Indian sports wrap, May 2: Solid start for Aditi Ashok in Utah tournament

GOLF

Solid start for Aditi Ashok in Utah

Indian golfer Aditi Ashok overcame an early bogey to make a strong start that placed her tied 29th on the opening day of the Black Desert Championship, presented by Greater Zion, in Ivins, Utah.

Aditi shot three-under 69 on Thursday. Having begun her round on the back nine, Aditi dropped a shot on the 11th hole before picking up birdies on the 13th and 14.

She closed the first nine with an even-par 36 after dropping a shot on the 16th.

On the second nine, Aditi made birdies on the fourth, and seventh to conclude the day with a total of three-under par.

This year, Aditi has made cuts at three of the four events she has played and stands 102nd in the season’s rankings.

After the first round, Haeran Ryu of Korea led the field with a score of nine-under par for the day. Haeran played a bogey-free round that was dotted with nine birdies.

Starting from the back nine, Haeran made five birdies and added four more on the front-nine.

Haeran has so far made the cut in five of the six events she has played this season and stands 25th in the rankings.

In the Chevron Championship last week in Texas, she posted her best finish of the season so far, ending tied sixth.

– PTI

Rough start for Rayhan Thomas at Tulum Golf Championship

It was another rough start for India’s Rayhan Thomas, who carded a five-over 77 and was in danger of missing the cut at the Tulum Championship at the PGA Riviera Maya.

He was lying tied 124th after the opening round on Thursday.

In nine starts prior to this week, Thomas has made four cuts with a best of tied seventh in Bahamas Great Abaco Classic.

Mitchell Meissner opened with a six-under 66 to lead the field by one. He had seven birdies and one bogey. He has three top-10 finishes in nine starts this season, including a tied seventh at last week’s Veritex Bank Championship.

Zach Bauchou is second at five-under, while rookie Kensei Hirata, a six-time winner on Japan Tour, carded a four-under to be third.

Runchanapong Youprayong (three-under), a winner on the All Thailand Golf Tour, recorded a three -under 69 and was tied fourth in a group of nine players.

– PTI

Lahiri cards 4-under 68 to be fifth in Liv Korea

India’s Anirban Lahiri shot 4-under 68 to lie tied-fifth after the first day of the LIV Golf Korea here on Friday.

Lahiri, who started from the eighth, carded five birdies and one bogey. The 37-year-old, who is currently 26th on the LIV standings, birdied the ninth, 10th and 14th and dropped a shot on the 16th.

On his back stretch a the Namseoul Jack Nicklaus course, Lahiri birdied the Par-5 third and the Par-3 fifth and parred the rest.

Lahiri’s teammate on the Crushers, Bryson DeChambeau and Talor Gooch shot 7-under 65 each to share the lead.

DeChambeau rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt on his final hole to shoot a bogey-free 7-under 65 and join Gooch atop the individual leaderboard.

It’s the second consecutive week that DeChambeau has held at least a share of the lead after 18 holes, and the fifth time in his last seven worldwide starts, including the recent Masters, in which he has been in a top-5 position after the opening round.

Gooch, in his second season with Smash GC, posted six birdies during an eight-hole stretch to fuel his round of 65.

His stellar iron play looked very familiar to the form he displayed in 2023 when he won three tournaments and the 2023 LIV Golf Individual Championship while playing with RangeGoats GC.

With Gooch and DeChambeau leading their teams, Smash and Crushers also stand atop the leaderboard.

Smash – captained by Brooks Koepka – shot a cumulative 10 under to lead the Crushers by one shot.

Fourth in the team standings is Stinger GC, captained by Louis Oosthuizen, who is tied for third with Cleeks GC’s Richard Bland on the individual leaderboard at 6-under.

-PTI

Bhullar T-6 and one shot behind leaders in Korea

Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar sat one shot behind the group of five players who shared the lead after the second round at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open here on Friday.

For a brief period, Bhullar was right on top at six-under, but back-to-back bogeys on the 16th and the 17th pulled him back. He is now Tied-6th with Richard T Lee, who has two more holes to play.

Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond has taken a share of the clubhouse lead after a second-round three-under-par 68 to sit on five under along with Doyeon Hwang (66), Wooyoung Cho (70), and first-round leader Heemin Chang (71), all from Korea. Another Korean Hyunghoon Lee was also 5-under but he had seven more holes to play.

Bhullar charged up the leaderboard with three birdies in-a-row from the 12th before slipping up over the closing stages.

“I made three birdies in a row, and then I actually misjudged two of the chips on two out of the last three holes,” said the 37-year-old.

“On the 16th I was right there, I thought it’s going to be a flat chip, 54 degrees bump and run, I just misjudged that. And on the 17th I just misread the line. But I think other than that it was a decent round of golf.” He was beaten by Korean Sanghyun Park in extra time here seven years ago, in a play-off that also featured Koreans Hwang Jung-gon and Chang Yi-keun.

It was a rare case of one getting away for the Indian, who is an 11-time winner on the Asian Tour – the most by any Indian.

