Indian sports wrap, December 1: Asian women’s handball championship in Delhi between December 3-10

Indian sports wrap, December 1: Asian women’s handball championship in Delhi between December 3-10

Two penalty corner conversions by Gurjinder Singh paved the way for a 4-2 victory for Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) against Punjab National Bank (PNB) in a quarterfinal league match of the SNBP 60th Nehru hockey tournament at the Shivaji Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

The 20th Asian women’s handball championship will be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi from December 3 to 10.

India has been grouped with former champion Japan, Hong Kong and Iran. The other group will have two-time Olympic champion and 16-time Asian champion Korea, two-time champion Kazakhstan, China and Singapore. Two teams, Australia and Uzbekistan, withdrew from the tournament which was originally scheduled to be held in Almaty.

The top two teams from each of the two groups will make the semifinals after the league phase. The top four teams from the championship will qualify for the 27th World Handball championship to be held in the Netherlands and Germany from November 27 to December 14 next year.

Four matches are scheduled every day during the league phase, from noon. India will be playing all its matches at 6 p.m. on December 3, 4 and 6. There will be a rest day before the third set of league matches. There will also be a rest day before the semifinals, and another day of rest before the final.

India had placed sixth in the last edition, when it won three matches. The progress of the Indian women’s team could be gauged from the fact that the team had finished fourth in the Asian Youth championship in 2022.

While the Koreans would be a delight to watch with their explosive game, there will be ample interest during India’s games given how the side has improved in the fast-paced, highly entertaining game that sees many spectacular, acrobatic attempts to score goals.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Rajasthan boys and Karnataka girls recorded three wins in a row in their respective groups and moved into the quarterfinals of the National youth basketball championships in Kolkata on Sunday.

Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Haryana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh in the boys’ section and Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Punjab among girls also entered the quarterfinals.

-Y. B. Sarangi

Dhruvpal Godara scored five goals and Shamsheer Ali came up with the golden goal in the ‘sudden death’ chukker, to help Mayfair Polo to a 7-6 victory over Delta Polo in the final of the Col. Girdhari Singh Cup polo tournament at the Jaipur Polo ground in New Delhi on Sunday.

Mare Juliet, ridden by Dhruvpal was adjudged the ‘best polo pony’, and Shamsheer Ali was declared the “most valuable player’.

Lt. Gen. Preet Mohindera Singh presented the trophy.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Arnav Paparkar and Aoi Watanabe of Japan have been seeded No. 1 in the boys and girls sections of the ITF junior tennis tournament being staged at the Deccan Gymkhana from Monday.

Rishitha Basireddy, seeded second in the girls section, will be looking to sustain her good run, after having won the singles titles over the fortnight in Guwahati and Delhi.

Laxmisiri Dandu strengthens the Indian challenge after having skipped the last tournament to compete in the PSPB tournament in Pune at the same venue. Harithashree Venkatesh is the only other Indian among the seeds in the girls section.

In the boys section, the champion of the last tournament in Delhi, Arjun Rathi has been given a special spot, and will open against qualifier Nikita NIkolenko of Kazakhstan.

Aarjun Pandit and Sehaj Singh Pawar are the other seeded players from India, apart from Arnav.

Tavish Pahwa and Sriniketh Kannan qualified for the main draw, along with Nikita Nikolenko and Venkat Rishi Batlanki of USA.

In the girls section, Harsha Karthika Oruganti, Aakruti Sonkusare, Anvi Punaganti and Sai Janvi qualified for the main draw.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

TVS Racing’s Ikshan Shanbhag won the premier class, the SX1, in the MRF Mogrip FMSCI National Supercross Championship’s final round at Eloor on Saturday night.

But KTM Motorsports’ Shlok Ghorpade, who finished second in the event, emerged as the overall champion with 201 points from the National championship’s six rounds while Ikshan (198 points) finished second.