GOLF
Amateur Nishna cards bogey-free 64 to rise to fourth
Amateur Nishna Patel fired a stunning 6-under 64 to climb to tied fourth position in the second leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour here on Wednesday.
Nishna, who had a disappointing first round of 77, is now 1-over as Hitaashee Bakshi (70) was in lead at 3-under 137 after 36 holes at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club.
Hitaashee, looking for her first win since 2022, shot even par 70 after a first round 67, to remain at 3-under 137. She birdied twice and had two bogeys.
Hitaashee led by two shots over Amandeep Drall (68-71), while Ridhima Dilawari (68-72) was third at even par 130.
The day belonged to Nishna, who after one birdie on the third hole in her first 10 holes, was on fire over the next eight. She birdied 11th and 12th, again had back-to-back gains on 15th and 16th and closed with yet another birdie on the 18th.
Nishna won the first leg in Pune last week and will have to battle it out with Hitaashee, Amandeep and Ridhima as she attempts back-to-back victories.
Tied at fourth alongside Nishna were 2023 Hero Order of Merit winner Sneha Singh (68-73) and Khushi Khanijau (71-70).
The experienced pair of Vani Kapoor (76-69) and Neha Tripathi (71-74) were tied for 10th.
-PTI
Honey Baisoya and Aman Raj top Indians in Asian Tour Q-School
Honey Baisoya returned a second consecutive card of 69 to be tied eighth at the end of the second round Final Stage of the Asian Tour’s Qualifying School.
The Delhi player is among the 16 Indians, who are trying to earn an Asian Tour card for 2024.
Aman Raj, who was off to a superb start on the back nine with a string of seven birdies also dropped four shots between the fifth and seventh and finished with 68 and was Tied-31st at 2-under for two rounds.
Among other Indians, Sunhit Bishnoi (73-69) was at T-34, Khalin Joshi (73-70), Gaurav Singh (71-72) and Yashas Chandra (73-70) were T-45.
Kartik Sharma (72-72) and Rahil Gangjee (73-71) were T-63, Saptak Talwar (72-74) at T-99, Arjun Prasad (69-78) and Pukhraj Singh Gill (69-78) at T-120.
Manu Gandas (72-76) was T-138. Sachin Baisoya, Harshjeet Sethie, Akshay Sharma and Divyanshu Bajaj were further behind and missed the cut.
Korean Jeunghun Wang continued his calm and calculated return to the top of the game by taking the second-round lead.
He shot a four-under-par 68 at Springfield Royal Country Club to lead on 10-under-par, by one from Japan’s Taichi Nabetani – who shot an eight-under-par 63 at Lake View Resort and Golf Club.
-PTI
EQUESTRIAN
National Equestrian Championship (Dressage) to kickstart equestrian season from January 18
The EFI will be conducting the National Equestrian Championship (Dressage) 2024 in Auroville from January 18 to 26. This event will mark the beginning of the Equestrian season as around 100 riders from across India will compete for medals in individual and team events
The anticipation for the championship is at an all time high following India’s highly successful campaign at the Hangzhou Asian Games, where both gold and bronze medals came in the dressage events.
“We have received a good number of entries for the Championship. The interest in sport has grown over the years and the medals won in Hangzhou have only added to the excitement and expectations,” said Col Jaiveer Singh, Secretary General, Equestrian Federation of India (EFI).
There will be seven stages - preliminary, elementary, medium, advanced medium, advanced, Prix St George and Intermediate - I. The scoring would be done on a scale of 1 to 10. Romanov Yuri, a 5-star Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) judge, from Russia is among the six judges to assess the riders.
The dressage event has always interested the viewers where the rider and his horse exhibit pre-determined and well-rehearsed movements.
The rider-horse combo performs in an arena of 20m x 60m, bordered by a low rail which the horse must stay within. The arena has 12 lettered markers placed symmetrically indicating where the movements are to start and where the changes to pace are to occur and where the movements will end.
-Team Sportstar
ARCHERY
Archery national selection trials: Deepika makes a fine comeback
Seasoned archer Deepika Kumari made a fine comeback to claim the top spot in the recurve women’s section after the first phase of the National selection trials for the World Cups, Asia Cups and Paris Olympics.
Deepika, who unsuccessfully tried to return to the Indian side last year after the birth of her daughter and went with her archer husband Atanu Das to Korea for a three-week training stint, topped the chart with 24 points following a system that involved a qualifying round, elimination rounds and round robin matches.
Bhajan Kaur (21), Simranjeet Kaur (18), Ankita Bhakat (17.5) and Sangeeta (13) took the second, third, fourth and fifth places respectively after the end of the phase-1 trials on the Sports Authority of India campus here on Wednesday.
Olympic quota place winner B. Dhiraj was number one with 24 points in the recurve men’s section. He was followed by Parth Salunkhe (20), Tarundeep Rai (20), Pravin Jadhav (19.5) and Atanu (17).
Rishabh Yadav (22) perched atop the compound men’s section. Prathamesh Fuge (20.5), Abhishek Verma (18.5), Rajat Chauhan (17.5) and Ojas Deotale (16.5) were second, third, fourth and fifth respectively.
V. Jyothi Surekha (23.5), Aditi Swami (20.5), Sakshi Chaudhary (16.5), Muskan Kirar (15) and Parneet Kaur (15) were the top five archers in compound women’s category.
