Indian sports news wrap, April 21

Here are all the major updates in Indian sports on April 21.

FILE PHOTO: India’s Rohan Bopanna (left) and Australia’s Matthew Ebden (right) reached semifinals of the Barcelona Open on Friday. | Photo Credit: AP

TENNIS

Barcelona Open: Bopanna-Ebden pair through to semifinals

Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Barcelona Open, an ATP500 event, on Friday.

The Indo-Australian pair of Bopanna and Ebden beat the French-Mexican duo of Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Santiago Gonzalez 6-2, 6-4 in their quarterfinal clash.

Bopanna and Ebden will next face either top-seeded Dutch-British pair of Wesley Koohlof and Neal Skupski or the unseeded French-Greek duo of Nicolas Mahut and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

RESULTS

ATP500 Barcelona

Doubles, Quarterfinals - Rohan Bopanna/Matthew Ebden (AUS) bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)/Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) 6-2, 6-4

ITF W100 Charleston

Doubles, Quarterfinals - Prarthana Thombare/Jessy Rompies (INA) bt [2] Sabrina Santamaria/Kaitlyn Christian (USA) 2-6, 6-2, [11-9]

ITF W25 Nottingham

Doubles, Semifinals: Rutuja Bhosale/Ankita Raina bt Julie Belgraver/Manon Leonard (FRA) 6-2, 6-4.

- Team Sportstar

Yashpaul beats Kundu to clinch AITA men’s tennis tournament title

LUDHIANA: Top seed Neerj Yashpaul beat second seed Ajay Kundu 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the Rs.100,000 AITA men’s tennis tournament at the Harvest Academy, Jassowal, on Friday.

Akash Katewa and Sunil Malik who had won their first three matches in the super tie-break, won the doubles title, beating Dalwinder Singh and Sahajpreet Bajwa in straight sets.

The results (finals):

Singles: Neeraj Yashpaul bt Ajay Kundu 6-4, 6-2.

Doubles: Akash Katewa & Sunil Malik bt Dalwinder Singh & Sahajpreet Bajwa 7-5, 6-4.

AITA under-18 Championship: Dhruv Kumar wins double crown

NEW DELHI: Dhruv Kumar won a double crown in the AITA Championship series under-18 tennis tournament at the Tennis Gurukul Academy, Khera Khurd.

Dhruv beat Vishesh Kumar Singh 6-2, 6-4 for the singles title. Dhruv in partnership with Lakshay Dahiya won the doubles title, beating Dev Prakash Tanwar and Manan Kumar 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

The results (finals):

Boys: Dhruv Kumar bt Vishesh Kumar Singh 6-2, 6-4.

Doubles: Dhruv Kumar & Lakshay Dahiya bt Dev Prakash Tanwar & Manan Kumar 6-4, 6-4.

Girls: Yashika Shokeen bt Navy Dabas 6-3, 6-4.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

AITA men’s tournament: Parth Aggarwal clinches double crown

GURUGRAM: Parth Aggarwal won a double crown in the Rs.100,000 AITA men’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, on Friday.

Parth beat Dmitrii Baskov 6-1, 6-2 in the singles final.

It was a lot more dramatic in the doubles final, as Parth in partnership with Udit Kamboj recovered from being down 7-9 in the super tie-break, saved five match points to beat Maan Kesharwani and Hemant Kumar 4-6, 6-3, [14-12].

The results:

Singles (final): Parth Aggarwal bt Dmitrii Baskov 6-1, 6-2; Semifinals: Dmitrii bt Maan Kesharwani 6-3, 7-5; Parth bt Jagmeet 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Doubles (final): Parth Aggarwal & Udit Kamboj bt Maan Kesharwani & Hemant Kumar 4-6, 6-3, [14-12].

-Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Rashid, Kshitij move into joint lead at Ahmedabad Open

Kshitij Naveed Kaul in action. (FILE PHOTO) | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Delhi pair of Rashid Khan and Kshitij Naveed Kaul moved into joint lead with a total of seven-under 137 after the penultimate round of the Ahmedabad Open here on Friday.

While two-time Asian Tour winner Rashid (34-35-68) struck a four-under 68 to jump six spots from his overnight tied-seventh position, three-time PGTI winner Kshitij (33-35-69) shot a three-under 69 to gain one spot from his overnight tied second.

Bangladesh’s Jamal Hossain (69) was one shot behind the leaders in third place, while 18-year-old rookie Shaurya Binu (71) of Bengaluru and Noida’s Amardeep Malik (71) shared the fourth place at five-under 139.

Gurugram’s Veer Ahlawat returned the day’s best score of 67 to occupy tied-sixth place at four-under 140.

The first two rounds of the event comprised nine holes each. The third and fourth rounds comprise 18 holes each. The tournament will be played over a total of 54 holes.

The par for the course in the third and fourth rounds is 72. The nine-hole course was played twice in Round 3 with different pin positions.

Rashid took advantage of the par-5s, scoring birdies on the second, 11th and 14th. The 32-year-old also sank two long birdie putts on the eighth and 12th, the latter being a 30-footer. Rashid, having adjusted well to the speed of the greens on Friday, dropped only one bogey on the 13th.

“I felt that I gave myself a lot more chances from the fairways today as compared to the first two rounds. I gauged the green-speed better. I knew downhill putts would be tricky so the game plan was to try and land the ball short of the pins and not go over,” said Rashid.

“The game has been trending well. I’ve just been working on a few things that I feel are slowly falling into place.” Kshitij’s pin-point approach shots and good putting form saw him accumulate five birdies in exchange for three bogeys. The 22-year-old made three birdies on the front-nine by sinking putts from a range of 10 to 20 feet.

The highlight of his back-nine was the approach on the 15th that landed four feet from the flag and led to a birdie.

Delhi’s Shamim Khan, the leader in the first two rounds, dropped to tied eighth at three-under 141 after a third round of 74.

PTI