Karnataka lose tamely to Delhi

Prerna, who has already won a gold and silver from the doubles and singles competition respectively, was in absolute control, thumping a hapless Shalaka 6-0, 6-0 to give Delhi a 1-0 lead in quick time at the tennis stadium.

Singles champion Ratnika Batra nearly matched her State-mate, crushing Prerna Prathap 6-0, 6-1 as Delhi powered into the title round with ease.

In the title clash on the morrow, they will lock horns against Andhra Pradesh, who scored a 2-0 victory over Maharashtra.

Sowjanya handed Andhra Pradesh a 1-0 lead after beating Nupur Kaul 6-4, 6-1 in the opening singles rubber before Nidhi recovered from an opening set loss to defeat Sonal Deepak Phadke 5-7, 6-0, 6-1.

Results: Team championship, all semifinals: Men: Delhi bt Andhra Pradesh 2-1 (Vivek Shokeen lt to Suresh Krishna 3-6, 2-6; Ashutosh Singh bt N Sai Karthik 6-2, 6-4; V Shokeen/ A Singh bt NS Karthik/ Syed Ali 6-2, 6-2).

Women: Delhi bt Karnataka 2-0 (Prerna Bhambri bt UM Shalaka 6-0, 6-0; Ratnika Batra bt Prerna Prathap 6-1, 6-0); Andhra Pradesh bt Maharashtra 2-0 (Sowjanya bt Nupur Kaul 6-4, 6-1; Nidhi bt Sonal Deepak Phadke 5-7, 6-0, 6-1).

Deepika shocked

Commowealth Games gold medalist and one of Jharkhand’s torch bearer in the opening ceremony Deepika Kumari suffered a heart-breaking loss in the final of the women’s individual recurve event at Jamshedpur.

Not firing up to her mark, the 16-year-old lost 4-6 to Assam’s Prativa Boro.
Delhi’s Abhishek Verma edged Ritul Chatterjee of Andhra Pradesh via tie-breaker to win the men’s compound individual gold. Locked at 5-5 after 10 sets, Verma fired 10 to Chatterjee’s 9 in the shoot-off.

Results, all finals: Men: Compound: Abhishek Verma (Delhi) bt Ritul Chatterjee (Andhra Pradesh) 5(10)-5(9) via tie-break.

Recurve: MR Tirkey (West Bengal) bt Vishwas Kumar Sharan (Services) 6-4.
Women: Compound: Sunita Rani (Punjab) bt V Jyothi Sureka (Andhra Pradesh) 7-3.
Recurve: Prativa Boro (Assam) bt Deepika Kumari (Jharkhand) 6-4.

Mali strikes gold

Using a depleted field to his advantage, Maharashtra’s Chandrakant Mali clinched the 85kg gold on the penultimate day of the weightlifting competition.

Lifting 135kg in the snatch section and 175 in the clean and jerk section, Mali totaled 306 for the gold while the only other competitor Gobind Singh of Jammu and Kashmir totalled 280 for the silver.

Results: Men: 85kg: Chandrakant Mali (Maharashtra) 306 (135+175) 1; Gobind Singh (J&K) 280 (130+150) 2.

75kg: Monika Devi Laishram (Jharkhand) 226 (100+126) 1; A Janeshwari Devi (Bihar) 196 (90+106) 2; Premila Devi (Manipur) 189 (83+106) 3.

69kg: Pratima Kumari (Jharkhand) 191 (83+108) 1; K Krishna Kumari (Delhi) 183 (82+101) 2; Seeta Jane (Orissa) 171 (76+95) 3.