Indian sports wrap, September 21: Deva, Madina win Udaipur Half Marathon

ATHLETICS

Deva, Madina win

Deva Ram and Madina Paul emerged victorious in the male and female category, respectively, in the Vedanta Zinc City Half Marathon in Udaipur on Sunday.

The event, which is being championed as ‘India’s most beautiful marathon’, saw over 7000 people from 27 states (across three categories: 21 km, 10 km, and 5 km) taking part, a 40 per cent increase from the inaugural edition last year.

“Finishing 21 km in 1 hour 35 minutes and winning this year, just like last year, is an incredible feeling. This platform inspires us to push our limits,” Madina said after collecting her winner’s medal.

Ram, meanwhile, reserved special praise for the scenic beauty of the route, with the breathtaking Fateh Sagar Lake and the imposing yet impressive Aravalli Ranges being the highlights. “As a national player and avid marathoner who has completed over 200 marathons, I can say that running on this route with Fatehsagar lake as the backdrop is an experience that truly stands out,” he remarked.

Arun Mishra, CEO of Hindustan Zinc and a finisher in the half marathon, expressed joy at the turnout. “The overwhelming participation shows how Udaipur is embracing fitness as a way of life. What started as a local initiative has now evolved into an international celebration of health, purpose and people power,” he noted.

– Anirudh Velamuri

TENNIS

Fenesta Open National championship to begin on September 29

Nitin Kumar Sinha and Vaishnavi Adkar are expected to be seeded No.1 in the men’s and women’s sections in the Fenesta National tennis championship to be played at the DLTA Complex from September 29.

It will once again be a fortnight-long action, with the first week featuring the Under-18 events apart from competition in the men’s and women’s sections.

The second week will be for the under-16 and under-14 events for boys and girls.

Sidharth Rawat, Vishnu Vardhan, Chirag Duhan, Prajwal Dev, Ishaque Eqbal, Parth Aggarwal, Oges Theyjo, Ajay Malik and Manish Sureshkumar, apart from former champion VM Ranjeet, are the other leading players expected to be part of the men’s draw.

Akanksha Nitture, Pooja Ingale, Soha Sadiq, Lalitya Kalluri, Aditi Rawat, Sahira Singh, Tejasvi Dabas are some of the leading players expected to be part of the women’s draw.

Arnav Paparkar, Arjun Rathi, Diya Ramesh and Parthsarthi Mundhe are the leading juniors scheduled to compete in the U-18 boys and girls events.

The Chairman and Managing Director of the DCM Shriram group, Ajay Shriram and Vikram Shriram were delighted to have supported Indian tennis with the event for more than 30 years.

“We are proud to celebrate the 30th edition of the Fenesta National tennis championship, an enduring platform for Indian tennis. Our focus has been to identify promise early, back it with opportunity, and help athletes scale from national performance to global ambition,” they said in a statement.

Not surprisingly, every star of Indian tennis over the last 30 years has passed through the championships, which offers a prize of Rs. 300,000 each for the men’s and women’s champions, and Rs. 200,000 each for the runners-up.

It was on the suggestion of Sania Mirza that the tournament promptly decided to offer equal prize money for men and women some years ago.

The latest star of Indian tennis, Dhakshineswar Suresh who beat the Swiss No. 1 in setting up India’s 3-1 victory over Switzerland in the Davis Cup World Group-1 tie in Biel, had showed his early promise in the Fenesta championship.

Dhakshineswar had won the U-16 title in 2016, and two years later won the men’s doubles title in partnership with Parikshit Somani. Later, he built on the foundation with solid training at the Wake Forest University in USA, to develop into an all-court player, with an explosive serve and fierce forehand that promise a bright future for him and Indian tennis.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

CRICKET

All India JP Atray memorial: HCA beats RSPB by five wickets

A fine spell by Vishnu Choudhary (6/28) helped Haryana Cricket Association (HCA) defeat Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) by five wickets in the 30th All India JP Atray memorial cricket tournament on Sunday.

In another match, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) beat Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) by 114 runs.

-Team Sportstar

Yash Dubey and Lalit Yadav notch centuries in Dr (Capt.) K. Thimmappiah Memorial semifinals

Yash Dubey (140, 292b, 16×4, 2×6) and Himanshu Mantri (97 batting, 212b, 6×4, 2×6) helped Madhya Pradesh take the first-day honours against Himachal Pradesh in the semifinals of the Dr (Capt.) K. Thimmappiah Memorial tournament at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday.

