Indian sports news wrap, January 19

Here are all the major developments in Indian sports on January 19, 2023.

Published : Jan 19, 2023 18:37 IST

Yuvraj Sandhu was one of the best-placed Indians tied 32nd in the final stage of the Asian Tour’s Qualifying School golf tournament here.
Yuvraj Sandhu was one of the best-placed Indians tied 32nd in the final stage of the Asian Tour’s Qualifying School golf tournament here.
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Yuvraj Sandhu was one of the best-placed Indians tied 32nd in the final stage of the Asian Tour’s Qualifying School golf tournament here.

CHESS

Tata Steel Challengers: Vaishali holds Adhiban

R. Vaishali held B. Adhiban to a 36-move draw in the fifth round to end her three-loss sequence in the Challengers section of the Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, near Amsterdam, on Wednesday.

On a day when the Masters section saw a day of rest, Turkey’s Mustafa Yilmaz took the lead with four points.

The results (fifth round): Challengers: R. Vaishali (1) drew with B. Adhiban (2.5); Amin Tabatabaei (Iri, 2.5) lost to Mustafa Yilmaz (Tur, 4); Alexander Donchenko (3.5) drew with Luis Supi (Bra, 2.5); Erwin L’Ami (Ned, 2) drew with Velimir Ivic (Srb, 3.5); Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 3.5) bt Jergus Pechac (Slo, 0.5); Max Warmerdam (Ned, 2.5) drew with Abhimanyu Mishra (USA, 2); Thomas Beerdsen (Ned, 3) bt Eline Roebers (Ned, 2).

- Rakesh Rao

TENNIS

ITF women’s tennis: Rutuja, Thandi lose pre-quarterfinal matches

Rutuja Bhosale was unable to capitalise on a bright start against sixth seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and got beaten 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Arera Club on Thursday.

It was a similar story for Karman Kaur Thandi, as she got beaten by fifth seed Anastasia Tikhonova of Russia 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

The country’s No.1 player, Ankita Raina was up against second seed Joanne Zuger of Switzerland and managed to eke out seven games in her second round match.

The Indian challenge ended in doubles as well, as Rutuja in partnership with Nigina Abduraimova of Uzbekistan was beaten 11-9 in the super tie-rbeak by En Shuo Liang and Diana Marcinkevica in the quarterfinals.

The results
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Nigina Abduraimova (Uzb) bt Ekaterina Reyngold (Rus) 7-5, 1-6, 7-5; Anastasia Tikhonova (Rus) bt Karman Kaur Thandi 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; Eri Shimizu (Jpn) bt Irina Khromacheva (Rus) 6-1, 6-4; Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) bt rutuja Bhosale 1-6, 6-4, 6-1; Valeria Savinykh (Rus) bt Zhibek Kulambayeva (Kaz) 6-4, 6-1; Mana Kawamura (Jpn) bt Gozal Ainitdinova (Kaz) 7-6(2), 6-1; Ksenia Zaytseva (Rus) bt Dalila Jakupovic (Slo) 6-4, 2-1 (retired); Joanne Zuger (Sui) bt Ankita Raina 6-4, 6-3.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Ekaterina Makarova & Ekaterina Reyngold (Rus) w.o. Dalila Jakupovic (Slo) & Rosalie Van der Hoek (Ned); En Shuo Liang (Tpe) & Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) bt Nigina Abduraimova (Uzb) & Rutuja Bhosale 7-5, 4-6, [11-9]; Erina Hayashi & Saki Imamura (Jpn) bt Soha Sadiq & Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-0, 6-1; Irina Khromacheva & Anastasia Tikhonova (Rus) bt Gozal Ainitdinova (Kaz) & Anastasia Sukhotina (Rus) 6-3, 6-0.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

AITA Men’s Tournament: Fardeen Quamar beats Maan Kesarwani in semifinals

Fardeen Quamar beat second seed Maan Kesarwani 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Rs.100,000 AITA men’s tennis tournament at the Jaipur Club on Thursday.

In the final, Fardeen will challenge the top seed Udit Kamboj who beat Shivank Bhatnagar in three sets.

Fardeen, however, was beaten in the doubles final in partnership with his father Qamaruddin Khan, by the top seeds Udit and Shivank 6-3, 6-4.

The results: Singles (semifinals): Udit Kamboj bt Shivank Bhatnagar 6-3, 2-6, 6-3; Fardeen Quamar bt Maan Kesarwani 7-5, 6-2; Quarterfinals: Udit bt Vaheen Patel 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-5; Shivank bt Yuvraj Soni 7-6(5), 6-3; Maan bt Shaurya Manik 7-6(4), 7-6(3); Fardeen bt Ayush Gurnani 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles (final): Udit Kamboj & Shivank Bhatnagar bt Fardeen Quamar & Qamaruddin Khan 6-3, 6-4.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Nonthaburi Challenger: Anirudh, Vijay in semifinals

Anirudh Chandrasekar and Vijay Sundar Prashanth beat Jason Jung and Evan King 4-6, 7-6(5), [10-8] in the doubles quarterfinals of the $40,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Nonthaburi, Thailand, on Thursday.

