Indian sports news wrap, April 5

Here are all the major updates in Indian sports on April 5.

FILE PHOTO: Vladyslav Orlov of Ukraine.

TENNIS

ITF Chennai Open: Orlov, Ramkumar reach second round

Top seeds Vladyslav Orlov and Ramkumar Ramanathan reached the second round of the BR Adityan Memorial ITF M15 tournament at the Gandhi Nagar Club, Adyar in Chennai on Wednesday with straight-set wins.

Top-seeded Ukrainian Orlov won 6-3, 7-5 against Nitin Kumar Sinha while Ramkumar beat qualifier Kabir Hans 6-4, 6-1.

Teenager Aryan Shah also progressed to the next round with 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory over qualifier Lakshit Sood.

Results

Singles, First Round

[1] Vladyslav Orlov (UKR) bt Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-3, 7-5; Boris Butulija (SRB) bt [WC] Sandesh Dattatray Kurale 6-0, 6-2; [5] Florent Bax (FRA) bt [Q] Fardeen Quamar 6-1, 6-0; Rishab Agarwal bt Faisal Qamar 6-0, 6-3; [JR] Aryan Shah bt [Q] Lakshit Sood 6-2, 4-6, 6-1; [Q] Jagmeet Singh bt [Q] Ajay Malik 6-0, 6-1; [6] David Perez Sanz (ESP) bt Ishaque Eqbal 6-4, 6-4; [Q] Yash Chaurasia bt Vishnu Vardhan 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3; [Q] Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan bt [LL] Rushil Khosla 6-3, 6-1; [2] Ramkumar Ramanathan bt [Q] Kabir Hans 6-4, 6-1; Karan Singh bt Woobin Shin (KOR) 6-4, 2-0 retd.; [4] Sidharth Rawat bt [Q] Bharath Nishok Kumaran 6-4, 2-6, 6-2

- Team Sportstar

CHESS

FIDE Women’s Grand Prix: Goryachkina tops three-way tie to win title

Russian favourite Aleksandra Goryachkina topped a three-way tie to win the third leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix chess title in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Peace prevailed on the boards involving the three overnight leaders - Goryachkina, Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kazakhstan) and Zhu Jiner (China) - and they shared 37,000 euros.

After Goryachkina and K. Humpy, the top two seeds, settled for a draw, the other two Indians - D. Harika and R. Vaishali - were at the receiving end of the two decisive games on the final day.

Eventually, Humpy (6th) finished ahead of Harika (8th) and Vaishali (10th).

Results (Indians unless stated):

11th round: Aleksandra Goryachkina (FIDE, 6) drew with K. Humpy (4.5); Bibisara Assaubayeva (Kaz, 6) drew with Kateryna Lagno (FIDE, 5); Nino Batsiashvili (Geo, 3.5) drew with Zhu Jiner (Chn, 6); R. Vaishali (2) lost to Nana Dzagnidze (Geo, 3.5); D. Harika (3.5) lost to Polina Shuvalova (FIDE, 5).

Final standings (with prize-money in euros):

1. Goryachkina (12,334), 2. Assaubayeva (12,333), 3. Zhu (12,333), 4. Lagno (7,375), 5. Shuvalova (7,375), 6. Humpy (5,750), 7. Batsiashvili (4,500), 8. Harika (4,500) 9. Dzagnidze (4,000), 10. Vaishali (3,500).

- Rakesh Rao

GOLF

Sudhir Sharma maintains lead in round two of Delhi-NCR Open

reater Noida golfer Sudhir Sharma’s carded an even-par 72 which helped him maintain his lead at the halfway stage of the Delhi-NCR Open on Wednesday.

Sudhir (28-72), the first round leader by three shots, totaled eight-under 100 after round two to hold on to his advantage.

Delhi-based Honey Baisoya (32-69) struck a 69 to be one shot behind the leader at seven-under 101 in second position.

Noida’s Gaurav Pratap Singh (68) and Chandigarh’s Ranjit Singh (69) were tied for third at five-under 103.

The first round was curtailed to nine holes due to rain with the par for the round being 36.

However, with the rain staying away on Wednesday, the second round was played over 18 holes with the par for the round being the usual 72. The cut was thus applied after 27 holes.

The cut fell at one-over 109 with 56 professionals making it to the money rounds.

Sudhir, who enjoyed a dream start with a first round of eight-under featuring two eagles, had a contrasting second round that included four birdies and four bogeys.

Sudhir had a strong start with three birdies on his first four holes where he hit his wedges to perfection, chipping-in on the second hole.

The 35-year-old Sharma, a two-time winner on the PGTI Feeder Tour, then hit a few shots off-target that resulted in four bogeys for him between the eighth and the 17th. He added just one more birdie on the 14th.

Delhi’s Sachin Baisoya fired a hole-in-one on the third during his round of 73 that placed him tied fifth at four-under 104.

Pune’s Pranav Mardikar also struck an ace on the 16th as he carded a 68 to be placed tied ninth at three-under 105.

-PTI