Indian sports wrap, February 17: Ramkumar loses to Coppejans in final qualifying round of Maha Open 2025

Indian sports wrap, February 17: Ramkumar loses to Coppejans in final qualifying round of Maha Open 2025

Eighth seed Alexis Galarneau of Canada proved too strong for wildcard Karan Singh as he cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 victory in the first round of Pune Metropolitan $160,000 Maha Open Challenger tennis tournament at the Balewadi Stadium on Monday.

There was no further good tiding for the host, as Ramkumar Ramanathan went down in three sets to Kimmer Coppejans in the second and final qualifying round.

Ramkumar, who had beaten the top seed Elias Ymer of Sweden in the first round, did well to square the match by winning the tie-break in the second set. However, the wiry Koppejans established his fitness and strong game by blanking Ramkumar in the decider.

For making the second qualifying round, Ramkumar got two ATP points and $770. Karan did not win any ATP points but collected $1,670 for the first-round exit.

Manas Dhamne and Aryan Shah will compete in their first round matches on Tuesday evening.

Defending champion Valentin Vacherot of Monaco overcame a hard start to beat fourth seed Elmer Moller of Denmark in three sets.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Second seed Rutuparna Choudhary overcame a slow start to beat Bhumika Dahiya 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the women’s first round of the HPCL-Mittal Rs. 200,000 AITA ranking tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex in Chandigarh on Monday.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

The 2025 Bengaluru Open, celebrating 10 years since its inaugural edition in 2015, stands as India’s biggest international tennis event.

The event will be headlined by World No. 128 Vit Kopriva from the Czech Republic. Returning with an upgraded ATP Challenger 125 status, this event will feature nine top-200 players competing for $200,000 in prize money and 125 ATP ranking points for the singles champion.

Set to take place at the KSLTA Courts in Cubbon Park from February 24 to March 2, the tournament, now in its ninth edition, will feature a 32-player singles draw, comprising 20 direct entries, six qualifiers, two special exemptions, one Next Gen Accelerator, and three wild cards. With a cutoff at World No. 237, the competition promises high-quality tennis throughout the week.

Italy’s Stefano Napolitano won the title in 2024 after a hard-fought final against Sumit Nagal of India. The singles event has also produced two Indian winners in the past: Nagal (2017) and Prajnesh Gunneswaran (2018). The tournament was not held in 2016, 2019, and 2021. 

-Team Sportstar

Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences (IGIPESS) made the finals of both the men’s and women’s events at the 11th Shyam Lal hockey tournament in New Delhi on Monday.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Gujarat Stallions scored a thrilling 74-72 victory after leading 41-29 at half-time against Chennai Heat in the INBL Pro Basketball League at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Monday.

It was a revenge victory for the Gujarat team after its earlier loss to the Chennai team, which played better in the second half but just about missed bridging the gap.

Gujarat thus nosed ahead on the league table after all the six teams had remained tied at six points.

-Kamesh Srinivasan