SQUASH
Bristol Open squash: Urwashi Joshi enters quarterfinals
India’s Urwashi Joshi upset second-seeded Australian Sophie Fadaely 3-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Bristol Open squash tournament here on Friday.
Urwashi, a semi-finalist during the 2023 National Championships, was engaged in a thrilling contest as she conquered the Australian 7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5, 11-7 during the intense 35-minute pre-quarterfinal meeting of the USD 3000 PSA Challenger event.
The Maharashtra player, who defeated Jasmin Kalar of England 11-4, 11-5, 9-11, 11-9 in the opening round within 21 minutes, will take on fifth seed Erin Classen of Australia in the quarterfinals.
Classen prevailed over Olivia Besant of England in the pre-quarterfinal, routing her 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 14-12).
-PTI
MOTORSPORTS
Sai Sanjay to race full season in British GT championship
Former Indian Formula 2000 champion Sai Sanjay is set to drive a full season in the British GT Championship 2024 starting at Oulton Park, England on March 29.
The 21-year-old becomes the first driver from Tamil Nadu to do a full season at this level in the prestigious British GT series.
A Mechatronics student at VIT Chennai, Sanjay made his motorsports debut in 2015 and became the Rotax Senior Max UAE vice-champion in 2018.
He made the switch to formula cars the same year and raced in the LGB Formula 1300 and MRF 1600 championships. All along, he notched up many podiums and dished out many fastest laps and won the Formula 2000 Indian title in 2022.
The season consists of seven rounds. The first round is scheduled to be held from March 29 to April 1 followed by Silverstone 500 from April 26 to 28, Donington Park from May 25 to 26, and then the drivers move to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium from June 22 to 23.
After another round in Snetterton from July 12 to 14, they are scheduled to revisit Donington Park from September 7 to 8 before concluding the season finale at the renowned Brands Hatch on September 28 and 29.
-PTI
WEIGHTLIFTING
IWLF appoints coach educator
In order to develop coach education across the country in the run-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) on Friday appointed Ahmed Awad Ahmed Hassan of Egypt as a coach educator.
Hassan, in consultation with chief national coach Vijay Sharma, will develop a new syllabus course for NIS diploma holders. Key initiatives of the engagement include training and development programmes, knowledge exchange and collaboration, supportive ecosystem and long-term vision.
-Y. B. Sarangi
ATHLETICS
Junior Federation Cup: Gaurav, Shilpa take 3000m golds
Maharashtra’s Gaurav Bhaskar Bhosali and Gujarat’s Shilpa Dhora won the men’s and women’s 3000m in the 22 nd National Federation Cup junior under-20 athletics championships which began at the SAI Centre in Lucknow on Friday.
The top eight finishers in the men’s 3000m and the top four in women’s made the AFI’s qualification standard for the next month’s junior Asians in Dubai.
-Stan Rayan
The results (winners only):
TENNIS
Ankita, Ramkumar win PSPB inter-unit tournament
Ankita Raina of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Ramkumar Ramanathan of Indian Oil emerged as the champions in the 42nd PSPB inter-unit tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi on Friday.
With the whole tournament of team championships and individual events of singles and doubles packed in four days, the format had to be tweaked.
Thus, Ramkumar beat teammate Chirag Duhan 9-5 in the final for the men’s title. Ramkumar had earlier beaten Vishnu Vardhan and Rithvik Bollipalli on his way to the final.
Ankita beat Riya Bhatia of Indian Oil 9-5 in the women’s final. Incidentally, Ankita had beaten Riya in straight sets in a thriller during the team championship. Ankita had beaten Prarthana Thombare in the semifinals, while Riya Bhatia had beaten Riya Sachdeva.
The men’s doubles title was won by Vishnu Vardhan and Rithvik who beat Ramkumar and Chirag in the final.
Rajkumar Dubey won the veterans title for Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and joined with Monish Sharma to clinch the doubles title as well. BPCL had earlier won the team title as well.
The Chairman and Managing Director of the host, Engineers India Limited (EIL), Vartika Shukla, presented the trophies.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
GOLF
Amandeep coasts to four-shot win in fifth leg of Hero WPGT
Amandeep Drall had a roller-coaster fourth and final round and held on onto her four-shot lead to coast to a pleasing win in the fifth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour on Friday.
Amandeep, who last won 13 months ago, overcame two early bogeys and a double bogey to post 1-under 71 for a total of 10-under 278.
Gaurika Bishnoi, who shot 66 on the second day but could not conjure up the same magic, also shot 71 and stayed second at 6-under 282.
Khushi Khanijau (73) was third at 3-under 285, while Hitaashee Bakshi (72) and Ridhima Dilawari closed with an eagle for a 74 and completed the top-5.
Amandeep, who began the final day with a four-shot lead, bogeyed the second and third, but with Gaurika also dropping a shot on the second, the former kept a sizeable lead.
Both players birdied the fifth, but Gaurika dropped a shot on the sixth. A birdie on the seventh did give her an outside chance, but Amandeep ensured there are no hiccups with an eagle on the ninth. It was her fourth eagle of the week.
On the back nine, Amandeep birdied the 11th but dropped a double bogey on Par-4 17th. She shrugged that off with a closing birdie, as Gaurika managed only one birdie in her last 11 holes.
The win also brought a lot of relief for Amandeep, who had dropped her form and lost her full Tour card on the Ladies European Tour.
This win would pep her up as she tries to find her form to get back to the higher Tours.
For Gaurika, making her first start of 2024, was a good beginning. She will be back for the sixth leg next week, as will Amandeep.
Seher Atwal and Neha Tripathi, with 76 each, were tied for sixth, Ananya Garg (73) was eighth, and Lavanya Jadon (74) was the top amateur at ninth. Jasmine Shekar (70) and Astha Madan (72) rounded off the top-10. Sneha Singh, who did not have a great week, did produce her best round of the week on the fourth day with a 71 that included an eagle. She finished T-12, but it was not enough to keep her on the top of the Order of Merit.
Hitaashee Bakshi, who finished fourth this week, now has top honours with Sneha right behind her.
Amandeep, having a lacklustre season, rose to third place with the win at this event. Khushi and Jasmine Shekar are fourth and fifth in the money rankings.
- PTI
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