The results:

€118,000 Challenger, Tenerife, Spain

Doubles (quarterfinals): Patrik Niklas-Salminen (Fin) & Bart Stevens (Ned) bt Fernando Romboli (Bra) & Arjun Kadhe 6-3, 6-1.

$40,000 Challenger, Nonthaburi, Thailand

Doubles (quarterfinals): Anirudh Chandrasekar & Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Jason Jung (Tpe) & Evan King (USA) 4-6, 7-6(5), [10-8].

$25,000 ITF men, Doha, Qatar

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Jaimee Floyd Angele (Fra) bt Mukund Sasikumar 6-2, 6-4; Aleksandre Bakshi (Geo) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran 7-6(6), 6-2.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Khumoyun Sultanov (Uzb) & Parikshit Somani bt Mousa Shanan Zayed & Mubarak Shannan Zayid (Qat) 6-1, 6-4.

$15,000 ITF men, Jakarta, Indonesia

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Niki Poonacha bt Hong Kit Wong (Hkg) 6-4, 6-3; Sidharth Rawat bt Chen Hsun Lo (Tpe) 7-5, 1-6, 6-0.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Ishaque Eqbal & Karan Singh bt Ray Ho (Tpe) & Masamichi Imamura (Jpn) 3-6, 6-4, [10-5].

- Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Yuvraj, Kartik best Indians at Asian Tour Q-School final stage

Yuvraj Sandhu, winner of five events on the domestic PGTI Tour in 2022, and left-handed Kartik Sharma were the best-placed Indians at tied 32nd place in the final stage of the Asian Tour’s Qualifying School golf tournament here.

Both the Indians shot identical rounds of 69-69 on the first two days.

After rounds three and four, the top-70 and ties will play Sunday’s pivotal final round.

Sandhu, who had a superb 2022 at home, is now trying to find a place on one of the international Tour.

Apart from the Asian Tour Q-School, he will also have a shot at the DP World Tour Q-School’s final stage later in the year.

Kartik, who has been playing well on the domestic PGTI Tour, has a best finish of tied-fifth at the Blue Canyon Classic on the Asian Development Tour last year.

In the first round he had an eagle, three birdies and three bogeys, while in the second he had four birdies against two bogeys.

Gaurav Pratap Singh (70-69) is tied 47th and Kshitij Naved Kaul (67-74) was tied-80th.

Khalin Joshi (72-70), a one-time winner on the Asian Tour, Aman Raj (73-69) and Varun Parikh (67-75) were all tied at 97th. Angad Cheema (71-72) was tied 120th and Saptak Talwar (74-70) was tied 134th.

Missing out the first cut after two rounds were Om Prakash Chouhan (71-74), Udayan Mane (74-73), Yashas Chandra (73-76) and Himmat Rai (74-75), another former Asian Tour winner.

Former golf wonderkid Ye Wocheng added a second-round six-under-par 65 to his opening day 64 to take the lead after day two.

The Chinese golfer leads on 13-under par at Lake View Resort and Golf Club here, where two layouts are being used to accommodate the 234-starting field, by three shots from American Michael Maguire, who came in with a 66.

Germany’s Dominic Foos (64), Australians Aaron Wilkin (65) and John Lyras (69), and Korean Hanmil Jung (66) are joint third on eight-under.

One stroke further back are New Zealand’s Denzel Leremia (66), Englishman Ben Jones (67), Korea’s Jaeil Song (68), South African M Viljoen (70) and Benjamin Follett-Smith (71) of Zimbabwe, who won the 2020 Qualifying School.

-PTI

Pranavi in pole position with 2-shot lead in second leg of Hero WPGT 2023

Pranavi carded one-over 70 to go with her first round 69 and is now the sole leader at even par 140 after sharing the lead with Amandeep Drall (69-74) at the end of the first day. (FILE PHOTO)
Pranavi carded one-over 70 to go with her first round 69 and is now the sole leader at even par 140 after sharing the lead with Amandeep Drall (69-74) at the end of the first day. (FILE PHOTO) | Photo Credit: Paul Lakatos/R&A
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Pranavi carded one-over 70 to go with her first round 69 and is now the sole leader at even par 140 after sharing the lead with Amandeep Drall (69-74) at the end of the first day. (FILE PHOTO) | Photo Credit: Paul Lakatos/R&A

Pranavi Urs, the Hero Order of Merit winner in 2022, did not have the best of finishes with three bogeys on the back nine but she still managed to grab a two-shot lead going into the final round of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour 2023 at the BPGC here.

Pranavi carded one-over 70 to go with her first round 69 and is now the sole leader at even par 140 after sharing the lead with Amandeep Drall (69-74) at the end of the first day.

