GOLF
Lahiri misses cut, Scheffler, Hovland and Conners share lead at PGA
New York: Anirban Lahiri of India missed the cut as he shot 3-over 73 in the second round after finishing his first round in 4-over 74 at the PGA Championships at Oak Hill.
As Lahiri exited at the halfway stage, Scottie Scheffler, the 2022 Masters champion, shot 2-under 68 and moved to 5-under and shared the lead alongside Corey Conners (68) and Viktor Hovland (67), who had led after the first at Augusta National. They were all at 5-under 135.
Lahiri, whose last Major was the PGA Championships in 2022, had five bogeys against one birdie in the first round and had four bogeys against one birdie in the second and at 7-over 147 he was two shots off the cutline.
American-Indian Sahith Theegala (71-71) was tied 30th.
Hovland had shared the lead after 54 holes at the Open at St Andrews last year. It was his 10th consecutive round in the Majors when he ended the day among the top 10 on the leader board.
Conners had at one point built a two-shot lead until he had to rely on his short game to account for some errant drives and tough holes on the front nine.
They were two shots clear of Bryson DeChambeau (71) and Justin Suh (68).
The leading seven players including Brooks Koepka, who shot 31 on the back nine in his round of 66, came from the same side of the draw. They were delayed by two hours from freezing temperatures and a coat of frost on the grass. They avoided the wind Friday morning.
Shane Lowry had six birdies in an eight-hole stretch in the rainy afternoon until closing with a pair of bogeys saw him finish with 67, and at even-par 140, five shots behind but still very much in the thick of it.
That group included club pro Michael Block (70) and Rory McIlroy.
Masters champion Jon Rahm, the world No. 1 opened with a 76 but salvaged a 68 to make the cut with one shot to spare. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth made the cut and were tied 59th.
Australian Min Woo Lee rediscovered his fighting spirit to play his way back on day two. Three-over on his first round, Lee needed something around par to ensure he would advance to Round 3. He burst out of the blocks with four birdies in his opening five holes in a round of three-under 67 that puts him in a tie for 10th through 36 holes.
The top Asian was KH Lee with 73-68 and he was tied 19th at 1-over. Among other Koreans Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim missed the cut.
-PTI
Slow start for Pranavi on Epson Tour debut
Longwood: India’s Pranavi Urs got off to slow start on her Epson Tour debut as she shot two-over 73 to be placed tied 78th after the opening round of the IOA Golf Classic tournament here.
Pranavi, who topped her home Tour, the Hero Women’s Pro Tour last year, recently qualified for the Asian Games.
She had four birdies, but she also dropped two double bogeys and two bogeys.
India’s other player in the field -- Nishtha Madan had two birdies, a bogey and a double bogey in her one-over 72 and was T-59.
The first round saw an hour and 40-minute weather delay and Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol, playing in her first Epson Tour event, made a mark in her first 18 holes as the 21-year-old had four birdies on her front nine and five birdies on back nine for a bogey-free 62 (-9).
Jessica Peng will be one of the players at 66 (-5) trying to chase down Yubol.
Roberta Liti is another player who finished her round at 66. Jenny Coleman is also five-under but has one hole left.
-PTI
Dagar lone Indian to complete Round 1 on weather-hit day in USA
West Palm Beach: Diksha Dagar was the lone Indian to complete her first round on a weather-hit first day at the Aramco Team Series - Florida on Saturday.
Play was later suspended with more than 35 players yet to complete their first round.
Dagar, who had two birdies against three bogeys, shot 1-over 73 on a difficult day, when only 10 players among those who had completed their first round came under par.
Dagar, who birdied third and 12th holes, was tied-19th on a tough day for scoring.
Spain’s Nuria Iturrioz fired a five-under-par 67 to top the individual leader board. Iturrioz had an eventful round with six birdies and an eagle against one bogey and one double bogey.
