CRICKET
Former TN bowler passes away
Former Tamil Nadu fast bowler K. Arun Kumar passed away on April 22.
He was 64. In a career spanning between 1984 and 1989, Arun Kumar played 13 First-Class matches and two List ‘A’ matches.
A feared fast bowler during his prime and an outstanding all-rounder, he was a popular and respected cricketer in the domestic circuit during the 80s. Arun Kumar was a member of the Tamil Nadu Team, which won the Ranji Trophy in 1988, defeating Railways. The TNCA, in a statement, condoled his demise and recalled his exemplary service to the game.
-Team Sportstar
GOLF
Diksha goes up to 11th on Order of Merit, achieves career’s best world ranking
Indian golfer Diksha Dagar on Tuesday rose to the 11th position on the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit after her third-place finish at the Joburg Ladies Open and also achieved her career’s best world ranking.
Diksha is now ranked 138th in the world.
She shot 73-71-69-70 to total 9-under and was tied third at the Joburg Ladies Open, which was won by rookie Chiara Tamburlini at Modderfontein Golf Club.
In five starts in 2024, Diksha has been in Top-10 three times – T-9 at Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco, T-6 at Aramco Ladies Florida and T-3 at Joburg Ladies.
AT the same event, Tvesa Malik was T-29, Vani Kapoor was T-41 and Ridhima Dilawari was T-66.
Next up for Diksha is Investec South African Women’s Open at the picturesque Erinvale Country and Golf Estate. A total of 120 players from 34 nations will tee up in the four-day event between April 25-28.
The other Indians in the event will be Tvesa, Vani and Ridhima.
The tournament marks the eighth event of 2024’s LET schedule and the finale of this year’s Sunshine Ladies Tour, which will once again co-sanction the meet.
Erinvale has twice hosted the men’s Investec South African Open in 2003 and 2004, both of which were won by home favourite Trevor Immelman.
The course also staged the first men’s World Cup of Golf in 1996. The competition was won by the duo of Ernie Els and Wayne Westner.
A host of stars will be taking to the fairways including three of the top five in this year’s Order of Merit with England’s Bronte Law, Switzerland’s Tamburlini and Singapore’s Shannon Tan, who is fourth, in action.
Among the past winners are Alice Hewson (2020), Diksha Dagar (2019), legendary South African Lee Ann Pace (2014, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2022) and another South African, Tandi McCallum.
Defending champion Ashleigh Buhai is absent in Cape Town after playing in last week’s Chevron Championship.
-PTI
TENNIS
National wheelchair championship: Kartik-Shilpa pair seeded no 1
Kartik Karunakaran and KP Shilpa have been seeded No.1 in the men’s and women’s sections in the second National wheelchair tennis championship to be staged at the DLTA Complex from Wednesday.
The men’s field has 25 players and the women’s draw has six players. The championship carries a total prize purse of Rs.3,50,000.
The seedings:
Men: 1. Kartik Karunakaran, 2. Shekar Veeraswamy, 3. Balachander Subramanian, 4. Sathasivam Kannupayan, 6. Mariappan Durai, 6. Anil D Almeida, 7. M Gabriel, 8. S Sureshkumar.
Women: 1. KP Shilpa, 2. Prathima Rao, 3. A Ruthrajeswari, 4. Mubeena Kolkar.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Ramkumar bows out in Shenzhen
Ramkumar Ramanathan in partnership with Ray Ho of Taiwan was beaten 6-4, 6-3 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals by Remy Bertola and Antoine Escoffier in the $82,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Shenzhen, China, on Tuesday. He had lost in the second and final qualifying round of singles earlier.
The results:
$82,000 Challenger, Shenzhen, China
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Remy Bertola (Sui) & Antoine Escoffier (Fra) bt Ray Ho (Tpe) & Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-3.
$25,000 ITF men, Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy
Singles (first round): Manas Dhamne bt Maximilian Figl (Ita) 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
$15,000 ITF men, Shymkent, Kazakhstan
Singles (first round): Maxim Zhukov bt Manish Sureshkumar 7-5, 1-6, 6-4; Karan Singh bt Liu Hany (Chn) 6-2, 7-5; SD Prajwal Dev bt Damir Zhalgashay (Kaz) 6-4, 6-3.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Parth Aggarwal & Credit Chaiyarin (Tha) bt Evgenii Tiurnev & Maxim Zhukov 6-3, 2-6, [10-4].
$40,000 ITF women, Wuning, China
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rutuja Bhosale & Paige Hourigan (Nzl) bt Dang Yiming & Lu Jing-Jing (Chn) 5-7, 6-3, [10-5].
$40,000 ITF women, Lopota, Georgia
Singles (first round): Catherine Harrison (USA) bt Ankita Raina 6-2, 6-0.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ekaterine Gorgodze (Geo) & Ankita Raina bt Amelie van Impe & Amelia Waligora (Bel) 6-0, 6-4.
$25,000 ITF women, Hammamet, Tunisia
Singles (first round): Audrey Albie (Fra) bt Sameeksha Shroff 6-1, 6-1.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ilona Ghioroaie (Rou) & Gabriela Vilar (USA) bt Madison Bourguignon (USA) & Sameeksha Shroff 7-5, 6-4.
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia
Singles (first round): Dayeon Back (Kor) bt Diva Bhatia 6-1, 6-0; Ahn Yujin (Kor) bt Zeel Desai 2-6, 6-2, 6-3; Vaishnavi Adkar bt Shiho Akita (Jpn) 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
$15,000 ITF women, Shymkent, Kazakhstan
Singles (first round): Smriti Bhasin bt Vladislava Andreevskaya (Kgz) 6-2, 7-6(4).
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Shin Jiho (Kor) & Kseniya Yersh bt Shria Atturu (USA) & Saumya Vig 6-3, 6-2; Shahnoza Marimova & Daria Shubina (Uzb) bt Smriti Bhasin & Soha Sadiq 7-5, 6-3.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Comments
SHARE