Indian sports activities wrap, March 6: Shubhankar to guide India’s problem at Indian Open

GOLF

Indian Open: Shubhankar to guide India’s problem

The champions of the final two years Keita Nakajima of Japan and Marcel Siem of Germany shall be in motion, amongst quite a lot of stars, within the USD 2.25 million Hero Indian Open Golf championship to be performed on the DLF Golf and Nation Membership from March 27 to 30.

The 24-year-old Nakajima gained the final version, an effort that catapulted him to world fame. Marcel Siem had ended a 10-year hunt for titles by successful the occasion in 2023.

Jacques Kruyswijk, Johannes Veerman, Julien Guerrier, Angel Hidalgo, Frederic Lacroix, David Ravetto, Ewen Ferguson and Guido Migliozzi shall be among the different distinguished gamers in motion.

The Indian problem shall be spearheaded by Veer Ahlawat, the runner-up of the final version, who went on to prime the Indian Order of Advantage and is competing on the DP World Tour.

Other than Veer, Shubhankar Sharma, a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, will shoulder the Indian problem together with Manu Gandas.

The teenager prodigy Kartik Singh may have one other probability to rub shoulders with the perfect within the enterprise, as he retains getting higher, having completed top-10 in his final three worldwide novice occasions in South Africa and Australia.

“This occasion is a testomony to our management in selling Indian golf on the worldwide stage. We’re proud to increase our two-decade lengthy partnership with India’s nationwide open and proceed constructing on our wealthy historical past of showcasing the world’s finest golfers on Indian soil. Hero MotoCorp stays devoted to enhancing its legacy of supporting and advancing sports activities in India and globally.

“Our imaginative and prescient is to encourage the subsequent era and create alternatives for youth the world over,” mentioned the vice chairman of Hero MotoCorp, Sanjay Bhan, as he addressed the media on Thursday.

“The DLF Golf and Nation Membership is delighted to be the venue for the sixth version in a row. The course is in immaculate taking part in situation and the golfers will certainly benefit from the problem,” mentioned the vice chairman of DLF Golf and Nation Membership, Tusch Daroga.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

Ahmedabad Open: Sri Lanka’s Thangaraja takes five-shot lead after third spherical

Sri Lankan N Thangaraja shot a three-under 69, to achieve a five-shot lead on the prime, within the third spherical of the IndusInd Financial institution Rs.1 crore Ahmedabad Open on the Kensville Golf and Nation Membership on Thursday.

The 43-year-old Thangaraja, the first-round chief, had slipped to the second place following a spherical of 75. He made 4 birdies and dropped a bogey on the tenth at the present time, for an total complete of nine-under 207 in three rounds.

“I made 16 greens in regulation right this moment. I’m glad that I used to be capable of regain my placing type simply earlier than the ultimate spherical. My capability to play the low shot properly helped me quite a bit within the windy situations. The low shot all the time provides a bonus of about 5 to 6 yards when taking part in in windy situations,” mentioned Thangaraja.

– Staff Sportstar

Girls’s Asia-Pacific golf: Mannat Brar shoots excellent 67 to maneuver in High-10 

Mannat Brar, making her fourth look on the Girls’s Newbie Asia-Pacific Golf (WAAP) Championships, equalled the perfect spherical by an Indian with a four-under 67 right here on Thursday.

Mannat was the perfect of the six Indians within the fray and was mendacity tied ninth after the primary day on the picturesque Par-71 Hoiana Shores course, which is internet hosting its first large occasion.

Mannat was 4 pictures behind Web optimization-Jin Park (64) with 4 others at 6-under 65. Mannat was tied ninth with An Le Chuc of Vietnam, Eunseo Choi of New Zealand, and Jie-En Lin of Chinese language Taipei.

Saanvi Somu at 1-over 72 was the second finest Indian in T-42 and debutant Guntas Kaur Sandhu (73) at 2-over was T-48. Heena Kang and debutant Zara Anand, with 76 every, had been T-76 and one other debutant Kashika Misra (78) was T-83rd.

The highest 50 and ties will make the lower after the second spherical. The favorite and World No. 4 Rianne Malixi withdrew after 5 holes due to a again pressure.

Mannat’s four-under 67 was the perfect rating by an Indian at any WAAP and in relation to par, it equalled Anika Varma’s 68 (-4) in spherical two at Abu Dhabi Golf Membership, UAE in 2021. Anika went on to complete T-9, the perfect by an Indian.

In 2024, Avani Prashanth additionally shot 68 (-4) within the first spherical at Siam Nation Membership and completed T-10, solely the second High-10 by an Indian.

