CHENNAI : N Gowri Shankar’s unbeaten 177 helped Thiruvallur District to beat Pondicherry by 292 runs in TNCA inter-district U-14 tournament.Brief scores: Thiruvallur 378/5 in 50 ovs (N Gowri Shankar 177 n.o, K Nirmal Kumar 121, K Sidhanth 3/42) bt Pondicherry 86 in 31.4 ovs (Anirudh Balaji 3/23, BK Kaushik Keifer Minh 3/31)+ADs- Kancheepuram 200/7 in 50 ovs (Mayank Das 69) bt Villupuram 155/9 in 50 ovs (M Vinoth 78+ADs- Abhinav Balaji 3/27, R Raathin 3/42)+ADs- Karur 201/8 in 50 ovs (P Leelaprasanth 3/26, B Whipra Harihara Sundaram 3/29) bt Dindigul 193 in 49.3 ovs (S Saran 51+ADs- C Varun Krishna 3/41)+ADs- Dharmapuri 198/8 in 50 ovs (A Gangadharan 3/22) lost to Thoothukudi 199/2 in 37.1 ovs (A Gangadharan 113 n.o, AM Nikhilan 53 n.o).
Sankar bags gold
Second-seeded Sankar Muthusamy of Chennai won the boys+IBk- singles U-15 title, beating top seed Pranav Rao Gandham of Telangana 21-18, 21-11 in the final of the national-ranking badminton tournament held in Nagpur.This event will also be used for selecting the U-15 and U-17 contingent for Asian Championship, that will be held in October in Myanmar.This is Sankar’s seventh podium finish at a national-ranking tournament, and his third U-15 gold. He trains at Fireball Badminton Academy, under coach S Aravindan.
TNCA U-16 selection
Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) will organise U-16 selection trials to pick city teams, from August 13-16 at the B Grounds of Chepauk Stadium.Boys born on or after September 1, 2002, are eligible to participate. They can register their names at TNCA office, on or before August 10. Registration forms can be collected from TNCA office on any working day between 10.00am and 6.00pm.
Good response for sports meet
A mass drill themed — fitness through dance — was the highlight of the 33rd Chettinad Vidyashram Annual Sports Day, held on Sunday at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Emerald House emerged as winner. Around 200 students performed surya namaskars and advanced asanas.