Indian sports wrap, December 20: Unnati Hooda advances to second round in Badminton nationals

Indian sports wrap, December 20: Unnati Hooda advances to second round in Badminton nationals

Haryana’s Unnati Hooda breezed past Unnati Jaral of Jammu & Kashmir 21-10, 21-9 to enter the second round of the women’s singles at the 2024 Senior National Badminton Championship at the KBA courts here on Friday.

The 17-year-old Unnati was far superior than her opponent in the first game but faced slight resistance in the second as Jaral kept pace, taking nine points to her opponent’s 11 at one stage. But from there, Unnati stepped it up, manoeuvring through the fast conditions in expert fashion to romp home without losing another point.

-N. Sudarshan

Two-time champion Anahat Singh of India cruised into the semifinals of the women’s event in the 79th Western India Slam, a USD 9,000 prize-money Professional Squash Association Challenger tournament at the CCI courts in Mumbai on Friday.

The 16-year-old Anahat defeated eighth seeded compatriot Anjali Semwal 11-3 11-7 11-7 in the quarterfinal.

Top seed Akanksha Salunkhe also progressed to the semi-finals, defeating Hong Kong’s Sze Wing Wai 11-5 11-4 11-3.

In men’s competition, the top two seeds Viktor Byrtus of the Czech Republic and Malaysian Ameeshenraj Chandaran advanced to the semifinals.

The Number one seed Viktor easily defeated seventh seed Hong Komg’s Wailok To 11-6 11-3 and 11-5, while second seed Ameeshenraj Chandaran got the better of fifth seed Yassin Shohdy of Egypt 11-6 11-2 11-5.

-PTI

Jyoshna Sabar created a New Youth Asian record in total with a lift of 135kg in the 40kg Youth Girls weight category at the 2024 Asian Youth (Boys & Girls) Weightlifting Championships in Doha, Qatar, on Friday.

Overall, Indian athletes won two gold and two bronze medals on the opening day.

– Team Sportstar

Olympian Sriram Balaji asserted his supreme fitness and singles prowess yet again as he raced past second seed Manish Ganesh for the title in the 74th Inter-Services tennis championship at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi on Friday.

After having lost the team championship final to Indian Navy, it was redemption for the strong Army team to capture to the individual title through Balaji.

A top doubles player who had reached the third round of French Open this year, Balaji dropped 16 games in winning four matches. He got a walkover from another former National champion like him, Mohit Mayur, in the semifinals.

– Team Sportstar

Mayank Sharma emerged the champion in the 7th Rajesh Patel memorial Rs.100,000 AITA men’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Vidyalaya, Sector-61, Gurugram, on Friday.

Mayank led 6-0, 2-0 when the top seed Parth Agarwal retired.

It was a fine run for Mayank as he beat a series of tough opponents – Udit Gogoi, Bushan Haobam and Bhicky Sagolshem – and dropped one set along the way.

Equally, it has been a commendable exercise by tennis coach Ankit Patel to host the event in his father’s memory. Rajesh Patel was a renowned basketball coach who helped the Chhattisgarh girls dominate the national scene, at times beating the might of the Railways.

– Team Sportstar

Ekaterina Reyngold stopped the fine run of second seed Sahaja Yamalapalli with a 7-6(5), 6-3 victory in the quarterfinals of the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Ganesh Naik Complex on Friday.

Sahaja did have her chances as she fought back from 2-4 to 5-4 in the first set, and later did lead 5-4 in the tie-break. Sahaja led 3-1 in the second set before Reyngold ran away with the match, sweeping the next five games.

Sahaja converted all the three break points that she forced, but Reyngold prevailed by converting four of nine break points.

In the semifinals, Reyngold will play Priska Nugroho of Indonesia, while the other semifinal will be between Thasaporn Naklo of Thailand and Tian Fangran of China.

There was some cheer for the Indian camp, as Riya Bhatia and Zeel Desai made the doubles final. The top seeded Indian pair of Ankita Raina and Prarthana Thombare bowed out as Ankita has been grappling with a stomach infection that saw her retire midway through her singles second round earlier.

