Indian sports wrap, September 25: Equestrian Fouaad Mirza clinches top spot in Poland
EQUESTRIAN
Equestrian Fouaad Mirza clinches top spot in Poland
Equestrian Fouaad Mirza clinched top spot in the FEI CCI3*-S event at the Strzegom Autum Show 2024 in Poland.
Mirza, with his horse Dajara 4, finished with the final score of 30.1 ahead of Julia Krajewski (34.6) and Malin Asai (35).
– Team Sportstar
GOLF
Jasmine takes 3-shot lead in Leg 13 of Hero WPGT
Jasmine Shekar tamed the Golden Greens Golf Club course with one of her best rounds in her short pro career as she took a three-shot lead after the first round of Leg 13 of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour in Gurugram.
The 19-year-old Jasmine, who turned pro last year, fired seven birdies against one bogey for a round of 6-under 66 and was three shots clear of the experienced Ridhima Dilawari (69), a multiple winner on the Tour.
Three established players — Hitaashee Bakshi, the current Hero Order of Merit leader, Vidhatri Urs, winner of three of the last four events, and Gaurika Bishnoi, already a winner this year — shot 1-under 71 each and were tied third.
Jasmine, whose best has been a runner-up finish in Kolkata in the third leg of the Tour last year at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club and again at Tollygunge this year, was playing alongside Astha Madan and amateur Nandita Kumar in the third group from the first tee.
Jasmine birdied three in a row from third to the fifth and added a fourth birdie on the ninth to turn in 4-under. On the back nine, she birdied the 12th, 14th and the 16th and dropped one shot on the Par-4 15th.
Ridhima had four birdies against one bogey. Her birdies came on the first, fifth, 11th and the 12th and the dropped shot was on the par-4 10th.
Gaurika had four birdies against three bogeys while Hitaashee, who has been in good form this season, also had four birdies against three bogeys.
Vidhatri, whose seven starts as a pro on the Hero WPG Tour includes three wins and four third-place finishes, had three birdies and two bogeys.
Five players hold the tied-sixth place on a tight leaderboard. The five included experienced Amandeep Drall, the 2022 runner-up at the Hero Women’s Indian Open, Sneha Singh, winner of Order of Merit in 2023, Gauri Karhade, amateur Anvvi Dahhiya and Khushi Khanijau. They all carded 1-over 73 each.
Among other well-known names, Seher Atwal shot 75 and was T-13, Shweta Mansingh (77) was T-20 and Neha Tripathi (78) was T-28.
A total of 41 players are playing in the Rs 14-lakh event, which is the last one before the flagship Hero Women’s Indian Open next month.
-Press Trust of India
TENNIS
Mahika Khanna beats Sara Yadav in quarterfinal of AITA ranking tennis tournament
Qualifier Mahika Khanna beat Sara Yadav 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the women’s quarterfinals of the Rs.2,00,000 AITA ranking tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex on Wednesday.
In the semifinals, Mahika will meet Samriti Punyani. The other semifinal will be between Adithi Are and Pooja Ingle.
In the men’s event, Debasish Sahoo, Atharva Sharma, Shanker Heisnam and Sandesh Kurale made the semifinals.
The results (quarterfinals):
Men: Debasish Sahoo bt Omar Sumer 6-3, 6-2; Atharva Sharma bt Prasad Ingle 6-0, 6-2; Shankar Heisnam bt Jagmeet Singh 5-7, 6-2, 6-1; Sandesh Kurale bt Shubh Negi 6-1, 6-0.
Women: Mahika Khanna bt Sara Yadav 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; Samriti Punyani bt Saily Thakkar 6-2, 7-6(3); Adithi Are bt Bhumika Dahiya 6-4, 6-4; Pooja Ingle bt Snigdha Patibandla 6-1, 6-1.
