WRESTLING
India’s Aman wins bronze at Zagreb Open wrestling
Indian wrestler Aman Sehrawat clinched a bronze medal in the men’s 57kg category at the Zagreb Open Championships on Thursday.
The 17-year-old Aman defeated Zane Raye Rhodes Richards of USA 10-4 on points in the bronze medal contest to finish on the podium of the ranking tournament.
Aliabbas Rzazade of Azerbaijan bagged the gold, beating Yuto Nishiuchi of Japan 2-0 in the final.
The other bronze was won by Beka Bujiashvili of Georgia, who beat Islam Bazarganov of Azerbaijan.
Aman had earlier defeated Roberti Dingashvili of Georgia in the quarterfinals, before losing to Nishiuchi in the semifinals, to qualify for the repechage round as his Japanese opponent went on to reach the final.
Another Indian Pruthviraj Babasaheb Patil (men’s 92kg) is in contention for another bronze as he will take on Gankhuyag Ganbaatar of Mongolia in the repechage round. Patil had lost to Miriani Maisuradze of Georgia 10-0 in the semifinal. He had earlier defeated Radoslaw Marcinkiewicz of Poland 5-2 in the quarterfinals.
In the women’s 50kg, India’s Shivani Pawar crashed out in the quarterfinals after losing to USA’s Erin Simone Golston 4-0 on points.
-PTI
GOLF
Ridhima makes a modest start in Sun City; Pranavi way behind
Indian golfer Ridhima Dilawari got off to a modest start carding a 4-over 76 that placed her tied 32nd in the first round of the Sunshine Ladies Tour’s SuperSport Ladies Challenge.
The other Indian in the field, Pranavi Urs had a rough start with 10-over 82 and was way down in tied 73rd place.
Lee-Anne Pace, one of the legends of women’s golf in South Africa, carded a three-under-par 69 in the weather-affected opening round.
Pace had an eagle, four birdies and three bogeys on the Gary Player Country Club layout at Sun City on day one of the in the season-opening event. She led Lily May Humphreys of England by one shot.
Humphreys shot 2-under 70 that included an eagle on 18th and three other birdies.
Ridhima started with a double bogey on the tenth, bogey-bogey on eight and ninth. In between she had four birdies, back-to-back efforts of 17-18 and third and fifth. There were three other bogeys.
Both Pace and Humphreys had an eagle each on the 18th which is better known as the iconic island hole played as the ninth in many other tournaments.
-PTI
Manu Gandas shoots 75 in opening round as Japan’s Hisatsune cards 64
India’s Manu Gandas got off to a sedate start with a three-over 75 that left him in a difficult position to make the cut at the Ras Al Khaimah golf championship on the DP World Tour here.
Manu, who earned the DP World Tour membership by virtue of being the top player on the PGTI Tour, is making his first appearance on the Tour this week.
The 26-year-old birdied the Par-5 third but dropped shots on sixth and seventh and lost further shots on 10th, 12th, and 14th.
In between, he had a birdie on 13th at the Al Hamra Golf Club.
Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune got off to an amazing start with six birdies in a row and then added one more to turn in seven-under.
On the back, he again birdied 10th and 15th and his only dropped shot came on the Par-5 18th, where he went into the rough on the left and then missed a 12-foot par putt.
Hisatsune, just 21, has had excellent results on the local Japan Tour and their Challenge Tour. He has also played on the DP World Tour and in Asia earlier.
Three players Matthew Baldwin, Edoardo Molinari, the vice-captain for the European Ryder Cup team this year, and Rasmus Hojgaard, brother of defending champion Nicolai Hojgaard, were tied second with rounds of six-under 66 each.
Five players, led by Ryan Fox, were at five-under 67 each in tied fifth place.
The others were Kazuki Higa of Japan, Dane Oliver Hundeboll, England’s Callum Shinkwin and Swede Alexander Bjork.
-PTI
Sharma, Kapur start well in Jeddah; Johnson pulls out
India’s Shubhankar Sharma, who got off to a great start on the DP World Tour with a top-10 finish in Abu Dhabi, had another impressive start in the Saudi International as he carded three-under 67 and was tied ninth alongside compatriot Shiv Kapur in the Asian Tour event.
Gaganjeet Bhullar shot three-over 73, while among other Indians Rashid Khan was one-under through 15 holes, Anirban Lahiri was one-over through 15 and Ajeetesh Sandhu was one-over through 13 and Veer Ahlawat was seven-over through 13.
Sharma started with three pars and then had two birdies, followed by a bogey as he played the front nine in one-under 34.
On the back nine, he birdied twice for three-under total.
Kapur, returning from a layoff due to injury, had six birdies against three bogeys for 67.
The tournament suffered a setback as American Dustin Johnson withdrew ahead of the first round after tweaking his back.
Mexico’s Abraham Ancer shot seven-under-par 63 to take the clubhouse lead at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.
Colombian Sebastian Munoz carded 64 while Spain’s Sergio Garcia, South African Louis Oosthuizen and Cameron Young from the United States shot 65 each.
Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent, last year’s International Series Order of Merit winner, and another Asian Tour regular Ian Snyman from South Africa came shot 66 each.
