TABLE TENNIS
Phantom Stars wins inaugural Table Tennis Super League Maharashtra
Phantom Stars capped off a dominant campaign by clinching the inaugural Table Tennis Super League (TTSL) Maharashtra title with a flawless triumph, winning all seven ties across the league and knockout stages, including a commanding 14-8 victory in the final against PBG Pune Jaguars on Sunday.
The league also spotlighted the next generation of table tennis talent in Maharashtra, with teenagers Divyanshi Bhowmick (PBG Pune Jaguars) and Prateek Tulsani (Mumbai Mozartt) being named Best Women’s and Men’s Players, overall.
“The victory could have been sweeter had our team won the title, but nevertheless, it was a terrific experience playing for PBG Pune Jaguars and I really can’t wait for the next edition to happen,” said 14-year-old Bhowmick, who came into TTSL Maharashtra after competing in the main draw of WTT Star Contender Chennai 2025.
Final Standings
Phantom Stars (1st Place): Deepit Patil, Senhora D’Souza, Aarav Vora, Arnav Kshirsagar, Swara Jangade, Onkar Jog
PBG Pune Jaguars (2nd Place): Anish Sontakke, Reeth Rishya, Nirav Mulye, Mayuresh Sawant, Divyanshi Bhowmick, Kedar Kasbekar
Mumbai Mozartt (3rd Place): Sagar Kasture, Pritha Vartikar, Prateek Tulsani, Yuvraj Yadav, Sukrati Sharma, Suraj Chandrasekharan
Player Awards:
Best Player, U-13 Boys: Param Bhiwandkar (Ping Panthers)
Best Player, U-17 Girls: Swara Jangade (Phantom Stars)
Best Player, U-17 Boys: Arnav Kshirsagar (Phantom Stars)
Best Player, Veterans: Onkar Jog (Phantom Stars)
Best Player, Women’s Senior: Pritha Vartikar (Mumbai Mozartt)
Best Player, Men’s Senior: Deepit Patil (Phantom Stars)
Best Men’s Player (Ovr): Prateek Tulsani (Mumbai Mozartt)
Best Women’s Player (Ovr): Divyanshi Bhowmick (PBG Pune Jaguars)
-Team Sportstar
BADMINTON
Priya downs Namita in a thriller for title
Second seed Priya Ambekar, MCF had a fight on her hands against top seed Namita Mehta-Vijayakar, JVPG, Juhu but kept her composure in the decider to score an upset win in an entertaining match to lift the women’s 45 singles title in the G D Birla Memorial Masters Inter-Club Badminton Tournament, co-hosted by Bombay Gymkhana and promoted by Badminton Gurukul.
An easy 21-11 first game win for Namita was no indication of the fight to come from Priya, who won the second game 21-16 and then fought tooth and nail for every point in the decider and closed the match in her favour 22-20.
Results
TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP – ELITE CUP – Quarterfinal
Bombay Gymkhana A beat CCI 2-0; Vanita Samaj A Team beat Catholic Gymkhana 0-2; Goregaon Sports Club beat Masters Sports Club Llp 2-1; MCA A lost to MIG Cricket Club 1-2
MS 45 – Semifinal
Sachin Bharati beat Gautam Laud [2] 21-11, 16-21 21-19; Rajan Samant [1] beat Prashant Shah 21-12, 21-16
WS 45 – Semifinal
Namita Mehta-Vijayakar [1] beat Ajita Ravindran 21-10, 18-21, 22-20; Safiya Anjum Farooqui lost to Priya Ambekar [2] 8-21, 10-21
WS 45 – Final
Namita Mehta-Vijayakar [1] lost to Priya Ambekar [2] 21-11, 16-21, 20-22
MD 110+ – Semifinal
Ayaz Bilawala [1]/Rajesh Dsouza beat Anand Vithalkar/ Vipool Patel 21-5, 21-13
MD 110+ – Final
Ayaz Bilawala [1]/Rajesh Dsouza lost to Prashant Mukherjee/Vilas Kuvale 21-14, 19-21, 16-21
TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP – PLATE CUP – Quarterfinal
Bombay Gymkhana B lost to Cc Baddies 2 (1-2); Mcf A beat All India Balkanji Bari 2-1; Wcg A beat Garware Club House 2-0; Jolly A beat Vanita Samaj B Team 2-1
-Team Sportstar
ESPORTS
S8UL qualifies for Pokemon World Championship 2025
Indian esports organization S8UL has officially qualified to represent India at the Pokémon World Championship 2025, scheduled to take place from August 15-17 in Anaheim, USA.
