous support in hosting national and international TT events.

The chief minister asked his Labour, Youth and Sports Minister K. Atcham Naidu, who also graced the occasion, to earmark for land for the academy at Kommadi besides making a fervent appeal to the corporate sector to come forward and assist the government establish different academies in Andhra to make it a model state. “We should be able to produce quality players who can go on to replicate what P.V. Sindhu did at Rio,” he said.

Naidu also announced that Andhra will be too happy to host the National Games in 2019 and his government will extend all help that is needed to create state-of-the art infrastructure in the new state.

by Abhishek Shukla

Hosts Vijaya Bank through to the semis; KSEB knocked out

Bengaluru, 20th October 2016: The Vijaya Bank organised 3rd Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament for Men 2016entered Day 2 at Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in the city.  The tournament is being conducted under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India and the Karnataka State Basketball Association.

Hosts Vijaya Bank are through to the semifinals, having won both their Group A league matches. From Group B, Customs and Central Excise, Kochi are sitting pretty with two straight wins with one league match remaining tomorrow.

Customs and Central Excise, Kochi bt Kerala State Electricity Board 86-60

In the first match of the day Kerala state rivals Central Excise took on Kerala State Electricity Board. The two teams are very familiar with each other’s playing styles, having competed numerous times at the senior state level within Kerala. The first quarter opened with the favoured Customs team opening up a huge 20-4 lead. KSEB was guilty of turning the ball over too many times.

KSEB though began to show life late in the first quarter, before dominating 20-11 in the second period. The game was tied at 31, with Customs’ point guard Nikhil not helping matters by jacking up long three pointer attempts. At halftime, Customs led 34-33.

As it turned out, the effort of keeping the game close was too much for KSEB to maintain in the second half. Customs had a very easy 34-16 third quarter which broke KSEB’s back. Customs next plays President’s 11, Karnataka in their final league match tomorrow. KSEB, which is already knocked out of the tournament, takes on Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, Chennai.

Customs and Central Excise, Kochi (Manoj 18, Eudrick Pereira 16, Nikhil R 15) bt Kerala State Electricity Board (Arun Harikumar 22, Gokul G 12, Arun Babu 11) 86-60 [23-13, 11-20, 34-16, 18-11]

Vijaya Bank bt Indian Bank 99-82

In arguably the most awaited match of the day, the talented Indian Bank stepped onto the floor for the first time in this tournament, as they took on hosts Vijaya Bank. Indian Bank features two young and promising international stars- shooting guard Hariram Ragupathy, who made his debut on the senior Indian team recently, and point guard P Baladhaneshwar, the current captain of the Indian U18 team.

Indian Bank was impressive in the first 15 minutes, able to easily blow past the man to man defence employed by Vijaya Bank. At the end of the first quarter, Indian Bank led 26-24. That’s when Vijaya Bank’s own international centre Arvind Arumugam starting dominating at centre. Arvind had a match high 31 points, and he was ably complimented by guard Anil Kumar’s 24, as Vijaya Bank outscored Indian Bank 30-13 in the second quarter.

Indian Bank’s playmaker Baladhaneshwar impressed in the first half but had to sit out the second half due to an ankle injury that had him moving gingerly throughout the game. With Bala out of action, that pretty much meant the death knell for Indian Bank, as Vijaya Bank crusied to an ultimately easy 99-82 win.

Vijaya Bank (2-0) is now through to the semifinals, while Indian Bank will face Integral Coach Factory, Chennai to decide the second semifinal team from Group A.

Vijaya Bank (Arvind Arumugam 31, Anil Kumar 24) bt Indian Bank(Sandeep 20, M Puvaneshwaran 19, Hariram Ragupathy 16) 99-82 [24-26, 30-13, 20-20, 25-23]

 

Late evening result from Day 1 (19th Oct): President’s 11, Karnataka bt Kerala State Electricity Board 72-59

In an unexpected result, President’s 11 (i.e. Karnataka State team) beat Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) in the final match of Day 1. Coming into this match, KSEB were favourites since the squad comprised an experienced and set lineup that has regularly featured in national level tournaments over the last few years. However, the upstart Karnataka boys must have missed the memo.

