VIDARBHA captain Akshay Wadkar sat squatted at the non-striker’s end with his hands on his helmet, looking at his partner Danish Malewar in disbelief. Debutant Malewar was the last recognised batter and was looking good with his two boundaries. But his wicket in the 15th over of the day exposed Vidarbha’s tail. From 47-5, the hosts’ innings folded at 118 in 38.5 overs against Andhra on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy match at VCA Civil Lines ground on Friday morning. Wadkar was the lone survivor ..

WITH two Duleep Trophy centuries under his belt, Andhra captain Ricky Bhui is aiming to carry on his form this Ranji season with their opening game against Vidarbha at Vidarbha Cricket Association’s Civil Lines ground. The opening four-day match begins from Friday and Andhra team wasted no time in finetuning their skills as they stepped out on the lush green VCA Civil Lines ground on a cloudy Wednesday afternoon. Bhui was the top scorer in last Ranji Trophy season with 902 runs for Andhra Pradesh ..

AKSHAY Wadkar, who led Vidarbha to Ranji Trophy final last season, has been retained as the skipper and will lead Vidarbha’s 17-member squad that will take on Andhra in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B opener to be played at the Civil Lines Stadium in Nagpur from October 11-14. VCA’s Senior Selection Committee, which met on Monday, named Atharva Taide as the vice-captain. THE SQUAD Akshay Wadkar (Captain & WK), Atharva Taide (Vice-Captain), Aman Mokhade, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Akshay Karnewar, Yash ..

The Nagpur men's team achieved a remarkable feat by securing the bronze medal at the Yonex-Sunrise Maharashtra State Senior Inter-District Team Championship held in memory of Late Nandu Natekar at Goregaon Sports Club, Mumbai, recently. In a hard-fought bronze medal match, Nagpur lost to Pune to settle for the bronze medal. Though the team narrowly missed a chance to reach the finals after a 3-1 loss to Pune in the semi-finals (in a best-of-five tie), their perseverance and teamwork earned them the ..

CAPTAIN Aayaan Batra once again bailed out his side and helped it to record a 35 runs win over Eagle Warriors in the ongoing SB City College Cricket Academy U-14 Premier League Cricket Tournament being played at SB City College Cricket Academy ground. Batra, who is leading the runs scorers chart with 364 runs from six matches, hit a timely half-century (68) as Indian Warriors posted 165 from 34.4 overs. Aayaan’s 68 was studded with eight boundaries and a six from 74 balls. In the last match, he ..

MITALI Bhoyar bagged her second gold medal while Bhuvneshwari Masram and Prajawal Dhanre also won a gold each to help Maharashtra bag overall championship title in the 35th West Zone Junior Athletics Championship that concluded at the Synthetic Track of Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) on Sunday. On third and final day of the meet, Mitali (10min, 31.85 secs), as expected ran to glory in the 3000m (U20) race, she was followed by district-mate Arti Bhagat in the second spot. ..

RITIKA Thaker and Navaneeth Bokka claimed their first medal at an international tournament in mixed doubles category at the Uganda International at Kampala. Ritika and Navaneeth beat Yeseri Kisa and Marium Musika in straight games with the score reading 21-6, 21-5. In the quarter-finals, the Indian duo got better of Agil Gabilov and Era Maftuha of Azerbaijan in straight games 21-18, 21-10. In the semi-finals, they faced Malaysian pair of Andy Kok and Loh Wie, the Indians lost the first game 21-14 ..

Ramdeobaba College of Engineering emerged winners of the Inter-College Basketball Tournament for Women, organised by Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, at its basketball court, Ravi Nagar. In the final, Ramdeobaba College of Engineering beat LAD & SRP Women's College 31-26. The quarterwise score was 13-8, 2-6, 8-5, 8-7. City Premier College (CPC) finished third while St Vincent Pallotti Engineering College ended fourth...

 KSHITIJ Shweta-Vinay Channe won a bronze medal in the recently held 16th State Level Para Swimming Championship at Mumbai. The competition was organised by Para Olympic Sports Association (Maharashtra). Kshitij, a 9th standard student of Pratap Naga..

Vidarbha boys started their Under-19 Vinoo Mankad campaign on a winning note as they defeated Saurashtra by three wickets in their opening league match of Group B at the Jamia Milia Islamia Ground in Delhi on Friday. Vidarbha bowlers kept picking wickets at regular intervals after Saurashtra won the toss and decided to bat first. Sarthak Dhabadgaonkar (2-41) and Sanskar Chavate (3-24) were the pick of the Vidarbha bowlers as they helped their team dismiss Saurashtra for 183 in the One-Day game. Shree ..

Disha Kasat will lead a 15-member Vidarbha team in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy Group ‘B’ League matches to be played in Kolkata from October 17-28. VCA’s women’s selection committee on Friday also named six stand-by players. The team: Disha Kasat (captain), Bharti Fulmali (Vice-Captain), Kanchan Nagwani, Shivani Dharne (wk), Komal Zanzad, Gargi Wankar, Nupur Kohale, Arya Gohane, Riddhi Naik, Arti Behenwal, Sayali Shinde, Latika Inamdar (wk), Sai Bhoyar, Trupti Lodhe, Vedanti Salodkar. STAND-BYS: ..

EU"s top court says some FIFA rules on international transfers are contrary to the bloc"s law..

Adv Shruti Gandhi of city performed brilliantly in the recently concluded Masters Swimming State Championship. Participating in the 45 to 50 age group, Adv Gandhi won two gold, two silver and one bronze medal and got selected for the national competition. She won two gold medals in 100m and 50m backstroke events, a silver in 4x100 middle relay and 200 freestyle and a bronze in 400m freestyle event. Nagpur District Veterans Swimming Association President Amit Saoji and others congratulated Shruti. ..

