TABLE TENNIS
Surat: Tamil Nadu's Sharath Kamal, the second seed, conceded his men's quarterfinal match to Haryana's Soumyajit Ghosh in the table tennis event of the 36th National Games here on Friday, complaining of back pain.
The Birmingham Commonwealth Games hero was leading by two games to one, and 6-1 in the fourth when he asked for medical time out. After the physio examined him, Sharath said he can longer continue and shook hands with Ghosh.
Also READ | Sharath Kamal — scaling new heights at 40
-K. Keerthivasan
GOLF
Another slow start for Shubhankar in Paris
Paris: Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma shot four bogeys and a double bogey to card a disappointing 3-over 74 on the opening day of the Cazoo Open de France at Le Golf National.
Sharma's bogeys and a double bogey came on on a day when Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard stormed into a two-shot lead by equalling the course record with a nine under par opening round 62, including ten birdies.
Sharma, who had had three birdies, had opened 2022 with a superb Tied-second spot at the Abu Dhabi Championships but has missed seven cuts in the last eight starts.
Højgaard, 21, already has three DP World Tour titles to his name, but has yet to win in the 2022 season.
He birdied four of his first five holes - his only dropped shot of the day coming in between at the second hole - en route to a five under front nine of 31, and he soared into the lead courtesy of four birdies on the way home for a nine under total.
Sweden's Alexander Björk was in second place after signing for a seven under 64, while Frenchman Paul Barjon, who has forged his professional career in the USA, was a shot further back on six under.
Højgaard said, “It’s not that easy but today was very good. To be fair I didn’t feel like I was that good off the tee but I felt like my approach play today was very good, alongside a very good putter – I holed a few long putts and you have to do that to shoot nine under.
-PTI
SHOOTING
Shotgun World Championship: Sabeera Haris, Shardul Vihan finish 14th
New Delhi: Sabeera Haris and Shardul Vihan shot a combined score of 125 and finished 14th in the junior mixed trap in the shotgun World Championship in Osijek, Croatia, on Friday.
The top six teams, two from Italy and one each from China, Britain, Finland and Spain, made the medal round, shooting scores ranging from 138 to 131.
The No.1 Indian team of Preeti Rajak and Shapath Bharadwaj shot 120 and placed 21st Shapath was struggling with rounds of 18 and 15 that pulled the team down. Preeti shot the best among the Indians with 64.
It will be team competition on Saturday for the trap shooters in the junior men’s and women’s events.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
TENNIS
Asian Junior Tennis: Aryan beats second seed Aman
Aryan Shah beat second seed Aman Dahiya to make it to the Asian junior tennis final in Pune on September 23, 2022. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Pune: Aryan Shah beat second seed Aman Dahiya 6-2, 7-6(4) to make the boys final of the Asian junior tennis championship organised by MSLTA at the Deccan Gymkhana Club on Friday.
In the final, Aryan will challenge Manas Dhamne who warded off a stiff challenge from Rushil Khosla in three sets.
Rushil won the boys doubles title in partnership with Yuvan Nandal, beating the Korean-Japanese combination of Woohyuk Chang and Reiya Hattori in straight sets.
In the girls doubles semifinals, the Adkar sisters, Asmi and Vaishnavi beat the Aussies, Emerson Jones and Lily Tayor 6-4, 6-2. They will play another Aussie team of Lily Fairclough and Zara Larke in the final.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Sasikumar Mukund beaten in pre-quarters
Sasikumar Mukund was beaten by the top seed Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-3 6-3 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $45,730 Challenger tennis tournament in the USA.
In the €92,742 WTA event in Budapest, Prarthana Thombare in partnership with Ingrid Gamarra Martins was unable to capitalise on a flying start against the top seeds Anna Bondar and Kimberley Zimmermann as the Indo-Brazil pair got beaten 0-6, 6-4, [10-7] in the doubles quarterfinals.
- Kamesh Srinivasan
SQUASH
HCL-SRFI PSA Indian Tour: Abhay, Kenzy emerge as winners
Abhay Singh and Egypt's Kenzy Ayman emerged as the men's and women's champions of the Chennai leg of the HCL-SRFI PSA Indian Tour at the ISA courts here on Friday.
Abhay took on the third-seeded Egyptian Khaled Labib and was in top form, dropping just 11 points across the three games, to win 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 in just 22 minutes.
Men’s and women’s champions of the Chennai leg of the HCL-SRFI PSA Indian Tour Abhay Singh and Egypt’s Kenzy Ayman. | Photo Credit: Ravindran R/The Hindu
He never let his opponent bounce back. The striking feature of the match was his ability to score successive points in the three sets that kept the Egyptian under pressure.
Abhay had clinched a 51-minute hard-fought five-game match against another Egyptian Yassin Elshafei in the semifinal and followed it up with an exceptional performance in the final.
Kenzy Ayman outplayed Sunayna Kuruvilla 11-7, 11-2, 11-6 in 23 minutes.