-PTI
Aditi Ashok leads by four after first round in Magical Kenya Ladies Open
Indian golfer Aditi Ashok, a three-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, started her 2023 campaign in style as she took the day one lead at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open on Thursday.
Aditi, the first Indian to win on the LET at the 2016 Hero Women’s Indian Open, was 6-under on the first day at the Par-73 Vipingo Range in the opening event of the 2023 Ladies European Tour season.
Aditi was four shots clear of seven players, including Thai April Angurasaranee who bogeyed the last hole to fall to 2-under.
The six players at 2-under and tied for third place were Spaniards Ana Pelaez Trivino and Marta Sanz Barrio, Virginia Elena Carta of Italy, Scotland’s Kyle Henry, Swede Isabella Deilert and England’s Alice Hewson.
Among the other Indians, Amandeep Drall was 1-over 74 for a tied 17th. Amateur Avani Prashanth (75) was T-25, Diksha Dagar (78) was T-50, Vani Kapoor and Seher Atwal were T-77 with 81 each.
With conditions becoming tougher as the day wore on, players started dropping shots. However, Aditi did very well to get pars in her last five holes and finish with a superb 6-under 67.
Aditi, whose successes include a win at the St. Rules Trophy at St Andrews, the Home of Golf, started on the first and found her first birdie on the second hole, but she gave it back on the next hole.
She then hit a fine patch with birdies on fifth and sixth and landed an eagle on Par-5 seventh and added yet another birdie on ninth to turn in 5-under 32 at the par-73 Vipingo Range course.
On the back nine, she birdied 11th and 13th but dropped a shot in between on Par-3 12th. She was 6-under after 13 and then parred out the last five.
-PTI
TENNIS
AITA Women’s tennis: Janani beats Rachita
Janani Ramesh sustained her good run and beat Rachita Talwar 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(2) in the semifinals of the Rs.100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Thursday.
In a marathon match on the slow clay courts, Rachita fought back from being down 1-4 in the third set, but Janani found her confident game to pull through.
In the final, Janani will challenge second seed Riya Uboveja who beat Samriti Punyani for the loss of five games.
The results (semifinals): Janani Ramesh bt Rachita Talwar 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(2); Riya Uboveja bt Samriti Punyani 7-5, 6-0.
-Team Sportstar
Challenger Tennis: Anirudh and Vijay lose quarterfinals
Anirudh Chandrasekar and Vijay Sundar Prashanth were beaten 6-1, 6-1 by Fabian Fallert and Hendrik Jebens in the doubles quarterfinals of the €118,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Koblenz, Germany, on Thursday.
The Germans had earlier beaten third seeds Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 1-6, 7-6(2), [10-7].
The results
-Team Sportstar
SQUASH
HCL Indian Open: Budhia beats second seed Naisha
Aadya Budhia fought past second seed, Naisha Singh, 11-8, 6-11, 14-12, 5-11, 11-6 in the under-13 girls semifinals of the HCL Indian open junior squash tournament at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Thursday.
In the final, Aadya will play top seed, Aarika Mishra.
The results (semifinals)
Boys
Girls
-Team Sportstar
Football
I-League: Sudeva Delhi taste season’s first success, beat Rajasthan United 3-2
Sudeva Delhi finally tasted victory in the ongoing edition of the I-League as it beat 10-men Rajasthan United FC 3-2 at the Ambedkar Stadium here on Thursday.
Seilenthang Lotjem (20th minute), Alexis Gomez (26th) and Shavkati Khotam (67th) struck for Sudeva while Atai Dzhumashev (31st) found the target for Rajasthan United after Sukhandeep Singh of Delhi scored an own goal in the 19th minute.
Despite its first win of the season, which came in the 13th round, Sudeva remained rooted at 12th and last place with just five points. Rajasthan’s central defender Amritpal Singh was sent off after receiving his second yellow card early in the match as he brought down Alexis Gomez on the edge of the penalty box.
However, instead of Sudeva capitalising on the one-man advantage, it was Rajasthan who went 1-0 up in the 19th minute.
It was a lucky break for them as left-winger Atai Dzhumashev cut into the box and hardly had anyone on the other side to cross. So, he went for a hopeful shot, which Sudeva defender Sukhandeep Singh unintentionally sent into his own net.
Seilenthang Lotjem made it 1-1 a minute after Sukhandeep’s own goal. He got a lob from behind inside the Rajasthan box, which Aidar Mambetaliev should have cleared. Lotjem dodged past Rafique and tapped it in with his left foot.
Sudeva’s lead came soon enough in the 26th minute. It was a piece of individual brilliance from Gomez. The Argentine shot at the goal from 25 yards and the ball swung away from a diving Rafique, hit the inside of the post and landed into the net to make it 2-1.
Sukhandeep was responsible for Rajasthan’s second goal too. It happened in the 31st minute when Dzhumashev outran him from the left and beat goalkeeper Priyant Singh to make it 2-2 in the 31st minute.
Gomez and Khotam combined to make it 3-2 for Sudeva. Gomez got one inside the penalty area with his back to the goal and instead of trying to turn and take a shot himself, he laid it for Khotam on the edge of the box. Khotam struck a powerful left-footer to bulge the left corner of the net.
-PTI
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