BADMINTON
Unnati, Darshan lose in final of India Junior International GP
Indian shuttlers Unnati Hooda and Darshan Pujari signed off as second best after going down to their respective opponents in the women's and men's under-19 finals at India Junior International Grand Prix here on Sunday.
The 14-year-old Hooda, the youngest shuttler to win a BWF Super 100 tournament in Odisha this year, went down fighting 25-23 17-21 10-21 to Thailand's Sarunrak Vitidsarn in the summit clash.
Darshan's dream run in the tournament also came to an end after he lost 13-21 13-21 to Indonesia's Muhammad Halim As Sidiq in men's U-19 final at the Modern PDMBA Sports Complex.
Darshan went into the final without conceding a single game but he was done in by his rival's clear winners and also his own unforced errors.
In the first game, Darshan opened up a 5-3 advantage but a burst of five points put the Indonesian in the lead and he soon managed to take a 11-6 advantage.
Two more bursts of three points each put Muhammed way ahead at 17-7, a gap which Darshan could not bridge.
In the second game, the 18-year-old Indian won the first point but then lost the next eight to trail 1-8 and found it hard to catch up thereafter.
In the women's final, Unnati was guilty of squandering an opening game advantage as the No. 9 seed Sarunrak rallied to shock the No. 3 seed from India in a tense match.
Sarunrak, the youngster sister of three-time World Junior Champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn, lost the opening game after conceding as many as seven game points.
However in the next two games, the Thai girl, ranked No. 125 in the world, ensured she took control and made no mistake like she had made in the opener and claimed the title after a 50 minute battle.
RIDHI HAS 2 PODIUM FINISHES, POCKETS MIXED DOUBLES
India's Ridhi Kaur Toor won the mixed doubles title alongside Divyam Arora after prevailing in an all-Indian final, making up for the women's doubles crown which slipped through her fingers erlier in the day.
Ridhi and Divyam got past the stiff challenge of Prem Kumar Prabhu Raj Mohan and Kanishka Ganesan 21-17 14-21 21-15 in a 46 minutes encounter to lift the mixed trophy.
Earlier, Ridhi finished as a runners up in women's doubles after she and Nardhana Ravishankar lost 19-21 18-21 to fellow Indians Vennala Kalagotla and Shriyanshi Valishetty in the summit clash.
RESULTS:
-PTI
GOLF: Diksha Dagar finishes tied 12th in Finland
Indian golfer Diksha Dagar added another round of even par 72 in the third and final round to be placed a creditable Tied-12th at the Aland 100 Ladies Open on Sunday.
The other Indian women golfers, however, slipped on the final day as Amandeep Drall (75) was T-43rd, Vani Kapoor (78) was T-53rd, and Tvesa Malik (78) T-65.
Diksha birdied second, 15th and 16th and bogeyed first, seven and 13th in her 72 to go with earlier rounds of 72-73 as she totalled 1-over 217 for the three days.
With seven more events to go, this was a good result for Diksha, who is only the second Indian woman to win on the Ladies European Tour.
France’s Anne-Charlotte Mora claimed a maiden Ladies European Tour victory in dramatic style, producing a fine finish to win at the Åland 100 Ladies Open.
The 25-year-old went into Saturday’s final round a stroke adrift of overnight co-leaders Ana Pelaez Trivino of Spain and Lisa Pettersson of Sweden.
Mora shot 68 and pipped Pettersson by one shot as Ana Pelaez finished third. Emma Spitz was fourth.
Mora made a huge putt for birdie on the fifth hole and then sank another on the long seventh, before giving a stroke back on the par-3 eighth hole.
Although she pulled a shot back at the 10th, she dropped further strokes at the 11th and 13th. Her fine with birdies on 14, 15, 16 and 18 clinched the issue.
Pettersson, who finished with a round of 70, was forced to settle for her second runner-up finish in as many weeks following her performance in last week’s Skaftö Open.
Pelaez Trivino finished third after a 71. Spitz, who tied for 10th on her professional debut in the Skaftö Open last week, ended in fourth place on five-under-par and is undoubtedly a star of the future.
Ursula Wikstrom, buoyed by her home crowd, made a run for the title over the closing holes but came up just short. She carded a final round of 69 to lie in a share of fifth place on four-under-par with Sweden’s Sofie Bringner.
Chloe Williams of Wales carded a final round of 68 to end in outright seventh position on three-under-par, two strokes ahead of Finland’s Linda Osala, who also shot a 68 to tie for eighth place alongside Swedish pair Caroline Hedwall and Sara Kjellker, who signed for a pair of 70s.
With her win, Mora vaulted 58 places from 74th to 16th on the Race to Costa del Sol Rankings and runner-up Pettersson climbed to 24th. Pelaez Trivino moved up from eighth to sixth position, with seven events still to be played on the 2022 Ladies European Tour.
