नई दिल्ली. भारतीय महिला खो खो टीम ने शनिवार को इंदिरा गांधी इंडोर स्टेडियम में पहले खो खो विश्व कप 2025 के सेमीफाइनल में दक्षिण अफ्रीका को 66-16 से हराकर एक बार फिर अपनी सामरिक क्षमता का परिचय दिया। ब्लू में महिलाओं ने अटैक और डिफेंस दोनों में शानदार प्रदर्शन किया, जिससे नेपाल के साथ रोमांचक फाइनल मुकाबला तय हो गया।

ब्लू जर्सी में महिलाओं ने चैथरा बी के ड्रीम रन के साथ शानदार शुरुआत की, जो नाजिया बीबी और निर्मला भाटी के डिफेंडरों द्वारा पकड़े जाने के बाद भी जारी रही। उन्होंने दक्षिण अफ्रीका की सिनेथेम्बा मोसिया द्वारा बाहर किए जाने से पहले अकेले ही 5 अंक बनाए। यह उन्हें टर्न 1 के अंत में दक्षिण अफ्रीका के 8 अंकों के करीब ले जाने के लिए पर्याप्त था, जिससे उन्हें मैच की शानदार शुरुआत मिली।

टर्न 2 में रेशमा ने पूरे फॉर्म में खेल दिखाया। भारतीय महिलाओं ने दक्षिण अफ्रीकी खिलाड़ियों को कई बैचों में आउट किया और महत्वपूर्ण अंक अर्जित किए। यह टीम के लिए महत्वपूर्ण साबित हुआ, क्योंकि स्कोर ब्लू जर्सी में भारतीय महिलाओं के पक्ष में 33-10 था।

भारतीय महिला टीम के लिए अपने दूसरे मैच में ड्रीम रन टर्न 3 के अंत में आया। इस दौरान वैष्णवी पोवार, नसरीन शेख और भीलरदेवी ने 5 मिनट तक अच्छा खेल दिखाया। उनके 5 अंक तीसरे टर्न के प्रतीक थे, क्योंकि स्कोर 38-16 था, जिससे उन्हें सेमीफाइनल मुकाबले के अंतिम 7 मिनट में एक मजबूत मंच मिला।

टर्न 4 में दक्षिण अफ्रीकी खिलाड़ियों के लिए सबसे लंबा बैच सिर्फ 1 मिनट और 45 सेकंड तक चला, जिससे भारतीयों ने फाइनल में अपनी जगह पक्की कर ली। नसरीन शेख और रेशमा राठौड़ ने टीम को जीत दिलाई और अंतिम स्कोर 66-16 रहा।

भारतीय टीम रविवार 19 जनवरी को इंदिरा गांधी इंडोर स्टेडियम में फाइनल में नेपाल से भिड़ेगी।

इससे पहले नेपाल की महिलाओं ने सेमीफाइनल मुकाबले में युगांडा को 89-18 से हराकर खो-खो विश्व कप 2025 के महिला वर्ग के फाइनल के लिए क्वालीफाई कर लिया।

मैच पुरस्कार

मैच का सर्वश्रेष्ठ अटैकर: सिनेथेम्बा मोसिया (टीम साउथ अफ्रीका)

मैच का सर्वश्रेष्ठ डिफेंडर: निर्मला भाटी (टीम इंडिया)

मैच का सर्वश्रेष्ठ खिलाड़ी: वैष्णवी पवार (टीम इंडिया)

The seventh seeded Indians will face third seeds Sze Fei Goh and Nur Izzuddin of Indonesia for a berth in the final

New Delhi. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stayed on course for their second consecutive Yonex-Sunrise India Open final with a straight games win over Korea’s Yong Jin and Kang Min Hyuk in the men’s doubles quarterfinals. At the same time, PV Sindhu and Kiran George were knocked out of the HSBC BWF World Tour Super 750 event at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall here on Friday.

Satwik and Chirag were at their dominant best in their quarter-final encounter against South Korea’s Yong Jin and Kang Min Hyuk, winning 21-10, 21-17. However, it was a heart-break for the other Indians in fray with Sindhu going down 21-9, 19-21, 21-17 against fourth seed Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in women’s singles while Weng Hong Yang of China defeated Kiran 21-13, 21-19 in the men’s singles quarterfinals.

In the other matches, women’s singles top seed An Se Young of South Korea defeated Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min 21-11, 21-12 and Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand upset Chinese third seed Han Yue 21-17, 21-16. In the men’s singles quarterfinals, Paris Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen was made to work hard for a 21-19, 13-21, 21-8 victory over former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.

But it was the pairing of Satwik and Chirag that gave the sizeable crowd at the KD Jadhav Hall enough reasons to celebrate as they played a near clinical match against the Koreans, who had upset the top seeds and world no. 1 Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the opening round.

The Asian Games gold medallists raced to a 9-1 lead in the opening game and then controlled the proceedings to pocket the game in 18 minutes. The Koreas did put up a stronger fight in the second game the Indians were hardly under any pressure.

