August 24, Indian sports wrap

Here are all the major developments in Indian sports on August 24, 2022.

Manu Gandas seized the joint lead at 11-under 133 on day two of the Chennai Open Golf Championship on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

TABLE TENNIS

Young TT player Hansini Rajan wins fourth WTT Contender title

Young Indian table tennis player Hansini Mathan Rajan won her fourth WTT Contender title in the under 13 category by beating Colombia’s Mariana Roudriguez in Ecuador.

The Indian paddler won 11-7 11-8 11-7 at the World Table Tennis Youth Contender held in Cuenca, Ecuador from Aug 19-21. Hansini also was the bronze medalist in the under-15 Category.

India’s Yashaswini Ghorpade beat Sally Moyland 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 to win the title in the under-19 category.

Suhana Saini claimed the under-17 title beating G Takashui of Brazil 11-6, 11-8, 11-7.

All the three girls had attended International Table Tennis Federation high-performance training camp conducted by former India coach Massimo Constanti from August 13-17.

- PTI

GOLF

Manu Gandas, N Thangaraja seize joint lead on day two of Chennai golf

Sri Lanka’s N. Thangaraja is here at the Chennai Open golf tournament with a local caddie trying to find the right lines to get his putts right on a green that is turning out to be a tad difficult for quite a few players.

The 41-year-old from Colombo, it seems, has found the lines more often than not as he shot an impressive 5-under 67 to take his two-day tally to 11-under 133 to tie the scores with Manu Gandas, who fired a flawless 7-under 65 at the Cosmo-TNGF course on Wednesday.

Bengaluru’s Khalin Joshi (68) was third at nine-under 135. Abhijit Singh Chadha (65), the other joint lowest scorer of the day, was in tied fourth spot at eight-under 136 along with Karandeep Kochhar, the first round leader, who shot a 71 to slip three spots. Defending champion Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka was tied 20th at two-under 142.

The cut was declared at two-over 146 which saw 57 professionals make the cut for the money-rounds. S. Prasanth and Sandeep Syal were the only two Chennai-based players who made the cut. Manu said, “I’m feeling good about my game right now as I have worked on a few technical things connected with my swing. The conditions were a little different today due to the overnight rain but I adapted well.”

Thangaraja said he is slowly finding his groove. “The second hole was tough for me but I did well to produce a birdie (he had a total of 6 birdies-three in each nine). I am happy with my tee-shots.”

The scores: 1. N. Thangaraja (Sri Lanka) 133 (66, 67); Manu Gandas 133 (68, 65); 3. Khalin Joshi 135 (67, 68); 4. Abhijit Singh Chadha 136 (71, 65); Karandeep Kochhar 136 (65, 71).

- K. Keerthivasan

SHOOTING

National selection trials

Rhythm Sangwan was a cut above the rest as she cruised to the top spot in women’s 25-metre sports pistol in the fifth National shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old Rhythm, who had won the junior World Cup gold in the event, trailed Abhidnya Patil by one point before the last series. While Rhythm shot a perfect five, Abhidnya could not get a single hit right.

Rhythm and Abhidnya had qualified from the first semifinal pipping Pushpanjali Rana and Neha by one point. World junior champion, 15-year-old Naamya Kapoor placed third ahead of Esha Singh.

Rhythm had qualified on top with 585, six points better than Anisa Sayyed who lost in the second semifinals along with Simranpreet Kaur Brar.

Abhidnya Patil, Rhythm Sangwan and Naamya Kapoor, the best in sports pistol in the National shooting trials in Delhi on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: KAMESH SRINIVASAN

While both Rhythm and Esha skipped the junior semifinals, Simranpreet went on to finish second in the junior event behind Divanshi. Khushi Kapoor placed third ahead of Naamya Kapoor.

In the 50-metre rifle 3-position event at the Madhya Pradesh Academy in Bhopa, Bandhvi Singh topped by beating Ashi Chouksey 17-7. Both had qualified with 583, the same score as the third placed Mansi Kathait. Lajja Gauswami, Ayushi Podder, Meghna Thakor and Swapna Bera placed fifth to eighth.

Shreya Saksena (578), Gaayathri Nithyanandam, Manini Kaushik, Mehuli Ghosh (577), Apurvi Chandela (573), Sunidhi Chauhan (572) did not make the second stage.

Ashi went on to top the junior event with a 16-8 victory over Ramita Jindal, while Nischal secured the third spot.

