SHOOTING
Manini beats Ayushi to win Gold at the Kumar Surendra Singh championship
Manini Kaushik capitalised on a strong start and competed hard at the crunch to beat Ayushi Podder 17-13 in the gold medal match of 50-metre rifle 3-position event in the 20th Kumar Surendra Singh shooting championship at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Friday.
From trailing 7-13, Ayushi came up with a string of better shots than her rival, but Manini rose to the challenge in time to seal victory.
It was a courageous performance by Manini, as she had to compete with an injured trigger finger. She also did not have adequate time to have the sighter shots before the kneeling, prone and standing positions of the final. Without practice shots, she thrived in competition.
While Manini qualified in the second place with 583, behind Priya (584) the eventual bronze medallist, Ayushi had just about qualified in the eighth place. However, Ayushi topped the second stage 1.1 point ahead of Manini to challenge her for the gold.
In the junior event, Heena Gohei beat the consistent topper Khushi Bharat 16-10 for the gold. Khushi had topped qualification 15 points ahead of Heena, and had topped the second stage 3.1 point ahead of the eventual gold medallist.
In men’s air pistol, staged at the Madhya Pradesh Academy in Bhopal, Shiva Narwal beat Dharmendra Gaharwar 17-5 for the men’s gold, and outclassed Sahil 16-0 for the youth gold. He also bagged the junior bronze behind Sarabjot Singh and Vijayveer Sidhu.
Vijayveer Sidhu who had topped qualification with 586 along with Shiva, had to settle for the men’s bronze apart from the junior silver.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
TENNIS
Sania loses doubles semifinals in Birmingham Classic
Sania Mirza, seeded third in partnership with Lucie Hradecka, was beaten 7-6(5), 7-6(7) by the second seeds Lyudumila Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko in the doubles semifinals of the $251,750 WTA tennis tournament in Birmingham on Friday.
The semifinalists collected 110 WTA points and $3,950.
In the Challenger in France, Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan cruised into the doubles final.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Jaya Kapoor wins U16 and U18 AITA Super series titles
Jaya Kapoor won both the under-18 and 16 girls titles in the AITA Super series junior tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex on Friday.
Jaya did not drop a set in beating Riya Kaushik and Aarushi Raval in the two finals.
In the boys section, Vatsal Manikantan beat Anmol Nagpure 6-4, 7-5 for the under-18 title, but lost 0-6, 3-6 to Kabir Chothani in the under-16 final.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
India bags double gold in ITF South Asia under-12 championship with wins over Pakistan and Sri Lanka
Tavish Pahwa won both his singles and doubles matches to help India beat Pakistan 2-1 in the final of the ITF South Asia under-12 tennis championship in Kathmandu on Friday.
The Indian girls team also bagged the gold as it won its last round-robin league match 2-1 against Sri Lanka.
Tavish gave a strong start for India with a 6-3, 6-3 victory in the first singles. However, Pakistan equalised with Abubakar Talha beating Fazal Ali Meer 6-2, 6-7(1), 6-2. In the decisive doubles, Tavish and Fazal Ali combined very well to beat Omar Jawad and Abubakar Talha 6-3, 6-3.
Both the teams, guided by coaches Irfan Ahmed and Shivika Burman, qualified for the ITF Asia under-12 championship to be played in Kazakhstan.
It may be recalled that in the last edition, Pakistan had beaten India in the final, after surviving match points in the doubles.
The Indian girls asserted themselves against Sri Lanka, with Prachi Malik and Aahan cruising to victory in their singles matches, dropping two games in all. In the inconsequential doubles, Sri Lanka won a face saving rubber.
Sri Lanka also qualified for the ITF Asian under-12 championship along with India.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
TABLE TENNIS
Tamil Nadu's Ananya Muralidharan Muralidharan stretched the 15-ranked Sneha Bhowmick in the qualification round of the Youth Girls Under-17 category in the 83rd National Junior and Youth Table Tennis Championships at the YMCA Arena at Alappuzha on Friday.
After losing the first two sets, Ananya staged a fine rally to pocket the next two sets but she ran out of steam as Sneha upped the ante to win 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 7-11, 11-3.
Ananya later beat Gurpreet Kaur (Punjab) 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 to record her first win in the group.The progression of other group favourites in the under-17 category were orderly with Nandini Saha (Bengal), Sriya Anand (TTTA), Sayankika Maji (Delhi), K. Disha (UP) and Nehal Venkataswamy (TTTA) winning their matches without breaking any sweat.
There was something to cheer for Kerala as Pranati P.Nair staged a fine comeback to beat Arnee Parmar of Gujarat 9-11, 4-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-4 to keep her qualification hopes alive.
However, Pranati will have to beat Tamil Nadu's Anushkaa Dutta to ensure qualification as Anushkaa beat Arnee in straight sets 11-5, 11-6, 11-5.
In the under-19 category, Jennifer Varghese (Maharashtra) started her campaign on a strong note as she made mincemeat of Parneet Saini (Chandigarh) 11-5, 11-4, 11-2.
Kerala's Rukimi R. Varma pulled off a thrilling win over Punjab's Ridhima Malhotra 9-11, 2-11, 11-6, 11-9, 17-15 to stay alive in the tournament. The other group favourites Bhargva Vanisha (Delhi), Lakshita Narang (Delhi), Aditi Joshi (Karnataka) won their opening matches in style.
-Praveen Chandran
GOLF -
Ridhima claims first win of the season at 8th leg of Hero WPGT
Ridhima Dilawari got off to a fast start with two birdies in the first three holes and then grinded out 13 pars to win the eighth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour here.