Mannat, 18, the reigning all India Newbie champion, and eager to make up for the previous three missed cuts, began on the tenth and made the perfect of the again 9, which afforded extra birdie possibilities. She had 5 birdies towards one bogey to show in 4-under.

On the second 9, the entrance facet of the course, Mannat went right into a ravine on the very robust Par-5 third gap. She took two pictures to come back out and dropped a shot. Nonetheless, she obtained the shot again on the Par-4 sixth and closed with three birdies for a four-under 67.

– PTI

Amandeep joins Vani in lead in fifth leg of WPGT

Amandeep Drall joined Vani Kapoor in a tie on the prime after two rounds within the fifth leg of the Girls’s Professional Golf Tour in Gurugram on Thursday.

On yet one more robust scoring day, Amandeep, whose final win on the WPGT got here right here final yr, gave away two late bogeys on the fifteenth and sixteenth to shoot 2-over 74 and get to 1-over 145 for 36 holes.

Vani, the first-round chief, added 3-over 75 to be tied with Amandeep on the Traditional Golf & Nation Membership.

The lead pair was one shot away from sole third Rhea Jha, who had two birdies to shut the entrance 9 and two bogeys on the again 9 in her card of even-par 72.

Amandeep, whose final win got here on the Golden Greens in Gurugram final yr, had one birdie on the 14th towards three bogeys, whereas taking part in associate Vani had a birdie to start out with however then had 4 bogeys.

Neha Tripathi had an action-filled spherical with an eagle, 4 birdies, 4 bogeys and a double bogey in her 72. She was tied fourth with novice Ceerat Kang (72) and Gauri Karhade (71) at 4-over 148.

Gauri (71), who gained her maiden title in 2019, shot one of many solely two under-par rounds of the day, the opposite coming from Durga Nittur (71), who was sole ninth.

Yaalisai Verma (72) and Ridhima Dilawari (73) had been tied for eighth.

Lavanya Jadon (72) landed one of many two eagles of the day and was tenth, one place forward of Sneha Singh (75), the present Hero Order of Advantage chief.

The lower fell at 159 and 24 gamers, together with three amateurs, made the ultimate spherical.

– PTI

IGU president: My job is to advertise golf and never take into consideration litigation

Indian Golf Union president Brijender Singh is just not bothered in regards to the litigation filed within the Delhi Excessive Court docket by rival faction led by Harish Shetty, saying his group enjoys the assist of the Sports activities Ministry and the worldwide physique, and his job is to advertise the game.

Because of infighting and fallout between Singh and former secretary-general Shetty, the IGU had two separate elections in December. Whereas the ministry and the Worldwide Golf Federation gave recognition to the Singh faction, the Indian Olympic Affiliation (IOA) backed Shetty’s group.

The IOA was additionally rapped by the ministry and IGF for interfering within the IGU elections.

Sad with the choice, the Shetty group then filed a litigation towards the opposite group within the Delhi Excessive Court docket. The primary listening to of the case befell in March 3 with the subsequent listening to scheduled for March 27.

“If I begin questioning and dealing in direction of what is going on it doesn’t assist as a result of in the end the court docket goes to present the order. As of now, the court docket is telling us ‘you’re the proper folks, go forward and do your job’ and so we’re doing our job.

“If tomorrow court docket tells me ‘you aren’t the suitable folks, anyone else is’, I’ll step apart,” mentioned Singh throughout an occasion to share particulars on the Hero Indian Open, schedule to begin on March 27.

“My accountability because the president of the incumbent council is to do an sincere job and promote the sport, and I’m doing that. I’m fulfilling all my obligations as a president as a result of that’s the mandate I’ve obtained from the ministry, Worldwide Golf Federation and even the court docket. So I’m not too apprehensive.” In the meantime, the IGU, in collaboration with golf administration agency Okay&A Golf, will host Tremendous 6, a brand new initiative to advertise the sport on the grassroots stage, on March 24 on the DLF Golf and Nation Membership in Gurugram.

“It’s a brand new idea to advertise golf on the grassroots. The occasion shall be held for Below-13 golf aspirants on the Arnold Palmer course on the DLF Golf & Nation Membership,” Singh knowledgeable.

Singh additionally mentioned that IGU is planning to take golf to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities of the nation by organising excellence centres, holding teaching camps and occasions.

Elaborating additional on the Tremendous 6 occasion, IGU secretary SK Sharma mentioned: “It’s a demonstrative occasion, smaller model of 6-hole after which each gap. It’s for learners. 36 youngsters from six states shall be chosen and divided amongst six groups. The occasion will end in three hours and promote golf.

“If it turns into profitable we are going to take it to different locations within the nation.”

