Gritty Chikkarangappa retains TAKE Solutions India Masters title

Eagleton – The Golf Village, Bengaluru, October 31, 2015: Bengaluru’s Chikkarangappa successfully defended his title at the US$120,000 TAKE Solutions India Masters 2015 with a gritty playoff victory at his home course Eagleton against Shubhankar Sharma of the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, on Saturday. Chikka won with a birdie on the first playoff hole after he and Shubhankar had both finished the regulation 72 holes with matching scores of 25-under-263 at the Asian Development Tour (ADT) and Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) joint sanctioned event. Chikka, who bagged his second win on the ADT and seventh overall, also moved into the lead in the Rolex Ranking.

Chikkarangappa (65-66-66-66), the overnight joint leader along with Shubhankar, wrote his name on the TAKE Solutions India Masters trophy for the second year in succession after a dogged display through the week. The 22-year-old made an early birdie on the second which was neutralized by a bogey on the fourth which was the result of a poor chip. The local favourite then seemed to be taking control as he had a hat-trick of birdies on the fifth, sixth, seventh thanks to some accurate shots with the gap wedge.

A good recovery from the bunker earned Chikka his fifth birdie of the day on the 10th. The Asian Tour rookie had a firm grip on the title when he sank a 12-footer for birdie on the 13th. However, despite Chikka’s tap-in birdie on the 17th, Shubhankar managed to catch up with birdies on the last four to take the match into a playoff. A resolute Chikka then displayed great composure under pressure to land his approach within five feet of the pin and collect a birdie on the first playoff hole to clinch the title.

Chikka said, “I love challenging situations as that brings the best out of me. That’s what happened today after Shubhankar’s amazing comeback. I’m delighted to win at home once again in front of my family and friends. This course is like a mother to me so I can’t bear the thought of losing here. I therefore didn’t want to let it go till the very end.

“I play better on the back-nine here so I knew even if I played three to four under on the front-nine I would be on course. I was also very confident going into the playoff since I had won both my two previous playoffs on the PGTI.

“This is a great confidence-booster and sets me up for the remainder of the Asian Tour season. The work that I have done with my mentor Rahul Dravid is also paying dividends,” added an elated Chikka.

Chikka took home the winner’s cheque worth Rs. 13,65,000 which pushed him up from sixth place to first position in the Rolex Ranking. His season’s earnings now read Rs. 26,37,440. Chandigarh’s Abhijit Singh Chadha, who finished third this week, is second in the money rankings with season’s earnings of Rs. 23,37,165. Chikka’s win also helped him secure six Official World Golf Ranking points that the winner of each ADT event is awarded.

Shubhankar Sharma (65-64-68-66), the overnight joint leader along with Chikka, made three birdies against a lone bogey on the first 14 holes even as Chikka looked set to retain his title with a comfortable three-shot lead with four to play. However, the 19-year-old Shubhankar made a sensational comeback with birdies on the last four holes to take Chikka into the playoff.  Sharma drained an audacious 20-footer on the 16th and a nerve-wrecking 10-footer on the closing 18th.

Shubhankar, however, couldn’t convert his 10-feet birdie putt in the playoff where Chikka stole the thunder with a birdie from five feet. Nonetheless, Sharma’s runner-up finish lifted him from ninth place to third position in the Rolex Ranking.

Shubhankar said, “I fought really well today except for the putt in the playoff. The four birdies at the end were the highlight of my round. I knew I had a chance when I got within one shot of Chikka. I told my caddie that I had to make birdies on the last four holes since my target score for the tournament was 25-under irrespective of whether I win or lose. I achieved that target but then didn’t trust the putt in the playoff which cost me at the end.

“I take a lot of heart from this performance as it’s my best on the ADT so far and also gives me a lot of self-belief as I head to the Panasonic Open in Delhi next week,” added Shubhankar, a winner on the PGTI last year.

Abhijit Singh Chadha, the Rolex Ranking leader till last week, posted the day’s best of 10-under-62, a bogey-free effort, to end the tournament in third place at 19-under-269. He has now slipped to second in the money list.

American Greg Moss and Delhi’s Rashid Khan were a further shot back in joint fourth.

Himmat Singh Rai of the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, claimed sixth place at 17-under-271.

Photo caption: Chikkarangappa receives the winner’s trophy and cheque from Mr. Srinivasan HR, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, TAKE Solutions Ltd., also in the picture are (left to right) Mr. Uttam Singh Mundy, Director, PGTI, Mr. Shahid Sen, Commercial Director, Asian Tour & Mr. Chetan Meda, Director, Eagleton

PGTI Press release and photo

Chikkarangappa, Shubhankar Sharma emerge joint leaders

Chikkarangappa S 

Eagleton – The Golf Village, Bengaluru, October 30, 2015: The Indian duo of Chikkarangappa S and Shubhankar Sharma holds the joint lead at 19-under-197 after round three of the US$120,000 TAKE Solutions India Masters 2015, an event joint sanctioned by the Asian Development Tour (ADT) and Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI).

While reigning champion Chikkarangappa of Bengaluru recorded a determined six-under-66 at his home course Eagleton on Friday, Shubhankar Sharma of the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, produced a fighting four-under-68 in round three. Himmat Singh Rai, another golfer from the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, posted a three-under-69 to end the day in third place at 16-under-200.

Australian Jake Stirling shot the day’s best of eight-under-64 to be in fourth place at 15-under-201.

Chikkarangappa (65-66-66) returned a second successive 66 on day three to climb from overnight tied second to joint first. Chikka, who was two behind leader Shubhankar at the halfway stage, made seven birdies and a lone bogey in the third round to prepare the ground for his title defence on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Chikka, looking for his seventh title and second win of the year, set himself up for eagles from a range of 12 to 30 feet on the seventh, 10th and par-4 17thwhere he drove the green, courtesy some quality hitting. However, he had to settle for birdies on each occasion. Nonetheless, the five-time winner on the PGTI drained long birdie putts on the ninth and 12th.

Chikka also landed his wedges within three feet on the fifth and 15th to pick up two more strokes. His only blemish of the day was on the sixth where he found the trees with his tee shot which led to a bogey.

“I kept the ball in play. I hit it good like how I did for the past two days and I putted really well. I’m very happy with the way I played but there is still one more day to go. If I can play like how I played in the first three rounds tomorrow, I should have a good chance of winning,” said Chikka.

He added, “I’m a little upset about not making an eagle this week despite creating seven or eight opportunities. I missed three today as I wasn’t hitting the right speeds. I guess I’ve reserved the eagles for the last day. At the same time, I’m delighted that I’ve been creating birdie chances regularly be it from 30 or 40 feet. I’m looking forward to having my parents watch me play on the final day just like last year.”

Shubhankar Sharma (65-64-68), the overnight leader by two shots, continued to be one of the top contenders as he submitted a score of 68 on Friday to share the lead with Chikka. Sharma was off to a flying start when he birdied the first two holes after placing his approach shots within seven feet on both occasions.

The 19-year-old Shubhankar’s momentum was broken as he made bogeys on the fourth and sixth despite finding the centre of the fairways. He also missed a short birdie putt on the fifth. Shubhankar, however, rallied with birdies on the seventh, 13th, 17th and 18th as a result of some good wedge shots.

“Overall, I think I played well. I made a few mistakes at the start but managed to steady the ship. I am pleased with the way I finished as that allowed me to stay atop the leaderboard with Chikka. I hit some good speeds while putting today. I just want to play my own gametomorrow and not think too much. We will see how it goes,” said Sharma, who will be looking for his second title.

Himmat Singh Rai (64-67-69) mixed four birdies and a bogey for his 69 to keep himself in the race and make it three Indians in the top-3.

