TENNIS
Vaidehee reaches W35 semifinals in Burnie; Rutuja knocked out in doubles
Rutuja Bhosale and her Japanese companion Makoto Ninomiya misplaced within the quarterfinals of the Merida Open, a WTA 500 occasion in Mexico, on Thursday.
Rutuja, India No. 1 in doubles, and Makoto went down 6-2, 6-3 to the second-seeded Spanish-Chinese language duo of Cristina Bucsa and Jiang Xinyu in an hour and 10 minutes.
On the W35 occasion in Burnie, Australia, Vaidehee Chaudhari survived a scare to defeat China’s Chengyiyi Yuan 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 within the quarterfinals.
Fourth-seeded Indian Vaidehee will face seventh-seeded Japanese Mio Mushika in Saturday’s semifinals.
On the W15 occasion in Gurugram, Zeel Desai stored the Indian problem alive because the third seed got here from behind to defeat fifth-seeded Japanese Michika Ozeki 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Desai will tackle sixth-seeded Russian Ekaterina Yashina for a spot within the ultimate.
-Group Sportstar
Native boy Dhamne knocked out in Maha Open ATP Challenger 75
Native boy and wildcard Manas Dhamne squandred two match factors taking place to Croatia’s Duje Ajdukovic within the males’s singles quarterfinals on the Maha Open ATP Challenger 75 Males’s Tennis Championship performed on the Shiv Chhatrapati Kreeda Sankul, Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium.
Duje Ajdukovic, the 25-year-old at the moment ranked 346, survived a stern problem from Indian wildcard Dhamne to register a hard-earned 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 victory in a gripping contest lasting two hours and 16 minutes.
The opening set noticed each gamers engaged in a fierce baseline alternate. Ajdukovic struck first with a break within the third recreation, however Dhamne responded instantly to degree at 2-2. The younger Indian raised the tempo within the sixth recreation, hammering aggressive returns to grab one other break earlier than confidently serving out the set 6-3.
Dhamne continued his momentum within the second set, breaking within the third recreation for a 2-1 lead. Nevertheless, Ajdukovic mounted a decided comeback, breaking again within the eighth recreation to attract degree. With neither participant conceding floor, the set was pushed right into a tense tie-break. The Croatian held his nerve within the prolonged breaker, edging it 7-6(8) to revive parity.
Within the decider, Ajdukovic got here out firing, breaking within the very first recreation and consolidating with robust serving. Dhamne fought again bravely with a break within the fourth recreation to maintain his hopes alive. However Ajdukovic’s aggressive shot-making and clutch serving proved decisive as he secured one other break within the seventh recreation and closed out the set 6-4 to e book his semifinal berth.
In doubles semi ultimate motion, the Indo-Thai mixture of Pruchya Isaro and second seed Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha outplayed the third-seeded Japanese pair of Yuta Shimizu and Seita Watanabe 7-5, 7-6(4) to enter the ultimate.
High seeds Siddhant Banthia and Alexander Donski have been upset by fourth seeds Jisung Nam and Patrik Niklas-Salminen within the different semifinal.
The outcomes:
Principal Draw: Quarterfinal Spherical: Singles: Edas Butvilas [8] (Ltu) bt [Q] Masamichi Imamura (Jpn) 6-3, 6-3;
Felix Gill (Gbr) bt [Q] Maks Kasnikowski (Pol) 0-6, 7-6(2), 6-1; Federico Cina [6] (Ita) bt Alastair Grey (Gbr) 6-4, 6-2; Duje Ajdukovic (Cro) bt [WC] Manas Dhamne (Ind) 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-4.
Doubles: Semifinal Spherical: Pruchya Isaro (Tha) Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha [2] (Ind) bt Yuta Shimizu (Jpn) Seita Watanabe [3] (Jpn) 7-5, 7-6(4); Jisung Nam (Kor) Patrik Niklas-Salminen [4] (Fin) bt Siddhant Banthia (Ind) Alexander Donski [1] (Bul) 6-2, 6-4.
GOLF
Kochhar lies tenth at NZ Open golf
Indian golfer Karandeep Kochhar shot a second straight 67 to be contained in the High-10 on the New Zealand Open offered by Millbrook Resort right here on Friday.
