From India beating Uzbekistan in Asia-Oceania WJT position playoffs to the Kerala Football Association felicitating former India captain I. M. Vijayan, here’s all that happened in the world of Indian sports on Saturday, April 5.
FOOTBALL
KFA felicitates Vijayan and triumphant National Games teams
Football great I.M. Vijayan lauded the Kerala Football Association’s (KFA’s) move to field a young team at the recent National Games in Uttarakhand.
Just weeks before the National Games, Kerala had finished runner-up in the Santosh Trophy, losing through an injury-time goal against West Bengal, but the KFA opted for a fresh side for Uttarakhand. That gamble paid off and Kerala won the National Games gold after a gap of 28 years with a 1-0 victory over the host.
“Fielding a young side and giving youngsters such a big opportunity at the National Games was a bold move,” said former India striker Vijayan, during the KFA’s ‘Pride of Kerala football’ awards function here on Saturday.
The KFA felicitated Vijayan, on his recent Padma Shri Award, with Hibi Eden, MP, presenting a memento to the former India captain during the function.
“The National Games triumph proved that there is no shortage of football talent in Kerala,” said Navas Meeran, the KFA president.
The KFA also feted the triumphant National Games team, the Santosh Trophy runner-up side and the beach soccer team which is the current National Games champion having won the gold when the Goa hosted the Games in 2023. Beach soccer was not played at the recent Uttarakhand National Games.
-Team Sportstar
BADMINTON
Samant enters semis of G. D. Birla Memorial Masters; Bilawala-D’Souza win easy
Professional Rajan Samant, also seeded No.1 in the men’s singles 45 category, scored a straight games 15-8, 15-6 win over Joseph Anthony to enter the semifinals of the 31st G. D. Birla Memorial Masters Inter-club Badminton Tournament at their courts in Mumbai on Friday.
Players in action G. D. Birla Memorial Masters Badminton Tournament in Mumbai on Saturday.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Players in action G. D. Birla Memorial Masters Badminton Tournament in Mumbai on Saturday.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
In other matches, fancied Jitesh Padukone had to retire after winning the first game against Prashant Shah 15-13 and trailing 4-5 in the second.
Also advancing to the last four were Sachin Bharati, who rallied to defeat Dhirendra Maurya 10-15, 15-9, 15-9 and second seed Gautam Lad, who sailed past Pankaj Sampat 15-7, 15-7.
In the men’s 110+ doubles matches, top seeds Ayaz Bilawala and Rajesh D’Souza of Bombay Gym entered the quarter-finals with a facile 30-7 win over Anand Rai and Yogesh Kalia. Also advancing with ease were second seeds Bibhash Chatterjee and Yogesh Sanghvi, who defeated Jiji Jacob and Savio Lamb 30-13.
Top seeds Naheed Divecha and Shaiilesh Daga did not break much of a sweat before advancing to the semi-finals of the UNI Doubles with a 15-2, 15-8 win over Sanjay Deshmukh and Suraj Awatramani.
PROFESSIONAL SINGLES (ROUND OF 64)
Sanjay Golbare (BMC Gymkhana) beat Mangesh Jadhav (PJ Hindu Gymkhana) 30-9; Dattaram Radiye beat Ganesh More 30-12; Pranit Bane lost to Aatish Annapurne 30-14; Amar Salvi beat Jayesh Mahadik (Bombay Gymkhana) 30-5; Vivek Yadav beat Uday Jadhav (Garware Club House) 30-20; Mayur Devlekar beat Ravi Annapurne 30-16; Rahul Singh lost to Rahul Bhuvad 23-30; Jayendra Patekar granted a walkover win against Sahil Mali; Prafull Ghatvisave granted a walkover win against Kalpesh Padekar 30-12 Shailesh Joshi was granted a walkover win against Swapnil Gaikwad.
PROFESSIONAL SINGLES ROUND OF 32
Satish Mahyavanshi lost to Prafull Ghatvisave 13-30; Premal Mankar beat Rakesh Kanchavade 30-17; Manoj Nachanekar (1) beat Sanket More 30-13; Rajan Samant (4) (L) beat Rajesh Jadhav (CCI) (R) 30-11; Mayur Devlekar lost to Akshay Kanchawade17-30; Roshan Devlekar lost to Sanjay Golbare 5-30; Vivek Yadav beat Dattaram Radiye 30-16; Jayendra Patekar lost to Sohan Jadhav 17-30; Santosh Pawar lost to Shubham More (3)19-30; Shailesh Joshi beat Vishwas Jadhav 30-13; Rahul Bhuvad beat Ajay Mali 30-15.
