EQUESTRIAN
Equestrian Federation of India announces new competitions including AEF sanctioned U-21 meets, Para-dressage events in 2024-25 calendar
The Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) announced an extensive calendar of 41 competitions for the 2024-25 season that includes many firsts.
This will be the first time that India will be hosting an FEI CSI two-star (2*), the Asian Equestrian Federation (AEF), sanctioned U-21 Regional Group III international competitions in Show Jumping and Dressage on borrowed horses along with two Para-Dressage National events apart from three selection trials each for Dressage, Jumping and Eventing respectively to pick the Indian team for the FEI Asian Continental Championships to be held in Pattaya, Thailand in December next year.
The 2024-25 season will start on August 11 with the Sapta Shakti Horse Show in Jaipur with the AEF U-21 Show Jumping competition scheduled for October 12-13 while the Dressage meet will take place at the Army Polo and Riding Centre from November 28 to December 1.
The EFI will also be introducing the Para-Dressage competitions for the first time with the first event to be held from October 18-20. Post which, the second event will take place between October 23-25 at the TARC Equestrian Centre, Chhatarpur.
The selection trials for the FEI Asian Continental Championships will begin with Show Jumping at TARC Centre on December 7 and trials will be held for all three categories over the period of next four months.
EFI will also conduct Show Jumping, Dressage and Tent Pegging events for Sub Junior and Junior and Young Riders category with the top-10 riders in Tent Pegging will be considered for selection for the AEF U-21 Tent Pegging international to be held in Mumbai in March 2025.
- Team Sportstar
SQUASH
Akanksha loses to Sehveetrraa in World Championship Asian Qualifying squash quarters
India’s Akanksha Salunkhe went down to Malaysian Sehveetrraa Kumar in the women’s quarterfinals of the World Championship Asian Qualifying squash event in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
World No 71 Akanksha, the 2023 National Games champion, was the lone Indian in the fray and the second seed, but was upset by lower ranked Sehveetrraa, who registered a 11-6, 11-5, 11-8 win in 34 minutes.
-Team Sportstar
GOLF
M Dharma secures long-awaited win at Gurgaon Open
M Dharma of Bengaluru carded a solid four-under 68 in the final round to end a seven-year long winless streak, claiming a five-stroke victory at the Rs 1 crore Gurgaon Open on Friday.
The 38-year-old totalled 18-under 270 for the week to emerge champion for the first time since 2017.
Dharma’s third professional win earned him a cheque worth Rs 15 lakh that lifted him from 40th place to seventh position in the TATA Steel PGTI Ranking.
“I’ve had to wait a long time for this victory so I’m just soaking in the moment,” he said after the win.
“My terrific ball-striking was the best aspect of my game this week. Even though I came close to winning a number of times over the last few years, I kept patience, didn’t lose heart and stuck to my task by continuing to practice hard. This positive approach finally paid off for me.
“Today I felt in control after making three birdies on the front-nine. The big change in my game has been that I now don’t get angry with myself or lose focus after dropping a bogey or two. I take it in my stride and look to come back stronger.” Khalin Joshi (69-71-68-67) produced the day’s joint lowest round of 67 to clinch tied second place at 13-under 275.
The other two joint runners-up along with Khalin were Delhi’s Saarthak Chhibber (71-70-64-70) who registered a career-best finish and Bengaluru’s Yashas Chandra (69-69-69-68) who secured his third top-10 of the season.
Dharma, who enjoyed a two-shot lead ahead of the last round, further built on his lead with birdies on the fifth, seventh, eighth and 12th where his good hitting form saw him land the ball within 10 feet.
Sitting with a comfortable four-shot lead after 12 holes on a day characterized by less wind and calm conditions, Dharma dropped two bogeys on the last six holes but also capitalized on the par-5s 14th and 18th with birdies to close out the match with relative ease.
Yashas Chandra (68) also continued his consistent showing with an eagle, four birdies and two bogeys to join the three-way tie for second place.
Saarthak Chhibber (70) made three birdies and a bogey on Friday to finish as the third joint runner-up.
-PTI
TENNIS
Yuki Bhambri in Munich ATP fina
Yuki Bhambri in partnership with Albano Olivetti of France beat Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler of Austria 6-1, 6-7(5), [10-7] in the doubles semifinals of the 651,865 ATP tennis tournament in Munich, Germany, on Friday.
It was the first final of the season in the ATP events for Yuki, who had reached the doubles semifinals earlier in Brisbane, Dubai and Marrakech.
The results:
€ 651,865 ATP, Munich, Germany
Doubles (semifinals): Yuki Bhambri & Albano Olivetti (Fra) bt Alexander Erler & Lucas Miedler (Aut) 6-1, 6-7(5), [10-7]; Quarterfinals: Yuki & Albano bt Robert Galloway & Evan King (USA) 6-3, 6-3.
$164,000 Challenger, Acapulco, Mexico
Doubles (quarterfinals): Anirudh Chandrasekar & Hans Verdugo (Mex) bt Rinky Hijikata (Aus) & Mac Kiger (USA) 3-6, 6-4, [10-7]; Rithvik Bollipalli & Niki Poonacha bt Piotr Matuszewski (Pol) & Matthew Romios (Aus) 6-4, 6-1.
$15,000 ITF men, Shymkent, Kazakhstan
Singles (quarterfinals): Karan Singh bt Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) 6-3, 6-4; Evgenii Tiurnev bt Dev Javia 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
$40,000 ITF women, Shenzhen, China
Doubles (semifinals): Arianne Hartono (Ned) & Prarthana Thombare bt Chia Yi Tsao (Tpe) & Zheng Wushuang (Chn) 7-5, 4-6, [10-5];
Quarterfinals: Arianne & Prarthana bt Rutuja Bhosale & Ma YeXin 6-3, 6-3.
$25,000 ITF women, Hammamet, Tunisia
Doubles (quarterfinals): Julie Struplova (Cze) & Ksenia Zaytseva bt Vaishnavi Adkar & Ranim Rassil 6-2, 6-7(6), [10-6].
-Kamesh Srinivasan
GYMNASTICS
Dipa finishes impressive fourth at Apparatus World Cup
Star India gymnast Dipa Karmakar on Friday signed off with another creditable fourth place finish in women’s vault final at the FIG Apparatus World Cup, a Paris Olympics qualifying event in Doha.
The 30-year-old, who had finished fourth at the Baku Apparatus World Cup in Azerbaijan last month, once again missed out on a medal by a whisker after coming up with a score of 13.333.
Panama’s Navas Karla (13.850) claimed the gold medal, while An Chang Ok of Korea (13.833) and Georgieva Valentina (13.466) won the silver and bronze respectively.
Dipa had finished sixth in the qualifying round of the Paris Olympics qualifier.
The other Indian in fray, Pranati Nayak had failed to qualify for the final after finishing 11th in the qualifying round.
Dipa, who battled two knee operations in 2017 and 2019 due to ACL tears and a 21-month suspension due to a doping violation, thus failed to qualify for the Paris Games in vault.
Gymnasts earn Olympic ranking points from the Apparatus World Cup series based on how well they do compared to other eligible gymnasts on each apparatus. The highest-ranked eligible gymnast in a final earns 30 ranking points, second highest 25, and so on.
Dipa, who returned after completing the doping ban only last year, didn’t participate in the World Cup in Cottbus, Germany (February 22-25). She had finished fifth in Cairo (February 15-18) World Cup.
The Asian Championship, scheduled to be held in Uzbekistan from May 16 to 19, is the final Olympic qualifier.
-PTI
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