Indian sports news wrap, June 21

Catch the major updates and results from Indian sports on June 21.

File Photo: Diksha Dagar of India tees off from the 6th hole on Day One of the Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic at Emirates Golf Club . | Photo Credit: Tom Dulat/Getty Images

Chennai

GOLF

Diksha seeks to maintain fine form as five Indians tee off in Czech Open

Diksha Dagar will carry her fine form into the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open as the Ladies European Tour is set for another action-packed week at the Royal Beroun Golf Club.

Diksha, who was third last week, after sharing the lead at one stage in the final round, has risen to 22nd on the Race to Costa Del Sol.

She will have a lot of company in fellow Indians, as Pranavi Urs has an invitation this week, alongside regulars like 2022 Hero Women’s Indian Open runner-up Amandeep Drall, Vani Kapoor and Ridhima Dilawari.

Asian Games-bound Pranavi, who topped her domestic Tour, the Hero WPG Tour in India, is now dividing her time between the LET and the Epson Tour in the United States.

Amandeep Drall, Vani Kapoor and Ridhima Dilawari are looking at finding form as the second half of the season looms large.

Aditi Ashok is not in the field this week as she plays at the Major, the KPMG PGA Championships.

The club is hosting the event for the fourth consecutive year, following victories by Emily Kristine Pedersen of Denmark, Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand, and Czech amateur Jana Melichova in the last three years respectively.

A field of 126 players will take the course this week in a 54-hole stroke play format where there will be a cut after 36 holes to the top 60 professionals and ties.

-PTI

Amateur Vidhatri takes four-shot lead in women’s Pro Golf Tour’s ninth leg

Amateur Vidhatri Urs holed four birdies on either side of the Prestige Golfshire Club to take a four-shot lead, after the first round of the ninth leg of the Women’s Pro Golf Tour, here on Wednesday.

Behind Vidhatri were three professional players at 69 each, which included Seher Atwal, the winner of the opening leg this season, Durga Nittur and rookie pro Kriti Chowhan.

Sachika Singh shot 2-under 70.

The seasoned Tvesa Malik, along with two-time winner this season, Sneha Singh and Rhea Purvi Saravanan, brought home 72 each and were tied sixth.

Six players — Jyotsana Singh, Shweta Mansingh, Neha Tripathi, amateur Saanvi Somu, Yaalisai Verma and Riya Yadav — shot 73 each to be tied ninth.

The day, however, belonged to Vidhatri, who is also a cousin of professional player Pranavi Urs. Pranavi had dominated the WPG Tour last season.

Vidhatri had eight birdies against one lone bogey on the fourth hole.

On Wednesday, Vidhatri birdied second, fifth, seventh and ninth and turned in a solid 3-under 33.

On the back nine, she did not drop any shots and birdied 12th, 14th, 15th and 18th for her best card on the tour with 65.

Vidhatri’s best result on the WPG Tour, where she plays often, has been a third place in June 2022. She had recently won the IGU’s Telangana Ladies Amateurs.

Durga, looking for her maiden win on the tour, had three birdies and no bogeys. She birdied second and fifth on the front nine, and had a birdie on 12th on the back nine.

Seher, who has also been playing in events in Europe and is due to play in Singapore Ladies Masters next month, had one birdie against two bogeys on front nine.

She bounced back with three birdies in a row from 11th to 13th and added yet another one on 18th to make it to 69.

Kriti had two birdies on both halves of the course and dropped just one shot on seventh.

Sachika had a double on fourth and a bogey on fifth to be 3-over after five holes. She came back well with a birdie on seventh, and then had four more between 10th and 14th to be the fifth player under par on the first day.

Tvesa had two late bogeys on 16 and 17 in her 72, while Sneha had six birdies, four bogeys and a double in her even par card.

-PTI

TENNIS

Unseeded Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden fought their way past Jamie Murray and Michael Venus 7-6(8), 7-6(5) in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the €2,345,130 ATP tennis tournament at Queen’s Club, London on Wednesday.

In the quarterfinals, the Indo-Aussie pair will challenge the top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski.

In the $100,000 ITF women’s event in Ilkley, Britain, qualifier Ankita Raina beat eighth seed Tamara Korpatsch of Germany 6-3, 7-5 in the first round.

RESULTS

€2,345,130 ATP, London, England

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rohan Bopanna & Matthew Ebden (Aus) bt Jamie Murray (GBR) & Michael Venus (Nzl) 7-6(8), 7-6(5).

€145,000 Challenger, Ilkley, Britain

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Anirudh Chandrasekar & Vijay Sundar Prashanth w.o. Franco Agamenone (Ita) & Thiago Agustin Tirante (Arg); Sander Arends & David Pel (Ned) bt Purav Raja & Divij Sharan 6-3, 6-3.

€145,000 Challenger, Montechiarungolo, Italy

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Luca Margaroli (Sui) & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Luis Martinez (Ven) & Andrea Pellegrino (Ita) 6-2, 3-6, [10-1].

€118,000 Challenger, Poznan, Poland

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Facundo Diaz Acosta (Arg) bt Sumit Nagal 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.

€73,000 Challenger, Blois, France

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Alvaro Martin (Esp) & Mark Vervoort (Ned) bt Rithvik Choudary & Arjun Kadhe 6-4, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF men, Jakarta, Indonesia

Singles (first round): Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Karan Singh 3-6, 6-2, 6-0; Sidharth Rawat bt Giorgio Soemarno (Ina) 6-2, 6-2; SD Prajwal Dev bt Tomislav Papac (Aus) 6-1, 6-3.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Siddhant Banthia & Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Chirag Duhan & Sidharth Rawat 6-2, 6-3; Kazuma Kawachi & Shuichi Sekiguchi (Jpn) bt Shivank Bhatnagar & Karan Singh 6-1, 3-6, [10-1].

$15,000 ITF men, Casablanca, Morocco

Singles (first round): Manas Dhamne bt Diego Flores (Chi) 6-4, 6-3.

$100,000 ITF women, Ilkley, Britain

Singles (first round): Ankita Raina bt Tamara Korpatsch (Ger) 6-3, 7-5.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jessy Rompies (Ina) & Prarthana Thombare bt Mai Hontama & Moyuka Uchijima (Jpn) 6-4, 6-4; Sophie Chang & Quinn Gleason (USA) bt Nigina Abduraimova (Uzb) & Ankita Raina 7-5, 4-6, [10-7].

$25,000 ITF women, Santo Domingo, Dominic Republic

Singles (first round): Sowjanya Bavisetti bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 6-3, 6-2; Isabelle Boulais (Can) bt Riya Bhatia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sowjanya Bavisetti & Karola Bejenaru (Rou) bt Jasmin Jebawy & Emily Seibold (Ger) 6-4, 4-6, [10-8].

$15,000 ITF women, Tianjin, China

Singles (first round): Wang Meiling (Chn) bt Laalitya Kalluri 6-1, 6-1.

$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia

Singles (first round): Tanisha Kashyap bt Maddalena Giordano (Ita) 6-3, 6-3.

-Team Sportstar