The results:

25m sports pistol: Women: 1. Rhythm Sangwan 31 (11) 585; 2. Abhidnya Patil 27 (11) 577; 3. Naamya Kapoor 22 (12) 575; 4. Esha Singh 14 (11) 578. Juniors: 1. Divanshi 24 (11) 573; 2. Simranpreet Kaur Brar 23 (13) 574; 3. Khushi Kapoor 16 (8) 570; 4. Naamya Kapoor 7 (12) 575. 50m rifle 3-position: Women: 1. Bandhvi Singh 17 (402.5) 583; 2. Ashi Chouksey 7 (400.3) 583; 3. Mansi Kathait 398.2 (583) 4. Priya 396.8 (581). Juniors: 1. Ashi Chouksey 16 (403.6) 583; 2. Ramita Jindal 8 (402.2) 572; 3. Nischal 400.0 (577); 4. Nikita Kundu 394.5 (577).

- Kamesh Srinivasan

CHESS

Abu Dhabi Masters: Draw keeps Arjun in joint lead

Fourth seed Arjun Erigaisi stayed in the joint lead following a 37-move draw with Ray Robson (USA) in the seventh round of the Abu Dhabi Masters chess tournament in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

This top-board draw enabled three winners of the day to join the duo in the lead at 5.5 points. Two rounds remain.

Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Yakubboev, seeded 20, stunned second seeded Russian Evgeny Tomashevsky, seventh seeded Dutchman Jorden van Foreest overpowered Indonesia’s Irine Kharisma Sukandar and 10th seeded Iranian Amin Tabatabaei stopped Serbia’s Aleksandar Indjic to be among the leaders.

Nihal Sarin and S. P. Sethuraman (5 each) drew their encounter to remain in the second score-group. They were joined by the victorious bunch including Aryan Chopra, Arjun Kalyan - the conqueror of Raunak Sadhwani - Aditya Samant, Soham Kamotra and Harsha Bharathakoti.

The results (Indians unless stated): Seventh round: Arjun Erigaisi (5.5) drew with Ray Robson (USA, 5.5); Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (Arm, 5) drew with Wang Hao (Chn, 5); Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 5.5) bt Evegeny Tomashevsky (CFR, 4.5); Irine Kharishma Sukandar (Ina, 4.5) lost to Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 5.5); Amin Tabatabaei (Iri, 5.5) bt Aleksandar Indjic (Srb, 4.5); Nihal Sarin (5) drew with S. P. Sethuraman (5); M. Karthikeyan (4.5) lost to Alexandr Predke (FIDE, 5); Aditya Mittal (4) lost to Sandro Mareco (Arg, 5); Aryan Chopra (5) bt Ziaur Rahman (Ban, 4); Arjun Kalyan (5) bt Raunak Sadhwani (4); P. Shyaamnikhil (4) lost to Aram Hakobyan (Arm, 5); Aditya Samant (5) bt Temur Kuybokarov (Aus, 4); Soham Kamotra (5) bt Luke Mendonca (4); Harsha Bharathakoti (5) bt Mukhiddin Madaminov (Uzb, 4); B. Adhiban (4.5) bt Kushagra Mohan (4).

- Rakesh Rao

TENNIS

 Sowjanya in second round

Sowjanya Bavisetti beat Ashley Lahey of the US 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the first round of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Spain.

Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan fought their way past Fernando Romboli and Arjun Kadhe 3-6, 7-6(7), [10-5] in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the €45,730 Challenger in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The results:

€45,730 Challenger, Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sriram Balaji & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Fernando Romboli (Bra) & Arjun Kadhe 3-6, 7-6(7), [10-5]. $37,520 Challenger, Nonthaburi, Thailand Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Toshihide Matsui & Kaito Uesugi (Jpn) bt Anirudh Chandrasekar & Vishnu Vardhan 6-7(8), 7-6(2), [10-4]. $15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia Singles (first round): Xiao Linang (Chn) bt Rishabdev Raman 6-0, 6-1; Niki Poonacha bt Mikalai Haliak 6-1, 6-2. Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Luc Koenig (GBR) & Karunuday Singh bt Daniel Blazka (Cze) & Yash Chaurasia 6-4, 5-7, [10-6]. $15,000 ITF men, Changwon, Korea Singles (first round): Adil Kalyanpur bt Ren Nakamura (Jpn) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. $25,000 ITF women, Vigo, Spain Singles (first round): Sowjanya Bavisetti bt Ashley Lahey (US) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. $25,000 ITF women, Roehampton, Britain Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Erika Sema (Jpn) & Rutuja Bhosale bt Freya Christie & Ali Collins (GBR) 3-6, 7-6(10), [10-5]; Mana Ayukawa (Jpn) & Ankita Raina bt En Shuo Liang (Tpe) & Fang Ying Xun (Chn) 6-2, 4-6, [10-4]. $15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia Singles (first round): Anastasia Kovaleva bt Smriti Bhasin 6-4, 6-1. Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jiang Zijun (Chn) & Tanisha Kashyap bt Nour Gueblaoui (Tun) & Emma Pedretti (Ita) 6-3, 6-3.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

