ATHLETICS
Vedanta half marathon: Rohit Bansiwal beats Kenyan Victor Kurgat to win gold
Rohit Bansiwal from Tonk, Rajasthan, beat Kenyan Victor Kurgat by two minutes to clinch the gold in the Vedanta Zinc City half marathon. He clocked one hour, 11 minutes and 22 seconds for the 21 kilometre race.
Delhi’s Madina Paul won the women’s half marathon, beating Sonal Sukhwal by 12 minutes.
Ajit Kumar and Khushboo won the men’s and women’s 10 kilometre race respectively.
It was a memorable run for the participants in the scenic route around the Fateh Sagar Lake and the Aravalli ranges, apart from Maharaja Pratap Smarak, Neemuch Mata Mandir hill and lush green gardens.
The CEO of Hindustan Zinc that hosted the inaugural half marathon, Arun Misra, an avid runner, completed the half marathon.
“I am absolutely thrilled that this event has firmly put Zinc City Udaipur on the international marathon map,” said Arun Misra.
The message of the run was #RunForZeroHunger, a drive to eradicate rural malnutrition.
The results:
Half marathon: Men: 1. Rohit Bansiwal 1: 11:22; 2. Victor Kurgat 1:13:21; 3. Gopal Bairwa 1:13:22.
Women: 1. Madina Paul 1:33:32; 2. Sonal Sukhwal 1:45:16; 3. Khushi Pahwa 1:52:03.
10 km: Men: 1. Ajit Kumar 32:40; 2. Ganpat Singh 32:59; 3. Durgendra 33:07.
Women: 1. Khushboo 40:39; 2. Sapna Kumari 41:19; 3. Sunita Gurjar 45:02.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
GOLF
Vizag Open: Milind Soni scores eight-under 63 to take three-shot lead
Rookie Milind Soni of Hyderabad hogged the limelight the first day with an eight-under 63 to take a three-shot lead in the Rs. 1 crore Vizag Open golf championship at East Point Golf Club on Wednesday.
Two of the pre-tournament favourites, Khalin Joshi of Bengaluru and Patna’s Aman Raj were tied second with scores of five-under 66.
The 19-year-old Milind Soni, who has so far posted one top-10 in his rookie season, was off to a great start with a birdie on the 10th, his opening hole of the tournament. Milind, in terrific form with the putter, then sank four birdies from a range of 15 to 20 feet.
Thereafter, Soni made more gains with his exceptional approach shots that set up birdies on the fourth and seventh. Milind finally capped off his flawless round with another long conversion on the eighth.
Soni, who has been India’s No. 1 Junior and No. 2 Amateur in the past, said, “With narrow fairways and thick rough here at the EPGC, there was a premium on hitting greens in regulation and I made 16 regulations today. My putter was hot and I hardly missed any putts.
“I have good memories of the EPGC having won my second and last amateur title here back in 2022. I also had a third-place finish at an amateur event here in 2023. So, despite missing the cut at my home course last week in Hyderabad, I came into this event with a lot of confidence.
“As the weather conditions were very tough with the heat and humidity making life tough for the professionals, I adapted well by keeping myself hydrated and wiping my hands regularly.”
Khalin Joshi too produced an error-free round. His five birdies featured a couple of tap-ins including one on the eighth where he narrowly missed a hole-in-one.
Aman Raj made six birdies including a chip-in against a lone bogey.
Reigning champion N Thangaraja of Sri Lanka fired a 70 to be tied 21st.
Among the Visakhapatnam-based golfers, S Muthu (75) was the highest-placed at tied 93rd.
-Team Sportstar
BASKETBALL
Experienced Ernakulam too strong for Thrissur
There were some third-quarter fireworks from Thrissur but that was not enough to trouble men’s defending champion Ernakulam as its won its second Group ‘A’ league match with a 61-44 verdict in the 68th Kerala State senior basketball championship at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium on Wednesday night.
Ernakulam led 34-19 at half-time but Thrissur, a bunch of college students from Sree Kerala Varma and Christ, cut down the champion’s lead to just eight points at 38-30 in the third quarter with C.K. Abhinav and Irfan Saheer hoisting some nice threes from the flanks. But the tall and experienced Ernakulam men were back to form in the last quarter and won comfortably with captain Antony Johnson and Shiras Muhammed doing the bulk of the scoring.
“My boys were too scared, they missed too many under-basket attempts… but we will come back,” said Thrissur coach Sunny Thomas, a former Ernakulam coach and State star. “Our goal is to enter the semifinal.”
KOZHIKODE, ERNAKULAM WOMEN IN QUARTERFINALS
Meanwhile, the quarterfinalists were spotted in the women’s section. While last year’s winner Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha were handed out last-eight berths even before the championship began with Malappuram pulling out from the three-team Group ‘A’, Palakkad, Kozhikode (both Group B), Pathanamthitta, Thrissur (Group C) and Kottayam and host Ernakulam (Group D) filled up the other quarterfinal spots.
The results (league)
Men: Ernakulam 61 (Antony Johnson 22, Shiras Muhammed 17, Joshua Sunil Oommen 13) bt Thrissur 44 (C.K. Abhinav 12, Jeo Lonappan 10);
Alappuzha 78 (Mathew Joseph 21, Albin Varghese 10) bt Wayanad 32 (Jojo 10); Palakkad 97 (Abin Sabu 21, S. Adarsh 17, Basil Philip 16) bt Malappuram 55 (P. Jithu 15, K.M. Abhinav 11); Thrissur 56 (Deepak Vettathu 17, Shibin Shaji 16) bt Kannur 49 (Prem Prakash 16).
Women: Pathanamthitta 75 (Amritha Prasad 23, Thalitha Maria Udhay 16, Krishna Priya 15 ) bt Kollam 37 (Akshara 16); Palakkad 94 (V.J. Jayalakshmi 19, Haleena Jan 19, Chippy Mathew 13, Rose Mary Sajan10, Nandhana Renjith 10) bt Kasargod 30; Kottayam 104 (Irin Elsa John 20, K.A. Abhirami 18, Akshaya Philip 18, A. Ajina 15) bt Kannur 39 (K.K. Gopika 12); Ernakulam 58 (Amanda Maria Rocha 17, Laya Maria Antony 13) bt Kannur 11.
-Stan Rayan
