Rashmi and Ghufran claim Asian carrom crowns

Rashmi Kumari outplayed Shainy Sebastian 25-0, 25-4 to clinch the women’s title in the sixth Asian carrom championship which concluded in Maldives on

Wednesday.

It was the fourth Asian crown for the three-time World Champion Rashmi, who had recently claimed her 12th National title in Gwalior.

In the

men’s

nal,

Dhanush holds fourth seed Shadhursshaan

KARIAPATTI: A.L. Pradeev Dhanush held CM R. Shadhursshaan, the fourth seed, to a draw in the opening round of the 33rd Tamil Nadu State under-17 chess championship, organised by Sethu Institute of Technology and Sivakasi Chess Club, on Wednesday.

Important results, first round: Open: M. Angu Hari Karthick lost to V. Sarveshwaran; Jai Sankar Subramanian bt T. Akul Vishruth; S. Sundararajan lost to Kavin Vijayakumar; R. Shadhursshaan drew with A.L. Pradeev Dhanush; R.K. Geethapriyan drew with T. Hari Ganesh.

Girls: S. Ruba Shree lost to Keerti Shree Reddy; S. Shanmathi Sree bt Sinddhizhai Divakaran; S. Madhuvikka lost to S. Kanishka; K. Sindhusree bt Sisika Borelli; M. Vanshika lost to V.C. Nivedita.

Elayaraja’s seven-wkt. haul in vain

DINDIGUL: P. Elayaraja’s seven-wicket haul went in vain as Jahir lost to Sri Vasantha’s Sweets by 47 runs in the TAKE-DDCA

rst division league.

The scores:

I div.: Sri Vasantha’s Sweets 224 in 45.5 overs (K. Rajesh 54, S. Karthikeyan 45, N. Srilokesh 25, P. Elayaraja 7/24) bt Jahir 177 in 36.4 overs (P. Elayaraja 25, M. Mathan Kumar 27, K. Muruganantham 74).

Vignesh Sports Juniors 274/8 in 50 overs (M. Sree Mukeshwaran 88, A. Lakshmi Narayanan 32, A.

Mohd. Ghufran put it across reigning National champion K. Srinivas 25-17, 25-24.

Clean sweep by India

India swept all the gold medals on o fer n singles,

Super show: Elayaraja (Jahir, 7/24); Dinesh (Youngsters, 5/19); Muthu (Nallampatti Young Star, 5/16); Chandra Sekar

(Eleven Star, 6/26, including a hat-trick).

Sheik Fareeth 35, S. Saravanan 38 n.o., S. Arunkumar 3/72) bt NPR 109 in 37.1 overs (M. Manikaraj

25, S. Manikandan 3/36, M. Ajithmani 3/11).

AM 228/9 in 42 overs (G. Dinesh Kumar 51, K. Muthu Kamatchi 39, S. Sadhik Ali 39, A. Pradeep 3/47) bt Yuvaraj 176 in 28.4 overs (A. Pradeep 45, N. Veeramalai 29, D.V. Prathish Kumar 26, K. Muthu Kamatchi 4/39, P. Rajapandi 4/42).

IV div.: Sachin 108 in 22.1 overs (R. Muthu Kannan 28, T. Muthu 5/16) lost to Nallampatti Young Star 112/4 in 15.4 overs (T. Arun Kumar 40).

Youngsters 103 in 18 overs (P. Manikanda Prabhu 31, S. Chandrasekar 6/26, incl. a hat-trick) lost to Eleven Star

106/6 in 19.5 overs (V. Anandha Kumar 32 n.o., P. Sankar Ganesh 27 n.o., G. Dinesh Karthick 5/19).

Hat-trick by Varaj

Varaj’s hat-trick was the highlight of NKAP FC’s 8-0 win over RNL Memorial FC in the Dindigul DFA third division football league.

The results: II div.: St. Mary’s 1 (Tamil Selvam) drew with Royal 1 (Sabari).

III div.: NKAP 8 (Varaj 3, Epiyan, Esakki, Daniel, Naveen, Vasanth) doubles, team championships apart from the Swiss league.

