July 16, Indian sports news wrap: Aditi and Pajaree lying T-18 in Great Lakes Bay golf

Aditi and Pajaree lying T-18 in Great Lakes Bay golf

India’s Aditi Ashok and Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn improved four places to reach tied 18th after a team score of one-under in the third round of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational..

The Indo-Thai pairing, which was third in the same event last year, sank two birdies on 17th and 18th holes to finish the round at one-under. They are now seven-under through 54 holes.

Americans Jennifer Kupcho and Lizette Salas are on top of the leaderboard with a four-stroke lead at 17-under overall.

The duo carded a bogey-free 64, tying the tournament foursomes record set by Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn in 2019, and set a new 54-hole record at 193, bettering Jasmine Suwannapura and Cydney Clanton’s score from the inaugural event by one.

Heading into the final day at 13-under, Matilda Castren is looking to add another Tour victory to her resume in Midland, while her partner Kelly Tan could become the Tour’s first Malaysian winner.

Haeji Kang and Tiffany Chan and 36-hole leaders Pauline Roussin and Dewi Weber sit in a tie for third at 11-under. They chase the leaders for a chance at becoming the second and third rookie winners in 2022.

Chan would become the first LPGA Tour winner from Hong Kong; Kang would be the first Korean player to become a Rolex First-Time Winner since Jeongeun Lee6 in 2019.

-PTI

Vani, Diksha lie third in Netherlands on Ladies European Tour

The Indian duo of Diksha Dagar and Vani Kapoor were placed tied-third midway through the Big Green Egg Open golf tournament in the Netherlands.

Diksha, who was third after the first-round score of 70, added a 71. Meanwhile, Vani, who opened with 71, shot 70 in the second round. They are now five under and three shots behind the leader, Whitney Hillier.

Hillier shot a second successive round of four-under 68 and is now eight-under at the halfway mark. The 31-year-old Hillier is chased by Sarah Schober (67-70) at the top of the leader board.

Among other Indians, Amandeep Drall (73-72), who sits at T-30, and Ridhima Dilawari (74-76), placed at T-45, also made the cut. Neha Tripathi (79-76) missed qualifying for the next round.

In the second round, Kapoor registered 15 consecutive pars after starting on the tenth tee, before finding two birdies in her final three holes to move up the leader board.

"I played pretty solid, I was hitting fairways and greens but didn't give myself enough chances. I wasn't hitting it that close - and was just hoping that sometimes a putt would drop and they did on the 7th and 8th so that was nice," Kapoor said.

Diksha Dagar, on the other hand, came flying out the blocks for the second day running with early birdies on the eleventh and twelfth, putting her name at the top, before dropping a shot on the par-five 15th.

A birdie on the 17th got her back on track, but a dropped shot on the ninth saw her sit three shots off the lead ahead the weekend.

"The difference today was that my putts didn't go in, and I had troubles with my club selection and some of my shots were short," Dagar said.

"It is good for me and Vani to be near the top. I’m always happy to see Indians doing well. For Kapoor to be on five-under as well is good golf," added Dagar.

PTI

SWIMMING

Junior National Aquatic C’ships: Ridhima, Apeksha and Suhas clinch gold with new meet records

Karnataka’s Ridhima Veerendra Kumar created a new meet record in the 100m backstroke event for group 1 girls on the opening day of the Junior National Aquatic Championships here on Saturday.

The young star from Bengaluru smashed Olympian Maana Patel’s record of 1:05.00 clocked in 2015. Ridhima touched pads on 1:04.96 to clinch the gold and create a new meet record in the event.

She beat Sanjana Prabhugaonkar (1:07.09) and statemate Nina Venkatesh (1:07.32) to win the gold.

In the 100m backstroke for group II boys, Suhas Preetha M of Telangana smashed the record with a sensational time of 1:01.29 seconds.

He beat Karnataka’s Ishan Mehra by a close margin. Mehra timed 1:01.71 seconds while Haryana’s Krish Jain who took home the bronze.

In another event, Apeksha Fernandes of Maharashtra created a new meet record in the 100m breaststroke for group I girls. She clocked 1:12.83 seconds to beat Karnataka’s Saanvi S Rao (1:16.81) and S Lakshya (1:17.58).

- PTI

CHESS

Indian GM Aravindh Chithambaram wins chess tourney in Spain

Indian Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram emerged winner in the 41st Villa De Benasque International Chess Open after edging Armenia’s Robert Hovhannisyan and compatriot Raunak Sadhwani on the basis of tie-break score here.

Chithambaram, Hovhannisyan and Sadhwani finished on eight points from 10 rounds along with seven others. Chithambaram, a former national champion, took the top prize on the basis of a superior tie-break score.

Sadhwani finished in third place behind the Armenian.

Chithambaram, coached by R B Ramesh, started the event with four straight wins before settling for draws in the next two rounds. A defeat at the hands of Czech Republic GM Vojtech Plat in the eighth round came as a minor blip before the 22-year old Chithambaram finished strongly by posting wins in the last two rounds over Marcos Lianes Garcia (Spain) and Armenian GM Karen Movsziszian.

The 17-year-old Sadhwani remained unbeaten through the 10 rounds, scoring six wins to go with four draws. An inferior tie-break score hurt his chances of claiming the top spot.

-PTI

BASKETBALL

New players selected for NBA academy

A bunch of new players were selected for the NBA basketball academy following a three-day trials for the top 30 players from across the country, at the Jaypee Greens here on Sunday.

The 11 players, selected through the ACG-NBA scheme, will get a full scholarship for their training at the academy under the guidance of NBA-certified coaches. The final selection, under the supervision of the Technical Director of the NBA Academy, Scott Fleming, was a culmination of the process of filtering about 1600 aspirants.

The trials in the earlier stages, starting from May 21, were held in Delhi, Kottayam, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

- Kamesh Srinivasan

BADMINTON

Pramod Bhagat enters final of the four Nations Para Badminton International

World No 1 Pramod defeated Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara 21-15, 21-15 and now will face England’s Daniel Bethell.

Incidentally, Pramod defeated Bethell to win the first gold in badminton by an Indian in Paralympics/Olympics. 

Daniel Bethell defeated India’s Kumar Nitesh in straight sets, the scoreline read 21-14 and 21-13.

The finals will be held tomorrow. 

“Fujihara played really well but I was able to keep my rhythm going. As the job is not finished yet I am forward to the finals tomorrow,” Pramod said later.

-V.V.  Subrahmanyam

WRESTLING

  Zouhaier Sghaier Ranking Series: Nisha Dahiya, Mansi Ahlawat secure medals

Nisha Dahiya and Mansi Ahlawat secured two more medals in women’s competitions at the Zouhaier Sghaier Ranking Series wrestling tournament in Tunis, Tunisia.

Nisha won two of her three round-robin matches to take the silver medal in 68kg.

Mansi (57kg) got a bronze medal as her opponent Helen Maroulis of the USA withdrew from the match due to an injury suffered in a previous duel.

Harpreet Singh claimed the silver medal while Sajan bagged the bronze in the 82kg Greco Roman category.

Among the Indian women wrestlers in action on Saturday, Antim (53kg) and Bipasha (72kg) made it to their respective finals. Sarita (59kg) also remained in the hunt for a gold medal after winning two of her three round-robin matches.

Mohit Grewal (125kg) could not make it to the medal round after losing two bouts.

- Y.B.Sarangi