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Manoj gains entry into Australian OpenCHENNAI: Sixteen-year-old Manoj Mahadevan of Tamil Nadu, who is currently ranked No 1 in the country i...

Manoj gains entry into Australian Open

CHENNAI: Sixteen-year-old Manoj Mahadevan of Tamil Nadu, who is currently ranked No 1 in the country in the boys under-18 and 77 in the ITF junior world ranking in singles and 67 in the doubles and is expected to be ranked in the top 40 in the ITF junior rankings on Jan 1 has been given a direct entry into the Junior Australian Open to be held in Melbourne from Jan 18 to Feb 1.

Manoj will compete in the main draw of the ITF Junior Australian Hard Court Championships in Melbourne as a warm up prior to taking part in the Australian Open, according to a press release issued by the Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association Premkumar Karra.

Manoj is a 12th standard student of Sherwood Hall SSS in Chennai and trains at the Krishnan Tennis Centre under Ramanathan Krishnan and Ramesh Krishnan under a specially designed advanced training programme sponsored by Adidas.

Sunita8217;s mark

AMRITSAR: International Sunita brought laurels for herself and her university Guru Nanak Dev, Amritsar by shattering the 10,00 metre varsity record in the All India Inter-Varsity Athletic men and women championships here at the GND University Sports Complex in the Campus on Wednesday.

Her record breaking run, clocking 35:35:44 seconds, fetched her the gold while Madhuri Nagpur University won the silver, clocking 37:22:32. Delhi University8217;s Pushpa picked up the bronze, clocking 38:28:81.

Merchant Trophy

NAGPUR: South Zone toppers Hyderabad meet North Zone leaders Haryana in the inaugural three-day match of the Vijay Merchant Trophy knock-out tournament here at VCA Stadium tomorrow.

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However, the fear of unseasonal rains hold the key to everything 8211; thanks to weather forecast here. Eight other teams will vie for the honours in the championship, which is being conducted after 14 years. Uttar Pradesh are the defending champs, while Saurashtra were the runners-up last year. Other teams: UP, Saurashtra, MP, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Haryana, Assam, AP, Punjab, Bengal.

Satish, Arti excel

VISAKHAPATNAM: International Satish Yadav of CISF and Olympian Arti Kohli showed their class on the third day of the National Judo Championship which concluded at the Port Indoor Stadium here today. Fighting in open categories, Satish and Arti clearly established that they are the best judokas in the land at the moment.

Satish toyed with Chandigarh8217;s Jagbeer in the final, scoring two yokos and a koka. Aarti too was impressive in all her bouts. In the final the 21-year-old CISF girl overpowered Nutan Devi Himachal Prasad on points.