Stirling, who only landed on the morning of round one and did not get to play a practice round, was delighted to cap his best efforts so far this week after marking his card with 10 birdies against two bogeys. “The putter was hot today, especially on the front nine. It went quiet on my back nine but I still managed to finish off well. I also played my wedges to perfection. It’s my first time playing in India. Since I only arrived on Wednesday and didn’t get much sleep 48 hours prior to the event due to the travel, I’m really pleased to shoot a 64 today,” added the 26-year-old, who claimed his maiden ADT win in Malaysia earlier in June. 

Finland’s Teemu Putkonen, who made two eagles en route his 65 on Friday, shared fifth place at 14-under-202 with Pune’s Aditya Bhandarkar who shot a bogey-free 66.

Delhi golfers Rashid Khan and Naman Dawar and Americans Casey O’Toole, the ADT Order of Merit leader, and Greg Moss, the round one leader, stayed a further shot back in tied seventh position. 

Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi and Sri Lankan Anura Rohana were tied 11th at 12-under-204.

PGTI Press release

Boxer Vijender Singh meets British MP Keith Vaz at the House of Commons in London

 British MP Keith Vaz presents a gift to Vijender Singh

London, October 29, 2015: Indian boxing sensation Vijender Singh who turns 30 today was invited to the House of Commons in the capital yesterday evening where he met Keith Vaz, MP. In an hour long meeting held at the Chess Room of Parliament, Vaz congratulated Vijender for winning his professional debut fight and wished him good luck for his second fight scheduled to be held at Dublin, Ireland on November 7..

During this meeting Vaz presented a birthday gift to Vijender.

After meeting with Vaz, Vijender said “It’s an honour for me to be here at the House of Commons to meet the MP Vaz. It was really good and motivational meeting him. He appreciated me for joining professional boxing and extends his full support in my new journey. Vaz is a big time sports lover”.

Speaking about his second fight in Dublin, Vijender said “I have trained in Ireland before the 2012 Olympics and it was fun. I am looking forward to my fight in Dublin next Saturday. I am sure Indian community in Dublin will turn up in large numbers to cheer and support me at National Stadium.

Commenting on his birthday today Vijender Singh said “I am missing my Indian friends, fellow boxers and coaches today on this special day but my new fellow boxers and trainers here have made it special by getting cake, gifts etc. I am just training hard for my next fight and focusing on the win next Saturday”.

Keith Vaz said “We must support Vijender in his career. I know he has worked hard to win first Olympic medal in the amateur boxing for India and I am confident that he will become the champion in his new journey very soon. It’s an important step taken by Vijender Singh to promote British Indians to get involved in the sport and our community needs to support him”.

Vijender will also attend Diwali Festival celebrations scheduled to be organized by Indian Community in Leicester on November 1, 2015.

Press release

Shubhankar Sharma moves to the top with a blistering 64

Shubhankar Sharma

Eagleton – The Golf Village, Bengaluru, October 29, 2015: Indians Shubhankar Sharma, defending champion Chikkarangappa and Himmat Singh Rai occupied the top-3 places at the halfway stage of the US$120,000 TAKE Solutions India Masters 2015, an event joint sanctioned by the Asian Development Tour (ADT) and Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI).

While Shubhankar Sharma of the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, shot a blistering eight-under-64 in round two to move to the top of the leaderboard at 15-under-129, Chikkarangappa, playing at his home course Eagleton, posted a 66 and Himmat Singh Rai, another golfer from the DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon, carded a 67, to be tied second at 13-under-131.

Round one leader Greg Moss of the United States, slipped to fourth at 12-under-132 after a sedate 70 on day two.

The cut went at four-under-140. It was one of the lowest ever cuts on the PGTI. Fifty-one professionals made the cut of which 33 were Indians.

Shubhankar Sharma (65-64) moved up two places from his overnight tied third as he improved on his first round 65 by one shot with nine birdies against a lone bogey. Nineteen-year-old Shubhankar started off with an eight feet birdie on the first which was neutralized by his three-putt bogey on the third. Sharma, who became the youngest winner on the PGTI in Kochi last year at age 17, then set up four birdies from a range of five feet on the front-nine.

Shubhankar’s shot of the day was the approach on the 11th that helped him recover from the trees and land it within 10 feet of the pin for another birdie. He then pulled away from the rest with three more birdies on the last five holes. The Gurgaon-based golfer drove it to the edge of the green on the 17th and sank a 20-footer on the 18th for a birdie-birdie finish to the day.

“Putting holds the key this week and my putting has been good in the first two rounds. My iron-play has also been spot-on and I’ve struck it well. I missed a couple of eagle opportunities today but was delighted with the recovery from the trees on the 11th where I salvaged a birdie,” said Sharma, whose best on the Asian Tour was a fourth place last year.

He added, “I’ve had a pretty decent season on the PGTI this year with three top-3s out of eight starts so far. The 40-day tour of the United States that I undertook this summer along with a few other Indian professionals has also helped me sharpen my game. I’ll just look to keep the intensity going over the next two days.”

Chikkarangappa (65-66) put together a bogey-free round of 66 to rise from overnight tied third to tied second and stay in contention. Three of Chikka’s six birdies came as a result of some magnificent recoveries from the rough and bunker. He also landed his wedge shots within five feet for his other three birdies.

Chikka said, “I did well to get out of trouble a few times today. My best shot was the sand wedge approach from the rough from over 100 yards on the sixth that stopped within 10 feet of the hole and finally resulted in a birdie. I had 17 regulations today. I’m still very much in the hunt.

“I feel, over the next two days, I need to focus on reading the lines better and tackling the pins that are tucked in corners,” added the reigning champion.

Himmat Singh Rai (64-67) made six birdies against a bogey in his score of 67 to share second position with Chikka. Rai, who started the day in sole second place, converted three birdies from a range of 10 to 15 feet and played a brilliant bunker shot for a tap-in birdie on 17.

Himmat said, “The conditions are good for scoring but one still has to play well. I know I’ll have to keep returning low scores in the last two rounds as the competition is very tough with lot of players likely to go low.”

Greg Moss had a relatively quieter round of 70 as compared to his sensational 62 on day one. He had an early bogey on the 12th but then rallied with an eagle and two birdies on the next nine holes. Moss’ bogey on the seventh meant he ended the day in fourth, three off the lead.

“I had a decent round but the bogey on the seventh played spoiler. It was one of those holes where everything went wrong from tee to green. I hit a lot of fairways and made many long putts in round one but that was not the case today,” said Moss.

Delhi’s Rashid Khan produced six birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey in his second round of 70 that placed him tied fifth at nine-under-135.

Bengaluru’s Trishul Chinnappa, Naman Dawar and Shivendra Singh Sisodia of Delhi and Sri Lankan N Thangaraja shared fifth place with Rashid.

Press release

Indian boxing star Vijender Singh moved to Dublin show

London, October 26, 2015: The fights of WBO European Super-Middleweight Champion Jamie Cox and India’s middleweight boxing sensation Vijender Singh have been switched from the Harrow Leisure Centre on Friday, October 30 to the National Stadium in Dublin on Saturday, November 7.

Their opponents will remain the same with Cox making the first defence of his title against Hungarian Ferenc Albert and Singh, the 2008 Olympic Bronze medallist, follows up his explosive pro debut earlier this month with his second professional fight against Dean Gillen.

In Dublin, Cox and Singh will feature on a quality packed show headlined by Irish hero Jamie Conlan who defends his WBO Intercontinental Super-Flyweight title, with a host of popular Irish fighters including Jamie Kavanagh, Peter McDonagh v Dean Byrne for the Irish Welterweight title, Ian Tims v Michael Sweeney for the Celtic Warrior Cruiserweight title, Declan Geraghty for the Celtic Warrior Super-Featherweight title, plus talents David McGuire, Ciaran Mullen, Sean Turner, Ciaran McVarnock and Issac Macleod all in action.