He added: “A lot of the local Korean players have played this golf course more than I’ve played here. But yeah, I mean, one thing it definitely shows is that when you’re playing well on a golf course where you have played well in the past, it definitely adds to your subconscious mind.” It has been 21 years since an overseas player last won the tournament.

Sixty-one players were unable to complete their second round on Friday.

The backlog was caused by poor weather on the opening day, which caused a significant delay of nearly four hours and meant 72 players had to complete their first rounds on Friday morning.

-PTI

MOTORSPORT

Chikmagalur Gravel fest set to see record entries

The motorsport community is gearing up for the Chikmagalur Gravel Fest 2025, set to rev into action on May 3 and 4, at Survey 85, Sangnipura Road, Kurvangi Grama. The weekend event will serve as one of the key qualifying rounds for the Octane Pits FMSCI Indian National Autocross Championship (INAC) 2025, drawing top drivers from across India.

The 2025 season will witness a record number of over 100 entrants competing across eight featured classes, including a Women’s Class in INAC2/INAC3 Open, following the FIA Formula One point system (25–18–15 for top three finishes) on the 2.2 kilometres all gravel track. The women’s entry for the race will be free.

With over Rs. 7 lakh in total prize money, the highest ever for any INAC qualifier, Chikmagalur Gravel Fest 2025 ups the ante with rewards not only for drivers but also for their invaluable pit crew.

The Gravel Fest in Chikmagalur is one of seven qualifying rounds that form the INAC Cup circuit. To qualify for the Grand Finals, each driver must participate in at least two rounds. Only the top five finishers in each class will secure a berth in the final championship face-off, where the best of Indian autocross will be crowned.

– Team Sportstar

TENNIS

Indian team announced for ITF Masters World Championship

Surinder Mohan Sharma will lead the Indian over-70 team in the ITF Masters tennis World Championship to be staged in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA, from May 11 to 16.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

Dalwinder triumphs in AITA tournament

Former national champion Dalwinder Singh won a double crown in the Rs. 100,000 AITA men’s tennis tournament at the Harvest Academy in Jassowal on Friday.

Dalwinder beat Suraj Prabodh 6-3, 6-2 in the singles final, and partnered Suraj for the doubles title, beating the top seeds Udit Kamboj and Ayush Sharma in straight sets.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

Sriram Balaji loses quarterfinals

Sriram Balaji in partnership with Miguel Reyes-Varela of Mexico was beaten 6-3, 2-6, [12-10] by second seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul of France in the doubles quarterfinals of the €227,270 Challenger tennis tournament in Aix-en-Provence, France, on Friday.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

Jensi, Chiang to face in final of Asian under-14 championship

Top seed Jensi Kanabar beat fourth seed Sun Jiarui of China 6-3, 7-5 to set up a title clash against Tsai-Jung Chiang of Chinese Taipei in the Asian under-14 Development tennis championship at the DLTA Complex on Friday.

The boys final will be between Koreans Kim Siyun and Jang Junseo.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

CHESS

GM Chess: 15-year-old Indian Sathi shocks Armenian GM Raset

Armenian top-seeded GM Karen Grigoryan defeated Slovakian GM Manik Mikulas and shared the lead with three others – Georgia’s Levan Pantsulaia, India’s IM V.A.V. Rajesh and Indonesia’s WIM Theresa Diajeng Singgih – with four points after the fourth round of the KCA’s first international open GM chess tournament at the Courtyard Banquet Hall, Kanjikuzhi, on Friday.

Karnataka’s 15-year-old Sathi Akshaya, seeded 99, shocked American GM Raset Ziatdinov, the 42nd seed, while Kerala’s 24th seed E.U. Ahaz forced Georgian GM Tornike Sanikidze, the fifth seed, to a draw in some surprise results of the day.  

-Stan Rayan

CUE SPORT

Dhruv Sitwala blanks Ashok Shandilya to move to CCI Billiards Classic semis

Asian billiards champion Dhruv Sitwala outsmarted Ashok Shandilya 4-0 to enter the semifinals of the CCI Billiards Classic tournament in Mumbai on Friday.

In the other quarterfinal, Dhwaj Haria pulled off a come-from-behind victory over Loukic Pathare.

Down 1-2, Haria found his touch on his 4th, 5th and 6th visits to the table to make his way to the final four.

– PTI

Devendra Joshi makes short work of Shakir Qureshi in NSCI Baulkline Snooker

Devendra Joshi registered a dominant win over Shakir Qureshi in the NSCI Baulkline India snooker tournament in Mumbai on Friday.

The seasoned cueist won 4-1, dropping the fourth frame. Joshi’s best break was a 53 in the third frame.

In other matches, Faisal Khan prevailed over Pinak Anap 4-2. Faisal started with a bang, coming up with a break of 77 in the first frame as he won 77-9, 47-78, 1-64, 70-1.

Mohd Arbaz eked out a similar 4-2 win over Abhishek Savaliya with scores of 26-72, 63-21;8-69, 7-16,60-13, 77-32.

– PTI