Indian sports news wrap, February 15

Here are all the updates, results and developments from the world of Indian sports on February 15.

FILE PHOTO: Rahil Gangjee hits his tee shot during the Asian Tour TAKE Solutions Masters golf championship. | Photo Credit: SAMPATH KUMAR GP

GOLF

Rahil Gangjee takes two-shot lead in round three of PGTI Players C’ship

Bengaluru-based Rahil Gangjee struck the day’s joint-lowest score of six-under 64 in the third round to storm into a two-shot lead at the Rs 1 crore TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship here on Thursday.

Gangjee (65-65-64) produced a second straight bogey-free round to move up one spot from his overnight tied second spot with a total of 16-under 194.

Manu Gandas (65-67-64), the 2022 PGTI Ranking champion, overnight leader Arjun Prasad (62-65-69) and Saptak Talwar (66-65-65) were tied for second place at 14-under 196.

-PTI

Diksha and Aditi in danger of missing cut in Saudi

Riyadh, Feb 15 (PTI) Indian golfers Diksha Dagar and Aditi Ashok struggled at the Aramco Team Series Saudi as they shot 4-over 76 and 6-over 78 respectively in the opening round here on Thursday.

Diksha and Aditi were in danger of missing the cut at the event, as they were T-72 and T-99 respectively.

Diksha had just one birdie against three bogeys and a double bogey, while Aditi had no birdies against four bogeys and a double bogey.

Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit (66) led the field with South African Paula Reto (67) one shot behind.

- PTI

Ahlawat enjoys share lead, Bhullar in danger of missing cut in Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 15 (PTI) Indian golfer Veer Ahlawat, looking for his maiden win, shot 9-under 62 and shared the lead with Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond after the first-round of the USD 1 million IRS Prima Malaysian Open here on Thursday.

Canadian Richard T Lee fired 63, while Malaysians Gavin Green and Khavish Varadan shot 64 each at The Mines Resort and Golf Club in the Asian Tour’s first event of the year.

Other Indian players had mixed luck.

Karandeep Kochhar and Ajeetesh Sandhu shot 3-under 68 each and were T-37, while SSP Chawrasia and S Chikkarangappa carded 2-under 69 to be T-58 and Yuvraj Sandhu and Honey Baisoya, with 1-under 70 each, were T-80.

Rashid Khan (71) was T-99 and Jeev Milkha Singh (72) was T-112.

India’s leading title winner on Asia Tour, Gaganjeet Bhullar (74) faced the danger of missing the cut at T-134.

Ahlawat had 10 birdies and dropped his only shot of the day on 18.

“Really solid round, I drove the ball well and hit some really good second shots. Hitting them to seven, eight feet and holing them. Just dropped that shot on 18, where I got the wind direction wrong,” Ahlawat said.

He played his first full season on the Asian Tour in 2022, when he finished equal fifth in the Singapore Open, which remains his best result till date.

“My game has been feeling very good, just like my putting has been very good,” he said.

“I really worked on my body during the break. I tried to gain some yardage and I think I did gain a little bit but not much to be honest. My goal is to finally get a win this year and then have a lot of top 10s.”

- PTI

TENNIS

Ramkumar, Mukund given the wild cards for the Maharashtra Open Challenger 

Ramkumar Ramanathan and S Mukund have been given the wild cards for the Maharashtra Open Challenger tennis tournament to be played at the Balewadi Stadium from Monday.

“We at the Department of Sports are thrilled to support such a huge international event which goes a long way in promoting the image of the Pune Metropolis universally”, said the Commissioner of Sports and Youth Services of Maharashtra Government, Rajesh Deshmukh.

“Organising the Challenger is a continuation of a grand vision of MSLTA for tennis development in Maharashtra”, said the Chairman of MSLTA, Prashant Sutar.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Ramesh Desai U-12 tennis c’ships: Nanda bears second seed Ronnie in boys quaters

Taanissh Nanda outplayed second seed Ronnie Vijaykumar 6-1, 6-0 in the boys quarterfinals of the Ramesh Desai memorial National under-12 tennis championship at the GA Ranade Centre on Thursday.

Top seed Yuvaan Garg overcame a stiff challenge from Nibras Hussain 5-7, 6-2, 6-0.

In the girl’s section, the top four seeds Srishti Kiran, Khushi Kadian, Sarena Gehlot and Padma Rameshkumar made the semifinals.

The results (quarterfinals)

Under-12 boys: Yuvaan Garg bt Nibras Hussain 5-7, 6-2, 6-0; Aarav Chhallani bt Vir Chattur 6-1, 6-0; M Puneet bt Yashvardhan Singh 6-2, 6-4; Taanish Nanda bt Ronnie Vijaykumar 6-1, 6-0.

Under-12 girls: Srishti Kiran bt Parinitha Vattaprambil 6-3, 6-0; Padma Rameshkumar bt Tamanna Nair 6-2, 6-3; Sarena Gehlot bt Eshitha Sriyala 6-2, 6-3; Khushi Kadian bt Srushti Suryavanshi 6-3, 6-4.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

$164,000 Challenger tennis tournament: Reddy-Fognini duo beaten in doubles pre-quarters

Sathi Reddy Chirala in partnership with Fabio Fognini was beaten 6-1, 6-3 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $164,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Manama, Bahrain.

The results

$164,000 Challenger, Manama,, Bahrain Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Marco Bortolotti & Alessandro Giannessi (Ita) bt Sathi Reddy Chirala & Fabio Fognini (Ita) 6-1, 6-3.

$25,000 ITF men, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Tsung-Hao Huang (Tpe) bt Nitin Kumar Sinha 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Mitsuki Leong (Mas) & Niitn Kumar Sinha bt Nikita Ianin & Boris Pokotilov 6-3, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Fausto Tabacco (Ita) bt Chirag Duhan 6-4, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia Singles (first round): Beatrice Ricci (Ita) bt Sandeepti Singh Rao 6-2, 6-2.