Upsets galore in junior girls section of East Zone Table Tennis

Durgapur, October 30, 2014: Top-seeded Anirban Ghosh from West Bengal and second seeded Manav Thakkar of PSPBA entered the quarterfinals of the National Ranking (East Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Sidhu Kanu Indoor Stadium, City Centre here today.

But third seed Sanishe Ambekar of Maharashtra was eliminated by Haryana’s Ayush Tayal, who was a qualifier. Tayal beat Ambedkar 3-2 (7-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-9). In Junior Girls, Delhi’s Harsha Kalra made ripples by upsetting topseed Payal Bohra of Maharashtra 3-2 (13-11, 16-14, 5-11, 6-11, 11-8) in a thrilling pre-quarterfinal encounter. Payal was the winner of Junior Girls crown at Gandhidham.

No. 2 Sereha Jacob of Kerala also made her exit losing to another qualifier Sreeja Akula of Telengana. Sereha lost 12-10, 10-12, 9-11, 4-11 and joining the procession was third seed Riti Shankar of Delhi. Riti, who entered the semifinals at the West Zone event, lost to Aishwarya Pathak of UP. The UP girl won 11-9, 5-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6. 

Anirban Ghosh defeated Balaganesh Arvind of Tamil Nadu in straight games while Thakkar downed Goutam Dhruvansh from UP 11-4, 4-11, 11-7, 11-9. Others who joined the quarters included Ravindra Kotiyan (Maharshtra), who beat PSPBA’s Lalhunhlua 12-10, 13-11, 11-5, to have a quarterfinal meeting against Lalrin Puia, another PSPBA boy.

Puia won a tough battle against West Bengal’s Jeet Chandra 3-2 (4-11, 12-10, 11-9, 7-11, 12-10. Chandra finished runner-up in the sub-junior section yesterday, losing to eventual winner Manav Thakkar.The top-half three saw Delhi’s Utkarsh Gupta, Maharashtra’s Siddesh Pande and West Bengal’s Abhimanyu Mitra making the quarterfinals grade.

Mitra will have a tough task against top-seed Anirban Ghosh while Pande, who beat Ali Mohammad of Telengana 3-0 will run into Gupta, who also had a similar score against Suresh Nikhil of Tamil Nadu, in the quarterfinals tomorrow.

Earlier in the day, both fifth and eighth seeded Anukram Jain and Birdie Boro, both representing PSPBA, bowed out in the first round of the main draw, losing to qualifiers Ali Mohammad of Telengana and Uttar Pradesh’s Sarthak Seth of UP.

It was a creditable performance on the part of the two qualifiers, particularly Sarthak Seth, who did well to reach the semifinals in the Cadet section yesterday. But what was surprising was the way both Jain and Boro lost, without much of a fight against their rivals.

Sarthak downed Boro, normally a steady player 11-9, 12-10, 11-3 while Ali Mohammad won 11-8, 11-7, 14-12 against Jain, who showed some kind of a late resistance in the third game.

In Junior Girls, sixth seeded Ashlesha Trehan of Maharashtra and Harsha Vardhini of AAI, seeded seventh, also exited after losing to qualifiers Naina Jaiswal of Telengana and Selenadeepthi Selvakumar of Tamil Nadu. Naina beat Ashlesha 16-14, 11-6, 11-2 and Selena won 11-9, 10-12, 13-11, 11-6, 11-2 in a tough battle to make it to the pre-quarterfinals.

Only the top four ranked players in Junior Girls received first found byes while in Junior Boys all 32 players, including the top eight, were engaged from first round of the main draw. Top two seeds in Junior Boys did not have to sweat it out much as Anirban Ghosh (WB), Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) made their pre-quarters entry while in the Junior Girls category, Maharashtra’s Payal Bohraand Seraha Jacob will start their campaign from last-16 stage.

In all 24 boys and 18 girls qualified for the main draw, having topped their respective groups. The qualification events in men, women and youth singles began this afternoon.

