Vinayak Puthran stuns Thakkar for crown

Pune, June 24: Unseeded Vinayak Putran stunned second seed Himanshu Thakkar 6-15, 15-8, 15-7 to capture the junior boys singles title in ...

Pune, June 24: Unseeded Vinayak Putran stunned second seed Himanshu Thakkar 6-15, 15-8, 15-7 to capture the junior boys singles title in the Junior State-Level Badminton Championship which concluded at the WIE Complex. The girls crown was won by top seed Mugdha Bhagwat who overcame tenacious Kranti Sane 11-2 8-11 11-4. Mugdha has been named in the Junior Indian team for the Asian Badminton Championships at Rangoon.

Results:

BOYS Junior singles: Vinayak Putran MS bt Himanshu Thakkar Thane 6-15, 15-8, 15-7. Sub-junior Singles: Nishad Dravid Dhule bt Amar Mohite Nagpur 15-5, 15-9. Doubles: Ajit Phatak-Kumar Mohite bt Sohan Gadgil-Nishad Dravid 15-13, 12-15, 15-7. Mini singles: Pravin Chopra MS bt Yogesh Nandkumar Pune 13-15, 15-10, 15-11. Midget singles: Sagar Chopda MS bt Nitesh Joshi Pune 15-6, 15-4; Girls Junior singles: Mugdha Bhagwat Pune bt Kranti Sane Pune 11-2, 8-11, 11-4. Sub-junior singles: Nikita Hurkadli MS bt Taniya Nair Pune 11-9, 11-3. MidgetSingles: Sayali Gokhale Pune bt Aditi Mutatkar Pune 7-11, 11-9, 11-8.

Ceceilians run into Wall

MUMBAI: A late flurry by Ceceilians could not prick the Wall Boys cushion, built on a three-goal first-half advantage, in a Division II B Mumbai District Football Association match today.

A tiring Ceceilians peaked too late, their last goal coming six minute from time, as they tried desperately to salvage their position at the St Xavier8217;s Ground, Parel. Wall Boys hung on desperately to the advantage given by goals from Eluta Gomes, Baretto Mecausuar and Veera Joseph and the final whistle must have sounded like sweet music.

Adrian Pledger, the Ceceilian pivot, would have got his team to a victory in the company of the frisky Chirita Fernandes, if only he had some energy left. Barely willing his feet move, Pledger scored off a centre from Agnelo Lobo in the 54th minute after Fernandes had opened his team8217;s account.Fernandes controlled Pledger8217;s forward pass well and tipped the ball over anadvancing goalkeeper Spencer D8217;Mello8217;s extended hands in the 42nd minute. Earlier, Ceceilians8217; custodian Alexinho Vales was beaten by Joseph8217;s shot but slush at the goalmouth saved him. Gomes was not as merciful, slotting in Wall8217;s third goal at the stroke of half-time for a 3-0 lead. Joseph and Mecausuar had done damage in the 14th and 25th minutes.

Pandya wins

S Pandya defeated J Rato 477-437 in the Garware Open billiards and snooker tournament sponsored by Alpic Finance last night.

First round: S Ahmed bt C Mistry 542-369, S Pandya bt J Rato 477-437, R Habib bt A Dyer 743-426, Sunil Ghadge bt B K Shah 551-339, C Jhaveri bt S Parikh 576-406, S Shroff bt N Dossa 706-410, R Trivedi bt G Vahanvati 578-388, V Subramaniam bt R C Shaw 382-313.