GOLF - Gangjee lies T-37 in Japan
Rahil Gangjee had an impressive 2-under 68 as he remained tied 37th after third round at the The Crowns Golf championship on the Japan Golf Tour.
Gangjee was tied 48th at the halfway mark. His other rounds have been 69-71 and is now 2-under for 54 holes.
Gangjee starting from 10th hole had eight pars before her first birdie on 18th and then added two birdies on first and second. He dropped a shot on third and a birdie on seventh followed by a bogey on eighth.
Junggon Hwang of South Korea put himself in a good position to challenge for a fifth JGTO victory after carding a two-under-par 68 to sit just one shot off the pace ahead of the final round on Sunday.
Local man Hiroshi Iwata (70-64-65) led the field with Hwang lying sole second. Jinichiro Kozuma (64), Daiki Imano (65) and Yuki Inamori (66) were tied-third.
Hwang, making only his second JGTO start since 2019, finished outright second with his three-day total of 10-under-par 200 as he trails defending champion Hiroshi Iwata by just one shot.
- PTI
Amandeep Drall bounces back to get T-18 in New South Wales
Indian golfer Amandeep Drall fought back well in the women's NSW Open, carding a fine three-under 68 in the third round to lie T-18th with one more round to go.
Amandeep, who shot 68 in the first round, fell back with a 78 on second.
However, the Indian bounced back in the third round with four birdies on the front nine against one bogey on the back nine to take her total to one-under after 54 holes and give herself a chance of a Top-10 finish.
Among the other Indians, Vani Kapoor (72-72-75) was T-41 and Ridhima Dilawari (76-71-73) was T-48. Neha Tripathi (76-75) missed the cut.
Sweden's Maja Stark fired a six-under 66, the joint best of the day, to move to 13-under-par and hold a four-shot lead.
The 22-year-old backed up rounds of 68 and 69 on her first two days with another in the 60s to put herself firmly in pole position with 18 holes left to play at Coolangatta & Tweed Heads Golf Club.
Five birdies in her final 10 holes ensured the two-time LET winner, Stark, who had friend Maiken Bing Paulsen on the bag, holds a strong lead heading into the final day.
Fellow Swede Johanna Gustavsson also fired a round of 66 (-6) to climb up to second place on nine-under-par on day three.
Sitting alongside Gustavsson in a share of second place is Australian Cassie Porter, who carded a round of 67 (-5) to also reach nine-under-par.
One shot further back on eight-under-par is a trio of players, including Scotland's Michele Thomson, who signed for a third round of 67 (-5).
Thomson is in a tie for fourth place with Argentina's Magdalena Simmermacher and Wales' Lydia Hall, who both shot rounds of 70 on day three.
- PTI
Chawrasia, Sharma miss cut in Catalunya Champs
The Indian duo of SSP Chawrasia and Shubhankar Sharma missed the cut at the Catalunya Championship on the DP World Tour.
It was a disappointing week for the Indian duo as Chawrasia shot 76-73 while Sharma carded 80-72.
South African Oliver Bekker took over the third round lead as he carded 67 in the third round.
He had rounds of 66-72 on first two days.
The midway leader, Laurie Canter, who led by one after 36 holes, fell to second with a round of 70 on the third day. He is 9-under and two behind Bekker.
Lorenzo Gagli (71-72-65) and Edoardo Molinari (73-69-66) were tied for third place.
-PTI
CHESS
Winning start for Sasikiran, Gukesh
K. Sasikiran and D. Gukesh made a winning start to their campaigns in the Chessable Sunway International chess tournament in Punta Prima, Spain, on Friday.
Seeded seed Sasikiran defeated Dutch rival Tim Grutter in 66 moves after Gukesh, seeded four, made Canadian Zachary Dukic resign in 35 moves.
However, Soham Das lost to Lithuanian Martynas Buivys.