Karnataka led 23-20 at the end of the first quarter before KSEB won the second and third periods by a single point each. Leading by 1 point going into the final 10 minutes, junior India point guard Guruprasad Nayak (who was part of the Indian U18 team that won the South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) Qualifiers earlier this year) came into his own for Karnataka. The 18-year-old was able to get to the foul line repeatedly and knocked down majority of his freethrows to lead Karnataka to a decisive 20-8 scoring differential in the fourth quarter.

Tomorrow (i.e. 20th Oct 2016), President’s 11 will next take on SDAT, Chennai from 7:30 pm, while KSEB will battle fellow Kerala rivals Customs & Central Excise, Kochi (4:30 pm tip off).

President’s 11, Karnataka (Guruprasad Nayak 17, Mufeez Ahmed 11, Vijay 8) bt Kerala State Electricity Board (Tony K Mathew 15, Arun Babu 11) 72-59 [23-20, 11-12, 18-19, 20-8]

by Abhishek Shukla

Hosts Vijaya Bank and Kochi Customs open with wins

Bengaluru, 19th October 2016: The Vijaya Bank organised 3rd Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament for Men 2016has tipped off at Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in the city.  The tournament is being conducted under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India and the Karnataka State Basketball Association.

Vijaya Bank’s General Managers Mr AC Swain, Mr Sidheswar Patra and Deputy General Manager Mr A Sridhara Murthy were present as special guests closely watching the first game between hosts Vijaya Bank and Integral Coach Factory, Chennai.

Vijaya Bank’s India international forward Arvind Arumugam was presented a cash award from Mr Swain, prior to the tip off of the first game.

Vijaya Bank bt Integral Coach Factory, Chennai 78-52

Hosts Vijaya Bank got off to a dream start in the tournament beating Integral Coach Factory, Chennai 78-52.

The first quarter began deceptively close, with the teams locked at 20-20. Vijaya Bank’s Big Three of point guard Rajesh Uppar, centre Arvind Arumugam and shooting guard Anil Kumar showed glimpses of their class in various ways. Rajesh was able to slash into the paint and dish it to his teammate Arvind, while Anil impressed with his scoring in transition. Young forward S Karthickeyan was able to use his athleticism to rise over his opponents for multiple tough left hand layups. For ICF, the undersized bigs passed excellently inside to make up for their lack of size. ICF also showed great hustle to score on second chance opportunities.

But like a matchstick that flares brightly when lit, before fizzling out, ICF got overwhelmed in the second quarter, as Vijaya Bank’s reserve Big Men Sanjay Raj (former Indian men’s team captain) and Roby Thomas kept up the pressure on the glass. Vijaya Bank had outscored ICF 21-8, to take a 41-28 lead at halftime.

In the second half, both teams seemed to have accepted the result, as they went through the motions. Arvind had topscored for Vijaya Bank with 27 points while shooting guard Mukunth had 14 for ICF.

Vijaya Bank will next face Indian Bank tomorrow for a spot in the semifinals, while ICF will face Indian Bank day after in a bid to stay alive in the competition.

Vijaya Bank (Arvind Arumugam 27, S Karthickeyan 10, Anil Kumar 9) bt ICF, Chennai (Mukunth 14, Seenivasan 12) 78-52 [20-20, 21-8, 22-15, 15-9]

Customs and Central Excise, Kochi bt SDAT, Chennai 65-63

In an epic battle between two contrasting teams, the experienced Customs and Central Excise, Kochi held on to beat Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT), Chennai by two points.

The young SDAT side exploded in the first half and at one point led 22-6, before the Customs veterans made their inevitable comeback. Guard Manoj was money from deep, hitting three straight three pointers in the second quarter to bring Kochi with 5 points, 22-27, of the Chennai lads. However, at halftime the score still read 36-27 in favour of SDAT.

The third period saw more dominance by Customs, as they outscored SDAT 23-12 to wrest a slender 50-48 lead going into the final 10 minutes.

For SDAT, small forward Justin was spectacular with his supreme strength and athleticism. Led by Justin’s 20 points, SDAT rallied in the fourth to match Customs shot for shot. However, former international centre Eudrick Pereira and current international Basil Philip came good in the clutch. Pereira in particular had multiple blocks to deny SDAT any easy points as his side pulled off the tricky 65-63 opening win.