ITF J4: Fourth seed Daksh Prasad loses in second round

Debasis Sahoo beat fourth seed Daksh Prasad 6-4, 6-0 in the second round of the ITF J4 event in Chennai on Wednesday.

Due to overnight rain, the matches were shifted from the clay courts at the SDAT Stadium in Egmore and the Madras Gymkhana Club to the hard courts at the Gandhi Nagar Club and the Powerpak Tennis Academy.

Results

Boys’ Singles 2nd Round

[1] Aman Dahiya Bt Skandha Prasanna Rao 6-4, 6-3; [5] Kriish Tyagi Bt Arjun Premkumar 6-2, 2-6, 6-2; Debasis Sahoo Bt [4] Daksh Prasad 6-4, 6-0; [2] Denim Yadhav Bt Kandhavel Mahalingam 6-1, 7-6(6); [7] Pranav Karthik Bt Aryan Arora 6-1, 6-3; [6] Rethin Pranav Bt Vansh Nandal 6-0, 3-0 (retd); Pavan Uppu (USA) Bt Adhirit Awal 6-3, 7-6(1); Venkat Rishi Batlanki (USA) Bt Tejas Ahuja 6-3, 6-4.

Girls’ Singles 2nd Round

[1] Suhitha Maruri Bt Laxmisiri Dandu 6-2, 6-3; [2] Madhurima Sawant Bt Sohini Mohanty 4-6, 6-1, 6-3; Maaya Rajeshwaran Bt Hannah Nagpal 6-3, 5-7, 4-0 (retd); Harshini Nagaraj Bt Sreenidhi Amireddy 6-2, 6-4; [4] Sonal Patil Bt Rishitha Basireddy 6-4, 6-0; Riya Sachdeva Bt [8] Saumrita Verma 6-4, 6-3; [5] Ruma Gaikaiwari Bt Chahana Budhbhatti 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; [7] Saina Deshpande (USA) Bt Asmi Adkar 6-3, 6-3

- Nihit Sachdeva

ULTIMATE KHO KHO

Odisha Juggernauts halt Chennai Quick Guns’ winning run

Odisha juggernauts ended Chennai Quick Guns’ winning run with a 51-41 victory in the Ultimate Kho Kho at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Wednesday. It was a third successive win for Odisha Juggernauts.

With this win, Odisha Juggernauts not only entered the top-2 on the points table with 12 points but also completed a league double over Chennai Quick Guns. Earlier, they had won by eight points.

Nilesh Jadhav scored 15 points for Odisha Juggernauts, which included five brilliant dives. Skipper Milind Chavarekar and Suraj Lande supported him well with nine and eight points respectively.

For Chennai Quick Guns, P Narasayya and Manoj Patil struck eight points each.

With Gowtham MK and Jagannatha Murmu securing dream runs by defending for 2.33 minutes and 2.59 minutes respectively, Odisha Juggernauts didn’t allow Chennai Quick Guns to score easy points and restricted them to 19-4 in the first seven minutes.

Chennai Quick Guns came into the match after three back-to-back wins.

Despite in-form Ramji Kashyap presenting some challenge in the defence with his stay of 2.23 minutes, Odisha Juggernauts responded well to level the scores within the first five minutes of second turn before they ended the first innings with a 28-19 lead.

All-rounder Subhasis Santra claimed four bonus points for Odisha Juggernauts during his stay of 3.04 minutes as Chennai Quick Guns could manage to get only a narrow five-point lead of 37-32 at the end of third turn.

Odisha Juggernauts added 19 more points to their tally in the final turn to end the game comfortably with 51-41 score.

- PTI