Mumbai paddler Sanil clinches silver medal
CHANDIGARH: Mumbai paddler Sanil Shetty bagged the silver medal in the men’s singles competition of the 11Even Sports National Ranking (North Zone) Table Tennis Championship. The sixth-seeded Shetty went down to top seed Anthony Amalraj, also of PSPB, 1-4 in the final at the Panjab University Gymnasium Indoor Hall on Thursday.
Shetty started well and won the opening game, but he could not maintain the tempo as Amalraj came back strongly and went on to win the subsequent four games to complete a deserving 5-11, 11-8, 11-8, 13-11, 11-2 victory and emerge champion.
Earlier in the semis, Amalraj defeated G Sathiyan (PSPB) 4-3 (12-10, 9 -11, 3-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6) while Shetty had overcame Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 4-2 (11-6, 13-11, 5-11, 13-11, 5-11, 15-13).
INDIAN SHUTTLERS SAIL INTO PRE-QUARTERS
CALGARY (CANADA): India had an easy outing at the Canada Open badminton tournament as all the shuttlers entered the third round of their respective categories.
In men’s singles, top seed Ajay Jayaram came back from a game down to beat local boy Martin Giuffre 17-21, 21-17, 21-13. Second seed HS Prannoy beat Sweden’s Mattias Borg 13-21, 21-11, 21-15.
In the other men’s singles matches, RMV Gurusaidutt thrashed Jonathan Lai 21-8, 21-6 while B Sai Praneeth edged past Chinese Taipei’s Kan Chao Yu 26-24, 21-16.
Young shuttler Pratul Joshi registered an easy 21-13, 21-12 win over Alistair Casey.
JAIPUR PINK PANTHERS HOLD BENGALURU BULLS
JAIPUR: Jasvir Singh scored a crucial point in the dying seconds of the game as Jaipur Pink Panthers came back from an 11-point deficit to tie 28-28 against the Bengaluru Bulls on Thursday.
For long periods of the game, it looked like the Bulls would coast to a comfortable victory but Jasvir had a tremendous second half to snatch a tie from the jaws of defeat.
Jaipur Pink Panthers moved up to third place with nine points whereas Bengaluru Bulls jumped to fourth spot with eight points.
SAINA MOVES UP TO FIFTH IN RANKINGS
NEW DELHI: Saina Nehwal moved one place up to occupy the fifth spot while PV Sindhu remained at 10th in the latest Badminton World Federation Rankings issued on Thursday.
In the men’s singles rankings, Kidambi Srikanth, Ajay Jayaram and H S Prannoy were unchanged at 11th, 24th and 28th spots respectively.