MCC-Murugappa from Thursday

Chennai: The 88th MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament will be held at the MRK stadium from September 12 to 22. Air India and IOC, the joint winners of the previous edition, will be defending their title. The tournament will be played on a league cum knock-out basis. A total of 10 teams will be pooled in two groups.
Pool A consists of Indian Oil Corporation, South Central Railways, Army XI, Comptroller and Auditor General of India and IOB while Pool B comprises Air India, BPCL, Punjab National Bank, Steel Authority of India and Indian Bank.
Arun Murugappan, of Murugappa Group, said “We take immense pleasure in organising this tournament once again. With so many top teams taking part we are sure the spectators will be treated to a grand spectacle.
Starting from 2012 we have undertaken this noble initiative of supporting and rewarding the current players and have also honoured those who have contributed to the sport of hockey.” The top two teams from each pool will qualify for semi-finals. The final will be played on September 22.
The opening match of the tournament pits SCR against Indian Bank followed by BPCL taking on Sail on Thursday. The winners will be awarded `2,50,000 while the runnersup will earn `1,50,000.Anirudh triumphsM. Anirudh of PSBB has won the senior boys' title in 1 the JVS Rao state level inter-school table tennis tournament. He beat Ajit Kumar of St. Mary's 9-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9, 11-5 in the final.
Results (all finals): Team (Boys): PSBB `A' (Nungambakkam) bt Santhome: 3-0; Girls: MVM-SSS bt National Public School 3-1. Senior boys: M. Anirudh (PSBB) i bt S. Ajit Kumar (St.Mary's) 9-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9, t 11-5. Junior boys: G. Chitresh (KPC) bt Sriram Kannan (Hindu) 14-12, 1412, 11-5. Sub-junior boys: K. Harish (Princess) bt V.Adithya Krishna (SBOA) 11-8, 7-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7. Senior girls: U. Harini (NPS) bt S. Shanmathi (MVM) 12-10, 11-5, 11-9. i Junior girls: S. Boomika (MVM) bt U. Harini (NPS) 1-5, 11-6, 11-6. Sub-junior girls: V. Vaishnavi (SBOA) bt K. Hemaa (Padma Sarangapani) 11-7, 10-12, 1-9, 7-11, 11-7. Rain plays spoilsport in Moin-ud-Dowla With rain playing spoilsport, only 34 minutes of play was possible on the opening day of the MoinUd-Dowla Gold Cup final between Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and Delhi DCA on Monday . Put n to bat, TNCA were 12 for no loss in seven overs when he play was called off.
Brief score: TNCA 12 for no loss in seven overs vs Delhi DCA. Districts in trouble Brief scores of the TNCA U-14 tournament (Day 1): Combined Districts 78/7 n 82 overs (K. Aashiq 18) vs City.
Ranchi: Tamil Nadu's L. Suriya, representing Railways, completed a distance double at the open national athletics championship here on Tuesday by winning the 10,000m ahead of Kavita Rout and Preeja Sreedaran. Suriya had also won the double in the previous edition, staged in Chennai, last year. The Pudukottai girl clocked 34:07.45 for her personal best.
Triple jump national record-holder Renjith Maheswary failed to defend his title as prince-in-waiting Arpinder Singh upset him by six cm. In yet another surprising result, Sajeesh Joseph could not accomplish his second hattrick of the championships as he lost the 1500m to services runner Sandeep Karan Singh. Earlier, Sajeesh had achieved a hat-trick of wins in the 800m.