London, July 3 (IANS) Second seed and the 2023 U.S Open winner, Coco Gauff advanced into the women’s singles third round of the Wimbledon 2024 Championships, with a crushing 6-2, 6-1 victory over Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni here on Wednesday. The 20-year-old American dropped just three games as she became the first woman to the third round.

Gauff needed just 1 hour and 6 minutes to defeat Todoni, who beat Olga Danilovic in the first round after qualifying for her Grand Slam debut, under the roof on No.1 Court, as rain delayed the start of play on the outside courts by nearly two hours.

Todoni, the rookie, was competitive with the US Open champion in the first four games of the match. But she failed to convert the only two breakpoints she had in the match, in the fourth game of the second set, which proved costly for the Romanian. In all, Gauff broke serve five times in nine chances, and her serve was never otherwise under threat.

Gauff was born five months before Todoni in 2003 but entered the match as the much more experienced player. The World No.141 was contesting her first career Grand Slam tournament, and second WTA tour-level main draw after debuting in February at Cluj-Napoca.

Ranked No.592 at this time last year, Todoni entered Wimbledon ranked a near career-best No.141, was 4-1 against Top 100 players in 2024 entering her match against Gauff, and also beat a player ranked ahead of her, No.116 Olga Danilovic, in the opening round.

But Gauff represented a step up in quality and experience that the Romanian had trouble matching. She hit 23 unforced errors in defeat to just seven winners.

The American, meanwhile, hit 13 winners to 16 unforced and won 85% of her first serve points — though she only landed 43% of them.

Since losing in the first round of Wimbledon 12 months ago, Gauff is now 19-2 at Grand Slam tournaments. And largely, she’s cruised in those victories — particularly in the first week. Gauff did not lose a set in either the Australian Open or French Open in her first four matches and has only lost six games through two rounds at Wimbledon.

But the grass-court Grand Slam is the only event at which Gauff hasn’t made the quarterfinals, having lost in the Round of 16 in both 2019 and 2021.

–IANS

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Jhansi, July 3 (IANS) Hockey Uttarakhand and Hockey Haryana won their respective matches in the women’s category while Delhi Hockey emerged victorious in the men’s category on Day 3 of the 2nd Hockey India Junior Women and Men North Zone Championship 2024 in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, on Wednesday.

Hockey Uttarakhand win 24-0

In the day’s first fixture in the women’s section, Hockey Uttarakhand defeated Hockey Jammu & Kashmir 25-0. Aarti (22’, 43’, 48’, 49’, 53’, 56’), Neelam (4’, 22’, 44’, 52’, 59’) and Aarti were the standout performers of the game, scoring six and five goals respectively.

Ankita Mishra (7’, 36’, 39’. 47’), Raeen Kehkasha Ali (5’, 29’, 37’), and Saloni Pilkhwal (33’, 41’, 56’) also bagged hat-tricks, while Vansi (9’), Jyoti Mahara (41’), Babita Yadav (45’) Kavita (55’) scored a goal each.

Hockey Haryana defeat Delhi Hockey

In the second women’s encounter of the day, Hockey Haryana defeated Delhi Hockey 4-1. Ritika (9’, 23’) gave Haryana the lead and doubled her tally soon after. Pooja Malik (27’) and Sejal (35’) chipped in with a goal each as well. Captain Anshika (36’) was the only goal scorer for Delhi.

Commanding win for Delhi Hockey

In the first men’s encounter, Delhi Hockey defeated Hockey Himachal 9-0. After an early green card, Bhanu (14’, 17’, 38’, 56’, 58’) led Delhi’s attack with five goals while he was supported by the efforts of Mohd Amir Chaudhary’s (26’, 32’) and goals from Rishu (10’) and Afridi (34’)

Later in the day, Hockey Haryana takes on Uttar Pradesh Hockey in the second men’s encounter.

In a late evening encounter on Tuesday, Hockey Chandigarh recorded a 13-1 victory against Hockey Jammu & Kashmir. Misbah Khan (8’, 28’, 30’, 49’) was the leading goal scorer for Hockey Chandigarh with four goals and Rishav (25’, 49’, 55’) scored a hattrick.

Amongst the other scorers were Pankaj Sharma (3’, 24’), Sukhmanpreet Singh (16’), Prince Singh (33’), Gurjeet Singh (41’), and Sukhpreet Singh (43’). Hockey Jammu & Kashmir’s sole goal was scored by Gurpreet Singh (19’).

–IANS

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Chennai, July 3 (IANS) A new generation of young and hungry-for-success riders is expected to continue its progress through the ranks in the second round of the MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2024 commencing at the Madras International Circuit, here on Thursday.

During last month’s Round 1 at the same venue, several talented teenagers, across categories, announced their arrival on the National stage, giving the established stars a run for their money, and in some instances, even overshadowing the seasoned lot.

The trend is likely to continue this action-packed weekend which will see 18 races besides 10 qualifying and 11 practice sessions with over 100 riders from across India lining up on various grids.

