Kartik, Shivanshi win matches in 3-day badminton tournament

Kanpur: Kartik Shukla and Shivanshi Ranjan emerged victorious in their opening round matches of Under-17 boys and girls' event of three-day open prize money badminton tournament organised under the auspices of Net Crusher Badminton Academy on Saturday.

Kartik defeated Rudrank Yadav by 30-11 in the opening round match. In other matches, Atharva Yadav overcame Rohak Sethi by identical margin (30-11), Ayush Verma prevailed over Arav 30-27 in a keenly contested encounter, Kandarp Khatri vanquished Anirudh Saxena 30-9.

In the girls' under-17 group, Shivanshi Ranjan triumphed over Utpreksha 30-9, Sanvika Gupta defeated S Sonkar 21-3, 21-8.

Results of Under-19 group (Boys): Arav Sharma defeated Divyansh Sonkar 30-9, Kandarp Khatri defeated Anirudh Saxena 30-9. Under-11 girls: Utpreksha Srivastava defeated Ishtika Tiwari 30-6.

Hockey: Former international hockey player Pal Devendra has been appointed manager of the UP senior hockey team participating in the 15th hockey India senior men championship under national games scheduled at Haridwar from April 4 to April 15.

Pal Devendra, currently employed with HAL, coaches aspiring hockey players. UP will commence their campaign against Bengal on April 8.

Hanuman Jayanti sports function: Krida Bharti will organise a sports week commemorating Lord Hanuman Jayanti at Jugal Devi Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandir Vikas Nagar from April 6 to April 12.

According to Ashutosh Satyam Jha, secretary Krida Bharti, besides various sports events, demonstrations of yoga, karate, wrestling, archery, kabaddi, kho kho, tug of war, dand baithak and surya namaskar will be conducted at different venues.

He said that Krida Bharti celebrated Hanuman Jayanti last year and resolved to observe the Jayanti annually with a week-long sports programme.

Cricket: Second Surendra Singh Yadav memorial invitation cricket tournament for V Guard Trophy will commence at Kanpur South ground from April 8. According to PS Negi, organising secretary, eight senior division teams---KDMA, Kanpur South, Rovers, Kanpur Cricketers, Diamond Club, Olympic Regd, Wanderers and Adarsh Clubs will participate in this event.