The Harrow show will go ahead and is now headline by undefeated Bushey ace Miles Shinkwin in a ten-round International contest against Daniel Bilisanszki, following the withdrawal of Tom Baker due to a viral infection from his challenge for the Vacant Southern Area Light-Heavyweight contest against Jack Morris in the chief supporting bout.  The rest of the card will remain the same with prospects: Georgie Kean, Sam McNess, Anthony Yarde, Jez Smith, Prince Patel, Archie Sharpe and the pro-debuts of Ben Smith and D.P Carr.

Press release

Bihar junior girls’ handball team announced

Patna, October 26, 2015: Bihar Handball Association announced state team for 38^th National Junior Girls Championships to be held in Sangrur (Punjab) from October 28 to November 2.

Team: Anjali Kumari, Suhani Kumari (Saran), Medha Kumari (Vaishali), Sandhya Kumari (Rohtas), Mdhumala (Bhagalpur), Pooja Kumari, Rajni Kumari (Madhubani), Ayusi Kumari (Patna), Dharmseela Kumari (Siwan), Indu Kumari, Gayatri Kumari, Sushmita Kumari, Aarti, Yasmin Khatun, Ritu Kumari, Sindhu Kumari (all Siwan), skipper-Dharmseela Kumari (Siwan), coach-Varun Kumar (Patna), Manager-Amrita Maurya (Siwan). 

Udayan Mane cruises to eight-stroke victory at Western India Oxford Masters for second title in four weeks

Oxford Golf Resort, Pune, October 23, 2015: Rookie Udayan Mane has had a dream start to his professional career. On Friday, the 24-year-old from Bengaluru secured his second title in only his ninth professional event when he cruised to a comfortable eight-stroke victory at the inaugural Western India Oxford Masters at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune. Mane shot a clinical four-under-68 in round four to take his tournament total to 19-under-269 and as a result claim his second title in a span of four weeks.

Faridabad’s Abhinav Lohan finished a distant second at 11-under-277 at the Rs. 30 lakh PGTI event.

Udayan Mane (65-69-67-68), who enjoyed a mammoth six-shot lead ahead of the final round, didn’t look in trouble at any stage on Friday. He was ahead by six shots or more through the day. Udayan, who won his maiden title in Jaipur three weeks back, was quick off the blocks in round four as he birdied the second after landing it within three feet and sank an eagle on the fourth thanks to a 20-feet conversion. The bogey on the ninth was a minor hiccup for Mane where his tee shot went off the mark.

Mane got his back-nine going with two good pars on the 10th and 11th and a 10-feet birdie putt on the 12th. He finally sealed his wire-to-wire win in style by knocking in a 45-footer for birdie on the 17th. It is only the first time that a player has won two titles in his rookie season on the PGTI.

Udayan said, “I knew I had a very good chance of winning today as a result of the substantial lead. However, I took nothing for granted and wanted to get off to a good start which I did manage to do. I was striking it well so I was confident of hitting the fairways and greens and taking my chances on the greens.

“The birdie on the 12th got my back-nine going after I dropped a bogey on the ninth. Thereafter I knew I didn’t have to do anything extraordinary.

“I don’t just want to score well but in fact want to achieve a certain quality in my game. Once I have that quality, the scores will follow. The two wins mean that I’ll now have to reassess my goals for the season and aim much higher than before,” said Mane, who led in all four rounds of the tournament.

Mane took home the winner’s cheque worth Rs. 4,50,000 which pushed him up from seventh place to third position in the Rolex Rankings. His season’s earnings now read Rs. 14,72,792. Abhijit Singh Chadha of Chandigarh continues to lead the money rankings with season’s earnings of Rs. 17,91,165. Udayan has now also consolidated his position on top of the 2015 PGTI Emerging Player of the Year table. He has emerged as the firm favourite to win the title with nearest rival Pratap Atwal a distant second with earnings of Rs. 4,29,606.

Abhinav Lohan (72-65-70-70), who was overnight tied second, finished as sole runner-up after his final round of two-under-70. Lohan fired five birdies against two bogeys.

Shubhankar Sharma of Gurgaon shot the day’s joint best score of six-under-66 to end the week in tied third place along with Sri Lankan Anura Rohana (71) at 10-under-278.

Noida’s Rahul Bajaj claimed fifth place at seven-under-281.

Abhishek Jha of Bengaluru also shot a 66, the day’s joint best score, to secure tied 16th place at two-under-286.

Nagpur’s Moinuddin Malak, who also resides and plays a lot of golf in Pune, finished as the highest-placed professional from Western India and Maharashtra. Malak was tied 27th at one-over-289.

Fourteen-year-old Kshitij claims creditable tied 16th; Bags ‘Raj Kumar Pitamber Trophy’ for best amateur

Delhi’s Kshitij Naveed Kaul, the lone amateur to make the cut this week, claimed a creditable tied 16th finish with a total score of two-under-286. The 14-year-old Kaul, playing in a professional event for the first time, made an eagle, three birdies, three bogeys and a double-bogey, en route his even-par-72 in the final round. The teenage talent, currently one of India’s top junior golfers, didn’t shoot a single over-par score this week as he posted rounds of 70, 72, 72 and 72. Kaul became the first recipient of the “Raj Kumar Pitamber Trophy” on Friday as the best performing amateur.

The trophy honours the memory of Raj Kumar Pitamber, perhaps Western India’s most prominent golfer for many decades.

PGTI Press release

Udayan Mane takes commanding six-shot lead in round three of Western India Oxford Masters

Oxford Golf Resort, Pune, October 22, 2015: Bengaluru-based rookie golfer Udayan Mane built a commanding six-shot lead in the penultimate round of the inaugural Western India Oxford Masters after he produced a brilliant five-under-67 at the Oxford Golf Resort on Thursday. Mane’s three-day total of 15-under-201 gave him the lead for the third successive day at the Rs. 30 lakh PGTI event. Sri Lankan Anura Rohana and Faridabad’s Abhinav Lohan were in tied second at nine-under-207.

Udayan Mane (65-69-67), the overnight leader by three shots, gained an upper hand early on in round three as he nailed three consecutive birdies on the third, fourth and fifth. Mane landed his tee shot within three feet on the par-3 third before finding the green in two on the par-5 fourth. He converted a seven-footer on the fifth to make it a hat-trick of birdies.

Udayan consolidated his lead on the final stretch of the day with birdies on 16 and 17. He drained a 12-feet putt on the 16th after recovering well from the bunker while the 17th saw him sink his longest putt of the day, a 15-footer.

Mane, staring at his second title in four weeks, said, “I stuck to my process and my game-plan really well. I grabbed all my chances on the greens. I was off to a good start with those early birdies. From then on I kept hitting the greens. I struggled a little bit with my approaches and the pitching wedge on the back-nine but I continued to focus on creating chances.

“I drove well today and hit more fairways and greens in regulation than the previous round. The wind wasn’t blowing hard but just enough to make me recalculate. I will just try to follow my processes and do my thing in the final round than think about the result,” added Mane, whose 67 was the joint best score of day three.

Anura Rohana (69-68-70) mixed five birdies with a bogey and a double-bogey in his third round of 70 to continue in his overnight tied second position, six behind the leader Mane.

Abhinav Lohan (72-65-70) also shot a 70 to hold on to his overnight tied second place. His round featured four birdies and two bogeys.

Delhi’s Vinod Kumar was in fourth place at six-under-210.

Shamim Khan, another Delhi golfer, who shot the day’s joint best score of 67, occupied tied fifth along with Kolkata’s Mohammad Sanju, Noida golfers Rahul Bajaj and Vikrant Chopra and Gurgaon’s Deepinder Singh Kullar at five-under-211.

