Bengal women’s team enters UTT Senior Nationals quarters
Panchkula, Dec 17: West Bengal women entered the UTT Senior Nationals and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships quarterfinals defeating Haryana 3-1 despite a fighting performance from Suhana Saini here on Sunday. Playing the reverse singles in the women’s team event, Suhana, the U-19 paddler, fought hard in the crucial fourth rubber against Prapti Sen, before going down 2-3 to the Bengal player at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here. Following the loss, the hosts’ hopes faded away, and Haryana ended on the losing side. Haryana men went down to the Airport Authority of India 0-3. SFR Snehit beat Wesley Do Rosario 3-0, Jeet Chandra dropped two games before overcoming left-handed Jubin Kumar 3-2, and Deepit R. Patil defeated Rishab Mayank 3-1. RBI women beat Rajasthan (TTFI-1), Karnataka defeated Telangana, Maharashtra accounted for Madhya Pradesh, RSPB downed Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu thrashed Andhra Pradesh. Delhi and Gujarat defeated Chandigarh and Kerala respectively 3-1. In the men’s team event, PSPB, UP, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Telangana joined AAI in the quarterfinals. (PTI)
Erigaisi posts 1st win in Chennai GM chess championship
Chennai, Dec 17: Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi outwitted Serbia’s Alexandr Predke in the third round of the Chennai Grand Masters Chess Championship here on Sunday to secure his maiden win in the tournament. It was the only decisive result in the third round with the other three games ending in draws. Teenaged Grandmaster and local star D Gukesh held Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo in 30 moves with black pieces for his third straight draw. He has 1.5 points and is placed fifth in the standings. Erigaisi edged Predke in a 71-move game with white pieces to move up to 1.5 points after having started with a loss to experienced compatriot P Harikrishna. Harikrishna and Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine) settled for a draw after 34 moves. Harkrishna and Hungary’s Sanan Sjugirov are at the top of the standings with 2 points apiece. Gukesh and Erigaisi are competing for a spot in next year’s Candidates tournament and a good performance here will boost their prospects. (PTI)
Sourav Kothari clinches maiden Senior National Snooker title
Chennai, Dec 17: Sourav Kothari of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) won his maiden Senior National 15-Red snooker title, beating Paras Gupta of Uttar Pradesh 6-2 in the final here on Sunday. Kothari beat Md Hussain Khan (RSPB) 5-0 in the semifinals and prevailed over Gupta 58-46, 72-34, 0-64, 59-25, 61-54, 21-57, 64-8, 64-25 in the final. He had defeated his PSPB colleague Advani in the round-of-32. Kothari is a former national billiards champion, and last month finished runner-up to Advani in the IBSF world billiards final in Doha. (PTI)
Club World Cup dates in the
United States confirmed
JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia), Dec 17: The first edition of the expanded FIFA Club World Cup in the United States will be staged from June 15 to July 13, 2025, world football’s governing body said on Sunday. FIFA said the 32-team tournament, which will officially be called Mundial de Clubes, would be “harmoniously aligned with the International Match Calendar” to ensure there would be enough of a gap between the final and the start of domestic leagues. “Clubs play a fundamental role in world football, and the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will be a major milestone in providing clubs from all confederations with a fitting stage on which to shine at the highest level of the game,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said. “This will be an open competition based on sporting merit that will play a key role as part of our efforts to make football truly global.” (AP)
Davis Cup: Ramkumar to lead
Indian challenge against Pak
New Delhi, Dec 17: Ramkumar Ramanathan was on Sunday named in a five-member squad for the grass court challenge against Pakistan – a clear sign that an Indian Davis Cup side is preparing to play on Pakistan soil for the first time in 60 years even as AITA awaits ITF tribunal’s decision on its appeal against travel to neighbouring nation on security concerns. India last travelled to Pakistan way back in 1964 when they beat the hosts 4-0. India have never lost to Pakistan in the Davis Cup competition in eight ties against each other. Ramkumar, whose serve and volley game style suits the grass surface, will lead the squad that includes N Sriram Balaji, Yuki Bhambri, Niki Poonacha and Saketh Myneni as All India Tennis Association (AITA) on Sunday named the team for the February 3-4 World Group I play-off tie. (PTI)
India should think of hosting a few matches of 2034 WC: AIFF prez
New Delhi, Dec 17: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is mulling a plan to host a few matches of the 2034 FIFA World Cup, set to be held in Saudi Arabia, according to an internal circular of the national sports body. Last month, FIFA, the world governing body of football, had confirmed following the October 31 deadline that Saudi Arabia was the sole bidder for the 2034 World Cup. An Emergency Congress of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held on October 18 had supported Saudi Arabia’s bid. India had also supported the move. It is learnt that AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey told the executive committee members that India should think of hosting a few matches of the 2034 World Cup. The 48-team 2034 World Cup will have 104 matches and the idea could be that a few of them – around 10 matches – could be held in India. “The president informed the house that India should think or plan to work towards being a co-host for the World Cup in 2034,” the draft minutes of the AIFF Executive Committee held on November 9 said. The FIFA had restricted the hosting eligibility of the 2034 World Cup to Asia or Oceania after it made the decision to host the 2030 edition on three continents (Africa, Europe and South America). (PTI)