Indian sports news wrap, May 19

Catch the major updates and results from Indian sports on May 19.

Divya Ungrish and coach. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

TENNIS

AITA National series juniors: Divya Ungrish defeats top seed Shagun Kumari

Divya Ungrish beat the top seed Shagun Kumari 6-1, 6-4 to clinch the girls title in the AITA National series under-18 tennis tournament at the Singha Sports Academy on Friday.

In the boys section, Ashwajit Senjam beat top seed Keshav Goel 6-0, 6-2 to set up a title clash against Arjun Rathi.

RESULTS

Under-18 boys (semifinals): Ashwajit Senjam bt Keshav Goel 6-0, 6-2; Arjun Rathi bt Shivam Devam 6-3, 7-5. Doubles (final): Keshav Goel & Satwik Kollepalli bt Jatin Nan & Aryan Chauhan 6-3, 6-3. Under-18 girls (final): Divya Ungrish bt Shagun Kumari 6-1, 6-4; Semifinals: Shagun bt Saumrita Verma 6-4, 6-1; Divya bt Jjeetesh Kumari 6-0, 7-6(3). Doubles (final): Shagun Kumari & Saumrita Verma bt Saumya Chatterjee & Sohini Chatterjee 6-2, 6-4.

-Team Sportstar

Niki Poonacha loses doubles semifinals

Niki Poonacha in partnership with Adam Taylor was beaten 7-6(4), 4-6, [10-6] in the doubles semifinals of the $80,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Tunis, Tunisia, on Friday.

The semifinal entry fetched 30 ATP points and $1,630 for the Indo-Aussie pair.

In the $25,000 ITF event in Kursumlijska Banja, Serbia, top seeds Rithvik Bollipalli and Sai Karteek Reddy missed five match points and were beaten 6-4, 3-6, [18-16] in the doubles quarterfinals.

The results:

$80,000 Challenger, Tunis, Tunisia Doubles (semifinals): James McCabe (Aus) & Aziz Ouakaa (Tun) bt Niki Poonacha &Adam Taylor (Aus) 7-6(4), 4-6, [10-6].

$25,000 ITF men, Kursumlijska Banja, Serbia Doubles (quarterfinals): Guy Ouden (Ned) & Samuel Ruggeri (Ita) bt Rithvik Bollipalli & Sai Karteek Reddy 6-4, 3-6, [18-16].

$15,000 ITF men, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Singles (quarterfinals): Alec Beckley (RSA) bt Digvijay Pratap Singh 7-6(1), 6-4; Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) bt SD Prajwal Dev 6-3, 7-6(6).

Doubles (quarterfinals): Akram El Sallaly (Egy) & Kris Van Wyk (RSA) bt Chirag Duhan & Sina Moghimi (Iri) 7-5, 4-6, [10-8]; Ishaque Eqbal & Karan Ssingh bt Dylan Salton (RSA) & Mattias Ssouthcombe (GBR) 6-4, 6-2; Yash Chaurasia & Jagmeet Singh bt Jjonathan Baron & Ben Weintraub (Isr) 6-3, 6-2.

$25,000 ITF women, Kachreti, Georgia

Singles (quarterfinals): Dejana Radanovic (Srb) bt Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-4, 6-3.

$15,000 ITF women, Curitiba, Brazil

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Smriti Bhasin bt Maria Turchetto (Bra) 6-1, 6-3.

$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia

Doubles (quarterfinals): Sharmada Balu & Elaine Genovese (Mlt) bt Alisha Reayer (GBR) & Elizaveta Shebekina 6-4, 6-2.

-Team Sportstar

WRESTLING

Former World cadet champion and World junior bronze medallist Sagar Jaglan won the under-23 freestyle 79kg trials to get selected for the Asian under-17 and under-23 wrestling championships on Friday.

Altogether 213 wrestlers in freestyle, 86 in Greco Roman and 98 in women participated in the trials held at Sonepat and Patiala.

The selected wrestlers: U-17: Freestyle: Sourabh (65kg), Saurabh Yadav (80kg); Greco Roman: Sachin Kumar (65kg), Aman (80kg); Women: Neha (57kg), Shiksha (65kg).

U-23: Abhimanyu (70kg), Yash (74kg), Sagar Jaglan (79kg); Greco Roman: Vinayak Patil (67kg), Ankit Gulia (72kg), Vikas (77kg); Women: Rajni (57kg), Nitika (62kg), Bhateri (65kg).

EQUESTRIAN

SAI takes cognisance on non-selection of equestrian players for Asiad

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Friday took cognisance on the non-selection of Fouaad Mirza, Chirag Khandal and Shashank Singh Kataria in the Asian Games long list after the intervention of the country’s top court.

SAI officials, including Shiv Sharma, Deputy Director General (DDG) on Friday interacted with Mirza, Khandal and Kataria virtually regarding their grievances on non-selection in the long list for the upcoming Asian Games to be held in September-October in Hangzhou.

According to a SAI statement, while Khandal has informed SAI that the Hon’ble Supreme Court had directed the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) to include his name in the Asian Games long list, Tokyo Olympian Mirza and Katariya, on their behalf, have requested their inclusion in the Asian Games long list.

They have also demanded a fair and transparent selection process.

“SAI has taken cognisance on the matter and informed EFI to take a suitable decision on the same as soon as possible,” SAI said in the statement.

The Delhi High Court in March had also criticised the beleaguered Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) for an unfair selection process for the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games.

The court had ordered the EFI to allow all athletes who participated in selection trials, either in 2021–2022 or 2022–2023, to be selected as probable and attend coaching camps in Europe.

The EFI had earlier neglected the minimum eligibility requirement which led the players to move the court.

-PTI

GOLF

Rough start for Lahiri, likely to miss cut at PGA; DeChambeau in lead

Returning to Major action after a full year, Anirban Lahiri had a disappointing start at the 105th PGA Championship as he was seven-over after 12 holes in the second round to seriously jeopardise his chances of making the cut at the Oak Hill Country Club here.

Four over after 16 holes when play ended on a weather-hit opening round on Thursday, Lahiri finished with pars for a round of 74.

Soon after he started the second round and was three-over after 12 holes to go to seven-over from where he was almost certain to miss the cut. He was lying Tied 111th.

Former US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau held a one-shot lead after the frost-hit first round ended on Friday.

Liv Golf League member DeChambeau shot 66, even as five players, including fellow LIV member Dustin Johnson, world number two Scottie Scheffler, and overnight clubhouse leader Eric Cole were bunched together with 3 under par 67s.

World number 1 Jon Rahm of Spain had a rough start and was six-over 76 and faced with a tough task to make the cut.

Three-time past PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson was three-over 73 after the first round.

Other big names in problems were England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (76), Jason Day, last week’s winner on the PGA Tour Jason Day (76) of Australia and Korea’s rising star Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim (73).

-PTI