Indian sports wrap, January 16: Hammer thrower Tanya breaks Sarita’s nine-year-old National record

ATHLETICS

Hammer thrower Tanya breaks Sarita’s nine-year-old National record

This is an early season for athletes in the country, and with the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games lined up, this is going to be a long year for them.

Still, Chandigarh University’s international Tanya Chaudhary broke Sarita Singh’s nine-year-old National record with an effort of 65.60m to take the women’s hammer throw gold at the 85th National Inter-University Athletics Championship at the Swarajya Stadium, Moodubidiri, on Friday.

“I expected more than that, at least 67m. This season the target is near 70m, we are preparing for that,” Tanya told this publication.

“In 2024, I was with Reliance and the coach there changed my technique. That didn’t suit me, and my last season was not good. So I came back home to train under Sachin Yadav, who had coached me earlier…he changed my technique and workout plan, and that helped,” explained Tanya about the massive jump in her performance for her previous best was 63.91m in Chennai last August.

It was the first National record of this five-day event, which concluded today, but it won’t be considered as an Indian record as the Athletics Federation of India does not recognise university meets.

Not tested

Strangely, Tanya was not dope-tested after her performance here. “There was no dope test today but NADA (National Anti-Doping Agency) can take my sample anywhere, any time so there is nothing like that. Anyway, since this is not a World Athletics-certified competition, it will not be considered as a National record but it’s a meet record for sure,” said the 23-year-old.

Pooja hits a high

Tanya’s National record almost went unnoticed as all the focus was on young high jumper Pooja, the Asian champion. With the rest of the field fading away after 1.72m, the 18-year-old made a bold move and attempted a personal best 1.90m after bettering her own meet record with 1.85m. She failed in all her attempts at 1.90 but was not disappointed at all.

The 18-year-old made a bold move and attempted a personal best 1.90m after bettering her own meet record with 1.85m. 
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Special Arrangement

“My target this year is to clear 1.93m and break the national record (Sahana Kumari’s 1.92, 2012) and my goals are the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and the World Juniors,” said Lovely Professional University’s Pooja, the junior national record holder, who raised her personal best to 1.89m while winning the Asian gold in South Korea last May.

“Our team wants Pooja to do 1.93m this year; this is the dream,” said Uzbek Sergey Beeran, who coaches her at the Anju Bobby Centre in Bengaluru with the Olympic Gold Quest supporting her.

Madras University won the overall title while Mangalore University, virtually the Alva’s Education Foundation team, which hosted this five-day meet, finished runner-up.

-Stan Rayan

TENNIS

Bhambri-Goransson pair loses in Auckland Open semifinals

Top seeds Yuki Bhambri and Andre Goransson lost in the men’s doubles semifinals at Auckland Open, an ATP 250 event, on Friday.

Bhambri and Goransson lost 6-4, 4-6, [10-8] to the Austrian-American duo of Alexander Erler and Robert Galloway.

Earlier, the Indo-Swedish duo took down the all-Czech pair of Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl, and wildcards Ajeet Rai (New Zealand) and Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands) in the first two rounds.

-Team Sportstar

ITF Juniors: Several Indians feature in the main draw

Several promising Indian players will be in action at the DKS ITF J200 Junior Tennis Tournament, scheduled to be held on the clay courts of the DKS Sports Complex in Kolkata from January 19 to 24.

The boys’ under-18 draw will feature top-ranked Indian juniors such as Aradhya Kshitij, Praneel Sharma, Aashravya Mehra and Tavish Pahwa, among others.

The girls’ section will see leading Indian players including Aishwarya Jadhav, Snigdha Kanta, Aleena Farid, Prisha Nikhil Shinde and Harsha Karthika Oruganti who figure among the direct entries finalised by the organisers. Four wild card entries in each of the boys’ and girls’ categories will add more Indian names to the main draw, which also includes a sizeable international presence, making the field highly competitive.

The qualifying rounds, which will determine four spots in the main draw, will be held on Saturday and Sunday.

-Team Sportstar

SQUASH

Tandon goes down in Detroit quarters

Ramit Tandon, world no. 41, lost to Egyptian eighth seed Yahya Elnawasany 5-11, 6-11, 5-11 in the men’s quarterfinals of the DR21 Motor City Open squash, a PSA Silver-level tournament, in Detroit on Thursday.

-Team Sportstar

CRICKET

Rahane to inaugurate MCA Cricket Kit Fair at Wankhede Stadium

Former India captain Ajinkya Rahane will inaugurate the second edition of MCA’s Cricket Kit Fair to be organised on January 17 and 18 in Mumbai.

The first such fair was hosted last year and featured several top cricket equipment manufacturers coming on board for the initiative taken by the Mumbai Cricket Association.

“The response from the first edition was tremendous, which also encouraged us to continue with it. It helps players from across age groups as they can get cricket equipment directly from the manufacturers and that too at prices upto 30-50 per cent lower,” MCA president Ajinkya Naik told PTI.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai squad for the second round of the Ranji Trophy is expected to be announced on Saturday.

India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had earlier played a match for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy and made a few appearances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, is expected to be available for the away game against Hyderabad from January 22.

Jaiswal is currently a part of the India ODI team, which will take on New Zealand in the series-decider in Indore on Sunday, but he has not been included in the squad for the five-match T20I series against the Kiwis.

-PTI

Former Bengal cricketer Ajay Varma dies at 62

Former Bengal cricketer Ajay Varma passed away on Thursday following a cardiac arrest. He was 62.

Varma represented Bengal in 25 First-Class matches and 11 List A games and was a member of the coaching staff at the Cricket Association of Bengal’s (CAB) Vision 2028 camp.

An accomplished all-rounder, Varma made his First Class debut for Bengal in the 1986–87 season. Over a career spanning 12 years, he scored 1,263 runs in First Class cricket, including three centuries, with a highest score of 162.

As a right-arm off-break bowler, he claimed 46 wickets, with best figures of six for 56.

Several former Bengal cricketers, office bearers, and staff of the Cricket Association of Bengal gathered at the Eden Gardens to pay their respects to Varma on Friday.

As a mark of tribute, a minute’s silence was held before the Vijay Hazare Trophy semifinal between Punjab and Saurashtra at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Singahalli.

-Team Sportstar

Published on Jan 16, 2026