India are South Asian champions
Kathmandu: India clinched the third South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) championship here Sunday outclassing all its four South Asian rivals in the regional meet. On final day, the Indian squad thrashed Maldives 108-32, confirming their regional domination to finish top of the table with highest eight points from four unbeaten outings. Hosts Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri lanka were the other participating nations. Maldives finished second, Sri lanka and Bangladesh third and fourth, respectively, while Nepal were fifth.
With the victory, India also qualified for the Asian Basketball Cup to be held in Wuhan, China in July. The Indian team has also qualified for FIBA Asian Championship. In the title clash against Maldives, India dominated the field in all the quarters except for the final period which ended in a 13-13 tie. India opened with 35-10 lead and took the second quarter 29-6 before hammering 31-3 in the third period. Prakash Mishra of Indian team top scored with 16 points, while Pashwaane Ibrahim netted 12 for Maldives.India coach Scott Flemming was proud of his team that won the title convincingly. “Though it was lopsided match today, our boys played with intensity. They came out charging up, defended quite well and the offence was good as well. I am proud that we won the tournament,” said Flemming adding it had taken a huge effort from everyone in winning the title.
Maheswary finishes 7th
Shanghai: Triple jumper Renjith Maheswary finished seventh with a below-par performance in the Diamond league Meeting second leg here on Sunday. Mehaswary could only produce a best effort of 16.16m which he achieved in his fourth jump, which was well below his national record mark of 17.07m. lyukman Adams of Russia won the event with an effort of 17.10m while lazaro Martinez of Cuba and Bin Dong of China were second and third with 16.76m and 16.69m respectively.
Army XI humbles SC Railway 2-1
Mumbai: Army XI bounced back from a goal deficit to trounce South Central Railway 2-1 in the finals of the 10th All-India Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup Hockey Tournament at the MHA-Mahindra stadium here on Sunday. South Central Railway midfielder Raju Pal set up B Horo with a brilliant pass and the latter reverse hit from the edge of the striking circle beat Army goalkeeper P T Rao to put the railway side ahead in the ninth minute. Thereafter, Army regrouped and tried hard to force the equaliser but their attempts were foiled by goalkeeper Sushant Tirkey who made quite a number of saves. The Army then drew level when Binoy Bhengra scored in the 37th minute by tapping in Vishwa Thakur’s centre from the left. Tenison Singh sounded the board in the 58th minute with a reverse shot to give Army a 2-1 lead. The Army side clinched the trophy and received a cash award of Rs 1.25 lakh, while South Central Railway received the runners-up trophy and a cash prize of Rs 75,000.
Karthikeyan comes sixth
Fuji: Indian racing driver Narain Karthikeyan finished a creditable sixth in the main race of the Japan-based Super Formula Championship Round 2 at the Fuji Speedway here on Sunday. Karthikeyan, who battled with engine problems all weekend, gained two places in the 35-lap race to claim his first points of the season. The former Formula 1 driver had finished seventh in the 25-lap sprint race in the morning after starting ninth on the grid. He was forced to retire in the season opener at Suzuka last month. His teammate at Team lenovo Impul, JP de Oliveira from Brazil, won the first race from pole position before he held on to second place in the afternoon. The Brazilian along with other expats Andre lotterer, who has won the 24 Hours of le Mans twice, and 2013 le Mans winner loic Doval, have more than five years of racing experience in Japan.
Chowrasia is10th; lahiri 22nd
Manila: SSP Chowrasia rounded off the ICTSI Philippine Open with a three-under 69 to finish 10th here on Sunday. For Chowrasia, this was the third top-10 of the year and he has also finished tied 11th once. Anirban lahiri landed two eagles besides one birdie, one bogey and one double bogey in his 70 to finish tied 22nd, the same as Abhijit Chadha, who closed with a 72.