WRESTLING
With medals in all categories, India women wrestlers win team title at U-23 Asian Championship
Putting up a dominating show, Indian women wrestlers won the team title at the Under-23 Asian Championship by winning a medal in each of the 10 categories, including four gold and five silver at Vung Tau in Vietnam.
Priyanshi Prajapat (50kg), Reena (55kg), Shrishti (68kg) and Priya (76kg) sealed the top-podium places.
Five more India women wresters made the gold-medal bouts but settled for runner-up finishes.
Neha Sharma (57kg), Tanvi (59kg), Pragati (62kg), Siksha (65kg), and Jyoti Berwal (72kg) won silver medals while Hinaben Khalifa (53kg) won the bronze on Friday.
In Greco-Roman style, Sumit bagged the gold in the 63kg category while Nitesh (97kg) and Ankit Gulia (72kg) won bronze medals.
In the men’s freestyle events, Vicky won the gold in 97kg category while Nikhil (61kg), Sujeet Kalkal (65kg), Jaideep (74kg), Chandermohan (79kg) and Sachin (92kg) will also fight for gold later on Saturday.
Sagar Jaglan (86kg) will clash in the bronze-medal play-off while Jaspooran Singh (125kg) will also be in medal contention in his weight class.
-PTI
GOLF
Aditi Ashok misses cut in tough conditions at KPMG PGA Champs
Indian golfer Aditi Ashok missed the cut in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship after a second round 11-over 83 in tough conditions at the Fields Ranch East course in Frisco.
It was the first time in a Major that Aditi, who had a first round 81, shot successive rounds in the 80s. She had nine bogeys and a double and no birdies. She failed to get a single birdie over two days.
– PTI
Bhatia placed Tied 35th at Travelers Championship
Akshay Bhatia landed an eagle courtesy two great shots on the sixth but still managed only an even par 70 for the second day running in the Travelers Championship where he is now placed Tied-35th in the United States.
Indian-American Bhatia, fighting for a place in the Fedex Cup play-offs, birdied the third and eagled the sixth but dropped one shot on the fourth and a double on the 17th.
Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler dropped a late double bogey, but carded 1-under 69 and still kept a share of the lead alongside Justin Thomas (64) and Tommy Fleetwood (65).
The trio is at 9-under. Scheffler had led after the first day 8-under. He had an early bogey on the sixth and then four birdies to move to 11-under and sole lead before he dropped a double on the Par-4 17th.
When Thomas and Scheffler are paired in the third round, it will be the first time since they played the first two rounds at the Masters.
-PTI
Saptak Talwar moves to tied 9th spot on Hotel Planner Tour
Saptak Talwar played a second successive round of 1-under 69 to move up to tied 9th on the leaderboard at Blot Play9 on the Hotel Planner Tour at Pleneuf Val Andre in France.
In his second round at Bluegreen de Pleneuf Val Andre, Talwar started the day on the back nine and made birdies on the 11th and 15th holes with bogeys on the 14th and 16th. On the front nine he managed to birdie the sixth hole.
Talwar will be hoping to convert his 36 hole position into a strong finish. Talwar was two under after this round.
The 40-year-old James Morrison found some form as he played a bogey free round of 4-under 66 to take the lead.
Having won twice on the DP World Tour the Englishman had rolled back the years and displayed some of his form from the past with birdies on the first, seventh, 11th and 15th holes.
Morrison now sits at 10-under and is three strokes clear of the field.
In second place is Matthis Besard of Belgium, who has played rounds of 66 and 67 to put himself at seven under at the end of the second day.
Day one leader Max Kennedy struggled and carded 6-over 76 to slip down to tied third in the standings.
-PTI
Morocco Rising Stars Marrakech: Khalin Joshi equals course record to move into top-three
India’s Khalin Joshi matched the course record as he shot 9-under 63 to move into third position after day two of the Morocco Rising Stars Marrakech.
Joshi, who carded 1-under 71 on the first day, is now 10-under at the Samanah Golf Club.
Indian-American Varun Chopra (67-66) shared the lead with Moroccan Ayoub Lguirati (67-66) at 11-under after two rounds.
