Sahaja, Shrivalli to lead India challenge in BJK Cup play-offs
New Delhi, Sep 29: The AITA on Monday named a five-member squad, led by number one Sahaja Yamalapalli, for the Billie Jean King Cup Play-offs to be held in Bengaluru from November 14-16. Going by the rankings, the national selection panel picked Sahaja (347), Shrivalli Bhamidipaty (374), Ankita Raina (447), Riya Bhatia (499) and doubles specialist Prarthana Thombare (131). Vaidehi Chaudhari will be the reserve player. Zeel Desai and Shruti Ahlawat, who recently did well in the ITF events in Gurugram, have been invited to be part of the training camp. India have been placed in Group G with Slovenia and Netherlands. The winner of the Group will be promoted to the 2026 Qualifiers while the other two teams will compete in Group I next year. Vishal Uppal will be the captain of the side while Radhika Kanitkar will be the coach. (PTI)
Top seed Vaishnavi, Prajwal make winning starts in Fenesta Open
New Delhi, Sep 29: Top seed Vaishnavi Adkar made a confident start in the women’s singles while Debasis Sahoo knocked out fifth seed Parth Aggarwal on the opening day of the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship, here Monday. Putting up a dominating show, Maharashtra’s Vaishnavi registered a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 victory over Mirudhula Palanivel of Tamil Nadu. Second seed SD Prajwal Dev from Karnataka got the better of Delhi’s Sarthak Suden 6-2, 6-1 in his first round at the DLTA Complex. Odisha’s Debasis Sahoo made an upset in the men’s singles category as he beat fifth seed Parth Aggarwal 7-5, 6-0 in a thrilling clash. Meanwhile, Punjab’s Sahira Singh also won her first-round match in the women’s singles, defeating Sonicka Jadeesh 6-4, 6-0. Tamil Nadu’s Manish Sureshkumar also made a winning start in the tournament in the men’s singles, defeating Amrutjay Mohanty of Odisha 6-3, 6-1. (PTI)
Abhay loses to world No. 15 Dessouky in Qatar Classic squash
Doha, Sep 29: India’s Abhay Singh went down in a five-game thriller to Egyptian world number 15 Fares Dessouky in the round of 16 at the Qatar Classic squash, a USD 231,500 PSA Platinum event, here on Monday. World No. 35 Abhay, who stunned former world champion and current world number five Karim Gawad of Egypt in the previous round, took the lead twice against Dessouky before the Egyptian clawed back to win 11-13, 11-5, 9-11, 11-3, 11-3 in 66 minutes. Abhay, 27, a multiple Asian Games medallist, will next play in a PSA Bronze event in New York from October 5. (PTI)
Indian junior women’s hockey team beats Australia U-21 side 1-0
Canberra, Sep 29: Kanika Siwach struck the lone goal as the Indian junior women’s hockey team recorded a 1-0 victory over the Australia U-21 side in its third match of the ongoing tour here on Monday. Siwach scored the winning goal in the 32nd minute at the National Hockey Centre here. After a goal-less first half, India finally broke the deadlock courtesy of a fine field goal from Siwach in the opening minutes of the third quarter to claim the win. India had lost two games on the trot against the Australia U-21 side earlier, but with this win, the visitors will be hoping to ride on the newfound momentum in the remaining two matches of the tour. India will next play two matches against Canberra Chill, a club playing in Australia’s premier Hockey One League, on Tuesday and Thursday to conclude their Australia tour. (PTI)
10-year-old Atiqa produces stellar drive for podium finish in UAE
Al Ain, Sep 29: Young Indian racer Atiqa Mir tore through the field to secure a well deserved podium in the final of RMC Invitational karting event at Al Ain Raceway here. In qualifying, 10-year-old Atiqa was on course to finish on pole but had to settle for second place by just one tenth of a second due to traffic on her lap. Starting on the outside row is a disadvantage here and due to that, the Akcel GP driver ended the heats in fourth place and in the pre-final she got involved in an accident that pushed her back to eighth place. Starting from eighth on the grid for the final on Sunday, Atiqa put up a storming drive, passing five cars to finish third. The Dubai-based driver is the first Indian to be financially and technically supported by Formula 1, through its F1 Academy DYD program. Atiqa’s podium extended her stellar run of late, having finished fourth in a round of Champions of the Future Academy (COFTA) in Slovakia and on top of the podium in DAMC series earlier this month. (PTI)
Europe wins Ryder Cup, reasserts its dominance over Americans
Famingdale (US), Sep 29: Staked to the largest lead in history, Europe fully expected to win the Ryder Cup. The surprise was how much emotion poured out of the team on a final day that produced a furious American charge and, ultimately, another Irish hero. What looked to be only a matter of time before the European celebration was on turned into nervous glances at the scorecard as the unruly crowd at Bethpage Black finally had a U.S. team to cheer for instead of against. It went from looking impossible to improbable to just maybe. And then Shane Lowry, who endured so much abuse from a hostile and vulgar New York crowd, had the last word. He holed a 6-foot birdie putt against Russell Henley to earn the half-point Europe needed to make sure it kept that 17-inch gold chalice. He couldn’t contain himself, pumping his fists and spinning around the green and squeezing every teammate he could find. He recalled telling his caddie as they walked up the 18th fairway, “I have a chance to do the coolest thing in my life here.” “The Ryder Cup means everything to me,” Lowry said. Ditto for all of Europe. Even a closer call than imagined did not take away from a reminder who dominates these matches. Europe has won 11 times in the last 14 Ryder Cups, and this was its fifth time winning on U.S. soil in the last 10 tries. (AP)
