Vijay Goel, Minister Of State (I/C) Youth Affairs &
Sports welcomed the Indian citizens on their arrival at Palam Airbase in New Delhi on July 15, 2016. The citizens were airlifted under Operation 'Sankat Mochan'
From Sudan
.
Photo: PIB
Friday, July 15, 2016
Herbalife is title sponsor of Asia Pacific Boxing Championship
Commencing with a weigh in at today’s ahead of tomorrow’s fight
show with Kerry Hope Indian boxing sensation Vijinder Singh hit the weight
today at 74.9 Undefeated Knockout King, looking out to continue his winning
streak with 7-0, looked in shape weighing in at 74.9 Hope came in at 75.7 and
looked in a fabulous condition before his bout in India.
Hope challenged Singh, saying “He doesn’t look like he is
training as hard as I am.”
Singh, who has won all his previous 6 bouts said, “I will
show him tomorrow how much I have been training. It will be a great
fight night.”
Vijender has also promised all those coming to support him
that this time is going to be yet another knockout win, “ this time its going
to be a little difficult, but I will make it happen, I have been training very
hard and I am pretty confident of my win against Hope. This could be my seventh
knockout and what better way to celebrate than to play in your own country.”
Unveiling the title belt at a press conference here in New
Delhi today, Mr. Ajay Khanna, Vice President & General Manager –
Herbalife International India said, “The Asia Pacific Boxing Championship
is the first ever International pro-boxing show in India, and comes at a time
when India is emerging as a big market for pro-boxing. At Herbalife we
constantly look for such opportunities to fuel the development of sports and
sports persons. Nutrition is vital for overall being, even more so in sports.
In a high endurance sport like boxing, where agility and fitness are paramount,
the role and importance of nutrition are amplified. Herbalife’s association
with this event exemplifies our commitment to a healthy, active life, supported
by good nutrition.”
Neerav Tomar, Promoter IOS Boxing Promotions said “I
would like to welcome on board Herbalife as our partner for WBO Asia Pacific
Boxing Championship. We are going to put up first ever mega professional boxing
show for the fans in our country, I am sure everyone will enjoy it”.
The tickets sales of the event have been fantastic ever
since the tickets went live. This is the first time that boxing is taking place
at such a great level in India
Other Boxer’s Weights-
|
Sachin Bhot
|
57.4
|
|
Asif Khan
|
56.9
|
|
Natdanani Pengthong
|
55.1
|
|
Sunil Siwach
|
54.9
|
|
Sumit Rangi
|
98.1
|
|
Naveen Rao
|
126.8
|
|
Devdarshan
|
69.4
|
|
Cameron
|
66.7
|
|
Gaganpreet Sharma
|
78.9
|
|
Deepak Sheoran
|
77.9
|
|
Vachayan Khamon
|
60.0
|
|
Kuldeep Dhanda
|
60.4
|
|
Sanjeev Sahota
|
63.5
|
|
Vikas Lohan
|
63.2
|
|
Sidhartha Varma
|
69.2
|
|
Dilbagh Thakran
|
69.0
|
IOA president N. Ramachandran presents Olympic kit to Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel
IOA president N. Ramachandran presented Olympic kit (non playing) to Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel in New Delhi on July 14, 2016.
Photo: PIB
Historic Day as sporting legends and Bollywood come together to support Vijender Singh
Kapil Dev, Yuvraj Singh, Mary Kom, Virender Sehwag, Suresh
Raina, Gautam Gambhir, Sushil Kumar are just the few that have confirmed their
attendance to be present in full fervor for the historic fight. Along with them
other sporting names such as, Rajiv Shukla, and the Sports Minister, Haryana
himself, Anil Vij will be completely committed to supporting Vijender.
The stars of Bollywood that will add to the power packed
performance and the glam quotient of the event are Irfan Khan, Randeep Hooda,
Neha Dhupia, Diljit Dosanj, Rannvijay, Baadshah, Jimmy Shergil, Raghu and more
that have yet to be confirmed. The rising star of Punjab ,
Guru Randhawa not only will be present to support King Singh in the fight but
also will be performing for the opening event to pump the crowd with his hits,
of the "Yaar Mod Do" fame.
Other prominent personalities that will be at the event are,
Finance Minister of Haryana, Captain Abhimanyu Singh, The chief minister of
Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar,
Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, BJP President Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, Kailash
Vijayvargiya, Baba Ramdev and Anirudh Chaudhary are just some of the names that
will surely be there.
