Chennai
TABLE TENNIS
Mudit Dani scripts history, becomes first Indian to bag NCTTA Male Athlete of the Year award
Indian paddler Mudit Dani has entered the history books by becoming the first Indian to win the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association (NCTTA) Male Athlete of the Year award for his exceptional performances in 2022-23.
The NCTTA is a national organisation member of USA Table Tennis and the prestigious award is given to the best performing male athlete across USA and Canadian universities at the end of every season.
“It is an incredible honour to receive the NCTTA Male Athlete of the Year award in itself. And more so as the first Indian to achieve this. Representing India at any level is always the most fulfilling thing for me,” Mudit exclaimed.
The Mumbai-based youngster, who recently completed his masters from the Stern School of Business at the New York University, had clinched two gold medals to guide his side to their second successive NCTTA National Championships title.
His exceptional performance also includes an unbeaten 11-0 record in the 2022-23 season.
The 24-year-old clinched his maiden ITTF senior medal in 2019 at the US Open Championships and also reached doubles quarter-finals at the WTT event in USA last year.
-Team Sportstar
GOLF
Bogey-free start for Aditi Ashok with 4-under 68 in Meijer Classic
Aditi Ashok carded a bogey-free round that concluded with an eagle, as she was tied-10th after the first round of the Meijer LPGA Classic.
Aditi, who has been playing well this season and is currently in Top-20 of the Order of Merit and in Top-50 of the world, left a few shots out of there at the Blythefield Country Club, here on Friday.
Even while being T-10th, Aditi sits just two shots off the lead held by five players including the defending champion Jennifer Kupcho. The five leaders included Kupcho, Ayaka Furue, Frida Kinhult, Lindsey Weaver-Wright and Cheyenne Knight and they all carded 6-under 66 each.
Aditi opened with four birdies and then found gains on fourth and sixth and then had a string of birdies till she eagled the Par-5 18th. Aditi, however, did well to save some tough pars to keep her card clean.
This year Aditi has had a runner-up finish and two other Top-5 finishes on LPGA and has won once on the Ladies European Tour, where she is leading the Order of Merit, and has two other Top-3 finishes.
Kupcho birdied four of the five par-5 holes in her bogey-free effort. Kupcho is making her second title defence of the year, but the first came in the relocated major Chevron Championship on a new course Texas.
Knight also had a bogey-free round. Ally Ewing was a stroke back at 67 with Amy Yang, Emily Kristine Pedersen, Alison Lee and Eun-Hee Ji in tied sixth place.
Along with Aditi, there was Ashleigh Buhai, the ShopRite LPGA Classic winner last week in New Jersey, and Minjee Lee at 68.
The two time winner of this in 2017 and 2019, Brooke Henderson of Canada, opened with a 69 and Lexi Thompson, the 2015 winner, also shot 69. The major KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is next week at Baltusrol in New Jersey.
-PTI
Gaurika cruises to second win of year in Hero WPG Tour
Gaurika Bishnoi got off to a flying start and never took her foot off the pedal to complete a comprehensive five-shot win in the eighth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Clover Greens here on Friday.
It was Gaurika’s second win this season. She had earlier won the sixth leg and finished second in the seventh leg.
After Sneha Singh, Gaurika becomes the second player to win more than once in 2023.
It was the second win for Gaurika at Clover Greens, as she emerged winner when the Tour last came to this golf course in 2019.
The 24-year-old Gurgaon-based Gaurika started the day one shot behind the leader and went on to card 4-under 68 for an impressive 10-under 206 total. She had rounds of 68-70-68.
Gaurika picked up the winner’s cheque of Rs 1,48,000, which was presented to her by Austin Roach, Director of Clover Greens.
As Gaurika cruised to a fine win, amateur Keerthana Rajeev opened the day with a double bogey but closed with four birdies in the last seven holes, to shoot 2-under 70, her third straight under par round of the week. She finished second at 5-under 211 with rounds of 71-71-70.
Seher Atwal had a rough round of 76 that included a double bogey on the fourth, sandwiched by bogeys on the third and the fifth. Then there were two more closing bogeys as she ended third at 3-under 213 that included rounds of 69-68-76.
Despite Gaurika running away with the title, the scores were commendable as six players finished under par.
Behind Gaurika, Keerthana and Seher, there was Hitaashee Bakshi (73) in fourth, while Kriti Chowhan (76) and Sneha Singh, a two-time winner in 2023, were tied for fifth.
After a par start, Gaurika was on a tear with an eagle on Par-5 second followed by birdies on second and third. A dropped shot on Par-5 sixth was made up with a birdie on seventh and yet another on ninth. She was 5-under 31 for the front nine.
It was bit of a rocky back nine with bogeys on 12th, 15th, and 18th but with birdies on 14th and 17th, the win was never in doubt.
Keerthana overtook Seher and Hitaashee with a bogey-free back nine that had four birdies, including two on 17 and 18.
In comparison, Seher, after a 3-over 39 in front nine, also dropped bogeys on 17th and 18th as she collapsed to 76 on the final day.
Hitaashee was in the running for a runner-up finish but three straight bogeys on 13-14-15 pushed her down to fourth.
