GOLF
Diksha set for landmark 100th start on LET
Diksha Dagar will become the first Indian woman golfer to play 100 events on the Ladies European Tour when she tees up at the Aramco Team Series Korea, her first appearance in the series.
Diksha, who turned pro in 2019 and won on LET in her first full season, has been a regular on LET since then.
Currently ninth on the LET Order of Merit, Diksha turned 23 in December. She is one of the three Indians to tee off at the New Korea Country Club. The other two Indians in the field are Pranavi Urs and Vani Kapoor.
Diksha will also lead the team of Czech Tereza Melecka and Korean Do Yeon Park, while Pranavi and Vani are in the team led by Singaporean Shannon Tan, who has already won once in her rookie season.
She was part of the winning team in the Aramco Team Series in London in 2021. That was the year when the series was played across five countries.
Diksha has finished in the Top-10 of the individual section only once. That first Top-10 came this year in Tampa Florida, where she was tied sixth.
Diksha, a lock-in for the Olympic Games in Paris, is ranked 147th in the world and the second best Indian after Aditi Ashok (53rd).
A gold medallist at the 2021 Deaflympics, Diksha is also a recipient of the Arjuna Award in 2023.
“Representing India is the biggest honour one can have so I am looking forward to my second Olympic appearance,” said Diksha, who is the only golfer to have played at both the Summer Olympics (2021 Tokyo) and the Deaflympics (2017 and 2021).
Diksha is one of only two Indian women to have won on the LET and she has done it twice – once in Investec South African Women’s Open in 2019 and in Czech Ladies Open in 2023.
“For the present my focus is the LET, where I have won twice and I want to do better,” said Diksha, who is also aiming to get to the LPGA Tour in the United States.
Diksha, who won once in the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open and was T-3 at the Amundi German Masters and Hero Indian Open last year, was also third in the Order of Merit. She had nine individual Top-10 finishes and one more in the team event in Hong Kong.
This season she has had Top-10 finishes in Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco (9th) and in Tampa Florida (T-6). The busy part of the season is still ahead of her.
Vani has been around for some years but is still looking for her first win on the LET, as is Pranavi Urs, who is playing her first full season on the Tour.
- PTI
SHOOTING
Anantjeet narrowly misses the final at Shooting World Cup
Anantjeet Singh Naruka shot 120 out of 125 and missed the final by two points in skeet in the shooting World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Thursday.
The Asian Games silver medallist and Olympic quota winner, Anantjeet had a series of 22, 25, 25, 24 and 24, for the 15th spot in a field of 80.
In women’s skeet, Olympic quota winner Raiza Dhillon shot 114 for the 16th spot in a field of 45. The other Olympic quota winner Maheshwari Chauhan shot 113 for the 20th place.
The results:
-Kamesh Srinivasan
TABLE TENNIS
Table Tennis Super League returns after six years, to be played on May 11, 12
The third season of the Table Tennis Super League (TTSL) will be held on May 11 and 12 at AMPA SKYONE, Nelson Manickam Road here.
Six teams—three each in two groups—will take part in the tournament. The top two teams will play the crisscross semifinals followed by the final.
Left to right: Sameer Bharat Ram, Founder of Sportorama, G. Sathiyan, International paddler, A. V. Vidyasagar, TNTTA Secretary and Bharath Govindaraghavan, co-founder & MD of Book Water. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Sameer Bharat Ram, Founder of Sportorama said it’s great TTSL is back after a six-year break and even better that it is happening in a Mall. “The first two seasons (in 2017 & 2018) went off well. We are taking the sport to the people by organising it in a Mall. We hope it grows.”
V. Vidyasagar, Secretary of Tamil Nadu Table Tennis Association (TNTTA), said TTSL has become a part of TNTTA calendar and one that is a favourite of the players.”
Sameer informed that the Chennai Open is being planned post-Olympics with a mix of top Indian players and a few International paddlers. National table tennis champion G. Sathiyan said “this tournament will encourage young talents and help grow them.”
The teams:
-Team Sportstar
CRICKET
Young Cricketers beat Talent Academy by three wickets in Goswami Ganesh Dutt tournament
An all-round show by Sourabh Kumar and a patient half century by Siddharth Yadav paved the way for Young Cricketers’ three-wicket victory over Talent Academy in the pre-quarterfinals of the 49th all-India Goswami Ganesh Dutt cricket tournament at the Khalsa College ground on Thursday.