- Press Trust of India
GOLF: Lahiri lying fourth in LIV Golf
India’s Anirban Lahiri compiled another fine round of 5-under 65 to go with his first round 66 and moved into fourth place at the LIV Golf Invitational Series event.
Lahiri was 9-under and just three behind the leader, Talor Gooch (63-65), while Joaquin Neumann, also a newcomer like Lahiri, was second with rounds of 64-65. Dustin Johnson (67-63) was third.
Lahiri, making his LIV debut, had seven birdies and two bogeys after a bogey-free first round.
Gooch enters the final round at The International’s Oaks Course with a one-stroke lead at 12 under after shooting a 5-under 65. Johnson, the 4 Aces captain, was in solo third at 10 under after his 7-under 63.
Sandwiched in between was LIV Golf newcomer Joaquin Niemann, the Torque GC captain who matched Gooch’s 65 and was at 11 under.
The 4 Aces GC has won two consecutive team titles but not yet produced an individual champion in the first three LIV Golf events.
In the team standings, 4 Aces GC was at 22 under and had a three-stroke lead over Phil Mickelson’s Hy Flyers GC, with Iron Heads GC another stroke back.
Both Gooch and Johnson have finished inside the top 10 in each of the first three events and were in good shape to maintain those streaks.
Niemann also had chances to go lower but missed several short putts, including two lip outs on consecutive holes. Still, he’s settled in nicely after joining LIV earlier this week.
On Friday night, LIV Golf announced that players would be allowed to wear shorts during competition rounds, starting immediately. A good number of the 48 players took advantage of the new rule and wore shorts.
- Press Trust of India
GOLF: Sharma shoots even par round, lies 61st in Denmark
Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma recovered from two bogeys and a double bogey in his first six holes with five birdies to be T-61 at the Made in HimmerLand tournament. The 26-year-old had birdies on eighth, ninth and three more on 14th, 16th and 17th as he carded an even par 71 in the third round.
Meanwhile, it is all to play for heading into the final day as four players share the third round lead, with the English trio of Ross McGowan, Oliver Wilson and Matthew Southgate joined by Italy’s Francesco Laporta at the summit on 17-under par.
Englishman Matthew Jordan equalled the course record with a nine under 62 to move to within one shot of the lead on 16-under, while American John Catlin delighted the fans with a hole-in-one at the famous 16th - known as HimmerLand Hill.
The spectators witnessed another remarkable hole-out for Southgate, whose second shot on the par four first hole dropped into the cup for a spectacular eagle two.
His six under 65 was matched by former Ryder Cup player Wilson, who could have led outright only for back-to-back bogeys on the final two holes.
McGowan, the outright leader after both of the opening two rounds, signed for a two under 69 while Laporta carded a three under 68.
Jordan held the fifth place on his own while Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson, Tom Lewis of England and South African Justin Walters were a shot further back on 15 under par.
- Press Trust of India
Wrestling
National under-23 C’Ships: Services, Delhi and Haryana win team titles
Services, with 144 points, won the team title in the Greco-Roman category at the National under-23 wrestling championship which concluded at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Sunday.
Delhi (192 points) topped the men’s freestyle table while Haryana (225 points) won the honours in the women’s section.
The results (finals
-Stan Rayan
Mastermind Academy celebrates medals Thailand soft tennis championship
Tarun Kapoor, Yashwant Yadav, Khushi Sachdeva, Muhammad Akhtar, Abhimanyu Khokhar, Hriday Rawal of Mastermind Academy won 12 medals between them in the International soft tennis championship in Pattaya. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Mastermind Academy celebrated a clutch of medals won recently by its six-member team in the World Tour International soft tennis championship in Pattaya, Thailand.
The six-member team from the academy had a hand in winning three gold, three silver and six bronze medals, in various sections from under-15 to the over-35 events, in the competition that featured teams from 15 countries including Korea, Japan and China.
The only girl in the Delhi team, Khushi Sachdeva won the under-21 bronze, mixed doubles gold with Aniket Patel, apart from the team bronze.
Mohammad Akhtar won the over-35 doubles gold. Abhimanyu Khokhar won the singles bronze, doubles silver apart from being part of the bronze winning team.
Yashwant Yadav won the singles silver in the under-15 section and the doubles gold in the under-18 event. He also won the doubles bronze in under-15.
Hriday Rawal won the singles and doubles bronze in the under-15 section. Tarun Kapoor wont he under-18 doubles silver medal.
Kamesh Srinivasan
CRICKET
New floodlights installed at Eden Gardens
New LED floodlights have been installed at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
The four towers have a total of 484 LED lights that give 3500 lux on the pitch, 2500 lux on the inner circle and 2000 lux for the rest of the ground.
"Now the Eden Gardens has one of the most advanced lighting systems. We have installed LED lights that are operated through DMX system that makes the tower lights the most modern," said Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Avishek Dalmiya.
The floodlights were last changed in 2011.
-Y.B.Sarangi
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