GOLF

Pranavi Tied-third in Spain

Pranavi Urs added a solid 3-under 69 to her first round of 6-under 66 to be tied third after the second round at the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España.

The Mysuru golfer, who is playing her first full season on the Ladies European Tour, is now 9-under for 36 holes and trails leader Carlota Ciganda (67-66) who is 11-under.

Pranavi is tied third with Helen Briem of Germany who shot 66-69 to be 9-under. Lying second is Pia Babnik of Slovenia, who has had two straight 67s.

She got off to a good start with two birdies in her first three holes before dropping her only shot of the day on the eighth. She later rolled in two more birdies on the ninth and 15th holes.

“I could have holed a lot more putts than dropped, so hopefully in the next couple of days it will,” said the Indian.

“The game was pretty solid, I also didn’t give myself as many opportunities as yesterday. I had little mistakes here and there, but that’s golf. It was overall a decent day.

“I’m slowly getting used to playing in the last group. The crowd is obviously fantastic here and they’re all cheering for you. It’s been fantastic.” Defending champion Aditi Ashok carded a 71 to be Tied-23rd, while Diksha Dagar, two-time winner on the is 1-under 143 and Tied-31st. Tvesa Malik (72-75) is Tied-61st.

Ciganda, a seven-time LET winner began the day two shots off the pace and had a bogey-free second day around Real Club Guadalhorce Golf.

She began with a birdie on the second before adding another on the fourth and back-to-back birdies on holes six and seven to make the turn in four-under.

The 20-year-old Slovenia’s Pia Babnik, who has her brother on the bag, carded a bogey-free round of 67 (-5) for the second day in a row to be in outright second place after 36 holes in Spain.

The 2024 La Sella Open champion Briem had two bogeys and five birdies on her scorecard to keep her within touching distance of leader Ciganda.

Spain’s Maria Hernandez fired a bogey-free round of 66 (-6) to be in a tie for fifth place on seven-under-par alongside Belgium’s Manon De Roey.

De Roey had an eagle, three birdies and a bogey on her scorecard to seal a round of 68 (-4) on day two in Malaga.

-PTI

TENNIS

Arjun, Rishitha win singles titles at ITF junior tennis tournament

Arjun Rathi played with patience and came up with explosive strokes whenever required to beat top seed Arnav Paparkar 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in the final of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Saturday.

Both the players came up with a high-quality fare, in which the long rallies were punctuated with imaginative strokes, to entertain the sparse gathering.

In the decider, Arjun fought hard to tilt the balance in his favour, with his crafty game backed by smart athleticism. It was the second title in recent weeks for the trainee of Aditya Sachdeva at the Roundglass Academy in Chandigarh.

In the girls final, Rishitha Basireddy was able to turn the match on its head midway through the second set, for a memorable 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory against qualifier Nelli Ivanova. It was the second successive title for her following the one last week in Guwahati.

Rishitha was playing well right through but was missing the lines narrowly, till midway through the second set. She clawed her way back and led 5-4 in the second set when Ivanova faced two set points on her serve.

The Russian’s shot was called right, which would have helped her save a set point, but the referee was on hand watching the match and overruled the umpire, that closed the set and brought a burst of tears from Ivanova.

The free-stroking Ivanova composed herself to sustain the fight in the third, but Rishitha was able to step up her game, moving well and stroking with intensity, to emerge victorious, without any further drama.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

SQUASH

Yusha beats Aryaveer to secure Xtreme Open squash tournament title

Yusha Nafees calls the shot against Aryaveer Dewan (back) in the under-19 boys final of the Xtreme Open squash tournament in Delhi on Saturday.
| Photo Credit:
Kamesh Srinivasan

Yusha Nafees asserted his strong game as he beat Aryaveer Dewan 15-13, 11-7, 11-7 in the under-19 boys final of the Xtreme Open squash tournament at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium here on Saturday.

After a string of exciting finals that saw many top seeds being beaten in various boys and girls events, the match between Yusha and the reigning US Open champion Aryaveer lived up to its projection as a cracker of a contest.

It was the exquisite game of Yusha that prevailed as he drove his opponent to the ground in tough rallies, breaking the resistance systematically, and sailing home to the trophy.

In the under-11 boys final, Prahlad Singh Majithia recovered after losing the first two games to pip Nirvaan Uppal 11-9 in the fifth game.

In the girls under-17 final, top seed Sanvi Batar won a thriller in five games against Kaashvi Mangal.

-Kamesh Srinivasan