FOOTBALL
Jamshedpur FC retains Seiminlen Doungel
Manipur midfielder Seiminlen Doungel extended his tenure with Jamshedpur FC until the end of the 2024-25 season of the Indian Super League, the club announced on Monday.
A skillfull, strong and versatile player who has been an essential part of the Jamshedpur FC side for the past four seasons, Doungel was crucial in the ISL Shield winning campaign in 2021-22.
“I have unfinished business from the last two seasons and we need to get the club back on the top of the ISL table, a place that the Jharkhand fans deserve,” the 30-year-old said in a release.
Doungel has had a stellar career in ISL representing Jamshedpur, FC Goa, Kerala Blasters, North East United, Bengaluru FC, Delhi Dynamos and East Bengal.
Over his 63 appearances for the Men of Steel, Doungel has scored five goals and provided one assist. He is also one of the six Indian players to score a hat-trick in the ISL.
Doungel has also won the I-League in the 2015-16 season and the Federation Cup in 2012 and 2017.
He was a member of Bengaluru FC’s runner-up squad in the AFC Cup in 2016 and played a crucial role in FC Goa’s 2019-20 ISL season, helping it finish at the top of the league and become the ISL Premiers (shield winners).
- PTI
CRICKET
India deaf cricket team wins bilateral T20 series against England
The Indian deaf cricket team defeated host England by six wickets in the seventh and final T20 to claim the series 5-2 in Leicester.
Abhishek Singh was awarded the man-of-the-match in the final game, while Sai Akash bagged the player-of-the-series honour.
Electing to bowl, India restricted England to 164 for 4 and then chased down the target with four balls to spare, riding on half-centuries by Abhishek (68) and Umar Ashraf (56).
India did not have the best of starts to its chase, losing the first three wickets for only 46 runs. But Abhishek and Ashraf shared a 95-run partnership to rebuild the innings and took the side over the line.
- PTI
BADMINTON
Badminton Asia Junior Championships: Valiant India go down 2-3 against Malaysia in quarters
India’s Badminton Asia Junior Mixed team championships challenge ended at the quarterfinal stage after losing to Malaysia 2-3 on Monday.
The players will now participate in the individual championship beginning from Wednesday.
In the quarterfinals, India made yet another change to its mixed doubles pairing, combining Sanskar Saraswat with Shravani Walekar. And the duo gave the team the lead with a 21-16, 13-21, 21-17 win over Kang Khai Xing and Noraqilha Maisarah.
Senior Nationals runners-up Tanvi Sharma then doubles India’s lead when she got the better of Siti Zulaikha 21-15, 15-21, 22-20 in girls singles.
India looked on course of an upset win when Pranay Shettigar clinched the opening game against Muhammad Faiq. But he could not sustain the momentum and lost 15-21, 21-18, 21-19 in an hour and six minutes and Malaysia then grabbed the opportunity.
Walekar and Navya Kanderi went down 16-21, 15-21 against Bui Ong Xin Yee and Carmen Ting and then boys doubles combination of Bhargav Ram Arigela Arsh Mohammad lost to Kang and Aaron Tai 18-21, 10-21.
Tanvi Sharma impresses
The loss in the quarterfinals not withstanding, the squad had a lot of positives to take from the competition as Tanvi Sharma remained unbeaten in all her matches and the changes in mixed doubles combination worked well.
In fact, India did not lose any girls singles match as Navya Kanderi also punched above her weight to win the only rubber against Indonesia in the group stage.
Result:
GOLF
Shubankar Sharma finishes fifth in Italian Open
India’s Olympic-bound golfer Shubhankar Sharma dropped a crucial double bogey and a bogey in the space of three holes on the back nine to finish a sole fifth at the Italian Open.
The two-time DP World Tour winner was at 11-under total and one under for the day when he came to the 14th tee.
One of the four co-leaders after three days, Sharma started at 10-under.
After being even par for the front nine in swirling winds and difficult conditions, he dropped a double on 14th and a bogey on 16th and failed to fund birdies on the last two holes.
The Mauritius-based German Siem, who was cruising at 3-under for front nine and at 13-under hit a roadblock with four bogeys on 11th, 14th, 15th and 17th and was suddenly behind Tom McKibbin, who with 6-under 65, set the clubhouse target of 10-under more than three hours earlier.
Wearing the now popular colourful shirt, a trademark from his adopted home country, Siem birdied the 18th to get into a play-off.
He again birdied the 18th in the first play-off hole to complete a remarkable comeback from injury to win his sixth DP World Tour title at the Italian Open.
It was his first win since his fifth success at the Hero Indian Open in February 2023.