Honouring an Indian golfing legend

In order to honour the memory of perhaps Western India’s most prominent golfer for many decades, the amateur trophy of the tournament has been named the “Raj Kumar Pitamber Trophy”. “Pit” as he was known was a regular member of the Indian national amateur squad during the 1960’s and 70’s when India won the 1973 Asia Pacific Amateur Team championship. He captained India between 1964 and 1975 at a time when the game was largely amateur-driven in India. Pitamber was the All India Amateur champion in 1966 and 1973 and was decorated with the Arjuna Award in 1967. He passed away in 2005 at the age of 74.

Kshitij Naveed Kaul, the lone amateur to make the cut this week, was placed tied 18th at two-under-214. As the best performing amateur in the field, 14-year-old Kaul is set to be the first recipient of the “Raj Kumar Pitamber Trophy” on Friday after the final round.

Juniors Golf Clinic

In line with their objective of promoting golf at the grassroots in Western India, the tournament organizers and PGTI jointly held a Juniors Golf Clinic which was attended by junior golfers and school and college students at the Oxford Golf Resort’s Driving Range. The clinic was conducted by Australian professional and PGTI member Kunal Bhasin, a winner of three titles.

PGTI Press release

Patna golfer Aman to represent India in Nomura Cup

Patna, October 21, 2015: Bihar's Aman Raj is among 4-member Indian team which will participate in the Asia Pacific Amateur Golf Championship for Nomura Cup to be held at Yas Links golf Course, Abu Dhabi from October 22 to 25.

The four players were selected after a six -day trial - three days at Delhi golf club and the other three at Jaypee greens golf course (Greater Noida). After counting the best five days score top four out of eight players from the country were selected to play this prestigious event. Twenty seven countries are participating in this tournament.

Other three players are Samarth Dwivedi from UP, Rahul Ravi from Bangalore and Harimohan Singh from Noida.

Aman said, “We are together a very strong team and now it's time to get the results from all the time we have given on the range hitting thousands of golf balls and improving our fitness in the gym. The hope of our coaches, family and friends are really high .Most importantly we have to perform for the pride of our country and we will surely give our level best.”

Pro Wrestling League auction on November 3

NEW DELHI, October 21, 2015. – It’s all set for the Pro Wrestling League. Auction for world’s richest Olympic style wrestling league will be held in New Delhi on Tuesday, November 3, 2015. President of Wrestling Federation of India Mr. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh announced the auction date here today.

"The PWL Players' Auction will be a big landmark in the history of sport. It will give the six franchises the opportunity to bid for the best players and complete their squads," said Mr Singh. "The player pool is so rich in talent that after the auction we will have six squads to offer highly competitive action for wrestling lovers."

About 100 top international wrestlers from 25 countries, including Olympic and World Championship stars, and over a 100 Indian wrestlers will come under the hammer. The wrestlers include more than 20 medal winners from the World Wrestling Championship held in Las Vegas last month. There are current European Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games champions and other international medal winners.

Indian film Industries’ rocking Deol family and GMR Group, who also won the Delhi Daredevils IPL team, are among the six PWL Franchisees.

An elated Star Dharmendra said: “I’m extremely happy that Wrestling is being presented in a world class manner at a global platform, with Pro Wrestling League. I’m sure that Indian wrestling lovers will get abundant opportunities at a grass-root level.

“I’m personally very fond of Wrestling as a sport as I played it in my youth and now I embark on a new journey through Pro Wrestling League”, added Dharmendra, Owner of the CDR Punjab team.

Three-time women’s world champion Adeline Gray from the US has called the League as “historic move in International wrestling’’. Gray said that “by bringing Pro event with huge sums of money, Indian organizers have taken a bold step in popularizing wrestling at the world level’’.

Mood is upbeat in India too. Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar is confident that the League would be a big boost to Indian wrestling.

“It will be a great boost when the cream of world wrestling comes to India. This will be a great opportunity for our players to travel with them and learn a lot. Besides the League will keep the focus on the sport and motivate the upcoming wrestlers,’’ said the legend.

The bid for the Olympic and World Championship winners will start at the base price of US$50,000. "Each team has a player auction purse of Rs 2 crore. We are sure that all players picked will be delighted with the financial reward to play in the league," Mr Singh added.

Each team will have a marquee player. The bid for marquee player too will start at the base price of US$ 50,000. As many as 60 players will find buyers since each of the six teams will have a 10 players, including 4 women – a maximum of 4 overseas players and 6 Indians.

The PWL is a joint venture of Wrestling Federation of India and their commercial partners – Pro Sportify Pvt Limited, who are the promoters and organizers of the league.

Press release

Udayan Mane continues domination at Western India Oxford Masters, leads by three at halfway stage

Udayan Mane

Pune, October 21, 2015: Bengaluru’s Udayan Mane continued his domination at the inaugural Western India Oxford Masters as he shot a determined three-under-69 in round two of the Rs. 30 lakh event at the Oxford Golf Resort in Pune to hold a three-shot lead at the halfway stage. Mane’s two-day total reads an impressive 10-under-134. Abhinav Lohan of Faridabad and Sri Lankan Anura Rohana are placed tied second at seven-under-137.

Udayan Mane (65-69), the overnight leader by two shots, was off to a solid start on Wednesday as he collected a birdie from eight feet on the second before picking up another stroke on the par-5 fourth where he found the green in two. Udayan looked set to get another low number when he sank an eagle on the par-5 ninth for the second day in succession. His immaculate four-iron approach landed within four feet of the pin on the ninth.

After making the turn at four-under, Mane had a contrasting back-nine. His erratic tee shots on the 10th and 13th resulted in a bogey and double-bogey respectively. Udayan, in fact, suffered a lost ball after hitting it out of bounds on the 13th. The saving grace for him on the back-nine were the two chip-putt birdies on the 11th and 13th, both par-5s. He thus ended up with a score of 5-under on the four par-5s in round two.

Mane said, “I played well today even though a couple of bad swings cost me dearly. These things do happen during a round but importantly I came back well from these situations, especially after the double-bogey on the 13th.

“It was a round where I set up myself to match my first round score or probably even improve upon it. However, the back-nine didn’t go as per plan. The ninth is obviously my favourite hole now since I’ve made two consecutive eagles there. It was quite satisfying to score on all the four par-5s today.

“I’ve given myself a good platform to have a shot at the title over the last two days.”

Abhinav Lohan (72-65) took a huge leap from overnight tied 27th to tied second after his round of seven-under-65 which was the day’s best score. Lohan registered eight birdies against a lone bogey on Wednesday. He closed his round with a magnificent 25-footer for birdie on the 18th.

Lohan said, “I’ve been playing well recently. I had shot a seven-under in Jaipur earlier this month. I was going well in round one here until I lost a ball on the front-nine that in turn slowed me down. Even though I missed a few short putts today, the birdie on the last hole really lifted my confidence.”

Anura Rohana (69-68), who was overnight tied fourth, joined Lohan in joint second on day two after his round of 68 that featured five birdies and a bogey.

Bengaluru’s R Murthy made his way up from overnight tied 10th to tied fourth after shooting a 68 on Wednesday that included an eagle, three birdies and a bogey.

Noida’s Vikrant Chopra, Delhi’s Honey Baisoya and Deepinder Singh Kullar of Gurgaon were in tied fifth at five-under-139.

Among the golfers from Maharashtra, Mumbai’s Anil Bajrang Mane was tied 19th at one-under-143 while Pune’s Moinuddin Malak was tied 34th at two-over-146.

The cut was declared at four-over-148. Fifty-six professionals and one amateur made the cut. The lone amateur to make the cut was Kshitij Naveed Kaul. Kaul occupied tied 13th place at two-under-142.  

