TENNIS
Top-seeded Bax saves four match points to scrape past Mukund at the MSLTA $25K ITF Men’s Tournament
Top seeded Florent Bax of France saved four match points to overcome seventh seed Sasikumar Mukund 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3) in a marathon contest lasting over three hours to enter the mens singles semifinals at the MSLTA $25,000 ITF Men’s Tennis Tournament, organized by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association at the Dr. G.A. Ranade Tennis Centre.
In the semifinals, he took on India’s Sidharth Rawat, who made a strong statement, and ousted fourth seed Italian Alexandr Binda 6-4, 4-0 before the latter was forced to retire.
Fifth seed Philip Sekulic registered a solid 7-5, 6-3 win over Timofei Derepasko of Russia. Sekulic will take on Sweden’s Leo Borg, who delivered a dominant performance, toppling second seed Luca Castelnuovo 6-0, 6-2 in under an hour.
In the doubles semifinals, the top-seeded Indian pair of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Ramkumar Ramanathan cruised past Alexandr Binda and Timofei Derepasko 6-3, 6-4 to enter the final. The Indian top seeds will take on the duo of Leo Borg and Yurii Dzhavakian, who also progressed to the final with a 6-3, 6-2 win, stopping the good run of local wildcards India’s Anup Bangargi and Nirav Shetty.
Results: Singles: Quarterfinal Round:
Florent Bax(1)(Fra) bt Sasikumar Mukund(7)(Ind) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3); Sidharth Rawat(Ind) bt Alexandr Binda(4)(Ita) 6-4, 4-0; Philip Sekulic(5)(Aus) bt Timofei Derepasko 7-5, 6-3; Leo Borg(Swe) bt Luca Castelnuovo(2)(Sui) 6-0, 6-2;
Doubles: Semifinal Round:
Jeevan Neduncehzhiyan/Ramkumar Ramnathan(Ind)(1) bt Alexandr Binda(Ita)/Timofei Derepasko 6-3, 6-4; Leo Borg(Swe)/Yurii Dzhavakian(Ukr) bt Anup Bangargi/Nirav Shetty(Ind) 6-3, 6-2;
BADMINTON
Tanvi beats Nidaira to storm into semis at Orleans Masters
India’s Tanvi Sharma stunned Japan’s sixth seed Natsuki Nidaira in straight games to storm into the semifinals of Orleans Masters Super 300 badminton tournament on Friday.
The 17-year-old, who is a silver medallist at the BWF World Junior Championships, registered a 21-14, 21-14 in 43 minutes in the women’s singles quarterfinals.
Tanvi, who is the youngest Indian to reach a BWF World Tour final at the 2025 US Open Super 300, will take on either former World champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan or Vietnam’s Nguyen Thuy Linh next.
Isharani Baruah emerged the winner in another quarterfinal after Malvika Bansod retired while lagging 9-21, 7-15 in an all Indian clash .Isharani, who reached the finals of Odisha Masters Super 100, will face Thailand’s Pitchamon Opatniputh.
In the men’s doubles quarterfinals, Leo Carnando and Bagas Maulana of Indonesia ended the campaign of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun with a 21-12, 22-20 win.
-PTI
-Team Sportstar
GOLF
Aditi has slow start in California
India’s Aditi Ashok opened her campaign at the Fortinet Founders Cup with an even-par 72 to be placed tied 60th, nine shots behind leader Hyo Joo Kim here.
Ashok began her round in the back nine and made one birdie and one bogey before the turn and another birdie and a bogey on the front nine.
The birdies were made on the 17th and third holes, while the bogeys came on the 11th and sixth holes.
The 27-year-old is playing her second event of the year and would be looking to continue her fine form from China, where she finished in the top five.
Hyo Joo Kim leads the field by two strokes after carding 9-under 63 on the first day.
