Indian Sports Wrap, May 23: Diksha, Avani and Hitaashee tied 36th at Jabra Ladies

GOLF

Diksha, Avani and Hitaashee tied 36th at Jabra Ladies

Evian-les-Bains (France), May 23 (PTI) Indian golfers Diksha Dagar, Avani Prashanth and Hitaashee Bakshi finished their first round at the Jabra ladies Open with identical one over par 72 each here.

All three were tied 36th in the standings.

The fourth Indian, Tvesa Malik, had a disappointing start with 4-over 75 and she was tied 84th.

Moa Folke of Sweden led the field at the end of the first day as she put in a near perfect round with eight birdies and one bogey.

Folke started from the sixth, as players began on the sixth and 15th at the Evian Resort and Golf Club, and birdied the first, second, seventh, ninth, 12th, 13th, 15th and 18th holes. Her only bogey of the round was on the 16th hole.

After a good Top-10 last week, Diksha, starting from the sixth, made four birdies and had five bogeys in her first round.

Diksha started the day with a birdie on the sixth and the seventh and added one more on the ninth. Two bogeys on the 13th and 16th saw her fall back.

A birdie on the first saw her bounce back and she was 2-under at that stage. But three bogeys in a row from third to the fifth, her last three holes, saw her fall to 1-over.

Avani Prashanth, starting on the 15th, had three birdies against four bogeys, while Hitaashee Bakshi, who was tied 12th last week in Dutch Ladies, had two birdies, one bogey and a double bogey in her 72.

Folke leads her closest competitors by two shots. In second place there is a five-way tie between Finland’s Sanna Nuutinen, Thai April Angurasaranee, Australian Kelsey Bennett, Czech Sara Kouskova and Spaniard Amaia Latorre.

Four players are in a share of seventh place with Alexandra Swayne of the U.S. England’s Annabel Fuller, Switzerland’s Chiara Tamburlini and Italy’s Anna Zanusso all on four-under-par.

– PTI

Akshay Bhatia makes good start, lies 11th at Charles Schwab

Indian-American golfer Akshay Bhatia overcame back-to-back bogeys on his second nine but still carded 3-under 70 and was placed tied 11th in the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial here.

Bhatia, currently ranked 30th in the world, was as high as 21st previously.

Aaron Rai, the Indo-British player on the PGA Tour, shot even par 70 with one birdie and one bogey to be tied 57th.

Two-time PGA Tour winner Bhatia finished fourth behind Scheffler at Hero World Challenge and third behind Rory McIlroy at the Players this season and he had five birdies, four of them in his first 10 holes after starting from the 10th.

Bhatia bogeyed the fourth and fifth and had another birdie on the closing hole, the ninth and is four shots behind the leader, rookie John Pak (63).

World No. 1 Scheffler shot 68 and was tied 20th.

Scheffler, recent winner of the PGA Championship, his third major, began eagle-birdie by holing a putt for eagle from off the green on the par-5 first hole and a 23-footer for birdie on No. 2. But he had just one more birdie against two bogeys for a 2-under 68 and was tied 20th.

Pak shot 63 for a three-shot lead over nine players, J.J. Spaun the highest-ranked among them at 27th.

Tommy Fleetwood and 2023 Open champion Brian Harman were among a group of nine players four back of Pak, and Scheffler headlined the 15 players who were five strokes behind.

Defending champion Davis Riley, who is playing the first two rounds with Scheffler, had two double bogeys on the front nine and shot 3-over 73.

Jordan Spieth shot 69 with birdies on two of his final four holes.

– PTI

SURFING

Indian Open surfing from May 30

The Indian Open of surfing, which is the second stop in the National Surfing Championship series, is set to return for its sixth edition from May 30 to June 1.

The competition will be hosted by the Mantra Surf Club against the backdrop of Sasihithlu Beach and will be organised by the Surfing Swami Foundation, the Surfing Federation of India (SFI) stated.

The three-day competition will witness participation from India’s top-ranked surfers in four categories — men’s open, women’s open, U-16 Boys and U-16 Girls.

Last year, India earned its first-ever surfing quotas for a multisport event, securing two spots for the 2026 Asian Games at the Asian Surf Championship in the Maldives.

The upcoming Indian Open offers athletes the opportunity to boost their rankings and enhance their chances of qualifying for the Asian Surf Championship, the qualifier event for the 2026 Asian Games scheduled later this year.

– PTI