September 6, Indian sports news wrap: Amateurs Kriti, Vidhatri share lead with Pranavi on Hero WPGT 12th leg day one

Here are all the major developments from Indian sports on September 6, 2022.

Representative Image: Amateurs Kriti Chowhan and Vidhatri Urs shared the opening day honours with Pranavi Urs in the 12th Leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour in Hyderabad. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

GOLF

Women’s Professional Golf Tour, 12th leg: Amateurs Kriti, Vidhatri share lead with Pranavi after opening round

Amateurs Kriti Chowhan and Vidhatri Urs hogged the limelight as they shared the opening day honours with Pranavi Urs in the 12th Leg of the Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

The trio shot 2-under 68 each and held a one-shot advantage over Anisha Agarwalla (69) at the Hyderabad Golf Association course.

There was another indication of the growing strength in women's golf as yet another amateur, Keerthana R Nair was tied fifth alongside Seher Atwal with a round of even par 70.

The Jaipur-based Kriti, daughter of an Army officer, has played frequently on the Hero Women's Pro Tour and even finished in Top-3 overall in 2021.

She was the runner-up at the All India Ladies Amateurs in November 2021, where she lost to India's top amateur Avani Prashanth in the final.

Kriti also took part in the Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship in Abu Dhabi in 2021. She has finished consistently well on the domestic Tour but of late wins have eluded her.

Kriti made ample use of the morning conditions and had five birdies against three bogeys, two of them on fourth and fifth, which played rather difficult.

The highlight of the round was a hat-trick of birdies from sixth to eighth, immediately after the back-to-back bogeys. She dropped a late bogey on Par-4 18th.

Kriti was the clubhouse leader and she was later joined by Pranavi and then Vidhatri, a cousin of this season's four-time winner Pranavi.

The leader on the Hero Order of Merit, Pranavi had four birdies in her first eight holes, but also dropped shots on fourth and fifth.

She turned in 2-under 34. She began the back nine in style with an eagle on Par-5 10th, but dropped a double bogey on Par-4 15th and finished with 68.

Vidhatri, who has been steadily improving her game, had four birdies against two bogeys.

Anisha Agarwalla had one of her best rounds in recent weeks with a 69 that included five birdies and four bogeys.

Amateur Heena Kang and Gauri Karhade tied for seventh with scores of 71 each, while last week's winner Hitaashee Bakshi, Ishvari Prasanna and Shweta Mansingh were tied ninth with 72 each.

Sneha Singh had a rough day in her hometown with a round of 73 and Jahanvi Bakshi shot 79.

- PTI

TENNIS

Prajnesh reaches second round of Challenger event in Thailand

Prajjnesh Gunneswaran sailed past Yuttana Charoenphon of Thailand 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of the $37,520 Challenger tennis tournament in Nonthaburi, Thailand.

RESULTS

$37,520 Challenger, Nonthaburi, Thailand

Singles (first round): Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Yuttana Charoenphon (Tha) 6-1, 6-2.

$25,000 ITF men, Cairo, Egypt

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Biagio Gramaticopolo & Giuseppe Tresca (Ita) bt Antonio Mazzeo (Ita) & Ritabrata Sarkar 6-1, 6-3; Remy Bertola (Sui) & Lorenzo Rottoli (Ita) bt Lazar Vojinovic (Srb) & Anurag Agarwal 6-4, 7-6(3).

$15,000 ITF men, Madrid, Spain

Singles (first round): Digvijay Pratap Singh bt Miguel Avendano Cadena (Esp) 6-4, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia

Singles (first round): Rishab Agarwal bt Bruno Kuzuhara (US) 6-7(10), 6-3, 7-5.

$25,000 ITF women, Cairo, Egypt

Singles (first round): Mayuka Aikawa (Jpn) bt Sanjana Sirimalla 6-0, 6-1.

$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia

Singles (first round): Wei Sijia (Chn) bt Smriti Bhasin 6-0, 6-0; Samira De Stefano (Ita) bt Jennifer Luikham 6-2, 6-2.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

AITA events

Dhananjay Singh bt seventh seed Chandril Sood 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(2) in the pre-quarterfinals of the Verka Rs.100,000 AITA men’s tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex in New Delhi on Tuesday.

