Indian sports wrap, June 6: Elite Pro Basketball League announces launch of Collegiate Slam Showdown

BASKETBALL

Elite Pro Basketball League announces launch of Collegiate Slam Showdown

The Elite Pro Basketball League, in collaboration with the Elite Women’s Pro Basketball League, the biggest basketball platforms in India announced the launch of the Collegiate Slam Showdown, an open basketball tournament for university students across India starting from the June 14, 2024.

The Collegiate Slam Showdown will be divided into four zones – North, South, East, and West – with both male and female categories over a total of 20 days with thousands of amateur and professional basketball players.

The zonal championships will be followed by a national championship, which is scheduled to take place in Noida from July 11 to 14, 2024.

In addition to competing for the championship title, top players from the winning teams may also stand the chance to train with and potentially be drafted into teams in the Elite Pro Basketball and Elite Women’s Pro Basketball Leagues.

Zonal Championship

South Zone: June 14-16, 2024

East Zone: June 21-23, 2024

West Zone: June 28-30, 2024

North Zone: July 5-7, 2024

TENNIS

AITA men’s tennis tournament: Kesharwani beats Borthakur to reach final

Maan Kesharwani beat Abhinansu Borthakur 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 to set up a title clash against Oges Theyjo Jaya Prakash in the Rs. 250,000 AITA men’s tennis tournament on Thursday.

The results (semifinals):

Maan Kesharwani bt Abhinansu Borthakur 5-7, 6-4, 6-2; Oges Theyjo bt Ajay Malik 6-4, 2-6, 6-1; Quarterfinals: Abhinansu bt Keerthivassan Suresh 6-0, 6-0; Maan bt Aditya Balsekar 6-4, 0-6, 6-4; Oges Theyjo bt Rashein Samuel 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1; Ajay Malik bt Omar Sumar 6-3, 6-2.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Ankita Raina reaches quarterfinal of $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament

Ankita Raina fought her way past Angelina Wirges of Germany 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal, on Thursday.

The results:

€148,625 Challenger, Surbiton, Britain

Doubles (quarterfinals): Yuki Bhambri & Lloyd Glasspool (GBR) bt Anirudh Chandrasekar & Arjun Kadhe 6-2, 6-3;

Pre-quarterfinals: Nicolas Barrientos (Col) & Diego Hidalgo (Ecu) bt Rithvik Bollipalli & Niki Poonacha 1-6, 7-6(3), [10-5]; Anirudh Chandrasekar & Arjun Kadhe bt Charles Broom & Ben Jones (GBR) 6-7(4), 6-4, [10-2]; Yuki & Lloyd bt Mackenzie McDonald (USA) & Shang Juncheng (Chn) 7-6(5), 6-3.

$82,000 Challenger, Tyler, USA

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Colin Sinclair (NMI) & Coleman Wong (Hkg) bt Joshua Parris (GBR) & Ramkumar Ramanathan 3-6, 6-4, [10-8].

$25,000 ITF men, Cordoba, Spain

Doubles (quarterfinals): Siddhant Banthia & Tennyson Whiting (USA) bt Mario Fernandez (Esp) & Karol Malirz (Pol) 7-5, 6-4.

$15,00 ITF men, Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland

Singles (first round): Ignacio Monzon (Arg) bt Manas Dhamne 6-3, 6-3.

$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Manish Sureshkumar bt Nikita Ianin 6-1, 6-1.

$60,000 ITF women, Sumter, USA

Singles (first round): Sahaja Yamalapalli bt Charlotte Chavatipon (USA) 7-5, 6-1.

$40,000 ITF women, Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Ankita Raina bt Angelina Wirges (Ger) 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3.

$25,000 ITF women, Daegu, Korea

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Kim Cherry (Kor) bt Vaidehi Chudhari 6-2, 6-4; Petra Hule (Aus) bt Shrivalli Bhamidipaty 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Sakura Hosogi & Misaki Matsuda (Jpn) bt Shrivalli Bhamidipty & Vaidehi Chaudhari 6-4, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF women, San Diego, USA

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Eryn Cayetano (USA) & Lily Fairclough (Aus) bt Abigail Amos (GBR) & Teja Tirunelveli 6-3, 6-3.

