Indian sports news wrap, October 30

GOLF

South Zone Tour: Varun Muthappa triumphs at CIAL Golf Club

Bengaluru’s Varun Muthappa slipped a bit on the final day but his first day scores helped him immensely as he won the amateur men’s title in the IGU Synthite-CIAL South Zone Golf Tour at the CIAL Golf Club, Nedumbassery, on Sunday.

Karnataka’s Akarsh Gowda walked away with the honours in the boys’ 15-17 age group while Telangana swept all the three prizes in the girls’ 13-14 category.

Kerala had something to cheer for too with Aaliyah Laiza Achary (15-17 years) and B. Krishna (11-12) finishing on top in the girls section.

Final placings (day 2, day 1 scores and total, 18 holes, par 72 course, top 3 only):

Amateur men: 1. Varun Muthappa (Kar) 82+75: 157, 2. Akarsh Gowda (Kar) 80+88: 168, 3. Prithviraj Sridhar (Kar) 86+84: 170.

Boys: 15-17 years: 1. Akarsh Gowda (Kar) 80+88: 168, 2. Syed Shayaan Khadri (Kar) 87+88: 175, 3. Tanmay Bafna (TN) 89+88: 177.

13-14: 1. Vansh Tyagi (Tel) 83+80: 163, 2. Ishnidh Virdi (Kar) 78+93: 171, 3. Amaey Rajesh Nair (Kar) 86+85: 171.

11-12: Vivaan Ubhayakar (Kar) 84+79: 163, 2. Ved Sai Machiraju (AP) 87+82: 169, 3. Nilofer Shivamurthy (TN) 89+85: 174.

9-10: Adit Veeramachaneni (Kar) 87+88: 175, 2. Dhruv Kessireddy (Tel) 98+97: 195, 3. Roaan Sandeep Karippil (Ker) 127+132: 259.

8 and under (9 holes): 1. Ryan Advik (Kar) 46+40: 86, 2. Vivaan Singh (Kar) 42+46: 88, 3. Vishwadev Vivek (Ker) 58+58: 116.

IGU South Zone Golf Tour winners in Kochi.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Girls: 15-17 years: 1. Aaliyah Laiza Achary (Ker) 87+81: 168, 2. Usikala Akhila (Tel) 93+93: 186, 3. Anagha S.H. (Ker) 99+95: 194.

13-14: 1. Gugulothu Amulya (Tel) 86+85: 171, 2. Mala Anusha (Tel) 90+89: 179, 3. Kavali Haritharani (Tel) 104+98: 202.

11-12: 1. B. Krishna (Ker) 109+105: 214.

9-10: 1. Tanvi Kaur (Kar) 88+76: 164, 2. K.S. Arpitha Shaji (Kar) 108+112: 220, 3. Vedasri R. Pillai (Ker) 134+127: 261.

8 and under (9 holes): 1. Vedika Bhansali (Kar), 43+39: 82, 2. Juno Kalyani (Ker) 47+49: 96, 3. Ridhima Kapoor (Kar) 44+55: 99.

-Stan Rayan

Atwal placed 28th after third round in Bermuda

India’s Arjun Atwal had a quiet day with just two birdies and one bogey as he carded 1-under 70 for a tied 28th place in the third round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

Atwal, who had a 63 in the first round followed that up with an even par 71 and then 70, as he was 9-under with one round to go.

Starting on the back nine, Atwal bogeyed the 12th and was 1-over till he found back-to-back birdies on second and third. He parred the rest.

Seamus Power, the highest-ranked player at Port Royal this week, took the lead with a 6-under 65 and he shared it with Ben Griffin, who also shot a fine round in strong wind with a 66. They were at 18-under 195, two shots clear of Kevin Yu (67) and Aaron Baddeley (68).

Power has one PGA TOUR victory, the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky last year.

Chinese Taipei’s rookie Kevin Yu showed plenty of character by battling back from two late bogeys on Saturday to stay firmly in contention.

The 24-year-old Korn Ferry Tour graduate carded a third-round 4-under 67 at Port Royal Golf Course to finish the day in joint-third on 16-under 197, two strokes behind co-leaders Power of Ireland and Griffin of the U.S.

Yu’s compatriot C T Pan, who holds one PGA TOUR win, shot a blemish-free 69 for 11-under to shoot 11 spots up to a share of 13th place and seven shots off the pace. Pan birdied the second and seventh holes and steadily filled the rest of his scorecard with pars.

-PTI

Aryan best Indian in Asia Pacific Amateur golf, finishes T-38

Aryan Roopa Anand rounded off the week with 1-under 71 to finish as the best placed Indian in tied 38th spot at the 13th Asia Pacific Amateur Championships at the Amata Spring Country Club here on Sunday.

While Aryan was the best Indian finisher of the week, Krishnav Nikhil Chopraa (76) and Shaurya Bhattacharya (75) ended in tied 44th and 47th place respectively.