The opposite Indian within the fray, Shiv Kapur (77-69) missed the lower.
Kochhar carded 4 birdies and an eagle towards two bogeys in his second spherical of 67. In his first spherical, he had 5 birdies towards one bogey.
– PTI
Tough begin for Indian ladies golfers in Australia
It was a tough opening day for the Indians as Hitaashee Bakshi emerged the very best amongst them at tied-Forty eighth with a card of 73 within the Ford Ladies’s NSW Open on the Girls European Tour.
Pranavi Urs carded 3-over 74 whereas Diksha Dagar (77) was T-103rd and Avani Prashanth (80) was T-126th as the primary day’s play was affected by a flooded course.
The primary spherical was suspended on Thursday after which accomplished afterward Friday.
Greater than half the sphere was nonetheless to finish 36 holes and not one of the Indians had began the second spherical.
Even because the circumstances cleared up, the course remained smooth.
– PTI
KABADDI
Indian Railways topped 72nd senior males’s nationwide champion after beating Maharashtra by 18 factors
Indian Railways lifts the nationwide males’s crown.
| Picture Credit score:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Indian Railways lifts the nationwide males’s crown.
| Picture Credit score:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Indian Railways secured the 72nd senior males’s nationwide kabaddi championship trophy on Friday on the Sama Indoor Stadium, Vadodara after beating Maharashtra 49–31 within the ultimate.
Railways—led by Sunil Kumar, probably the most profitable Professional Kabaddi League captain—prevailed over 29 groups divided into eight swimming pools, who performed throughout 54 matches over the past 4 days.
On its street to the ultimate, the Railways beat the likes of Chandigarh and Karnataka earlier than claiming its ultimate victory over a powerful Maharashtra facet led by Aslam Inamdar, one of many high gamers in PKL.
The concluding day of the match featured 4 groups in motion, beginning off with two semifinal video games performed between Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and Indian Railways and Chandigarh, respectively.
After beating their respective opponents within the semifinals, Railways and Maharashtra superior to the finals, which was dominated by the previous with a powerful all-round efficiency. Pankaj Mohite led the raiding unit with 12 raid factors, whereas Ashu Malik, who additionally led Dabang Delhi Okay.C. to victory in PKL 12, contributed eight factors.
Railways’ defence complemented the raiders successfully because it completed with 14 sort out factors and utilized sustained stress on Maharashtra all through the competition. Regardless of efforts from Shivam Patare and Aslam Inamdar, Maharashtra struggled to match Railways’ depth because the latter pulled away decisively to seal the championship by an 18-point margin.
Bhavani Rajput, who performed for Goa, ended the raiding standings on high, with a complete of 58 raid factors, secured in 81 raids. In the meantime, Shubham Shinde, who is part of the champion’s crew, secured probably the most variety of sort out factors—27.
-Group Sportstar
BADMINTON
Indian shuttlers proceed robust run at Dutch Junior Worldwide
Males’s singles participant Dev Ruparelia continued his successful run on the YONEX Dutch Junior Worldwide 2026, defeating Clement Massias in straight video games 21-13, 21-11 to e book his place within the pre-quarterfinals within the Netherlands.
He’ll subsequent face fourth seed Chung-Hsiang Yih of Chinese language Taipei.
Within the different males’s singles motion, Nishchal Chand endured a hard-fought one hour 21 minutes contest towards Hong Kong’s Chan Yee Hei to emerge victorious.
Nishchal received the primary recreation 21-19, however Chan compelled a decider by taking the second recreation 21-10. The Indian held his nerve in a tense end to assert the decider 23-21, advancing to the Spherical of 16 the place he’ll tackle Denmark’s twelfth seed Frederik Hinding.
Within the ladies’s singles, Shaina Manimuthu defeated Denmark’s Ida Nissen after dropping the opening recreation 19-21. She bounced again to win the subsequent two video games 21-7, 21-7 in 37 minutes to progress to the subsequent stage, the place she is going to face Korea’s Han Bi Kim.
– PTI
Revealed on Feb 27, 2026