Indian sports wrap, January 27: Vaidehi, Ankita lose in first round at ITF tournament in Pune

Indian sports wrap, January 27: Vaidehi, Ankita lose in first round at ITF tournament in Pune

Seventh seed Elena Pridankina overcame stiff resistance from Ankita Raina for a 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-3 victory in the first round of the NECC $60,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Deccan Gymkhana on Monday.

In another first round match, the champion of the Delhi event, Tatiana Prozorova tamed Vaidehi Chaudhari for the loss of six games.

The qualifying event was also a hard nut to crack for the Indian players, as Zeel Desai, the only Indian to progress into the second round, was beaten by fourth seed Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan for the loss of three games.

Three other Indian players in the main draw, Sahaja Yamalapalli, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Vaishnavi Adkar, will play qualifiers Naho Sato of Japan, Alana Smith of USA and Daria Kudashova respectively.

-Team Sportstar

Host Ladakh topped the Khelo India Winter Games after securing two gold medals on the final day, swelling its tally to four, as the first phase of the tournament concluded on Monday.

Thirteen gold medals were at stake in the first phase. The second and final phase will be held in Jammu & Kashmir’s Gulmarg from February 22 to 25.

In men’s ice hockey final, Indian Army squeezed past ITBP 2-1 to retain the crown.

Ladakh’s mixed relay quartet, comprising Stanzin Jampal, Skarma Tsultim, Mohammed Saquaf Raza and Padma Angmo, clocked 3:02.19 secs to strike gold.

Maharashtra (3:03.78 secs) and Telangana (3:04.85 secs) won silver and bronze, respectively.

Ladakh girls, meanwhile, romped past the fancied ITBP team 4-0 to finish on top. Himachal Pradesh won the bronze.

In the final skating event on Monday, Yashashree won Tamil Nadu’s third gold after clocking 00:58.00 seconds. Riya Vilas Gayakwad of Maharashtra (1:04.31 secs) and Srija S. Rao of Karnataka (1:04.93 secs) won silver and bronze, respectively.

Table topper Ladakh (7 medals, including four gold) was followed by Tamil Nadu (five medals including three gold). Maharashtra finished with the maximum number of medals (10) but only two golds meant it finished third.

-PTI

Karnataka swimmers shined at the second edition of the Den Den Sea Swimming Championship in Mangaluru on Monday.

The Karnataka swimmers secured 51 medals, including 17 gold, 18 silver, and 17 bronze.

The state’s dominant performance was evident as they swept the top honours across multiple categories in the open-water competition held at the pristine Mangalore Surf Club beach.

The competition, organized by Mangalore Surf Club, saw over 200 swimmers from nine states compete in five categories. Karnataka’s dominance was particularly evident in the 250m and 500m events, where they swept all 12 medals in both the men’s and women’s divisions.

In addition, they took home 19 medals across the 1.5 km category, 15 medals in the 3 km category, and 5 medals in the newly introduced 6 km category.

– Team Sportstar