GOLF
Shubhankar Sharma finishes seventh at Irish Open golf
India’s Shubhankar Sharma, who shared the lead at the halfway stage of the Irish Open golf to make a bid for his first DP World Tour title since 2018, ended tied seventh with a final round of 1-under 71 here.
Sharma, who opened the season with a tied seventh-place finish in Abu Dhabi, ended tied eighth at the Open in July, and this is his third Top-10 finish of the season.
Sharma, who was 13-under after 36 holes, could not produce the magic he showed in the first 36 holes as he carded 75-71 in the final two and finished the week at 11-under.
Yet, the Indian ace, who has been picked by the Indian Golf Union for the Asian Games later this month, has moved to 168th in the world. Sharma’s career-best ranking is 64th.
Sweden’s Vincent Norrman secured his second DP World Tour title in the space of just 56 days as he carded a final round seven under par 65 to triumph at the Irish Open.
Sharma, lying T-4 after the third round, started the final round with a double bogey, his second of the week after the double on the sixth in the third round.
The Indian recovered with birdies on second and fourth and added two more on the 10th and 14th, but failed to get birdies on the Par-5s on 16th and 18th. He also dropped a shot on 17th. There were quite a few missed putts on a day when the weather interrupted the play.
Norrman, who won the Barbasol Championship in the United States in July, started the day six strokes behind the overnight leaders and was well off the pace after pars on his opening six holes.
The 25-year-old made his first birdies of the day on the seventh and ninth holes before play was suspended at The K Club for an hour and a half due to the threat of lightning.
Norrman showed no signs of slowing down after the restart as he birdied four of his next five holes from the 10th. His birdie at the 13th saw him move into a share of the lead for the first time and he then made his seventh gain of the day on the 18th to set the clubhouse target of 14 under par.
Germany’s Hurley Long was also on 14 under par after 12 holes, but consecutive bogeys saw him slip back to 12 under. The 28-year-old gave himself an eagle look at the last, but he left his putt short, handing Norrman his second DP World Tour title.
His win sealed a fortnight of success for Sweden on the DP World Tour as he backed up compatriot Ludvig Åberg’s victory last week at the Omega European Masters.
In a share of third was home favourite Shane Lowry, who was bidding for a second Irish Open crown, New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, who was runner-up at this event last year, Scotsman Grant Forrest and Thriston Lawrence of South Africa.
- PTI
File - Diksha Dagar of India plays her shot out of the bunker on the 1st hole on Day Two of the ISPS HANDA World Invitational. | Photo Credit: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Diksha finishes 21st, stays third on Order of Merit in Europe
Diksha Dagar carded a decent 2-under 70 on the final day to finish a modest tied-21st on the Ladies European Tour’s Big Green Egg Open here.
The 22-year-old left-hander had rounds of 71-70-70 for an aggregate of 5-under 211, which was not enough to maintain her run of top-10 finishes.
Diksha had two birdies and one bogey on either side of the Hilversumsche Golf Club in the final round.
Despite the modest finish, Diksha stayed in third place in the Race to Costa Del Sol -- the LET’s Order of Merit.
It has been a great season for Diksha so far with the Indian winning a tournament and having six top-10 finishes. She also notched up a career-best finish in a Major -- a T-21 in the AIG Women’s Open.
India’s Vani Kapoor (70) finished tied-39th at 1-under 215, while Amandeep Drall, Tvesa Malik, Ridhima Dilawari and amateur Avani Prashanth had missed the cut.
A thrilling final day saw Thai rookie Trichat Cheenglab land her maiden LET title as she fired a 67 (-5) to win by one shot. With seven players tied at the top prior to the final round, it was a close affair.
Cheenglab posted six birdies, including a wonderful four on the par-5 18th to pip Lydia Hall and Nicole Broch Estrup to glory on 12-under par.
Playing in the final group alongside Welsh duo Chloe Williams and Lydia Hall, Cheenglab birdied her opening hole at the par-5 as the latter eagled to break from the pack and take the sole lead.
