CHENNAI: Bengaluru pair of Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai (Arka Motorsports) kept their nerves to win the 44th South India Rally, which is a round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (Asia Cup) and the concluding round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021 here on Sunday.
Even as Kadur and Pai celebrated their Asia Cup (India leg) victory on their APRC debut, Himachal's Aditya Thakur and co-driver Virender Kashyap (Chettinad Sporting) clinched their maiden national championship title (overall), though provisionally, and subject to the outcome of an appeal pending before the Indian Motor Sports Appeal Court.
Meanwhile, three-time APRC champion Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif), who had retired on Saturday with a mechanical failure but restarted on Sunday, eventually finished second behind Kadur.
Kadur also topped the South India Rally, organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club, to claim the overall honours ahead of Dean Mascarenhas (Gagan Karumbaiah) and Thakur. The third place finish was sufficient for Thakur to emerge National champion.
University of Madras champs in All-India inter-university men's basketball tournament
Anantharaj (26 pts) and Lokeshwaran (23) combined well to help University of Madras to beat Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi 97-78 in the final of the All-India inter-university men's basketball tournament organised by Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, Chennai. Former India basketball player and captain Jayasankar Menon gave away the prizes.
J Diwaker shines
Riding on J Diwaker's fifer (5/17), IEC RC thrashed SRF RC by 44 runs in a fourth-division match of the TNCA-Thiruvallur DCA league.
Brief scores: IV Division: IEC RC 182/9 in 30 overs (S Parvesh Gautam 85, Sanjay Solairaja 49, A Saravanan 4/36) bt SRF RC 138 in 28.3 overs (J Diwakar 5/17).
Arya Ganapathy K advances in TVS-ITF junior U-18 tennis championship
Arya Ganapathy K defeated Ashwajit Senjam in straight sets (6-1, 6-4) in the boys final qualifying round of the TVS-ITF junior U-18 tennis championships at Madura College in Madurai.
Boys: Qualifying final round: MA Kandhavel bt Cepha Paul 6-2, 6-1; Siddharth Marathe bt LN Nithis Baalaji 6-3, 6-0; Yash Panchaxari bt Anshul Satav w.o.; Arya Ganapathy K bt Ashwajit Senjam 6-1, 6-4.