This iconic day is the moment of truth for the Indian Boxing
sensation Vijender Singh as he is pitted up against Kerry Hope from Australia who
is confident that his experience in Pro Boxing will give him an edge over the
newly turned professional Vijender Singh. Singh has lived up to a very
successful run in the amateur boxing circuit and has been unbeaten in the 6 fights
that he has competed after turning professional in 2015.
The response to "Singh vs Hope" has been
completely off the charts and the popularity has spread like wild fire as Book
My Show saw massive booking requests since the tickets went on sale.
Press release
Lahiri – Chawrasia duo to represent India at Rio Olympics
With July 11, 2016, being the cut-off date for Olympic
qualification, Lahiri and Chawrasia have made the grade for Rio as per the
International Golf Federation’s rankings (based on the world rankings) for the
Olympic men’s competition.
Reigning Asia No. 1 Anirban Lahiri (world rank 62) and
reigning Indian Open champion SSP Chawrasia (world rank 207) were placed 20th and
45th respectively in the International Golf Federation’s (IGF) ranking
list which was updated at around 2100 hrs Indian Standard Time on July 11,
2016. The two Indians have now officially sealed their places in the elite
field of 60 players.
Md Siddikur Rahman (world rank 308), a two-time Asian Tour
winner, was placed 56th in the qualification list and will therefore represent
Bangladesh
at the Rio Olympics. He will be the third PGTI member, after Lahiri and
Chawrasia, to earn a ticket to Rio .
Anirban Lahiri, a winner of seven international titles, will
be spearheading India ’s
campaign at Rio . Anirban, who has been plying
his trade on the PGA Tour this season, had enjoyed an exceptional season in
2015 with two wins on the European Tour and a phenomenal tied fifth finish at
the PGA Championship, the best result for an Indian at a Major till date.
Last year, Lahiri also created history by becoming the first
Indian to be a part of the International Team at the Presidents Cup. He has had
a long spell in the world’s top-50 in 2016 and had all but sealed his Olympic
berth at the start of the year. Anirban will be playing his ninth successive
Major when he tees it up at the British Open at Royal Troon in Scotland this
week.
Interestingly, the Rio Olympics will be Lahiri’s second
outing at a quadrennial multi-sporting event. He had earlier participated at
the 2006 Doha Asian Games where he was part of the Indian team that won the
silver medal.
While speaking to PGTI on Monday, after confirmation of
his qualification for the Olympics, a confident Anirban said, “Olympian Anirban
Lahiri sounds good, but Olympic medalist Anirban Lahiri would sound way
better.”
This is what Lahiri posted on his twitter handle on
Monday: Shots fired!!! @OlympicGolf here I come.
SSP Chawrasia, a winner of four international titles,
including three on the European Tour, notched up a long-awaited victory at the
Indian Open earlier this year that propelled him into contention for the
Olympics. Chawrasia will make a formidable pairing with Lahiri as both the
golfers have been at the top of their game in the recent past.
On his Olympic qualification, Chawrasia said, “I’m extremely
excited about having the honour to represent my country at the Olympics. It’s a
major career milestone for me. I’m looking forward to teaming up with my good
friend Anirban in Rio . My total focus for the
next three weeks is to practice and prepare for the Olympics as I want to give
it my best shot.”
As per the current IGF ranking list for the Olympic men’s competition,
India
will be one of 24 nations to have more than one player in the field. There are
a total of 17 participants from Asia who will
be representing nine different countries. Both Anirban and SSP will be playing
their first ever event in the continent of South America when they appear for India at Rio .
Mr. Uttam Singh Mundy, Director, PGTI, said, “We’re excited
about the prospect of seeing two of India’s top professionals Anirban Lahiri
and SSP Chawrasia competing at the world’s biggest sporting event. Anirban and
SSP have both been great ambassadors for Indian golf over the years, both on
and off the course. We’re confident that Anirban and SSP will once again make India proud
with their performance at the Olympics. We’re also proud of the fact that PGTI
member Md Siddikur Rahman will be representing Bangladesh in the elite field. We
wish Anirban, SSP and Siddikur all the best for the Rio Olympics.”
Lahiri and Chawrasia will be part of India ’s largest
ever contingent at the Olympics which consists of a total of 120 athletes.
