Indian sports news wrap, September 20

Here are all the major updates and results from Indian sports on September 20.

FILE PHOTO: Tvesa Malik of India in action. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

GOLF

Tvesa sees lead cut to half as Ananya chases hard in 13th Leg of Hero WPGT

Tvesa Malik saw her lead cut by half but still held a comfortable three-shot margin over her nearest rival, Ananya Datar, after two rounds in the 13th leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour (WPGT) at the DLF Golf & Country Club.

Tvesa was 5-under 139 for two rounds and Ananya, seeking her maiden Hero WPGT win, was at 2-under 142.

Tvesa had three bogeys between the eighth and the 13th as she carded 2-over 74.

At one stage, Ananya (71-71), who shot a second straight 71 to come within three shots, was just one behind after 11 holes at the challenging Gary Player layout, which will host India’s biggest women’s event -- the Hero Women’s Indian Open next month.

The rest of the field was way behind. Khushi Khanijau (75-70) rose up the leaderboard to get to third at 1-over 145, while Neha Tripathi (71-75) slipped from overnight joint second to fourth at 2-over 146.

Tvesa will play her final round with Ananya and Khushi.

-PTI

CHESS

The National under-7 chess championship will start in Kolkata from Thursday. Altogether, 243 boys and 123 girls from 29 states will participate in the five-day event, offering a total prize of Rs. 5 lakh. Divith Reddy Adulla and Anupriya Yadav are the top seeds among boys and girls. Two players from each category will qualify for the Asian under-8 championship.

- Y. B. Sarangi

TENNIS

Team India leaves for World Deaf Championship

The Indian team had a rigorous training camp on the clay courts of the Dhyan Chand National Stadium, prior to its departure for the Deaf World Tennis Championship to be staged in Crete, Greece, from September 23 to October 7.

Chief coach Dr. Stalin Nagaraj was optimistic that the team would put up a good performance. He was happy that there would be a youth section this time, apart from the events for men and women.

The Indian team for the World Deaf Tennis Championship at the National Stadium in Delhi, on the eve of its departure for Greece, on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan

There was some anxiety as the youth players did not get the visa, but the intervention of the External Affairs Ministry ensured a prompt and positive response from the Embassy.

The spearhead of the team, Prithvi Sekar who has won a string of medals including the singles gold in 2019 in the World Deaf Championship, is in Bulgaria for the World Railways championship.

He will be competing in the World Railways Games along with the other Railways players, PC Vignesh, Nitin Kumar Sinha and Siddarth Ponnala.

“I will be competing in the team event of the World Deaf championship”, said Prithvi from Bulgaria. The first week of the World Deaf championship will feature the individual events, singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

Dhananjay Dubey will be the lone Indian men’s entry, till Prithvi joins the squad in Greece, for the team championship scheduled to be staged from October 1.

The Indian women’s team has Jafreen Shaik and Bhavani Kedia. The experienced Jafreen who has been given a grade-1 officer’s post by the Andhra government, for her achievements over the years, is expected to compete in all the three events during the individual championship.

Arshit and Sivaji Pilla are the two youth players who will try to assert their game in the World Championship.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

Mukund enters second round

Davis Cupper Mukund Sasikumar beat qualifier Daniel Ibragimov 7-6(3), 7-5 in the first round of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on Wednesday.

The results:

€73,000 Challenger, Sibiu, Romania: Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Niki Poonacha & Divij Sharan w.o. Salvatore Caruso & Alessandro Giannessi (Ita).

$25,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt: Singles (first round): Mukund Sasikumar bt Daniel Ibragimov 7-6(3), 7-5.

$25,000 ITF men, Guiiyang, China: Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ying-Ze Chen & Chen-Yu Lu (Tpe) bt Tushar Sharma & Chun-Ming Yam (Hkg) 7-6(9), 6-4.

$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia: Singles (first round): Keshav Chopra (USA) bt Karan Singh 6-2, 5-7, 7-5.

$60,000 ITF women, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal: Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sarah Grey & Eden Silva (GBR) bt Eva Alvarez (Esp) & Vasanti Shinde 6-1, 6-0.

$25,000 ITF women, Perth, Australia: Singles (first round): Taylah Preston (Aus) bt Sowjanya Bavisetti 6-0, 7-5. Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Monique Barry (Nzl) & Shrivalli Bhamidipaty bt Elena Micic (Aus) & Michika Ozeki (Jpn) 6-4, 7-6(5).

$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia: Singles (fiirst round): Vaishnavi Adkar bt Camilla Zanolini (Ita) 7-5, 6-1; Teja Tirunelveli bt Kristina Voznyak (Ukr) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

$15,000 ITF women, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt: Singles (first round): Katarina Kuzmova (Svk) bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 5-0 (retired).

- Kamesh Srinivasan

CRICKET

BCCI announces SBI Life as Official Partner for BCCI Domestic & International Season 2023-26

SBI Life has joined hands with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as one of the official partners for the BCCI Domestic and International Season 2023-2026.

SBI Life – one of India’s largest insurance companies – has signed a 3-year deal with the BCCI and their partnership will begin with the upcoming three-match ODI series against Australia, starting September 22, 2023.

-Team Sportstar