Indian sports wrap, April 17: Jatiwal emerges halfway leader in Gurgaon Open

GOLF

Jatiwal emerges halfway leader in Gurgaon Open golf

Chandigarh’s Rajiv Kumar Jatiwal followed up his first round of 66 with another top-notch effort of five-under 67 in round two to emerge as halfway leader at 11-under 133 at the Rs 1 crore Gurgaon Open golf tournament on Wednesday.

Bengaluru golfer M Dharma’s 69 placed him second at nine-under 135 at the Classic Golf & Country Club.

On a day when the wind played havoc by constantly switching directions, Gurugram-based Sunhit Bishnoi produced the joint lowest round of 66 to move into third place at eight-under 136.

Arjun Prasad of Delhi also shot a 66 to be placed a further stroke behind in tied fourth at seven-under 137 along with Tapy Ghai (68) of Gurugram.

The halfway cut went at even-par 144. Fifty-six professionals made the cut.

Jatiwal (66-67), overnight tied third and three off the lead, produced some great approach shots to set up short birdie conversions on three of the first four holes.

With the switching winds creating problems in club selection for most of the field including the 48-year-old Jatiwal, bogeys followed for him on the sixth and eighth.

Jatiwal, winner of one professional title in his rookie season on the Indian circuit back in 1998, rallied with another splendid approach shot from 215 yards on the par-5 ninth that led to a tap-in for eagle.

Jatiwal birdied the next hole before going through another slump with bogeys on the 11th and 12th.

He had a final flourish in store as he struck his irons and wedges to perfection to pick up three more birdies on the 14th, 15th and 16th.

“While I putted really well in round one, today it was all about my approach shots. The eagle on the ninth was the highlight for me today. Importantly, I made good comebacks twice after suffering bogeys,” said Jatiwal.

“I’ll look to play my natural game from here on and repeat what I’ve been doing so far. Keeping my focus going will also be important. My game has been quite inconsistent so far this season as I’ve missed cuts by one or two shots.” Dharma (66-69) moved up one spot from his overnight tied third as a result of his 69 that featured four birdies and a bogey.

Dharma’s round included some exceptional bunker shots and chips and saw him land it within two feet of the pin on three occasions.

Bishnoi shot 66 to rise 21 spots to third place while Arjun Prasad also posted the same number to climb 36 places to tied fourth.

-PTI

TENNIS

Yuki Bhambri in ATP quarterfinals

Yuki Bhambri in partnership with Albano Olivetti of France knocked out the third seeds Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen of Belgium 4-6, 7-6(5), [10-6] in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the €651,865 ATP tennis tournament in Munich, Germany, on Wednesday.

Interestingly, the Belgian pair was fresh from winning the title in the Monte Carlo Masters.

In the quarterfinals, Yuki and Albano will play Robert Galloway and Evna King of USA.

The results:

€651,865 ATP, Munich, Germany

Doubles (pre-quarrterfinals): Yuki Bhambri & Albano Olivetti (Fra) bt Sander Gille & Joran Vliegen (Bel) 4-6, 7-6(5), [10-6].

$164,000 Challenger, Acapulco, Mexico

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rithvik Bollipalli & Niki Poonacha bt Juan Ficovich (Arg) & Joao Da Silva (Bra) 7-5, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF men, Shymkent, Kazakhstan

Singles (first round): Yuvan Nandal bt SD Prajwal Dev 6-4, 7-6(1); Aryan Shah bt Grigoriy Lomakin (Kaz) 6-4, 6-4; Karan Singh bt Vitaliy Zatespin (Kaz) 0-6, 6-7(3), 7-6(3); Eric Vanshelboim (Ukr) bt Manish Sureshkumar 7-6(1), 7-6(6); Dev Javia bt Kazuki Nishiwaki (Jpn) 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.

$40,000 ITF women, Shenzhen, China

Singles (first round): Rutuja Bhosale bt Gao Xinyu (Chn) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rutuja Bhosale & Ma YeXin (Chn) bt Alevtina Ibragiimova & Anastasia Kovaleva 6-4, 4-6, [10-8]; Arianne Hartono (Ned) & Prarthana Thombare bt Choi Ji Hee (Kor) & Beatrice Gumulya (Ina) 6-4, 6-1.

$25,000 ITF women, Hammamet, Tunisia

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Vaishnavi Adkar & Ranim Rassil (Tun) bt Joyce Behnke (Ger) & Sameeksha Shroff 6-1, 6-3.

$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia

Singles (first round): Arabella Koller (Aut) bt Zeel Desai 6-2, 7-6(2).

$15,000 ITF women, Shymkent, Kazakhstan

Singles (first round): Sandugash Kenzhibayeva (Kaz) bt Saumya Vig 6-3, 6-0; Aruzhan Sagandikova (Kaz) bt Smriti Bhasin 7-5, 6-2; Ashmitha Easwaramurthi bt Ustiniya Lekomtseva 6-3, 6-3.

-Team Sportstar