Even as the youngsters are creating a buzz in the paddock, title sponsors MRF Tyres, have decided to allocate slick tyres to the Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open category that should bring down the lap times. Incidentally, the other premier class, the Pro-Stock 165cc Open has also greatly benefitted from slick tyres in the past few seasons.

The best demonstration of the new generation’s takeover is evident in these two highly competitive Pro-Stock categories. Two 17-year-old riders and TVS Racing team-mates, Sarthak Chavan from Pune and Bengaluru’s Chiranth Vishwanath have established themselves as the front-runners and pace-setters in both classes that contain very experienced riders who have been around for over a decade. The intense rivalry between the two is already the talk of the championship.

Another 17-year-old, Abdul Basim from Chennai, looks set to dominate the Novice (Stock 165cc) category, having won both the races in Round 1 ahead of much older riders.

In the other National Championship category, the Stock 301-400cc (Novice), Chennai youngster Kaushik Subbaiah Ganesan (RACR Castrol Power1 Ultimate) also enjoyed a good start to the season with a double in Round-1, from a big grid of 30 riders.

Down the field, a 15-year-old schoolgirl from Chennai, Rakshitha Dave, caused a sensation by winning both the Round-1 races in the Girls (Stock 165cc) category, defeating a couple of former National champions.

Rakshitha also made her debut in the Honda India Talent Cup astride the super-quick NSF 250R bike, while sharing the grid with her twin brother, Rakshith, who won the first race and was third in the next outing last month.

Likewise, the TVS One-Make Championship organised by the promoters, Madras Motor Sports Club, has thrown up a few promising youngsters. Coimbatore’s Senthilkumar (Apache Open 310RR) and Bengaluru’s Harshith V. Bogar (Rookie, RTR 200) began their 2024 campaigns by notching a double apiece in their respective categories while Sarah Khan from Mumbai (Girls, RTR 200) looked dominant while winning the race in her class.

Chairman of the Event and Race Director Manoj P. Dalal felt that the 2024 season could be a breakthrough year for several young riders. “The Championship, over the years, has been a breeding ground for talent. We are very pleased that the 2024 season has already seen the emergence of a fresh crop of youngsters who hold out rich promise and we can look forward to an exciting year of highly competitive racing.”

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 3 (IANS) The senior Indian men’s team will play a Tri-Nation friendly tournament in Vietnam during the October 2024 FIFA window. Apart from India and host Vietnam, the third team in the fray is Lebanon. Both Vietnam (116) and Lebanon (117) are placed ahead of India (124) in the latest FIFA rankings.

This will be the senior side’s first international appearance since their missed opportunity to go through to the third round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers having lost against Asian Champions Qatar in the final game of the second round of the qualifiers.

The senior men’s side is currently without a manager after the relations between former Head Coach Igor Stimac and the All India Federation soured after the senior team failed to qualify for the third stage of qualifying. That resulted in the Croatian’s contract being terminated by the sport’s governing body ending a five-year tenure for Stimac.

It will be the dawn of a new era for Indian football when they take the field for the very first time with whoever is appointed the new head coach of the team as the search is underway. They will also be without all-time top scorer Sunil Chhetri who played his final game for the national side in the 0-0 draw against Kuwait at the Salt Lake Stadium on June 6.

Fixtures:

October 9: Vietnam vs India

October 12: India vs Lebanon

October 15: Vietnam vs Lebanon

–IANS

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London, July 3 (IANS) Former World No.1 Andy Murray will partner fellow Grand Slam champion Emma Raducanu in the mixed doubles event at Wimbledon. The announcement came on Wednesday, confirming that the two British stars have accepted a wild card entry into the competition, which starts on Friday at the All England Club.

Andy Murray, who is also competing in the men’s doubles alongside his brother Jamie, is making his final appearance at the grass-court major. The 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon champion has had to withdraw from the singles draw due to his ongoing recovery from back surgery. Despite this, his participation in both doubles events ensures that he will play at least two matches during the tournament.

Raducanu, who burst onto the global tennis scene by winning the US Open in 2021 as an 18-year-old qualifier, has already progressed to the second round in the Wimbledon singles draw.

Reflecting on her admiration for Murray, Raducanu highlighted his meticulous preparation and dedication to the sport. “I think the biggest advice is just how he’s always taken care of his operations, how he manages his people. I haven’t really spoken to him so much,” she said after her first-round win.

“I think for me it’s just like watching him operate day to day, watching him be absolutely on it with everything. Even in practice now, he’s so on it to the minute.”

She added, “I think me, when I was a bit younger maybe, showing up 15 minutes before practice to do a few arm curls, swing my hand around and warm up, he’s there for an hour and a half doing treatment. He just sets really good examples.”

This will be Murray’s second foray into Wimbledon mixed doubles. In 2019, he teamed up with former World No. 1 Serena Williams, and the duo made it to the third round.

–IANS

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