Indian sports wrap, June 1: Sharma makes cut in Germany; Veer, Om Prakash miss

GOLF

Sharma makes cut in Germany; Veer, Om Prakash miss

Shubhankar Sharma rose above an average season to move into the weekend rounds with cards of 73-72 at the European Open on Saturday.

At 1-under after 36 holes, Sharma is tied 38.

Sharma who shot three birdies and three bogeys in the first round had four birdies against three bogeys in the second at the Par-73 Porsche Nord Course at Green Eagle.

Meanwhile, Veer Ahlawat (79-70) and Om Prakash Chouhan (75-76) missed the cut.

It has been a modest season for Sharma, who has had just one top-10 finish with tied 7th at Singapore Classic and one top-20 finish with a tied 16th at Hero Indian.

Yet the Indian has made eight cuts in 11 starts in the 2023-24 season.

Laurie Canter will take a three-shot lead into the weekend after he posted a seven under par round of 66. There was a delay of three hours to round two tee times due to a flooded course but once play got under way, Canter climbed to the top of the leaderboard and has now set his sights on securing a maiden DP World Tour title.

Overnight leader Jannik De Bruyn and Dane Niklas Norgaard, who posted a five-under par round of 68, share second place on nine under par.

Englishman Garrick Porteous sits in fourth position on seven under par with four holes left in his second round as play was suspended due to insufficient light.

Defending champion Tom McKibbin, nine-time DP World Tour winner Pablo Larrazabal, Japan’s Yuto Katsuragawa, Italian Guido Migliozzi and Jayden Schaper of South Africa are a shot further back in the shared fifth place.

-PTI

Pranavi Urs moves into joint lead at Dormy Open

 India’s Pranavi Urs continued her solid form on the Ladies European Tour, rising to the top of the leaderboard after the second round in the Dormy Open on Saturday.

Pranavi shares the lead with England’s Cara Gainer (65-71).

Pranavi, who had made every cut this season before withdrawing from last week’s Jabra Classic, shot 2-under 70 in the rain-hit first round and then added a bogey free 6-under 66 to go 8-under.

Playing in her 10th start, Pranavi shot her season’s best on LET, which bettered the 67s she shot in Lalla Meryem Cup and in Aramco Series Tampa. She has had two top-10s this year.

Only two Indian women have won on the Ladies European Tour. Aditi Ashok, who now plays on the LPGA, has five wins and Diksha Dagar, who is playing in Helsingborg this week, has won twice.

This year the Indian success has come from Tvesa Malik on the Sunshine Ladies Tour in South Africa.

Gainer had two birdies against one bogey in the second round.

Trailing the leading duo was Spain’s Mireia Prat who after a first 70 was 4-under through 16 holes to be 6-under.

Emily Pentilla of Finland (71-68) and Patricia Isabel Schmidt (71-68) at 5-under.

Among other Indians, Tvesa (70-71) was sure to make the cut and was tied 15. Diksha with 70 in the first round was yet to start her second round as the morning saw a lot of players complete their unfinished first rounds.

Vani Kapoor, who shot 71 in the first round, had a rough second round as she was 9-over through 15 holes and sure to miss the cut.

Pranavi, winner of the Hero Women’s Pro-Golf Order of Merit, started her second round from the first tee with Teresa Toscano and Sophie Witt.

She birdied four times on the front nine of the Allerum Golf Club and turned in 4-under.

On the back nine she birdies on the 12th and the 18th.

The highlight for Pranavi was that three of her six birdies came on the scoring Par-5s.

Earlier in the first round late on Friday, Pranavi was going strong at 3-under after her first nine holes on the back nine.

Then on her second nine, she dropped a double bogey on Par-5 first and another bogey on third.

She made up with birdies on the fifth and the seventh and finished with 70.

-PTI

Aditi Ashok makes cut at US Women’s Open

India’s Aditi Ashok shot 1-over 71 to move into the weekend rounds here at the US Women’s Open at Lancaster Golf Club. Putting alongside her 3-over 74 on the first day, Aditi was 4-over and tied-24 on the leaderboard.

Only four players were under par after 36 holes as scoring continued to remain tough.

Aditi had two birdies against three bogeys in the second round after having three birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey on the first day.

The world No 158, Wichanee Meechai from Thailand rose to the top as she followed her first 69 with a 67 and was 4-under.

Meechai, who has five professional wins globally, holds a two-shot lead at 4-under.

Andrea Lee was closest at 2-under overall after a 1-under 69 in the second round.

The 2021 and 2022 US Women’s Open champions, Yuka Saso and Minjee Lee respectively, were tied for third at 1-under. Lee shot a 1-under 69 in the second round to be tied with her good friend Saso.

Eight players were tied for fifth, including 2019 Women’s Open champion Hinako Shibuno and amateurs Asterisk Talley and Megan Schofill.

There were 75 players who made the cut on the number at 8-over.

Among the notables who miss the cut included No 1 Nelly Korda, two-time LPGA Tour winner Rose Zhang and defending champion Allisen Corpuz, as well as major champions Brooke Henderson and Patty Tavatanakit.

Lexi Thompson, an 18-time US Women’s Open participant will also miss playing the final 36 holes.

-PTI

CRICKET

TNCA Awards 2023-24: Sai Sudharsan named Cricketer of the Year for the second successive time

B. Sai Sudharsan won the Cricketer of the Year (2023-24) award for the second successive time in the 92nd annual day function of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) held at the M.A. Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Saturday.

After winning the award, Sudharsan expressed happiness and said that adapting quickly to different situations and what the team needs is something he would like to get better at.