In the final stages after Broch Estrup set the clubhouse target at 11-under par with a sensational 65, Cheenglab and Hall both required two birdies in their final five holes to topple the score.
The rookie struck first with a birdie on the par-3 14th only for Hall to respond with one of her own on the par-4 15th. Hall gave shots back on the 16th and 17th after finding trouble off the tee, meaning the one-time LET winner required an eagle on the last hole with Cheenglab needing a birdie.
Hall saw her eagle attempt shave the hole leaving Cheenglab with a four-footer for the win after a clutch chip.
The 28-year-old became the seventh Thai player to win on the LET.
Hall and Estrup recorded their best results of the 2023 season with the T2 finishes at the Big Green Egg Open.
Sara Kjellker and Chloe Williams shared a tie for the fourth place on 10-under par, while Italy’s Alessandra Fanali finished sole sixth on nine-under par following a fantastic final round 66 (-6).
In the 2023 Race to Costa del Sol, the top-three players remained the same with Celine Boutier leading followed by Ana Peláez Trivino in second place and Diksha in third. Cheenglab moved into fourth place on 1,317.72 points and extended her lead at the top of the ‘Rookie of the Year’ standings.
- PTI
TENNIS
ITF juniors: Wins for Dreek, Sameeksha
Dreek Saha beat Yash Patel of New Zealand 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-3 in the boys first round of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the Ahmedabad City Foundation on Monday.
In the second round, Dreek will challenge the top seed Vraj Gohil. In the girls section, Sameeksha Annem of the USA battled past Pushti Laddha 6-7(0), 7-5, 7-6(4) in the first round.
The results (first round):
- Kamesh Srinivasan
Ankita Raina to play wild card in Japan
Qualifier Ankita Raina will play wild card entrant Moyuka Uchijima in the first round of the $259,303 WTA tennis tournament in Osaka, Japan, on Tuesday.
In the $80,000 Challenger in Guangzhou, China, Arjun Kadhe qualified into the main draw and will play Filip Peliwo of Poland in the first round.
In the $25,000 ITF men’s tournament in Kigali, Rwanda, Atharva Sharma, Sai Karteek Reddy, Tushar Madan and Dharmil Shah qualified into the main draw.
- Kamesh Srinivasan
CHESS
Asian junior chess: Panda holds top seed Grebnev
Sambit Panda held the top seed Aleksey Grebnev to a draw, but he wasn’t pleased with the result, though. The second board clash between Manish Cristiano and Rohith S. Krishna was also drawn, and that left Dilshan Liyanage of Sri Lanka and Gilbert Tarigan of Indonesia in the lead position after the fourth round of the Tata Steel Asian junior chess championship here on Monday.
Sambit Panda (left) and Aleksey Grebnev during their fourth round clash in the Asian junior chess championship at Jamshedpur. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
They have 3.5 points apiece and are followed half-a-point by 12 players, including Panda, who had looked better placed after playing from the white side of a Vienna Game against his Russian rival. “I was a pawn up, and should have been able to build on the advantage,” he said.
In the girls’ section, second seed Saina Salonika, third seed Bommini Mounika Akshaya, G. Tejaswini and V. Rindhiya are leading the table with 3.5 points. Five rounds remain.
Important results (Indians unless specified):
- P. K. Ajith Kumar
ATHLETICS
Prachi, Priti in AFI’s team for Asian Games
Quartermiler Prachi and 3000m steeplechase athlete Priti Lamba have got the Athletics Federation of India’s green signal for the Asian Games which begin in Hangzhou, China, later this month.
Prachi was third in the women’s 400m on Sunday in the two-day Indian Grand Prix in Chandigarh and has been included in the 4x400m relay team.
It is not clear whether any relay team member has been dropped from the squad cleared by the Sports Ministry a few days ago. The final team number is also not clear.
“We are waiting for the final list from the Government,” said Adille Sumariwalla, the AFI president.
Meanwhile, the AFI’s selection panel has dropped the injured 20km race walker Akshdeep Singh and has brought in Vikash Singh.
-Stan Rayan
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