Top seed Arun George moved into the semifinals of the TKV memorial all-Kerala ranking badminton tournament at the Technopark Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
In the quarterfinals, Arun overcame Ravi Shankar 24-22, 21-13.
But it was a day of upsets as last year’s winner Joy T. Antony was knocked out by S. Sunjith 21-16, 21-15, while Mohammed Munaver upset last year’s runner-up Antony K. Jacob 21-18, 21-19.
Second seed K.A. Aneesh also entered the semifinals after his opponent R. Sreejith retired midway through the third set. Aneesh was leading 18-21, 21-1, 15-10 at that stage.
The results: Men: Singles: Quarterfinals: Arun George bt Ravi Shankar 24-22, 21-13; Mohammed Munavar bt Antony K. Jacob 21-18, 21-19; S. Sunjith bt Joy T. Antony 21-16, 21-15; K.A. Aneesh bt R. Sreejith 18-21, 21-17, 15-10 retd.
Doubles: Pre-quarterfinals: Balasubramaniam & Shyam Prasad bt Girishankar & R.J. Anand 21-16, 21-16; Ravishankar & Shridin bt Jithin Suresh & Vijayasarathy 21-8, 21-13; Arun George & Pranav Satheesh bt S.S. Savin & Sanjay Vijayarathnam 21-14, 21-11; Manjush Mohan & Jaison Xavier bt Ram C. Vijay & S. Sunjith 22-20, 13-21, 21-19; K. Dilshad & Jayan James bt S. Santhosh & Vinod 21-17, 21-16; Benett Antony & Suraj bt S. Manoj & Jayamurali 21-11, 21-14.
Women: Singles: Quarterfinals: Sneha Shanthilal bt Ashna Roy 21-14, 21-16; Chippy Roy bt Malavika Mathen 16-21, 21-13, 23-21; J.K. Malavika bt Megha Merin Ninan 20-22, 21-12, 21-14; Susan Rajan bt Meenakshi Santhosh 21-15, 21-9.
Easy for Thiruvananthapuram
At Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram crushed Pathanamthitta by 10 wickets in the South Zone under-19 inter-district women’s cricket tournament at the Asramam maidan on Saturday.
The scores: Kollam 90 for four in 20 overs (Serin Sam 37) lost to Kottayam 91 for three in 18.1 overs; Pathanamthitta 27 for seven in 15 overs (Arsharaj three for one) lost to Thiruvananthapuram 32 for no loss in 2.3 overs.
Real Malabar FC launched
A new professional football club, Real Malabar FC, was launched at Kozhikode on Saturday.
At a function inaugurated by Kerala Social Welfare Minister M.K. Muneer, the city-based club’s officials said they were in no hurry and that they had learnt lessons from the failures of earlier professionals club from the State like FC Kochin and Viva Kerala.
“I had also burnt my fingers by launching Malabar FC earlier,” said Mohammed Unni Olakara. “We would stress more on the work of our academy, which has already begun functioning under the SBT coach, N.M. Najeeb, at the JDT Islam HSS ground.”
Real Malabar FC’s Executive Chairman A.K. Faizal said the club would have a large number of directors who would invest Rs. 1 lakh each. “More people are willing to invest,” he said. “We have also taken over the Kozhikode ‘B’ Division team Mavoor Football Academy. It was the passion for football at Kozhikode that made us think about forming a professional club of our own.”
Among those who spoke at the function were C.P. Kunhahammed and Babu Mather.
Akhil shines
Kerala junior star A.R. Akhil was in fine nick, scoring 24 points in two games, as Kuriannur’s Mar Thoma School defeated Bhavan’s (Girinagar) and Kottayam’s Lourdes PS in the under-16 boys section of the Mahindra NBA Basketball Challenge at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium, Kochi on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Changanassery’s St. Berchmans College topped the under-19 boys Group ‘B’ and qualified for the quarterfinals after prevailing over SH (Changanassery) and Kakkanad’s Christu Jayanthi School.
The results (league matches): Boys: Under-13: Don Bosco, Ijk 25 (Christopher Stephen 10) bt St. Ephreme HS, Mnm 23; Shanthal Jyothi, Tdpa 36 bt YMCA, Kunr 21 (Anandhu 10).
Under 16: MTHS, Kunr 62 (A.R. Akhil 24, Mony 19) bt Bhavan’s, Girinagar 23 (Kevin Thomas 10); SH, Chgy 53 (Robin Joseph 20) bt YMCA, F. Kochi 23, Janseer 10); MTHS, Kunr 56 (A.R. Akhil 24) bt Lourdes PS, Ktm 53 (Ashik Kottoor 13); SH, Thevara 40 (Jibin Mammen 20) bt Christ Central CMI, Khgd 29 (Ananthu Krishna 12).
Under-19: St. Berchmans Coll., Chgy 76 (Tony Mathew 17, Akhil Mathew Sunny 10) bt SH, Chgy 20; St. Berchmans 69 (Ajo Joseph 18, Eldo James 18) bt Christu Jayanthi PS, Kakkanad 56 (Brian 14, George 10).
Girls: Under 16: Providence GHS, Kzd 55 (K. Shilpa 12, Thrinya 11) bt Global PS, Tvklm 12; Providence GHS, Kzd 53 (Elizabeth Hillarios 12, Thrinya 11) bt Naval Children, F. Kochi 12. Girls: Under-19: Silver Hills HS, Kzd 44 (P.A. Amala 13) bt Kristu Jyothi HS, Chgy 16; Providence Coll., Kzd 58 (Bennet K. Benny 16, Osheen Raveendran 11) bt Little Flower, Krty 13).
