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GOLF
Pranavi Urs finishes T-13th, secures full card to join Aditi and Diksha on LET
Indian golfer Pranavi Urs earned a full card on the Ladies European Tour for 2024 as she finished Tied-31st at the Final Stage of the Qualifying School golf tournament here.
Parnavi played a strong front nine and then survived some tense moments on the back to card a final round of 3-under 70 at the Par-73 Al Maaden Golf Marrakech to finish with a total of 12-under 351.
Pranavi will join compatriots Diksha Dagar and Aditi Ashok, who are already full members of the Tour.
Russia’s Nataliya Guseva produced a final round of 4-under 69 to win the by four shots. Guseva totalled 23-under-par.
The Top-20 and ties secured Category 12 membership for 2024 and there were 22 players getting the status. Thirty players finished between 21st and 50th and ties to clinch Category 16 membership.
India had a total of 12 players in the final stage but Pranavi alone managed a full card. Vani Kapoor (73-70-70-76-72) at 2-under for the 90 holes, finished T-45 and earned a status in Category 16.
Neha Tripathi (75-67-72-73-76) was T-55 and Amandeep Drall (75-70-70-75-76) finished T-65 and the duo earned status in Category 19.
The eight players, who missed the cut were Ridhima Dilawari (74-72-72-77) at T-88, Avani Prashanth (76-71-72-77) and Tvesa Malik (74-70-77-75) at T-92, Jasmine Shekar (75-74-75-75) at T-112, Sneha Singh (83-72-76-76) at T-144, Seher Atwal (77-73-78-81) at 146, Ananya Datar (80-79-76-79) at 148 and Durga Nittur (80-81-76-83) at 150.
Pranavi started the final day at T-11th and her birdies on third, fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth holes saw her turn in 5-under as she rose close to Top-5. She then dropped shots on the 12th and 14th and ended the day with four pars and a round of 70.
Vani had four birdies and three bogeys and was T-45, while Neha had three birdies and six bogeys and failed to make the Top-50.
As Guseva topped the Q-School, South Africa’s Cara Gorlei finished in second place on the leaderboard on 19-under-par after shooting a round of 71.
Thailand’s Aunchisa Utama finished in third place on 18-under-par having carded a round of 3-under 70 on the final day at Al Maaden.
-PTI
BOXING
Saweety Boora aims to defend her crown at Nationals
All eyes will be on Saweety Boora as the reigning world champion will look to defend her 81kg title in the Women’s National Championship which begins here on Thursday.
The competition will feature over 300 boxers from 35 units competing across 12 weight categories for top honours.
Hailing from Haryana, Saweety, who claimed silver at the 2014 World Championships in the light heavyweight category, has also bagged gold (2022), silver (2015), and bronze (2021) at the Asian Championships.
The seventh edition of the elite women’s nationals will see the likes of Tokyo Olympian Pooja Rani in the 75kg category and Haryana’s Manisha Moun, the 2022 world championship bronze medallist in the 60kg category, in action.
She will face stiff competition from Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jaismine of Services Sports Control Board (SSCB).
Additionally, two Youth World Champions — Arundhati (SSCB) and Ankushita Boro (Assam) — will vie for top honours in the 66kg category.
In the previous edition, the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) secured 10 medals and will be eager to replicate the success in this tournament.
-PTI
TENNIS
Sahaja enters pre-quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament
Sahaja Yamalapalli sailed past Madhurima Sawant 6-3, 6-0 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the MSLTA Centre on Thursday.
In the quarterfinals, seventh seed Sahaja will play Hiromi Abe of Japan who ousted the top seed Maria Timofeeva in three sets.
Sahaja also made the doubles semifinals with Vaishnavi Adkar.
Vaidehi Chaudhari was the other Indian player to progress in singles, and set up a quarterfinal against second seed Ekaterina Makarova.
The champion of the recent event in Bengaluru, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Makarova. Fifth seed Rutuja Bhosale went down in the third set tie-break against Daria Kudashova.
The results:
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Hiromi Abe (Jpn) bt Maria Timofeeva 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Sahaja Yamalapalli bt Madhurima Sawant 6-3, 6-0; Saki Imamura (Jpn) bt Vicky Van De Peer (Bel) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1; Daria Kudashova bt Rutuja Bhosale 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(1); Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) bt Ekaterina Kazionova 6-3, 7-6(5); Sapfo Sakellaridi (Gre) bt Vaishnavi Adkar 6-3, 6-0; Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Weronika Baszak (Pol) 6-2, 2-0 (retired); Ekaterina Makarova bt Shrivalli Bhamidipaty 6-3, 6-4.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Funa Kozaki & Misaki Matsuda (Jpn) bt Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) & Sapfo Sakellaridi (Gre) 5-7, 6-4, [12-10]; Ekaterina Kazionova & Ekaterina Yashina bt Zeel Desai & Pranjala Yadlapalli 0-6, 6-2, [10-6]; Hiromi Abe & Saki Imamura (Jpn) bt Humera Baharmus & Olivia Bergler (Pol) 6-4, 6-2; Vaishnavi Adkar & Sahaja Yamalapalli bt Shrivalli Bhamidipaty & Vaidehi Chaudhari 7-5, 6-3.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
AITA women’s tournament: Chandana Potugari beats top seed Tanushri Pandey
Chandana Potugari beat top seed Tanushri Pandey 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Rs.100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy on Thursday.
