August 25, Indian sports wrap

Here are all the major developments in Indian sports on August 25, 2022.

Sri Lanka’s N. Thangaraja in action on day three of the Chennai Open on Thursday. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

GOLF

Chennai Open: Thangaraja in sole lead on penultimate day

Sri Lanka’s N. Thangaraja shot a five-under 67 for a total of 16-under 200 to emerge the sole leader even as he enjoyed a narrow one-stroke lead on the third day of the Impiger Technologies-Chennai Open golf tournament at the Cosmo-TNGF course in Chennai on Thursday.

Overnight joint leader Manu Gandas scored a 68 for a total of 15-under 201 that put him in second position. Abhijit Singh Chadha has been consistent and his day’s best score of 66 took him to 14-under 202 to be placed third.

Thangaraja’s day featured an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys. He had a better front-nine compared to first nine. A three-time winner on the PGTI circuit, Thangaraja came up with four birdies on the back-nine with good putting and a fine chip to emerge as a strong contender for the crown.

“I was pretty weak in my chip-putt, one I have to improve to bag the title. I’ve played so well after a long time so just want to keep it going. I’ve adapted well to the conditions,” said the 41-year-old, who last won on the PGTI in 2018.

Scores (Day Three)

1. N. Thangaraja (SL) 200 (66, 67, 67); 2. Manu Gandas 201 (68, 65, 68); 3. Abhijit Singh Chadha 202 (71, 65, 66); 4. Karandeep Kochhar 204 (71, 65, 68); 5. Khalin Joshi 205 (67, 68, 70).

- K. Keerthivasan

TENNIS

US Open Qualifiers: Bhambri reaches second round; Ramanathan, Nagal knocked out

India’s Yuki Bhambri advanced to the men’s singles second round after a hard-fought win over Moldovian Radu Albot in the US Open qualifiers.

However, the country’s highest-ranked men’s singles player, Ramkumar Ramanathan, and Sumit Nagal made early exits after losing their respective qualifying matches in straight sets.

While world number 241 Ramanathan went down to American teen Bruno Kuzuhara 3-6, 5-7 in one hour and 28 minutes, Nagal lost to Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-7, 4-6.

Yuki, who is ranked world number 552, downed world number 107 Albot 7-6(4) 6-4 in a match that lasted one hour and 34 minutes.

While Yuki got off to a slow start in the first set, the Indian bounced back and stretched the opening set to a tie-breaker, in which he triumphed.

With a far better breakpoint conversions in the second set coupled with a decent net play, Yuki pocketed the second set to enter the next round.

The 30-year-old will take on Belgium’s Zizou Bergs in the second qualifying round of the Grand Slam event on Thursday.

Yuki, who spent the most of last three years nursing knee injuries and recovering from multiple operations, played his first Grand Slam qualifier earlier this year at the Australian Open, where he lost in the second round of qualifiers.

- PTI

ITF $25k Roehampton: Rutuja knocks out top seed

Rutuja Bhosale knocked out the top seed Pemra Ozgen of Turkey 6-4, 6-1 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Roehampton on Thursday.

Ankita Raina, however, was beaten 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-2 by Angelica Blake of Britain.

Results

€45,730 Challenger, Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina Doubles (quarterfinals): Viktor Durasovic (Nor) & Otto Virtanen (Fin) bt Sriram Balaji & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 7-6(3), 7-5. $25,000 ITF men, Changwon, Korea Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Ryuki Matsuda (Jpn) bt Adil Kalyanpur 7-6(4), 6-1. $15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Niki Poonacha bt Xiao Linang (Chn) 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-2; Eliakim Coulibaly (CIV) bt Karan Singh 6-2, 6-1; First round: Abedallah Shelbayh (Jor) bt Rishab Agarwal 6-7(4), 2-6, 6-4. $25,000 ITF women, Vigo, Spain Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Anna Brogan (GBR) bt Sowjanya Bavisetti 6-3, 6-3. $25,000 ITF women, Roehampton, Britain Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Rutuja Bhosale bt Pemra Ozgen (Tur) 6-4, 6-1; Angelica Blake (GBR) bt Ankita Raina 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-2. $15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Saki Imamura (Jpn) bt Tanisha Kashyap 6-0, 6-2. Doubles (quarterfinals): Aysegul Mert & Melis Ayda Uyar (Tur) bt Emma Tothova (Svk) & Smriti Bhasin 6-1, 6-2; Saki Imamura & Honoka Kobayashi (Jpn) w.o. Jiang Zijun (Chn) & Tanisha Kashyap.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

ITF J4 event: Pranav Karthik knocks out second seed Denim Yadav to reach semifinals

Seventh seed Pranav Karthik defeated second seed Denim Yadav 7-6 (1), 6-3 to reach the semifinals of the ITF J4 event in Chennai.