– PTI

HOCKEY

Senior Girls’s Nationwide Championships: Jharkhand, Telangana and Bengal win

Jharkhand, Telangana and Bengal gained their respective matches within the girls’s nationwide hockey championship in Panchkula on Thursday.

Within the first match of the day, Telangana proved to be the higher facet because it defeated Bihar 5-2. Whereas Komal Gurjar (12’, 50’, 55’) scored a hat-trick for Telangana, Pooja Rathod (13’) and Mundari Sumi (43’) additionally scored a objective every.

Alternatively, Ebha Kerketta (21’) and Nutan Topno (36’) scored one objective every for Bihar.

Within the subsequent recreation, Bengal beat Madhya Pradesh 2-1.

In a Division ‘A’ match, Jharkhand obtained the higher of Mizoram 3-1. Sanjna Horo (21’), captain Albera Rani Toppo (36’) and Nirali Kujur (48’) scored one objective apiece for Jharkhand.

Maharashtra will face Manipur and Haryana will compete towards Odisha in Division ‘A’ afterward Thursday.

– PTI

TENNIS

ITF Gurugram: Zeel Desai outlasts Ankita Raina to succeed in quarterfinals

Wild card entrant Zeel Desai continued to say her robust recreation and rising confidence as she beat seventh seed Ankita Raina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a three-hour battle of wits within the pre-quarterfinals of the USD 30,000 ITF girls’s tennis match on the Tennis Challenge, Baliyawas, on Thursday.

On a day when Vaidehi Chaudhari performed strong to speed up previous Sahaja Yamalapalli for the lack of six video games, and later partnered Shrivalli Bhamidipaty to succeed in the doubles semifinals, the 26-year-old Zeel stole the thunder together with her maiden win over Ankita.

Zeel’s coach Alexander Waske of Germany, who has been guiding quite a lot of Indian gamers over time, was on the venue watching the proceedings and felt proud in regards to the preventing recreation of his ward.

“Zeelilito, as we name her, fought very properly. She attacked properly and located options within the robust moments. It was a match with a number of lengthy rallies and I’m happy with her psychological recreation right this moment. Hope to see extra of this tomorrow,” mentioned Alexander Waske, who has a tie-up with Altevol Academy in Ahmedabad.

Zeel’s capability shall be put below additional scrutiny when she takes on second seed Ekaterina Makarova who needed to battle her well past qualifier Rinon Okuwaki of Japan in three units.

Vaidehi who served and stroked with composure, and conviction in her capability, will problem fifth seed Kristina Dmitruk within the quarterfinals.

Fourth seed Haruka Kaji beat the champion of the final match Sohyun Park of Korea for the lack of six video games, and can play fellow Japanese, qualifier Ikumi Yamazaki who beat sixth seed Amandine Hesse in straight units.

Polina Iatcenko was in prime type as she outplayed third seed Mei Yamaguchi of Japan. She’s going to play German, Antonia Schmidt subsequent.

Within the doubles semifinals, Shrivalli and Vaidehi will play the second seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Ekaterina Reyngold.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

Banthia reaches doubles semifinals at Kigali Challenger

Siddhant Banthia in partnership with Alexander Donski beat Scott Duncan and Kelsey Stevenson 6-1, 6-7(6), [10-6] within the doubles quarterfinals of the $160,000 Challenger tennis match in Kigali, Rwanda.

– Staff Sportstar

POLO

Rajnigandha Achievers reaches RMRM Gold Vase Polo Event semifinals

Rajnigandha Achievers Polo Staff defeated Jaipur Delta 6-4 on the RMRM Gold Vase Polo Event 2025 in New Delhi. It would play the semifinals on March 8. The finals shall be on March 9.

– Staff Sportstar

CUE SPORT

Ishpreet Chadha, Faisal Khan attain quarterfinals of CCI Snooker Traditional

Former nationwide snooker champion Ishpreet Singh Chadha and Faisal Khan recorded wins of their respective contests to succeed in the quarterfinals of the CCI Snooker Traditional all-India match in Mumbai on Thursday.

Chadha beat Rayaan Razmi 4-1 in an all-Mumbai spherical of 16 contest. He had one sizeable break of 91 within the second body which may have been a much bigger effort however after potting the final crimson, Chadha missed a regulation blue within the centre pocket.

Chadha, however, registered a 72-26, 91-11, 7-66, 58-17,67-42 win.

Railways’ Faisal obtained the higher of the previous nationwide champion and India No. 3 Aditya Mehta of PSPB, scripting a 4-1 (89-32, (84-35, 67-39, 48-62, 66-53) victory.

