Indian Sports News Wrap, December 14

Here are all the major developments in Indian sport on December 14.

Karandeep Kocchar during first round of the S.S.P. Chawrasia Invitational, at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club in Kolkata on Wednesday.

GOLF

Karandeep Kochhar makes flying start in S.S.P. Chawrasia Invitational

Karandeep Kochhar of Chandigarh carded a six-under 66 to get off to a flying start on the opening day of the Tata Steel PGTI’s inaugural S.S.P. Chawrasia Invitational, at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club in Kolkata on Wednesday.

Abhinav Lohan of Gurugram, shot a 67 to occupy second place. Gaganjeet Bhullar hit a 69 to be tied eighth along with Manu Gandas, who is currently placed second in the PGTI Rankings. The current leader in the PGTI rankings, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu was a further shot behind in tied 12th position.

The tournament host S.S.P. Chawrasia, Anirban Lahiri and Ajeetesh Sandhu were tied 19th with matching scores of 71.

Karandeep Kochhar seemed to be riding on the confidence of recently sealing his Asian Tour card for next year and got on a roll after his 30-feet birdie conversion on the 13th. The 23-year-old golfer suffered an initial stutter when he bogeyed the 11th but recovered from it soon to score six birdies, among which two were 15-feet conversions.

Kochhar, currently fifth on the PGTI’s money list, also picked up shots on both the par-5s, 15th and fourth.

- Amitabha Das Sharma

TENNIS

$15k ITF men’s tennis tournament: India No. 1 Sasikumar Mukund reaches second round

Sasikumar Mukund sailed past Kiyan Santino Kasemi of Germany 6-3, 6-0 in the first round of the $15,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on Wednesday.

In a similar tournament in Monastir, Tunisia, Manas Dhamne was beaten in the first round 6-2, 6-4 by qualifier Luka Mikrut of Croatia.

RESULTS

$15,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Singles (first round): Sasikumar Mukund bt Kiyan Santino Kasemi (Ger) 6-3, 6-0.

$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia

Singles (first round): Luka Mikrut (Cro) bt Manas Dhamne 6-2, 6-4.

$15,000 ITF women, Wellington, New Zealand

Singles (first round): Ashmitha Easwaramurthi bt Emma Jane Barclay (Nzl) 6-1, 3-0 (retired).

- Kamesh Srinivasan

SQUASH

Northern India squash championship

Atul Kumar Yadav beat top seed Navaneeth Prabhu 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 in the men’s quarterfinals of the IndusInd Bank Northern India squash championship at the Delhi Gymkhana Club courts on Wednesday.

RESULTS (Quarterfinals)

Men: Atul Kumar Yadav bt Navaneeth Prabhu 8-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7; Prithvi Singh bt Rounak Yadav 11-6, 11-4, 11-7; Gursimar Singh bt Dharmender Wnwal 11-3, 11-9, 11-5; Ranjit Singh bt Vedant Patel 11-5, 11-8, 6-11, 14-12.

Women: Sanika Choudhari bt Priyanka Choudhary 11-9, 11-1, 11-2; Ananya Pandey bt Sukita Ranigrahi 9-11, 11-1, 11-5, 11-9; Khushi Puranik bt Mansha Malhotra 11-0, 11-2, 11-5; Tanvi Khanna bt Chitrangda Goel 11-4, 11-2, 11-2.

Boys: Under-19: Aarav Gill bt Rajasmin Sharma 11-7, 11-8, 11-2; Abhishek Yadav bt Ajay Rathee 11-6, 12-10, 10-12, 11-9; Lakshya Gwala bt Aditya Bhandari 11-5, 11-6, 11-6; Aryan Pratap Singh bt Ansh Tripathi 11-3, 12-10, 12-10.

Under-17: Karan Yadav bt Kavin Sood 11-6, 3-11, 11-9; Arihant KS bt Raj Yadav 11-5, 11-1, 11-5; Adhish Kancharla bt Priyanshu Kumar 11-4, 11-9, 14-12; Aryaveer Dewan bt Aditya Prakash 11-1, 11-4, 11-2.

Under-15: Yusha Nafees bt Aarav Patel 11-5, 11-6, 11-3; Siddhant Sharma bt Parthvir Singh 11-7, 11-4, 11-2; Savir Sood bt Arjun Morey 11-6, 11-5, 10-12, 4-11, 11-7; Subhash Choudhary bt Ahaan Bera 11-4, 11-4, 11-3.

Under-13: Rohan Kejriwal bt Niel Gupta 11-7, 11-6, 11-4; Abhinav Tomer bt Harshal Rana 11-1, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8; Shresht Iyer bt Aryan Kapoor 11-8, 11-8, 11-1; Rudra Pathania bt Anamay Rungta 11-0, 11-2, 11-6.

Under-11: Amarya Bajaj bt Dhairya Gogia 11-8, 11-5, 11-6; Vihaan Chandhok bt Viaan Khemani 11-7, 7-11, 12-10, 16-18, 11-8; Abhyuday Arora bt Aadi Porwal 11-2, 11-8, 11-6; Dhruv Johri bt Aaditya Shah 11-1, 11-6, 11-7.

Girls: Under-15: Aradhya Porwal bt Garima Nagar 11-7, 11-3, 11-4; Aishni Pathak bt Prisha Rana 11-3, 11-7, 12-10; Kaashvi Mangal bt Kavya Sood 11-5, 12-10, 12-10; Sanvi Batar bt Devashree Arora 11-6, 11-1, 11-3.

Under-13: Aroma bt Ada Gupta 11-1, 11-4, 11-2; Gauri Jaiswal bt Maira Ghosh 11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5; Anya Sood bt Sia Pandita 11-4, 11-5, 11-6; Bria Sharma bt Aahana Singh 11-5, 11-4, 10-12, 11-4.

Under-11: Chhavi Panchal bt Jerusha Jebindran 11-1, 11-3, 11-5; Sanaita Singh bt Aradhana Singh 11-4, 12-10, 11-5; Manya Sanghavi bt Swara Trehan 11-4, 11-7, 14-12; Divyanshi Jain bt Tarini Mirdha 11-9, 12-10, 11-8.

- Kamesh Srinivasan