FOOTBALL
Real Kashmir bounce back to defeat Mohammedan Sporting 3-2
Real Kashmir recorded yet another comeback victory on home soil, beating Mohammedan Sporting 3-2 in an I-League match at the TRC Stadium here on Saturday.
The visitors took the lead twice through Mirlan Murzaev (14th) and Christy Davis (33rd), but the goals were cancelled out by Samuel Kynshi’s double strike in the 27th and 48th minutes.
The Real Kashmir midfielder then turned provider for substitute Ernest Boateng who scored the late winner for the Snow Leopards in the 86th minute.
Real Kashmir started the game brightly and almost opened the scoring within six minutes when Lalnuntluanga Bawitlung whipped a cross into the six-yard area.
Mohammedan custodian Mithun Samanta misjudged the ball, and it hit the post before going out.
Eight minutes later, Mohammedan Sporting took the lead against the run of play.
Captain Marcus Joseph sent a cross at the far post for Mirlan Murzaev, who headed it beating defender Kamalpreet Singh.
But the lead lasted only 13 minutes, with Kynshi executing an excellent finish from a Bawitlung pass.
The visitors restored the lead just six minutes later when winger SK Faiaz cut the ball back for Christy Davis at the edge of the six-yard area, and the midfielder slotted it into the bottom corner.
Kynshi was there to restore the lead with a looping cross from the edge of the penalty area.
With just four minutes of regulation time left, Ghanaian substitute Boateng scored with his first touch of the game to send the crowd into raptures. Kynshi gave an inch-perfect cross which was neatly headed in by Boateng.
At the Cooperage in Mumbai, in a battle to escape relegation, Kenkre FC wasted golden chances to settle for a goalless draw with Rajasthan United FC.
-PTI
HOCKEY
India senior national hockey c’ships: Jharkhand beats Uttarakhand
Jharkhand scored an emphatic 12-0 win over Uttarakhand in the 13th Hockey India Senior national women’s hockey championship at District Sports Authority Stadium here on Saturday.
Albela Rani Toppo struck four times while Roshni Dungdung and Shammy Bara twice each to be the mains scorers.
In another match, Karnataka recorded a 9-0 win over Goa with N.R. Soumyashree, S.P. Kruthika netting a brace each.
The results
-V. V. SUBRAHMANYAM
ATHLETICS
Sable finishes 35th in 44th World Athletics cross country c’ships
Avinash Sable, the 3000m steeple chase silver medallist in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Championship, finished 35th in 31:43s at the 44th World Athletics cross country championships in Bathurst, Australia, on Saturday. Anand Singh, the other Indian in the men’s section, was 86th in 35:20s.
Meanwhile, Parul Chaudhary, the Asian 5000m bronze medallist, was 20th (35:39s) in the women’s section, while Sanjivani Jadhav finished 47th (37.30s) and Chhavi Yadav 55th (39:00).
-Stan Rayan
GOLF
Olesen takes lead as Gandas shoots third straight under-par round in Thailand
Denmark’s Thorbjørn Olesen was in sizzling form, grabbing eight birdies without dropping a shot as he took a two-shot lead into the final round of the Thailand Classic.
Olesen is 18-under for three rounds and is two ahead of fellow Dane Nicolai Hojgaard (64) and German Yannik Paul (66).
Manu Gandas, after missing cuts in Ras Al Khaimah and Singapore, is finding his feet as he fired a third straight under-par round with 2-under 70. After 71 and 69 on the first two days, he is now 6-under and tied for 42nd.
Gandas had four birdies, three of them on the front nine, and had one bogey each on the front and back nines.
Gandas will feature in the Indian Open next week for the first time as a member of the DP World Tour, for which he earned a card by winning the domestic PGTI Tour rankings.
Meanwhile, India’s star player, Shubhankar Sharma missed the cut.
Olesen, searching for his seventh DP World Tour title and a top-10 finish in the year-end rankings to get into the PGA Tour, moved to 18-under and leads the 21-year-old Nicolai Hojgaard (64), whose card included seven birdies, an eagle and bogey.
Paul, who won in Mallorca last year, shot 66 with seven birdies and one bogey.
Olesen, who played four weeks in a row in the Middle East, took a break and is now back for two weeks more in Asia as he plays Thailand this week and the Hero Indian Open next week.
The six-time DP World Tour winner has had a decent start in 2023 with T-20 in Abu Dhabi, T-16 in Hero Dubai Desert Classic and T4 in Ras Al Khaimah, so he is due for a solid result.
Olesen’s previous victory came at last year’s Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett. The 2018 Ryder Cup player Olesen carded four birdies each on the front and back nine, with his final gain of the day on the 15th hole proving crucial as he extended his advantage. Olesen has an outstanding record when holding the 54-hole lead, yielding five victories from six opportunities.
Højgaard is a two-time winner on the DP World Tour with Paul earning his maiden victory at last year’s Mallorca Golf Open.
Six-time DP World Tour winner Joost Luiten moved up to fourth place on 15-under par after a seven-under-par 65, one stroke ahead of Kazuki Higa of Japan, South Korean Jeunghun Wang and England’s Dale Whitnell in a share of fifth.
Olesen said, “I think overall it was a pretty good round. I didn’t get into a lot of trouble and for some of the par fours and par fives, I hit it close and could two-putt for birdie. I made it fairly easy for myself, which is nice. It’s not always like that.
“It’s unbelievable. In the last three or four years there’s so many Danes coming up. The twins have so much talent and have shown that already. It’s very impressive for a country like Denmark. It’s not ideal with the weather, only five and a half million people. But I think we’re good at really grinding it out. When you have goals and work hard for them, it pays off. It’s really impressive and something I’m proud of,” he added.