Joshi made 10 birdies in his round and looked good to set a course record before he had his only bogey of the day — on the 18th — as his shot landed in a bunker.
The other Indian in the top-10 is Karandeep Kochhar, who shot 5-under 67 to move up the leaderboard to tied ninth with a total of seven under.
Ajeetesh Sandhu played a round of 2-under 70 to move up one position into tied 12th and has a total of six under.
Rahil Gangjee and Arjun Sharma are placed tied-36th with a 36-hole score of three under.
Gangjee played a second round of 5-under 67, while Sharma played 4-under 68. Aman Raj also made the cut, shooting a 5-under 67 to move into tied 49th with a two-day total of two under.
S Chikkarangappa (75-69) and Pukhraj Singh Gill (76-72) missed the cut.
First day leader, Varanyu Rattanaphiboonkij struggled on day two as he shot 1-over 73 to slip to tied fourth and has a two day total of eight under.
-PTI
CHESS
GM Lalit Babu in joint lead after round 5
Grandmaster Lalit Babu MR of Andhra Pradesh and IM Arsen Davtyan of Armenia maintained their perfect 5/5 record to share the joint lead after round 5 of the Aurionpro International Grandmaster and Junior Chess Tournament at the World Trade Centre.
The Junior tournament also heated up, with top seed and FM Aansh Nerurkar of Mumbai and CM Madhesh sharing the top spot with 5 points after 5 rounds. The two leaders face off in Round 6, which should help in identifying the sole leader.
While GM Lalit Babu outmanoeuvred GM Nguyen Duc Hoa in a positional grind from the English Opening, IM Arsen Davtyan defeated GM Nikitenko Mihail using the Long Castle Variation in the King’s Indian Defence.
GM tournament leaders after 5 rounds:
GM Lalit Babu and IM Arsenal Davtyan 5/5
Chasing the Leaders (4.5/5):
GM Levan Pantsulaia
GM Luka Paichadze
GM Mamikon Garibyan
IM Alexander Slizhevsky
GM Aleksej Alexandro
IM Buddhidhama Nayaka
– Team Sportstar
HOCKEY
Hockey India Masters Cup: Odisha, Punjab win in women’s category; Chandigarh, TN win in men’s
Day four of the inaugural Hockey India Masters Cup 2025 saw some exciting matches as Odisha and Punjab in the women’s category secured another victory in the tournament. In the men’s category, Chandigarh and Tamil Nadu had an eventful day after registering win in their respective matches.
In the first match today, Odisha defeated Tamil Nadu 2-1 in a closely contest, in the women’s category. Sarita Lakra (17’, 27’) scored a match winning brace for Odisha while Saumya (28’) tried to narrow down the goal difference with her consolation goal for TN.
In the last match of the day, Tamil Nadu defeated Andhra Pradesh 11-0, in the men’s category.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
In the last match of the day, Tamil Nadu defeated Andhra Pradesh 11-0, in the men’s category.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
In the other match, Punjab defeated Haryana 1-0 in a nail-biting thriller, in the women’s category. It was captain Amandeep Kaur (52’) who finally managed to sneak past Haryana’s defence and scored the only goal of the match for Punjab.
In the first match of the men’s category, Chandigarh defeated Manipur 5-1. Sanjiv Kumar (19’), Harvinder Singh (23’), Ravinder Singh (24’), Vikram Saini (49’) and Amitsingh Rajput (58’) scored one goal each for Chandigarh. On the other hand, Pangambam Priyokumar Singh (25’) could only score for Manipur.
In the last match of the day, Tamil Nadu defeated Andhra Pradesh 11-0, in the men’s category. Captain Adam Antony Sinclair (9’, 38’) and Cedric Marcellin D Cruz (43’, 52’) together scored four out of the eleven goals in the match. Besides the same, Raman R (3’), Govthaman (13’), Sudharsan S (20’), Ramesh Nallamuthu (22’), Vinothkumar (30’), Ramadoss V (52’) and Vinoth Kumar AP (57’) also contributed with one goal each to take the game further away from Andhra Pradesh.
– Team Sportstar