In the final, Chanadana who had won the tournament last week at the same venue, will play second seed Samaira Malik.
The results (semifinals):
Chandana Potugari bt Tanushri Pandey 6-4, 6-2; Samaira Malik bt Pavithra Reddy 4-1 (conceded).
– Kamesh Srinivasan
SHOOTING
National selection trials: Abhay Singh Sekhon beats qualification topper Mairaj Ahmad Khan in the men’s skeet final
Abhay Singh Sekhon won the shoot-off 20-19 against Mairaj Ahmad Khan in the skeet final of the National shooting trials in Bhopal on Thursday.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Abhay Singh Sekhon won the shoot-off 20-19 against Mairaj Ahmad Khan in the skeet final of the National shooting trials in Bhopal on Thursday.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Abhay Singh Sekhon beat qualification topper and World Cup gold medallist Mairaj Ahmad Khan 20-19 after being tied on 59 in the men’s skeet final in the National selection trials at the Madhya Pradesh Academy in Bhopal on Thursday.
Mairaj had shot 122 in qualification along with Mohd. Sheeraz Sheikh, who eventually placed fifth. Man Singh placed third ahead of Asian Games silver medalist Anantjeet Singh Naruka (121).
Munek Battula was the other shooter to make the final. Olympian Angad Vir Singh Bajwa shot 117 and placed ninth, while Gurjoat Singh slipped to the 21st spot with 114.
In women’s skeet, Parinaaz Dhaliwal pipped Areeba Khan 53-52, pushing World Cup medallist Ganemat Sekhon to the third spot. Qualification topper Raiza Dhillon (119) was fourth, while Zahra Mufaddal Desawala and Vanshika Tiwari finished fifth and sixth respectively.
Olympic quota winner Anish Bhanwala was in top form in 25-metre rapid fire pistol winning the final 31-25 over Sameer Ghulia at the Karni Singh Range in Tughlakabad. Anish had topped qualification with 592, 12 points ahead of the next best.
Asian Games gold medallist Sift Kaur Samra was equally on top of her game as she won the women’s rifle 3-position event with a 2.4 point margin over Priya, after topping qualification with 593.
Paarth Makhija topped men’s air rifle by 0.4 point over Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar.
The results:
Air rifle: Men: 1. Paarth Makhija 251.3 (631.0); 2. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar 250.9 (630.4); 3. Sandeep Singh 229.7 (630.3).
25m rapid fire pistol: Men: 1. Anish Bhanwala 31 (592); 2. Sameer Ghulia 26 (580); 3. Abhinav Choudhary 22 (579).
50m rifle 3-position: Women: 1. Sift Kaur Samra 462.0 (593); 2. Priya 459.6 (590); 3. Bhakti Bhaskar Khamkar 447.7 (590).
Skeet: Men: 1. Abhay Singh Sekhon 59(20) 119; 2. Mairaj Ahmad Khan 59(19) 122; 3. Man Singh 46 (119).
Women: 1. Parinaaz Dhaliwal 53 (115); 2. Areeba Khan 52 (118); 3. Ganemat Sekhon 42 (117).
– Kamesh Srinivasan
Sohini Kumari wins ITF Masters tennis tournament
The former national women’s tennis champion Sohini Kumari won the over-35 singles title in the ITF Masters tennis tournament at the Tennis Project in Baliawas on Thursday.
Sohini, who had quit the professional tennis circuit in 1995 after competing in the FedCup. She had drifted into squash, finishing runner-up in national championships twice and representing the country. She was persuaded by her friends to get back into the tennis circuit.
Sohini was quickly in her stride in her first tournament in the Masters circuit, winning the four matches in the league against Nazneen Rahman, Nikunj Kamal, Pinky Sharma and Vijayta Singh, dropping 10 games in all, in eight sets.
“I had started playing at the Gymkhana Club with all my buddies. So, just thought of entering the tournament for fun”, said Sohini, who did enjoy playing all the younger players as there was no event in her age group.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
ITF women’s tennis tournament results
Ashmitha Easwaramurthi in partnership with Hou Yanan of China was beaten 6-4, 6-1 by third seeds Chiraz Bechri and Milana Zhabrailova in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Monastir, Tunisia.
The results:
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Chiraz Bechri (Tun) & Milana Zhabrailova bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi & Hou Yanan (Chn) 6-4, 6-1.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
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