Indian sports wrap, September 7: Pranavi Urs makes cut at Houston Championship

Indian sports wrap, September 7: Pranavi Urs makes cut at Houston Championship

India’s Pranavi Urs got off to a flying start with four birdies in five holes on way to a solid 3-under 69 in second round to make the cut at tied 26th place at the Aramco Houston Championship.

Pranavi has so far had rounds of 72 and 69.

Avani Prashanth (73-73) and Tvesa Malik (73-77) missed the cut, which fell at even par and 61 players made the cut at the Golfcrest Country Club.

– PTI

Indian golfer Saptak Talwar carded 2-over 72 on the third day of the GAC Rosa Challenge to move up one place to tied-47 in Konopiska, Poland.

The third round produced one birdie and three bogeys as Talwar is now placed at even par with one day to go.

The sole birdie was on the second hole while the bogeys came on the first, seventh and 15th holes.

– PTI

A set of new tyres and supreme effort helped Pune teenager Sarthak Chavan (Petronas TVS Racing) to snatch a brilliant win in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc category to finish the third round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2025 on a successful note at the Madras International Circuit in Chennai.

The third win of the season took Sarthak within nine points of yesterday’s Race-1 winner Rahil Pillarisetty (RACR Castrol Power1) who, recovering from an off-track incursion following a contact with another rider, managed to finish second ahead of team-mate Rajini Krishnan.

Meanwhile, Md Samrul Zubair (Hyderabad, Motul Sparks Racing) scored his second win in four races in Super Stock 165cc Intermediate category while Chennai’s Jagathishre Kumaresan (One Racing) completed a double in the Girls (Stock 165cc) class with a hard-fought win over former National champion Ann Jennifer (Motul Sparks Racing).

– Team Sportstar

Roundglass Academy continued to assert its strike power as it hammered SDAT Academy for a 10-3 victory in the Punjab Hockey League at the Balbir Singh Senior International Stadium here on Sunday.

The team stayed on top of the eight team competition with 17 points while SAI, Sonipat, followed two points away with a 6-1 victory over Namdhari Academy.

Naval Tata Academy, Jamshedpur, rose to the third place with a thrilling 4-3 victory over SGPC Academy, Amritsar, thanks to two goals each by Tintus Hemrom and Ashish Tani Purti.

Surjit Academy, Jalandhar, was the other winner of the day, as it beat Ghumanhera Risers 7-1.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Bhowneesh Mendiratta beat Olympian Kynan Chenai 1-0 in the shoot-off after the two had tied on 45 in the final of men’s trap in the fourth National shotgun selection trials at the Bhucho Village shooting range in Punjab.

The gripping fight in the final apart, it was a dominant performance from Bhowneesh as he topped qualification with 123 out of 125, four points ahead of the next best, Vivaan Kapoor.

Zorawar Singh Sandhu rose to the third place ahead of Shardul Vihan, Vivaan and Arjun.

Shapath Bharadwaj and Lakshay Sheoran shot 115 and missed the final by one point, along with three others.

In women’s trap, Neeru Dhanda beat Aashima Ahlawat 47-45, after topping qualification with 112. Kirti Gupta placed third ahead of Asian junior champion Sabeera Haris, Olympian Rajeshwari Kumari and Preeti Rajak.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

Delhi’s Archa Jain and Rajasthan’s Radhika Soni emerged as the standout performers, displaying ample composure on way to winning their respective Under-19 Girls’ matches in the second UTT National Ranking Table Tennis Championships, which commenced here on Sunday.

On a day when most group toppers eased through their opening rounds, Archa showed tactical maturity beyond her age to defeat Bengal’s Pritha Talukdar 5-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 11-2 in Group 3.

Archa will take on Maharashtra’s Hardee Patel on Monday.

Rajasthan’s Radhika Soni produced one of the more eye-catching results by toppling Tamil Nadu’s higher-ranked K. Ananya in five games. Bengal’s Soumya Das too scripted a comeback, overturning a 1-2 deficit to beat Rajasthan’s Sunidhi Dewan in another pulsating encounter.

Local girl Sandhya Kumari ground out an 11-6, 8-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-9 win over Pondicherry’s S. Shivasri. Haryana’s Tanmayee Saha overcame a spirited effort from Maharashtra’s Anoushka Patil, recovering in time to clinch the decider 11-7 for a 3-2 win.

Delhi’s Tushti Sood also displayed her promise, edging Bengal’s Snigdha Das in five games, while Kerala’s Dhaani Jain scored back-to-back wins to put herself in a strong position for the knockouts.

In other first-round matches, Maharashtra’s Pratik Yedke had to dig deep against UP’s Vansh Sundriyal, while NCOE’s Shrijoyee Mukherjee staged a recovery against Somya Singh after dropping the first two games.

However, Shrijoyee’s teammate Ardita Das could not follow suit, falling to UP’s Ayushi Singhal in five games. UP’s Samriddhi Sharma edged past Delhi’s Aarna Gauhar Ahuja 14-12 in the decider for a 3-2 victory.

– PTI

Top seed S Mukund was beaten 6-4, 6-2 in the final by third seed Dominik Palan of Czechia in the $30,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, on Sunday.

It was the second defeat in a fortnight for Mukund against Palan, after the hard-fought semifinals loss last week.

In the $15,000 ITF women’s event in Denia, Spain, Madhurima Sawant won her maiden doubles title in the professional circuit in partnership with Didi Canizares of Spain.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

Victor Escobedo Granda of Peru beat Ajeet Bhardwaj 4-1, 4-2 to win the over-50 title in the ITF Masters tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex.

It was a commendable effort from Ajeet, who competes in the over-65 category, to fight strong in the over-50 event as he sought to have a better challenge. In fact, Ajeet won the over-60 doubles title with Rakesh Kohli.

It was a tough challenge for the players, as persistent rain played havoc with the schedule, and the clay court event in Gurugram had to be shifted midway to the hard courts in Delhi. The sets too had to be shortened to cope with the heavy backlog of matches.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

KSCA Secretary’s XI completed a fine 10-wicket victory over Gujarat on the final day of their KSCA Dr. (Capt.) K. Thimmappiah Memorial Cricket Tournament encounter at the Kini Sports Arena here on Sunday.

Gujarat, starting from 195 for seven in its second innings, added 45 runs to its overnight total to set the hosts a paltry five-run target. Secretary’s XI took no more than eight balls to romp home.

Elsewhere, at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, the contest between Goa and reigning Ranji Trophy champion Vidarbha ended in a pulsating tie.

Chasing 244 for victory, Vidarbha was 141 for no loss at one stage, only for the pursuit to go awry. Mohit Redkar and Darshan Mishal scalped nine wickets between them, with the former having last man Arya Durugkar caught behind by ‘keeper Samar Dubashi.

But play was a non-starter at four other grounds in Bengaluru because of overnight rain, with the three playing fields in Alur and the Indian Air Force Ground deemed unfit.

The second round of fixtures starts on Tuesday.

-N. Sudarshan

Published on Sep 07, 2025