Indian sports activities wrap, February 19: Gopi Thonakal, Ashwini Jadhav to headline New Delhi Marathon

ATHLETICS

Defending champions Gopi Thonakal and Ashwini Jadhav return to New Delhi Marathon

Defending males’s and girls’s champions Gopi Thonakal and Ashwini Madan Jadhav will headline the tenth version of the New Delhi Marathon scheduled to happen right here on February 23.

Recognised by Athletics Federation of India (AFI) as a nationwide occasion, the marathon may even see participation from the nation’s high runners together with Anish Thapa, Belliyappa, Man Singh, Akshay Saini and Vikram Bangriya the lads’s part.

The likes of Laxmi KM, Nirmaben Thakor Bharatjee and Disket Dolma will characteristic within the ladies’s area.

The occasion, which can also be recognised by World Athletics, is a qualifying race for Worldwide Beginner races.

Runners will compete throughout 4 classes — full marathon, half marathon, 10k and 5k.

Former Indian cricket crew captain Ajinkya Rahane and head badminton coach Pullela Gopichand will flag off the marathon.

The occasion is supported by Delhi Metro, providing free rides to and from JLN Stadium for individuals with bibs.

The marathon will concentrate on lowering plastic waste by providing eco-friendly hyderation stations, minimising single-use plastic bottles and inspiring the usage of reusable water containers.

The occasion may even implement waste segregation and promote recycling all through the venue.

-PTI

POWERBOATING

Kohli, LeBron, Nadal are crew homeowners in world’s first electrical powerboating competitors

Star India batter Virat Kohli, tennis legend Rafael Nadal, and basketball icon LeBron James are among the many distinguished crew homeowners of the UIM E1 World Championship, the world’s first all-electric powerboating competitors.

The occasion will characteristic a star-studded lineup of crew homeowners from throughout sports activities, music, and leisure, together with Kohli, whose Crew Blue Rising will compete within the international collection.

In addition to Kohli, the championship boasts of high-profile crew homeowners similar to basketball legend James (Crew AlUla), music producer and DJ Steve Aoki (Aoki Racing Crew), and NFL nice Tom Brady (Crew Brady).

Different groups embody Crew Drogba, owned by soccer Chelsea star Didier Drogba, Crew Miami powered by Magnus, owned by Latin music star Marc Anthony, and Crew Rafa, backed by tennis icon Nadal.

Moreover, Hollywood actor Will Smith leads Westbrook Racing, whereas Marcelo Claure helms Crew Brazil by Claure Group.

The UIM E1 World Championship offered by the Saudi Public Funding Fund (PIF) is exclusive in its dedication to variety and innovation, that includes mixed-gender pilots chosen from numerous racing disciplines, together with rally, jet ski racing, and System 1.

These pilots undergo the E1 Pilot Academy, the place they’re chosen based mostly on their racing abilities.

The races will happen throughout iconic areas all over the world together with Jeddah, Miami, Monte Carlo and Doha.

The championship can be broadcast dwell on FanCode.

-PTI

ESPORTS

Finals of School Rivals season 2 to be performed in Mumbai

The second season of School Rivals, one among India’s main competitions to scout esports athletes, can have its last performed in Mumbai on February 23.

Seven finalists will compete for the trophy throughout three gaming titles, Valorant, BGMI and EA FC 24.

The summit conflict will happen at Corridor 4, NESCO, Mumbai, after 224 days of nationwide qualifiers and, has a prize pool of fifty lakh rupees.

The earlier season’s finale had drawn over 5,000 attendees who noticed 28 finalists battling it out throughout six titles—BGMI, FIFA 23, Street to Valor, Valorant, Tekken 7, and Counter Strike-2—in a best-of-three format.

Sahil Nagpal had received the match and received a dream ticket to grow to be knowledgeable BGMI participant for Rivals Ape X, the youth crew of Orangutan, a number one Esports crew within the nation.

The recognition of School Rivals has solely burgeoned within the second season, with over two lakh registrations throughout 55 schools in 22 cities and over 11 lakh college students witnessing the competitors.

This season’s finale may even characteristic Indian hip-hop stars Seedhe Maut, Pho and Dizlaw, giving it a synergy of leisure and gaming.

The competitors is a three way partnership of Ampverse, Asia’s main Gaming ecosystem, and DMI Finance, the NonBanking Monetary Firm (“NBFC”) of the DMI Group.

-Crew Sportstar

TENNIS

AITA Rating Tennis Event: Jaya Kapoor beats Saily Thakkar

Qualifier Jaya Kapoor beat third seed Saily Thakkar 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 within the ladies’s quarterfinals of the HPCL-Mittal Rs. 200,000 AITA rating tennis match on the CLTA Complicated in Chandigarh on Wednesday.

Within the males’s occasion, Yash Yadav beat second seed Sarthak Suden in straight units.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Defending champion Valentin Vacherot sails into quarterfinals of Pune Challenger

Defending champion Valentin Vacherot of Monaco eased previous qualifier Masamichi Imamura of Japan 6-2, 6-3 within the pre-quarterfinals of the Pune Challenger Tennis Event on the Balewadi Stadium on Wednesday.

Within the quarterfinals, Vacherot will play eighth-seed Alexis Galarneau of Canada.

In doubles, there was quite a lot of success for the Indian gamers within the high half of the draw, whereas three Indian groups within the backside half of the draw couldn’t discover their manner ahead.

Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan beat Michael Geerts and Billy Harris 6-0, 6-4 to arrange a quarterfinal towards high seeds Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth.

NIki Poonacha in partnership with Courtney Lock, the finalists of the Delhi Challenger final week, arrange a quarterfinal towards third seeds Blake Ellis and Tristan Schoolkate of Australia.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Qatar Open: Bopanna and Borges enter quarterfinals

Rohan Bopanna in partnership with Nuno Borges of Portugal beat the fourth seeds Simone Bolelli & Andrea Vavassori of Italy 7-6(2), 7-6(4) inthe doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $3,035,960 ATP tennis match in Doha, Qatar.

Within the quarterfinals, Bopanna and Borges will play Julian Money and Lloyd Glasspool.

Yuki Bhambri, who had made the quarterfinals with Ivan Dodig of Croatia earlier, will problem the highest seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Shweta takes one-shot lead in third leg of Hero WPGT

Shweta Mansingh, who has come near profitable her maiden title on the Hero Girls’s Professional Golf Tour a number of occasions, put herself in pole place after the primary spherical of the third leg of the Hero Girls’s Professional Golf Tour 2025 on the Poona Membership Golf Course in Pune.

Shweta shot 2-under 69 and took a one-shot lead over Sneha Singh and Vani Kapoor, who carded 1-under 70 every.

Skilled Neha Tripathi and final season’s Hero Order of Advantage winner Hitaashee Bakshi, making her first begin of the season, had been tied for fourth at even-par 71.

Hitaashee recovered from a gap bogey to complete with a birdie.

4 gamers — Amandeep Drall, Kriti Chowhan, Shagun Narain and Vidhatri Urs — had been tied for sixth place with scores of 1-over 72 every.

Seher Atwal (73) was tied for tenth with the highest newbie of the day, Saanvi Somu.

Shweta, who was tied for second with Sneha in leg 16 of the 2023 season at TNGF, was additionally tied for second earlier at leg 15 of the 2021 season at RCGC.

Shweta dropped an early bogey on the second, however she made up with three birdies in 4 holes between the fourth and the seventh.

She turned in 2-under and added one other birdie on the tenth to go three-under.

A late bogey on the Par-5 18th gap pulled her again as she completed at 2-under 69.

Sneha, winner of the second leg this season, had one bogey on Par-5 however made up with birdies on the tenth and the thirteenth to make sure she was beneath par for the day.

Vani, who was runner-up behind Sneha within the second leg, noticed all of the motion on the entrance 9 with one bogey on the third and birdies on the fourth and the ninth. She parred the complete again 9.

Neha’s 4 birdies had been undone by two bogeys and a double bogey, whereas Hitaashee had two every of birdies and bogeys.

-PTI

Yuvraj Sandhu, Manu Gandas get pleasure from two-shot benefit at midway stage

Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu and Manu Gandas of Gurugram loved a two-shot benefit on the midway stage of the Rs 1 crore Gujarat Open In Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

Yuvraj (32-34), winner of the PGTI season-opener final week, and Manu (31-35), a former winner at Glade One Golf Resort & Membership, had been positioned atop the leaderboard with similar totals of six-under 66 as they carded second-round scores of 34 and 35 respectively.

Saptak Talwar (34-34) of Higher Noida posted a second straight 34 to be positioned third at four-under 68.

Defending champion Abhinav Lohan (36) and Ahmedabad’s Varun Parikh (34) had been each positioned tied for tenth at two-under 70.

The primary two rounds of the occasion consisted of 9 holes every.

After the completion of 18 holes on Wednesday, the reduce was utilized at even-par 72.

Fifty-two professionals made the reduce.

The third and fourth rounds will now encompass 18 holes every. The match can be performed over a complete of 54 holes.

The par for the course within the first two rounds was 36. The par for the course within the third and fourth rounds can be 72.

Sandhu produced two birdies on day two to rise one spot into the joint lead.

In a single day chief Manu continued on high of the pack as joint chief on account of his two birdies and one bogey.

-PTI

HOCKEY

Delhi College Alumna wins Shyam Lal Hockey Event with a 2-1 victory in last

Akshita scored two objectives to information Delhi College Alumna to a 2-1 victory over Indira Gandhi Institute of Bodily Training and Sports activities Sciences within the ladies’s last of the Shyam Lal hockey Event on the Shyam Lal School floor.

Manita of the champion crew was declared the “participant of the match”, whereas Akshita was offered the “participant of the match” award.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

BASKETBALL

INBL Professional basketball league: Punjab Warriors beats Gujarat Stallions;

Lucas Barker emerged the unlikely hero as he beat the hooter with a three-pointer to assist Punjab Warriors to a 74-73 victory within the INBL Professional basketball league on the Thyagaraj Stadium on Wednesday.

It was Gujarat that known as the pictures proper via earlier than the previous couple of seconds, after main 47-38 at halftime. With 5 seconds left on the clock it was Gujarat that led 73-71.

When play resumed after the time-out, Punjab made the final seconds depend as Barker, who had missed the sooner 5 3-point makes an attempt and had scored solely 4 factors within the match, was put in possession. This time, with seconds ticking away, Barker slotted it neat to set off celebrations within the Punjab ranks.

It was the fourth victory for the Punjab crew from seven matches, and it was on par with 4 different groups besides Delhi Dribblers, which had three wins from eight matches.

-Kamesh Srinivasan