PGTI Press release

Udayan Mane enjoys early advantage at Western India Oxford Masters courtesy a super 65

Pune, October 20, 2015: Rookie golfer Udayan Mane of Bengaluru, fresh from his maiden title in Jaipur three weeks back, continued his rich vein of form in the opening round of the inaugural Western India Oxford Masters with a superb seven-under-65 to take a two-shot lead. Delhi’s Vinod Kumar was second at five-under-67 on day one of the Rs. 30 lakh event at the Oxford Golf Resort.

Udayan Mane, a 10th tee starter on Tuesday, nailed a couple of crucial long-range birdie putts on the 14th and 17th, both par-3s, to get his round going. The 24-year-old Mane set up two more birdies on the first and fourth courtesy some accurate drives and approach shots.

Udayan recovered well from the rough before sinking a 20-footer for birdie on the fifth to move to five-under for the day. The burly golfer, measuring 6 feet 4 inches in height, closed his round with a flourish as he claimed an eagle on the par-5 ninth from a distance of 10 feet to end up with a bogey-free 65.

Mane said, “I was spot-on with my course management today. My club-selection was perfect and I picked the right lines on the greens. I recovered well after a couple of errant tee shots on two occasions. Besides those two holes I really didn’t land myself in any tough situation.

“On the opening 10th hole, I hit my tee shot left but came back well to make par. That settled me down and let me focus. I also had a lucky break on the seventh where my tee shot rebounded off a tree and landed back on the fairway. That was a big moment in the round as I consider the seventh the toughest driving hole.

“It was heartening to make two 20-feet birdie putts today. I’m not looking at any numbers this week but instead just want to play to my potential. The opening round has given me a solid foundation to build on over the next three days,” added Mane.

Vinod Kumar mixed seven birdies with two bogeys for a brilliant 67 to be two off the lead. Vinod was in tremendous chipping form as he chipped-in for birdie on the fifth and landed it within inches on the 16th. He also set up tap-in birdies thanks to his strong iron-play on the ninth and 12th. The multiple winner on the PGTI almost holed out his approach from 170 yards on the 12th.

“I was stroking my putts well. However, some of them didn’t roll in. My driving and iron shots were top-class and I’m extremely satisfied with the first round effort. I’ve had a low opening round after a long time. This sets me up for the week,” said an excited Vinod.

Gurgaon-based Shubhankar Sharma shot a flawless four-under-68 to lie third.

There was a six-way tie for fourth place between Sri Lankans Anura Rohana and K Prabagaran, Noida golfers Vikrant Chopra and Gaurav Pratap Singh, Delhi’s Honey Baisoya and Australian Kunal Bhasin, at three-under-69.

Pune-based professionals Aditya Bhandarkar (70) and Moinuddin Malak (71) shot under-par scores to be tied 10th and tied 21st respectively.

Delhi’s Chiragh Kumar, who secured his Asian Tour card with a creditable tied second at the Venetian Macau Open last week, posted a 75 to be tied 56th.

Chiragh said, “It was a big moment for me last week as securing the Asian Tour card was a huge relief and a confidence-booster at the same time. It was a tough tournament with a strong field and I’m delighted to have put up a good performance there.

“It was great to play the final round in Macau with my former India team-mate Anirban Lahiri who has been in the form of his life. We kept encouraging each other during the round,” added Chiragh.

“I reached Pune late last evening so didn’t have the opportunity to play a practice round. My putting let me down today as I missed a few short putts. Nonetheless, I hope I can come back in the second round as I’ve been playing well recently,” said Chiragh.

Vijender to play his second pro fight aginst Dean Gillen on October 30

Dean Gillen 

London, October 20, 2015: Indian hotshot Vijender Singh will face unbeaten Dean Gillen in his big London debut on Friday 30th October at the Harrow Leisure Centre.

Middleweight Vijender Singh made an immediate impact in his professional debut this month when he destroyed Sonny Whiting in three rounds at the Manchester Arena.

The fight was televised live in India on Sony Six with an estimated 20m viewers tuning in - arguably the largest ever audience for a boxer’s professional debut.

Vijender Singh 29, who will be celebrating his birthday a day before second fight, will now face Nottingham’s Gillen over four rounds as he looks to claim the record of his first unbeaten pro fighter.

Gillen made his pro debut in May this year with a points win over Shaun White and followed that up in September with a points win over Lewis Van Poetsch.

The fight between Singh and Gillen also represents a Battle of the Badges, with Vijender Singh a Deputy Superintendent of Police in his native Haryana and Gillen a firefighter serving in Nottingham.

As an amateur, Gillen’s highlight was to win the 2013 World Police and Fire Fighter Games in Belfast where he knocked out all of his opponents to claim the Gold medal and now he aims to extinguish Singh’s fire in the ring.

Gillen, 33, said, “I’ve watched him in the Olympics and in his pro-debut, he’s a world class kid and I can’t wait to get in there and put him to the test,”

“He’s an Olympian and that speaks for itself, he’s a hero in his country and he’s idolised by millions of people, but at some point he’ll have to get beat and that could well be his second fight against me,”

“I’m certainly no journeyman and I’m not going in to make up numbers, I’m here to fight and win.  I know the odds are stacked against me, but when you’re facing life risking tasks through your job then fighting someone like Singh is a walk in the park,”

“I will be coming for him.  I’ve got the heart of a lion and a serious will to win.  I’ve got a strong jab and the reach to take advantage of him, backed up with a solid chin and a real desire and with nothing to lose, I think I’m going to be a really dangerous opponent for Singh,”

“Add to the fact I’ve never lost to a Police boxer in the amateurs and with stacks of pride and honour on the line, I refuse to lose,”

Vijender Singh is in serious training in Manchester with coach Lee Beard as he aims to beat Gillen and stay on track to achieve his history making dream to become India’s first ever world professional boxing champion.

“I can’t wait for this fight against Gillen, he’s talking the fight and it looks like he will bring me a challenge in my second fight,” Said Singh.

“From what I have seen of him he looks like a good opponent who will push me and I hope he does because then the better I will fight, I rise to my opponent and it brings the best out in me,”

“He’s got an unbeaten record, albeit two fights, and it’s a big motivator for me to claim his first loss, if I can stop him, like against Whiting, then that will be another good win for me,”

“While I was pleased with my pro-debut there is still plenty that I need to work on in my defence and offence and I’ve been training hard with Lee to correct things and improve, it’s a continual process and it will happen fight by fight,”

“Being a fireman, he’ll be used to dealing with fire and coping with heat but this is one fire he won’t be putting out and it will be an entertaining fight for the fans in my first pro fight in the capital.”

A quality packed show is headlined by WBO European Super-Middleweight Champion Jamie Cox who defends his title for the first time.  The undercard features red hot light-heavyweight Tom Baker from Chingford in the chief-supporting contest against Margate’s Jack Morris for the Vacant Southern Area Light-Heavyweight Championship.

  

The undercard features a host of top talents: Bushey light-heavyweight Miles Shinkwin, Islington light-middleweight Georgie Kean vs Nottingham’s Nathan Macintosh; West Ham light-middleweight Sam McNess vs Kevin McCauley; Ilford light-heavyweight Anthony Yarde vs Derby’s Elvis Dube; Jez Smith, younger brother of super-featherweight star Mitchell takes on Newark’s Fonz Alexanderover four rounds at middleweight; Acton flyweight Prince Patel faces GatesheadGary Reeve; Chingford lightweight Archie Sharp tackles Hereford’s Dean Evans; plus the professional debut of West Ham light-welterweight Ben Smith who faces Nuneaton’s Kristian Laight and also Sidcup’s light-welterweight D.P Carr who takes on Trowbridge’s Dan Carr.