A TTFI Press release

Indian men hockey team leaves for Australia

New Delhi, October 29, 2014: Indian Men Hockey team is all geared up to play the test series against Australia from November 4 to 10 and departed for Australia tonight. The tour is also in preparations for the upcoming Hero Hockey Champions Trophy 2014, scheduled to be held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha from December 6 to 14.

The 21 member squad is full of confidence and fervour after their recent gold medal victory in the Asian Games 2014. The team will be seen engaging in four match test series at the Perth Hockey Stadium, Australia.  The team has been rigorously practicing at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, New Delhi in preparation for the test series.

Talking just before departure, Captain, Sardar Singh said, “Our team has worked hard for the last few weeks and we are looking forward to the Australian tour which will prove to be a big boost for the team to enhance our skills. Winning the gold medal in the recently concluded Asian Games has boosted the morale of the team and we are sure that we will get the best out of this learning experience. The aim is to win against them and I am confident we will overcome this challenge.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the Australian Tour, Goalkeeper, PR Sreejesh said, “We are aiming at good games with Australia, keeping in mind all the strategies and tactics that we have planned to implement during the games. We are committed to work hard as a single unit and utilise this opportunity as a good learning experience at Australia. We will put in our best efforts and improve our game in every aspect; personally my aim is to give a tough defense to the opponents”

HI Press release

Bihar Junior rugby football team announced

Bihar Junior rugby football team was announced in Patna on October 27, 2014. The team will take part in the National Junior Rugby Football Championships.
Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui 

Manav, Shrushti emerge junior champions

Durgapur, October 29, 2014: After his fine title wins at Central and West Zone events, Petroleum Sports Promotion Board’s Manav Thakkar followed them up with yet another title at the National Ranking (East Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Sidhu Kanu Indoor Stadium, City Centre here today.

Thakkar defeated West Bengal’s Jeet Chandra 4-2 in what was a bit one-sided affair. The sub-junior girls’ crown went to Srushti Haleangadi who missed by a whisker at Gandhidham two weeks ago. The Maharashtra girl defeated Tamil Nadu’s Selena Deepthi Selvakumar 4-0 to take home a sizeable winner’s purse.

In Cadet Boys, another PSPB boy H. Jeho Himnakulhpuingheta downed Delhi’s Yanshansh Malik 4-1 while Munmun Kundu, making amends here, defeated Vanshika Bhargava 4-1 to claimed the crown. The Delhi girl, who reached the final in the West Zone, yet again finished the bride’s maid.

As for the semifinals, the scripts in all sections reflected more or less what the previous three National Ranking Championships portrayed. The only difference this time was Sarthak Seth of UP entered the last-four stage while Anukram Jain of PSPB missed the bus in the sub-junior section. Manush Shah of Gujarat, a bright prospect, yet again failed to go past the rampaging PSPBA boy Manav Thakkar. Incidentally, Manav hails from Surat.

Among girls, Selena Deepthi of Tamil Nadu had reached the semifinals while she failed to progress beyond the quarters in earlier occasions. Shrushti Halengadi of Maharashtra was very much in the reckoning this time to win title as she bête noire Archana Kamath had skipped the zonal, having been selected to represent Asia at the World Cadet Challenge in Barbados. Her team finished with the silver at Georgetown after it went down 2-3 to Europe.

As for the Cadet section, none of the contestants from hosts West Bengal could go beyond the first round of the main draw despite seven of them having made the cut. Similarly, North Bengal’s Jayabrata Bhattacharjee who had entered the semifinals at Gandhidham bowed out a round before leaving the title contests to others. Yanshansh Malik filled Delhi’s vacuum in the Cadet Boys section by entering the semifinals—at Indore state mate Payas Jain had won the title—here. As usual, Delhi girl Vanshika Bhargava made the final cut like she did at Gandhidham. But she lost the title race to Swastika Ghosh of Maharashtra. Vanshika defeated surprise pack Suhana Saini from Haryana 3-1 in the semifinals. And finalist Mummun Kundu accounted for Maharashtra’s Divya Chitale in a hard fought 3-2 battle.

