GOLF
Lahiri to lead strong field at SSP Chawrasia Invitational
Leading names of Indian golf will be seen in action at the Take Sports S.S.P. Chawrasia Invitational, which gets underway here at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club on Wednesday. The big names in the fray include the host S.S.P. Chawrasia along with the stars like Anirban Lahiri, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Rashid Khan, Ajeetesh Sandhu, Viraj Madappa, Veer Ahlawat, Karandeep Kochhar, Chikkarangappa, Udayan Mane. Joining them in action will be Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, who is the current leader in the Tata Steel PGTI ranking, and Manu Gandas, who occupies the second spot in the ranking. Both of them have five title wins apiece this season.
The tournament, which offers a total prize purse of Rs. 1 crore, will feature 126 professional golfers. S.S.P. Chawrasia, who has four World Tour titles and six Asian Tour titles to his credit, is the second Indian professional golfer after Jeev Milkha Singh to have a PGTI event named after him. Chawrasia, who won the Indian Open title twice, also represented India at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and took part in World Cup of Golf in the same year. There is a sizeable international participation with leading golfers from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal making it to the list.
-Amitabha Das Sharma
TENNIS
$25,000 ITF women’s tournament
Wild card Ishwari Matere played a gutsy game, saved eight match points to beat one of the leading players in the country, Riya Bhatia 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-6(12) in the first round of the Balaji Amines $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the District Sports Complex on Tuesday.
Riya missed her chances, as she first led 3-1 in the decider, and then 5-0 in the tie-break. At 6-2 she had four match points and four more slipped her grasp. Ishwari converted her third match point for a memorable victory in three hours and 17 minutes.
Another wild card, Sanjana Sirimalla beat qualifier Jennifer Luikham 6-4, 7-6(5). Sahaja Yamalapalli battled past third wild card Vaishnavi Adkar 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
The results:
Singles (first round): Zeel Desai bt Sharmada Balu 6-4, 6-1; Sahaja Yamalapalli bt Vaishnavi Adkar 6-1, 4-6, 6-4; Ekaterina yashina bt Anastasia Kovaleva 6-3, 2-6, 6-1; Ishwari Matere bt Riya Bhatia 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-6(12); Daria Kudashova bt Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) 6-2, 7-5; Sanjana Sirimalla bt Jennifer Luikham 6-4, 7-6(5).
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ankita Riana & Prarthana Thombare bt Anastasia Kovaleva & Daria Kudashova 6-1, 6-4; Ines Murta (Por) & Vasanti Shinde bt Sharmada Balu & Riya Bhatia 6-3, 6-2; Lexie Stevens (Ned) & Valeriya Strakhova (Ukr) bt Yvonne Cavalle-Reimers (Esp) & Teja Tirunelveli 6-4, 6-4; Shrivalli Bhamidipaty & Vaidehi chaudhari bt Vaishnavi Adkar & Rutuja Bhosale 6-3, 2-6, [10-6]; Pooja Ingale & Ishwari Matere bt Jostana Madane & Pragati Solankar 6-1, 6-1; Mananchaya Sawangkaew & Lanlana Tararudee (Tha) bt Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) & Conny Perrin (Sui) 6-4, 4-6, [11-9]; Sravya Shivani & Jennifer Luikham bt Soha Sadiq & Sahaja Yamalapalli 7-5, 6-4; Pristine Nugroho (Ina) & Ekaterina Yashina bt Smriti Bhasin & Sai Samhitha 6-2, 6-3.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
SQUASH
Amarya Bajaj knocked out top seed Ruan Tadanki 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 8-11, 11-9 in the under-11 boys pre-quarterfinals of the IndusInd Bank Northern India squash championship at the Delhi Gymkhana Club on Tuesday.
The results (pre-quarterfinals):
Under-19 boys: Aarav Gill bt Abhyuday Singh 11-6, 11-5, 11-5; Rajasmin Sharma bt Rachit Shaliya 8-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8; Ajay Rathee bt Sunil Kumar 6-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-7; Lakshya Gwala bt Dharmendra Singh 11-6, 16-14, 11-5; Aditya Bhandari bt Prithvi Yadav 11-7, 11-8, 7-11, 8-11, 11-7.
Under-15 boys: Yusha Nafees bt Dhruv Kesar 11-4, 11-3, 11-2; Arjun Morey bt Yuvaditya Jain 11-3, 11-3, 4-11, 11-2; Ahaan Bera bt Kavanpal Kohli 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6; Subhash Choudhary bt Rayansh Gupta 11-8, 11-3, 11-8.
Under-13 boys: Rohan Kejriwal bt Neil Gupta 11-7, 11-9, 11-9; Aryan Kapoor bt Agam Singh 8-11, 11-4, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7; Anamay Rungta bt Amar Talwar 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5.
Under-11 boys: Amarya Bajaj bt Ruan Tadanki 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 8-11, 11-9; Dhairya Gogia bt Kayann Bansal 11-1, 11-2, 11-3; Vihaan Chandhok bt Arnav Jain 11-13, 11-6, 11-9, 10-12, 11-5; Viaan Khemani bt Ikbir Sidhu 11-2, 11-3, 11-4; Aadi Ponwal bt Neil Aggarwal 10-12, 11-4, 11-7, 11-7; Abhyuday Arora bt Rishaan Jhanji 11-1, 11-4, 11-3; Aaditya Shah bt Prabhav Bajoria 11-2, 12-10, 11-6; Dhruv Johri bt Dhruv Rajkannu 11-0, 11-1, 11-0.
HOCKEY
Beighton Cup
Punjab National Bank (PNB), Indian Navy and Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) posted wins in the 124th Beighton Cup hockey tournament at the SAI astroturf ground on Tuesday.
The results: PNB bt BNR Club 6-1; Indian Navy bt Naval Tata Academy 3-0; CAG bt Eastern Railway 4-1.
-Y. B. Sarangi
Comments
SHARE