Indian sports news wrap, January 16

GOLF

Avani lies seventh, Sandeep 10th at Australian Amateur golf

Avani Prashanth picked two birdies against one lone bogey towards the end of her first nine, to be 1-under 72 and finish tied seventh after the first round of the Australian Amateur Championships.

Avani, the runner-up at the Australian Masters of Amateurs last week, is three shots behind leader Aina Fujimoto (69) at 4-under here at Keysborough Golf Club.

Sandeep Yadav, the 2023 Indian National champion, opened with a steady start of 1-under 71 as the Indian Golf Union’s team had mixed results on the first day.

The players are competing at two courses, with the par at the Keysborough Golf Club for women being par-73 and for men, par-72.

At Yarra Yarra, it is par-70 both men and women.

It is one of the most prestigious amateur events wherein both men and women play together.

Among women, four players including last week’s winner Rianne Mikhaela Malixi were tied second at three-under each. Amelia Whinney is sole sixth and four players including Avani are tied at seventh.

The leader in the men’s section was Australia’s Kai Komulainen, who shot 6-under 64 at Yarra Yarra and led by one over Mitchell Kale of New Zealand, who carded 5-under 67 at Keysborough.

Among the other Indians playing in Australia this week, Heena Kang with 78 was tied-60 in women’s section while in the men’s section Varun Muthappa (74) was tied-83 and Rohit Narwal (78) was tied-165.

Avani, starting from the tenth, birdied the par-3 15th and added a second bridie on par-5 17th but dropped a shot on par-5 18th.

On her second nine — the front side of the course — she parred each of the nine holes.

Yadav opened the week with a birdie on the 10th, where he started, and added one more on 13th.

However, a double bogey on par-4 16th and a bogey on par-4 18th with a birdie in between on par-5 17th saw him turn in even par.

On the second nine, he birdied the first but dropped shots on second and fifth while closing with back-to-back birdies.

-PTI

Hitaashee Bakshi secures one-shot lead

Two sets of back-to-back birdies helped Hitaashee Bakshi take a one-shot lead after the opening round of the second leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club here on Tuesday.

Hitaashee, who has yet to attain success since the 2022 season when she won three times, had five birdies against two bogeys, one on each side of the Par-70 BPGC course.

Trailing Hitaashee were Amandeep Drall, Sneha Singh and Ridhima Dilawari, who carded 2-under 68 each, while the only other under-par score came from amateur Vidhatri Urs (69).

Hitaashee, having finished third on the Hero Order of Merit in 2022, featured only in nine events in 2023 when she also suffered an injury.

Now, she appears to be finding her rhythm again, as she was tied for second last week when amateur Nishna Patel won the title.

Hitaashee had a bogey on the third hole but quickly recovered with a birdie on the fourth.

She continued with consecutive birdies on the sixth and seventh holes, and later on the 14th and 15th. However, she faced a setback after dropping a shot on the par-4 11th.

Sneha Singh, also tied second last week, had three birdies against a bogey, and Amandeep Drall had the same. Both Sneha and Amandeep dropped shots on the par-4 ninth, their only blemish of the day.

Ridhima Dilawari came back bogey-free but with only a birdie on either side of the course.

Disha Kavery (70) was the sole sixth, while Neha Tripathi, Khushi Khanijau and Taniya Balasuriya, were tied for seventh at 1-over 71 each. Rhea Jha and amateur Mannat Brar were Tied 10th with cards of 2-over 72 each.

Experienced Vani Kapoor had a rough start with 6-over 76, as did Seher Atwal, and they were tied for 21st place.

Last week’s winner, amateur Nishna Patel, had a disappointing round of 7-over 77 and was way down in T-26th place.

-PTI

TENNIS

Bhambri-Haase pair loses in Australian Open men’s doubles first round

India’s Yuki Bhambri and his Dutch partner Robin Haase squandered three match points in the deciding set to go down against Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia and Rafael Matos of Brazil in the Australian Open men’s doubles first round here on Tuesday.

The unseeded Indo-Dutch pair lost 6-1 6-7 (8-10) 6-7 (7-10) in the opening round match that lasted two hours and 26 minutes.

After Bhambri and Haase won the first set, their opponents made a comeback into the match by taking the second set in a tie-break.

Bhambri and Haase then had three match points after they were 5-4 up in the deciding set, but they wasted all of them. The deciding set also went to the tie break, which Barrientos and Matos won.

The 31-year-old Bhambri from New Delhi had made it to the Australian Open third round in 2014 when he partnered Michael Venus of New Zealand, and that was his best performance in a Grand Slam doubles event.

Last year, Bhambri won his maiden ATP title at the Mallorca Championships doubles competition, partnering South African Lloyd Harris.

Bhambri and Haase had lost in the semifinals of the Brisbane International ATP Tour tournament earlier this month.

-PTI

$25,000 ITF men’s tennis: Raghav beats wild card entrant Bhavesh

Raghav Jaisinghani beat fellow wild card entrant Bhavesh Gour 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the Arera Club on Tuesday.

In the doubles pre-quarterfinals, Ishaque Eqbal and Faisal Qamar knocked out the top seeds Grigoriy Lomakin and David Pichler 6-1, 6-4.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

$25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament: Chirag Duhan in doubles quarterfinals

Chirag Duhan in partnership with Mohamed Makhlouf of Algeria beat Zha Zhao and zheng Baoluo of China 3-6, 6-4, [14-12] in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in Monastir, Tunisia, on Tuesday.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

ATHLETICS

National cross country championships: Hemraj, Ankita triumph

Railway’s Hemraj Gurjar and Ankita won the men’s and women’s 10km titles in the 58th National Cross Country Championships at Gaya, Bihar, on Monday.

Services took the men’s team title while Railway merged champion in the women’s section.

-Stan Rayan