Payas Jain takes second place in ITTF U-17 world rankings
New Delhi, April 15: Indian paddler Payas Jain is sitting pretty at the second spot in the newly-introduced ITTF U-17 world rankings. According to the latest ITTF rankings, released on Tuesday, Payas is 268 ranking points behind the table-topper Yuanyu Chen from China, at 2612, and way ahead of the third-placed Puerto Rican, Angel Naranjo (2229). Before Payas, Manav Thakkar had become World No. 2 in the under-18 section in 2018. The international federation has brought in this new ranking to plug the gap of four years between Cadets (under-15) and Youth (under-19) and help the in-between players a chance to monitor their gradual progress. The ITTF has, thus, increased the age to 19 for the junior paddlers. (PTI)
KSLTA cancels all April-May Tennis Tournaments
Bengaluru, April 14: Owing to the rising number of Covid cases in Karnataka, the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association ( KSLTA) has decided to suspend all tennis tournaments across the state starting April 17 until May 31. “At KSLTA, the safety of the players is of utmost importance. We do not want to take a risk with the health of our players and hence we thought it was better to cancel the existing events and postpone all the tournaments to be held by the KSLTA and all the other tournaments held under the aegis of AITA & KSLTA,” Sunil Yajaman, Hon. Secretary, KSLTA said, adding “however, training and practice will be held while following the guidelines from the MHA.” KSLTA was one of the first associations in the country to reintroduce competitive tournaments after the first strike of Covid in January. (UNI)
Gangjee’s Japan Golf Tour off to a disappointing start
Nagoya, April 15: Indian golfer Rahil Gangjee opened with a below-par 5-over 77 to make a disappointing start to his campaign at the season-opener Token Homemate Cup on the Japan Golf Tour here on Thursday.Gangjee, who was playing on his domestic Tour in India till last month, had to spend two weeks in quarantine before joining the Tour here, which got off to a start this week at the Token Tado Country Club. Leading the field after the first round was Ryosuke Kinoshita, who shot a bogey free 6-under 65. He led by one shot over Mikiya Akutsu, Tomohiro Ishizaka and Shintaro Kobayishi, who all carded 66 each. Young Japanese star Takumi Kanaya shot 4-under 67 and was among four players at tied-fifth. Starting on the tenth tee, Gangjee ran into trouble early on with a bogey on 11th and a triple bogey eight on Par-5 12th. At 4-over through three holes, he was fighting all the way after that. He birdied 15th, bogeyed 18th, then birdied third and dropped another shot on seventh. Gangjee struggled with his driving and found only five fairways. The event which is being held without spectators and with strict COVID-19 regulations also cancelled the popular Pro-Am before the tournament. (PTI)
