Panthers, Bengal register victories
NEWDELHI: Jaipur Pink Panthers began their home leg with a comprehensive win beating Puneri Paltan 36-23 in Pro Kabaddi League match at the Tau Devilal Sports Complex, Panchkula, on Friday. Deepak Hooda and Sunil Siddhgavale top-scored for Panthers with eight raid and eight tackle points, respectively. GB More top scored for Pune with 5 raid points. In another match, Bengal Warriors defeated Tamil Thalaivas 28-21.
KOTHARI CONFIDENT
KOLKATA: For world billiards champion Sourav Kothari, playing the IBSF World 6Reds Snooker in Marsa Alam, Egypt, from Monday will almost be like starting afresh. Kothari said ideally he would have liked 10-5 days more to get ready but is backing himself. “I train for snooker a lot more than billiards. The world title (in October) has lifted a monkey off my back so I would hope for a podium finish.”
POLICE ATHLETICS
NEWDELHI: Punjab Police were the overall winners of the 67th All India Police Athletics Championship, organised by CISF. Punjab Police finished with 98 gold, 40 silver and 20 bronze medals garnering 196 points. CRPF were second with 174 points (49G, 50S, 32B) and BSF were third with 157 points (28G, 45S, 32B).
RANJIT TOPS AUCTIONS
NEWDELHI:THE inaugural edition of the Pro Volleyball League will kick-start in Kochi on February 1. At the players’ auction, India player and setter Ranjit Singh fetched the biggest sum after he was bought by Ahmedabad Defenders for ~13 lakh. The Punjab spiker, who played in the last two Asian Games, was one of the icon players, who all had a base price of ~8 lakh. Kochi Blue Spikers, Chennai Spartans, U Mumbai Volley, Calicut Heroes and Black Hawks Hyderabad are the other teams.
ABHISHEK IN SEMIS
NEW DELHI: Abhishek Pradhan beat Saksham Choudhary 3-1 to enter the semi-finals of the National Squash Championship. India’s No 2, Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu got the better of Vikas Mehra to also move into the lastfour stage. In the women’s section, Urwashi Joshi beat Sanika Choudhari in straight games.
JR NATIONAL BOXING
CHANDIGARH: Manipur’s N Bidyapati stunned Amisha Bharti of Assam in the second round of Junior National Boxing. In the 50kg bout, the Assam pugilist began as a favourite against lesser-known Manipuri only to fade away as Bidyapati won 4:1. Aashreya Naik beat Punjab’s Jashanpreet Kaur 5:0 in 60kg weight category.