Press release

  

In-form Amalraj crowned again, Mouma wins her season’s first title

Thane, October 19, 2015: Anthony Amalraj waited patiently till the final point to have the last laugh and celebrated in his own manner when he outsmarted G. Sathiyan 4-3 to win the men’s singles title in the Thane Mayor Cup 2015 National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championship, which concluded at the Dadoji Kondev Stadium here today. He also received the winner’s purse of Rs. 66,000.

Earlier, Mouma Das staged one of the finest comebacks against Manika Batra to claim the women’s singles crown. The win was worth Rs. 55,000.

After a long time, there were two finals that not only went down to the wire but had several edge-of-the-seat moments. Sathiyan had his chances, leading 2-0 but soon Amalraj leveled the score and from there he turned on the heat on his PSPB rival never to look back.

The match saw fantastic rallies, speedy forehand and backhand winners and excellent returns from both players.

Just before that Mouma, down and out at 0-3, too did well to win the women’s final from a precarious position. Manika, who was guilty of squandering many opportunities, deservingly lost the match to veteran Mouma.

After winning the fourth game, Mouma bounced back to win two extended games and in the decider, as in other games, Manika led comfortably before succumbing to beautiful chops and powerful forehand shots of Mouma, who had fewer good winners. But Manika should take the sole blame for giving away several unnecessary points, once she switched on to the push-and-prod mode. It took her nowhere except conceding points after points which his rival accepted gleefully.

Damp squibs

In contrast, the Youth finals were nothing but damp squibs as both Arjun Ghosh of West Bengal and Manika Batra of PSPB won hands down against their opponents, Sabhya Virmani of AAI and Moumita Datta of West Bengal, respectively.

The AAI lefthander, who normally known for putting up his best, looked off colour on the day and particularly when Arjun had hit the form of his life in the tournament. Without giving any breathing space the West Bengal paddler went 2-0 up before Sabhay managed to pull one off. However, he lacked in ferocity and guile which Arjun had carried all though and into the final.

Similarly, Moumita was simply no match to Manika. The PSPB girl, for a change, played some exhilarating shots which brooked no challenge from the West Bengal girl. Not once did she look comfortable—she was neither returning well nor executing her shots to perfection.   

Except for the men’s singles semifinal between Amalraj and Karia, all other semifinals, including the women’s singles, proved to be a completely one-sided affair.

Sathiyan easily beat PSPB colleague Sudhanshu Grover 4-1 in the second men’s semifinal for another clash with Amalraj. 

The women’s fare saw even worst performance coming from former national champion K. Shamini who did not have the heart to fight it out against another former champion Mouma Das. Mouma was up and led 2-1, the third of which she lost very badly. But it was no indication of Shamini’s comeback as Mouma did not waste any time to shut her out by taking the next two games.

Manika, too, disposed of her AAI opponent Ayhika Mukherjee with a love game verdict. Against the experience of Manika, Ayhiha turned out to be a novice despite being a highly potential player. Probably, nothing worked for her today as Manika led all the way through for another final entry.

In Youth Boys semifinal, West Bengal’s Arjun Ghosh was in a zone of his own to send Central Zone winner Ravindra Kotiyan of Maharashtra 4-3. In a see-saw battle, Arjun displayed variety and pushed Kotiyan to the back foot. Though the latter had to willpower to fight and level the score, he did not have the steam to overcome a rampaging Arjun in the decider.

In Youth Girls’ last-four stages, Reeth Rishya lost to West Bengal’s Moumita Datta 4-1 while Manika, facing Ayhika for the second time in the day, accounted for her in her semifinal match 4-1, the latter managing to take a game off  the top seeded player. But Reeth, who had two successive title wins in the South and Central Zones, lost pathetically to Moumita whose game showed great improvement.   

Results:

Men’s Singles: Final: Anthony Amalraj (PSPB) bt G. Sthiyan (PSPB) 4-3 (14-16, 11-13, 11-7, 11-7, 11-2, 8-11, 11-6);Semifinals: Anthony Amalraj bt Devesh Karia (Guj) 4-3 (8-11, 11-5, 11-8, 7-11, 13-11, 6-11, 11-4, G. Sathiyan bt Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) 4-1 (11-4, 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-9). 

Women’s Singles: Final: Mouma Das (PSPB) bt Manika Batra (PSPB) 4-3 (7-11, 6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 12-10, 12-10;Semifinals: Manika Batra bt Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI) 4-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-4, 11-7), Mouma Das bt K. Shamini (PSPB) 4-1 (11-4, 11-5, 2-11, 11-7, 11-5).

Youth Boys Singles: Final: Arjun Ghosh (WB) bt Sabhya Virmani (AAI) 4-1 (11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-3, 11-4); Semifinals: Arjun Ghosh bt Ravindra Kotiyan (Mah) 4-3 (11-7, 11-7, 5-11, 12-14, 11-2, 9-11, 11-5), Sabhay Virmani bt Birdie Boro (PSPB) 4-3 (9-11, 12-10,13-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-13, 11-7).

Youth Girls Singles: Final: Manika Batra (PSPB) bt Moumita Datta (WB) 4-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-6, 11-4); Semifinals: Moumita Datta bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 4-1 (11-7, 11-2, 10-12, 11-8, 13-11), Manika Batra bt Ayhika Mukherjee (AAI) 4-1 (11-7, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8).

TTFI Press release

Digvijay Singh’s team wins the Pro-Am event of Western India Oxford Masters 2015

Pune, October 19, 2015: The Pro-Am event of the Western India Oxford Masters 2015 played at the Oxford Golf Resort on Sunday was won by professional Digvijay Singh’s team.

The Pro-Am was played in the Texas Scramble format where the team’s best ball was chosen on every shot including the putting green. After the best ball was chosen all other players were to place their ball within one score card length before continuing play.

PGTI member Digvijay Singh led his team to victory with a score of 54.6. Digvijay’s team comprised of amateurs Mr. Dilip Thomas, Mrs. Manisha Jaitha and Mr. Manish Jaitha.

PGTI member Mohammad Sanju’s team was second with a score of 55.1. Sanju’s team comprised of amateurs Mr. Akashdeep Kaul, Mr. Jagdish Chandra Belwal and Mr. Jitender Munot.

PGTI Press release

Siddesh warms local hearts, crowned with Junior Boys title; Varuni is Jr Girls champ

Thane, October 18, 2015: Maharashtra’s Siddesh Pande upstaged Tail Nadu’s Ananth Devarajan 4-0 while Varuni Jaiswal of Talengana defeated much-acclaimed Sreeja Akula of Airports Authority of India 4-2 to claim the Junior Boys and Junior Girls crowns in the ongoing Thane Mayor Cup 2015 National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championship here at the Dadoji Kondev Stadium today.

Finally, there was something for the locals to cheer about when Siddesh, expectedly, thrashed Devarajan in straight games to the delight of the crowd. Siddesh was too good and egged on by the spectators went on a rampage of his West Bengal opponent and settled the issue within half an hour. The Tamil Nadu boy, who had to fight it out against Central Zone winner Ronit Bhanja, was seeming tired and didn’t have the willpower to put up another fight.

On the other hand, Varuni had to play out of her skin to outwit Sreeja who made a fine comeback in the quarterfinals earlier in the day. In comparison, her semifinal win over Tamil Nadu’s Harshavardhini was rather easy.

Tired as she was, it was telling on her game in the final and Varuni made most of the situation to emerge the winners.

In Junior Boys semifinals, PSPBA’s Siddeh Pande in straight games of 7-11, 7-11, 9-11, 3-11. The normally attacking Manav was on the back foot and Siddesh, egged on by the local crowd, made his rather easier by dismissing his opponent’s presence in less than 35 minutes. In the second semifinals, Ronit Bhanja lost to Tamil Nadu’s Ananth Devarajan 3-4.

