Indian sports wrap, April 25: Abhay Singh loses to former world No 1 Gawad in Zurich thriller
SQUASH
Abhay Singh loses to former world No 1 Gawad in Zurich thriller
India’s Abhay Singh lost to Egyptian former World No. 1 and world champion Karim Gawad in a thriller in the men’s quarterfinals of the Grasshopper Cup, a PSA Gold-level event, in Zurich.
World No 24 Singh recovered from 6-0 down to force the opening game into tie-break, and went toe-to-toe with world No 4 Gawad in the second, before the Egyptian second seed clinched the contest 12-10, 11-9.
“The pace was really fast, we’ve only played twice but I feel like we’ve played more than that. In Qatar (2025) he (Singh) beat me in four and today I got on court and thought I don’t want to lose again,” Gawad said.
“In best of three with one of the smartest and talented players on Tour, you can never see what he’s thinking with the next shot or the next rally. He can come back with crazy points as you saw in the first game when I was 7-0 up and he came back out of nowhere (and) in less than three minutes we were tied,” the Egyptian added.
– Team Sportstar
GOLF
Singapore Open: Bhullar stays in Top 5 despite tough third round
Battling tough conditions, India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar shot one-over 72 in the third round but remained inside the Top 5 at the Singapore Open on Saturday.
Sitting at the top of the leaderboard at the USD 2 million International Series event is Korea’s Jeongwoo Ham, who, after shooting a 68, has been in the lead across all three days.
In energy sapping conditions with the formidable Serapong course at the Sentosa Golf Club to boot, Bhullar hung on gamely to shoot 1-over 72 on a moving day in a round that was all about minimising the damages and staying in the mix.
Bhullar currently lies at tied fifth place at 6-under 207, a position he shared with Thai Jazz Janewattananond (68-66-73) and Pakistan’s Ahmad Baig (69-71-67), who with an eagle and two birdies, was one of the standout performers of the day.
Bhullar encountered a nasty double bogey early on the third hole which threatened to derail his progress.
“That was unfortunate. I hit a good drive, it was in the first cut and the lie was fine. I had about 210 yards with a five-iron but made a poor swing and pulled it left.
“From there, I ended up in a tricky spot near the bunker with no proper stance for my fourth shot. I managed to get it to about 10 feet but missed the putt,” Bhullar said.
He got back a stroke immediately on the fourth and then went on to birdie the ninth as well. He would have hoped to go low in the back nine to make a charge up the leaderboard, but ended up making 8 pars and a bogey after the turn.
Bhullar currently lies seven shots off the pace from leader Ham, yet remains hopeful.
“Overall, with 18 holes to go, I’ll keep my head down, get some lunch, and spend some time working on my putting.”
Young Pukhraj Singh Gill (71-70-72), playing on an International Series invite, played steady once again.
The Ludhiana player is at level-par and at the Tied-45 place.
The other Indian to make the cut, Karandeep Kochhar had a rather forgettable outing today, carding a 6-over 77 to lie at T-67.
Ham has a four-shot lead over Australia’s Cameron John, who returned a 67, the joint-lowest round of the day along with Baig and Thailand’s Itthipat Buranatanyarat, while Japan’s Tomohiro Ishizaka is in third, another stroke back, following a 70.
Ham was unflappable again on Saturday, conducting a putting exhibition.
– PTI
Published on Apr 25, 2026