-PTI
CRICKET
Top stars to turn out for Dr. Vece Paes Cup
Cricketers Kapil Dev, Karsan Ghavri, Yusuf Pathan and Kirti Azad along with tennis legend Leander Paes will be part of the Dr. Vece Paes Cricket Cup, featuring a match between CCFC and Dr. Vece Paes XI, to be held here on Sunday. Other well known cricketers such as Arun Lal, Ashok Malhotra and Manoj Tiwary will also be seen in action.
-Team Sportstar
ATHLETICS
7th Indian Open 400m to feature competitve men’s field with Asian Games in sight
The 400 metres is one of India’s strongest events at the continental level. In an Asian Games year, the 7th Indian Open 400m meet, which will be held at the LNCPE Athletics Stadium, gets special attention and will be the testing ground for the country’s leading quarter-milers.
The season opener has evoked strong interest in the men’s category with 67 entries. V. Mohammed Ajmal, Mohamed Anas, T.S. Manu Amoj Jacob are some experienced runners who will be participating in the men’s event, while a few youngsters like T. Shar who graduated from the Under-20 category will be competing in the men’s event for the first time.
The focus will also be on the national campers attached to NCOE in Thiruvananthapuram and the event will be an opportunity for the coaches to assess their fitness and progress.
The women’s event has attracted a significantly lesser number of entries with only 27 runners in fray.
Hima Das, R. Vithya Ramraj, Dandhi Jyothika Sri, Prachi, Gowrinandan, Anu Raghavan and Poovama Raju are some of the prominent runners taking part in the event. Competition will also be held in Under-20 and Under-18 categories for boys and girls respectively.
-Team Sportstar
TABLE TENNIS
National TT wrap: Defending champion Chitale moves to semifinals
The race for a place in India’s squad for the World Championship in May intensified on Friday, the penultimate day of the 87th National Table Tennis Championship, as seeds tumbled at the Abhay Prashal Indoor Stadium.
Defending champion Diya Chitale, who survived a major scare against fellow Mumbai teenager Divyanshi Bhowmick in the quarterfinals, was the only top-four seed to progress to the semifinals in the women’s draw.
In the men’s singles, with several favourites exiting in the round of 32 and pre-quarterfinals earlier in the day, Manav Thakkar kept his hopes of a maiden national title alive. The bespectacled paddler halted the impressive run of giant-killer Kushal Chopda, who had earlier defeated eighth seed S.F.R. Snehit.
Second seed and defending champion Manush Shah, who is also battling to secure a spot in the World Championship squad, suffered a surprise loss to 15th seed Jeet Chandra in the pre-quarterfinals. Jeet then endured a marathon quarterfinal against H. Jeho, the only defensive player in the draw. In a 65-minute battle, Jeet edged past Jeho, capitalising on two errors from his opponent in the closing stages.
Third seed Payas Jain was another big casualty, going down to left-hander Neil Mulye in the round of 32. Mulye, however, could not build on the upset and was eliminated by Albuquerque in the round of 16.
Results
Women’s
Singles: Quarterfinals: Yashaswini Ghorpade (PSPB) bt Sreeja Akula (RBI) 11-7, 11-2, 8-11, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 13-11; Suhana Saini (Har) bt Sutirtha Mukherjee (RSPB) 8-11, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11, 11-9, 16-14; Syndrela Das bt (PSPB) bhht Yashini Sivashankar (TN) 11-6, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9; Diya Chitale (RBI) bt Divyansi Bhowmick (Mah) 11-7, 11-9, 11-2, 7-11, 8-11, 6-11, 11-4.
Doubles: Final: Sutirtha Mukherjee & Kaushani Nath (RSPB) bt Avisha Karmakar & Nandini Saha (AAI) 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5; Semifinals: Avisha & Nandini bt Aarti Chaudhury & Avani Tripathi (UP) 11-9, 11-8, 11-4; Sutirtha & Kaushani bt Frenaz Chipia & Fatema Kadri (Guj) 11-7, 11-5, 11-7.
