Indian sports news wrap, December 20

Here are all the major updates, results and developments from the world of Indian sports on December 20.

Indian tennis player Rutuja Bhosale. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

TENNIS

Rutuja bounces back to beat Sravya

Rutuja Bhosale bounced back from a slow start to beat qualifier Sravya Shivani 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the MSLTA Centre on Wednesday.

In the pre-quarterfinals, Rutuja will play Daria Kudashova.

Shrivalli Bhamidipaty cruised past Misaki Matsuda of Japan and set up a second round against second seed Ekaterina Makarova.

Pranjala Yadlapalli went down in three sets to qualifier Ekaterina Kazionova.

THE RESULTS

Singles (first round): Maria Timofeeva bt Humera Baharmus 6-4, 6-1; Madhurima Sawant bt Saumya Vig 6-2, 6-3; Sahaja Yamalapalli bt Smriti Bhasin 6-2, 6-2; Vicky Van De Peer (Bel) bt Ayano Shimizu (Jpn) 6-2, 6-2; Daria Kudashova bt Elena Jamshidi (Den) 6-1, 6-3; Rutuja Bhosale bt Sravya Shivani 3-6, 6-4, 6-1; Daria Marcinkevica (Lat) bt Honoka Kobayashi (Jpn) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4; Ekaterina Kazionova bt Pranjala Yadlapalli 6-3, 3-6, 6-1; Shrivalli Bhamidipaty bt Misaki Matsuda (Jpn) 6-2, 6-1; Ekaterina Makarova bt Funa Kozaki (Jpn) 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Funa Kozaki & Misaki Matsuda (Jpn) bt Honoka Kobayashi (Jpn) & Vicky Van De Peer (Bel) 6-1, 6-2; Hiromi Abe & Saki Imamura (Jpn) bt Sai Samhitha & Soha Sadiq 6-1, 6-0.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

Tanushri overcomes resistance from Ananya

Top seed Tanushri Pandey overcame stiff resistance from Ananya Dhankhar 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Rs. 100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Wednesday.

In the semifinals, Tanushri will play the champion of the last tournament at the same venue, Chandana Potugari.

The other semifinal will be between second seed Samaira Malik fifth seed Pavithra Reddy both of whom had to endure three setters against Snigdha Patibandlaand Ritu Rai respectively.

THE RESULTS (QUATERFINALS)

Tanushri Pandey bt Ananya Dhankhar 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2; Chandana Potugari bt Durganshi Kumar 6-2, 6-3; Pavithra Reddy bt Ritu Rai 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; Samaira Malik bt Snigdha Patibandla 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

SHOOTING

National selection trials: Rhythm Sangwan beats Manu Bhaker

Swapnil Kusale, topper Akhil Sheoran, Chain Singh in rifle 3-position event in the National shooting trials in Delhi on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Rhythm Sangwan beat qualification topper and Olympic quota winner Manu Bhaker 38-37 in the women’s 25-metre sports pistol event in the National shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Wednesday.

After six series of five shots, Rhythm had taken a two point lead over Manu. Thereafter, it was a tough contest, and Manu could only bridge the gap by one point in the next four series.

Simranpreet Kaur Brar placed third ahead of multiple World Cup gold medallist Rahi Sarnobat, Jaspreet Kaur, Neha, TS Divya and Shital Preetam Desai.

In the second trial of women’s air rifle, Ramita Jindal prevailed yet again as she beat Narmada Nithin by 0.9 point for the top spot. Ramita shot 10.6 on the last, to 10.0 by Narmada. Nancy who had shot a commendable 634.0 in qualification placed third ahead of Elavenil Valarivan, Shruti, NIsha Kanwar, Olympic quota winner Shriyanka Sadangi and qualification topper Sonam Maskar (634.5).

In the men’s rifle 3-position event, it was the turn of World Cup gold medallist and Olympic quota winner, Akhil Sheoran to top the field ahead of the other Olympic quota winner Swapnil Kusale by 1.4 point.

Both had qualified strongly with 592 and 591 which should augur well for the Olympic preparation.

Olympian Chain Singh placed third, while NIraj Kumar, Adriyan Karmakar, Nishan Budha, Ganga Singh finished fourth to seventh respectively. Rishi Gireesh made the final with 587, but opted to skip it.

THE RESULTS

10m air rifle: Women: 1. Ramita Jindal 252.0 (631.8); 2. Narmada Nithin 251.1 (631.6); 3. Nancy 230.4 (634.0).

25m sports pistol: Women: 1. Rhythm Sangwan 38 (580); 2. Manu Bhaker 37 (589); 3. Simranpreet Kaur Brar 30 (578).

50m rifle 3-position: 1. Akhil Sheoran 465.2 (592); 2. Swapnil Kusale 463.8 (591); 3. Chain Singh 451.6 (585).

- Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Pranavi lies 11th as four Indians make 72-hole cut at Final Stage of Ladies European Tour

Pranavi Urs, at tied-11th, led four Indians in the race for the full card on the Ladies European Tour for 2024 after four rounds of the five-day Final Stage of the Qualifying School golf tournament on Wednesday.

Pranavi shot 74, while Neha Tripathi (73) was T-36th, Vani Kapoor (76) T-46th and Amandeep Drall (75) T-56th.

With the top-65 and ties qualifying for the fifth and final round, the other eight Indians missed the cut.

Those who missed the cut were Ridhima Dilawari (74-72-72-77) at T-88, Avani Prashanth (76-71-72-77) and Tvesa Malik (74-70-77-75) at T-88, Jasmine Shekar (75-74-75-75) at T-112, Sneha Singh (83-72-76-76) at T-144, Seher Atwal (77-73-78-81) at 146, Ananya Datar (80-79-76-79) at 148 and Durga Nittur (80-81-76-83) at 150.

After three solid rounds, Pranavi seemed to falter in the fourth round but she managed to hold on to a 74 despite two double bogeys. She had five birdies, three bogeys and two doubles in her round.

Neha had two birdies in her first four holes and two more in last three but in between she dropped four shots in her round of even par 73 at the Par-73 Al Maaden Golf Club.

The Top-20 and ties after the fifth round will earn a Category card, which will give the players most of the starts, while those between 21st and 50th and ties will get status in Category 16 with limited starts. Those in the third group, Category 19, will get even fewer starts.

Russia’s Nataliya Guseva held a two-shot lead at the end of the fourth day of the Final Stage of Lalla Aicha Q-School.

- PTI