ITF Juniors
Top seed Kriish Tyagi played an inspired game to outwit Hitesh Chauhan 6-1, 6-3 in the semifinals of the ITF grade-4 junior tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Friday.
In the final, Kriish will play Hanu Patel who outplayed Deep Munim for the loss of two games.
In the girls section, top seed Sonal Patil will play fourth seed Margot Phanthala of France in the final.
Sonal gave herself a chance for a double, as she won the doubles title with Lidia Podgorichani of Thailand.
The boys doubles title was bagged by Dhananjay Athreya and Deep Munim.
THE RESULTS
- Kamesh Srinivasan
ITF men’s tournament
Two-time national champion Niki Poonacha sailed past Ryuki Matsuda of Japan 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the BSP Tennis Complex on Friday.
In the semifinals, Niki will play compatriot Karan Singh who continued with his forceful game in outplaying former national champion Dalwinder Singh for the loss of three games.
The other semifinal will be between top seed Vladyslav Orlov of Ukraine and Ryotaro Matsumura of Japan.
THE RESULTS
- Kamesh Srinivasan
AITA women’s tournament
Third seed Sandeepti Singh Rao beat top seed Himaanshika Singh 6-1, 6-2 in the final of the Rs.100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, on Friday.
Sandeepti, a trainee of coach Ankit Patel, had dropped only one set along the way, to Sachi Sharma, for a dominant performance in the tournament.
- Kamesh Srinivasan
Ankita Raina makes progress in Australia
Ankita Raina made the singles quarterfinals and doubles semifinals in the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Traralgon, Australia, on Friday.
She beat Michika Ozeki of Japan 6-0, 6-2 in the singles pre-quarterfinals.Seeded No.1 with Priska Nugroho in doubles, Ankita and partner pipped the Nayar sisters Anja and Sara of Australia, 10-8 in the super tie-break of the quarterfinals.
In the $25,000 UTR Pro women’s event in Dubai, Farhat Aleen Qamar lost her last league match to Anna Ureke 2-6, 1-6. After a three way tie with Farhat Aleen and Isabelle Kouzmanov, Anna progressed to the semifinals on better games win-loss average. Sai Samhitha finished second in her group to qualify for the fifth-eighth play-off. Aleen will have a play-off for the ninth to 12th placings. Humera and Akanksha finished fifth in their respective groups and will have a play-off for the 17th to 20th spots.
The results:
$106,240 Challenger, Temuco, Chile Doubles (quarterfinals):
Luis David Martinez (Ven) & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Nicolas Bruna (Chi) & Joao Domingues (Por) 6-1, 6-4.
$25,000 ITF women, Traralgon, Australia
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Ankita Raina bt Michika Ozeki (Jpn) 6-0, 6-2; Destanee Aiava (Aus) bt Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-0, 6-2.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Priska Nugroho (Ina) & Ankita Raina bt Anja Nayar & Sara Nayar (Aus) 6-1, 3-6, [10-8].
$15,000 ITF women, Nairobi, Kenya
Doubles (semifinals): Sabastiani Leon (USA) & Sharmada Balu bt Celine Simunyu (Irl) & Sravya Shivani 6-3, 3-1 (retired).
Quarterfinals: Sabastiani & Sharmada bt Valery Gynina (Rus) & Divine Nweke (Ngr) 7-6(6), 6-2; Celine & Sravya bt Anushka Ashar & Prisha Vyas (USA) 6-2, 6-1; Angella Okutoyi (Ken) & Smriti Bhasin bt Emma Tothova (Svk) & Sevil Yuldasheva (Uzb) 6-2, 6-4.
$25,000 UTR Pro women, Dubai, UAE
Group-A: Eva Busaad (Bul) bt Akanksha Nitture 6-2, 6-1; Group-B: Melissa Boyden (Ned) bt Humera Baharmus 6-4, 6-1; Group-D: Anna Ureke (Rus) bt Farhat Aleen Qamar 6-2, 6-1.
GOLF
Om Prakash Chouhan matches course record of 63 to zoom to the top at the halfway stage
Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow matched Manu Gandas’ course record of nine-under 63 from round one to gain three spots to take a two-shot lead at a total of 15-under 129 after second round of the Dream Valley Group Vooty Masters golf championship at Vooty Golf County in Vikarabad on Friday.
Om Prakash, a winner on the PGTI this year and currently placed sixth on the PGTI Order of Merit, enjoyed an even better back-nine picking up five birdies including three where he made some terrific up and downs from the bunker.
“Every aspect of my game was sharper today as compared to round one, especially my second shots and bunker shots. I changed my driver and 3-wood last week as I felt that I wasn’t hitting it that well. The new clubs have helped me improve both my distance and accuracy off the tee,” Om Prakash said.
Om Prakash Chouhan | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“I felt the rhythm after the good par-save on the 10th. Then the 15-feet eagle conversion on the 12th got my putter going. This is a new golf course for all the players including myself so I utilized the practice round and the Pro-Am round before the event really well. That eventually helped me a lot in planning my game, he explained.”
Manu Gandas, the first round leader, slipped into second place at 13-under 131 after posting a 68 on day two.
Chandigarh’s Angad Cheema (67), who was overnight tied second, ended the second round in third place at 12-under 132.
The cut came down at one-under 143 and 50 professionals and one amateur made the cut to make it to the money rounds over the weekend.
Om Prakash Chouhan (66-63) had early jitters as he saved par from the bunker on the 10th, his first hole of the day. The 36-year-old, who is a seven-time winner on the PGTI, then made his first move of the day with a 15-feet eagle conversion on the 12th. Chouhan built on the momentum with his birdie on the 15th where he drove the par-4 green. Another good par save from the bunker followed on the 16th before he picked up a birdie on the 18th.
Noida’s Gaurav Pratap Singh (65) was placed fourth at 10-under 134.
PGTI Order of Merit leader and five-time winner this season Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (71), was tied 12th at six-under 138 and Ajeetesh Sandhu (69), one of the pre-event favourites, was tied 17th at five-under 139.
- Team Sportstar
Diksha Dagar lie 1-under after two rounds in Costa del Sol in Spain
India’s Diksha Dagar birdied her final hole on the second day to register one-under 72 at the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España golf tournament here.
Diksha, who shot 73 in the first round is one-under for 36 holes and lying tied 35th even as the second round was still in progress.
Vani Kapoor, who shot one-over 74 in the first round was three-over through 17 holes and trailing way back while Amandeep Drall, runner-up at the Hero Women’s Indian Open, was even further behind at six-over with three holes left in second round.
She had 76 in the first round.
Starting from the back stretch of the courses, which began on the 11th, Diksha birdied 12th and 13th and had pars till she dropped a shot on the second.
A birdie followed on third but back-to-back bogeys saw her drop to even par.
A birdie on the 10th, which was her closing hole, saw her back to red numbers. Spanish amateur Cayetana Fernandez had rounds of 70-65 and was 11-under to enjoy the lead.
-PTI
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