Customs will next face Kerala State Electricity Board tomorrow at 4:30 pm, while later the same day SDAT will take on Karnataka President’s 11 at 7:30 pm.

Customs and Central Excise, Kochi (Manoj 18, Basil 17) bt Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT), Chennai (Justin 20, Karthik 14) 65-63 [6-16, 21-20, 23-12, 15-15]

by Abhishek Shukla

Prodigal son Sharath’s return adds zing to South Zone Championships

Visakhapatnam, October 19: The return of the prodigal son—A. Saharath Kamal—to the domestic circuit, especially for the 11Even Sports National Ranking (South Zone) Table Tennis Championships starting at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium at the VPT Sports Complex tomorrow, is the best thing advertisement that can happen to the sport. Incidentally, this will be first zonal meet that the Rio Olympian will be competing in, this season.

Yet, there is still a drawback as top-ranked Indian in the world, Soumyajit Ghosh, and North Zone champion Anthony Amalraj have given another goby to the ranking championships.

However, the presence of Sharath has given the Vizag organizers, who are hosting a national ranking event after 28 years, a big shot in the arm and one expects the crowd to rally behind them as well as Sharath to enjoy his ‘rare’ home appearance. Even his old and friendly Coach Massimo Costantini, who took charge as the national coach on October 1, will be looking forward to the icon’s performance.

With Sharath in the thick of action, it would add the zing that was missing from the men’s singles so far. Of course, G. Sathiyan who won his season’s first title at Rajkot just a week ago will have his task cut out as Sanil Shetty, Jubin Kumar of PSPB and Gujarat’s Devesh Karia, who was a finalist at Rajkot, will also be at his throat.

All said and done, Sharath return also augurs well as the standard of competition will go a few notches higher as one has seen in the women’s singles. Suthirtha, already with three silverwares this season, will give her best shot as the likes of Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar and Pooja Sahasrabudde have found out to their chagrin. It has been big struggle for former national champions like Mouma Das and K. Shamini. However, it was heart warning to see Poulomi Ghatak, another former national champion, put up a brave front trying to make a comeback in recent times.

Another good thing of these ranking events is that one gets to see a lot of youngsters—the future of India—doing consistently well. Manav Thakkar, Ananth Devarajan, Ronit Bhanja, Birdie Boro and Snehit Suravajjula in Youth and Junior Boys sections and Archana Kamath, Anusha Kutumbale, Varuni Jaiswal, Moumita Datta and Prapti Sen, to name a few, in Girls category have been working hard as the results are proving.

Even in the Sub-Junior and Cadet sections, the boys and girls have shown a lot of promise and it is indicative of the sport growing, though not by leaps and bounds, and getting ready to reap a good harvest in the coming years. The Italian coach has already a good collection of players on his I-Pad, chosen from the Central and West Zone events, and he would like to add a few more names to the list after watching players at the South Zone. The opportunity beckons young paddlers and it is up to them to utilize it and be rest assured of the rewards. The ball is in their court.

Meanwhile, Competition Manager Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer said that C.L. Thade has been nominated as the chief referee for the competitions here with assistance coming from a team 45 technical officials that include deputy and assistance referees, Blue Badge, International and National umpires.

Equipment from Stag—flooring, tables and balls—will be used for the championships which are organized by the Visakhapatnam District Table Tennis Association and conducted by the Andhra Pradesh State Table Tennis Association.

The Championships, which will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, has received 1100 entries from among 731 paddlers

by Abhishek Shukla

Payas, Diya new Sub-Junior champs in National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships

Rajkot, October 18: Delhi’s Payas Jain and Maharashtra’s Diya Chitale claimed the season’s maiden titles in the Sub-Junior category of the 11Even Sports National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Veer Savarkar Municipal Corporation Stadium here today.

In the process, in all-Delhi Boys final, Payas beat Yashansh Malik 4-1 while Diya stopped Anusha Kutumble from Madhya Pradesh 4-2 from winning the third consecutive Girls’ crown.

Payas and Yashansh, good friends off the table, know each other well and have beaten each other in Delhi State events. But Payas was not the one to let go his first opportunity this year and deservingly won.

Indeed, Payas was the better paddler on view today, executing his shots to perfection. In fact, he hit a nice rhythm straightaway and looked like wrapping it up 4-0 but for his folly of hurrying with the shots in the third. Yashansh won the game on extended points. Payas quickly realized his mistgake and became more clinical in the next two to take home the cash and the glittering trophy.

