GOLF
Lahiri, Bhullar among four Indians making the cut in Newcastle
Anirban Lahiri added a 2-under 69 to his first round of 70 as he remained tied-8th after the first two rounds at the International Series England Golf Championship.
Lahiri was three shots behind the leaders, Jason Kokrak (67-69) and David Puig (70-65) on another grey day with light showers.
Gaganjeet Bhullar compiled a superb second round of 4-under 67 to make the cut comfortably in tied 39th place after a disappointing 76 in the first round.
Also making the cut were Ajeetesh Sandhu (71-72) also tied for 39th place and veteran Jyoti Randhawa, who shot 74-71 to ensure weekend action in Tied-62nd place.
Lahiri, whose last victory on the Asian Tour came in 2015, had four birdies against two bogeys in his 2-under 69. Bhullar had seven birdies, one bogey and one double bogey in his 67.
A dozen Indians missed the cut and they included SSP Chawrasia (75-71), Karandeep Kochhar (77-70), S Chikkarangappa (76-71), Rashid Khan (73-75), Jeev Milkha Singh (74-75), Shiv Kapur (75-74), Viraj Madappa (79-71), Khalin Joshi (74-76), Honey Baisoya (78-72), Veer Ahlawat (78-76), Rahil Gangjee (77-77) and Kartik Sharma, who retired in the second round, missed the cut.
Young Spanish golfer David Puig shot a bogey-free five-under-par 66 to take a share of the halfway lead. Playing only in his second year as a professional he fired five birdies in his first eight holes and then parred his way home to top the leaderboard on six-under.
- PTI
Diksha moved up to seventh among women, Gandas stays in Top-10 in Northern Ireland
India’s Diksha Dagar produced another gritty round of golf in tough conditions, shooting one-over 74 to move up from overnight Tied-13th to Tied-seventh at the ISPS HANDA World Invitational.
Diksha is seeking another good result after a superb career-best T-21 finish in a Major at the AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath last week.
The leader is Marissa Steen who produced a round of one-under 72 at the Par-73 Castlerock after a two-under 70 at the Par-72 Galgorm course.
The cut fell at five-over with 63 players making it through to the third round, which will be played at Galgorm and then there will be a further cut to the top 35 players and ties at the 54-hole mark.
In the men’s competition that is being played at the same time, Manu Gandas (66-73), despite a bogey-bogey finish on 8th and 9th, stayed in Top-10 at Tied-ninth.
He was tied-third after the first round but dropped thereafter. England’s Dan Brown is still out in front with a total of 11-under-par and holds a six-shot lead at the 36-hole mark.
Diksha, starting from the 10th, dropped a bogey on her first hole and had another bogey on the 13th but birdied the Par-5s at 15th and 17th. She turned in even par but dropped a shot on the first and registered 1-over 74.
With her father, Col Naren Dagar, as her caddie, Diksha armed with some new clubs, has been showing a distinct change in her game.
After a super five-under 66 on the first day at Castlerock, Gandas started his second round on the tenth and bogeyed the 11th, 13th and 15th to go 3-over.
A birdie on 18th was negated by a bogey on the first. He seemed to have repaired the damage with birdies on the third and seventh, but bogeys on the closing holes gave him a card of 3-over 73 at Galgorm.
- PTI
Sunhit Bishnoi lands maiden title at inaugural India Cements Pro C’ship
Gurugram’s Sunhit Bishnoi was a cut above the rest as he produced a sizzling eight-under 64 on the final day to clinch his maiden title at the inaugural India Cements Pro Championship on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Sunhit (66-68-70-64), playing only his second season as a professional, totalled 20-under 268 at the Rs. 50 lakh event to emerge wire-to-wire winner with an imposing nine-stroke margin.
His last round of 64 matched the tournament’s lowest score shot by Divyanshu Bajaj on day three at the TNGF Cosmo Golf Course.
“It feels really good to win in just my second season as a professional. When you know that your hard work is paying off, it boosts your confidence,” said Sunhit.