While the Olympics will be held from August 5 – 21, 2016,
the men’s golf competition will be staged at the Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro from
August 11 – 14.
Press release
Friday, July 1, 2016
Amalraj, Madhurika are men, women champs in North Zone TT
Their title-winning efforts fetched them Rs. 66,000 and Rs.
55,000, respectively.
Amalraj, who had won two zonal titles last year, began well
and kept himself in the hunt throughout, particularly after the semifinal win
over longtime friend and Chennai mate G. Sathiyan 4-3. As compared to the
earlier outing, the final against southpaw Sanil Shetty was rather easy despite
the two going at a good pace.
Though Amalraj opened with a first-game loss, he was quick
enough size up his rival’s game plan and hit the groove nicely. In the fourth,
however, Shetty made good efforts to put up some fight and even managed to
extend Amalraj a bit. But once Amalraj led 3-1, it was all over bar the
shouting for Shetty as he was allowed the liberty of just two points in the
fifth game.
Elated Madhurika
It was a good beginning to the season by Madhurika Patkar as
she had completed missed a ranking title last season. The season before in
2014, she just had a title (East Zone) to show which she had won at Siliguri.
But, as Madhuri later admitted, she had a nervous second-round start against
six-time national champion Paulomi Ghatak, who was returning after motherhood.
Madhurika passed that test and followed it up with a tough
match against Suthirtha Mukherjee in the quarterfinals earlier in the day.
Having crossed the two barriers, it was a little easy for the determined PSPB
player, even though Pooja made her work for points.
“I thought the second round match against Paulomi was tough
because she is such an experienced player I had to be careful. Suthirtha too
played well and was posing a lot of problems. But those two wins gave me the
confidence in the final as I was determined not to let the trophy go off my
hands,” said Madhurika.
The biggest upset of the day, however, was that of top-seed
Manika Batra, who is also the reigning national champion. After the exit of No.
2 seed Mouma Das, who is bound for Olympics at Rio
in August, yesterday Manika followed her today. Losing in early rounds was not
a big sin but the way she lost to Pooja Sahasabuddhe, without even putting up a
semblance of fight surprised everyone. But one cannot take away the credit from
Pooja as she had a nice rhythm going her way. However hard Manka tried, she
could not make a match of it.
Double for Manav
Manav Thakkar, who won the Junior Boys title yesterday, beat
West Bengal ’s Arjun Ghosh 4-1 in the Youth
Boys final to complete a double. The PSPB
Academy
Archana Kamath, who could not defend the Junior title, made
amends to regain the Youth Girls title beating her AAI colleague Sreeja Akula
4-1. Archana had won the Youth title at Agra
in the same event two seasons ago. “I was a bit upset when I could not
progress in the junior event. I was feeling the pressure. But I am happy I
could hit it off in the Youth final. I had a nice flow and getting my strokes
right,” said Archana.
Results:
Men’s Singles: Final: A. Amalraj (PSPB) bt Sanil Shetty
(PSPB) 4-1 (5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 13-11, 11-2);Semifinals: A. Amalraj bt G.
Sathiyan (PSPB) 4-3 (12-10, 9 -11, 3-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6), Sanil Shetty
bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 4-2 (11-6, 13-11, 5-11, 13-11, 5-11, 15-13); Quarterfinals:
Amalraj bt Subhajit Saha (PSPB) 11-7, 12-10, 11-8, 11-8), Sathiyan bt Utkarsh Gupta
(Del) 4-2 (11-8, 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 10-12, 11-6), Sanil Shetty bt Sudhanshu
Grover (PSPB) 4-2 (11-2, 10-12, 11-4, 12-114, 11-8, 11-7), Harmeet Desai bt
Jubin Kumar (Har) 4-1 (10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7).
Women’s Singles: Final: Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) bt
Pooja Sahasrabuddhe (PSPB) 4-2 (12-10, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9, 13-15, 11-8); Semifinals:
Pooja Sahasrabuddhe bt Manika Batra (PSPB) 4-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-4),
Madhurika Patkar bt Shruti Amrute (Mah-B) 4-2 (14-12, 11-8, 4-11, 11-4, 9-11,
11-5);Quarterfinals: Manika Batra bt Frenz Chipia (AAI) 4-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-7,
11-4), Pooja Sahasrabuddhe bt K. Shamini (PSPB) 4-3 (11-8, 8-11, 4-11, 8-11,
15-13m 11-8, 11-6), Madhurika Patkar bt Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) 4-2 (14-12,
11-8, 4-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5), Shruti Amrute bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 4-1
(11-3, 11-7, 11-9, 9-11, 11-2).
