GOLF
Shubhankar makes cut in Beijing, lies T-32nd
Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma carded a one-over 73 in the second round to make the cut at the Volvo China Open here on Friday.
The 27-year-old had just one birdie on the second day at the Hidden Grace Golf Club to lie Tied-32nd place here.
Sharma had a bogey free 6-under 66 on the first day. He is now 5-under for 36 holes.
The other Indian golfer in the field, Om Prakash faded away after a decent first round. Prakash, who had a 70 on the first day, carded a 2-over 75 and at even par 144 he missed the cut in T-94th place.
Sharma birdied the ninth hole on the front nine but gave away two shots on the back nine on the 12th and the 14th holes, while Om Prakash had a double, two bogeys and two birdies.
At the top, Sebastian Soderberg, who shot 63 on the first day, blazed through the back nine after starting from the tenth.
He had six birdies on the back nine of the course and in his second nine he had one bogey and two more birdies for a day’s work of 7-under 65. At 16-under, he was three shots ahead of England’s Paul Warring (66-67) at 13-under.
Italian Guido Migliozzi (65-67) was third at 12-under.
-PTI
Lahiri starts with 70, lies 29th in Liv Singapore
Anirban Lahiri had a disappointing start with 1-under 70 in the opening round of the LIV Golf Singapore. The only Indian on the LIV League had five birdies against four bogeys.
Lahiri was way behind in T-29th place as Sebastian Munoz produced his best round of the 2024 season to take the first-round lead.
Munoz’s 6-under 65 at Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong course put him one shot ahead of six players -- Brooks Koepka, Martin Kaymer, Kevin Na, Thomas Pieters, Cameron Tringale and Abraham Ancer.
Another eight players are two shots behind, including Joaquin Niemann, the current Individual points leader.
Top gun Jon Rahm (69) was T-22, while Cameron Smith (71) was T-35 and Phil Mickelson (72) was T-41.
In the team standings, Fireballs and Smash share the lead at 11-under, with three teams just one shot back -– Cleeks, Range Goats and Stinger GC.
- PTI
Chawrasia top Indian in tied 13th place in Korea
India’s SSP Chawrasia, who is winless on the Asian Tour since 2017, shot a bogey-free 4-under 67 to rise to tied 13th at the halfway stage of the GS Caltex Maekyung Open here on Friday.
Chawrasia, who shot 1-over 72 in the first round is now 3-under and up from overnight tied 52nd.
Chawrasia was among only two Indians to make the cut this week in Korea. The other one was Ajeetesh Sandhu (71-71) and he was tied 42nd.
Among the remaining three, Shiv Kapur (75-69) missed the cut by one shot, while S Chikkarangapa (71-77) was way off in tied 104th, and Karandeep Kochhar (78-79) was even further behind in tied 129th.
Chawrasia started from the 10th and birdied the 11th and the 18th and then added two more birdies on second and ninth.
Thailand’s Chonlatit Chuenboonngam upstaged the favoured home stars from Korea to take the halfway lead after shooting the lowest round of the week so far.
His brilliant bogey-free nine-under-par 62 featured eagles on two of the par fours and was one short of the 23-year-old course record. He shot nine-under and with his first round 71, he was 9-under and one shot ahead of Koreans Kyungnam Kang, the first-round leader, and Hongtaek Kim.
Chonlatit also missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-five ninth, which was his 18th as he began on 10, to narrowly miss matching Chinese Taipei’s Chung Chun-Hsing’s course record, set way back in 2001.
Kang carded a 69 and Kim a 65, while their compatriot Yubin Jang, a member of Korea’s gold medal winning Asian Games team last year, is another stroke back following a 69.
-PTI
BOXING
Brijesh, Aryan among seven Indians to enter finals at ASBC Asian U-22 & Youth Boxing Championships 2024
Brijesh Tamta and Aryan alongside five other Indian boxers entered the finals in the youth men’s category at the ASBC Asian U-22 & Youth Boxing Championships 2024 in Astana, Kazakhstan on Friday.
Beginning the proceedings for India, Brijesh defeated Mongolia’s Taalaibek Iasur in the 48kg category with a convincing 5-0 scoreline. Following a similar suit Rahul Kundu (75kg) and Aryan (92kg) outclassed China’s Kanjiebayi Ersi and Kyrgyzstan’s Alybaev Tynystan with identical unanimous decisions.
Sagar Jakhar (60kg), on the other hand, forced a referee to stop the contest (RSC) win in the final round over Kyrgyzstan’s Sadirov Dilerbek
Aryan (51kg), Yashwardhan Singh (63.5kg) and Priyanshu (71kg) further extended India’s winning run with split decision verdicts.
Sumit (67kg) and Sahil (80kg) signed off with bronze medals after going down 0-5 against Kazakhstan’s Sabyrkhan Torekhan and Kyrgyzstan’s Zakirov Mukhammadaziz.
The Indian youth contingent has secured 22 medals, including 12 in the women’s category, at the prestigious tournament.
