Indian sports wrap, September 28: Sekar Patchai retains title, Tanvi Jagdish dethrones Monika P at National SUP Championship

Here are all the major updates, scores, and results of Indians in the world of sports on September 28.

Sekar Patchai in action. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

National SUP Championship: Sekar Patchai defends title, Tanvi Jagdish dethrones Monika P

Sekar Patchai and Tanvi Jagdish of Tamil Nadu were crowned champions in the Men’s and Women’s Technical categories, respectively, on Day 1 of the Palkbay Stand-Up Paddle (SUP) Challenge 2024, the National SUP Championship.

Karnataka’s Akash Pujar walked away with a SUP Technical Mixed Groms title. Competing at the picturesque Pirappanvalasi Beach in Palk Bay, Sekar successfully defended his title with a timing of 21:08.48 mins in the 4km race.

Fellow Tamil Nadu stand-up paddlers Manikandan M and Santhosan secured second and third place with the timings of 22:10.07 mins and 24:44.48 mins, respectively, completing a clean sweep for the hosts.

Tanvi Jagdish crossed the finish line with a timing of 28:16.29 minutes to snatch the title from the former champion, Monika P of Tamil Nadu, who completed the race at 30:32.63 minutes.

Vijayalakshmi Irulappan, also from Tamil Nadu, completed the podium with a time of 31:19.29 minutes, securing third place.

-Team Sportstar

GOLF

Tvesa and Pranavi miss cut in France

Indian golfers Pranavi Urs and Tvesa Malik faced disappointment at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France, as both missed the cut after struggling in their second rounds.

Pranavi carded 79 after a first-round 72 to miss the cut by a big margin, while Tvesa, who shot 72 in the first round, added 76 and missed by one shot as the cut fell at 5-over 147.

Tvesa had two birdies against seven bogeys, while Pranavi had four bogeys and two doubles to be 8-over for the day.

Swiss rookie Chiara Tamburlini will take a one-shot lead into the final round after carding a four-under 67 on Friday to move to seven-under par.

-PTI

Sandhu, Kochhar tied-21st in Taipei

Ajeetesh Sandhu and Karandeep Kochhar were placed tied-21st at 8-under after three rounds of the USD 1 million Yeangder TPC, an event on the Asian Tour.

Sandhu had rounds of 67-72-69, while Kochhar shot 67-68-73.

The two were among the four Indians to make the cut, with the others being Shiv Kapur (68-70-72) at tied-37th and Yuvraj Sandhu (65-71-74) at 6-under.

Rashid Khan, SSP Chawrasia, Gaganjeet Bhullar and Varun Chopra missed the cut.

Suteepat Prateeptienchai continued his impressive march to a second title on the Asian Tour when he kept the lead for the third successive day.

He carded a four-under-par 68 on Saturday for a fine tournament total of 18-under and a two-shot advantage over Filipino Miguel Tabuena, at the Linkou International Golf & Country Club.

-PTI

Sharma fights back to make cut in Spain

India’s Shubhankar Sharma fought back in the second round, carding a 1-under 70 to make the cut in tied-57th place at the 2024 Acciona Open de Espana.

The Indian, who had a disappointing 3-over 74 on the first day, carded 1-under 70 with three birdies and an eagle against two bogeys on day 2, and at 2-over 144 for 36 holes, he made the grade.

Spain’s Angel Hidalgo surged to a commanding four-shot lead after carding a 67 in the second round.

-PTI

TENNIS

 Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship: Top seed Dheeraj, Sandesh move forward in qualifiers

Top seed Dheeraj K S began the 29th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship with a straight-set victory over Hitesh Yalamanchili in the first round of the qualifiers, while Sandesh Kurale produced an upset against 12th seed Fardeen Mohammed at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi on Saturday.

Tamil Nadu’s Dheeraj stamped his authority in the men’s singles match from the beginning and registered a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Hitesh of Telangana to move closer to qualifying for the main draw.

In another exciting first-round clash of the qualifiers, ranked 101 Maharashtra’s Sandesh upset 12th seed Fardeen of West Bengal 6-0, 6-0 in straight sets.

Top seeds in the women’s singles event, Laxmi Dandu (1) of Telangana and Gujarat’s Vidhi Jani (2) received byes in the first round of the qualifiers.

Ranked 300 in India, Vaibhav Charotia of Uttar Pradesh produced one of the performances of the day to upset 12th seed Uttar Pradesh’s Arjun Bhati in a three-set thriller 5-7, 6-3, [10-6] in the boys u-18 singles category. First and second seeds Ojas Mehlawat (Delhi) and Murtuza Huzefa K (Gujarat) received byes to move into the second round of the qualifiers, respectively.

The girls u-18 category also saw top seeds, Haryana’s Dhatri Dave (1) and Gujarat’s Pal Upadhyay getting byes in the first round. 

The main draw will be played from September 30 to October 5. The Boys and Girls Under-16 & Under-14 category matches will be played from October 6 to October 12.

-Team Sportstar

FOOTBALL

Super League Kerala: Calicut FC holds Kannur Warriors to 1-1 draw

P.M. Britto celebrating is goal for Calicut FC against Kannur Warriors. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The two teams on top of the Super League Kerala table came face to face here on Saturday night. The expectations were indeed high about the clash between Calicut FC and Kannur Warriors, and there was a good crowd, too.

Just when it seemed the local fans would have to go home disappointed, P.M. Britto produced some magic. He scored the equaliser in the injury time and the match was drawn 1-1.

The Warriors thus have retained their pole position, having taken their tally to nine points from five games. Calicut has seven points.

Calicut would have remained on six though, if not for that splendid effort from Britto. After dribbling past the Kannur defence, he drove firmly into the goal from the edge of the box.

That goal was a result of the pressure put on the Kannur defence by the Calicut men late into the game. They looked keener to attack after conceding the lead, 15 minutes into the second half.

Asier Gomes did well to chest down the long ball he received from deep inside his own half and passed it on to Adrian Sardinero, who moved swiftly into the box and slotted the ball home.

The result: Calicut FC 1(P.M. Britto 90+1) drew with Kannur Warriors 1. (Adrian Sardinero 60).

-P.K. Ajith Kumar

CHESS

Megha starts with win on tough day for Indians in world junior blind chess

Asian Para Games medallist Megha Chakraborty of India started her campaign in the World Junior and Women Championship for the Blind and Visually Impaired with a fine win over Sweden’s Mork Kristina on Saturday.

Chakraborty grabbed a point following the win. Chakraborty, playing with black pieces, adopted the Dutch defence and advanced the G-pawn.

Thereafter, she reached an advantageous position in the middle game, and scored a superb tactical victory.

But her compatriots could not do an encore, succumbing to their respective opponents.

Tijan Gawar, another Asian Para Games medallist, faltered in the end game to lose to Emilia Tryjanska.

Shobha Lokhande went down to International Master Lubov Lisenko.

However, Vruthi Jain managed a draw against Kazakhstan’s Yenlik Yegembayeva to bag half a point.

In the boy’s section, Ashwin Rajesh of India lost to Racis Micheal of Poland.

Rajesh opted for Sicilian Defence but a mistake in the middle game with white piece allowed Micheal to emerge the winner.

-PTI