In the quarterfinals, Dhananjay will challenge the top seed Ishaque Eqbal who eased past Amit Bzad for the loss of one game.

In the Rs.100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament, Rachita Talwar beat Sanjami Arora 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal against second seed Vanshika Choudhary at the Joygaon Academy in Jhajjar.

Vanshika beat Riya Sachdeva 6-4, 6-3. Kashish Bhatia, Kavya Kkhirwar, Sahira Singh, Riya Uboveja, Shimreen Ahamed and Hitakamya Singh Narwal were the others to make the quarterfinals.

RESULTS

AITA men’s tournament

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Ishaque Eqbal bt Amit Bzad 6-1, 6-0; Dhananjay Singh bt Chandril Sood 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(2); Neeraj Yashpaul bt Shubham Malhotra 6-2, 6-4; Maan Kesarwani bt Anuj Malik 6-4, 6-2; Suraj Prabodh bt Shivank Bhatnagar 6-1, 4-6, 6-1; Sarthak Suden bt Parth Aggarwal 7-6(6), 5-2 (conceded); KS Siddharth Arya bt Ayush Gurnani 6-3, 6-3; Dalwinder Singh bt Lakshit Sood 6-0, 3-0 (conceded).

AITA women’s tournament

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Kashish Bhatia bt Bhumika Rohilla 6-0, 6-3; Kavya Khirwar bt Shireen Ahamed 6-2, 6-2; Sahira Singh bt Gnana Ashwitha Boyanapallli 6-2, 6-1; Riya Uboveja bt Abhilasha Bista 6-0, 6-4; Shimreen Ahamed bt Tanushri Pandey 6-0, 7-5; Hitakamya Singh Narwal bt Ananya Dhankhar 6-1, 6-0; Rachita Talwar bt Sanjami Arora 5-7, 6-2, 6-1; Vanshika Choudhary bt Riya Sachdeva 6-4, 6-3.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

BADMINTON

Karnataka, Tamil Nadu triumph in South Zone Inter-State championships

There’s a sparkling new bunch in Tamil Nadu badminton with promising names like Sankar Muthusamy, Shreya Balaji and N. Srinidhi. This group helped Tamil Nadu win its maiden junior mixed team title in the Yonex Sunrise South Zone inter-State badminton championships at the St. Peter’s Sports Academy here on Tuesday night.

Sankar, the junior World No. 3, opened the tie with an effortless victory over T.S. Harshan as TN defeated Andhra Pradesh 3-1. A little later, Karnataka brushed aside Andhra Pradesh 3-0 to regain the senior team title some five years.

“We’ve not had such a talented bunch in a very long time. And we expected to win this time because we have three players – Sankar, Shreya and Srinidhi – who will be playing the junior World championships this year,” said TN coach Arvindan Swamiappan who also coaches Sankar.

Even the injury to Rakshitha Sree, which forced her to retire midway through the third game in the women’s singles, did not hurt TN badly as the boys and girls doubles pairs rose to the occasion nicely.

With Andhra’s Surya Charishma Tamiri playing in both the junior and senior finals, Karnataka’s job was made easier in the senior trophy-decider.

The results (mixed team event, finals):

Senior final: Karnataka bt Andhra Pradesh 3-0 (D.S. Saneeth bt Sai Charan Koya 21-17, 21-18; Drithi Yatheesh bt Surya Charishma Tamiri 21-14, 14-21, 21-18; H.V. Nithin & K. Sai Pratheek bt D. Chandra Kumar & Varaprasad Kanakala 22-20, 21-18). Semifinal: Karnataka bt Tamil Nadu 3-2.

Junior final: Tamil Nadu bt Andhra Pradesh 3-1 (Sankar Muthusamy bt T.S. Harshan 21-7, 21-3; S. Rakshitha Sree lost to Surya Charishma Tamiri 19-21, 21-10, 8-13 (retd, injury); Dev Ayyappan & Dhiren Ayyappan bt Bhargav Ram Arigela & Viswa Tej Gobburu 21-15, 21-12; Shreya Balaji & N. Srinidhi bt Akanksha Matte & Rashmitha Donepudi 21-14, 21-18).

Semifinals: Andhra Pradesh bt Telangana 3-0, TN bt Karnataka 3-0.

-Stan Rayan