Asked to bat first, Madhya Pradesh lost Harsh Gawli early but Dubey and Mantri came together for a 228-run association. But Dubey fell two balls from the scheduled close of play as he was bowled by Rohit Kumar.

In the other last-four clash, Lalit Yadav’s unbeaten century (100 batting, 189b, 9×4, 2×6) carried Goa to 323 for nine at stumps versus KSCA Secretary’s XI.

-Team Sportstar

MOTORSPORT

Double for Bengaluru teenager Ishaan Madesh

Ishaan Madesh, the 16-year-old from Bengaluru, more than made up for a disappointing outing yesterday by winning both the races in the premier MRF Formula 2000 category to finish the second round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2025 on a high at the Madras International Circuit in Chennai.

A big story of the weekend was scripted by local ace Ritesh Rai (Buzzing Hornet) who, driving a Volkswagen Polo, walked away with a triple crown, winning all three races in the top-end Indian Touring Cars (ITC) category, displaying impressive pace and nerves to hold off a strong challenge from Coimbatore veteran Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) in a misfiring Honda V-tec.

Balu returned to the championship after a year’s break. Defending champion Biren Pithawalla (N1 Racing) from Mumbai, struggling with a turbo issue in his VW Polo, had a P2 and a retirement.

– Team Sportstar

GOLF

Aditi yet to start second round as weather plays spoilsport

Aditi Ashok stayed where she was at 5-under through 18 holes as weather played spoilsport on day 2 of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, an LPGA event in Arkansas.

Play was suspended due to dangerous weather conditions as Aditi continued to remain at T-19 position.

Savannah Grewal (T-45) and Gurleen Kaur (T-88) were also unable to start their second round.

– PTI

Pranavi, Hitaashee on tied 47th place in La Sella Open

Pranavi Urs and Hitaashee Bakshi were tied for the 47th place with one more round to go in the 2025 La Sella Open in Alicante.

Pranavi carded an even par 72, while Hitaashee shot 1-over 73.

Pranavi had two birdies and two bogeys all on the back nine of the course and between the 13th and the 18th.

Hitaashee had four birdies, but she also gave away three bogeys and a double bogey on Par-5 ninth.

The other Indians — Diksha Dagar, Tvesa Malik, Avani Prashanth, Ridhima Dilawari and Vani Kapoor — missed the halfway cut.

– PTI

HOCKEY

Punjab Hockey League: SAI confirms knockout berth with 9-1 win against Ghumanhera Risers

Sports Authority of India (SAI), Sonipat, confirmed its knockout berth with a 9-1 victory over Ghumanhera Risers, Delhi, in the Punjab hockey league at the Surjit Singh Stadium on Sunday.

The SAI team took its tally to 33 points at the top of the table in the eight-team competition.

Roundglass Academy stayed a close second with 29 points following its 3-2 win over Surjit Academy, when captain Gursewak Singh scored all the three goals for the winner.

The top four teams from the league will qualify for the semifinals.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

SHOOTING

Tejaswini tops women’s 25m sports pistol event in National shooting selection trials

Tejaswani beat world record holder Rhythm Sangwan 38-37 to top women’s 25m sports pistol event in the National shooting selection trials at the Madhya Pradesh Academy on Sunday.

Tejaswani had a two-point lead over Rhythm before the last series of five shots in the final. Rhythm (588), the qualification topper, could only narrow the gap with four hits, while Tejaswani had three.

Multiple World Cup gold medalist and Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat placed third ahead of Chinki Yadav, Anuja Verma, Vibhuti Bhatia, Pushpanjali Rana and Anjali Choudhary.

Simranpreet Kaur Brar shot 576 and missed the final by one point.

In men’s 50m rifle 3-position event, Niraj Kumar pipped Olympian Chain Singh in the shoot-off after the two tied on 462.0 in the 45-shot final. Qualification topper Swapnil Kusale, the Olympic medalist in Paris, was pushed to the fourth spot by Akhil Sheoran.

Nishan Budha, Sidharth Gaur, Kiran Jadhav and Goldi Gurjar were the others to make the final.

In women’s air rifle, Asian champion Elavenil Valarivan beat Sakshi Padekar by 0.5 point as she wound up with hits of 10.9 and 10.6 in the 24-shot final.

Sonam Maskar placed third ahead of Rajshree Sancheti, Meghana Sajjanar, Shreya Agrawal,Vidarsa Vinod and Arya Borse.

Shreya topped qualification with an impressive 636.4.

-Team Sportstar

Published on Sep 21, 2025