Indian Sports Wrap, September 21: Raina loses in Korea Open; Diksha gears up for Women’s Irish Open Golf

Here is everything that has happened in Indian Sports so far in September 21, 2022.

Ankita Raina was beaten 6-1, 6-3 by Lin Zhu of China in the pre-quarterfinals in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday. (File Photo) | Photo Credit: SRINIVASAN KV / The Hindu

TENNIS

Qualifier Ankita Raina was beaten 6-1, 6-3 by Lin Zhu of China in the pre-quarterfinals of the $251, 750 WTA tennis tournament in Seoul on Wednesday.

In the doubles, Ankita and Peangtarun Plipuech were beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Astra Sharma and Rosalie van der Hoek in the pre-quarterfinals.

The results:

$251,750 WTA, Seoul, Korea: Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Lin Zhu (Chn) bt Ankita Raina 6-1, 6-3; Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Astra Sharma (Aus) & Rosalie van der Hoek (Ned) bt Peangtarn Plipuech (Tha) & Ankita Raina 6-3, 6-3.

€45,730 Challenger, Sibiu, Romania: Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ivan Sabanov & Matej Sabanov (Cro) bt Anirudh Chandrasekar & Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-4, 7-5.

$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia: Singles (first round): Mu Tao (Chn) bt Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta 6-2, 6-4; Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Samir Hamza Reguig (Alg) & Alexandros Skorilas (Gre) bt Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta & Parikshit Somani 6-4, 6-4.

$15,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt: Singles (first round): SD Prajwal Dev bt Leonardo Rossi (Ita) 6-4, 6-0; Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam bt Adam Jones (GBR) 6-2, 6-3.

$25,000 ITF women, Darwin, Australia: Singles (first round): Milan Krish (Aus) bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 6-1, 6-3.

$15,000 ITF women, Guayaquil, Ecuador: Singles (first round): Samantha Imbo Nioga (USA) bt Priyanka Rodricks 6-2, 7-6(4); Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Smriti Bhasin & Priyanka Rodricks bt Isidora Dereso & Javiera Verdugo (Chi) 6-3, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF women, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt: Singles (first round): Jasmine Conway (GBR) bt Anjani Maheshkumar 6-1, 6-0; Nino Natsvlishvili (Geo) bt Sravya Shivani 6-4, 6-2.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Asian junior championship: India’s Manas beats Japan’s Mishiro to reach semis

Manas Dhamne led an Indian sweep in the quarterfinals as he beat Takamasa Mishiro of Japan 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Asian junior tennis championship organised by MSLTA at the Deccan Gymkhana Club on Wednesday.

In the semifinals, Manas will play third seed Yuvan Nandal, while the other semifinal will feature Aryan Shah against second seed Aman Dahiya.

In the girls event, second seed Shruti Ahlawat kept the Indian hopes alive by reaching the semifinals by outplaying Asylzhan Arystanbekova of Kazakhstan for the loss of one game. She will play Emerson Jones of Australia. The other semifinal will be between Yu-Yun Li of Chinese Taipei against Lily Taylor of Australia.

The results (quarterfinals)

Boys: Manas Dhamne bt Takamasa Mishiro (Jpn) 6-2, 6-4; Yuvan Nandal bt Reiya Hattori (Jpn) 6-2, 7-5; Aryan Shah bt Woohyuk Chang (Kor) 6-4, 6-4; Aman Dahiya bt Suphawat Saeoui (Tha) 6-1, 6-4.

Girls: Yu-Yun Li (Tpe) bt Sonal Patil 6-2, 6-2; Lily Taylor (Aus) bt Vaishnavi Adkar 7-5, 3-6, 6-4; Emerson Jones (Aus) bt Suhitha Maruri 6-3, 6-2; Shruti Ahlawat bt Asylzhan Arystanbekova (Kaz) 6-1, 6-0.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Diksha, Tvesa and Vani all set for Women’s Irish Open

Fresh from her third place finish at the Lacoste Ladies Open de France, India's Diksha Dagar will look to continue her good run when she tees up at the KPMG Women's Irish Open here on Thursday.

The 21-year-old from Jhajjar will be accompanied by three other Indians, Tvesa Malik, Amandeep Drall and Vani Kapoor.

Malik seems to be finding her feet somewhat after a disappointing season, Amandeep Drall too recently had a career-best T-7 finish Swiss Ladies, and Vani Kapoor also had Top-3 finish this season.

A fifth Indian, Ridhima Dilawari is second on the waiting list.

The 400,000 Euro event, which marks the return of the Ladies European Tour (LET) to Ireland after 10 years, will be held at the Dromoland Castle.

Diksha is also keenly looking at the Hero Women’s Indian Open next month, which returns to action after missing out in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. (File Photo) | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Among Indians, Diksha has been trending well. She was T-12 at the Aland 100 Ladies Open and T-25 at the Open de France. She also had Top-20 finishes at German Masters and Big Green Egg Open.

Her weekend blitz of 66-64 indicated that she is returning to the kind of form that saw her become only the second Indian to win on the Ladies European Tour in 2019 when she triumphed in South Africa.

Diksha is also keenly looking at the Hero Women's Indian Open next month, which returns to action after missing out in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

All the Indian girls are looking at the home event with great interest as it will also have valuable points as they try to secure their cards for 2023.

The last Irish Open was held in 2012 with winning Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew triumphing with a one-shot victory over Suzann Pettersen. The champion from 2012 is back this year and is one of the many LET winners getting ready to participate in the 72-hole stroke play competition.

There will be 126 players teeing it up around the picturesque Dromoland Castle including Race to Costa del Sol number one and four-time LET winner Linn Grant.

Seven of the top 10 in the 2022 Race to Costa del Sol will be aiming to add more points to their total with Sweden's Johanna Gustavsson (third) and Argentina's Magdalena Simmermacher (fifth) still on the hunt for their maiden LET titles.

-PTI

SQUASH

Tanvi Khanna, Sunayna Kuruvilla move up in SRFI India Tour event

Abhay Singh of India defeated compatriot Velavan Senthilkumar in four games to reach the men's singles semi-finals of the 4th HCL SRFI Indian Tour - Chennai Leg 2022 squash tournament here on Wednesday.

Abhay Singh beat Senthilkumar 11-7, 3-11, 11-6, 11-9 in a 47-minute encounter to set up a semifinal clash with top-seed Yassin Elshafei.

In the women's event, two Indians - Tanvi Khanna (third seed) and Sunayna Kuruvilla (fifth seed) reached the last four. Kuruvilla posted an upset win over fourth-seed Haya Ali in four games.

Quarterfinal results -

Men's singles: Martin Svec (Czech-X2) beat Tomotaka Endo (Japan) 11-4, 11-6, 11-9; Khaled Labib (Egypt-X3) beat Mohamed Nasser (Egypt-X7) 6-11, 3-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7; Abhay Singh (India-X4) beat Velavan Senthilkumar (Ind-X6) 11-7, 3-11, 11-6, 11-9; Yassin Elshafei (Egypt-X1) beat Rahul Baitha (Ind-X8) 11-6, 6-11, 11-4, 11-4.

Women: Kenzy Ayman (Egypt-X1) beat Urwashi Joshi (India-X7) 11-5, 11-5, 7-11, 12-10; Tanvi Khanna (India-X3) beat Menna Walid (Egypt-X6) 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5; Sunayna Kuruvilla (India-X5) beat Haya Ali (Egypt-X4) 8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-5; Salma Eltayeb (Egypt-X2) beat Amina El Rihany (Egypt) 11-7, 11-1, 11-4.

-PTI