BRIDGE
New Delhi: The Indian senior’s team of Hemant Jalan, Kamal Mukherjee, Badal Das, Pranab Bardhan, Subrata Saha, Sukamal Das, won the gold in the 4th Asia Cup bridge championship in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The Indian team had a commanding lead of 119-50 after two sessions against Japan, and the latter conceded defeat in the third session.
The Indian mixed team entered the final, beating Chinese Taipei 118-97, but was beaten in the final 102-147.5 to host Indonesia, and
settled for the silver medal. Kiran Nadar – B Satyanarayana, Himani – Rajeev Khandelwal, Bindiya Naidoo – Priya Ranjan Sinha represented the Indian mixed team.
The Indian women’s team missed out on a semifinal spot, but the duo of Asha Sharma and Puja Batra won the gold medal in the pairs event, while Vasanti Shah and Bharati Dey won the bronze.
In the open team event, India lost the semifinals to the eventual champion China 102-106. It came back strongly to beat Japan 132-85 for the bronze.
Rajeshwar Twari, Keyzad Ankaleswaria, Sumit Mukherjee, D Majumdar, Jaggy Shivdasani, Sandeep Thakral made the Indian open team.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
TENNIS
Purav and Divij lose to third seeds in French Challenger
New Delhi: Purav Raja and Divij Sharan were beaten by third seeds Jonathan Eysseric and David Pel in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the €67,960 Challenger tennis tournament in Brest, France, on Wednesday.
The Results:
€67,960 Challenger, Brest, France
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jonathan Eysseric (Fra) & David Pel (Ned) bt Purav Raja & Divij Sharan 6-2, 7-5.
$25,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia
Singles (first round): Yunchaokete Bu (Chn) bt Niki Poonacha 7-5, 7-6(4).
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rithvik Bollipalli & Niki Poonacha bt Shinnosuke Hiramatsu & Shunsuke Wakita (Jpn) 6-4, 6-3.
$25,000 ITF men, Jakarta, Indonesia
Singles (first round): Sidharth Rawat bt Ren Nakamura (Jpn) 6-4, 6-1. Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Park Uisung & Son Ji Hoon (Kor) bt Ren Nakamura (Jpn) & Dharmil Shah 6-2, 6-2.
$15,000 ITF men, Al Zahra, Kuwait
Singles (first round): William Jansen (GBR) bt Lohithaksha Bathrinath 6-1, 3-6, 6-1; Rishi Reddy bt Fouad Behbehani (Kuw) 6-0, 6-3; Miguel Garcia (Esp) bt Guhan Rajan 6-2, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Pruchya Isaro (Tha) & Guhan Rajan bt Cyril Vandermeersch & Antoine Vincent (Fra) 6-7(11), 6-3, [10-8]; William Jansen (GBR) & BOrys Zgola (Pol) bt Ivan Kremenchutskyi (Ukr) & Tushar Sharma 6-0, 6-2; Patrik Oplustil (Cze) & Lohithaksha Bathrinath bt Andrea Del Federico (Ita) & Felipe Mikkelsen (Den) 6-3, 7-5; Vlacheslav Bielinskyi & Igor Dudun (Ukr) bt Palaphoom Kovapitukted (Tha) & Rishi Reddy 6-3, 1-6, [10-4].
$15,000 ITF men, Tallahassee, USA
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Isaac Nortey (Gha) & Roy Stepanov (Can) bt Sekou Bangoura (USA) & Sathi Reddy Chirala 7-5, 4-6, [10-7].
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia
Singles (first round): Eleni Kordolaimi (Gre) bt Saumya Vig 6-1, 6-1. Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rikke De Koning & Marente Sijbesma (Ned) bt Emma Dvorackova (Cze) & Rituparna Nayak 7-5, 6-0.
$15,000 ITF women, Heraklion, Greece
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Artemis Aslanisvili & Styliani Roussopoulou (Gre) bt Rianna Coreisa (Rou) & Aaddi Gupta 6-4, 7-5; Bianca Barbulescu & Maria Popa (Rou) bt Sofia Avataneo (Ita) & Annika Kannan 7-6(2), 6-1.
$15,000 ITF women, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Singles (first round): Li Zongyu (Chn) bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 6-3, 6-0.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
