Indian sports wrap, August 25: India reaches Rajgir ahead of Hockey Asia Cup 2025; Pranavi shines at Hills Open

HOCKEY

Eyes on the title, Indian Men’s Hockey Team arrives in Rajgir for Asia Cup 2025 

Double Olympic Medallist and current Asia No.1 Indian Men’s Hockey Team arrived in Patna, Bihar, on Monday for the prestigious Asia Cup Rajgir, Bihar 2025.

India had won the Bronze medal in the previous edition held in Jakarta, where a young team with 15 debutants showed heart in their campaign by finishing on the podium.

This time, however, with the World Cup qualification at stake, India has brought their best squad to the campaign and will be looking to showcase their A game in Rajgir.

Upon arriving this afternoon, fresh from high-intensity friendly matches against Australia in Perth, Chief Coach Craig Fulton expressed his delight over playing in Bihar for the first time.

“The team’s preparations have been solid for this tournament. Our approach will be similar to that of the Paris Olympics, where we began with good wins in the pool stage. We want to start well here, take it game-by-game, build on our momentum, and we are cognisant that it’s been eight years since India last won the title (in 2017, Dhaka). While we are confident of winning, we don’t want to take any team lightly,” Fulton said.

The Captain Harmanpreet reflected similar emotions, he said, “We have never played in Bihar and it’s exciting to see that Rajgir is already hosting it’s second international hockey tournament within a span of one year. This shows the government’s intent to support the game and we are looking forward to the love and support of hockey fans here throughout the tournament.”

India is grouped in Pool A along with Japan, China and Kazakhstan while Pool B features Malaysia, Korea, Bangladesh and Chinese Taipei.

GOLF

Aditi Ashok finishes 36th at CPKC Open on LPGA

Indian golfer Aditi Ashok finished tied 36th after carding an even-par 71 for the third time in four days at the CPKC Women’s Open in Canada.

She totalled two-under for the week.

Canadian Brooke Henderson won her second CPKC Women’s Open title beating playing partner Minjee Lee by a stroke for her first victory in more than two and a half years.

Henderson closed with a four-under 68 at Mississaugua Golf and Country Club to finish at 15-under 269. Lee, the Australian player ranked fourth in the world, had a 68.

Mao Saigo of Japan was third at 11-under after a 66. Fellow Japanese player Akie Iwai, the winner last week in Oregon, who led after each of the first two rounds, had a 69 to finish fourth at 10-under.

-PTI

Saptak Talwar finishes tied-16th in Netherlands

Indian golfer Saptak Talwar carded a final round of 1-under 70 to end at tied-16th place at the Dutch Futures in Spijk, Netherlands.

Talwar had all four rounds under par on Sunday, indicating his growing comfort on the Hotel Planner Tour.

Talwar shot 70-69-69-70 for a total of 6-under. He birdied the sixth and the seventh for the second day running and had other birdies on the 10th and the 13th but also gave away shots on the ninth, 11th and the 18th.

Filippo Celli birdied three of his final four holes to seal a maiden Hotel Planner Tour title at The Dutch Futures.

The Italian, who started the day with a one-stroke lead, signed for a closing six-under-par round of 65 to finish on 15-under par for the week, two shots clear of German Hurly Long, who had earlier set the clubhouse lead on 13-under.

-PTI

Pranavi finishes as top Indian in 21st place in Hills Open

A double bogey late in the final round put paid to Indian golfer Pranavi Urs’ hopes for a top-15 finish as she ended at tied 21st at the Hills Open in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Pranavi, who is slowly making a comeback after an injury, shot 2-under 69 and totalled 4-over for the week to finish tied-21st at the Hills Golf & Sports Club on Sunday.

After four birdies on the seventh, 11th, 12tth and the 14th, she was going great till she double bogeyed the par-4 17th. The back nine saw tough conditions.

Hitaashee Bakshi (71) finished tied-41st with a total of 7-over while Sneha Singh slipped in the final round with a 76 and ended tied-47th.

The other four Indian golfers, Tvesa Malik, Amandeep Drall, Avani Prashanth and Vani Kapoor missed the cut.

Swedish amateur Meja Ortengren secured her maiden Ladies European Tour (LET) title on home soil, finishing two shots clear of the field.

-PTI

Ahlawat finishes 54th as Noren wins title

Veer Ahlawat had a poor final round of 2-over 74 as he ended a disappointing tied 54th at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo.

The other Indian entry this week, Shubhankar Sharma had missed the cut.

Ahlawat, who came to the DP World Tour after topping the PGTI Order of Merit, shot rounds of 73-71-71-74 to total 1-over.

He had three birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey in his final round.

Alex Noren ended a seven-year wait for his 11th DP World Tour title as he fought off Nicolai Højgaard and a charging Kazuma Kobori to win by one shot.

-PTI

Published on Aug 25, 2025