Men’s
Singles: Quarterfinals: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Kushal Chopda (Mah) 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-7; Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Ankur Bhattacharjee (PSPB) 11-5, 6-11, 11-6, 11-8, 14-12; Ronit Bhanja (RSPB) bt Raegan Albuquerque (Mah) 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8; Jeet Chandra (RSPB) bt H. Jeho (Miz) 11-7, 6-11, 9-11, 15-13, 11-7, 12-14, 11-9.
Doubles: Final: Jeet Chandra & Anirban Ghosh (RSPB) bt Ronit Bhanja & S. Preyesh Raj (RSPB) 11-8, 11-6, 10-12, 1-11, 11-8; Semifinals: Jeet & Anirban bt M.R. Balamurugan & Siddhesh Pande (TN) 11-13, 11-4, 14-12, 11-7; Ronit & Preyesh bt Sanil Shetty & Divyansh Srivastava (PSPB) 7-11, 11-6, 13-11, 11-8.
SQUASH
Anahat meets Tanvi; Abhay, Veer in semifinal of Indian Open
Top seed Anahat Singh and unseeded Tanvi Khanna will meet in the women’s singles semifinals of the JSW Indian Open squash tournament after registering facile wins in the last-eight phase on Friday. However, Joshna Chinappa lost 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-1 to Egypt’s Nadien El Hammamy.
In the men’s section, second seed Abhay Singh and fourth-seeded Veer Chotrani entered the semifinals. While the former got past Egypt’s Yassin Shohdy 11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, the latter defeated another Egyptian Mohamed Sharaf in straight games.
Anahat underlined her status as one of the top contenders for the title with an 11-2, 11-6, 11-4 victory over Malaysia’s Sehveetrraa Kumar.
Anahat Singh defeated Malaysia’s Sehveetrraa Kumar 3-0.
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement
Anahat Singh defeated Malaysia’s Sehveetrraa Kumar 3-0.
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement
The No. 1 seed raced through the opening game 11-2 but faced some resistance from the Malaysian in the second before winning 11-6. In the third, Anahat dictated the pace and cruised home.
Tanvi stunned fourth seed Ainaa Amani 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8. She won the opening game with ease before the latter levelled it with an 11-7 win. Tanvi, however, held her nerve in the remaining games.
The results (quarterfinals):
Women: Anahat Singh bt Sehveetrraa Kumar (Mas) 11-2, 11-6, 11-4; Tanvi Khanna bt Ainaa Amani (Mas) 11-6, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8; Nadien Elhammamy (Egy) bt Joshna Chinappa 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-1; Hana Moataz (Egy) bt Yasshmita Jadishkumar (Mas) 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8.
Men: Abhay Singh bt Yassin Shohdy (Egy) 11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-7; Sanjay Jeeva (Mas) bt Ibrahim Elkabbani (Egy) 11-8, 11-7, 11-8; Ameeshenraj Chandaran (Mas) bt Duncan Lee (Mas) 8-3, retd.; Veer Chotrani bt Mohamed Sharaf (Egy) 11-9, 11-8, 11-2.
-Team Sportstar
SNOOKER
Young Shahyan stuns Nayyar to make semis of the CCI Snooker Classic
Mumbai’s Shahyan Razmi showed tremendous character and composure to edge past his senior opponent Sahil Nayyar 5-4 in the quarter-final of CCI Snooker Classic here on Friday.
The 20-year-old left-handed Shahyan exhibited solid fighting qualities. After trailing 3-4 in the best-of-11-frame contest, he constructed two match-winning breaks of 52 and 48 to pocket the last two frames and clinch a well-deserved 57-54, 7-56, 70-33, 51-16, 65-1, 25-71, 31-75, 73-35, 64-32) victory to seal his place in the semifinals.
Nayyar, who competes on the World Snooker Tour, made the best efforts of 65 and 48 in the sixth and seventh frames.
