Kochi scripts its first win of season in its last outing
The Services team celebrates after beating Goa in the final.
P.P. Shafeel scored with a spectacular piledriver to help Services beat a strong Goa by a solitary goal in the final to lift the Santosh Trophy for the seventh time in the history of the premier interstate senior men’s football competition.
The opening session at the Golden Jubilee Stadium ended goalless as the attackers failed at both ends. There was no dearth of action though as both sides adopted an open approach. They produced some nice raids that were either neutralised in the box or went wide for want
of precision.
The second session came alive with more concentrated efforts from Services, which started probing the Goa box with more purpose. Goa goalkeeper Antonio Da Silva made a crucial save in the 50th minute to make up for the mistake of his defensive colleague Deeshank Kunkalikar, who miscued a clearance to let Services righthalf Subham Rana have a crack.
Services kept pressing for the lead and found it in the 67th minute when midfielder Rahul Ramakrishnan set up Saheel outside the Goa box. The Services rightback answered with a
powerful grounder that went through Da Silva’s defences.
Goa went in the hunt for the equaliser and came close to finding it on at least three occasions. But Services’ defence stuck to its task and found the clearances at the right moment.
The best chance came in injurytime (90+3 minute) when Deeshank put in a nice cross for substitute Joshua D’Silva. The latter’s header beat the Services goalkeeper Abdul Kadir but Pradeep Kumar cleared from the line to save the day for Services.
The result: Services 1 (P.P. Shafeel 67) bt Goa 0.
Prajwal-Pichler duo loses Challenger final
SD Prajwal Dev and David Pichler of Austria lost 61, 75 to Thomas Fancutt and Hunter Reese in the $41,000 Challenger tennis doubles final in Kigali, Rwanda, on Saturday.
The champion team collected 50 ATP points and $2,140. The runnersup got 30 points and $1,250.
The results (doubles, final): $41,000 Challenger, Kigali, Rwanda: Thomas Fancutt (Aus) & Hunter Reese (USA) bt SD Prajwal Dev & David Pichler (Aut) 6-1, 7-5.
$15,000 ITF men, Kish Island, Iran: Matyas Fuele & Gergely Madarasz (Hun) bt Ishaque Eqbal & Adil Kalyanpur 6-4, 3-6, [10-6].
Aradhya and Kashvi take the honours
MADURAI: Top seed Aradhya Kshitij and third seed Kashvi Sunil won the boys’ and girls’ titles in the TVS ITF juniors’ tennis championship at Madura College courts on Saturday.
The results (finals): Boys: Aradhya Kshitij bt Kevin Titus Suresh 6-1, 6-3.
Girls: Kashvi Sunil bt Harshini N. Nagaraj 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.
Jamal Mohamed College wins team title
TIRUCHI: Jamal Mohamed
Jamal Mohamed College took the team honours in the inter-collegiate taekwondo championship for men.
Kashvi and Aradhya, winners of the girls’ and boys’ titles in the TVS ITF juniors’ tennis championship.
College won the team title in the Bharathidasan University intercollegiate taekwondo championship for men, organised by Sudharsan CAS, at Pudukottai.
The results: U-54kg: S. Habeebur Rahman (AVVM Sri Pushpam); U-58kg: B. Muhamad
Safeer (Annai CAS); U-63kg: B. Rishi (Jamal Mohamed); U-68kg: S. Jeevan (St. Joseph’s); U-74kg: R. Gunasekaran (Bishop Heber); U-80kg: K. Suriya (EGS Pillay ASC); U-87kg: M. Megreegan (Jamal Mohamed); +87kg: V. Harish Karthick (Bishop Heber). Team championship: 1. Jamal Mohamed, 2. Bishop Heber, 3. St. Joseph’s, Annai and EGS Pillay.
Kochi Blue Spikers ended its campaign in the third season of the RuPay Prime Volleyball League here on Saturday, defeating Hyderabad Black Hawks 1512, 1512, 1511. Jibin Sebastian was named Player of the Match. This was its first victory for the season.
Sunday will be the final day of the league matches before the Super 5s begin on Monday.
Both the matches on Sunday — between Ahmedabad Defenders and Delhi Toofans, and between Chennai Blitz and Calicut Heroes — will be important in more ways than one.
Calicut, Ahmedabad and Delhi are the top three teams in the league with 10 points each from seven outings — Bengaluru Torpedoes is fourth with 10 from eight.
Chennai — eight points from seven matches — must win against Calicut to
Sunday will be the final day of the league matches before the Super 5s begin on Monday. Calicut, Ahmedabad and Delhi are the top three teams in the league with 10 points each from seven outings
Chennai — eight points from seven matches — must win against Calicut to make it to the next stage.
If not, Mumbai will qualify for the Super 5s.
make it to the next stage. In that case, Chennai will push Mumbai Meteors (10 from eight) out from the fifth place. If not, Mumbai will qualify for the Super 5s.
Set difference
If either of Ahmedabad, Delhi Toofans or Calicut wins their respective matches, they will all have 12 points.
In that case, the team that has the best set difference will top the league.
Being No.1 in the league will ensure that the team carries forward two points into the super 5s while the second team in the league will get one point.