Indian sports news wrap, April 13

Here are all the major updates in Indian sports on April 13.

Representative Image: In the girls section of the Asian under-14 tennis tournament, second seed Maaya Rajeshwaran was beaten 7-5, 6-2 by Yeri Hong of Korea in the semifinals. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

TENNIS

Madrid Challenger: Jeevan-Balaji pair reaches quarterfinals

Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan beat Evgeny Karlovskiy and Alexander Shevchenko 7-6(6), 6-4 to make the quarterfinals of the €73,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain.

In another Challenger in Split, Croatia, Anirudh Chandrasekar and Vijay Sundar Prashanth made the doubles semifinals with a walkover.

RESULTS

€73,000 Challenger, Madrid, Spain

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sriram Balaji & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Evgeny Karlovskiy & Alexander Shevchenko 7-6(6), 6-4.

€73,000 Challenger, Split, Croatia

Doubles (quarterfinals): Anirudh Chandrasekar & Vijay Sundar Prashanth w.o. Diego Hidalgo (Ecu) & Cristian Rodriguez (Col).

$25,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Singles (first round): Samuel Vincent Ruggeri (Ita) bt Mukund Sasikumar 6-4, 6-4.

$25,000 ITF women, Bujumbura, Burundi

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Tiffany William (GBR) bt Smriti Bhasin 6-3, 6-1.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Ksenia Laskutova & Fanny Ostlund (Swe) bt Sravya Shivani & Tiffany William (GBR) 6-4, 6-2.

-Team Sportstar

Asian U-14 tournament: Shivtej reaches boys’ singles final

Shivtej Shirfule defeated Abubakar Talha of Pakistan 6-4, 6-3 in the boys semifinals of the Asian under-14 tennis tournament at the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.

In the final, Shivtej will face top seed Wonmin Kim of Korea.

In the girls section, second seed Maaya Rajeshwaran was beaten 7-5, 6-2 by Yeri Hong of Korea in the semifinals.

RESULTS (semifinals)

Boys: Wonmin Kim (Kor) bt Alex Lap Hang Hui (Hkg) 6-0, 6-3; Shivtej Shirfule bt Abubakar Talha (Pak) 6-4, 6-3.

Girls: Eva Korysheva (Kaz) bt Jiyun Oh (Kor) 7-6(5), 6-3; Yeri Hong (Kor) bt Maaya Rajeshwaran 7-5, 6-2.

-Team Sportstar

GOLF

 PGTI Players Championship: Jamal Hossain takes halfway lead with day’s best of 67

Bangladesh’s Jamal Hossain seized the halfway lead after returning the second day’s best score of five-under 67 at the Rs 1 crore PGTI Players Championship in Chandigarh on Thursday.

Dhaka-based Jamal’s (70-67) total read seven-under 137 and he enjoyed a two-shot lead over the quartet of Greater Noida’s Arjun Sharma (68), Kolkata’s Mohammad Sanju (71), Chandigarh’s Harendra Gupta (70) and American Varun Chopra (71).

The cut was declared at two-over 146. Fifty-one professionals made the cut.

The 38-year-old Jamal, lying tied 12th and two off the lead after round one, had a quiet front-nine with a birdie and a bogey each. However, Hossain’s putter began firing on the front-nine as he made a 40-feet birdie conversion on the eighth.

Jamal, who was the runner-up at last year’s edition at Chandigarh Golf Club, then sank long birdie putts at will on the back-nine to make a charge.

The three-time winner on the PGTI drained a 35-footer, two 15-feet putts and a 10-footer for birdies. He also landed his five-iron approach within a foot of the flag, his best shot of the day in his own words, for a tap-in birdie on the 15th.

“My good ball-striking form has given me a lot of confidence coming into this week. I’ve also gone back to my old putter which has helped me put up a better putting display so far this week,” Jamal said.

“The fact that I played well here in Chandigarh during last year’s event and finished runner-up, also adds to my self-belief going into the last two days.” Arjun Sharma carded an error-free 68 to occupy joint second place.

Angad Cheema (70) was the second Chandigarh golfer in the top-10 as he was placed tied sixth at four-under 140.

Kevin Esteve Rigaill of Andorra matched the day’s best 67. He was placed tied 23rd at one-under 143.

- PTI