GOLF
Late birdie helps Tvesa Malik make cut in Sotogrande
India’s Tvesa Malik grabbed a late birdie on the 17th hole to get on the right side of the 36-hole cut at the Aramco Team Series Sotogrande here.
Tvesa, who made a big comeback from 3-over to even par in the first round, was once in trouble at 3-over at the turn in the second round and it became 4-over after 11 holes.
She managed to claw back with a birdie on 13th but a bogey on 14th pushed her down yet again before the birdie on Par-3 17th saved the day.
She was tied 52nd after two rounds as the Top-60 and ties made the cut at La Reserva Club de Sotogrande.
Meanwhile, Jessica Korda maintained her bid for the crown with a second-round 68. She led her quartet to victory in the team event and is also leading the individual event.
Jessica shot a 61 in the first round and added a 68 in second. She is six shots clear from Pauline Roussin (67-68).
Korda, 29, started day two at the 10th hole and traded a birdie brace for a pair of bogeys as she went out in level-par for the day. But she regained some of that first-day magic on her back nine, recording four birdies, including three on the spin from the fourth.
In the final round, Jessica will be joined by Roussin and her sister Nelly. The younger Korda made a couple of late gains to get to eight-under, one back from Roussin.
Spain’s Ana Peláez Trivino is in fourth place on seven-under-par having shot a round of 69 on day two at La Reserva. Sweden’s Linn Grant and Belgium’s Manon De Roey sit in a tie for fifth place on six-under-par, Johanna Gustavsson and Pia Babnik are one shot further back in T7 with six players in a share of ninth place with one round remaining.
The cut fell at +4 with 65 players making it through to the final day of competition.
Jessica Korda’s quartet won the team event with a 33-under-par total, one better than runners-up led by Roussin.
Korda also captained the winning side in the Aramco Team Series New York last October. In Spain she was partnered by Tereza Melecka, Noora Komulainen and amateur Malcolm Borwick, who is an English international polo star.
There is a new format this year for the Aramco Team Series, which launched in 2021. For this season, the teams will compete over only 36 holes – the Thursday and Friday of the tournament – with USD 500,000 prize money being split between the lowest scoring fourballs.
The final day’s play will see only the lowest scoring 60 players and ties from the opening two days return to the course to battle it out for a share of another USD 500,000, this time in individual earnings.
-PTI
Bhullar drops late shots but is still T-10 in Korea
A late double bogey and bogey cost Gaganjeet Bhullar as he carded a disappointing 69 but the Indian golfer still managed to be Tied-10th at the International Series Korea.
At 10-under through 15 holes in the third round, Bhullar looked set for a shot at a second title in a month. But a double bogey on 16th and a bogey on 17th brought him to 7-under, five shots behind the leader.
Yet in terms of positions on the leader board, he was T-10 as against T-11, when he started the day.
However, with five shots between him and the leader he will need some great play and some help from the players ahead of him.
At 7-under for the tournament, Bhullar is the best placed Indian.
Veer Ahlawat, who started the day at T-5, had a rough round with two double bogeys and three bogeys against four birdies for a card of 3-over 74 and dropped to T-42nd.
SSP Chawrasia (73) slipped to T-49 from T-16, Rashid Khan (72) dropped to T-61 from T-48 and Shiv Kapur (74) was T-71.
Korean Taehoon Ok (69) will make a bid for his maiden pro title as he moved to 12-under, taking the sole lead.
Amateur Wooyoung Cho (61), Yoseop Seo (67) and Bio Kim (70) are tied for second at 11-under.
Bhullar, who has shown good form in recent weeks, birdied second and fourth to be 2-under and when he birdied 10th and 11th, he moved to 4-under.
Despite missing a couple of birdie chances, he was very much in the mix as he approached the final few holes. But the double bogey and bogey spoiled his card and finished at 69.
While the Koreans occupied the top four spots at the Lotte Skyhill Country Club on Jeju Island, Thailand’s Phachara Khongwatmai (63) and Pavit Tangkamolprasert (67) ensured they were within striking distance at 10-under in Tied-fifth place.
Ok and Kim had started the third day sharing the lead, but it was the former who had the edge for much of the day reaching 14 with two to play and the prospect of a healthy lead.
However, he bogeyed 17 and 18 to give hope to the chasing pack.
Rising star Cho, 20, lit up the tournament with the best round of the week comprising four birdies on the front and six on the back, including five birdies in the last six holes.
-PTI
Amandeep top Indian at 18th; Filipino star Superal upstages Lydia Ko to win title in Jakarta
Amandeep Drall shot an even par 72 in the final round to finish as the top Indian golfer in the inaugural Simone Asia Pacific Cup on Saturday.
Amandeep finished T-18th as her teammate in the team competition Vani Kapoor carded 2-over 74 and was T-20th. Together the Indian pair was Tied 11th.
India’s two other players this week -- Gaurika Bishnoi (72) finished T-22nd and Diksha Dagar (75) was T-26th. Together Gaurika and Diksha finished T-14th as a team.
