National TT: Sathiyan, Harmeet, Payas enter quarters
NEW DELHI, Sep 10: The pre-quarterfinals of the UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships saw most top-seeded players advance though not without a few hiccups.In the men’s singles, fourth seed Ronit Bhanja fell early, but the remaining big names, including Ankur Bhattacharjee, Harmeet Desai, G. Sathiyan, and Payas Jain booked their quarterfinal spots.SFR Snehit had to dig deep to oust Priyanuj Bhattacharyya 3-2, while Harmeet too survived a five-game match against Tharun Shanmugam.The women’s singles witnessed tighter battles. Top seed Diya Chitale was stretched to five games by Assam’s Trisha Gogoi before scraping through. Seeded players Yashaswini Ghorpade and Sutirtha Mukherjee also endured full-distance wins, while Vadodara champion Anusha Kutumbale crashed out to Reeth Rishya in another thriller.In the U-19 boys’ singles, only Bengal’s Oishik Ghosh faced a scare, coming from 0-2 down to beat Karnataka’s Atharva Nawaranage 3-2. Top seed P.B. Abhinand and other favourites – Kushal Chopda, Punit Biswas, and M. Balamurugan – progressed comfortably.The U-19 girls’ singles largely stuck to the script, with Divyanshi Bhowmick, Jennifer Varghese, Ananya Muralidharan, and M. Hansini cruising into the last eight. Maharashtra’s Naisha Rewaskar, however, edged out Sukrati Sharma 3-2 in one of the closer ties. (PTI)
Chotrani, Akanksha and Tanvi enter semi-finals
MUMBAI, Sep 10 : Veer Chotrani, Akanksha Salunkhe and Tanvi Khanna advanced to the semifinals of the HCL Squash Indian Tour 2, a PSA Challenger event, here on Wednesday.Men’s top seed Chotrani rallied to beat Egypt’s Seif Shenawy 9-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-3 in 36 minutes in the quarterfinals, and will meet Ming Hong Tang of Hong Kong in the last-four stage on Thursday.Women’s second seed Akanksha defeated Egyptian eighth seed Lojayn Gohary 11-5, 11-5, 12-10 in 29 minutes in the quarterfinals, and will lock horns with her sixth seed compatriot Tanvi for a place in the final.Tanvi, who was runner-up in the first leg in Jaipur in August, edged out French third seed Enora Villard 11-4, 11-9, 11-9 in 27 minutes.Meanwhile, seventh seed Suraj Kumar Chand went down to Shing Fung Lam in a five-game thriller contested over 51 minutes, his opponent from Hong Kong recovering twice to win 6-11, 11-5, 3-11, 11-6, 11-6. (PTI)
Two-time Grand Slam champion Hewitt suspended
LONDON, Sep 10: Two-time Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt has been suspended for two weeks for pushing an anti-doping official.The International Tennis Integrity Agency said Wednesday that the sanction will be in effect from Sept. 25 until Oct. 7, so as not to be “unduly punitive” on Hewitt by impacting his Davis Cup schedule.The incident occurred last November after Hewitt, Australia’s captain, pushed a 60-year-old volunteer anti-doping chaperone after his team’s semifinal loss to Italy.Hewitt denied the charge – which was brought after a review of video evidence, witness statements, and interviews – pleading self-defense. Hewitt will be unable to take part in all tennis-related activities during the suspension – including coaching, mentoring, playing, captaincy and other associated roles. Hewitt has the right to appeal. (PTI)