Meanwhile, the main draw event in the Junior Boys and Girls sections began while the qualification matches in men and women’s singles as well as in the Youth sections will start later this evening.

The Results:

Sub-Junior Boys: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) bt Jeet Chandra (WB) 4-2 (7-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-13, 11-9, 11-3); Semifinals: Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) bt Manush Shah (Guj) 4-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8), Jeet Chandra (WB) bt Sarthak Seth (UP) 4-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8).

Sub-Junior Girls: Final: Srushti Haleangadi (Mhr) bt Selena Deepthi Selvakumar (TN) 4-0 (11-6, 14-12, 11-5, 11-8); Semifinals: Selena Deepthi (TN)  bt  Manasi Chiplunkar (Mhr)  4-0  (13-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-30, Srushti Halengadi (Mhr)  bt  Manushree Patil (Mhr) 4-2 (11-3, 8-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-3, 11-4).

Cadet Boys: Final: H. Jeho Himnakulhpuingheta (PSPBA) bt Yanshansh Malik (Dli) 4-1 (11-7, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-8); Semifinals: Yanshansh Malik (Dli) bt Satyam Giri Gupta (UP) 3-2 (6-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4), H. Jeho Himnakulhpuingheta (PSPBA) bt Payas Jain (Dli) 3-0 (11-3, 11-9, 11-2).

Cadet Girls: Final: Munmun Kundu (WB) bt Vanishka Bhargava (Dli) 4-1 (11-8, 3-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9); Semifinals: Munmun Kundu (WB) bt Diya Chitale (Mhr) 3-2 (8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 9-11, 11-5), Vanishika Bhargava (Dli) bt Suhana Saini (Hrn) 3-1 (11-8, 5-11, 11-4, 11-4).

A TTFI Press release

Chikkarangappa leads the charge with a sizzling 64

Chikkarangappa S of Bangalore

Bangalore, October 29, 2014: Chikkarangappa S of Bangalore took the round one lead at the Asian Development Tour’s Take Solutions India Masters with a sizzling eight-under-64 at his home course, Eagleton – The Golf Resort. Thailand’s Pijit Petchkasem ended the day in second place with an opening round of 65 while another Bangalorean Abhishek Jha was a further shot behind in third place at the US$ 70,000 event.

Khalin Joshi and M Dharma were the other two Bangalore golfers in the top-5. Joshi and Dharma shot scores of 67 to be tied fourth along with Deepinder Singh Kullar of Gurgaon and Irishman Niall Turner.

Chikkarangappa, a three-time winner on the PGTI, began the tournament with an error-free 64 to emerge as a major contender for the title. The 20-year-old had a relatively quiet front-nine as he collected two birdies. The local favourite then went on the rampage on the back-nine with six more birdies. Chikka holed it from a range of 10 to 15 feet for birdies on the 11th, 12th, 14th and 16th.

Chikka said, “I had a decent start but gained momentum after the turn. I putted really well and grabbed all my chances on the greens with just 26 putts for the day. I read the greens to perfection. I also scored birdies on all four par-5s. This is my best round here at Eagleton in a professional event.

“My putting let me down in the last few events on the PGTI. I therefore made some changes in my putting this week. The changes seem to have paid off,” added Chikka.

“It’s been an emotional time for me since I lost my grandfather last week. When I came back to Bangalore this week, my mother and grandmother spoke to me and asked me to focus on my game and look ahead as that is what my grandfather would’ve liked me to do had he been around,” said Chikka.

Pijit Petchkasem, the only foreigner in the top-3, came up with an astonishing nine birdies against a lone double-bogey to be placed second at seven-under-65.

Abhishek Jha, also playing at his home course, mixed an eagle and six birdies with two bogeys to occupy third place at six-under-66. Jha, the tallest player on the PGTI at 6 feet and 5 inches, had a terrific start to the event as he made eagle on the opening 10th hole. His approach from 185 yards landed within two feet of the flag on the 10th. He also had three straight birdies from the first through the third. Abhishek narrowly missed his second eagle of the day from 12 feet on the eighth.