“I dedicate this win to my parents and my sister Gaurika who is also a professional golfer. I keep talking to her after my rounds and often take her advice as she has more years of experience as a professional golfer than I do.” Bangladesh’s Jamal Hossain (67-69-71-70) finished second at a distant 11-under 277.
Bengaluru golfer Trishul Chinnappa posted an outstanding 65 to climb 23 spots and end the week in tied third place at 10-under 278 along with Chandigarh’s Abhijit Singh Chadha (70) and Kolkata’s Divyanshu Bajaj (72).
Sunhit dominated the tournament by leading in the first three rounds and then maintaining his stranglehold on the leaderboard from start to finish in round four too.
Sunhit, the joint leader along with Akshay Sharma going into the last round, was quick off the blocks with an eagle on the par-5 second hole where he landed his second shot 10 feet from the pin.
This was followed by birdies on the next three holes that gave him a commanding seven-shot lead. He left himself tap-ins on the third and fourth, finding the flag stick with his tee shot on the latter before chipping-in on the fifth.
The bogey on the eighth came against the run of play before Sunhit was back to firing on all cylinders with birdies on the 10th, 12th and 13th, driving the par-4 10th green and chipping-in once again on the 12th.
He signed off with another birdie on the 18th.
Sunhit, the ninth winner from as many events on the PGTI this year, collected the winning cheque worth Rs. 7,50,000 to move up 16 spots from 25th to ninth position on the TATA Steel PGTI Rankings.
Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow, who finished tied 11th at seven-under 281, continues to lead the TATA Steel PGTI Rankings.
- PTI
SURFING
Japanese surfers dominate Tamil Nadu Surf Open
Japan’s Tenshi Iwami in action. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Japan’s Tenshi Iwami and Sara Wakita bagged the men’s and women’s titles in the International Surf Open Tamil Nadu-World Surf League QS 3000 at the Mahabalipuram beach on Saturday.
Sweden’s Kian Martin and Japan’s Shino Matsuda finished second in the men’s and women’s categories.
Arun Vasu, president of Surfing Federation of India (SFI), announced that SFI and World Surf League have come to an understanding whereby six men and one woman national surfers would be allowed to participate in the Asian WSL QS events at no cost to the athlete.
Atulya Misra, Additional Chief Secretary, J. Meganatha Reddy, Member secretary, SDAT, Rahul Nadh, Collector of Chengalpattu, were present on the occasion.
- TEAM SPORTSTAR
TENNIS
Jagmeet Singh, Maan Kesharwani share AITA title
Jagmeet Singh and Maan Kesharwani were declared joint winners as rain washed away the final of the Rs.100,000 AITA men’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Gurukul, Khera Khurd, on Saturday.
The two players will get points and prize money for the finalists.
Results
- TEAM SPORTSTAR
Rain washes out AITA National series junior finals
Rain washed out play in the finals of the AITA National series junior tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Saturday.
Havisha Chaudhary and Manshi Singh were declared joint champions in the under-16 girls event. Vishvajeet Sanas and Aaditya Sansanval were the joint winners in the under-16 boys section.
The players, of course, will get the points for the finalists.
- TEAM SPORTSTAR
Anirudh, Vijay Sundar lose doubles final
Anirudh Chandrasekar and Vijay Sundar Prashanth were beaten 6-4, 6-4 in the doubles final by Theo Arribage and Luca Sanchez in the €118,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Poland on Saturday.
The champion team got 100 ATP points and €6,845. The Indian pair bagged 60 points and €4,050.
In the $25,000 ITF event in Chinese Taipei, Sai Karteek Reddy won the doubles title with Tsung-Hao Huang of Chinese Taipei. It was the sixth doubles title in the professional circuit for Sai Karteek and the fourth of the season.
The results:
-Kamesh Srinivasan
SQUASH
Ishika enters Delhi squash championship final
Ishika Anand battled past Garima Nagar 9-11, 11-3, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8 in the under-15 girls semifinals of the Delhi State squash championship at the Delhi Gymkhana Club courts on Saturday.
In the final, Ishika will face Kaashvi Mangal.
The results (semifinals):
- Kamesh Srinivasan
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