On the other hand, Diya was picture perfect in the first two games and it unnerved Anusha to the extent that she made a lot of unforced errors. But Diya executed her shots with finesse and employed more of her backhand. Her forehand blistering shots and clever use of angles with good anticipation, too, helped her score more winners than her MP rival. However Anusha tried to make a comeback, Diya was at it to force her on the back foot.

TAMIL NADU’S CADET SWEEP

In what was an all-Tamil Nadu and left-handers final in Cadet Boys, Preyesh completed a hat-trick of titles this season beating Tarun Shanmugam 4-0. Preyesh, who showed consistency in the North and Central Zone events earlier, continued his winning ways with an easy win over his state mate, Tarun.

But Kavyashree Baskar, also from Tamil Nadu, upstaged Haryana’s Suhana Saini to deny her a hat-trick of crowns in Cadet Girls with a 4-0 triumph. Suhana had won the titles at Chandigarh and Indore this season. Kavyashree, who has had a very good season last year, came back nicely to wrest the initiative from the Haryana girl.

After a comfortable 3-0 lead, Kavyashree lost two match points in the fourth when Suhana, with a brilliant fight back, won her first 13-11. Again, in the next, the Haryana youngster saved a match point to put pressure on the TN girl. But it was the sixth, which saw some long rallies, that Suhana showed her real colours—she was down 1-7—but went 10-9 up. However, a bad return cost her dear as Kavyashree deuced and on her first match point in the game, she clinched the title.

It was, indeed, a heartbreak for Suhana but credit to her that she made the final worth a while to watch.

The Sub-Junior Boys final will see yet another clash of two Delhi boys, Payas Jain and Yashansh Malik, both thick friends outside the court. Payas accounted for Shreyans Goel, also of Delhi, 4-1 while Yashansh defeated Hrishikesh Malhotra from Maharashtra by the same margin.

But it was the Girls semifinals that pushed the spectators to the edge of the seat, thanks to the never-say-die attitude of Tanisi Kirtani of Goa and Swastika Ghosh of Maharashtra.

Anusha, gunning for her third successive title, did not have any respite once Tanisi levelled 3-3 after winning the sixth game 12-10. But then Anusha’s experience held her in good stead as she closed out quickly on her Goa opponent in the decider. More or less a similar script was enacted by Swastika but Diya proved a hard nut to crack in the decider.

PROMISING NITYASHREE

Earlier, a notable performance from Tamil Nadu’s Nithyashree Mani grabbed the attention of the audience. The little girl from Chennai Achievers Club, currently training under Subin Kumar, made her maiden quarterfinal appearance, slaying along the way some promising paddlers in the Sub-Junior section. Unfortunately, she ran into Maharashtra’s Swastika who beat the TN girl 12-10, 11-5, 11-5, before being packed off by Diya in the semifinals.

Earlier, Preyesh Suresh Raj and Suhan Saini were on way to adding another title in Cadet Boys and Girls categories when they beat in the semifinals Sujan Bharadwaj and Nehal Suriyanarayanan in straight games. They will take on in the final Tamil Nadu’s Tarun Shanmugam and Kavyashree Baskar who accounted for Navaneet Kutty, also of Tamil Nadu, and Prithoki Chakraborti of West Bengal.

Results:

Sub-Junior Boys: Final: Payas Jain (Del) bt Yashansh Malik (Del) 11-9, 11-5, 11-13, 11-9, 11-5; Semifinals: Payas Jain bt Shreyans Goel (Del) 11-8, 11-4, 10-12, 11-6, 12-10, Yashansh Malik bt Hrishikesh Malhotra (Mah) 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 11-5, 11-3.

Sub-Junior Girls: Final: Diya Chitale (Mah) bt Anusha Kutumbale (MP) 11-9, 11-7, 6-11, 10-12, 12-10, 11-9; Semifinals: Anusha Kutumbale bt Tanisi Kirtani (Goa) 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 10-12, 11-7, Diya Chitale bt Swastika Ghosh (Mah) 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 13-11, 7-11, 11-6.