In the semi-final, they will face third seeds Sze Fei Goh and Nur Izzuddin of Indonesia.

The loss against Tunjung notwithstanding, there were a lot of positives to take home for Sindhu. The 29-year-old, who had been struggling with injuries since the Paris Olympics, struggled with her movement in the opening game but took the fight to her opponent once she found her range.

Trailing 3-9 in the second game, Sindhu began pushing Tunjung to the back of the court thereby nullifying the sharpness of the Indonesia’s quick slice drops and kept the shuttle long enough in play to force an error from her opponent.

She caught up with Tunjung at 9-9 and though both the players stayed neck-and-neck thereafter, Sindhu managed to take the match into a decider by forcing the fourth seed into taking more risks to try and win points.

The former champion continued with the same strategy in the decider and it looked like she could script an upset with both players locked at 17-17. Some brilliant stroke-play from Tunjung and a wrong judgement from Sindhu ended up deciding the fate of the match that lasted an hour and two minutes.

“I think it was 17-17 in the third game where some of my strokes were just too parallel and into her hand. If I had played a bit more back, maybe that would have been the difference,” said Sindhu, which analysing what went wrong in the end.

The 29-year-old, who will next play the Indonesia Masters, was overall satisfied with the performance and looking forward to build on it. “There are a lot of positives to take from this tournament. Quarterfinals is not a bad result. But for me to improve, these are the matches I need to learn from,” she added.

In the men’s singles quarterfinals, Kiran fought hard against Weng and even saved a match point in the second game but an error on forehand drive ended his hopes of advancing any further in the competition.

Results:

Men’s singles:
Lee Cheuk Yiu (Hkg) bt 7-Chou Tien Chen (Tpe) 21-15, 21-8; 3-Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Loh Kean Yew (Sin) 21-19, 13-21, 21-8; Weng Hong Yang (Chn) bt Kiran George (Ind) 21-13, 21-19;

Women’s singles:
1-An Se Young (Kor) bt Yeo Jia Min (Sin) 21-11, 21-12; 6-Tomoka Miyazaki (Jpn) bt 2-Wang Zhi Yi (Chn) 21-16 retd.; 8-Pornpawee Chochuwong (Tha) bt 3-Han Yue (Chn) 21-17, 21-16; 4-Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (Ina) bt PV Sindhu (Ind) 21-9, 19-21, 21-17

Men’s doubles:
5-Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik (Mas) bt Kittinupong Kedren/Dechapol Puavaranukroh (Tha) 21-18, 21-18; Kim Won Ho/Seo Seung Jae (Kor) bt 2-Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang (Chn) 12-21, 22-20, 23-21; 3-Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin (Mas) bt Fang-Chih Lee/Fang-Jen Lee (Tpe) 21-11, 21-17; 7-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Yong Jin/Kang Min Hyuk (Kor) 21-10, 21-17

Women’s doubles:
3-Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan (Mas) bt Yuki Fukushima/Mayu Matsumoto (Jpn) 21-18, 21-19; Kim Hye Jeong/Kong Hee Yong (Kor) bt Baek Ha Na/Lee So Hee (Kor) 21-23, 21-19, 21-19; 4-Li Yi Jing/Luo Xu Min (Chn) bt 6-Yeung Nga Ting/Yeung Pui Lam (Hkg) 21-12, 21-17; Arisa Igarashi/Ayako Sukuramoto (Jpn) bt 1-Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning (Chn) 21-15, 21-19

Mixed doubles:
3-Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei (Mas) bt Ruttanapak Oupthong/Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat (Tha) 21-16, 21-17; 4-Goh Soon Huat/Lai Shevon Jemie (Mas) bt Yang Po-Hsuan/Hu Ling Fang (Tpe) 21-11, 21-15; 2-Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin (Chn) bt 7-Guo Xin Wa/Chen Fang Hui (Chn) 21-14, 18-21, 21-11; Thom Gicquel/Delphine Delrue (Fra) bt Hiroki Midorikawa/Natsu Saito (Jpn) 21-16, 21-18

New Delhi. Continuing their exceptional run in the tournament, the Indian women’s Kho Kho team advanced to the quarter-finals with a commanding victory over Iran, winning by a staggering 84 points at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. This triumph follows their record-breaking 175-18 win against South Korea, further solidifying their status as top contenders.

India asserted dominance from the beginning, with the team eliminating Iran’s first batch in just 33 seconds. Ashwini led the aggressive charge, while Meenu showcased her outstanding form, scoring multiple touchpoints to secure 50 points for India in Turn 1 alone. The relentless performance persisted across all four Turns, punctuated by a sensational 6-minute-8-second Dream Run in Turn 3 that left no doubt about the outcome.

Guided by the tactical expertise of Wazir Nirmala and crucial contributions from captain Priyanka Ingle, Nirmala Bhati, and Nasreen, the Women in Blue demonstrated both skill and strategy, firmly establishing themselves as the team to beat in the tournament.

Match Awards:

• Best Attacker: Mobina
• Best Defender: Meenu
• Best Player: Priyanka Ingle