TENNIS
Vaidehee reaches W35 semifinals in Burnie; Rutuja knocked out in doubles
Rutuja Bhosale and her Japanese partner Makoto Ninomiya lost in the quarterfinals of the Merida Open, a WTA 500 event in Mexico, on Thursday.
Rutuja, India No. 1 in doubles, and Makoto went down 6-2, 6-3 to the second-seeded Spanish-Chinese duo of Cristina Bucsa and Jiang Xinyu in an hour and 10 minutes.
At the W35 event in Burnie, Australia, Vaidehee Chaudhari survived a scare to defeat China’s Chengyiyi Yuan 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Fourth-seeded Indian Vaidehee will face seventh-seeded Japanese Mio Mushika in Saturday’s semifinals.
At the W15 event in Gurugram, Zeel Desai kept the Indian challenge alive as the third seed came from behind to defeat fifth-seeded Japanese Michika Ozeki 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Desai will take on sixth-seeded Russian Ekaterina Yashina for a place in the final.
-Team Sportstar
Local boy Dhamne knocked out in Maha Open ATP Challenger 75
Local boy and wildcard Manas Dhamne squandred two match points going down to Croatia’s Duje Ajdukovic in the men’s singles quarterfinals at the Maha Open ATP Challenger 75 Men’s Tennis Championship played at the Shiv Chhatrapati Kreeda Sankul, Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium.
Duje Ajdukovic, the 25-year-old currently ranked 346, survived a stern challenge from Indian wildcard Dhamne to register a hard-earned 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-4 victory in a gripping contest lasting two hours and 16 minutes.
The opening set saw both players engaged in a fierce baseline exchange. Ajdukovic struck first with a break in the third game, but Dhamne responded immediately to level at 2-2. The young Indian raised the tempo in the sixth game, hammering aggressive returns to snatch another break before confidently serving out the set 6-3.
Dhamne continued his momentum in the second set, breaking in the third game for a 2-1 lead. However, Ajdukovic mounted a determined comeback, breaking back in the eighth game to draw level. With neither player conceding ground, the set was pushed into a tense tie-break. The Croatian held his nerve in the extended breaker, edging it 7-6(8) to restore parity.
In the decider, Ajdukovic came out firing, breaking in the very first game and consolidating with strong serving. Dhamne fought back bravely with a break in the fourth game to keep his hopes alive. But Ajdukovic’s aggressive shot-making and clutch serving proved decisive as he secured another break in the seventh game and closed out the set 6-4 to book his semifinal berth.
In doubles semi final action, the Indo-Thai combination of Pruchya Isaro and second seed Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha outplayed the third-seeded Japanese pair of Yuta Shimizu and Seita Watanabe 7-5, 7-6(4) to enter the final.
Top seeds Siddhant Banthia and Alexander Donski were upset by fourth seeds Jisung Nam and Patrik Niklas-Salminen in the other semifinal.
The results:
Main Draw: Quarterfinal Round: Singles: Edas Butvilas [8] (Ltu) bt [Q] Masamichi Imamura (Jpn) 6-3, 6-3;
Felix Gill (Gbr) bt [Q] Maks Kasnikowski (Pol) 0-6, 7-6(2), 6-1; Federico Cina [6] (Ita) bt Alastair Gray (Gbr) 6-4, 6-2; Duje Ajdukovic (Cro) bt [WC] Manas Dhamne (Ind) 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-4.
Doubles: Semifinal Round: Pruchya Isaro (Tha) Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha [2] (Ind) bt Yuta Shimizu (Jpn) Seita Watanabe [3] (Jpn) 7-5, 7-6(4); Jisung Nam (Kor) Patrik Niklas-Salminen [4] (Fin) bt Siddhant Banthia (Ind) Alexander Donski [1] (Bul) 6-2, 6-4.
GOLF
Kochhar lies 10th at NZ Open golf
Indian golfer Karandeep Kochhar shot a second straight 67 to be inside the Top-10 at the New Zealand Open presented by Millbrook Resort here on Friday.
The other Indian in the fray, Shiv Kapur (77-69) missed the cut.
Kochhar carded four birdies and an eagle against two bogeys in his second round of 67. In his first round, he had five birdies against one bogey.
– PTI
Rough start for Indian women golfers in Australia
It was a rough opening day for the Indians as Hitaashee Bakshi emerged the best among them at tied-48th with a card of 73 in the Ford Women’s NSW Open on the Ladies European Tour.
Pranavi Urs carded 3-over 74 while Diksha Dagar (77) was T-103rd and Avani Prashanth (80) was T-126th as the first day’s play was affected by a flooded course.
The first round was suspended on Thursday and then completed later on Friday.
More than half the field was still to complete 36 holes and none of the Indians had started the second round.
Even as the conditions cleared up, the course remained soft.
– PTI
KABADDI
Indian Railways crowned 72nd senior men’s national champion after beating Maharashtra by 18 points
Indian Railways lifts the national men’s crown.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Indian Railways lifts the national men’s crown.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Indian Railways secured the 72nd senior men’s national kabaddi championship trophy on Friday at the Sama Indoor Stadium, Vadodara after beating Maharashtra 49–31 in the final.
Railways—led by Sunil Kumar, the most successful Pro Kabaddi League captain—prevailed over 29 teams divided into eight pools, who played across 54 matches over the last four days.
On its road to the final, the Railways beat the likes of Chandigarh and Karnataka before claiming its final victory over a strong Maharashtra side led by Aslam Inamdar, one of the top players in PKL.
The concluding day of the tournament featured four teams in action, starting off with two semifinal games played between Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and Indian Railways and Chandigarh, respectively.
After beating their respective opponents in the semifinals, Railways and Maharashtra advanced to the finals, which was dominated by the former with a strong all-round performance. Pankaj Mohite led the raiding unit with 12 raid points, while Ashu Malik, who also led Dabang Delhi K.C. to victory in PKL 12, contributed eight points.
Railways’ defence complemented the raiders effectively as it finished with 14 tackle points and applied sustained pressure on Maharashtra throughout the contest. Despite efforts from Shivam Patare and Aslam Inamdar, Maharashtra struggled to match Railways’ intensity as the latter pulled away decisively to seal the championship by an 18-point margin.
Bhavani Rajput, who played for Goa, ended the raiding standings on top, with a total of 58 raid points, secured in 81 raids. Meanwhile, Shubham Shinde, who is a part of the champion’s team, secured the most number of tackle points—27.
-Team Sportstar
BADMINTON
Indian shuttlers continue strong run at Dutch Junior International
Men’s singles player Dev Ruparelia continued his winning run at the YONEX Dutch Junior International 2026, defeating Clement Massias in straight games 21-13, 21-11 to book his place in the pre-quarterfinals in the Netherlands.
He will next face fourth seed Chung-Hsiang Yih of Chinese Taipei.
In the other men’s singles action, Nishchal Chand endured a hard-fought one hour 21 minutes contest against Hong Kong’s Chan Yee Hei to emerge victorious.
Nishchal won the first game 21-19, but Chan forced a decider by taking the second game 21-10. The Indian held his nerve in a tense finish to claim the decider 23-21, advancing to the Round of 16 where he will take on Denmark’s 12th seed Frederik Hinding.
In the women’s singles, Shaina Manimuthu defeated Denmark’s Ida Nissen after dropping the opening game 19-21. She bounced back to win the next two games 21-7, 21-7 in 37 minutes to progress to the next stage, where she will face Korea’s Han Bi Kim.
– PTI
Published on Feb 27, 2026