On winning the award, he said: “It is a dream come true. When I used to receive awards during my u-14 days, I used to dream of winning the Cricketer of the Year award. I am really happy to have won it for the second consecutive year.”

On the major takeaways from the season, he said: “I think there are a lot of learnings out of this year, to be honest. Because, there were so many difficulties; there were so many uncomfortable situations where I was exposed.

“When I returned from a break (injury break), there was an important game for Tamil Nadu (Ranji Trophy semifinal vs. Mumbai) where I couldn’t perform. I was playing for India-A, and then suddenly I played the first game of the Ranji Trophy. I was not able to perform in that game as well. So, I think, in such times, adapting to different places, adapting quickly to what the team needs, is one of the most important points which I would like to get better at.

He added that he also learnt how to manage and perform when playing continuously in a season in the IPL.

“This was the first time I played 12-14 games continuously in the IPL. So, how to manage that and perform was a learning.”

He received the award from the guest of honour and former India cricketer W.V. Raman.

G. Kamalini bagged the Women’s Cricketer of the Year award. Kamalini’s father Gunalan received the award from the former TNCA President Rupa Srinivasan.

“We’ve definitely not won the Ranji Trophy as many times as we should have. Please win it for one particular gentleman who’s unfortunately not here. Please win it for N. Srinivasan, because he’s promoted this game for five decades,” said W.V. Raman in his speech.

He added that the TNCA should be “looking to encourage four or five players to play for the country at a certain time.”

He addressed to the TNCA President Ashok Sigamani: “I think after having spent four decades in this particular sphere and having been associated with the Association, I can say without any fear that if there is one thing lacking, it is that. We always just identified one cricketer and supported him for a decade. I want that to change during your time, please.”

-S. Prasanna Venkatesan

BADMINTON

Tanvi Sharma registers title win in Bonn International

Young Indian shuttler Tanvi Sharma defeated Wang Pei Yu of Chinese Taipei in two games to clinch title win in the Bonn International tournament, a part of the BWF’s Future Series, on Saturday.

In a contest which lasted a little over half-an-hour, Tanvi, who is ranked 181st in the world, recorded a 21-19 22-20 victory.

The 15-year-old Tanvi from Punjab, who shot to limelight after clinching a gold medal at the Senior Asian Championship in Malaysia, came from behind in the final set to clinch the win over her opponent.

However, there was disappointment in store for Indian women’s doubles pairing of Srinidhi Narayanan and Radhika Sharma, who lost to Turkish pair of Yasemen Bektas and Zehra Erdem 21-17 21-10 in a one-sided contest.

In men’s doubles, Prakash Raj and Gouse Sheik lost to the Dutch combination of Noah Haase Dyon van Wijlick 21-19, 21-16.

-PTI

SURFING

On penultimate day, TN surfers dominate Indian Open of Surfing

The surfers from Tamil Nadu continued their dominance on the second day of the Indian Open of Surfing which is underway at the Sasihitlu beach.

The Tamil Nadu squad on Saturday secured all the top four final spots in the men’s open category and two spots in women’s open category.

The three-day surfing extravaganza is organised by the Surfing Swami Foundation and hosted by Mantra Surf Club, under the aegis of Surfing Federation of India.

With the highest score of the day (15.17), Sivaraj Babu signalled the beginning of Tamil Nadu’s domination. Sanjaikumar S (12.83), Sanjay Selvamani (11.63), Ajeesh Ali (11.43), Srikanth D (10.33), Manivanna T (9.40), Harish M (9.23), and Ruban V (7.93) were the other surfers in this category who joined Sivaraj in the semifinals.

The Surfing Groms 16 and Under Boys quarterfinals took place later in the day. Harish P, who is presently ranked fifth in India, received the highest score in the category (10.17).

The Pujar brothers were keeping Karnataka’s hopes alive in the fierce competition between East and West coast surfers. Tayin Arun (7.60), Prahlad Sriram (7.17), Raju Pujar (7.33), Pradeep Pujar (6.47), Akash Pujar (5.80), Yogesh A (4.40), and Som Sethi (4.40) were among the other top scorers who made it to the semifinals. Tomorrow is the day for this category’s semifinals and finals.

The women’s open surf category semifinals were held on the penultimate day of the national meet. Kamali Moorthi, the defending champion, demonstrated her improved manoeuvrability and surfing skills by scoring 11.23 points. Goa surfer Sugar Banarase scored 8.93 points, putting up a good fight. Neha Vaid (2.20) and Marielle Wunderink (1.87) are the other two surfers who made it to the finals to be held on Sunday.

Speaking after securing her spot in the championship round, Kamali said, “It took some time to paddle in because the waves were breaking back-to-back, making the conditions a little tricky.

“In the heats, there was some competition as well. I am not under any pressure, but if I keep thinking about tomorrow’s finals, I will be. I simply want to enjoy myself, and I am excited to defend my title on Sunday.” Wrapping up the day was the men’s open category semifinal, amid fierce competition among the country’s top surfers, Sanjai Kumar S, Sanjay Selvamani, Srikanth D, and Ajeesh Ali earned their places in the final with scores of 11.17, 11.03, 9.90, and 9.70 respectively.

The highlight of the category was the surprising elimination of Sivaraj Babu, the top scorer, who did not make it to the finals on Sunday.

-PTI

TENNIS

Sahaja Yamalapalli goes down fighting

Sahaja Yamalapalli went down fighting in the fourth round, beaten 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) by Catherine Harrison of USA in a battle of wits that lasted three hours and 24 minutes, in the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

It was a commendable effort from Sahaja in a draw of 64.

In the $40,000 women’s event in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal, Ankita Raina was beaten 6-1, 6-2 by Lucrezia Stefanini of Italy in the semifinals.

-Team Sportstar