Meanwhile, in a quarter-final battle between two former champions, Brijesh Damani (PSBP) blanked Aditya Mehta (PSPB) 5-0 (77(69)-21, 74-34, 58-13, 108(80)-0, 76-26).
The Kolkata-based Damani produced two notable breaks of 69 in the first frame and 80 in the fourth frame.
Punjab’s Digvijay Kadian defeated Mumbai challenger Kreishh Gurbaxani 5-1 (83-23, 62-30, 72-32, 75-15, 67-4, 84-37) to advance to the semi-finals.
Earlier, another heavyweight Sourav Kothari (PSPB) crashed out losing rather tamely to Shahyan in four straight frames.
The promising Shahyan potted steadily and grabbed his chances to accumulate the points to register a 60-30, 61-34, 59-52 and 72-43 win to cruise into the quarter-finals.
-PTI
Published on Mar 20, 2026
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![Vox Creative, Roku debut new docuseries on history of American soccer The history of American soccer has spanned well over 120 years, and to date there hasn’t been many opportunities to look back at that history. With the 2026 World Cup about a month away, we now have a chance to do just that. Yesterday, SB Nation collaborated with Vox Creative and Roku to release Soccer Meets America, a 3-part docuseries that focuses on the rise of soccer in the United States.Soccer Meets America focuses around the meteoric rise in popularity, from the North American Soccer League days of the 1970s and 1980s to the 1984 Olympics, leading up to the 1994 World Cup. At the center of that history was Alan Rothenberg, who served as soccer commissioner for the 1984 Olympics, the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation from 1990 to 1998, and the CEO of the 1994 World Cup. He also had a hand in the start of Major League Soccer, adding women’s soccer to the Olympic program in 1996, and bringing the 1999 Women’s World Cup to the United States.Rothenberg recently released a new book entitled The Big Bounce: The Surge that Shaped the Future of U.S. Soccer. In the book, Rothenberg gives an inside account at how American soccer went from the days where leagues were not organized and fizzled quickly to some of the success we have today with leagues like Major League Soccer, the National Women’s Soccer League, and the United Soccer Leagues. He details his firsthand knowledge of what it took for the United States to host a successful soccer tournament at the 1984 Olympics, how the nation won the bid to host the 1994 World Cup, and how he was able to organize the federation to get everything done and push the game forward. He recently sat down for an interview on the USA Soccercast, and in that interview, he mentioned that the rise in popularity of the game wasn’t based on one big moment, but a sustained buildup of momentum.“[American soccer] sort of grew when I was starting in 1990,” Alan Rothenberg, former U.S. Soccer president and CEO of the 1994 World Cup, said in an interview for the USA Soccercast. “I had a glimpse of it back in the 70s when we had a team in Los Angeles ,and obviously the Cosmos set the world on fire at that time with Pelé and [Franz] Beckebauer…you had Giants Stadium. So there were those glimpses of what the future could hold. But as we started to build the soccer federation, our [1994] World cup team and the World cup organization, it just started to accelerate. So there wasn’t one ‘a ha!’ moment.”Soccer Meets America takes the unique yet unexpected path of professional soccer in the United States andn gives the story some definition. Through people like Rothenberg, we see that the history is shaped by chance, persistence, and communities that kept the game alive long before it found mainstream recognition. Starting with the sport’s deep roots in immigrant communities in the 1920s, each episode of the docuseries explores soccer on a personal and professional level. Both nostalgic and forward-facing, the series features a variety of influential figures in American soccer and aims to resonate with new and old fans of the sport alike.But there’s also the legacy of the 2026 World Cup, which will be different from what it was in 1994. “Well, obviously we’re starting from a different baseline,” Rothenberg said. “We started at virtually zero back in [1990], and now we’re starting from level 60 or 75…so the dramatic consequences will not be the same as they were after 94, but I think it’s going to be a huge spike in interest in the sport at all levels.”To grow the history, you must learn from it. And Soccer Meets America gives you a review of America’s soccer history and strengthes the foundations from which the sport’s culture and passion were created. As we approach the World Cup, that knowledge will be essential to craft the legacy that will carry long after the tournament ends. #Vox #Creative #Roku #debut #docuseries #history #American #soccer](https://i3.wp.com/platform.sbnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/gettyimages-2273772608.