The International Purple Fest, Goa 2024, saw Purple Sports segment develop into a frenzied, competitive battleground on its third day, producing intriguing contests with a day filled with enthusiastic competitions and passionate participation from athletes displaying great camaraderie, across all domains of disabilities.
The National lawn tennis tournament for the visually-impaired concluded at Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias on Wednesday.
Nibin Matthew emerged the champion in the B1 category (fully blind), while Shamsuddin PA was the runner-up. In the B2 (partially blind) category, Arbaaz Patel from Maharashtra walked away with the top honours. Umair Shaikh from Telangana finished runner-up.
The day-long Boccia event saw great enthusiasm and rich participation from men and women at Dr KB Hedgewar HS-Cujira. The competition saw three categories depending on the disabilities; with the mix-gender contest also producing close battle.
Sarita Dwivedi, an artist from Uttar Pradesh, dabbled into sports for the first time and did it very well. The Kanpur-resident topped the BC2 category. Komal Vyas won the BC3 category event while Selvam M was the champion in BC4 competition. Goa’s Moises Rodrigues was the runner-up in BC4 event.
In wheelchair cricket at SAG ground, Campal; Karnataka and Delhi sealed the final spots. The final will be played on Thursday at 9am.
For the hosts Goa, who were making their debut in wheelchair cricket, the event provided a lot of exposure and encouragement. The hosts put up a better fight today compared to their disastrous outing yesterday.
Taking on Madhya Pradesh, Goa won the toss and batted first. Riding on a fantastic knock of 83 from Mahesh Padalkar, Goa posted 114/4 in the alloted 20 overs. MP, however, chased down the target in 12 overs with eight wickets in hand.
Elsewhere, Karnataka beat Mumbai by 58 runs; UP beat Rajasthan by 7 wickets; Delhi beat Telangana by 6 wickets.
Goa put up a winning display on the opening day of in men’s and women’s Unified beach volleyball tournament at Miramar. In the women’s category, Goa beat Kerala 2-1 (15- 6, 14 – 16, 15 – 11). Goa men came from a set down to overcome a fighting Puducherry 2-1 (11-15, 15 – 10, 15-12).
In the International Chess Championship for visually impaired, India’s Patra Subhendu Kumar (FIDE Rating 1747) stunned higher-rated and top seed – Sweden’s Magnusson Jargen in the third round to take sole lead with 3 points from as many rounds.
The day also saw National Para-Athletics Championship 2024, being declared open in the presence of Sports Minister Govind Gaude, Social Welfare Minister Subhash Phal Dessai and other dignitaries, at Bambolim Athletics Stadium. The National championship, which is a qualifying competition for the upcoming Paris Olympics and World Championship, will see around 1500 para-athletes from all over India compete across around 180 events based on their disabilities classification. The National Para-Athletics Championship will conclude on 13th January.
Results: Boccia – BC2 Category Final: Sarita Dwivedi beat Sagar Raghavendra 3-2. 3rd-Place: Shahzad Ali beat Ashwini 7-5. Gold Medal: Sarita Dwivedi (Uttar Pradesh) Silver Medal: Sagar Raghavendra (Karnataka). Bronze Medal: Shahzad Ali (Madhya Pradesh)
BC3 Category Final: Komal Vyas beat Gayatri 8-1. Gold Medal: Komal Vyas (Madhya Pradesh), Silver Medal: Gayatri (Tamil Nadu).
BC4 Category Final: Selvam beat Moises Rodrigues 7-0; 3rd Place: Dinesh Sidragavalli beat Sathish Rathore 4-2. Gold Medal: Selvam (Tamil Nadu), Silver Medal: Moises Rodrigues (Goa), Bronze Medal: Dinesh Sidragavalli (Karnataka).
Chess: 1.Patra Subhendu kumar (Ind) (3) beat 0 Jorgen (SWE) (2)
2. Kishan Gangoli (Kar, Ind) (2.5) beat Makwana Ashvin k (Guj, Ind) (2)
3. Arstanbekov Dzhanysh (KGZ) (2.5) beat Abdullayev Amrillo (UZB) (1.5)
4. Kakade Atul (Mah,Ind) (1.5) lost to Kimsanboyev Axadxon (UZB) (2.5)
5. Saikrishna ST (TN, Ind) (2.5) beat Kavlekar Sanjay R (Goa, Ind) (1.5).