“The eagle at the start set up the round for me. I hit almost all greens today and matched my best single-round score at Eagleton. Today’s round was also my best of the season. I’ve not had a great season on the PGTI till now and this effort has really boosted my confidence. Hopefully I can capitalize on this good start,” said Jha.

The Bangalore duo of Khalin Joshi and M Dharma made six birdies and a bogey each in their rounds to share fourth place along with Gurgaon’s Deepinder Singh Kullar and Ireland’s Niall Turner at five-under-67. Kullar had eight birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey in his first round.

Abhishek Kuhar of Gurgaon was in joint eighth along with Thai Suppakorn Uthaipat at four-under-68.

Two-time European Tour champion SSP Chowrasia occupies tied 46th place at two-over-74.

PGTI Press release

Team Asia Girls get silver in ITTF World Cadet Challenge

New Delhi, October 29, 2014: Europe defeated Asia 3-2 to win the Girls’ Team title in the final of the 2014 ITTF World Cadet Challenge in Bridgetown, Barbados Tuesday night. Thus, Europe regained the title after nine years—they had won gold way back in 2005.

The Asian team comprised of Lee Ka Yee, Mima Ito, Kim Jiho and Archana Kamath of India.  Archana was selected into the team after her performance in the Asia Junior Table Tennis Championships at Mumbai in September.

Lisa Lung did the star turn for Europe as she won the crucial fifth match against Lee Ka Yee 5-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-9 to secure the title for her team. Her win came in the nick of time as she had lost her first singles against Mima Ito  8-11, 6-11, 8-11. Earlier, Mima Ito had beaten Adina Diaconu in the fourth rubber to level the team score at 2-2.

“It was really important against Lee Ka Yee in the last match win the third game. I led 10-8 but then I lost the next three points,” said Lisa Lung. “I thought I could still win and I tried to relax and play my game. I think my forehand top spin worked to my advantage today,” she added.

In qualification rounds, Team Asia had registered triumphs against teams from Oceania, Latin America and Hopes teams and in the semifinals beat North America-30.

The doubles and singles events at the Challenge begins on October 30.

A TTFI Press release

Tata Steel becomes the associate sponsor of the Champions Trophy hockey

New Delhi, October 29, 2014: At a function held at Bhubaneswar, Tata Steel Limited signed an agreement with Hockey India, thereby announcing its associate sponsorship for the upcoming Hero Hockey Champions Trophy 2014 which is scheduled to be held in Bhubaneswar, from December 6 to 14 where some of the finest men’s international teams will be participating. The agreement was signed by Manikanta Naik, Chief Resident Executive, Tata Steel and Elena Norman, Chief Executive Officer of Hockey India.

On the announcement, Sunil Bhaskaran, Vice President, Corporate Services, Tata Steel Limited has said, “The spirit of adventure and sports is entrenched in the core philosophy of Tata Steel for which the company has been at the fore front of promoting various sports in the country, which has given rich dividends in terms of bringing talents to the national and international level limelight. It is a moment of great pride to be associated with our national game through this sponsorship, which offers an avenue for our local talents to connect with the international hockey stars. Hockey India is doing an impressive job of bringing back Indian hockey the limelight that it deserves. We are looking forward to the tournament and a new journey.”

According to Hockey India president Dr. Narinder Batra, “This is a great moment to have Tata Steel Limited on board as an Associate Sponsor of the prominent hockey tournament. Tata Steel Limited, which is well-known for promoting various sports at the ground-level, will prove to be a great motivation factor for the organisers.

“This development also shows the advancement of Indian hockey where reputed corporate and sports promoters are coming together to take the sport to a new level altogether. Tata Steel Limited is deep rooted in this region and their association with hockey will inspire the people and especially the young generation towards the sport. We are looking forward to the association with Tata Steel Limited and we together shall strive to take hockey to every corner of the region. I would like to congratulate and welcome Tata Steel Limited on board.”

