Indian sports wrap, April 15: Gill, Ghai, Baisoya share first-round lead at Calance Open

GOLF

Gill, Ghai, Baisoya share first-round lead at Calance Open

Pukhraj Singh Gill of Ludhiana was in joint lead with Tapendra Ghai and Honey Baisoya with a six-under 64 on the opening day of the Rs.1 crore Calance Open at the Qutab Golf Course on Tuesday.

After an early bogey, Pukhraj had seven birdies to go six-under on the par-70 course, which is hosting a PGTI event after 15 years.

“I had played on this course as a junior. It has changed a lot and poses more challenges now. The fairways are narrow and it is a risk-reward course,” said Pukhraj.

Honey had a bogey-free round while Tapendra had eight birdies and two bogeys.

While Chandigarh-based 15-year-old Neil Jolly shot 68 to be the highest-placed amateur at tied 23rd, the champion of the last tournament Sachin Baisoya shot three-over 73 and was tied 95th.

The leading scores:

1 T. Pukhraj Singh Gill, Tapendra Ghai, Honey Baisoya (64); 4 T. Kapil Kumar, Shankar Das, Karandeep Kocchhar, Yuvraj Sandhu, Badal Hossain (65); 9 T. Ravi Kumar, K Prabagaran (66); 11 T. Shivendra Sisodia, Kartik Sharma, Varun Parikh, Dhruv Sheoran, Aniket Sawant, Abhinav Lohan, Akshay Neranjen, Arjun Prasad, Md. Solayeman, Gaurav Pratap Singh, Bikramjit Singh Sandhu, R Mari Muthu (67).

-Kamesh Srinivasan

TENNIS

Aryan loses in first round of Ivory Coast $60,000 challenger

Fifth seed Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania beat Aryan Shah 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of the $60,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Tuesday.

The results:

$60,000 Challenger, Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Singles (first round): Ricardas Berankis (Ltu) bt Aryan Shah 3-6, 6-2,
6-4; Michael Geerts (Bel) bt Adil Kalyanpur 6-1, 6-3.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

CHESS

FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Pune: Divya Deshmukh, Zhu Jiner take early lead after second round

Divya Deshmukh and second seed Zhu Jiner of China took an early lead in the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Chess at Amanora-The Fern, Pune, on Tuesday.

The seventh-seeded Divya defeated fellow-Indian R. Vaishali, seeded sixth, in the second round. Zhu had to wait longer for her victory against Mongolia’s Mungutuul Batkhuyag.

Russia’s Polina Shuvalova, who drew with Nurgyul Salimova of Bulgaria, is in second place with 1.5 points. Top seed Koneru Humpy, who was held to a draw by Salome Milia of Georgia, is on one point.

Vaishali and D. Harika are on half-a-point. Seven rounds remain.

The results (second round):

Salome Milia (Geo) 0.5 drew with Koneru Humpy 1; Divya Deshmukh 2 bt R. Vaishali 0.5; Polina Shuvalova (Rus) 1.5 drew with Nurgyul Salimova (Bul) 0.5; D. Harika 0.5 drew with Alina Kashlinskaya (Pol); Mungutuul Batkhuyag (Mng) 1 lost to Zhu Jiner (Chn) 2.

Third-round pairing: Zhu v Melia; Kashlinskaya v Batkhuyag; Salimova v Harika; Vaishali v Shuvalova; Humpy v Divya.

– Team Sportstar

MOTORSPORT

Rivaan Dev Preetham finishes P11 in second round of Champions of the Future Academy

Rivaan Dev Preetham finished P11 in the second round of the Champions of the Future Academy Programme.

The 11-year-old, the only Indian to have won a race in the history of FIA Motorsport Games, logged a poor qualifying time due to a strategy that did not work.

He qualified fifth among 37 competitors from around the world and finished P5 in the second heat. He went on to post another top-15 result, finishing 11th in the second final and garnering 22 points.

Rivaan clocked a best lap of 1 minute and 02.442 seconds.

-PTI