Of the other four Indians, the current leader on Order of Merit rankings, Aditi Ashok, who has one win this season, was T-33 at 2-over after 13 holes.
Amandeep Drall was 5-over after 14 and Vani Kapoor was 5-over after 13 holes. Aditi had two bogeys against four bogeys.
Amandeep Drall was hit by a double and she had five bogeys and two birdies, while Vani had just one birdie against six bogeys.
Most of players from the morning wave had completed their round when play was suspended due to an electrical storm and lightning risk in the area.
After nearly two hours of no play, the teams returned to the golf course, but play was suspended again due to bad light with 13 teams left to complete their round.
In the individual segment, it was a great day for Iturrioz, who fired a round of 67 (-5) which included an eagle, six birdies, a bogey and a double bogey.
On the individual leader board, it is Sweden’s Johanna Gustavsson who sits in second place on four-under-par having played 13 holes of her first round.
Two players are tied for third place with Czechia’s Klara Davidson Spilkova and Scotland’s Louise Duncan on three-under-par.
Two-time LET winner Davidson Spilkova only had one dropped shot on her scorecard and was pleased she stayed patient
-PTI
TENNIS
Ashwajit Senjam beat Ajun Rathi to win National series juniors
Ashwajit Senjam sustained his good run and beat Arjun Rathi 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) for the under-18 boys title in the AITA National series junior tennis tournament at the Singha Sports Academy on Saturday.
The girls title was earlier won by Divya Ungrish.
The results:
-Team Sportstar
Sharmada Balu wins doubles title in Tunisia
NEW DELHI: Sharmada Balu in partnership with Elaine Genovese of Malta won the doubles title, beating Louise Kwong and Anna Ulyashchenko 0-6, 6-4, [11-9] in the final of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Monastir, Tunisia, on Saturday.
It was the first doubles title in two years for the 29-year-old Sharmada, and the 17th of her career.
In Curitiba, Brazil, Smriti Bhasin went down fighting in three sets to the second seed Ana Candiotto in the quarterfinals.
The results:
$15,000 ITF men, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Doubles (semifinals): Akram El Sallaly (Egy) & Kris Van Wyk (RSA) bt Yash Chaurasia & Jagmeet Singh 6-4, 6-4; SD Prajwal Dev & Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Ishaque Eqbal & Karan Singh 6-3, 6-1; Quarterfinals: Prajwal & Nitin bt Rishab Agarwal & Ryotaro Matsumura (Jpn) 6-2, 6-1.
$15,000 ITF women, Curitiba, Brazil Singles (quarterfinals): Ana Candiotto (Bra) bt Smriti Bhasin 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia Doubles (final): Sharmada Balu & Elaine Genovese (Mlt) bt Louise Kwong (Can) & Anna Ulyashchenko (USA) 0-6, 6-4, [11-9]; Semifinals: Sharmada & Elaine bt Victoria Mikhaylova & Nina Rudiukova 7-6(1), 6-4.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
WRESTLING
Jaskaran gets selected for U23 World championships
Jaskaran Singh, a bronze medallist at the elite National championship in Visakhapatnam in December last, won the men’s freestyle 65kg under-23 trials for the Asian under-17 and under-23 wrestling championships on Saturday.
A total of 165 wrestlers in freestyle 77 in Greco Roman and 68 in women competed on the concluding day of the selection trials held at Sonepat and Patiala on Saturday.
The selected wrestlers:
U-17: Freestyle: Vinay (92kg), Jaspooran Singh (110kg); Greco Roman: Ramandeep (92kg), Ronak (110kg); Women: Srishti (69kg), Kajal (73kg).
U-23: Freestyle: Shubham (57kg), Mohit Kumar (61kg), Jaskaran Singh (65kg); Greco Roman: Lalit (55kg), Pravin Patil (60kg), Ankit (63kg); Women: Neelam (50kg), Tamanna (53kg), Jyoti (55kg).
-Team Sportstar
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