For his three wicket bag and 31 runs, Sourabh was adjudged the “man of the match”. Siddharth scored 65 with eight 4s to clinch the “outstanding player” award.
In the quarterfinals, to be played on May 15, Young Cricketers will challenge Rajnigandha Club.
On Friday, Delhi Wanderers will play Mount Academy in the last pre-quarterfinals.
The scores:
- Kamesh Srinivasan
BASKETBALL
National junior championship: Kerala beats Uttar Pradesh
Kerala bounced back from being down 33-49 at half time to beat defending champion Uttar Pradesh 92-88 in a group-A league match of the 74th National junior basketball championship at the Emerald Heights International School courts on Thursday.
In the women’s section, Rajasthan surprised Kerala 80-63.
The results:
- Team Sportstar
HOCKEY
Haryana beats Madhya Pradesh, Odisha defeats Mizoram
Haryana prevailed over Madhya Pradesh 3-2 in a shootout while Odisha defeated Mizoram 2-0 in the National Women’s Hockey League 2024 here on Thursday.
The Haryana-MP match went into shootout after the score remained 0-0 at the end of regulation time.
In the day’s opening showdown, both Haryana and Madhya Pradesh fought tooth and nail but couldn’t convert their chances.
Madhya Pradesh was awarded five penalty corners while Haryana was given four, but none of them resulted in a goal.
In the shootout, Manju Chorsiya, Pinki and Khasa Shashi scored for Haryana while Karmanpreet Kaur and Swati struck for Madhya Pradesh. Ishika saved three goals for Haryana to help it win two points.
The first quarter of the second match turned out to be goalless but Pratibha Ekka (25’) put Odisha ahead with a field goal in the second quarter. The third quarter didn’t see any goals as Odisha led 1-0 going into the final 10 minutes of regulation time.
Karuna Minz (52’) doubled Odisha’s lead with a field goal in the final quarter.
- PTI
TENNIS
Vidhi Jani defeats Sahira Singh in quarterfinals
Vidhi Jani battled past second seed Sahira Singh 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in the women’s quarterfinals of the Rs.200,000 AITA ranking tennis tournament at the Ace Academy on Thursday.
In the men’s section, Adil Kalyanpur, Moksh Puri, Ricky Chaudhary and Dmitrii Baskov made the semifinals.
The results (quarterfinals):
- Team Sportstar
Balaji-Begermann sail into quarterfinals of Francavilla Challenger
Sriram Balaji and Andre Begemannn beat Adrian Andreev and Maks Kasnikowski 1-6, 6-4, [12-10] in the doubles quarterfinals of the €74,825 Challenger tennis tournament in Francavilla al Mare, Italy.
In the $60,000 ITF women’s event in Fukuoka, Japan, Rutuja Bhosale and Paige Hourigan reached the doubles semifinals with a 7-5, 3-6, [10-7] victory over the Japanese duo of Natsumi Kawaguchi and Kanako Morisaki.
The results:
-Kamesh Srinivasan
FOOTBALL
Super League Kerala’s six franchisees to be unveiled on Friday
The Super League Kerala, the only State league in the country where foreign players are allowed, will finally kick off in September this year with six teams for a start.
“Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Kannur are the districts where these teams will be based,” said Mathew Joseph, the CEO of the Super League Kerala, here on Thursday.
“This will transform the landscape of football in Kerala.”
The six franchisees will be unveiled on Friday evening and All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey and Kerala Sports Minister V. Abdurahiman are among those expected for the event.
“We had to work for nearly two years to get the Super League on track and we decided to start with six teams because we have very few stadiums,” said Navas Meeran, the president of the Kerala Football Association. The league, which will have its launch ceremony at Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, is expected to last between 45 to 60 days.
Meeran was confident that the number of teams would increase once the eight football-specific stadiums, which are being planned, are completed.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
ATHLETICS
Jyothi Yarraji wins women’s 100m hurdles at Harry Schulting Games
Asian champion Jyothi Yarraji clocked an impressive 12.87s while winning the women’s 100m hurdles title in the Harry Schulting Games at Vught, Netherlands, on Thursday
The 24-year-old Asian Games silver medallist had clocked 13.04s while winning the heats earlier.
Meanwhile Tejas Shirse clocked a personal best 13.56s while winning the men’s 110m hurdles title while Amlan Borgohain had a DNS in the men’s 200m heats.
- Stan Rayan
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