In the semifinals, Sreeja Akula defeated R. Harshavardhini, the back-to-back title winner at Chennai and Jamangar, 4-3, while Varuni Jaiswal from Telangana downed another Tamil Nadu girl Yashii Sivashankar 4-3. Both the semifinals not only went down to the wire but had kept the contestants on tenterhooks. The ones who could hold their nerves triumphed.

Earlier, No. 2 seed Jeet Chandra tasted quarterfinal defeat at the hands of former champion Manav Thakkar who won 11-5, 4-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-6. Even title-holder and top-seed Ronit Bhanja of West Bengal struggled to overcome qualifier Jash Dalvi of Maharashtra 12-14, 11-5, 10-12, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7. But both Siddesh Pande, also of Maharashtra, moved into the semifinals beating West Bengal’s Akash Nath 4-0 while Tamil Nadu’s Ananth Devarajan beat Jharkhand’s Shivaji Roy 11-6, 11-7, 11-9, 10-12, 11-7.

Harshavardhini and Yashini Sivasankar accounted their rivals Shailu or Noorbasha (AP) 4-2 (11-8, 13-11, 7-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-8) and Kaushini Nath (WB) 4-3 (9-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 5-11, 11-6), respectively. Both Telangana’s Sreeja Akula, who represents the AAI, and Varuni Jaiswal, also entered the semifinals but it was a big struggle for Sreeja who had to endure a 7-game battle to overcome another TN girl Seleenadeepthi Selvakumar. The AAI girl won 13-15, 9-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-5 to heave a big sigh of relief.

Upset of tournament

Though most men’s and women’s seeds survived to live another day, the biggest upset of the tournament was No. 2 seed Harmeet Deasi’s exit from the championships. He lost to qualifier Sarthak Gandhi of AAI 10-12, 10-12, 9-11, 12-10, 11-3, 6-1 in the pre-quarterfinals. The only other match that went the full distance was between Nitin Thiruvengadam and PSPB’s Birdie Boro.

 The duel was won by Nitin 4-3. Otherwise, it was easy for top-seed Anthony Amalraj, fourth seed G. Sathiyan, who struggled against Arjun Ghosh in the third round last night. Arjun had almost sewn up the match with a 3-1 lead but squandered the advantage, thanks to his own doing as well as a clever delayed tactics adopted by old fox Sathiyan. The master received a yellow card but the umpire was lenient not to show a red for Sathiyan continuing with the process which ultimately paid desired result for the PSPB paddler.

In women’s singles all top seeded players went through the motion to go into the quarterfinals.

The men’s and women’s quarterfinals are slated for later tonight while the Youth Boys and Youth Girls play up to pre-quarterfinals to resume their battle tomorrow, the concluding day of the championships.

Results:

Junior Boys: Final: Siddesh Pande (Mah) bt Ananth Devarajan (TN) 4-0 (11-7, 11-2, 11-7, 11-7); Semifinals: Siddhesh Pande (Mah) bt Manav Thakkar (PSPBA) 4-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-9, 11-3); Ananth Devarajan bt Ronit Bhanja 4-3 (4-11, 3-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7, 4-11, 11-8).

Junior Girls: Final: Varuni Jaiswal (Telg) b Sreeja Aku;a (AAI) 4-2 (11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 5-11, 11-13, 11-7); Semifinals: Sreeja Akula (AAI) bt R. Harshavardhini (TN)  4-3 (11-8, 8-11, 2-11, 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8); Varuni Jaiswal bt  Yashini Sivasankar (TN) 7-11, 11-7, 12-10, 10-12, 13-11, 11-1.

A TTFI Press release

Krishna Teja maintains lead in National Youth Chess

Uma Maheswaran P vs Krishna Teja (right) match in progress

October 17, 2015: Krishna Teja of Andhra Pradesh maintained his sole lead with 6.5 points after the end of the 7th round play in the National Youth Chess Championships at the Patliputra Sports Complex hall here on Saturday. On the top board, Teja beat Uma Maheswaran (5) of Tamil Nadu in the sixth round.

Former champions Roy, Saha surrender meekly

Thane, October 17, 2015: Former national champions Soumyadeep Roy and Subhajit Shah bowed out of the men’s singles event of the ongoing Thane Mayor Cup 2015 National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championship here at the Dadoji Kondev Stadium today.

It was pathetic to see both the veterans surrendering meekly as the main draw events got underway today. Youth Boys champion Ravindra Kotiyan of Maharashtra disposed of Roy in less than 45 minutes, winning the match in straight games of 11-8, 11-6, 11-7, 17-15, while Saha gave a walkover to Maharashtra Aniruddha Marathe in the second round of the group qualifiers.  But the qualifier could not, however, benefit and exited in the third round without making it to the main draw.

Kotiyan, who has made bigger strides ever since his winning the Junior Boys title at Alleppey, was not just fast and furious but played brilliant forehands and complimented the experienced Roy with stroke for strokes. The Maharashtra boy’s service variations, too, had Roy in utter confusion as he was unable to return at times and found the net more often than not.

After taking a comfortable 3-0 lead, the match was almost in Kotiyan’s bag but the never-say-die attitude of Roy brought out the best in the fourth and he fought really well. Yet, the fight came too late in the day for the former national champion as Kotiyan won 17-5 to send his rival packing in the first round itself.

As for Saha, he had all the chance to make a comeback in the group match. But, trailing 0-2 and precariously placed in the third preferred not to fight and instead opted out. The veteran should have prolonged to put up a fight for Aniruddha was struggling in the third game. What was also sad was that Aniruddha could not make most of the chance and lost to Harsh Sachanandani of Gujarat 3-2 which helped the latter enter the stage two of the singles event.

Meanwhile, all the top men seeds were sitting pretty and awaiting their turn for the second round matches which are slated to begin at 9 p.m. The men’s title winner at Jamnagar, Anthony Amalraj, is the top seed here and is in real hot form with Harmeet Desai, G. Sathiyan, all from PSPB, and Gujarat’s Devesh Karia follow the leader in the seeding list.

Similarly, all 32 players in fray in the women’s singles, including the top eight seeds will face their first round matches a little while from now.

In Junior Boys section, with enormous byes afforded, an intense action will begin tonight with seeded players taking on the qualifiers. Likewise, the Junior Girls too had enjoyed the benefit of byes in 64 players draw and they will have their matches which follow the Junior Boys singles.

The qualification processes in both the Youth Boys and Youth Girls have begun, with the latter completing three rounds tonightitself. However, the Youth Boys will have a round tomorrow before the main draw events for them start tomorrow along with that of the Youth Girls.    

TTFI Press release

Maharashtra’s presence felt as a good number make main draw cut

Thane, October 16, 2015: Nine out of a host of local paddlers qualified for the Junior Girls while only eight could make the cut in the Junior Boys section of the ongoing Thane Mayor Cup 2015 National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championship here at the Dadoji Kondev Stadium today.

With the main draw matches in both events getting underway only tomorrow, all the boys and girls will have a reasonable breathing space today with some exceptions as a few have also entered to play in the Youth categories.

But unfortunately, not a single girl from Maharashtra figures among the eight top-ranked Junior Girls, Shruti Amrute having dropped down to the 10th spot in the order.

In fact, Shruti had to play the qualifiers and along with her eight other players have made it to the main draw, which is heartening news for the hosts. Dyuti Patki, Manasi Chiplunkar, Trehan Ashlesha, Manushree Patil, Swastika Ghosh, Mansi Deshpande, Aditi Sinha and Shreya Deshpande are the other qualifiers. Both Manushree and Swastika yesterday reached the sub-junior final with the former winning the title for the second successive time.

