Indian sports news wrap, August 28

Here are all the major updates and results from Indian sports on August 28.

FILE PHOTO: Gaganjeet Bhullar of India. | Photo Credit: AFP

GOLF

Gandas shoots 68 on final day, ends T-60 in Prague

Indian golfer Manu Gandas produced a bogey free 4-under 68 on the final day of the D+D REAL Czech Masters, a DP World Tour event, to finish T-60.

The 27-year-old, who made the DP World Tour by winning the Indian PGTI Tour Order of Merit last season, had rounds of 66-74-74-68 on the four days.

Gandas has now played 18 events and made the cut in seven and lies 179th on the Order of Merit. He needs to finish in Top-115 to maintain a full card or will get limited starts in 2024.

India’s Shubhankar Sharma, who sat out this week, has played 16 events and is 61st as he tries to get into the Top-50, who will get to play in the DP World Tour Championships in Dubai in November.

- PTI

Bhullar records season’s best finish with fifth place at St. Andrews

Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar recorded his best result of the season by finishing fifth at the inaugural St. Andrews Bay Championship. Bhullar shot 2-under 70 and finished the low-scoring week at 17-under, as the Spaniard Eugenio Chacarra and Australian Matt Jones birdied the 18th and were tied at 19-under. Chacarra then won a record marathon play-off which lasted 10 holes.

The 10-time winner on the Asian Tour, Bhullar gave himself a shot at the title with a 2-under through 10 holes and just one behind the leaders. But the Indian, who opened the day with a bogey but recovered with three birdies in the next nine holes, failed to find any birdies in the last eight.

India’s other stars in the field, Ajeetesh Sandhu (71) and Anirban Lahiri (70), finished T-8 and T-14 respectively. Veer Ahlawat (70) and SSP Chawrasia (71) were T-30 while Rahil Gangjee (71) and Viraj Madappa (72) were T-50th and Rashid Khan (74) T-66.

Bhullar, who was T-3 after the third round, was looking for his first win since the success in Indonesia in August 2022.

- PTI

MORE SPORTS

HCL Foundation dedicates sports complex to Government school

The sports complex has a football ground, two cricket pitches, basketball and volleyball courts, apart from two long jump pits. | Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan

The HCL Foundation renovated the sports complex of Government Upper Primary School, Iteda, Gautam Budh Nagar, and dedicated it to the students of government schools and urban slum communities in an impressive function on Monday.

The sports complex has a football ground, two cricket pitches, basketball and volleyball courts, apart from two long jump pits.

HCL Tech which delivers its corporate social responsibility through HCL Foundation also utilised the field to conduct the inauguration of its Sports for Change Nationals, featuring students from many different parts of the country and competing in different sports.

The government school which has three class rooms for sixth to eighth standard has also been presented with a new building with three more modern class rooms. The washrooms and other facilities have also been built in a high quality fashion.

“Our contribution in redeveloping the sports complex with modern infrastructure conveys our commitment to honing sports talent and cultivating values of team work and community integration. Through this endeavour, we reaffirm our conviction that sports has the capacity to mould and inspire a vibrant society”, said Dr. Nidhi Pundhir, vice president of HCL Foundation.

With prominent personalities of the area including police personnel present for the inauguration of the facility, Dr. NIdhi hoped that the place would always serve as a sporting facility for the community, despite the gigantic infrastructure development in the area.

The Sport for Change Nationals culminates from HCL Foundation’s programs Uday and Samuday through which underprivileged children in different districts are selected, put through rigorous training and screened after intense qualifying rounds.

The initiative has so far generated 13 international level players, 42 national players and benefited over 27,000 children. Moreover, about 120 students are supported with full-time sports scholarships under HCL Foundation’s Power of One initiative, by which HCL employees contribute financially or with their time for community service.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

TENNIS

Lavanya victorious in first round

Lavanya Sreekrishnan beat fifth seed Shruti Gupta 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of the Rs.100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Monday.