Later in the day, Pranav and his American partner Pavan Uppu knocked out second-seeded duo of Denim and Kriish Tyagi in the doubles quarterfinals.

For the second day in a row, matches were played on the hard courts at the Gandhi Nagar Club and the Powerpak Tennis Academy as opposed to the clay courts at the SDAT Stadium in Egmore and the Madras Gymkhana Club due to rain.

Results

Boys’ Singles Quarterfinals

[1] Aman Dahiya bt Pavan Uppu (USA) 7-5, 7-6 (5); [6] Rethin Pranav bt Debasis Sahoo 6-2, 6-1; [7] Pranav Karthik bt [2] Denim Yadav 7-6 (1), 6-3; [5] Kriish Tyagi bt Venkat Rishi Batlanki (USA) 6-2, 1-0 retd.

Girls’ Singles Quarterfinals

[1] Suhitha Maruri bt Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi 6-4, 6-1; [2] Madhurima Sawant bt [7] Saina Deshpande (USA0 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4); [4] Sonal Patil bt Riya Sachdeva 7-5, 6-2; Harshini N Nagaraj bt [5] Ruma Gaikaiwari 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.

Boys’ Doubles Quarterfinals

Pranav Karthik/Pavan Uppu (USA) bt [2] Kriish Tyagi, Denim Yadav 6-3, 6-4; [3] Bushan Haobham/Aryan Jit Singh bt Rethin Pranav/Agriya Yadav 6-0, 6-2; Debasis Sahoo/Gagan Rakesh Vimal bt [1] Aman Dahiya/Daksh Prasad 6-4, 6-7 (6), [10-4]; [4] Deep Munim/Dhananjay Athreya bt Arya Bhattacharya/ Chandan Shivaraj 5-7, 6-4, [12-10]

Girls’ Doubles Quarterfinals

Rishitha Basireddy/Sohini Mohanty bt Harshini N Nagaraj/ Presha Shanthamoorthi 6-4, 6-0; [2] Ruma Gaikaiwari/Sonal Patil bt Durganshi Kumar/Riya Sachdeva 6-2, 6-2

- Team Sportstar

SHOOTING

National selection trials

Priya, champion Ayushi Podder and Lajja Gauswami, the best in women’s rifle 3-position in Bhopal on Thursday.

Ayushi Podder beat Priya 16-8 to top the women’s 50-metre rifle 3-position event in the sixth National shooting selection trials at the Madhya Pradesh Academy in Bhopal on Thursday.

It was a consistently high quality performance by the 21-year-old Ayushi as she topped qualification with 587 along with Priya, and topped the second stage 0.8 point ahead of the same rival. World Cup medallist Lajja Gauswami finished third ahead of Nischal.

Bandhvi Singh who had topped the fifth trials and Meghana Sajjanar had also shot 587 in qualification but finished sixth and seventh respectively. Apurvi Chandela shot 579 and placed 11th.

Nischal shot the best among the juniors in qualification with 582, but was beaten to the top spot 17-9 by Ramita Jindal.

In the non-Olympic 50-metre free pistol, Arjun Singh Cheema and Ravinder topped the fifth and sixth trials respectively, at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad.

Results

50m rifle 3-position

Women: 1. Ayushi Podder 16 (402.3) 587; 2. Priya 8 (401.5) 587; 3. Lajja Gauswami 400.1 (582); 4. Nischal 400.1 (582).

Juniors: 1. Ramita Jindal 17 (395.9) 574; 2. Nischal 9 (404.7) 582; 3. Heena Gohei 395.4 (570); 4. Nikita Kundu 391.9 (575).

50m free pistol

Trial-6: Men: 1. Ravinder 562; 2. Abhinav Choudhary 560; 3. Kunal Rana 559.

Junior men: 1. Abhinav Choudhary 560; 2. Ajinkya Chavan 549; 3. Naved Chaudhary 545.

Junior women: 1. Khushi Kapoor 541; 2. Tiyana Phogat 535; 3. Vibhuti Bhatia 533.

Trial-5: Men: 1. Arjun Singh Cheema 562; 2. Avishkaar Tomar 558; 3. Ravinder 558.

Junior men: 1. Abhinav Choudhary 554; 2. Ankait Tomar 544; 3. Akshat Varma 540.

Junior women: 1. Sakshi Suryavanshi 545; 2. Shikha Narwal 540; 3. Divanshi 536.

25m sports pistol

Junior men: 1. Rajkanwar Sandhu 584; 2. Sameer 583; 3. Ankait Tomar 580.

- Kamesh Srinivasan