TENNIS
Chennai Open ATP Challenger: S D Prajwal Dev reaches final qualifying round
S. D. Prajwal Dev was the only Indian to make it out of the first round of qualifying at the Chennai Open ATP Challenger on Sunday after scoring a straight sets win over countryman Abhinav Shanmugam.
Prajwal Dev, seeded 10th in the qualifying draw, won 6-3, 7-5 in one hour and 39 minutes to set up a second-round clash against fourth seed Vadym Ursu, who defeated India’s Manish Sureshkumar 7-6(6), 6-3 in one hour and 49 minutes.
Rethin Pranav, India’s No. 1 Junior and a promising player, made his Challenger Tour debut, putting up a show of fluent stroke play before going down to Evgeny Karlovskiy of Russia 6-4, 7-6(4). Karlovskiy had to save four set points in the second set before winning the match 7-4 in the tie break.
Ursu was joined by the top three seeds – No 1 seed Eric Vanshelboim, No 2 seed Bogdan Bobrov and No 3 seed Kris Van Wyk - in the second and final round of qualifying. It was a good day for the seeds, with 11 of the top 12 seeds winning their first-round matches.
The only exception was eighth seed Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine, of France, who was beaten 6-0, 6-0 by Alexey Zakharov.
The final round of the qualifying draw will take place on Monday along with the first batch of main draw matches.
The results (First round of qualifying)
- Team Sportstar
Polina Kudermetova wins ITF title in Indore
Second seed Polina Kudermetova beat fifth seed Dalila Jakupovic 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the final of the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Indore Tennis Club on Sunday.
It was the ninth singles title in the professional circuit for the 20-year-old Kudermetova.
- Team Sportstar
Asian U-16 tournament: Double delight for Prachi Malik
Prachi Malik won a doubles crown in the Asian under-16 tennis tournament at the Tennis Project in Baliawas on Sunday.
Prachi beat Anandita Upadhyay 6-4, 6-4 in the final for the singles title. She partnered Akansha Ghosh to win the doubles title.
The boys singles title was won by Hruthik Katakam as he outplayed Om Patel for the loss of three games in the final.
Varad Santosh and Ayush Poojary beat the top seeds Prateek Sheoran and Ranvir Singh 10-6 in the super tie-break for the doubles title.
RESULTS (Finals)
- Team Sportstar
GOLF
Avani Prashanth finishes 10th as Chinese Taipei golfer is crowned champion
India’s Avani Prashanth registered her fourth straight under par round with a one-under 71 to sign off tied 10th, her best finish in the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championships in Pattaya on Sunday.
She carded 68-69-71-71 for a total of nine-under 279, but felt she could have done much better.
“I missed a lot of chances, but the positive is that I could still get 9-under without my ‘A’ game. The first 36 holes (7-under) I played great but the last 36 (2-under) was disappointing,” said Avani, who has a busy schedule ahead of her.
Avani, who birdied only one par-5 in four days and missed numerous small putts, was nine shots behind the winner.
Chun-Wei Wu of Chinese Taipei, starting the day four shots clear of the field, overcame a nervy start with two bogeys in the first three holes.
She saw her lead dwindle to as little as one, but birdied twice in the last four holes to hang on for a two-shot win. She carded 67-65-66-72 for 18-under 270 total to become the second player from Chinese Taipei to win the WAAP title, which opens multiple doors for her over the rest of the year.
India’s 15-year-old Saanvi Somu, making her debut at the event, carded a final 75 after dropping a double bogey at the ninth, her closing hole. She had cards of 73-72-75-73 for a creditable 5-over 293 and was tied 48th.
Avani started with a birdie but gave that shot back on the third. She followed it with a string of nine par before picking back-to-back birdies on 13th and the 14th.
Over the next four holes, she missed at least three makeable putts, two of them for birdies and bogeyed the last.
“I just could not make the putts, didn’t convert the chances I created,” said Avani, who will now play in Kenya and two big amateur events in Sage Valley and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in the US.
The winner Wu’s rewards include berths into three Majors -- the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, the Amundi Evian Championship in France, and the Chevron Championship in the United States of America.
Apart from the Rae-Vadee T Suwan Champion’s Medal, she will also receive invitations to the Hana Financial Group Championship, the ISPS HANDA Women’s Australian Open, the 121st Women’s Amateur Championship and the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
“Incredible! This is the first time I’ve won a big tournament,” said Wu, whose 72-hole aggregate of 18-under 270 was two strokes clear of runner-up Lee Hyo-song, the 15-year-old Korean.
- PTI
MORE SPORTS
SFA Schools championships
The SFA Schools champion team, Noida Educational Academy. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Anika Gupta of Springdales School, Dhaula Kuan, and Harsh Kumar of Manava Bhawna Public School, Nathupura, emerged the golden girl and golden boy in the Sports For All (SFA) schools championship that concluded on Sunday.
Anika won two gold medals each in chess and carrom in winning the award. Harsh won two gold medals each in athletics and kho kho.
Noida Educational Academy was declared the overall team champion with 119 points. Pathways World School, Gurugram, and Manava Bhawna Public School, Nathupura, finished second and third respectively with 112 and 111 points respectively.
The inaugural edition of the SFA championships in the National Capital Region (NCR) featured about 6200 students. They were competing in athletics, badminton, basketball, carrom, chess, football, kabaddi, karate, kho kho, shooting, squash, skating, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball and yogasana.
- Team Sportstar
FOOTBALL
SAT shocks Kerala United, KSEB blanks Wayanad United
Former champion KSEB blanked Wayanad United FC 3-0 in the super six stage of the Scoreline Kerala Premier League football at the Jawahar Municipal Stadium here on Sunday.
It was KSEB’s first win in the super six stage and with that, the team opened its account in the points table. The big loss should be a setback for Wayanad United, which is currently fourth in the points table with four points from four matches, while KSEB is in the next rung with three points.
Meanwhile Tirur’s SAT, which was at the bottom of the table, also opened its account with a shocking 2-1 victory over defending champion Kerala United FC. Substitute Mohammed Yasin scored the match-winner in the third minute of injury time. He had come in 12 minutes earlier.
Despite the loss, Kerala United continues to stay in the third spot with six points.
The top four teams from the super six enter the semifinals.
The result:
KSEB 3 (John Paul 75, Nijo Gilbert 78, J. Sreeraj 81) bt Wayanad United FC 0.
SAT, Tirur 2 (E.K. Muhammed Thasleem 68, V.N. Mohammed Yasin 90+3) bt Kerala United FC 1 (William Lalnunfela 78-p).
-Stan Rayan
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