Two amateurs, Ayushi Dutta (71) and Anvitha Narender (72) alongside Rishika Muralidhar (71) ended in a tie for seventh.
Tvesa Malik, still struggling with her game, shot 74 after 76-72 on the first two days and ended T-13 at 6-over for the three rounds.
-PTI
TENNIS
Karman reaches ITF quarterfinals in USA
Second seed Karman Kaur Thandi battled past Veronika Miroshnichenko 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $60,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Sumter, USA.
In the $15,000 event in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, Humera Baharmus led 7-6(5), 3-1 in the quarterfinals, when her top seeded opponent, Haruna Arakawa of Japan retired.
RESULTS
- Team Sportstar
AITA National Series Juniors: Diya, Sohini set up title clash
Diya Ramesh fought her way past Priyanka Rana 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 to set up a title clash with Sohini Mohanty in the AITA Natonal series junior tennis tournament at the Ace Academy in Ahmedabad on Friday.
In the boys final, Debasis Sahoo will play Vatsal Manikantan. Vatsal won the doubles title with Vraj Gohil.
The girls doubles title was bagged by the top seeds Nainika Bendram and Sohini Mohanty.
RESULTS
- Team Sportstar
AITA men’s tournament: Parth beats Lakshit in final
Sixth seed Parth Aggarwal beat fourth seed Lakshit Sood 6-3, 6-1 in the final of the Rs.100,000 AITA men’s tennis tournament at the Excellence Academy in Gurugram on Friday.
RESULTS
- Team Sportstar
BOXING
Rohit, Bharat, Krrish storm into quarters of Youth Men’s National C’ships
Asian junior champions Rohit Chamoli, Bharat Joon and Krrish Pal lived up to the expectations and stormed into the quarterfinals of the sixth Youth Men’s National Boxing Championships in Gangtok on Friday.
Representing Chandigarh, Rohit (54kg) showcased his talent in a commanding victory against John Lapung of Arunachal Pradesh, winning by a unanimous 5-0 decision. He will next face Umesh Kumar of Delhi.
Krrish, the reigning Asian junior boxing champion, continued his winning streak as he triumphed over Mohammad Junad of Telangana in the 48kg round of 16 bout.
Krrish, who is representing Chandigarh, demonstrated his superiority in the ring right from the word go, eventually forcing the referee to stop the contest (RSC) in the first round. He will take on Vishesh from Haryana in the quarterfinals.
Bharat (92kg) from Haryana showcased his skill and power in a one-sided bout against Uttar Pradesh’s Rishab Pandey with a RSC win. He will square off against Riddhuman Subba of Uttarakhand in the next round.
Besides, 13 and 11 boxers of SSCB and Haryana respectively have also reached the quarterfinals.
- PTI
SHOOTING
National Shotgun Trials
Olympian Kynan Chenai and Olympic quota winner Bhowneesh Mendiratta were in joint lead with 50 after two rounds of trap in the fourth National shotgun selection trials at the Madhya Pradesh Academy in Bhopal, on Friday.
Former world champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Fahd Sultan followed with 49 each. Jaswinder Singh, Bakhtyaruddin Malek, Jungsher Virk and Balabhadra Tarasia had all shot 48.
Prithviraj Tondaiman, Vivaan Kapoor, Lakshay Sheoran were some of the leading shooters who had shot 47.
In the women’s section, Rajeshwari Kumari was in sole lead with two rounds of 24 each. Olympian Shagun Chowdhary (47), Neeru (46) were following close on the heels of Rajeshwari. Kirti Gupta, Bhavya Tripathi, Seema Tomar, Kiran and Pragati Dubey shot 45.
There will be two more rounds on Saturday. Thereafter, the fifth round and the finals for the top six will be held on Sunday.
- Kamesh Srinivasan
Kumar Surendra Singh shooting championship
Pradhyumn Singh won the centre-fire pistol gold with a score of 581 in the 21st Kumar Surendra Singh shooting championship at the Madhya Pradesh Academy in Bhopal on Friday.
Omkar Singh won the silver one point behind Pradhyumn, while Yogesh Singh won the bronze ahead of Harpreet Singh, Om Prakash and Vijay Kumar.
The results:
25m centre fire pistol gold: 1. Pradhyumn Singh 581; 2. Omkar Singh 580; 3. Yogesh Singh 578.
- Kamesh Srinivasan
MORE SPORTS
“We want to host multiple championships like this at the same venue,” says Vineel Krishna
Speaking on the significance of hosting two marquee events -- Intercontinental Cup and the 62nd Inter State Athletic Championship -- simultaneously, Sports and Youth Services Secretary, Odisha, Vineel Krishna assured that Kalinga Stadium will continue to strive to host world class events, making it a priority to host the finest athletes from India and across the world.
“When the proposal for these events was sent to us, we indicated that June was good, but when the dates were finalized, there was some overlap due to the Asian Games Qualifying deadline. As a result, the Athletics Championship was only to be held during this time span.”
Speaking on the vision for the future, the Secretary also remarked, “We want to host multiple championships like this in the future at the same location so that the entire stadium complex is very optimally utilized. Our stadium resources are excellent, so the space and planning are all running smoothly, and we are pleased that we can now host more events at our stadium.”
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