Cadet Boys: Final: Preyesh Suresh Raj (TN) bt Tarun Shanmugam (TN) 11-8, 11-3,11-7, 11-9; Semifinals: Preyesh Suresh Raj bt Sujan Bharadwaj (KNT) 11-9, 13-11, 11-7, Tarun Shanmugam bt Navaneet Kutty (TN) 11-7, 4-11, 11-7, 11-4.

Cadet Girls: Final: Kavyashree Baskar (TN) bt Suhana Saini (Har) 11-8, 11-8, 11-7, 11-13, 10-12, 12-10; Semifinals: Suhana Saini bt Nehal Suriyanarayanan (TN) 11-5, 11-4, 12-10, Kavyashree Baskar bt Prithoki Chakraborti (WB) 11-7, 11-2, 11-6.

by Abhishek Shukla

3rd Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament to tip off in Bengaluru from 19th Oct

Bengaluru, 18th October 2016: Karnataka’s leading nationalised bank, Vijaya Bank, is proud to announce the return of the Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty All India Basketball Tournament for Men.  The 3rd edition of the tournament will be held at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru from 19th to 23rd October 2016, under the aegis of the Basketball Federation of India and the Karnataka State Basketball Association.

The tournament is being held in the memory of the Late Shri Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty, a longstanding former Chairman of Vijaya Bank, who was instrumental in the growth of the bank through the 60s and 70s.

Matches will be played every evening from 5:00 pm onwards in a league cum knockout basis. There are 7 teams in the fray in this tournament, divided into two Groups. The top two teams from each Group will progress to the semifinals followed by the finals.

This edition of the tournament will feature some of the nation’s top men’s club sides such as hosts Vijaya Bank, Cochin Customs, Indian Bank, Integral Coach Factory (ICF)-Chennai, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT)-Chennai and Karnataka State team (‘President’s 11’). Two time runners up ONGC, Dehradun was scheduled to participate but withdrew in the last minute due to injuries sustained to some of their main players during the just concluded FIBA Asia Champions Cup Tournament.

The following are the 12 international players who will be participating: Indian Bank (Hariram- Senior India; Moses Jeevananth- Junior India; P Baladhaneshwar- Junior India), Vijaya Bank (Arvind Arumugam, Rajesh Uppar, Sanjay Raj- Senior India; S Karthickeyan- Junior India), Kerala State Electricity Board (Sreerag N Nair- Junior India, Arun Harikumar- Youth India), Cochin Customs (Eudrick Pereira, Basil Philip, Monish Wilson- Senior India).

Past Edition Details

The inaugural edition of the tournament was held in 2014 in Malleshwaram, with Indian Overseas Bank (IOB)-Chennai, ONGC, Vijaya Bank and Karnataka State finishing as the top four teams respectively.

The 2nd edition was held in 2015 at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, Bengaluru. Income Tax-Chennai emerged winners, with ONGC, Vijaya Bank and Kerala State Electricity Board rounding off the top four.

 

FIXTURES OF THE 3RD MULKI SUNDER RAM SHETTY ALL INDIA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT, BENGALURU

19th to 23rd October 2016

Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, Bengaluru

LEAGUE FIXTURES

 

GROUP A GROUP B
Vijaya Bank KSEB
Indian Bank Karnataka State team (‘President’s 11’)
ICF Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT)-Chennai
  Cochin Customs

 

S.No Date/Day Time Team Name
1.

2.

3.

 19.10.16/Wednesday 5:00 pm

6:30 pm

8:00 pm

 Vijaya Bank Vs ICF

SDAT Vs Cochin Customs

President’s 11 Vs KSEB
1.

2.

3.

 20.10.16/Thursday 5:00 pm

6:30 pm

8:00 pm

 Cochin Customs  Vs KSEB

Vijaya Bank Vs Indian Bank

President’s 11 Vs SDAT Chennai
1.

2.

3.

 21.10.16/Friday 5:00 pm

6:30 pm

8:00 pm

 ICF Vs Indian Bank

KSEB Vs SDAT

President’s 11 Vs Cochin Customs

 

KNOCK-OUT FIXTURES
22nd October 2016 – Saturday
5:30 pm I Match – Winner of Group A Vs Runner of Group B

7:00 pm II Match – Winner of Group B Vs Runner of Group A

 
23rd October 2016 – Sunday
FINALS
by Abhishek Shukla

Sathiyan and Suthirtha win’s single titles in National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships

Rajkot, October 16: Top-seed G. Sathiyan defeated Gujarat’s Devesh Karia 4-0 to claim his season’s first men’s singles title in the 11Even Sports National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Veer Savarkar Municipal Corporation Stadium here today.

