Shanker, Prisha clinch Fenesta Open titles
NEW DELHI, Oct 14: Manipur’s Shanker Heisnam and Maharashtra’s Prisha Shinde won titles in their respective categories at the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship here on Saturday.The No. 16 seed Shanker displayed excellent baseline play and defeated seventh seed Thirumurugan V of Tamil Nadu 6-1, 6-2 to win the boys singles U-16 title.Prisha won the girls singles U-14 title, beating sixth seed Anandita Upadhyay 6-1, 6-2.Telangana’s Rishitha Basireddy won the girls singles U-16 title after getting the better of Delhi’s Aishi Bisht 6-4, 6-3 in an exciting encounter that saw some ferocious forehands from both the players. (PTI)
AFI introduces plastic javelins to help improve technique among kids
mumbai, Oct 14: If you see young Indian athletes making throws with a plastic javelin, don’t be surprised — they are training as per a new regimen introduced by the Athletics Federation of India which prohibits them from training with normal fibre equipment.As per its new training system for very young athletes, under the age of 14, the AFI has introduced a new plastic javelin that helps refine the players’ throwing technique while also developing their shoulder muscles, AFI president Adille Sumariwalla told IANS on Saturday.The AFI has also discontinued competitions for sub-junior and youth levels as it wants youngsters at that level to enjoy sports and not get into specialisation in the race for medals.(IANS)
Gaganjeet Bhullar set for another Top-10 finish in Macao Open
MACAU, Oct 14: Gaganjeet Bhullar, India’s most successful player on the Asian Tour, returned a card of five-under 66 to be tied 10th with five others at the end of round three at the SJM Macao Open here on Saturday.A former champion at this event, Bhullar, who has three top-5 finishes in the last four starts on the Tour, had a three-putt bogey on Par-5 12th, as he also holed six birdies to aggregate 11-under 202 at 71-hole course.Bhullar is, however, 11 shots behind Australian table-topper Min Woo Lee, who was on fire, adding 65 to 62-64 from his first two rounds to get to 22-under.Second-placed Poom Saksansin (64) of Thailand is 20-under, followed by Korea’s Jaewoong Eom (65) at 18-under.As for the other Indians, Honey Baisoya was also tied at tenth after a Round of 69, which followed 68-65 in the first couple of rounds.Ajeetesh Sandhu, who opened the week with 63, shot 70 in the second round and repeated that in the third to be T-16, while S Chikkarangappa (70-67-70) is 6-under and T-39th with Kartik Sharma, who after 66-65 dropped with 76 in the third round. (PTI)