In the meantime, Railways’ Kamal Chawla gained three frames in succession to get the higher of PSPB’s Laxman Rawat 4-2 in a spherical of 32 encounter. Trailing 1-2, Chawla staged a exceptional battle again to roll in a 101 break and seal a 4-2 (57-61, 82-13, 24-64, 77-25, 71-37, 101-0) victory.

Qualifier Sachdev beat Uttar Pradesh’s India No. 6 Paras Gupta 4-3 (6-115), 59-29, 69-30, 56-43, 16-85, 65-57, and 75-15) and progressed to the ultimate 16.

– PTI

TABLE TENNIS

Inter-college girls’s match: Kirori Mal beats SRCC 3-2 in last

Kavya Yadav gained two singles matches and Shreya gained one to assist Kirori Mal Faculty to a 3-2 victory over Shri Ram Faculty of Commerce (SRCC) within the last of the Inter-college girls’s desk tennis match on the DU Multi-purpose corridor.

Within the match for the third place, Aayushi gained two and Mannat gained one rubber to assist Woman Shriram Faculty to a 3-2 victory over Hansraj Faculty.

– Staff Sportstar

SAILING

At thirteenth, Vishnu Saravanan turns into highest-ranked Indian sailor in world

India’s Vishnu Saravanan added one other first to his title as he grew to become the highest-ranked sailor from the nation within the newest World Crusing rankings launched lately.

Saravanan, 26, winner of the bronze medal within the males’s dinghy ILCA7 occasion on the Hangzhou Asian Video games, reached a career-best rating of thirteenth with 776 factors, the very best by an Indian sailor.

“Vishnu Saravanan achieved a profession excessive rating of world No. 13 in Males’s ILCA7 class, changing into the primary Indian sailor to succeed in this milestone. Preserve making waves, Vishnu,” mentioned Sports activities Authority of India (SAI) in a social media publish.

Saravanan, the Military man who hails from Vellore in Tamil Nadu, obtained India’s first quota in crusing for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Competing within the one-person dinghy occasion on the Adelaide Crusing Membership, Saravanan had completed twenty sixth on the general chief board however was fifth amongst sailors eligible to safe quotas for Paris within the Olympic qualifying occasion.

In Paris, he claimed the 18th place with a web rating of 114.

Saravanan had additionally gained a bronze medal within the males’s dinghy occasion on the Asian Open Championships 2024 crusing competitors in Haikou, China in December.

Hermann Tomasgaard of Norway leads the rankings within the occasion with 948 factors.

– PTI

KABADDI

Yuva All Star Championships: Kurukshetra Warriors defeats Yuva Yoddhas, UP Falcons and Junior Steelers play an exhilarating draw

The Yuva All Stars Championship kicked off on the Vandana Kataria Indoor Stadium in Haridwar, that includes 4 carefully contested matches on the opening day on Thursday. 

Within the first match, Kurukshetra Warriors defeated Yuva Yoddhas 37-33. Milan Dahiya led the Warriors with 11 raid factors and one deal with level, whereas Rohit Narwal and Anurag Omvir secured Excessive 5s. For the Yoddhas, Sushant Singh and Anil Gurjar scored seven raid factors every, whereas Ravi contributed 4 deal with factors.

The second match noticed the primary tie of the championship, as UP Falcons and Junior Steelers performed out an intense 37-37 draw. The Steelers dominated the primary half, however the Falcons mounted a powerful comeback, main by 4 factors heading into the ultimate minute. Nonetheless, a last-raid deal with on Arjun Sirohi by Jasbir Dahiya resulted in an all-out, securing a tie for the Steelers. Kunal Bhati starred for the Falcons with 13 raid factors, whereas Mayank Saini delivered a standout efficiency for the Steelers with 17 raid factors.

Within the third match, Warriorz Okay.C edged out Sonipat Spartans 39-37 in a nail-biting contest. The Spartans had the benefit at halftime, however the Warriorz turned the tide within the last 10 minutes to seal a two-point win. Rachit Yadav shone for the Warriorz with 11 raid factors and two deal with factors, whereas substitute Ronak Nain added 4 deal with factors. Ankit Kumar Rana led the Spartans with eight raid factors.

The ultimate match of the day noticed Division 1 champions Palani Tuskers overpower Division 3 champions Vasco Vipers 43-28. Rajapal J made a powerful influence off the bench, scoring 9 raid factors and one deal with level. Defensively, Sakthivel Thangavelu and Abikumar M Suresh Kumar picked up 4 deal with factors every for the Tuskers. Bhargav was the standout performer for the Vipers with eight raid factors however lacked defensive assist.

– Staff Sportstar