The results (first round):

Sahira Singh bt Pavithra Reddy 6-1, 6-2; Mushrath Shaik bt Muskan Prajapat 6-0, 6-2; Bhumika Dahiya bt Jostna Madane 6-3, 6-2; Sejal Bhutada bt Ritu Rai 6-0, 6-3; Divya Bhardwaj bt Radha Sadhra 6-2, 6-1; Samaira Malik bt Snigdha Patibandla 6-4, 6-4; Tanushri Pandey bt Jasmine Rawat 6-2, 6-1; Lavanya Sreekrishnan bt Shruti Gupta 6-2, 6-4; Rachita Talwar bt Pragati Solankar 6-2, 6-3; Breshna Khan bt Omna Yadav 6-2, 7-5; Prathiba Narayan bt Ritu Ohlyan 6-2 6-0; Shefali Arora bt Kavya Khirwar 6-1, 6-1; Mirdhula Palanivel bt Rutuparna Choudhary 6-3, 6-3; Arthi Muniyan bt Shireen Ahamed 6-2, 6-1; Harini Parthiban bt Diya Tyagi 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; Kashish Bhatia bt Nemha Kispotta 6-1, 7-5.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

CARROM

Rakibul, Bharti elected president, secretrary general of All Indian Carrom Federation

Rakibul Hussain and Bharti Narayan were unanimously elected as president and secretary general respectively for another four-year term in the annual meeting of the All India Carrom Federation (AICF) on Sunday.

Former Justice of Allahabad High Court, Justice SS Chauhan was the returning officer for the election.

The office bearers

President: Rakibul Hussain

Vice presidents: Neeraj Kumar Sampathy, Prabhjeet Singh Bachher, Gurinder Singh, Vijay Kumar

Secretary general: Bharti Narayan

Joint secretaries: Dibyendu Simlai, Ferdinand Nongkynrih, Adil Rashid Shah, Md. Asadulla Khan Ansari, Vrajesh Jindal

Treasurer: S Madan Raj.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

HOCKEY

Murugappa Gold Cup: IOC downs a spirited Hockey Karnataka in seven-goal thriller

Riding on Gurjinder Singh’s brace, defending champion Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) overcame a fighting Hockey Karnataka 4-3 in a Group-A match of the 94th MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup All-India hockey tournament here on Monday. For Karnataka, Ganesh Majiji’s hat-trick went in vain.

Later, in a Group-B match, a clean strike by skipper Naveen Antil towards the end of the fourth quarter enabled Punjab National Bank (PNB) to eke out to a solitary goal-win over Indian Air Force (IAF).

Gurjinder Singh of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd scored a goal against Karnataka during the All India MCC Murugappa Gold Cup Hockey Tournament at Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai on Monday. | Photo Credit: Ragu R /The Hindu

Gurjinder has been the go-to drag flicker for IOC so far. On the day, the 29-year-old didn’t disappoint coming up with two powerful strikes off penalty corners.

He opened the account early in the first quarter, with a clear strike down the centre and another at a critical time when Karnataka started to mount a stinging counter-attack.

The PNB-IAF contest was mediocre, to say the least. The action picked up only in the fourth quarter when both teams were desperate to score.

A wonderful pass from the right by Jenjen Singh saw an unmarked Naveen Antil flick one into the net for the winner.

IOC was the better team throughout and held possession for the most part.

In a sudden burst of action, Karnataka, from being 0-3 down, struck two goals in a matter of few minutes through Ganesh in the third quarter. An experienced IOC didn’t panic and held firm. Ganesh’s three goals were really good. The pick of the lot was his third goal, a brilliant backhander that he hit on the run.

The results

IOC 4 (Gurjinder Singh 2, Armaan Quereshi, Talwinder Singh) bt Hockey Karnataka 3 (Ganesh Majiji 3); PNB 1 (Naveen Antil) bt IAF 0.

K. Keerthivasan