GOLF
Amateur Avani best Indian at 35th place in Singapore Ladies Masters
Amateur golfer Avani Prashanth, who received a special sponsor’s invite, was the best Indian after the opening day’s play at the Trust Singapore Ladies Masters, despite a nightmarish start.
Avani, the only amateur among the three Indians in the 129-player field, received an invite in the USD 100,000 China LPGA event on her past record on the US Kids Golf Tour, the Singapore segment of which is also hosted by the Laguna National Resort.
Starting from the back nine of the Masters course at the Laguna National, which in recent months have hosted the DP World Tour and the Ladies European Tour, Avani had three bogeys in her first holes on the 10th, 12th and 14th.
Avani, the world’s 78th ranked amateur, then birdied the 11th, but at 2-over after five, she looked in a tight spot. She fought back well with some steady golf and managed to keep the damage down with no further bogeys over the next 13 holes and had one birdie on her last hole, the ninth.
She closed with 1-over 73 and was Tied-35th to be the best among the three Indians.
Avani started on the 10th with three bogeys in the first five holes against just one birdie.
“Things just did not work out at the start, but I am happy at the way I held up after that start,” said Avani.
Pranavi Urs had a birdie on the third and was 1-under through six when she hit a terrible stretch with four bogeys in five holes from the seventh to the 11th. She parred the last seven holes to card 75 and keep herself in the hunt for the cut. She was Tied-60th, the cut off to make the final round.
Seher Atwal also had a tough time around the turn with two doubles on ninth and 11th. She had three other bogeys against just two birdies in her round of 5-over 77 and was T-90.
- PTI
Amateur Vidhatri leads in 10th leg of Hero WPGT
Vidhatri Urs dropped bogeys on her closing holes, the 17th and the 18th, but still held one-shot lead over the field that once again saw amateurs taking on the professionals strongly in the 10th leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour here on Thursday.
While amateurs Vidhatri -- even par 144 (71-73) -- and Prakruthi Satsry -- 2-over 146 (73-73) -- were first and tied third respectively, experienced Neha Tripathi -- 1-under 145 (73-72) -- put herself in the reckoning of her first win since the first leg of the 2019 season.
After a troubled front nine, Khushi Khanijau (71-75) landed an eagle on Par-4 12 to card 75 with one double and one treble on the front nine. Khushi was tied third with Neha.
Another amateur Saanvi Somu, runner-up in ninth leg, was sole fifth with 73-74 (147). Her round had two birdies and four bogeys.
Four players, including Ananya Datar and Kriti Chowhan, shared the sixth place with two more amateurs Mannat Brar and Keerthana Rajeev Nair, who was second in the eighth leg. There were five amateurs in Top-nine.
Vidhatri, who won by 13 shots in the ninth leg last month, birdied fourth, 12th and 16th and dropped shots on seventh and 13th. She was 2-under for the week after 16 holes and seemed set for a good lead. Then came the bogey-bogey finish, which allowed Neha Tripathi a shot at the title.
Neha had just one bogey on fourth and one birdie on the Par-4 ninth and parred the entire back nine for 72 and, at 1-over for 36 holes, was one behind Vidhatri.
Prakruthi had four birdies and five bogeys, three of which came in a row from fourth to sixth.
Khushi doubled-bogeyed fourth and tripled the sixth but a birdie on eighth and an eagle in 12th kept her afloat despite another bogey on 14th Three players -- Asmitha Sathish, Hitaashee Bakshi and Sneha Singh -- were tied tenth at 5-over 149.
The cut fell at 15-over with 26 players ensuring play in the final round.
- PTI
TENNIS
Sahira to face Kashish in AITA women’s tournament final
Top seed Sahira Singh blanked her doubles partner Himaanshika Singh in the semifinals of the Rs. 100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Thursday.
The 16-year-old Sahira, who has dropped 14 games in four rounds in all so far, will face second seed Kashish Bhatia in the final.
Kashish has been more authoritative in her passage to the final, dropping only eight games in all, including two in the semifinal against Gauri Mangaonkar.
THE RESULTS (SEMIFINALS)
- Kamesh Srinivasan
Mukund in pre-quarterfinals
Qualifier Mukund Sasikumar beat wild card entrant and the reigning NCAA champion Ethan Quinn 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(4) in the first round of the $80,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Bloomfield Hills, USA.
THE RESULTS
- Kamesh Srinivasan
ARCHERY
India women’s U-18 compound archers win gold in World Youth Championships
Indian archers shot well in strong windy conditions to beat USA 214-212 in the under-18 compound women’s team final and win the gold medal in the World youth archery championships in Limerick, Ireland, on Thursday.
Earlier, India got a first round bye and beat Spain to reach the final.
The Indian under-18 compound men’s team settled for silver after narrowly losing to Mexico in the summit clash.
THE RESULTS
U-18
U-21
- Y. B. Sarangi
Raghav Jamwal, the national champion in grappling looks for glory in World Championships
Raghav Jamwal, a two-time reigning national grappling champion and a qualifier for the modern pentathlon at the 2015 Beijing Olympic Games, is gearing up to lead the national squad at the 2023 Grappling World Championships, which will be held from August 21 through August 24 in Warsaw, Poland.
The combat athlete, who previously competed in Olympic qualifiers before earning two gold medals in three national grappling competitions in 2021, most recently helped his country win the Asian Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, in June.
“Under my leadership, India has taken home two gold, two silver, and twelve bronze medals. In terms of overall medal count, we came in third,” he said.
“Ever since my family obviously thought I was crazy because I was switching to a new sport entirely from scratch when I was about 25 or 26. However, I was then on the right side of the crowd.”
I’ve been doing combat since I was fortunate enough to practice regularly with these guys at Cross & Fight Club. Siddharth Singh, my coach, is one of India’s finest grapplers and practitioners of jujutsu. Also, my sister Ridhi who supports me and inspires me to do better,” he added.
When discussing his motivation for battle and desire to leave his imprint, Raghav reveals, “The World Championships would have at least fifty or sixty teams, but the Asian Championships would have about nineteen teams. I admire Russia since they are one of the world’s foremost grapple powers.
Australia and Europe are also respectable in this area. I have a lot of competition, so this will be my first world championship and I am going to captain the Indian Team as well. Yes, we will be competing against at least 40 to 45 countries, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.”
-Team Sportstar
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