Chetan Bandarkar (2) was granted a walkover win against Lalit Bane
Chandrakumar Yadav granted a walkover win against Ananda N Maskar
Amar Salvi granted a walkover win against Rajesh Jadhav Bg
Aatish Annapurne granted a walkover win against Jayesh Devlekar
MS 45 – ROUND OF 16
Dhirendra Maurya beat Suchit Khobarekar 30-18; Prashant Shah was granted a walkover win against Navin Kamat
MS-45 QUARTERFINAL
Rajan Samant (1) beat Joseph Anthony 15-8, 15-6; Jitesh Padukone retired Prashant Shah (Winner) – 15-13, 4-5; Dhirendra Maurya lost to Sachin Bharati – 15-10, 9-15, 9-15; Pankaj C Sampat lost to Gautam Laud (2) – 7-15, 7-15
WS 45 – QUARTERFINAL
Safiya Anjum was granted a walkover win against Linta Mathew
MD 110+ – ROUND 16
Ayaz Bilawala (1)/Rajesh Dsouza beat Anand Rai/Yogesh Kalia 30-7; George Varghese/Ranjeet Kothari lost to Anil Pandey/Vipul Shah 27-30; Anand Vithalkar/Vipool Patel beat Naushad Tamboli/Raj Sing 30-13; Parthasarathi Patnaik/Satinder Malhotra lost to Ketan Patel/Suraj Awatra 20-30; Santosh Oak/Suresh Mirgal lost to Jatin Agarwal/Naval Bir Kumar 19-30; Mukesh Mehra/Viren Ashok Shah lost to Rakesh Ragha/Yogesh Kumar 23-30; Ajit Bhide/Dr Shankar Rivankar lost to Prashant Mukherjee/Vilas Kuvale15-30; Jiji Jacob/Savio Lamb lost to Bibhash Chatterjee (2)/Yogesh Sanghvi 13-30
UNI DOUBLES – ROUND OF 16
Anand Vithalkar/Priya Ambekar beat Avniee Thakkarr/Savio Lamb 30-23; Sanjay Milind R Purnapatre/Naval Bir Kumar lost to Anil Ahuja/Tushar Jhaveri 18-30; Anil Pandey/Kumar Hinduja lost to Bibhash Chatterjee/Rajesh D Souza 22-30; Bharat Patil/Prashant Mukherjee lost to Satinder Malhotra/Vipool Patel 22-30
Anjali Parab/Narasimhan Kasthurikrishnan granted a walkover win against Camiel Seth/Mahesh Aras
Deshmukh/Suraj Awatramani granted a walkover win against Giles Castelino/Manoj Pawar
UNI DOUBLES QUARTERFINAL
Naheed Divecha (1)/Shailesh Daga beat Sanjay Deshmukh/Suraj Awatramani 15-2, 15-8; Anand Vithalkar/Priya Ambekar beat Anil Ahuja/Tushar Jhaveri 16-14, 5-15, 15-12
-Team Sportstar
TENNIS
India beats Uzbekistan in Asia-Oceania WJT
India beat Uzbekistan 3-0 in the positional play-off match for the 9th to 16th places in the Asia-Oceania WJT under-14 girls tennis championship in Kuching, Malaysia, on Saturday.
The Indian girls will next play Sri Lanka which beat Indonesia 2-0.
Japan, Taiwan and Korea made it to the semifinals, while China was locked 1-1 against Australia with an unfinished doubles rescheduled for Sunday.
The results:
Play-off 9-16: India bt Uzbekistan 3-0 (Srishti Kiran bt Zlata Nizamieva 6-3, 66-2; Jensi Kanabar bt Muslimakhon Turdimurodova 6-1, 6-3; Srishti & Aaradhya Meena bt Zlata & Muslimakhon 6-3, 6-3).
– Kamesh Srinivasan
HOCKEY
Rajasthan, Goa secure wins in 15th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship
Rajasthan, Arunachal, Chhattisgarh, Himachal, Chandigarh and Goa all secured win on day 2 of the 15th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Rajasthan, Arunachal, Chhattisgarh, Himachal, Chandigarh and Goa all secured win on day 2 of the 15th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Rajasthan, Arunachal, Chhattisgarh, Himachal, Chandigarh and Goa had a fruitful day as they secured their second consecutive win in the tournament on Day 2 of the 15th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2025.
In the first match of the day, Rajasthan secured another win in the tournament after defeating Jammu & Kashmir 5-4 in Division ‘C’. In another match in the division, Arunachal defeated Tripura 20-0.
In the next match, Chhattisgarh beat Bihar 15-0 while Himachal defeated Gujarat 17-1.
Chandigarh overcame Telangana 2-1 in a close contest in Division ‘B’, and Goa defeated Andhra Pradesh 5-1.
-Team Sportstar