HI Press release

Profitable day for West Bengal in East Zone National Ranking Table Tennis

Durgapur, October 28, 2014: It was a profitable day for hosts West Bengal as seven their boys and three girls achieved the qualification norm in their respective groups to enter the main draw of the National Ranking (East Zone) Table Tennis Championships at the Sidhu Kanu Indoor Stadium, City Centre, here today.

The championships, third in a row, kicked off with over 600 paddlers competing in 10 different categories which carries a total prize money of Rs. 5.76 lakh.

Out of 28 groups in the Sub-Junior Boys section, West Bengal’s Rohan Ghosh, Sayan Chatterjee, Soham Bhattacharya, Rupam Das, Suhubhadeep Das, Soumyajeet Bose and Soumyodip Ghosh topped their groups to move a step forward and join the top eight seeded players, who have been directly given enty into the main draw.

But as for their girls, which was of 20 groups, only three girls—Prapti Sen, Rinisha Das and Shrubabati Moitra—made the cut while four of Telangana girls entered the main round. Maharashtra B, as usual, saw three of their sub-junior girls qualifying while Tamil Nadu also registered its presence with Harini Udaya Kumar, Deepika Neelakandan and Kowishika Venkatashan progressing.

Six boys of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board Academy also moved into the main draw but they have not fielded any girls in the sub-junior section.

Delhi’s Vanshika Sachar and Vanshika Bhargava, who played well to enter the knockout stage at Indore, qualified along with Ishita Gupta. Vanshika’s brother, Kashish, Payas Jain, who won the Cadet title at Indore, Yashansh Malik and Angad Singh all made the knockout stage without a whimper.

But unfortunately, North Bengal with its thin presence, saw two boys in Jayabrata Bhattacharjee and Ayan Ganguly makin the grade while in the sub-junior girls category Saswati Gupta was the lone qualifier.

In Cadet Boys and Girls sections, the qualification events have begun and main draw events will begin tomorrow. The sub-junior Boys and Girls, however, will play one round in the main draw later tonight.

The medals in all the four categories will be decided tomorrow evening and qualification events in the junior boys and girls categories will follow the medal ceremony.

A TTFI Press release

Lahiri’s win in Macau pushes him up to 69 in world rankings

New Delhi, October 27, 2014: Anirban Lahiri’s creditable victory at the Venetian Macau Open 2014 pushed him up 21 places from 90 to 69 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Lahiri had achieved his career-best ranking of 64, soon after his win in Indonesia earlier this year. Anirban is currently the highest ranked Indian in the world followed by Shiv Kapur who is at 215th place.

Jeev Milkha Singh is the only Indian golfer to be ranked higher than 69. Jeev had achieved his career-best ranking of 29 back in 2009.

Anirban’s success in Macau meant he bagged the winner’s cheque worth US$ 162,000 that took his season’s tally to US$ 504,689. He thus consolidated his second place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and narrowed the gap on the leader David Lipsky of the United States who currently has season’s earnings of US$ 669,170. Lahiri now has two wins and five other top-10s to his credit in an extremely successful 2014 Asian Tour season.

Here’s a look at some of the other statistics relating to Anirban’s latest triumph in Macau:

·         Lahiri’s 16th career title and fifth international win

·         Lahiri’s second international title triumph outside India

·         The 62nd win by an Indian at the international level

·         It was the 48th title triumph by an Indian on the Asian circuit

·         Lahiri’s five titles place him fifth on the list of Indians with most international wins. Jeev Milkha Singh with 13 international titles leads this list followed by Jyoti Randhawa (9 wins), Arjun Atwal (9 wins) and Gaganjeet Bhullar (6 wins)

·         It is the first time that Anirban has won two international events in the same season. He also won the CIMB Niaga Indonesian Masters earlier in the year.

·         Indians now have three international titles in 2014. All three wins have been achieved on the Asian Tour. Besides Anirban’s triumph in Indonesia earlier this year, Rashid Khan also posted a win at the SAIL-SBI Open 2014.

·         Lahiri became the second Indian to win the Venetian Macau Open after Gaganjeet Bhullar. Bhullar had won the event in 2012.

Press release