Kadhe gets wildcard for Tata Open
PUNE: Local boy Arjun Kadhe has been handed a wildcard entry into the men’s singles draw of the Tata Open Maharashtra tennis tournament. The 24-year-old will join Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ramkumar Ramanathan as the third wildcard entrant in the season-opener ATP World Tour event. A month ago, Kadhe beat Ramkumar Ramanathan in the first round of the KPIT-MSLTA Challenger.
Defending champion and world No 30 Gilles Simon of France and world No 6 Kevin Anderson of South Africa will take part in the event. World No. 25 Hyeon Chung from Korea and World No. 45 Malek Jaziri from Tunisia will also play the seasonopening event.
“Kadhe has shown a lot of promise and Pune being his home should certainly be an additional motivation,” said Prashant Sutar, Tournament Director. The ATP 250 event begins from December 31 at the Balewadi Sports Complex.
NATIONAL BOXING
VIJAYANAGARA, KARNATAKA: The national women’s boxing championships will be held here from December 31 to January 6 and will double up as a selection trial for the camp that will follow. The championship will feature more the 300 boxers competing in 10 weight categories.
BFI president Ajay Singh said: “Our vision was to first restore the lost glory of Indian boxing and work towards making India, a boxing powerhouse. The girls have paved the way for us and very soon you will see some more defining moments.”
NEHRU HOCKEY
NEWDELHI: Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar scored a 9-0 win over Utkal University, Bhubaneswar in the 26th Nehru Inter University hockey tournament at Gwalior on Thursday. In another match Varanasi’s MG Kashi Vidyapeth beat Shivaji University, Kolhapur 8-1. Panjab University, Chandigarh defeated SRM University 2-1.
MOUDGIL DOMINATES
NEWDELHI: Punjab’s international rifle shooter Anjum Moudgil regained her form to stand first in the second trials of the women’s 50m rifle 3 position held at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Ranges here on Thursday.
She shot 460.8 in the final to stay ahead of Gaayathri N of Tamil Nadu who scored 457.4. Maharashtra’s seasoned shooter Tejaswini Sawant was third at 445.7. Gujarat’s Hema KC, who had dominated the first trials, was relegated to fifth place today having shot 419.8.