Pune’s Vaishnavi, Ruma-Madhurima pair win Under-18 National tennis titles

Pune: Upcoming city player Vaishnavi Adkar and her city-mates Ruma Gaikwari and Madhurima Sawant clinched the singles and doubles titles at the National Clay Court Junior (Under-18) tennis championships in Chennai.
Vaishnavi, coached by Kedar Shah, scored a facile 6-3, 6-1 win over Karnataka’s Suhita Maruri to lift the singles trophy on Saturday. The 17-year-old also had entered the doubles final with her younger sister Asmi on Friday.But Ruma, a student of former Davis Cupper Nandan Bal, and Madhurima, who trains with Hemant Bendrey, got the better of the Adkar siblings 6-1, 1-6 [10-8].
GST Custom cagers beat hosts DG to lift men’s title
GST Custom, Pune, defeated hosts Deccan Gymkhana 72-50 to clinch the men’s title of 7th Akshay Bhosale senior basketball meet on Saturday. Siddhant Shinde scored 20 points for the winners and Ajinkya Mane contributed with 16 points. Raju Singh scored 15 for Deccan Gymkhana.
In the third-position match, BEG defeated Best Sports Arena 58-41.
Khadki Youngsters’ Walter hits 5 in 13-goal thriller
Pune: Walter Solomon scored five goals as Khadki Youngsters defeated Shivneri Strikers FC 8-5 on Saturday in a topsy-turvy contest in a first-round match of the Freedom Cup football tournament at Bavdhan. Youngsters were leading 6-5 with 25 minutes to go. But they added two more goals in the next 14 minutes to seal the deal. There was no goal scored in the last 17 minutes.
Razorbacks fought back from a goal down to edge past Jolly Range Hills FC ‘B’, thanks to a brace from Ashish Shinde. After a goal-laden two games, the day concluded with a tight contest between Nav Maharashtra FC and Friends FC, Ahmednagar in which the latter prevailed 2-1.
Results (Rd 1): Razorbacks 3 (Ashish Shinde 37’, 40’, Kshitij Kokate 30’) bt JRFC ‘B’ (Sourabh Bhalerao 16’, Santosh Kadam 41’); Khadki Youngsters 8 (Walter Solomon 18’, 29’, 49’, 61’, 73’, Raj Chavan 4’, Pervez Shaikh 9’ Shoaib Salmani 37’) bt Shivneri Strikers FC 5 (Sadik Shaffi 5’, 28’, Deepak Sharma 51’, 54’, Rajesh Pawar 23’); Friends FC Ahmednagar 2 (Anwar Sayyad 55’, Ajinkya Kute 74’) beat Nav Maharashtra FC 1 (Umesh Padumale 81’).
Ankita in ITF singles final
Fifth seed Ankita Raina rallied to beat unseeded Haruka Kaji of Japan to enter the final of the ITF women’s tournament in UK on Saturday. Pune-based Ankita won 6-7, 7-6, 6-0. She will face Joanna Garland of Chinese Taipei in the title clash on Sunday.
474 entries for Pune District ranking TT meet
The Dr Pramod Mulay Memorial Pune district ranking table tennis championships, to be hosted by PYC Hindu Gymkhana, has attracted 474 entries.
The six-day event starts on Sunday. The tournament will see U-11, U-13, U-15, U-17, U-19, men and women’s sections besides the veterans singles and doubles.