Youth Boys: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) bt Arjun Ghosh
(WB) 4-1 (11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7);Semifinals: Arjun Ghosh bt Ronit Bhanja
(AAI) 4-1 (8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8), Manav Thakkar bt Utkarsh Gupta (Del)
4-3 (11-8, 4-11, 10-12, 11-4, 4-11, 13-11, 11-9); Quarterfinals: Ronit
Bhanja bt Jeet Chandra (WB) 4-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-4, 11-6), Arjun Ghosh bt Birdie
Boro (PSPB) 4-3 (11-5, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 10-12, 11-7), Utkarsh Gupa bt
Lalrin Puia (Miz) 4-3 (5-11, 11-4, 11-6, 2-11, 11-6, 4-11, 12-10), Manav
Thakkar bt Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) 4-2 (11-9, 9-11, 4-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7).
Youth Girls: Final: Archana G. Kamath (AAI) bt Sreeja
Akula (AAI) 4-1 (11-8, 11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-1);Semifinals: Archana Kamath bt
Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI) 4-2 (11-5, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-6), Sreeja Akula
(AAI) bt Manushree Patil (Mah-A) 4-1 (8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5); Quarterfinals:
Ayhika Mukherjee bt Priyanka Pareek (Raj) 4-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-7, 11-3), Archana
Kamath bt Priyadarshini Das (WB) 4-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7), Manushree Patil bt
Tanishi Kirtani (Goa) 4-0 (11-8, 11-7, 12-10, 11-3), Sreeja Akula bt S.
Seleenadeepthi (AAI) 4-1 (5-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8).
Pic captions:
1. Women's singles champion Madhurika Patkar (third from
left) along with other medallists
2.Men's champion Anthony Amalraj (second from left) along
with other medallists.
Photo and news: TTFI
North Zone TT: Manav defends his Junior title; Reeth upsets Mouma
The PSPB Academy boy, running into an early form, disposed off
his West Bengal rival 4-1. No doubt, he
was missing his usual rhythm in the first game as he was stretched a bit by
Jeet. He, however, soon settled down to play a fast game. Jeet, too, was up to
it and managed to take a game off Manav in between before the Baroda boy shut him out with a crispy
forehand, allowing him just two points. The win was worth Rs. 16,500 while Jeet
received Rs. 8,200 for his effort.
Manav later admitted that he was a bit rusty but was
confident of winning. “I made a few mistakes which led to the deuces twice. But
I hit my rhythm nicely and was not worried when Jeet took the third game,” he
said.
If the top women’s seed Manika Batra survived a scare from Maharashtra ’s Senhora D’Souza to win her pre-quarterfinal
game 4-2, second seeded Mouma Das got it all wrong against Reeth Rishya to go
3-4 down. Both Manika and Mouma had returned from Japan Open just a week ago
but it was a different ball game at the first outing of the season for both.
In fact, Mouma who has had a bad game today, just followed
the other seeds from PSPB—No. 6 Ankita Das, No. 7 Krittwika Sinha Roy and No. 8
Divya Deshpande—that failed to progress earlier in the day as they went down to
qualifiers in the second round of the main draw. However, all the top-eight men
seeds moved into the pre-quarterfinals.
Manika was reeling under enormous pressure as she had to
keep her reputation intact. Senhora, on the other hand, had nothing to lose and
played brilliantly to push the reigning national champion on the back foot.
After taking 1-0 lead, Senhora had everything going for her as she went up 9-4
in the second as well as the third. But she let Manika off the hook as the
Olympic-bound Delhi
girl came back to win both from that position. That’s actually where Senhora
was lost the plot even though the Maharashtra
girl managed to win the fourth game. But then Manika had entrenched well after
the great escape to sew it up quickly.
Mouma, bringing all her experience to the table, led 3-2.
But Reeth, who has had this ability to come out of trouble—she did it in the
South Zone event last year at Chennai—changed course to take the next two to
seal the fate of the Rio-bound Mouma.