West Bengal’s Suthirtha Mukherjee went on to bag her second women’s singles title from zonal events when she defeated PSPB’s Mousumi Paul 4-2. But overall, this was her season’s third, including the Institutional crown she had won in July at Jaipur.

Unexpectedly, it was a cakewalk for Sathiyan against Devesh who was completely rendered helpless against a hot Sathiyan who executed his blistering strikes to unsettle the Gujarat man. In the face of a mounting offensive approach, Devesh wilted very early in the final never to recover.

In contrast, Sathiyan scored a 4-3 laboured win in the semifinals to oust North Zone finalist and southpaw Sanil Shetty who, after leading 2-1, gave in to the pressure tactics of his PSPB rival which proved to be Sanil’s undoing. In a roller-coaster ride of sorts, Shetty did win the sixth to level 3-3 but was visibly losing steam and it only helped the semifinalist at Chandigarh to step on the gas pedal to a 6-1 lead and finish off in style.

In the other all-lefthanders fight, Devesh was woefully placed at 0-2 and 5-9 in the third game against Jubin. But a few errors both at the net and some away-going shots at that time saw the PSPB paddler concede the ground to the Gujarat man. From there on, Devesh was a different player altogether as he won 8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-7, 14-12.

POETIC JUSTICE

In the end, a poetic justice was done to her pre-quarterfinal rival Krittwika Sinha Roy who, too, lost because of a change of bat midway through that match. But today, Mousumi was told to change it before the match with one side of her bat’s rubber damaged, as it happened to Krittwika on the second day.

Except for the first marathon game which Mousumi won after nine deuces and three game points, Suthirtha had the measure of her opponent. Mousumi did win the fourth game but Suthirtha was way ahead in the next and wrap it up quickly.

In women’s semifinals, Mousumi Paul continued with her winning ways as she outlasted top seed Madhurika Patkar 4-2 (11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 13-11) and second seed Suthirtha Mukherjee defeated former national champion and veteran Mouma Das 11-8, 11-8, 11-13, 11-1, 11-8. Madhurkia was the winner at the North Zone event at Chandigarh.

RONIT, PRIYADARSHINI CLAIM TITLES

Airports Authority of India’s Ronit Bhanja blanked out PSPB’s Birdie Boro 4-0 to take home the Youth Boys singles trophy while West Bengal’s Priyadarshini Das claimed her maiden Youth Girls title beating Tamil Nadu’s Amrutha Pushpak 4-3 in what was both paddlers’ first appearance in a final. Amrutha had her chance in the decider as she led 9-5 only to give away six points on the trot to her West Bengal opponent to her own disappointment and that of the crowd after having put up a nice fight to lead 3-2.

JUNIOR CROWN FOR MANAV, ARCHANA

Earlier, PSPB’s Manav Thakkar defeated Telangana’s Snehit Suravajjula 4-1 to retain the Junior Boys singles crown and the Junior Girls title went the way of Airports Authority of India’s Archana Girish Kamath. She downed Rajasthan’s Priyanka Pareek in straight games of 4-0. At Indore, she had won the Youth Girls trophy. Similarly, Manav also had won the Youth title at Indore but had to satisfy himself with the single crown win here.

Results:

Men’s Singles: Final: G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Devesh Karia (Guj) 11-5, 11-2, 11-3, 13-11.

Women’s Singles: Final: Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Mousumi Paul (PSPB) 18-20, 11-9, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9, 11-3.

Youth Boys Singles: Final: Ronit Bhanja (AAI) bt Birdie Boro (PSPB) 11-5, 11-9, 13-11, 11-7.

Youth Girls Singles: Final:  Priyadarshini Das (WB) bt Amrutha Pushpak (TN) 4-11, 11-7, 12-14, 11-9, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9.

Junior Boys Singles: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Snehit Suravajjula (TELG) 11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8.

Junior Girls Singles: Final: Archana Girish Kamath (AAI) bt Priyanka Pareek (Raj) 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, 11-7.