Indian Sports Wrap, March 8: Diksha shoots 71 under in brutal conditions in Australia classic

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Diksha shoots 71 under in brutal conditions, finishes T-5th as Pranavi is 14th

Diksha Dagar logged her first top-5 finish of the 2026 season, finishing a creditable tied-fifth in the Australian Women’s Classic after carding a 1-under 71 despite two bogeys in the middle of the round, here Saturday.

On a brutal day when conditions were very tough, Diksha was one of only three players to go under-par on Sunday as the wind and rain reared its ugly head on the Central Coast in Australia.

One of the other two was he winner, Kelsey Bennett.

Pranavi Urs, who had also been looking set for a Top-5 finish slipped in the final round as she shot 6-over 78, and finished sole 14th.

The other two Indians in the field this week, Avani Prashanth and Hitaashee Bakshi had missed the halfway cut.

On a day when scoring was tough Diksha birdied the fourth and the fifth but dropped shots on the seventh and the ninth. She dropped a third bogey on the 13th but picked shots on the 15th and the 17th for a 71.

Pranavi struggled all day. She bogeyed three times on the front and nine three more times by the 14th. Her only birdie of the day was on the 15th, which saw her rise to Tied-10th. But she closed with another birdie on the 18th and ended 14th.

– PTI

Bhatia two behind leader as Theegala holds on to top 10 in disrupted 3rd round

Akshay Bhatia played 3-under par on the third day through the first 16 holes before play was called off, leaving the 24-year-old two strokes behind leader Daniel Berger at the Arnold Palmer Invitational here.

Sahith Theegala dropped down the order on the third day but is still within the top 10. Bhatia had two holes to play, while Berger had three more in the third round when play was suspended.

Theegala fell six places on the leaderboard as he was 1-over par on the third day with two holes left to be played.

Bhatia began the third round with an early bogey on the second hole. He went on to birdie the fifth and sixth before dropping strokes with bogeys on the seventh and eighth. He closed the front nine with a birdie on the ninth.

Once on the back nine Bhatia found some rhythm as he made birdie on the 12th before making consecutive birdies on the 15th and 16th holes before play was suspended. This puts him at 11 under par with two holes left to play in his third round.

Theegala opened the third round with a string of pars before he found his first birdie on the sixth hole followed by a bogey on the seventh and then closed out the front nine with a bogey on the ninth.

On the back nine Theegala struggled as he dropped shots on the 11th, 13th and 14 holes. The birdie on the 12th and an eagle on the 16th were the highlights of the back nine as he rallied strongly. His score now stands at 6-under par.

Berger was even par for the day when play was called off. Berger began his third with an early bogey on the second and a birdie on the fourth hole.

– PTI

SHOOTING

Arshdeep wins 25m pistol T3 finals

Arshdeep Kaur secured the top spot in the finals of 25m pistol women event in a high-quality field of the National Selection Trials (Group A) that also featured double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker.

The Punjab markswoman, who qualified in eighth position, edged out the experienced Divya T.S 37-36 to finish on top in the eight-shooter final.

Former Asian Games champion Rahi Sarnobat secured the third place with 33 hits, after Divya prevailed over her in a shoot-off.

Rhythm Sangwan finished fourth, followed by Niveditha V. Nair, Bhaker, nationals bronze medallist Anjali Choudhary and Chinki Yadav, who completed the top eight.

Bhaker qualified for finals in top spot after two days of qualification in the precision and rapid stages with a combined score of 582-17x (Precision 287, Rapid 295).

Rahi followed with a score of 580-20x (Precision 292, Rapid 288) and Divya T.S qualified in third place with a score of 580-13x (Precision 290, Rapid 290).

Niveditha V. Nair (577-23x, Precision 288, Rapid 289), Rhythm Sangwan (577-16x, Precision 285, Rapid 292), Anjali Choudhary (576-12x, Precision 287, Rapid 289), Chinki Yadav (575-20x, Precision 280, Rapid 290) and Arshdeep Kaur (575-19x, Precision 285, Rapid 290) completed the top eight.

The qualification and finals of 50m Rifle 3 Positions for both men and women along with the qualification and finals of 10m Air Pistol men will be held on Monday.

-PTI

Published on Mar 08, 2026