Former national champion Paulomi Ghatak, despite putting up
a brave front, lost to Madhurika Patkar 3-4 and Paulomi’s husband, also a
former national champion, too bit the dust in the second round of the main
draw, losing to LIC’s Sougata Sarkar 1-4.
Both the men and women quarterfinals are slated for later
tonight and they will play their last two rounds, including the finals on the
concluding day tomorrow.
It was an easy semifinal outing for Manav Thakkar while Jeet
Chandra had to dust off his rust before overcoming junior national champion Manush
Shah to win 4-2.
Results:
Junior Boys: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Jeet
Chandra (WB) 4-1 (13-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3, 11-2);Semifinals: Manav Thakkar
bt Sarthak Seth (UP) 4-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-6, 11-2), Jeet Chandra bt Manush
Shah (Guj) 4-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-5, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7); Quarterfinals: Manav
Thakkar bt Aniruddh Marathe (Mah-A) 4-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-5, 11-7), Sarthak Seth
bt Ishant Hingorank (Guj) 4-1 (11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-8), Manush Shah bt
Yashansh Malik (Del) 4-2 (11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 5-11, 11-6, 11-5), Jeet Chandra bt
Shivaji Roy (JKD) 4-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7).
Women’s Singles: PQF: Manika Batra bt Senhora D’Souza
4-2 (9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-3), Chipia Frenaz (AAI) bt M.V. Spoorthy
(Kar) 4-2 (11-7, 11-3, 11-6, 8-11, 5-11, 11-2), K. Shamini bt Ayhika Mukherjee
(AAI) 4-0 (11-7, 14-12, 11-3, 11-5), Pooja Sahasrabuddhe bt Pallabi Kundu
(RSPB) 4-2 (9-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-3), Madhurika Patkar bt Mousumi
Paul (WB) 4-0 (12-10, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8), Suthirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Garima
Goyal (Del) 4-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-2, 11-6), Shruti Amrute (Mah-B) bt Nikhat Banu
(Tel_ 4-1 (11-9, 11-8, 10-12, 11-7, 12-10), Reeth Rishya bt Mouma Das 4-3
(11-4, 9-11, 11-5, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7).
Men’s Singles: 2nd Round: A. Amalraj bt Pankaj
Kumar (RSPB) 4-2 (8-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-4), Sourav Saha (WB) bt S.
Snehit (Tel) 4-1 (11-3, 6-11, 11-2, 11-7, 11-6), Sougata Sarkar (LIC) bt
Soumyadeep Roy 4-1 (11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8), Subhajit Saha bt Sushmit
Sriram (AAI) 4-1 (11-6, 11-7, 11-9, 11-13, 11-7), Abhishek Yadav bt Mohit Verma
(Har) 4-1 (15-13, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4), Utkarsh Gupta (Del) bt Subham Ojah
(Raj) 4-2 (11-7, 11-9, 11-9, 6-11, 7-11, 11-6), Ravindra Kotiyan (RSPB) bt
Lalrin Puia (Miz) 4-1 (11-5, 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4), G. Sathiyan bt Ronit
Bhanja (AAI) 4-0 (15-13, 19-17, 11-5, 11-8), Sudhanshu Grover bt Vighyey Reddy (RBI)
4-2 (6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-9), Subash Mani (IA&AD) bt Arjun
Ghosh (WB) 4-1 (11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 14-12, 11-5), Anirban Nandi (RSPB) bt Sameet
Sahni (Del) 4-0 (11-4, 13-11, 11-2, 11-5), Sanil Shetty bt Aman Balgu (Tel) 4-0
(11-9, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9), Jubin Kumar (Har) bt Piyush Prasad (Del) 4-1 (11-7,
11-8, 8-11, 13-11, 11-8), Siddhesh Pande (Mah) bt Birde Boro (PSPB) 4-2 (12-10,
8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8), Manav Thakkar (PSPPB) bt Kironjoy Kushilal (WB)
4-0 (11-2, 13-11, 11-8, 11-6), Harmeet Desai bt Raj Mondal (RBI) 4-2 (11-9,
8-11, 13-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-7).
TTFI Press release
Priyanka is junior girls champion in North Zone TT
Winner Priyanka Pareek (right) posing with runner-up Prapti Sen (WB)
Chandigarh, June 28, 2016: Priyanka Pareek of Rajasthan held her
nerves in the closing stages of the Junior Girls final, fortunately converted
her sixth match-point to beat West Bengal’s Prapti Sen 4-3 and lift the golden
trophy in the 11Even Sports National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis
Championships at the Panjab University Gymnasium Indoor Hall here today.