Aryan totalled 1-over 289, while Krishnav aggregated 5-over 293 and Shaurya had a 6-over 294 total.

The other four Indians, who started this week — Milind Soni, Rayhan Thomas, Shat Mishra and Arjun Gupta — missed the halfway cut.

Harrison Crowe, who admitted it was extremely challenging to come back earlier this year after a strict lockdown in Australia, virtually snatched away the coveted Asia Pacific Trophy from China’s Bo Jin, who was hoping to emulate his brother Cheng Jin’s 2015 feat.

Crowe will now get starts at the 2023 Masters and the 2023 Open at Royal Liverpool.

From Indian point of view, Aryan, who is also toying with the idea of turning pro later this year or early next year, said, “It was a great experience. I feel I could have done a lot better. I know it is easy to say that, but I did give away a lot of shots with some small mistakes and they cost me a lot.

“I got punished for them. Yet, it was a great event, and I am richer in experience, having twice played in them. Hopefully this will help me as I move on in the game.” Aryan had five birdies against four bogeys in his 71, while Chopraa had an eventful final round with five birdies, seven bogeys and a double bogey in his 76. Shaurya had two birdies against five bogeys in his 75.

-PTI

TENNIS

Four players selected for Tennis Premier League through it’s talent day competition

Saily Thakkar bagged a spot in the girls under-18n category for the TPL

Heerak Vora and Divya Bhardwaj emerged the men’s and women’s champions in the Tennis Premier League (TPL) Talent Day organised at the Akota Stadium.

Mohith Bondre and Priya Dharshini were the other two selected in the men’s and women’s sections respectively. All the four players were rewarded with Rs.50,000 each and were shared by the two teams Gujarat Panthers and Bengaluru Spartans.

In the under-18 girls section, Saily Thakkar and Devanshi Gohil came through the competition to bag their spots in the TPL, while Rohit Gobinath and Yash Patel were successful in securing their spots in the under-14 boys section.

The girls were presented Rs.30,000 each while the boys got Rs.20,000 each. It was the third Talent Day event after the ones in Hyderabad and Delhi.

The fourth edition of TPL, organised by Kunal Thakkur and Mrunal Jain, with a bunch of national and international stars is scheduled to be staged at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune from December 7 to 11. It will have a live telecast on Sony Ten-2 television channel.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

ITF men’s tennis tournament, Tunisia: Niki Poonacha, Rithvik Bollipalli win doubles title

Rithvik Bollipalli and Niki Poonacha beat the fourth seeds James Frawley of Australia and Christoph Negritu of Germany 6-3, 2-6, [10-6] in the doubles final of the $25,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in Monastir, Tunisia.

It was the third doubles title for the Indian pair this season, and all of them were won in Tunisia.

It was also the eighth doubles title in the professional circuit for Niki, the two-time national champion who has also won two ITF men’s singles titles.

ITF men’s tournament, Delhi

Chirag Duhan beat the former national champion VM Ranjeet 6-1, 1-6, [10-3] in the first qualifying round of the $15,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Sunday.

Eighth seed Chirag who figures in the same bunch as the second seed Lee Junhyun of Korea, will next play Aditya Nandal.

Sivadeep Kosaraju beat the sixth seed Jagmeet Singh 1-6, 6-1, [10-8].

-Kamesh Srinivasan

ATHLETICS

Pranav, Kevinaa come up with standout performances in National U23 meet

Maharashtra sprinter Pranav Gurav’s 100m victory and Kevinaa Annavi’s women’s high jump contest with Pavana Nagaraj and Manshi were the most attractive of the meet records rewritten on the second day of second AFI National Open U-23 Athletics Championships.

The 21-year-old Pranav Gurav, silver medallist in the inaugural edition in New Delhi last year, sizzled with a win in 10.39 seconds that not only improved on his own meet record of 10.47 seconds set in the semifinals on Saturday but also earned him a place among India’s 15 fastest ever.

The women’s high jump saw an intense battle with Kevinaa Annavi, daughter of former men’s national record holder Nallusamy Annavi, emerging on top. She cleared 1.76m for the meet record, leaving Pavana Nagaraj and Manshi with the minor medals.

They had both cleared 1.74m with personal best efforts, with Pavana Nagaraj winning the silver on a countback.

Agasara Nandini (Telangana) scripted a 100m hurdles meet record time of 13.73 seconds while M Karunya (Tamil Nadu) won the women’s discus throw with a meet record effort of 48.39m, Pavithra Venkatesh (Tamil Nadu) raised the women’s pole vault meet record to 4.00m and Mansi Negi (Uttarakhand) lowered the meet record in the 20000m race walk to 1:40:01.20.

Samardeep Gill (Madhya Pradesh) and Sahib Singh (Delhi) claimed a share each of the men’s shot put meet record with 17.79m efforts, the former winning gold on countback.

Sanjay Kumar (Rajasthan) accounted for the other meet record by winning the men’s 20000m race Walk in 1 hour 27 minutes 13.97 seconds. 

-PTI