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TENNIS
George Loffhagen defeats Ellis Blake to grab the singles title in the ITF Mysuru Open 2023
George Loffhagen emerged the singles champion in the ITF Mysuru Open 2023, outfighting Australia’s Ellis Blake 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) at the Mysore Tennis Club on Sunday.
As the scoreline suggested the match offered several twists and turns before the unseeded Briton prevailed over the eighth seeded Aussie in 2 hours and 49 minutes.
“It was a really good tournament and I enjoyed playing here a lot. The final was a tough match and I was able to stay in the match after losing that first set. It has been a bit tiring but good to have been able to win the title,” said Loffhagen after the match.
“Congrats to the players for producing a wonderful match. A big thanks to the spectators also, because they lift the energy levels of the players and I also thank all the sponsors. We have already conducted an ATP tournament and a couple of other ITF tournaments in Bangalore and we are hoping to stage more events so that new talents come up from Karnataka,” said Mr Maheshwara Rao, Secretary of KSLTA
Glancing back at the match, Blake started the proceedings in a clinical fashion bagging the first set 6-4. But Loffhagen struck back strongly in the second set and a double break of serve enabled the British player, a world No 702, to level at 1-set all.
Both Loffhagen and Blake went neck-to-neck in the decider before the latter effected a break in the 9th game to go 5-4 up. Blake stood within breathing space of wrapping the match up when he served for the match at 5-4 but Loffhagen showed his fighting spirit at this juncture to break back to make the scoreline 5-5.
The opportunity that slipped away seemed to have affected the concentration of Blake as he could not focus on critical points in the tie-break. Loffhagen closed out the set and match with ease as he upped the level of his serves too.
-Team Sportstar
ITF Women’s Tennis: Ankita Raina loses in final
Fourth seed Ankita Raina was unable to capitalise on a strong start and was beaten 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 by Zhuoxuan Bai of China in the final of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sunday.
The 30-year-old Ankita has had a fine run in the first quarter of the season, making two finals apart from a semifinal, in eight tournaments. She had made the final of the $40,000 event in Bengaluru, and the semifinal of a similar event earlier in Pune.
RESULT
$25,000 ITF women, Jakarta, Indonesia
Singles (final): Zhuoxuan Bai (Chn) bt Ankit aRaina 3-6, 6-0, 6-2.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
ITF Chennai Open: Wildcard Dhananjay upsets Jaisinghani in first round of qualifying
Abhinav Sanjeev and Fardeen Quamar, top seeds in the qualifying draw, had to fight before winning in three sets to reach the second round of qualifying of the BR Adityan Memorial ITF M15 tournament on Sunday.
Home boy Dhananjay Athreya, who was given a wildcard into the Qualifying Draw, beat fifth-seeded Raghav Jaisinghani in his first ITF tournament.
Results (Qualifying First Round)
[1] Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam bt Lakshya Gupta 5-7, 6-2, 10-7; [10] Yash Chaurasia bt Gourav Gulia 6-2, 6-4; [2] Fardeen Quamar bt [WC] Keerthivassan Suresh 6-2, 3-6, 10-7; [13] Suraj R Prabodh bt Udit Kamboj 6-3, 6-0; [3] Bharath Nishok Kumaran bt Parth Aggarwal 7-5, 6-1; [WC] Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar bt [16] Guhan Rajan 6-2, 6-4; [4] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan bt Tushar Madan 6-0, 6-2; [14] Lohithaksha Bathrinath bt [WC] Krishna Teja Raja 6-1, 6-1; [WC] Dhananjay Athreya bt [5] Raghav Jaisinghani 2-6, 6-3, 10-7; [12] Jagmeet Singh bt [WC] Ajay S Kannan 6-4, 6-1; [WC] Kabir Hans bt Maanav Jain 6-1, 6-1; Chandril Sood bt [11] Shivank Bhatnagar 7-6(6), 4-6, 11-9; [7] Ajay Malik bt Dheeraj Kodancha Srinivasan 6-3, 7-6(3); [15] Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta bt Ying-Ze Chen (TPE) 6-1, 7-5; [8] Lakshit Sood bt Theertha Shashank Macherla 3-6, 6-1, 10-6; [9] Rushil Khosla bt Dhruv Hirpara 7-5, 3-0 retd.
-Team Sportstar
CARROM
Federation Cup: Sandeep Dive & Rashmi Kumari win title
Sandeep Dive and Rashmi Kumari won the men’s and women’s titles in the 27th Federation Cup carrom championship hosted by the Jeevandeep Institute in Varanasi recently.
While Sandeep beat Mohd. Ghufran 20-14, 15-11, Rashmi had to fight it out 19-15, 12-24, 24-18 against Khusbhoo Rani in the women’s final.
RESULT
Men (final): Sandeep Dive bt Mohd. Ghufran 20-14, 15-11; Semifinals: Sandeep Dive bt K Srinivas 25-15, 5-11; Mohd. ghufran bt Irshad Ahamed 23-19, 9-25, 15-14.
Doubles (final): K Srinivas & Mohd. Ghufran bt Prashant More & Zaheer Pasha 19-25, 26-10, 19-14.
Women (final): Rashmi Kumari bt Khushboo Rani 19-15, 12-24, 24-18; Semifinals: Rashmi bt V Pooja 22-15, 25-13; Khushboo bt S Ilavazhaki 22-18, 25-3.
Doubles (final): Kajal Kumari & V Mithra bt Rashmi Kumari & S Ilavazhaki 19-16, 25-16.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
SHOOTING
Shotgun World Cup: Keer, Sheoran placed on 13th
Manisha Keer and Lakshay Sheoran shot a combined total of 132 that placed the team 13th in the mixed trap in the shotgun World Cup in Larnaca, Cyprus, on Sunday.
The pair was seven points away from getting a chance to fight for a medal.
The other Indian team of Sabeera Haris and Bhaktyaruddin Malek shot 122 and placed 20th among 23 teams.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
CHESS
FIDE Women’s Grand Prix: First win for Harika
D. Harika crushed Georgia’s Nino Batsiashvili in 47 moves for her first victory in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix chess tournament here on Sunday.
On a day when K. Humpy (3) enjoyed a bye, R. Vaishali (1.5) lost to Polina Shuvalova.
China’s Zhu Jiner overcame some anxious moments before holding front-runner Bibisara Assaubayeva.
In the last game to finish, Kateryna Lagno reached a completely winning position against Aleksandra Goryachkina but chose to take a draw by perpetual checks since she was in danger of losing on time.
RESULT (Indians unless stated):
Eighth round: D. Harika (3) bt Nino Batsiashvili (Geo, 1.5); Polina Shuvalova (FIDE, 3.5) bt R. Vaishali (1.5); Zhu Jiner (Chn, 4.5) drew with Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz, 5); Kateryna Lagno (FIDE, 4) drew with Aleksandra Goryachkina (FIDE, 4); K. Humpy (3), Nana Dzagnidze (Geo, 2) bye.
-Rakesh Rao
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