HOCKEY
Senior National men’s hockey c’ship: Maharashtra confirms place in quarters
As the Senior National men’s hockey championship approaches the knock-out stage, Maharashtra confirmed its place in the quarterfinals with a resounding 5-0 win over Goa in a Pool G encounter at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Sunday.
Barring Pool B, where the match between Mizoram and Haryana on Monday will decide as to who will make it to the knock-outs, the remaining teams from their respective Groups have more or less made it to the last eight.
Maharashtra was in a must-win situation against Goa. After Jharkhand put it across Gujarat 18-2 in Pool G, it was clear that Maharashtra had to win – a draw will not suffice-to progress to the second stage, and it did it quite comfortably.
The results:
– Team Sportstar
POLO
Achievers win Cavalry Gold polo tournament
Abhimanyu Pathak scored four goals in guiding Achievers to a 7-5 victory over Jindal Panther in the final of the Habanos Cavalry Gold polo tournament at the Jaipur polo ground here on Sunday.
Abhimanyu was adjudged the “most valuable player’, while mare El Colica, ridden by Simran Shergill, was declared the ‘best polo pony’.
The results (final):
-Kamesh Srinivasan
TENNIS
Dalibor Svrcina wins ITF men’s tennis tournament
Top seed Dalibor Svrcina of the Czech Republic sailed to a 6-2, 6-0 victory over seventh seed Nick Chappell of the USA in the final of the USD 25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the Kalinga Stadium on Sunday.
It was the fourth singles title of his career for the 22-year Dalibor, who was ranked a career best 154 in October last year.
The results (final):
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Athletics
KERALA SCHOOLS ATHLETICS: Servan betters own marks, Ameen topples Afsal’s record
K.C. Servan has made breaking records a habit. And he just has to look within his family for inspiration.
The 18-year-old from Kasargod broke his own senior boys discus throw and shot put records in the Kerala State School Games athletics at the Maharaja’s Stadium here on Sunday.
He is coached by his dad K.C. Girish who, incidentally, is among the first athletes from Kasargod to win a State School Games gold. And a couple of years ago, Servan was chasing his elder brother Sidharth’s discus records and breaking them regularly.
Servan, the Asian youth discus silver medallist in Kuwait 2022, now holds the discus records in all the three age categories here. And he bettered his senior (under-19) discus record by nearly three metres here.
Bigger tests await Servan who won the youth Nationals silver earlier this year. “He will be competing in the under-20 category at next month’s Junior Nationals in Bhubaneswar and he will have a heavier 1.75kg discus there and it will be one of his first competitions with the heavier one,” said Girish. “Here, he is throwing a 1.5kg discus.”
Incidentally Henin Elizabeth, who won the senior girls shot put today to add to the discus gold taken earlier, also trains at the Girish’s KC Throws Academy in Kasargod.
BREAKING RECORDS TOGETHER
Meanwhile Malappuram’s Muhammed Ameen and his KKM HSS school-mate and training partner Muhammed Jaseel (3:54.88s) broke the senior boys 1500m meet record of Mohammed Afsal, the 800m silver medallist at last year’s Asian Games in China, while winning gold and silver. Incidentally, the two 18-year-olds were born on the same day and had bettered the 3000m record a couple of days ago.
The results: Athletics (winners only):
Stan Rayan