Gaurika had one birdie and one bogey in her round, while Diksha started with a bogey and a double bogey on first two holes and dropped another shot on eighth. She dropped yet another one on 15th, but also birdied 10th and 18th for her 75.
Princess Superal of the Philippines got off to a fast start with three straight birdies from second to fourth and never loosened the grip as she added two more birdies on the back nine without dropping any shots.
Her 5-under 67 gave her a three-day final total of 204 and she won by three shots over Korean Ryu So Yeon (67), while Lydia Ko (70) was third at 208.
Lydia Ko, who trailed Princess by one at the start of the day, failed to mount a strong challenge as she signed for a 70 to finish four shots behind the champion.
“It’s pretty special to me because this is my first international win as a professional,” said Princess, who pocketed a cool USD $100,000 for the biggest pay check of her career.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment to arrive. I’m very happy.” Playing alongside the more illustrious Ko, Princess showed no signs of nerves as she birdied three of the opening four holes to open a two-shot lead and never looked back since.
She picked up her fourth and fifth birdie of the day on holes 10 and 15 to finish with a bogey-free scorecard at the Pondok Indah Golf Course in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“To be able to play with the world’s top golfers, obviously I did feel nervous but happy at the same time. It’s the first time I had this chance and I will cherish them,” said the Filipino.
Runner-up Ryu (9-under) and her teammate Bomee Lee (-2) won the team event, and they were followed by the Filipino duo, Princess (-12) and Pauline Rosario (+5).
Team New Zealand with Lydia Ko (-8) and Momoka Kobori (+3) were third at 5-under for the three days.
-PTI
TENNIS
Fifth seed Ankita Raina scored a memorable 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-0 victory over Haruka Kaji of Japan in three hours and five minutes in the semifinals of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Aldershot, Britain, on Saturday.
In the final, Ankita will play eighth seed Joanna Garland of Chinese Taipei. Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni were beaten 6-1, 6-7(2), [10-7] in the doubles semifinals by Treat Huey and John-Patrick Smith in the $159,360 Challenger tennis tournament in Vancouver. The Indian pair collected 45 ATP points and $3,240.
In the ITF men’s event in Jakarta, Sasikumar Mukund set up a title clash against second seed Shintaro Imai of Japan. Parikshit Somani and Manish Sureshkumar won the doubles title.
In the $!5,000 ITF women’s event in Tunisia, eighth seed Jennifer Luikham will play the final against third seed Saki Imamura of Japan.
RESULTS
AITA National series under-16
Samarth Sahita and Mahika Khanna won the boys and girls titles respectively in the AITA National series under-16 tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Saturday.
It was a double crown for both samarth and Mahika as they had earlier won the doubles titles earlier.
The results (finals):
Under-16 boys: Samarth Sahita bt Bharat Phulwaria 6-2, 6-2.
Under-16 girls: Mahika Khanna bt Divya Ungrish 6-3, 6-3.
AITA National series under-14
Parthiv Kalita and Diya Chaudhary won the boys and girls titles respectively in the AITA National series under-14 tennis tournament at the Singha Spots Academy on Saturday.
The results:
Under-14 boys (final): Parthiv Kalita bt Shaurya Bhardwaj 6-0, 6-1; Semifinals: Parthiv bt Ranvir Singh 6-3, 6-4; Shaurya bt Uday Kaul 6-1, 6-1.
Doubles (final): Kushagra Arora & Ranvir Singh bt Shaurya Bhardwaj & Arjun Bhati 6-2, 7-5.
Under-14 girls: Diya Chaudhary bt Shaivi Dalal 6-0, 6-1; Semifinals: Diya bt Vibha Khadka 6-2, 6-0; Shaivi bt Saumya Chatterjee 6-4, 7-5.
Doubles (final): Shaivi & Pia Mistri bt Agrima Jaiswal & Arya Shinde 6-1, 6-1.
SHOOTING
Ankur Goel tops 25-metre rapid fire pistol in the fifth National shooting selection trials
Ankur Goel was in fine form as he beat Sameer and Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar to the top spot in 25-metre rapid fire pistol in the fifth National shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Saturday.
Sameer was authoritative in the finish and won the battle even before he fired his last series of five shots in four seconds.
Vijay Kumar was back at his fighting self. He was beaten 4-3 in the shoot-off by the eventual champion Ankur in the medal round after the two had tied on 21 in the race for the top spot. Vijay had earlier won the tie-shoot 4-1 against Rajkanwar Sandhu to progress into the medal round.
Sameer went on to top the junior event with 29, even before Adarsh Singh could shoot his last series. In air pistol, Ujjawal Malik outplayed Samrat Rana 16-2 for the top spot, after the two had topped qualification with 587. Olympian Jitu Rai was beaten to the third spot by Sarabjot Singh.
Samrat Rana topped the junior event with a thrilling 16-14 win over Sagar Dangi, and Jatin Kumar triumphed in the youth section. In air rifle, hosted at the Madhya Pradesh Academy in Bhopal, 15-year-old Hazel topped both the women’s and junior sections, and was pushed to the second place in the youth event by Nancy. Hazel had topped qualification with 631.0.
The results:
Kamesh Srinivasan
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