Delhi win one gold, three silver
Vadodara: Delhi's Payas Jain and Aadarsh Chhetri clinched the gold and silver medal in the under-14 boys' category of the 11SPORTS 63rd National School Games Table Tennis Championships here on Sunday. Payas Jain downed Aadarsh 3-0 (11-5, 11-7, 11-6) to win the final. Delhi won two more silver medals, after Lakshita Narang and Vanshika Bhargawa lost in the finals of the under-14 girls and under-17 girls' categories. Shreya Deshpande of Maharastra (under-19 girls), Kaushal Bhatt of Gujarat (under-19 boys), Manush Shah also of Gujarat (under-17 boys) and Kavya Sree of Tamil Nadu (under-14 girls) won the other gold medals.
India well-prepared for U-19 WC: Shaw
Christchurch: Prithvi Shaw, captain of India's U-19 World Cup team, on Sunday said his team has prepared well under the guidance of Rahul Dravid and the goal is to return home with the trophy. The ICC U-19 World Cup officially got underway at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch with an impressive ceremony showcasing New Zealand's culture. Warm-up matches will be held from Monday while the tournament proper gets underway on January 13 with matches spread across seven venues in the cities of Christchurch, Queenstown, Tauranga and Whangarei. Shaw said, "We've been here a week now, played a couple of games. Everything has gone well, the preparation of the team has been good."
Baroda beat Mumbai in T20 zonal opener
Rajkot: Baroda defeated arch-rivals Mumbai by 13 runs in the West Zone Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 League opener at the SCA Stadium here on Sunday. Baroda, who had got the better of Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy group league earlier in the season, once again proved they were the better of the two sides in the shortened version of the game. Baroda rattled up an imposing score of 210 for 3, powered by half centuries by wicket-keeper and opener Urvil Patel (50 in 29 balls) and captain Deepak Hooda (66 in 39 balls). In reply, Mumbai were stopped at 197 for 8 with Siddesh Lad's 82 off 51 balls with four sixes and six fours being its cornerstone. Baroda also secured four points from the victory. In the second match of the day, Maharashtra tripped Gujarat by four wickets with three balls to spare.
Santosh 13th after 1st stage at Dakar Rally
Pisco (Peru): India's CS Santosh was placed at a creditable 13th among the bikers at the end of the first stage of the gruelling Dakar Rally while his Hero MotoSports Rally teammate Joaquim Rodrigues met with a spectacular crash to end his race here. Santosh clocked 24 minute 11 seconds to cover the first stage of 30 km. The first stage covered from Lima to Pisco. Another 13 stages are remaining in the world's toughest off-road rally which will end on January 20 in Cordoba of Argentina via Bolivia. "First day of a race is usually nervous. Today was just 30 km and tomorrow more than 200km. It is a long way to go and anything can happen at any stage in such a long rally," he said after the first day's race. "This year, there is a big change in the bike from last year and so much easier to ride. I am enjoying my time."