Later tonight, Lakshay Rathi (92+kg) and the reigning junior world champions Nisha (52kg) and Akansha (70kg) will fight for a place in the final along with 10 other Indian youth boxers
On Thursday night, Dhruv Singh (80kg), Guddi (48kg) and Poonam (57kg) made their way into the last-4 of the U-22 category.
On Saturday, Olympic-bound Preeti (54kg) and reigning youth world champion Vishvanath Suresh (48kg) will lead the charge for India in the U-22 semi-finals along with 17 other boxers.
Muskan (75kg) and Alfiya Pathan (81kg) have received byes in their respective U-22 semi-finals.
The tournament has been witnessing high-voltage action with the presence of 390-plus boxers from more than 24 countries, including strong boxing nations such as China, India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan fighting for the medals across 25 weight categories.
The finals for the youth and U-22 categories will be played on Monday and Tuesday respectively.
-Team Sportstar
SHOOTING
22nd Kumar Surendra Singh championship to begin in June
The 22nd Kumar Surendra Singh shooting championship will be organised at the Madhya Pradesh Academy in Bhopal from June 1 to 19.
The pistol and rife events, including the non-Olympic events like rifle prone, standard pistol, centre fire pistol and free pistol, will be conducted.
Shooters with minimum qualifying score from the last two national championships apart from the last edition of the Kumar Surendra Singh championship will be eligible to participate.
Entries close on May 17. Late entries with triple fee would be accepted till May 20.
Scores recorded during the championship will be considered for selection of shooters for international competitions. The finals will be conducted in all Olympic events, including the juniors and youth sections.
- Kamesh Srinivasan
CRICKET
Bengal Pro T20 League trophy unveiled
(L-R)Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Manoj Tiwary, Sourav Ganguly, Snehashis Ganguly, & Jhulan Goswami at the unveiling of the Trophy of Bengal Pro T20 League. | Photo Credit: DEBASISH BHADURI/The Hindu
The inaugural Bengal Pro T20 League (BPTL) will be played at the Eden Gardens and the Jadavpur University (JU) ground here from June 11 to 28.
The league will feature eight franchises having both men and women teams. The men’s matches will be played at the Eden, while the women’s matches will be held at the JU ground simultaneously.
Marquee players of each franchise were named and the trophy was unveiled in the presence of former India captains Sourav Ganguly and Jhulan Goswami at a function organised by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) here on Friday.
The franchises and their marquee players:
- Y.B. Sarangi
HOCKEY
Haryana, Maharshtra win in National Women’s Hockey League
Haryana and Maharashtra won their respective matches by identical 2-1 margin in the National Women’s Hockey League 2024-2025 (Phase 1) here on Friday.
In the opening match of the day, Haryana defeated Mizoram 2-1 to bring up its second consecutive victory.
Haryana captain Neelam (28th minute) converted a penalty corner late in the second quarter to put her team ahead at halftime. Vanlalrinhlui (39th) scored a field goal for Mizoram to restore parity and apply pressure on their opponents.
However, a decisive field goal from Pinki (43rd) towards the end of the third quarter ensured the win for Haryana.
In the day’s second match, Maharashtra defeated Bengal 2-1.
The first goal of the game came late in the second quarter through a penalty corner conversion by Aishwarya Dubey (29th).
The lead, though, didn’t last long as Jamuna Ekka (33rd) converted a penalty corner for Bengal to equalise early in the third quarter.
Tanushree Dinesh Kadu (54th) scored a field goal in the final quarter to score the winners for Maharashtra. Later in the day, Manipur will take on Odisha, while Jharkhand will lock horns with Madhya Pradesh.
-PTI
TENNIS
Fred Perry Cup over-50 event - Nitten Kirrtane stars in India’s 2-1 win against Britain in semis
Nitten Kirrtane won both his singles and doubles matches to help India beat Britain 2-1 in the semifinals of the Fred Perry Cup over-50 event in the ITF Tennis Masters World Championship in Mexico on Thursday.
The Indian team had kept an unbeaten record in the league phase, as it beat Canada, France and Turkey, to top the group and qualify for the semifinals. The key to India’s progress was Nitten winning all the doubles matches in partnership with Ajit Sail.
Against France, it was Jagdish Tanwar who gave a strong start winning against Paulo Freitas in three sets in the first singles. Nitten lost the second singles to Benoit Hallle but came back strong to win the decisive doubles in partnership with Ajit Sail.
India was scheduled to play Italy in the final. Italy had got past the Netherlands in the semifinals.
The results
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Cagliari Challenger Tournament: Sriram Balaji in doubles semifinals
Sriram Balaji in partnership with Andre Begemann beat the third seeded Yuki Bhambri and Francisco Cabral 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in the doubles quarterfinals of the €205,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Cagliari, Italy.
The Indo-German pair will play second seeds Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler of Austria in the semifinals.
The results:
-Kamesh Srinivasan
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