RIZWAN Ahemad scored a brace as Nagpur Sporting thrashed Young Boys by four goals to nil in the ongoing Dr Nitin Raut Football tournament at NDFA’s Dr Ambedkar Football Stadium in Suyog Nagar. Rizwan opened the account for Nagpur Sporting and then added another in the 27th minute of play. Krish (44th) and Faizan Khan (50th) were the other scorers. In another match, Nagpur Blues drubbed Orange City Club 6-0. Amit (19th), Sanket (37th), Stanley Peter (43rd), Valarien Paul (49th) and Harsh Labade (55th) ..

JAYANT Mendhi, a 65-year-old retired SBI employee of Nagpur, will be one of the other 14 cyclists who would be participating in the Race Across India (RAI) which will be flagged-off from Srinagar on October 10. This will be the second edition of the Indian Oil Race Across India and there is a gradual increase in the number of participants from the Orange City. Addressing a press conference, Dr Amit Samarth, ultra cyclists and Bicycle Mayor of Nagpur informed that 14 participants from Nagpur would ..

THE Under-14 girls of Bhavan’s Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir, Srikrishna Nagar emerged champions of the interschool basketball tournament organised by District Sports Office at Shivaji Nagar Gymkhana courts. In the final, BVM Srikrishna Nagar, rode on Pankhudi Bade’s match high of 12 points and Rida Akbani (4) excellent play as they beat K John Public School, Asoli (Nagpur Rural) 21-5. For K John, Shamika Morey managed two points. The quarter-wise score was 7-3, 8-2, 4-0, 2-0. Earlier in the semi-finals: ..

UDAY Raj Ingle fired in four goals as Ansari Football Club recorded biggest win of the ongoing Nitin Raut Football Trophy at Dr Ambedkar Stadium in Suyog Nagar on Tuesday. Ansari Club drubbed Unity Football Club by eight goals to nil to move up in the competition. Devesh Rathod scored a brace for Ansari in the 5th and 9th minutes while Pranav Ganvir scored a goal in 8th. The star of the match was Uday Raj Ingle who toyed with Unity defence scoring goals in 11th, 28th, 30th and 48th minute of play. ..

NEHA Dabale, an athlete of Future Athletics and Sports Academy, clinched silver medal in the 4th national open men and women athletics championships at Patna in Bihar. Representing Maharashtra, Neha won the silver medal in 400 metres hurdles in 1.00:77s. Karnataka’s Dikshita Rama won the gold medal (1.00:40s) while West Bengal’s Moumi Jana won silver in 1.01:14s...

ST VINCENT Pallotti School girls, Dinanath High School boys emerged winners of the District Sports organised inter-school hockey tournament held at Police Lines Takli ground. In the girls final (NMC), Serah Devputra scored the winning goal in the 5th minute as Pallotti beat Swaminarayan 1-0. In the Under-19 boys final, Dinanath High SFS 7-0. Amit Sahu (10th, 19th), Tanmay Rewatkar (11th), Ishan Tirpure (19th), Vipul Jha (26th, 30th) and Badal Kohale (28th) were the goal scorers...

SPORTSPERSONS of Saraswati Vidyalaya brought laurels to the school by winning several medals in the District Sports Office organised sports events. In the inter-school ball badminton competition which was held at TBRANS Mundle English Medium school, the Under-19 girls emerged winners and were selected for Division-Level meet to be held at Gadchiroli. The team members include Mehek Jain, Srushti Karmore, Huzeefa Sheikh, Arpita Saraf, Bhumi Bhailot, Nishita Bakre. In the skating event at NIT Daga Lay ..

THREE players from Vidarbha Youth Sports and Cultural Foundation, Ladgaon (Katol) have been selected in the Vidarbha team for the National Sub-Junior Kho-Kho Tournament under way at Simdega in Jharkhand. Manasvi Neware and Durga Ghatwade were selected in the girls team while Atul Kawdeti has been included in the boys squad for the tournament...

FIFTH Seed Sai Sharma annexed the Nagpur District Blitz Chess Championship held at Vivekanand Hall, Shraddha House, Kingsway. The championship was organised by Chess Association Nagpur in association with Kalpana Prakash Welfare Foundation and GH Raisoni Sports and Cultural Foundation to select the Nagpur district players for participation in the Maharashtra State Blitz Chess Championship to be held at Nagpur on October 26-27. Sai scored 6½ points out of seven...

BVM Srikrishna Nagar girls and MKH Sancheti Junior College boys won the U-17 divisional tournaments and qualified for the Maharashtra State Schools Basketball Tournament scheduled at Yavatmal next month. In finals of Basketball U-17 Divisions held at SNG Shivaji Nagar, BVM, Srikrishna Nagar eves defeated Jain International, Nagpur (Rural) 19-7 while Sancheti boys thumped New English Academy, Wardha 41-21 to lift titles. RESULTS: U-17 Girls (Final): BVM, Srikrishna Nagar, Nagpur NMC, (Vritti Punekar ..

INCUMBENT President Kundatai Vijaykar and Secretary Mangesh Kashikar were elected unopposed and retained their places in Nagpur District Badminton Association (NDBA). NDBA Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on Sunday at the Chitnavis Centre, with a significant turnout of members. The meeting was followed by the much-anticipated elections, which were conducted smoothly. Most of the existing council members were retained and elected unopposed, reflecting confidence of the members in their leadership...

Bhavan’s Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir, Srikrishna Nagar branch cagers fought brilliantly to beat formidable Saraswati Vidyalya and emerge Under-14 champions of the inter-school basketball tournament organised by District Sports Office...