The next two selection trials will be held in Pune (February 9 to 16) and Sonepat (March 10-17). Points earned from the three trials will be added to select four archers for World Cup stages 1 and 2 and Asia Cup stages 1 and 2. Performances in the World Cups will also be taken into account for future selection.
-Y.B. Sarangi
TENNIS
Aryan knocks out seventh seed, to play against Loof in pre-quarters
Qualifier Aryan Shah knocked out the seventh seed Orel Kimhi of Israel 6-1, 6-3 in the first round of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the Arera Club courts on Wednesday.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Aryan will play fellow qualifier Thijmen Loof of the Netherlands.
Top seed Oliver Crawford of Britain wriggled out of the clutches of Karan Singh in three sets.
David Pichler of Austria beat eighth seed Mukund Sasikumar after losing the first set in the tie-break.
The results:
Singles (first round): Oliver Crawford (GBR) bt Karan Singh 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-2; Thijmen Loof (Ned) bt Siddhant Banthia 6-2, 7-5; Aryan Shah bt Orel Kimhi (Isr) 6-1, 6-3; Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) bt Jelle Sels (Ned) 6-7(9), 7-6(8), 6-4; Nam Hoang Ly (Vie) bt Ofek Shimanov (Isr) 6-4, 6-3; Siddharth Vishwakarma bt Jiayang Dong (Aus) 6-1, 6-3; Matt Hulme (Aus) bt Giles Husseb (GBR) 7-5, 0-6, 6-3; Manish Sureshkumar bt Madhwin Kamath 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Bogdan Bobrov bt Parth Aggarwal 6-2, 6-4; David Pichler (Aut) bt Mukund Sasikumar 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rishab Agarwal & Tsung-Hao Huang (Tpe) bt M Rifqi Fitriadi (Ina) & Mitsuki Leong (Mas) 6-2, 7-5; Parikshit Somani & Manish Sureshkumar bt Bhavesh Gour & Raghav Jaisinghani 6-3, 6-1.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
ITF Juniors: Indians Rethin, Cahir reach quarters
Rethin Senthil, seeded fourth, and eighth-seeded Cahir Warik of India notched up straight-set wins to move into the quarterfinals of the boys’ singles event of the Central Excise and CGST ITF Junior (J200) event underway at the Bengal Tennis Association complex.
In the pre-quarterfinals on Wednesday, Rethin proved too good for Roshan Santosh of the USA and sailed to a comfortable 6-2, 6-0 win.
Rethin will face seventh-seeded Duje Markovina of Croatia in the quarterfinals.
Warik encountered a tough challenge from Hyeon Seok Seo of Korea but produced the winners at the right moment to win 6-4, 7-6(3). Cahir will meet second-seeded Vojtech Vales of the Czech Republic in the round of eight.
The results:
Boys’ singles (pre-quarterfinals): Nikita Bilozertsev (Ukr) bt Se Hyuk Cho (Kor) 6-1, 6-3, Hikaru Takahashi (Jpn) bt Pham La Hoang Anh (VIE) 6-4, 6-1, Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar (Ind) bt Roshan Santhosh (USA) 6-2, 6-0, Duje Markovina(Cro) bt Roman Kharlamov (Rus) 6-4 (retd), Iliyas Maratuly (Kaz) bt Aradhya Kshitij (Ind) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, Ognjen Milic (Srb) bt Marat Salbiev (Rus) 6-2, 6-2, Cahir Warik (Ind) bt Hyeon Seok Seo (Kor) 6-4, 7-6(3), Vojtech Vales (Cze) bt Eito Komada (Jpn) 6-3, 6-1.
Girls’ singles (pre-quarterfinals): Maayan Laron (Isr) bt Anna Pushkareva (Rus) 6-3, 6-3, Shihomi Li Xuan Leong (Mas) bt Ingkar Dyussebay (Kaz) 6-4, 6-4, Christasha McNeil (USA) bt Rishitha Reddy Basireddy (Ind) 6-2, 6-2, Anastasiya Krymkova (Kaz) bt Rioko Umekuni (Jpn) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, Sara Borkop(Den) bt Jo-Leen Saw (Mas) 7-6(4), 6-4, Daria Shadchneva (Rus) bt Ariana Gogulina (Kaz) 6-3, 6-2, Maria Golovina (Rus) bt Aoi Watanabe (Jpn) 6-0, 4-6, 7-6(3), Maya Iyengar (USA) bt Maya Boonyaaroonnet (Tha) 6-3, 6-3.
-Amitabha Das Sharma
HOCKEY
Gurbux Singh, Vece Paes show support for upcoming Beighton Cup
With the 125th edition of the Beighton Cup all set to begin at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) astroturf ground from Friday, Olympic medallists Gurbux Singh and Vece Paes showed their support for the oldest hockey tournament in the world and hoped for the revival of hockey activities in West Bengal.
Gurbux went down memory lane to take pride in his association with the tournament. “I and Vece are the two of the oldest living players who played in this tournament. I hope and pray the tournament continues for another 500 years,” said Gurbux at a press conference to announce the dates of the event on Wednesday.
“Two hockey stadiums in Salt Lake and Howrah are being built here. I think this will bring more hockey matches to Bengal.”
“Beighton Cup used to be one of the most important tournaments in the calendar,” said Paes, underlining the importance of the event a few decades ago.
Some top players are expected to feature in the tournament this year. A total of 14 outstation teams and six local sides will compete in the event, which will continue until January 28.
-Y. B. Sarangi
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