GOLF
Amandeep recovers to stretch lead to five shots in fourth leg of Hero WPGT
Amandeep Drall had two contrasting streaks in her second round but still managed the day’s best card of 1-over 71 that extended her lead to five shots with one round to go in the fourth leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour (WPGT) at the Tollygunge Club.
On a difficult day for scoring, there were no under-par scores and, after 36 holes, only Amandeep is even par.
With 69-71, Amandeep is now even-par 140 and five shots ahead of Seher Atwal, who added 73 to her first-round 72. Seher was tied second with Khushi Khanijau (71-74) and Vani Kapoor (70-75).
Amandeep had a nightmarish start as she bogeyed second and third and double-bogeyed the fourth to be four-over after four holes. Another bogey on the sixth meant she was five-over and staring at a disappointing card.
A birdie on the ninth changed things as she birdied the 11th, eagled the par-5 13th and birdied the 15th to get to even par. A bogey on the 17th did disappoint, but overall she had saved the day for herself.
Seher Atwal, winner of the opening leg this season, had a roller-coaster ride with five birdies and eight bogeys and just five pars. She did not have a single par between ninth and 17th in an incredible streak, which included six bogeys and three birdies. Earlier, she had back-to-back bogeys on the third and fourth and back-to-back birdies on the sixth and seventh.
Khushi had two birdies against six bogeys, while Vani Kapoor had just one birdie and five bogeys.
Neha Tripathi (72-75) was sole fifth. She was hit by a triple bogey on Par-5 seventh as she shot 75.
Last week’s winner and runner-up Sneha Singh (76-72) and Jasmine Shekar (72-76) were tied sixth while Saaniya Sharma, Agrima Manral and amateur Janneya Dasanniee rounded off the eighth, ninth and 10 places, respectively.
The cut fell at 16, with 19 professionals and four of the six amateurs going through to the final round.
- PTI
Avani Prashanth moves seven shots ahead in Queen Sirikit Cup; Indian team lying second
FILE PHOTO: Avani Prashanth. | Photo Credit: GETTY IMAGES
Avani Prashanth shot 5-under for the last four holes as she produced a sensational finishing stretch to get to the top of the individual standings and also put India into contention for its first Queen Sirikit Cup victory.
With a series of brilliant shots, the 16-year-old Prashanth, who recently broke into Top-100 of world amateur rankings, carded 6-under 66 to add to her first round 4-under 68 and moved to 10-under for a seven-shot lead after two rounds at the Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club’s Masters Course.
The highlight of the round was an eagle-two at the 16th where she holed out with her sand wedge from 110 yards.
Prashanth holds a seven-stroke lead over Rianne Malixi of the Philippines, New Zealander Fiona Xu and Korean Yoo Hyun-jo.
Her brilliant performance has also raised Indian hopes of a first triumph in what is the 43rd edition of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Ladies Golf Team Championship.
At the half-way stage, India is in sole possession of second place.
In the event in which the best two daily scores in each team of three are counted, India posted a day two total of one-under 143 with Vidhatri Urs contributing a 77. Nishna Patel’s 78 was not needed.
With a 36-hole aggregate of three-under 285, the Indian team is four strokes behind the pace-setting Korean trio of Yoo, Kim Min-sol and Seo Kyo-rim.
In joint third place on 288 are China, Hong Kong, China and defending champions Japan, followed by Thailand (289), New Zealand and the Philippines (290), Indonesia and Malaysia (296), Chinese Taipei (297) and Singapore (305).
Prashanth took some time to warm-up, reeling off eight successive pars to begin her round before snaring a 10-footer for a birdie-three at the ninth.
“My putter was cold to start and it was an exhausting first eight holes,” said Prashanth, 97th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and rated as one of the region’s outstanding young prospects.
After picking up her second shot of the day at 10, Prashanth suffered her only blemish at the par-three 13th where she pushed her tee-shot into the right-hand bunker and failed to get up-and-down.
Unfazed, she birdied 15 after a pinpoint wedge approach before bursting clear at the top with the eagle at the 416-yard 16th. With the bit between her teeth, further birdies at the par-three 17th and par-five 18th completed a memorable day. Her 66 was four strokes better than the day’s next best return from China’s An Tong.
“I’m loving the course and the wide fairways,” said Prashanth, who averages 270 yards off the tee.
“I’m feeling confident and am looking forward to the next two days here.” India’s previous best finishes in the Queen Sirikit Cup were fourth place at Delhi Golf Club in 1986 and 2011 and joint fourth in 1998, also on home soil, at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club.
- PTI
TENNIS
Bopanna and Ebden pip Yuki and Saketh
Third seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden edged out Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni 1-6, 6-4, [11-9] in the doubles quarterfinals of the $1,485,775 ATP tennis tournament in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday.
In the €784,830 ATP event in Marseille, France, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Sriram Balaji beat the third seeds Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen of Belgium 7-5, 5-7, [10-7] to set up a quarterfinal clash against Dustin Brown and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.