Spain’s Jaime Santos Latasa heads the 54 player field in Group A that comprises 11 Grandmasters. Out of a total prize-fund of 14,5000 Euros, the winner will get 3,000 euros besides a trophy. The 10-round event ends on May 5.
-Rakesh Rao
TENNIS
Asia-Oceania World Juniors
Korea was strong and sharp as it beat Japan 2-1 in the final of the Asia-Oceania World Junior Tennis under-14 boys tournament at the DLTA Complex on Saturday.
Ren Matsumura did give a flying start for Japan by winning the first rubber 6-2, 6-1 against Do Gyeom, but Cho Se Hyuk, the strongest player on view, won both his singles and doubles matches to clinch the honour for Korea.
In the match for the third place, Damir Zhalgasbay battled for more than three hours and saved two match points from being down 3-5 in the decider to beat Kunanan Pantaratorn of Thailand. The European No.1 Zangar Nurlanuly outplayed Phopthum Sriwong 6-2, 6-1 in the second rubber.
The top four teams qualified for the World Group competition to be staged later in the season in Europe.
In the match for the fifth place, India perspired to a 2-1 win over Indonesia for which the diminutive Rafalentino Ali Da Costa impressed by winning the second singles against Tanussh Ghildyal. Aditya Mor and Arnav Paparkar sealed it for India by winning the doubles.
Australia had the consolation of placing seventh as it beat Hong Kong thanks to the good work of Cruz Hewitt and Jake Dembo.
It was a commendable exercise by the DLTA and the All India Tennis Associaiton (AITA) to host four successive weeks of Asia-Oceania tennis in which two Indian teams qualified and two others missed narrowly.
The results:
Final: Korea bt Japan 2-1 (Do Gyeom lost to Ren Matsumura 2-6, 1-6; Cho Se Hyuk bt Ryo Tabata 6-4, 7-5; Cho Se Hyuk & Do Gyeom bt Eito Komada & Ren Matsumura 7-5, 6-4).
Third place: Kazakhstan bt Thailand 2-0 (Damir Zhalgasbay bt Kunanan Pantaratorn 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-5; Zangar Nurlanuly bt Phopthum Sriwong 6-2, 6-1).
Fifth place: India bt Indonesia 2-1 (Arnav Paparkar bt Muhammad Mouressi Urwah 6-2, 6-4; Tanussh Ghildyal lost to Rafalentino Ali Da Costa 6-4, 0-6, [8-10]); Aditya Mor & Arnav Paparkar bt Rfalentino Ali Da Costa & Muhamad Mouressi Urwah 6-2, 6-1).
Seventh place: Australia bt Hong Kong 2-0 (Cruz Hewitt bt Ngai Hoi Cheung 7-6(7), 6-4; Jake Dembo bt Siu Chi NIcholas Cheng 6-0, 6-2).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Yuki, Saketh lose semifinals
Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni were beaten 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 by Nicolas Mejia and Roberto Quiroz in the doubles semifinals of the USD 53,120 Challenger tennis tournament in Mexico.
The Indian pair collected 30 ATP points and USD 1,080.
In the ITF men’s event in Thailand, S. D. Prajwal Dev was beaten 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 by Makoto Ochi of Japan in the semifinals.
- Kamesh Srinivasan
SHOOTING - National selection trials
S. Ezhilarasi of Tamil Nadu topped the women’s 10-metre air pistol, as she beat Palak 16-12, in the fourth National shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Saturday.
Yuvika Tomar got the third place ahead of Rhythm Sangwan, Neha, Shikha Narwal, Yashasvi Joshi, while qualification topper Rahi Sarnobat skipped the final.
Many of the leading shooters including Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh, Shri Nivetha, Heena Sidhu, Annu Raj Singh and Abhidnya Patil did not make the final.
Ezhilarasi also got the third place in the youth section behind Palak and Rhythm Sangwan. It was Shikha Narwal who topped the junior event ahead of Yuvika and Rhythm.
- Kamesh Srinivasan
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