-Kamesh Srinivasan
Challenger tennis tournament: Ramkumar in doubles quarterfinals
Ramkumar Ramanathan in partnership with Toshihide Matsui of Japan beat Rio Noguchi and Kaichi Uchida of Japan 7-5, 5-7, [10-7] in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $133,250 Challenger tennis tournament in Nonthaburi, Thailand, on Wednesday.
The top seeded Rithvik Bollipalli and Arjun Kadhe had also cruised into the doubles quarterfinals earlier.
The results:
€148,625 Challenger, Orleans, France
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Robin Haase (Ned) & Lucas Medler (Aut) bt Anirudh Chandrasekar & Niki Poonacha 6-2, 6-4.
$133,250 Challenger, Nonthaburi, Thailand Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rithvik Bollipalli & Arjun Kadhe bt Credit Chaiyarin &Nopadol Noikor (Tha 6-2, 6-0; Toshihide Matsui (Jpn) & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Rio Noguchi & Kaichi Uchida (Jpn) 7-5, 5-7, [10-7].
$25,000 ITF men, Fuzhou, China
Singles (first round): Mikalai Haliak bt S Mukund 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.
$25,000 ITF men, Santa Margherita da Pula, Italy Singles (first round): Niccolo Catini (Ita) bt Manas Dhamne 6-3, 3-0 (retired).
$25,000 ITF men, Kigali, Rwanda
Singles (first round): Adil Kalyanpur bt Benjamin Lock (Zim) 6-4, 6-4; Brandon Perez (Ven) bt Aryan Shah 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Corentin Denolly (Fra) bt Sai Karteek Reddy 7-5, 6-3; Karan Singh bt Yuvan Nandal 6-1, 7-6(2); Siddhant Banthia bt Muni Ananth Mani 6-2, 6-4; Mohamed Safwat (Egy) bt Rishi Reddy 6-2, 7-6(3); Bharath Kumaran bt Ethan Terblanche (RSA) 6-2, 7-5.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Adil Kalyanpur & Rishi Reddy bt Matteo Covato & Denis Spiridon (Ita) 6-4, 6-4; Pranav Kumar & Noah Schachter (USA) bt Aryan Shah & Karan Singh 6-4, 4-6, [10-8]; Siddhant Bnathia & Sa Karteek Reddy bt Muni Ananth Mani & Bharath Kumaran 7-6(5), 6-3.
$15,000 ITF men, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Singles (first round): Yanki Erel (Tur) bt Aryan Lakshmanan 7-5, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Aryan Lakshmanan & Roland Stuurman (Ned) bt Daniil Ryzhankou & Artem Tiutiunov 6-2, 6-1.
$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Aaron Garcia (Lux) & Noah Merre (Bel) bt Jaishnav Shinde & Fredrik Solheim (Nor) 6-4, 6-7(7), [10-5].
$25,000 ITF women, Berkeley, USA
Singles (first round): Alana Smith (USA) bt Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-2, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rutuja Bhosale & Ema Burgic (USA) bt Jaimee Fourlis (Aus) & Viktoria Hruncakova (Svk) 7-5, 2-6, [10-6].
$15,000 ITF women, Madrid, Spain
Singles (first round): Lucia Domingo (Esp) bt Madhurima Sawant 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Paula Redondo (Esp) & Madhurima Sawant bt Olga Danikova (Cyp) & Victoria Lazarova (Bul) 4-6, 6-2, [10-5].
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Arabella Koller (Aut) & Eliessa Vanlangendonck (Bel) bt Jennifer Luikham & Xu Guyu (Chn) 6-1, 6-1; Isabelle Lacy & Ranah Stoiber (GBR) bt Alejandra Futierrez (Col) & Anjali Rathi 6-3, 6-3; Hiroko Kuwata (Jpn) &Anja Wildgruber (Ger) bt Aaddi Gupta & Georgina Hays (GBR) 6-4, 6-0; Julia Adams (USA) & Gina Dittmann (Ger) bt Tanisha Kashyap & Zou Ruirui (Chn) 4-6, 6-1, [10-8].
-Kamesh Srinivasan