-PTI
Aditi Ashok shoots 69 in Saudi, in contention for second title in three weeks
Indian golfer Aditi Ashok was unable to produce the kind of fireworks she did on the first two days, but still came with a round of 3-under 69 to move to 16-under after three rounds at the USD 5 million Aramco Ladies Saudi International on Saturday.
Aditi, who carded 65-66 on the first two days, could not get her putter to weave the kind of magic it had on first two days, as she fell two strokes behind American Lilia Vu, who has progressed by a stroke each day with rounds of 67-66-65 over the past three days.
Sitting in second place behind Vu was world No. 1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand. Ko, after 64-69 on first two days, added a 66 and moved to 17-under and was one behind the leader.
Sharing the third place with Aditi was the 2020 Saudi Ladies International winner, Emily Kristine Pedersen.
Denmark’s Pedersen won Hero Women’s Indian Open in 2015, a year before Aditi became the first Indian to win on the LET as she grabbed the first of her four LET titles.
Two weeks ago, Aditi won the Ladies European Tour’s season-opener Magical Kenya Ladies Open and last week she was third at the Lalla Meryem Cup.
Aditi was pleased to have another shot at a title as she said, “Yes, definitely. I think I hit it good today, created a lot of birdie chances. Just didn’t hole as many putts as the first two days, but still happy with my game. Hopefully I can hit it as good tomorrow but hole more putts.” Speaking of the conditions, she added, “Yeah, I think today was kind of hard because the wind direction changed. We’ve played this course I think northwest usually, but today felt like it was three, four different directions through the round. Yeah, that was challenging, trusting that wind, but I think I did okay. I hit a few good shots in there.” She also admitted that having her Dad on the bag is helping her.
“Yeah, it was good actually. I mean, today I was not holing many birdie putts, so halfway around he was like, stay patient; you’re hitting the ball really good. Just hearing that from your caddie, because I’m getting disappointed through the round, so it was just nice to get a bit of pick-me-up and then finish with a couple birdies. That was good.” The last three groups in the final are star-studded.
Aditi will play in the second last group alongside Charley Hull of England and Lexi Thompson, while Lilia Vu will go out in the final group with Lydia Ko and Emily Pedersen.
The third last group also has star players Atthaya Thitikul, Georgia Hall and Nasa Hataoka.
-PTI
TENNIS
National under-12 championship: TN athletes win U-12 titles
Smit Undre of Maharashtra and Shravya Numburi of Tamil Nadu won the boys and girls under-12 titles respectively in the National tennis championship organised by the MSLTA at the GA Ranade Tennis Complex on Saturday.
Smit beat Rishikesh Mane 6-4, 7-5 while Shravya outplayed Niesha Enja of Telangana 6-2, 6-0.
The results (finals):
Boys: Smit Undre bt Rishikesh Mane 6-4, 7-5.
Girls: Shravya Numburi bt Niesha Enja 6-2, 6-0.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Rohan Bopanna in doubles final of Rotterdam
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden beat the Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 6-4, 6-4 to reach the doubles final of the $2,224,460 ATP tennis tournament in Rotterdam, Holland, on Saturday.
The German pair had beaten the top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski in the first round.
In the $15,000 ITF men’s event in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, SD Prajwal Dev and Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta won the doubles title.
It was the fourth doubles title and second of the season for Prajwal, while it was the third career doubles title for Karteek.
The results:
- Kamesh Srinivasan
TABLE TENNIS
National sub-junior TT: Delhi gets top billing
The UTT 84th National sub-junior and cadet table tennis championships, organised by the Table Tennis Association of Kerala, begin at the YMCA here on Sunday. Competitions in the under-15, 13 and under-11 age groups will be held and over a thousand players are expected.
The inter-State team events, making a return after 2019, will be held only in the under-15 category.
The boys and girls championships will be held separately and the girls will open the show first. The boys events begin on February 24.
Delhi, which has bright stars like Sayanika Maji and Avisha Karmakar, has been given the top billing in the girls team championship. Maharashtra, with its very talented Jennifer Varghese, and UP, with the strong Avani Tripathi, are other among the teams which could pull off a surprise or two.
Team groupings (under-15 girls): Group A: Delhi, PSPBA, Bihar Group B: UP, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand.Group C: Maharashtra, Goa, Punjab. Group D: Assam, HP, AP. Group E: WB, J&K, Daman & Diu. Group F: TN, Pondicherry, Odisha, Kerala.Group G: Haryana, Karnataka, Rajasthan & Telangana. Group H: Gujarat, Chandigarh, Jharkhand, MP.
-Stan Rayan
FOOTBALL
Services qualifies for semifinal, first to book its ticket to Riyadh
Former champion Services became the first team to qualify for the semifinals of the 76 th Santosh Trophy National Football Championship. The team booked its ticket to Riyadh, where the semifinals and final will be played, after crushing Manipur 3-0 in Bhubaneswar on Saturday with all the goals coming in the first 16 minutes.
Services’ Ronaldo Singh attempts to beat the Manipur goalkeeper | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Services leads the six-team Group ‘B’ with 10 points from four matches. The second qualifier will be finalised after the next set of matches on Monday and Meghalaya, Railways and Manipur all appear to be in with a chance to make the cut.
Meghalaya, which struck twice during added time, thrashed Delhi 5-1 while Railways defeated Bengal 1-0 in other Group ‘B’ matches on Saturday.
Comments
SHARE