The results:

Men: Final: Mohd. Ghufran bt K. Srinivas 25-17, 25-24. Semifinals: Srinivas bt Jugal Kishor Dutta 25-8, 25-22.

bt RNL Memorial 0; SSM 2 (Giri, Gokul) bt Stallions 1 (Kesavan). IV div.: Pele Sports Club 2 (Arjun 2) bt GS Sports Club 1 (Akhileshkumar).

VDCA u-14 trials

VILLUPURAM: The Villupuram District Cricket Association (VDCA) will conduct under-14 selection trials, for the upcoming inter-district tournament conducted by TNCA, from 8 a.m. on May 5 at the Villupuram Cricket Academy, behind the Collectorate.

Players born on or after September 1, 2010 and residing in the Villupuram Revenue District are eligible. Participants must submit photocopies of their birth certi cate and the aadhar card at the time of the trials. Contact S.B. Ramanan on 95550 30006 or 94445 09999.

ENGAGEMENTS

State under-17 championship, Sethu Institute of Technology, 9.30 a.m.

Ghufran bt Sandeep Dive 25-18, 25-10.

Women: Final: Rashmi Kumari bt Shainy Sebastian 25-0, 25-4. Semifinals: Rashmi bt Aakanksha Kadam 25-10, 25-11; Shainy bt Nagajothi Kathavarayan 25-19, 20-25, 25-14.

Australia selectors dropped veteran campaigner Steve Smith for the T20 World Cup and ignored calls to include Jake Fraser-McGurk in the squad despite the young batsman’s sensational form in the IPL.

Smith, a member of Australia’s title-winning squad at the 2021 tournament in the UAE, played T20Is against New Zealand

A dominant India will have sights set on an unassailable 3-0 lead in the vematch series when it takes on host Bangladesh in the third women's T20 International here on Thursday.

Having done exceedingly well to not just to turn up but trump its opponent on all fronts in the preceding two matches, India will enter the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium with the aim to follow the same script.

The bowling unit has been functioning cohesively, having restricted Bangladesh to modest totals.

In the pace department, Renuka Singh Thakur has starred with the ball in the in February but was unable to push his claims further after missing out on an IPL contract.

Rashid to lead

Eight players featuring in the IPL have been named in the 15-member Afghanistan T20 World Cup squad to be led by star all-rounder Rashid Khan.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has delayed the announcement of the T20 World Cup squad until late May due to

tness and performance issues with some players. opener while Pooja Vastrakar has also been handy.

Dayalan Hemalatha displayed her explosive batting during the powerplay in the last game, crafting an unbeaten 24-ball 41.

However, India’s star opener Smriti Mandhana will hope to nd form and get some runs.

The squads:

India: Smriti Mandhana, Dayalan Hemalatha, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, S. Sajana, Shafali Verma, Shreyanka Patil, Amanjot Kaur, Pooja Vastrakar, Asha Sobhana, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Richa Ghosh, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh Thakur, Titas Sadhu, Saika Ishaque. Bangladesh: Murshida Khatun, Rubya Haider, Sobhana Mostary, Shorna Akter, Shorifa Khatun, Nigar Sultana (c&wk), Dilara Akter, Nahida Akter, Sultana Khatun, Ritu Moni, Rabeya Khan, Fahima Khatun, Marufa Akter, Fariha Trisna, Habiba Islam. Match starts at 3.30 p.m. IST.

The squads:

Australia: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt.), Glenn Maxwell, Tim David,

Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Ashton Agar,

Cameron Green, and Nathan Ellis. Afghanistan: Rashid Khan (capt.), Rahmanullah Gurbaz

(wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim

Janat, Nangyal Kharoti, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq

Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik. Travelling reserves: Sediqullah Atal, Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Saleem Safi.

Thomas & Uber Cup, Sports 18-1 (SD & HD) & Jio Cinema, 7 a.m. & 2.30 p.m.

p.m.

3rd T20I, FanCode, 3.30

Star Sports 1 (SD & HD) & JioCinema, 7.30 p.m.

SS Select 1 & Hotstar, 12 a.m. (Friday).

Sony LIV, 12.30 a.m. (Friday).

Madrid Open, Sony Sports Ten 5 & LIV, 1.30 a.m. (Friday).