$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Zeel Desai bt Carolann Delaunay (Ncl) 6-3, 6-3.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

HANDBALL

Women’s Handball League to scout upcoming players through nationwide ‘Future handball champions talent hunt’

Southeast Asia’s groundbreaking Women’s Handball League (WHL), promoted by Pavna Sports Venture, has launched an ambitious “future handball champions program” starting from the upcoming league season in January 2025 with a focus on scouting and developing young and talented Indian women players from across the country.

The Indian handball team is currently ranked 5th in Asia and the country has 10,000 registered players and close to 30,000 players playing the game in India, currently.

The women’s handball league will feature prominent players from India, along with those from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe, and Africa.

The league, which will be played under the auspices of the South Asian Handball Federation and supported by the Asian Handball Federation, is set to feature six franchise teams in its inaugural edition.

With this goal in mind, the League has entered into a long-term partnership with homegrown equipment manufacturer, Nivia Sports, to conduct multiple talent hunt programs across the country to tap and nurture young prospects of the game and also aim to make sport more accessible, with special emphasis on advancing women’s handball India.

-Team Sportstar

WRESTLING

Aman Sehrawat wins silver in Budapest Ranking Series

Olympic-qualified wrestler Aman Sehrawat (freestyle 57kg) took the silver medal in the second Ranking Series in Budapest on Thursday. Sehrawat, who beat Georgia’s Roberti Dingashvili 11-1 and individual neutral athlete Aryan Tsiutryn 14-4 to reach the final, lost to Japan’s World championships silver medallist Rei Higuchi 11-1 in the title clash.

-Team Sportstar

CHESS

Divya Deshmukh, Ayan Allahverdiyeva share lead in World junior girls’ chess championship

Top seed Divya Deshmukh, who beat the sole overnight leader Narmin Abdinova, and Ayan Allahverdiyeva shared the lead at the end of the fifth round of the World junior girls’ chess championship at Gandhinagar on Thursday. They had 4.5 points each.

In the boys’ event, Jose Gabriel Cardoso and Kazybek Nogerbek were in the joint lead with 4.5 points apiece

Important results (fifth round):

Open: Jose Gabriel Cardoso (Col) 4.5 drew with Mayank Chakraborty 4; Kazybek Nogerbek (Kaz) 4.5 bt A.R. Ilamparthi 3.5; L. Srihari 3 lost to Aleksey Grebnev (FIDE) 4; Pranav Anand 4 bt Aruj Shrivatri 3; Aleksandr Domalchuk-Jonasson (Isl) 3.5 drew with Gleb Dudin (Hun) 3.5; Siddharth Jagadeesh (Sgp) 3 lost to L.M.S.T. De Silva (SL) 4; Sambit Panda 3 lost to Rudik Makarian (FIDE) 4; Jan Subelj (Slo) 3.5 drew with Sanket Chakravarty 3.5; Ayush Sharman 3.5 drew with Emin Ohanyan (Arm) 3.5; Tobias Koelle (Ger) 3.5 drew with Avinash Ramesh 3.5.

Girls: Divya Deshmukh 4.5 bt Narmin Abdinova (Aze) 4; Mariam Mkrtchyan (Arm) 4 drew with Kashthrui Bhai 4; V. Ridhiya 4 drew with Beloslava Krasteva (Bul) 4; Ksenia Norman (FIDE) 4 drew with Xeniya Balabayeva (Kaz) 4; Sofia Hryzlova (Sui) 3.5 lost to Ayan Allahverdiyeva (Aze) 4.5; Liya Kurmangaliyeva (Kaz) 3 lost to Lucia Striskova (Svk) 4; G. Tejaswini 3 lost to Martyna Wikar (Pol) 4; Rakshitta Ravi 3.5 drew with Lala Shohradova (Tkm) 3.5; Sachi Jain 4 bt Meryem Agajanova (Tkm) 3; Anastasia Grozdanovic (Srb) 3.5 drew with Milena Gasparyan (Arm) 3.5.

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