-PTI
Unlucky Bhatia three-putts on final hole to lose by one shot at Rocket Mortgage golf
Indian-American golfer Akshay Bhatia, who played so well all week, three-putted on the 72nd hole and lost by one shot to finish tied-2nd with an aggregate of 17-under 271 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Australian Cam Davis, starting the day one behind overnight leaders Bhatia and Aaron Rai, carded 2-under 70 with a birdie on the 17th and a par on 18th. His 18-under became the clubhouse target.
At the 18th tee, Bhatia, in the final group with Aaron, was one-under for the day and a total of 18-under. He needed a birdie to win and a par to get into the play-off. But he three-putted from 32 feet and his par putt failed to drop from six feet for a bogey as he fell to second with 72 in the final round and a total of 17-under.
Aaron had four pars in his last four holes for a 72 and, at 17-under, he was also in in a tie for second with Davis Thompson (68) and Min Woo Lee (69).
It was Davis’ second success at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Bhatia said, “It sucks. No other way to put it. I mean, just sucks.” Bhatia, 22, was looking to join a small list of modern-era Tour pros to win three titles before he turns 23. The list includes Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim and Sergio Garcia.
Bhatia hadn’t made a bogey through 54 holes but broke that run on the par-4 third earlier on Sunday.
He got that one back immediately, draining a 32-foot birdie on the very next hole. Bhatia added a birdie on the seventh to move to 18-under and was steady enough for the next 10 holes until the par-4 finishing hole. It was his first three-putt of the week and his first miss inside six feet.
Bhatia was looking for his second win of the season after capturing the Valero Texas Open in April. He also won last year’s Barracuda Championship while competing on Special Temporary Membership.
This was Bhatia’s third top-10 finish of the season and second in a row after finishing T5 at the Travelers Championship. He moves from No. 15 to No. 11 on the season-long FedExCup standings and further establishes his growing status in the pro game.
Bhatia entered the final round as the only player in the field without a bogey through 54 holes and made two bogeys in the final round.
-PTI
Runner-up finish in Switzerland bolsters Tvesa’s confidence
Tvesa Malik ending with 5-under in the last four holes for a runner-up finish, following a play-off at the Swiss Ladies Open, has pushed her ranking to a respectable 31st on the Ladies European Tour after languishing way down for the last two years.
The career-best runner-up finish has also earned her a spot on the elite Aramco Series, which she last played in November 2022.
The million-dollar event, which is two rolled into one with an individual and team event together, is a good place to make up a lot of places with a strong finish as Tvesa has joined Diksha Dagar and Pranavi Urs, who took a week off.
The Indian trio will be in action at the Aramco Series London where Diksha was part of the winning team a couple of years ago.
This has been a season of resurrection for Tvesa, who, at the start of 2024, won an event in South Africa on the Sunshine Tour.
On the LET, this was her second top-10 of the season after a similar finish at the Dormy Open in Helsingborg.
There are still more than 10 events left to go on the LET and the trio, Tvesa, Diksha and Pranavi are looking at picking some titles.
Tvesa, who got married to pro golfer Ajeetesh Sandhu before the start of the 2024 season, is the third placed Indian on LET this season after Diksha, who is 14th and rookie Pranavi at 16th.
“I am playing well again, and this was so close to getting my first LET win, but I will take it as a positive that I fought so well at the finish in the final round with three birdies and an eagle in the last four holes,” Tvesa said.
“The play-off didn’t go my way but the win is closer than ever before,” said Tvesa, whose previous best was second at the Gant Ladies Open in 2021.
-PTI
TENNIS
ITF titles for Sahaja, Mukund
Photo of, Champion Sahaja Yamalapalli in the ITF women’s tennis tournament in Los Angeles, USA. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Top seed Sahaja Yamalapalli beat third seed Amy Zhu 6-4, 7-6(4) in the final of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Los Angeles, USA.
It was the fourth career singles title for the 23-year-old Sahaja. She did not drop a set in the tournament.
Top seed in the men’s event in Tianjin, China, S Mukund was also able to assert his game with the title, as he beat Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul of Thailand 6-3, 6-4 in the final.
It was the seventh career singles title for the 27-year-old Mukund who was ranked a career-best 229 in 2019.
With Vaidehi Chaudhari having won the title in the $25,000 event in Taiwan earlier, it was a happy week for Indian tennis.
The results:
$15,000 ITF women, Los Angeles, USA Singles (final): Sahaja Yamalapalli bt Amy Zhu (USA) 6-4, 7-6(4).
$15,000 ITF men, Tianjin, China
Singles (final): S Mukund bt Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (Tha) 6-3, 6-4.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
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