This marks the third time that S8UL has emerged as the champion of the Indian regional qualifiers for the Pokémon UNITE World Championship.
The achievement follows S8UL’s remarkable performance at the India qualifiers, where the team made an impressive comeback to win the championship title.
S8UL Pokémon UNITE roster
Manmohan ‘AllMight’ Singh (Captain)
Rahul Sharad “Kyurem” Lavhate
Deep “Snowyy” Patel
Adnan “Badshahh” Badshah
Rudra Narayan “ReX” Nayak
Aditya “Reapy” Bhujbal
The Pokémon World Championship 2025 will feature 32 of the best teams from across the globe competing for international glory and a share of the Rs. 4.28 crore prize pool, part of the broader Rs. 8.56 crore + Pokémon UNITE Championship Series.
– Team Sportstar
TENNIS
Asia-Oceania WJT U-14: India beat Thailand 3-0
India beat Thailand 3-0 for the ninth place in the Asia-Oceania WJT under-14 girls tennis championship in Kuching, Malaysia, on Monday.
It was a very creditable effort by the Indian team to win all its matches after having lost the two league matches against Korea and Japan, the eventual champion and runner-up in the 16-team competition.
India beat Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand without losing a rubber.
The top four teams China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea qualify for the World Group competition.
The results:
Play-off ninth place: India bt Thailand 3-0 (Srishti Kiran bt Pikpisa Wongwanitkajon 6-3, 6-1; Jensi Kanabar bt Paweenon Nualsri 6-2, 6-2; Jensi & Srishti bt Paweenon & Pattinan Phueakkam 6-1, 6-3).
– Team Sportstar
HOCKEY
India Senior Men National Championship 2025 – Arunachal, Chhattisgarh earn promotion
Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh and Bihar enjoyed victories in Division C while Chandigarh and Uttarakhand won in Division B on the fourth day of the 15th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2025 in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh.
With that, the Division C matches are over, and Arunachal and Chhattisgarh have ended the tournament on top of their respective pools with seven and nine points respectively as they win promotion to Division B in the next edition.
The day began with a 2-2 draw between Hockey Raj and Arunachal in Pool A of Division C. Abhinav Singh (29’) opened the scoring for Arunachal but Hockey Raj scored two goals on the trot coming from Vishal Kumar (42’) and Pulkit Kesari (46’). In the fourth quarter, Jay Prakash Patel (59’) scored a crucial equaliser for Arunachal to draw the game and ensure it ends the tournament on top of the table.
In the same pool of Division C, J&K enjoyed a dominant 15-1 victory over Tripura. Jagmeet Singh (15’, 49’, 49’, 53’), Jotveer Singh (21’, 45’, 47’, 59’), Sodhi Pavneet Singh (17’, 23’, 36’), Sahil Kumar (3’), Sushmeet Singh Pathania (52’), Gurpreet Singh (56’) and Vishu Sharma (57’) scored for the winning side while Sukhwinder (19’) got the lone goal for Tripura.
In Pool B of Division C, Chhattisgarh edged past Himachal 3-2 to win promotion. Kartik Yadav (19’, 28’, 35’) scored a brilliant hat-trick for the winning side while Amit Chahal (13’) and Harsh (38’) were the goalscorers for Himachal.
In the last game of Division C, Bihar defeated Gujarat with a commanding scoreline of 14-0. Jony Kumar (12’, 15’, 22’, 27’, 38’, 42’, 55’) was in brilliant form and recorded seven goals to his name. He was joined by Danish MD (17’, 47’, 60’), Captain Nigam Prabhakar (35’, 45’), Abhay Kumar (14’) and Rohit Lama (29’) in the scoresheet for Bihar.
In Division B, Pool A, Chandigarh beat Goans Hockey 4-0. Amandeep (19’), Mohit (48’), Manjinder Singh (54’) and Gurmukh Singh (56’) were the goalscorers for the winning side.
Next, Uttarakhand defeated Andhra Pradesh with a thrilling scoreline of 5-3 in Pool A of Division C. Vishal Kumar (10’, 32’), Captain Deepak Singh Fartyal (12’, 50’) and Deepanshu Aswal (20’) scored for Uttarakhand while Ramana Balla Venkat (34’), Siva Boya (37’) and Kumar Ragipati Sandeep (49’) scored the three goals for Andhra Pradesh.
– Team Sportstar
