Sports round up

Saurav Ghosal,ranked number one in India and 25 in the world,will head an imposing looking field that also includes Harinder Pal Sandhu (India number 3),Mahesh Mangaonkar (no 4),Ravi Dixit (no 5) and Sandeep Jangra (no 8). Other prominent players in the main draw include Arjun Agnihotri from the Services team,Vikas Jangra and Pune’s Abhinav Sinha.

In all,over 400 players have confirmed their entries for the four-day event,spread across the 15 categories — Under-9 (Mixed); Under-11,13,15,17,19 and 21 (separate draws for boys and girls),Pros,Men (Over 35),Men (Over 45),Women (Open),and the marquee Men (Open) category. The tournament has a total purse of Rs 4,85,000,of which Rs 2,00,00 will go towards the junior events.

Bhosale wins doubles title,in line for singles

Rutuja Bhosale set herself up for yet another double crown when the senior national champion bagged the doubles title and booked her berth in the singles final of the ITF South/Central Africa Junior Circuit tennis tournament in Zimbabwe on Friday.

The 16-year-old Pune girl,who won a double crown in last week’s event at Harare,defeated fourth seed Janet Koch of South Africa 6-4,6-4 in the singles semifinal before teaming up with Melissa Laing of South Africa to thrash Thabile Tshatedi of Zimbabwe and Nelise Verster of South Africa 6-0,6-2 to win the doubles final. The top seed will now face second seed Lesedi Sheya Jacobs of Namibia in the singles final with an aim to maintain her perfect record on the tour. In the other semifinal,Jacobs got the better of third seed Spruti Shivalingaiah of India 2-6,6-3,6-1.

Soccer Stars talent hunt begins

Almost 1,200 young players took part in the Airtel Rising Stars under-16 soccer talent hunt,which got underway at Police Ground,Shivaji Nagar,on Saturday.

Of those,120 were shortlisted at the end of Day 1,based on measures including technical and tactical skills,physical and mental strength,social skills,behavior,communication,discipline,enthusiasm and fair play.

Spread over three months,the talent hunt will be conducted in 16 Indian cities of Mumbai,Delhi,Panaji,Kolkata,Bangalore,Calicut,Chandigarh,Guwahati,Shillong,Pune,Kochi,Ahmedabad,Lucknow,Chennai,Hyderabad and Jaipur,with the support of the respective State and District Football Associations.

Launched in association with Manchester United,Airtel Rising Stars will eventually choose 12 footballers to attend a week long training camp at Manchester United Soccer Schools.

The best three players from each of the 16 cities will be picked to attend a final six-day camp-cum-selection trial conducted by coaches from Manchester United. The 48 players will be divided into four teams of 12 each and will be tested on all parameters before the best 12 are chosen to travel to Manchester for a week to train alongside the Manchester United Academy team.