R. Harshavardhini of Tamil Nadu leads the pack of seeding list and is followed by AAI’s Archana Kamath, Abhinayan Ramesh (TN), Sreeja Akula (AAI), Tanisi Kirtani (Goa), Shalu Noorbasha (AP), Varuni Jaiswal (Telg) and Seleenadeepthi Selvakuar (TN) who occupy the top eight slots.

But with the main draw being of 64 players with 32 qualifiers joining the select gang, there are 24 byes on offer. This means, in addition to the top eight players, 16 qualifiers will also benefit and won’t appear in the first round which starts tomorrow.  West Bengal takes the second spot in pushing five qualifiers to the main draw with other states not throwing in more than a couple of players.

In comparison,  Tejas Kamble, Lohpatre Gaurav, Ajay Singh Patil, Rajat Kadam, Aniruddha Marathe, Tanmay Rane, Jignesh Rahatwal and Josh Dalvi are the eight who reached the Junior Boys main draw from the hosts’ side. PSPB’s Anukram Jain, who won the sub-junior boys title yesterday, his academy-mate Reagen and Lalhunhlal have also joined the ranks of qualifiers.

Tamil Nadu yet again has proved to be a good base for throwing up potential players. Both Sachin Vishwanath and S.K. Ramesh from the state have made the cut. Similarly, West Bengal has three players and North Bengal two, and Delhi’s threesome in Parth Virmani, Shivjit Singh Lamba and Hardik Khurana entering the second stage. Manush Shah from Gujarat, Shreyas Kulkarni, B. Rakshit and N. Nikhil from Karantaka, Sarthak Seth and Divyansh Srivastava from UP have qualified.

The Junior Boys draw will again be of 64 players with 20 byes. Apart form the top eight players—Ronit Bhanja (WB), Jeet Chandra (WB), Ananth Devarajan (TN), Siddhesh Pande (Mah), Anirban Ghosh (WB), Abhimanyu Mitra (WB), Ashwin Subramanian (Mah) and Mahav Thakkar (PSPBA)—12 others ranked players, including some qualifiers would play from round two.

Meanwhile, the qualification matches in men’s and women’s singles began and all the participants will play two rounds today. After the third round tomorrow, the main draw matches will start the same evening. The qualification matches for the Youth sections are slated for tomorrow.

TTFI Press release

Back-to-back title triumphs for Manushree; Anukram makes amends for Jamnagar loss

Thane, October 15, 2015: PSPBA’s Anukram and Maharashtra’s Manushree Patil claimed the Sub-Junior Boys and Girls trophies, respectively, in the ongoing Thane Mayor Cup 2015 National Ranking (West Zone) Table Tennis Championship played here at the Dadoji Kondev Stadium today.

Anukram, who won the season’s second title after his first in Chennai, beat teammate Jeho Hinakulhpuingheta 4-1, while Manushree defeated Swastika Ghosh, also of Maharashtra, in what was a complete whitewash.

Both the finals failed to raise the bar in comparison to the semifinals which had all the thrills.

In semifinals Anukram Jain was down 0-2 and made most of the situation when Jayabrata Bhattacharjee switched himself off from attacking mode to slow down the game. This allowed Anukram to make an excellent recovery and change gears when needed the most as he never looked back after taking the third game. After that the West Bengal boys was never in the game. In the last zonal, Anukram lost in the semifinals to Manush Shah.

On the other hand, Jeho played on the patience of Gujarat’s Manush Shah to outwit him. In a way, it was also a sweet revenge for Jeho who was denied the title by Manush at Jamnagar in the last zonal.

The PSPB boy played and returned well from back while Manush preferred playing close to the table. The Gujarat boy did manage to take a game off his PSPB rival but the latter was too good to wear him out. However the match was worth watching for excellent rallies, thanks to Jeho’s ability to return whatever was sent to him.

Manushree proved too good for her state rival Swastika in the fina. With better strokes and a reliable backhand, Manushree ran into a good lead of 2-0. However, in the third she was behind 5-7 and then 7-9 but the gutsy Manushree overcame that phase to win the game. Then in the fourth, she was up 9-6 but Swastika managed to take three points to level the game. But Manushree, without making any fuss, finished the game taking both points on her serve to put an end to her rival’s ordeal.   

Similarly, the sub-junior Girls semifinals saw a good fight emerging between West Bengal’s Prapti Sen and Maharashtra’s Swastika Ghosh, which was a repeat of Central Zone semifinal. For the second time in succession the Maharashtra girl outwitted Prapti, the holder of South Zone title this season.

The semifinals were contested in right earnest, particularly the one between Manushree Patil, the Central Zone winner, and Delhi’s Ishita Gupta. But the latter lacked the killer instinct—she made it 3-3 from a precarious position--which the Maharashtra girl had to see her through. As for Swastika, it was equally difficult but she overcame her West Bengal opponent by the sixth game itself.

Cadet titles for TN

Tamil Nadu’s Kavyasree Baskar did an encore, annexing the Cadet Girls crown for the second time in succession when she beat Delhi’s Lakshita Narang 4-1 in an interesting battle. Kavyahree was too good with both her backhand and forehand winners and she also shocked her Delhi opponent with good service variations. But credit must go to Delhi girl, too, as she did not give up. 

In the second game particularly she came from far behind to level the score 1-1. In the third, Lakshita missed one game point but saved three before the TN girl winning it to go 2-1 up. And that was end of road for Lakshita.

Deenadayalan, who missed his first title by a whisker at Jamnagar, won it here beating his state mate Varun Ganesh in straight games. The 4-0 verdict was a foregone conclusion against a strutting Varun as Deenadaalan stamped his authority. After taking the first two games rather easily, Varun seemed putting up a good fight, but Deenadayalan’s scorching forehands brooked little challenge from his opponent.

The Cadet section saw three Tamil Nadu paddlers entering the finals—two in Cadet Boys and one in the Girls category. Deenadayalan was unlucky to lose the title to Divyansh Srivastava of UP at Jamnagar while Kavyasree wore the crow beating Karnataka’s Anargya Manjunath in the final. The other Tamil Nadu boy who made it to the final was Varun Ganesh. In the second semifinal,

Delhi’s Lakshita Narang struggled to beat Namna Jayswal of Gujarat 3-2 in the other semifinal.

In the evening, the process of qualification matches began I the Junior Boys and Girls sections.

Results:

Sub-Junior Boys: Final: Anukram Jain (PSPBA) bt Jeho Hinakulhpuingheta (PSPBA) 4-1 (11-8, 11-3, 12-14, 12-10, 11-9); Semifinals: H. Jeho bt Manush Shah (Gujarat) 4-2 (11-8, 11-8, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-9), Anukram Jain bt Jayabrata Bhattacharjee (NB) 4-2 (7-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7).

Sub-Junior Girls: Final: Manushree Patil (Mah) bt Swastika Ghosh (Mah) 4-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-9, 11-9); Semifinals: Swastika Ghosh bt Prapti Sen (WB) 4-2 (11-9, 3-11, 11-7, 13-11, 7-11, 11-8, Manushree Patil bt Ishita Gupta (Del) 4-3 (11-7, 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 3-11, 8-11, 11-8).

Cadet Boys: Final: Vishwa Deenadayalan (TN) bt Varun Ganesh (TN) 4-0 (11-6, 11-3, 11-8,11-9); Semifinals: Vishwa Deenadayalan bt Payas Jain (Del) 3-1 (11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3, Varun Ganesh bt Tharun Shanmugam (TN) 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-3). 

Cadet Girls: Final: Kavyasree (TN) bt Lakshita Narang (Del) 4-1 (11-2, 5-11, 16-14, 11-9, 11-4); Semifinals: Lakshita Narang  bt Namna Jayswal (Guj) 3-2 (11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-4, Kavyasree Baskar bt Suhana saini (Har) 3-1 (14-12, 14-12 5-11, 12-10).

TTFI Press release