It was fifth-seeded Priyanka’s maiden title and it had come
after some toil and sweat as the unseeded Prapti not only matched her opponent
stroke for stroke, but even threatened to take home the winner’s purse of Rs.
13,200 before she was stopped on her tracks. It’s another matter that she had
to settle for the runner-up prize, half of what Priyanka got.
At 5-1, Priyanka was a runaway hit with the spectators but
Prapti closed in on at 6-3. Yet, Priyanka continued with his excellent
backhands, including those wonderful edge-of-the-table placements. But the
little girl from Kolkata was adept at anything that Priyanka sent as she
narrowed down her rival’s lead to nil when she deuced at 10-10, saving five
match points.
But luckily for Priyanka, she got those two vital points
with a good forehand and when Prati failed to put the ball across, it was all
over bar the shouting for the West Bengal
girl.
Prapti had to labour a lot against the tough Abhinaya Ramesh
of Tamil Nadu before overcoming her 4-3 in what turned out to be a very good
match this evening. However, it was a contrasting semifinal between Priyanka
Pareek and Seleenadeepthi Selvakuar of Tamil Nadu which the former won 4-0 and
in double quick time.
Prapti, who has a few zonal titles in Cadet section, was a
picture of concentration against the rampaging Abhinaya, particularly when she
was down 1-2. But them she pulled her socks to go 3-2 up with the Tamil Nadu
girl failing to come to terms. Having broken her rhythm, the West
Bengal girl was playing fast and furious, pushing Abhinaya to the
brink. So much so, she just allowed her opponent four and three points each in
the fourth and fifth games. But then, Abhinaya was never the one to let things
go off her hands as she showed gumption to give the taste of Prapti’s own
medicine and stopped her at just three points.
With everything to play for in the decider, both players
kept a tight leash on their defence and were careful not to commit hara-kiri.
The trend continued well for quite some time with the two going neck and neck.
Yet, Prapti had a couple of lead at 7-5 but Abhinaya staged her recovery with
scorching forehands to close in on at 9-10. Squandering a match-point Prapti
allowed Abhinaya to deuce but she earned the subsequent two points to pull the
shutters on Abhinaya. Of course, it was disappointing for the Tamil Nadu girl,
but it was a game which anybody could have won.
The left-handed Priyanka, on the other hand, did not have to
sweat out much against another Tamil Nadu girl, Seleenadeepthi, who had
finished runner-up in the Junior Nationals last year at Dharamsala. But Seleena
can take heart from the fact that she could avenge her title loss at
Dharamasala to Kaushani Nath when she sent the West Bengal
girl packing in the quarterfinals earlier in the day.
Coming back to Priyanka’s semifinal game, she was too good
against the Tamil Nadu girl. After taking the first game at 11-8, she launched
her attack on Seleena systematically to demolish her. Seleena, without a clue,
did fight her way but it was too little to outwit the Rajasthan girl. The
The Junior Boys will play three rounds tomorrow, including
the final tomorrow.
As for the men and women’s main draw, it gets started from
tomorrow with the Olympics-bound top-seed Manika Batra and second-seeded Mouma
slated to begin their campaign in the North Zone in the afternoon.
Results:
Junior Girls: Final: Priyanka Pareek (Raj) bt Prapti
Sen (WB) 4-3 (11-8, 11-13, 11-6, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 12-10); Semifinals:
Priyanka Pareek (Raj) bt Seleenadeepthi Selvakumar (TN) 4-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-7,
11-9), Prapti Sen (WB) bt R. Abhinaya (TN) 4-3 (8-11, 11-3, 11-13, 11-4, 11-3,
3-11, 12-10); Quarterfinals: Seleenadeepthi Selvakumar (TN) bt Kaushani
Nath (WB) 4-0 (13-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9), Priyanka Pareek (Raj) Surabhi Patwari
(WB) 4-0 (12-10, 15-13, 11-5, 11-5), R. Abhinaya (TN) bt Anusha
Kutumble (MP) 4-2 (12-10, 5-11, 11-8, 11-2, 6-11, 11-9), Prapti Sen (WB) bt
Varuni Jaiswal (Tel) 4-0 (13-11, 11-6, 11-1, 11-6).
Photo and news: TTFI
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