The results:
- Kamesh Srinivasan
EQUESTRIAN
National Equestrian Championship
Team EIRC/ARC which won the Team Preliminary Dressage event.
The National Equestrian Championship (NEC) Preliminary Dressage competition kicked off under the aegis of FEI and EFI. The event involved 2 categories - Team Preliminary Dressage and Individual Preliminary Dressage.
In the Individual NEC Preliminary Dressage, players participated individually, and in the Team NEC Preliminary Dressage, players participated in teams of 4, and a total of 4 teams participated in the event. In the Team preliminary dressage, the result is calculated by adding all four players’ percentages, and the team with the highest percentage wins.
In the Individual NEC Preliminary Dressage Event, Navyashree Sai secured the top position with a score of 70 percent while riding on her pony ‘Abra kadabra’. Moksh Kothari came in second place with a score of 68 percent while riding on his horse ‘Sir Lancelot’. Rajaram Dhewa secured the third position with a score of 68 percent with his horse ‘Kenwood’.
In the Team NEC Preliminary Dressage Event, Team EIRC/ARC secured the top position, the riders, horses, and its scores were as follows - Geethika Teikkishetty scored 67 percent while riding on her horse ‘Valentine’. Uttara Parthasarathy scored 61 percent while riding on ‘Hobo’. Niharika Singhania scored 62 percent while riding on ‘Sir Lancelot’. Navyashree Sai scored 70 percent while riding on ‘Abra ka Dabra’
Team ART/ARC came 2nd, the riders, horses, and their scores were as follows - Yashaan Khambatta scored 66 percent while riding on ‘Biscaya’. Hav Biswajit Kundu scored 61 percent while riding on ‘Voltair’. Rajaram Dhewa scored 68 percent while riding on ‘Kenwood’ and NK Punjraj Singh scored 62 percent while riding on ‘Rudra’.
- Team Sportstar
WEIGHTLIFTING
Ditimoni Sonowal lifted 191kg to claim the 64kg title, while Navdeep Kaur totalled 185kg to take the 71kg crown at the Khelo India women’s National Ranking Weightlifting Tournament in Patna on Wednesday. They also won the junior gold medals in their respective categories.
The results (seniors only):
64kg: 1. Ditimoni Sonowal (Asm) snatch 86kg, clean and jerk 105kg, total 191kg; 2. S. Nirupama Devi (RSPB) 81kg, 104kg, 185kg; 3. Sukarna Adak (WB) 79kg, 100kg, 179kg; 71kg: 1. Navdeep Kaur (Pun) 78kg, 107kg, 185kg; 2. Srashti (UP) 82kg, 98kg, 180kg; 3. Trupti Mane (Mah) 78kg, 100kg, 178kg.
-Y.B.Sarangi
FOOTBALL
Sudeva Delhi put four past 10-man TRAU FC
Sudeva Delhi’s run of eight winless games in the I-League came to an end with an emphatic 4-1 victory over TRAU FC here on Wednesday.
This was its first win at home this season.
A completely different approach by Sankarlal Chakraborty’s men meant that Sudeva Delhi never really looked like bottom-dwellers against fourth-placed TRAU.
It took them a little over 30 minutes to break the deadlock through R Lalbiakliana (31’), with Sielenthang Lotjem (34’) doubling the lead just minutes later.
Bidyananda Singh (42’) pulled one back for TRAU just ahead of the breather, but Alexis Gomez (57’ penalty) and Hriivei Pao (69’) netted two more goals to give the hosts a comfortable win.
It was TRAU who started the game with attacking intent and even came close to opening the scores early on in the third minute, but Sudeva captain Priyant Kumar Singh got a hand on the cutback from Gerson Vieira, who was looking to put the ball into the path of a waiting Fernandinho at the far post.
It did not take Sudeva too long to get a grasp of their opposition and take control of the game.
Sudeva soon got back-to-back corners and it was from the second of these corners that Shavkati Khotam found Lalbiakliana, who was lurking unmarked inside the box. The 18-year-old made no mistake as he put the ball into the back of the net with a powerful header.
The hosts doubled their advantage four minutes later when Gomez found some space outside the penalty area and produced a defence-splitting pass for Seilenthang Lotjem, who calmly finished it past the keeper.
The visitors got one back in the 42nd minute when Bidyananda Singh’s low shot on goal hit the inside of the post before going in. TRAU looked to be clawing back into the game when an altercation on the pitch meant that several players received bookings from referee K Ramdasan. Salam Johnson Singh was sent off.
The man advantage worked well for Sudeva in the second half, and Gomez won a penalty 10 minutes after the restart after being fouled by Bidyananda inside the box. The Argentine stepped up and sent the opposition keeper the wrong way, restoring the two-goal lead.
With a little over 20 minutes of regulation time left, substitute Hriivei Carlos Pao added a fourth, after Lalbiakliana found him with a wonderful pass.
-PTI
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