Indian sports report, October 2: Rohit Bansiwal beats Kenyan Victor Kurgat to win Vedanta Zinc City gold in the half marathon

ATHLETICS

Vedanta half marathon: Rohit Bansiwal beats Kenyan Victor Kurgat to win gold

Rohit Bansiwal of Tonk, Rajasthan, defeated Kenya's Victor Kurgat by two minutes to clinch gold in the Vedanta Zinc City half marathon. He clocked one hour, 11 minutes and 22 seconds for the 21 kilometer race.

Madina Paul from Delhi won the women's half marathon, beating Sonal Sukhwal by 12 minutes.

Ajit Kumar and Khushboo won the men's and women's 10 kilometer race respectively.

It was a memorable run for the participants of the scenic route around Fateh Sagar Lake and Aravalli Mountains, apart from Maharaja Pratap Smarak, Neemuch Mata Mandir Hill and lush green gardens.

The CEO of Hindustan Zinc who hosted the first half marathon, Arun Misra, an avid runner, completed the half marathon.

I am absolutely delighted that this event has put Zinc City Udaipur firmly on the international marathon map, said Arun Misra.

The message of the run was #RunForZeroHunger, an initiative to eradicate malnutrition in rural areas.

The results:

Half Marathon: Men: 1. Rohit Bansiwal 1:11:22; 2. Victor Kurgat 1:13:21; 3. Gopal Bairwa 1:13:22.

Women: 1. Medina Paul 1:33:32; 2. Sonal Sukhwal 1:45:16; 3. Khushi Pahwa 1:52:03.

10 km: Men: 1. Ajit Kumar 32:40; 2. Ganpat Singh 32:59; 3. Durgendra 33:07.

Women: 1. Khushboo 40:39; 2. Sapna Kumari 41:19; 3. Sunita Gurjar 45:02.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Vizag Open: Milind Soni scores eight-under 63 to take a three-shot lead

Rookie Milind Soni of Hyderabad took the spotlight on the first day with an eight-under 63 to take a three-shot lead in the Rs. 1 crore Vizag Open golf championship at East Point Golf Club on Wednesday.

Two of the pre-tournament favourites, Khalin Joshi of Bengaluru and Patnas Aman Raj, were in second place with scores of five-under 66.

19-year-old Milind Soni, who has posted one top-10 so far in his rookie season, got off to a great start with a birdie on the 10th, his opening hole of the tournament. Milind, in great form with the putter, then sank four birdies from 50 to 20 feet.

Then Soni made more gains with his exceptional approach shots that produced birdies on the fourth and seventh. Milind finally capped his clear round with another long conversion on the eighth.

Soni, who was India's No. 1 Junior and No. 2 Amateur in the past, said: 'With narrow fairways and thick rough here at the EPGC there was a premium on hitting greens in regulation and I have 16 regulations today made. My putter was hot and I barely missed any putts.

I have fond memories of the EPGC winning my second and last amateur title here in 2022. I also took third place at an amateur event here in 2023. So despite missing the cut on my home course last week in Hyderabad, I came into this event with a lot of confidence.

As the weather conditions were very harsh and the heat and humidity made life difficult for the professionals, I adapted well by keeping myself hydrated and wiping my hands regularly.

Khalin Joshi also rode a flawless lap. His five birdies included a pair of tap-ins, including one at the eighth where he narrowly missed a hole-in-one.

Aman Raj made six birdies, including a chip-in against a lone bogey.

Reigning champion N Thangaraja of Sri Lanka fired a 70 to finish in 21st place.

Among golfers from Visakhapatnam, S Muthu (75) was the highest ranked at joint 93rd.

-Team Sportstar

BASKETBALL

Experienced Ernakulam too strong for Thrissur

There were some fireworks in Thrissur's third quarter but it was not enough to trouble defending champions Ernakulam as it won its second league match in Group A with a 61-44 verdict in the 68th Kerala State senior basketball championship in the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Ernakulam led 34-19 at half-time but Thrissur, a pair of students from Sree Kerala Varma and Christ, cut the champions' lead to just eight points at 38-30 in the third quarter, while CK Abhinav and Irfan Saheer added a pair got some nice points. threes from the flanks. But the tall and experienced Ernakulam men were back in form in the final quarter and won comfortably, with captain Antony Johnson and Shiras Muhammed accounting for most of the scoring.

My boys were too scared, they missed too many attempts under the basket… but we will be back, said Thrissur coach Sunny Thomas, a former Ernakulam coach and State star. Our goal is to reach the semi-finals.

KOZHIKODE, ERNAKULAM WOMEN IN QUARTER FINALS

Meanwhile, the quarter-finalists were spotted in the women's section. While last year's winners, Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha, were allotted the last eight spots even before the championship started, with Malappuram withdrawing from the three-team Group A, Palakkad, Kozhikode (both Group B), Pathanamthitta, Thrissur ( Group C) and Kottayam and host Ernakulam (Group D) filled the remaining quarter-final spots.

The results (competition)

Men: Ernakulam 61 (Antony Johnson 22, Shiras Muhammed 17, Joshua Sunil Oommen 13) bt Thrissur 44 (CK Abhinav 12, Jeo Lonappan 10);

Alappuzha 78 (Mathew Joseph 21, Albin Varghese 10) bt Wayanad 32 (Jojo 10); Palakkad 97 (Abin Sabu 21, S. Adarsh ​​​​​​17, Basil Philip 16) bt Malappuram 55 (P. Jithu 15, KM Abhinav 11); Thrissur 56 (Deepak Vettathu 17, Shibin Shaji 16) bt Kannur 49 (Prem Prakash 16).

Women: Pathanamthitta 75 (Amritha Prasad 23, Thalitha Maria Udhay 16, Krishna Priya 15) bt Kollam 37 (Akshara 16); Palakkad 94 (VJ Jayalakshmi 19, Haleena January 19, Chippy Mathew 13, Rose Mary Sajan 10, Nandhana Renjith 10) bt Kasargod 30; Kottayam 104 (Irin Elsa John 20, KA Abhirami 18, Akshaya Philip 18, A. Ajina 15) bt Kannur 39 (KK Gopika 12); Ernakulam 58 (Amanda Maria Rocha 17, Laya Maria Antony 13) bt Kannur 11.

-Stan Ryan