Riya and Zeel, who beat the second seeds Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Zhibek Kulambayeva, will play the Japanese duo of Kanaka Morisaki and Naho Sato in the doubles final.

– Team Sportstar

Delhi’s Saarthak Chhibber shot into the sole lead with a 13-under 129 after a sizzling seven-under 64 in the second round of the Tata Steel Rs. 3 crore golf championshi at the Beldih and Golmuri courses in Jamshedpur on Friday.

Amardeep Malik (64) and N Thangaraja (66) of Sri Lanka were tied second at 11-under 131.

– Team Sportstar

Avani Prashanth stayed in the top-20 to keep alive her hopes of the Category 12 Ladies European Tour card as she shot 2-under 71 in the Final Qualifiers in Marrakech, Morocco.

Avani, whose four rounds have been 69-69-73-71 is 8-under and Tied-13th as the top-20 get the Category 12 status for 2025.

The next best Indians are Amandeep Drall (70-71-72-72) and Sneha Singh (73-70-72-70) who are both at 5-under.

Among other Indians in the Final Qualifiers, Hitaashee Bakshi, who began the Qualifiers slowly with 76-77 continued her fight back as she shot 67-68 in the next two rounds to make the subsequent cuts and will have a further chance to improve from her current T-51st place.

Vani Kapoor (72-73-75-73) was T-78th and missed the fourth round cut. Also missing out was Vidhatri Urs (77-68-78-71) as she was T-86.

Avani, who had a bogey-bogey start in the fourth round rallied superbly with five birdies against just one bogey for a 71 that kept her hopes alive.

Bakshi had five birdies against one bogey in her fourth round and will seek a final big surge to try and get into Top-20 with a very low round.

The 29-year-old Ecuador’s Daniela Darquea fired a round of 66 (-7) to hold a two-shot lead at the 72-hole mark of the Final Qualifier of Lalla Aicha Q-School.

The Ecuadorian went bogey-free on day four as she teed it up at Al Maaden Golf Marrakech for the second time.

Germany’s Polly Mack produced a bogey-free round for the third day in a row carding a 66 (-7) at Al Maaden.

Two players are in a tie for third place with Wales’ Darcey Harry (67) and Spain’s Teresa Toscano (69) both on 15-under-par. Ireland’s Anna Foster produced a round of 70 (-2) at Royal Golf Marrakech to be in solo fifth place on 13-under-par.

The cut fell at +1 with 70 players making it through to the final round which will be played at Al Maaden Golf.

– PTI

India’s Ajeetesh Sandhu continued his quest for an Asian Tour card, adding an even-par 71 to be the only Indian to get past the fourth-round cut, which fell at 4-under in Hua Hin, Thailand, on Friday.

The fifth and last round of the Final Stage of the Asian Tour Qualifying School will determine the Top-35 and ties who will get the Tour card for 2025.

Sandhu, who won last week in his home Tour in India, has played rounds of 63-70-68-71 to be 12-under and is tied-ninth after being joint leader on day one.

After four days of intense golf, 73 players have made it to the final round of the Asian Tour Qualifying School.

The others Indians who fell by the wayside are Karandeep Kochhar (67-73-69-72) at T-74, Arjun Sharma (73-70-70-68) T-74.

S Chikkarangappa, Pukhraj Gill and Rashid Khan (T-88), Aryan Roopa Anand (T-101), Anshul Kabthiyal (T-136), Honey Baisoya (T-142), Syed Saqib Ahmed and Khalin Joshi (T-144), Dhruv Sheoran and Aman Raj (T-170) also missed the cuts, which were applied after the second and fourth rounds.

Japan’s Takumi Murakami carded a six-under-par 65 to move to 19-under, while South Korean Kyungnam Kang shot a 70 to be two behind the leader.

Japan’s Yosuke Asaji (67) and Taiki Yoshida (69), and Korean Doyeob Mun (67) are joint third, four behind the leader.

Australian Jack Thompson (69), the winner here two years ago, is one shot further behind along with countryman Lawry Flynn 68.

– PTI