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C10.740350081171%2C100%2C78.519299837658&w=1200&ssl=1 "Vox Creative, Roku debut new docuseries on history of American soccer The history of American soccer has spanned well over 120 years, and to date there hasn’t been many opportunities to look back at that history. With the 2026 World Cup about a month away, we now have a chance to do just that. Yesterday, SB Nation collaborated with Vox Creative and Roku to release Soccer Meets America, a 3-part docuseries that focuses on the rise of soccer in the United States.Soccer Meets America focuses around the meteoric rise in popularity, from the North American Soccer League days of the 1970s and 1980s to the 1984 Olympics, leading up to the 1994 World Cup. At the center of that history was Alan Rothenberg, who served as soccer commissioner for the 1984 Olympics, the president of the U.S. Soccer Federation from 1990 to 1998, and the CEO of the 1994 World Cup. He also had a hand in the start of Major League Soccer, adding women’s soccer to the Olympic program in 1996, and bringing the 1999 Women’s World Cup to the United States.Rothenberg recently released a new book entitled The Big Bounce: The Surge that Shaped the Future of U.S. Soccer. In the book, Rothenberg gives an inside account at how American soccer went from the days where leagues were not organized and fizzled quickly to some of the success we have today with leagues like Major League Soccer, the National Women’s Soccer League, and the United Soccer Leagues. He details his firsthand knowledge of what it took for the United States to host a successful soccer tournament at the 1984 Olympics, how the nation won the bid to host the 1994 World Cup, and how he was able to organize the federation to get everything done and push the game forward. He recently sat down for an interview on the USA Soccercast, and in that interview, he mentioned that the rise in popularity of the game wasn’t based on one big moment, but a sustained buildup of momentum.“[American soccer] sort of grew when I was starting in 1990,” Alan Rothenberg, former U.S. Soccer president and CEO of the 1994 World Cup, said in an interview for the USA Soccercast. “I had a glimpse of it back in the 70s when we had a team in Los Angeles ,and obviously the Cosmos set the world on fire at that time with Pelé and [Franz] Beckebauer…you had Giants Stadium. So there were those glimpses of what the future could hold. But as we started to build the soccer federation, our [1994] World cup team and the World cup organization, it just started to accelerate. So there wasn’t one ‘a ha!’ moment.”Soccer Meets America takes the unique yet unexpected path of professional soccer in the United States andn gives the story some definition. Through people like Rothenberg, we see that the history is shaped by chance, persistence, and communities that kept the game alive long before it found mainstream recognition. Starting with the sport’s deep roots in immigrant communities in the 1920s, each episode of the docuseries explores soccer on a personal and professional level. Both nostalgic and forward-facing, the series features a variety of influential figures in American soccer and aims to resonate with new and old fans of the sport alike.But there’s also the legacy of the 2026 World Cup, which will be different from what it was in 1994. “Well, obviously we’re starting from a different baseline,” Rothenberg said. “We started at virtually zero back in [1990], and now we’re starting from level 60 or 75…so the dramatic consequences will not be the same as they were after 94, but I think it’s going to be a huge spike in interest in the sport at all levels.”To grow the history, you must learn from it. And Soccer Meets America gives you a review of America’s soccer history and strengthes the foundations from which the sport’s culture and passion were created. As we approach the World Cup, that knowledge will be essential to craft the legacy that will carry long after the tournament ends. #Vox #Creative #Roku #debut #docuseries #history #American #soccer")
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