Afshan Fatima also had a wobbly back nine with three birdies and three bogeys but still carded one-under 69, the only under par score of the second round.

Afshan is now two-over 142 and is lying second, while first round co-leader Amandeep is third at three-over 143.

Amateur Vidhatri Urs (72-72) was fourth, while Vani Kapoor (73-73) was tied fifth alongside Shweta Mansingh (76-70) and amateur Nishna Patel (71-75). They were all six-over 146.

Pranavi, who shot nine pars on the back nine on the first day, had birdies on fifth and 11th and was two-under after 12th. Bogeys on 13th, 15th and Par-5 18th cut into her lead and she finished at 71.

Amandeep had a disappointing front nine with four bogeys and just one birdie on 16th before finishing with yet another bogey for a 74.

Vani, who like Amandeep and Seher Atwal is scheduled to go to Kenya early next month for the Ladies European Tour, opened with a birdie and then started her back nine with another. In between she bogeyed fifth and double bogeyed ninth and then bogeyed 11th and 18th for a second straight 73.

Disha Kavery, third overnight, slipped to eighth with a 77 in second round, while Sneha Singh, still looking for a first win as a professional, added 73 to her first round 75 and is lying ninth.

Seher, winner of the first leg, improved to 72 after her first round 77 and is tied ninth with Ridhima Dilawari (79-70), who also showed a nine-shot upward move. Also tied at ninth was Ananya Datar (75-74).

-PTI

Sharma makes bright start in Abu Dhabi with bogey-free 67

Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma showed his liking for the Yas Links course on Thursday, with a bogey-free start of five-under 67 that put him three behind Luke Donald, who will captain the 2023 Ryder Cup team in Rome later this year.

With a first-round 67 under his belt, Sharma, runners-up here in 2022, smiled and said, “The day’s job is done. So it’s time to relax. I’m thinking of going to the Ferrari World today. I didn’t go there even last year, which was very hectic event as there were a few delays. So could not even step out of the room and go anywhere. But today, I have time.” Sharma, with 67, was tied fifth as leader Donald, with nine birdies against one bogey, shot eight-under.

Australian Jason Scrivener was seven-under with two eagles, five birdies and two bogeys, alongside Italian Guido Migliozzi, who had an eagle and five birdies.

Irishman Seamus Power, making his first appearance in Abu Dhabi, had six birdies in a bogey-free effort for fourth spot.

Tied with Sharma at five-under was 2019 Open winner Shane Lowry, Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura, Sami Välimäki and Swede Sebastian Soderberg.

Former champions in Abu Dhabi, Tommy Fleetwood and Henrik Stenson were among those to card four-under 68.

Sharma, who said it was still dark when he came to the range and hit balls under the lights, was in the second group this morning from the first tee.

He got off to a great start with a 15-footer for birdie on the first and then hit some great approaches and putted cleanly for three more on the front nine.

Making the turn at four-under, he made some clutch par putts on the back nine and closed the day with a great second shot on the 18th and rounded it off with a neat chip to inside five feet for a birdie.

“I played really well. Bogey free, which is always nice. My putting was really solid. I made a lot of clutch par putts, a lot of 4-5 footers. These greens are really fast. So some of the putts can get really away and then you have a really long return putt. I was able to make all of those and always great to finish with a birdie on the last,” Sharma said.

“From the tenth it really picked up, so back nine was a lot more windy. So you had to work the ball both ways in order to stop the ball close to the pin, so it was a good test. But I held on. I made a lot of good par putts. And then I made that lone birdie on the 18th.” Donald started from the 10th in the morning and made nine birdies in all, with his only blemish coming at the third. He closed the round with four successive birdies to set the early clubhouse target at eight under par.

- PTI

CYCLING

Noida to host Cyclothon

The HCL Cyclothon, offering a total prize purse of Rs. 32 lakh, will be held in Noida on March 19.

Making the announcement on Thursday, the president of strategy in HCL Corporation, Sundar Mahalingam said, “Our core brand philosophy is amplifying the potential of not just individuals, but communities and societies. We aim to support cycling by giving professionals and amateurs a world-class platform and recognition. HCL Cyclothon is a long-term initiative and we plan to host this annually”.

For the professionals, in the age group of 19 to 35 years, certified by the Cycling Federation, there will be a 60 kilometre road race. For the amateurs, there will be a 60 kilometre road race and a 30 kilometre mountain bike race.

There will also be a green ride, open for everyone above 18 years, to encourage cycling as an activity, to stay fit and healthy. It will be open for corporates, college students etc.

Registrations can be made on the website, www.hclcyclothon.com, and entries will close on February 28.

The whole exercise would be executed in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh government.

“Encouraging sports is a priority for the Uttar Pradesh government. Considering the growing awareness of the benefits of cycling and the government’s thrust on environment-friendly mobility, we are happy to be associated with HCL Cyclothon”, said Navneet Sehgal, Additional Chief Secretary, Sports and Youth Welfare, UP government.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

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