Ridhima, who began the final day with a share of the lead, carded 72 for a total of 1-under 215 and won by four shots over Jahanvi Bakshi (72), Seher Atwal (72) and Pranavi Urs (76).
It also ended a long title drought for Ridhima, who has been looking for form and rhythm. She last won in 2021 in January and then in December.
Pranavi, who was in joint lead after the second day, dropped a bogey on the second hole. With Ridhima picking up birdies on first and third, Pranavi fell three behind and was unable to catch up for the rest of the day.
Pranavi’s chances seemed to have vanished with a double bogey on Par-4 seventh, though she did have a birdie on 10th. She had a chance to be sole second, but bogeys on 16th and 18th dropped her to joint second. She had one birdie against three bogeys and a double in her 76.
Jahanvi, who was Tied fourth after the second day, had two birdies and two bogeys, while Seher had one birdie and one bogey for her 72.
Afshan Fatima (74), third overnight, dropped to Tied-fifth with Siddhi Kapoor (72), while Agrima Manral (70) who had the day’s equal best score was seventh.
Trimann Saluja (77) gave away seven bogeys against just two birdies and was eighth, while Lakhmehar Pardesi (70) and Gaurika Bishnoi (77) were Tied ninth.
Asmitha Sathish (73), runner-up a week earlier, and Neha Tripathi (77) were T-11.
The final day also saw a hole in one from Astha Madan (71), who had one of the three under par scores of the day. She, however, finished T-16th.
Pranavi kept her position at the top of the Hero Order of Merit.
The next two events are also slated to be held in Bengaluru next month at the Bangalore Golf Club and Prestige Golfshire respectively.
-PTI
Udayan Mane slips to 53rd in Indonesia on ADT
It was not a great day for India's Udayan Mane as he struggled to six-over 78 and dropped from overnight T-26th to T-53rd at the Indo Masters Golf Invitational here on Friday.
Mane, who had a Top-10 earlier in the month, had two birdies, four bogeys and two doubles and is now six-over through three rounds with one more to go.
Thailand's Chonlatit Chuenboonngam turned in one of the low rounds of the day, posting a six-under 64 to vault up the leaderboard and into a share of the lead with Harrison Gilbert of Australia, who shot 67 at the Imperial Club Golf.
Overnight leader Jesse Yap of Singapore started brightly in the USD 70,000 Asian Development Tour event, but lost impetus and now shares third place with a group of four on 10-under par, including Thai duo Chanat Sakulpolphaisan, Jakraphan Premsirigorn and Sarun Sirithon.
Leader after Round 1, Malaysia's Shahriffuddin Ariffin, improved on his par score from yesterday but was lying seventh.
This is the second event of an eight-leg Indonesia series on the Asian Development Tour.
-PTI
Aramco Team Series
Tvesa Malik battled it out on a long day at the challenging Par-73 Centurion Golf Club and closed with a birdie for 1-over 74 after Day 1 at the Aramco Team Series golf tournament in London.
Tvesa was placed tied 35th, while India's other challenger Diksha Dagar (80) had a rough day and was tied 93rd on a course that has six Par-5s. Sweden’s Sofie Bringer knocked in three eagles in a round of 7-under 66 to take the lead and her team, led by Linn Grant, also had a share of the lead in the team event.
The Aramco Team Series has two competitions rolled into one with half of the million-dollar prize purse kept aside for the Team Competition and the other half for the individual positions. Just as Tvesa and Dagar faced contrasting fortunes in their individual rounds, their team also had varying results. Dagar, despite her own disappointing card, holed some crucial putts to help her quartet hold a solid fourth place.
ALSO READ - Grant becomes first female golfer to win on European Tour
Diksha, who was a part of the winning team last year, had three birdies, six bogeys and two doubles. However, her three birdies were very helpful for team scores. In individuals, she will need a strong second round to make the cut for individual prizes.
‘Long day’
In contrast, Malik, who is the captain of her team, saw her quartet languish in tied-31st place from the 36 teams in the fray.
Tvesa said, “It was a long day, taking almost six and a half hours. The course is tough, even though we played it last year. The pins were somewhat tough, and the greens are tricky. Personally, I hit it better today but struggled on the greens and feel that putting could be much better. Hopefully things will be better on the second day.”
Diksha is in the team led by Spaniard Ana Pelaez alongside Northern Ireland’s Olivia Mehaffey, and amateur Ivan Forster. Their score was 14-under and they were two behind joint leaders Team Anne Van Damm and Team Linn Grant, who are 16-under.
Caroline Hedwall's team is in third place at 15-under.
Diksha’s birdies were instrumental in adding to the team's gains. The birdies came on Par-5 sixth, where she was the best with a birdie. The next birdie on Par-5 ninth and then the birdie on Par-4 16th was once again the best score for her team. Also, Diksha's par on Par-3 11th made up for Pelaez's bogey and Mehaffey's double.
Each team comprises three professionals and one amateur and the two best scores at each hole count towards the team competition, which will be decided at the end of the second round. The individual honours will be claimed after the third and final round.
Behind leader Bringer’s 66, Georgia Hall held the individual second place at 6-under 67 alongside another Swede Jenny Haglund (67). Bronte Law, who had called for more women’s events alongside men’s like last week in Sweden, was fourth with 5-under 68 and nine players, including Charley Hull, carded 4-under 69 each.
The USD 500,000 36-hole team event concludes after two days, while the lowest-scoring 60 players and ties battle it out for a share of a USD 500,000.
-PTI
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