Indian sports wrap, May 15: Olympic-bound Diksha, Pranavi to lead Indian contingent at German Masters

CRICKET

Rajnigandha Achievers win in quaters of Goswami Ganesh Dutt cricket tournament

Hiten Dalal hammered 169 off 94 balls with 10 sixes and 18 fours to power Rajnigandha Achievers to a seven-wicket victory over Young Cricketers in the quarterfinals of the 49th Goswami Ganesh Dutt cricket tournament at the Khalsa College ground on Wednesday.

Hiten had able support from Arvind Kumar (65) and Atul Rajotia (42) as the team chased the target of 350 with 4.1 overs to spare.

Earlier, Young Cricketers was well served by Madhav Kaushik and Salil Malhotra as they hit 139 and 135 respectively.

Hiten Dalal was adjudged the Kimati man-of-the-match. For his 135 off 87 balls, Madhav Kaushik was presented the Fightor Spartan “outstanding player” award.

In the first semifinals on Thursday, Delhi Challengers will meet Sporting Club.

THE SCORES

Young Cricketers 349/6 in 40 overs (Madhav Kaushik 139; Salil Malhotra 135) lost to Rajnigandha Achievers 353/3 in 35.5 overs (Hiten Dalal 169, Arvind Kumar 65, Atul Rajotia 42).

– Kamesh Srinivasan

TENNIS

Aakruti Sonkusare wins pre-quarterfinals of ITF junior tennis tournament

Aakruti Sonkusare beat the second seed and champion of the last tournament Priyanka Rana 6-4, 6-3 in the girls pre-quarterfinals of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the Vijay Khand tennis arena on Wednesday.

In the quarterfinals, Aakruti will challenge Aishwarya Jadhav.

In the boys section, Pradyumna Singh Tomar edged out Varchasva Thapliyag 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(7).

The results (pre-quarterfinals)

Boys:

Kandhavel Mahalingam bt V Thirumurugan 6-1, 6-2; Tavish Pahwa bt Anurag Kallambella 7-6(3), 6-2; Praneel Sharma bt Ojas Mehlawat 6-2, 6-4; Adhiraj Thakur bt Aaradhya Mhasde 6-3, 6-2; Aarav Chawla bt Prabir Chavda 6-0, 6-2; Pradyumna Singh Tomar bt Varchasva Thapliyag 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(7); Fateh Singh bt Tejas Ahuja 6-3, 6-2; Shanker Heisnam bt Armaan Walia 7-5, 5-7, 6-0.

Girls:

Laxmisiri Dandu bt Parthsarthi Mundhe 6-2, 6-1; Shaivi Dalal bt Shagun Kumari 6-4, 6-3; Prisha Shinde bt Riya Sachdeva 6-2, 6-4; Mahika Khanna bt Tamanna Walia 6-1, 6-4; Jaya Kapoor bt Ananya Jain 6-1, 6-3; Princy Mandagalla bt Sreenidhi Balaji 6-4, 7-5; Aishwarya Jadhav bt Diya Chaudhary 6-1, 6-1; Aakruti Sonkusare bt Priyanka Rana 6-4, 6-3.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

Junior Billie Jean King Cup: Indian girls to face Japan in quarters

Maaya Rajeshwaran scored a fighting victory in three hours and 19 minutes against Tahlia Kokkinis but the Indian team lost 1-2 to Australia in the last league match of the Asia-Oceania Junior Billie Jean King Cup girls under-18 tennis tournament in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday.

Maaya led 6-7(6), 6-2, 5-3 when the Australian No.1 Kokkinis retired with a hamstring injury. Renee Alame clinched it for Australia by winning her singles and doubles matches.

The Indian girls did qualify for the quarterfinals, having won their earlier two matches in the league, but they will have the task of matching wits against the top seed Japan in the knock-out stage.

THE RESULTS (LEAGUE)

Australia bt India 2-1 (Renee Alame bt Yashika Shokeen 6-0, 6-0; Tahlia Kokkinis lost to Maaya Rajeshwaran 7-6(6), 2-6, 3-5 (retired); Renee & Ava Beck bt Maaya & Diya Ramesh 6-2, 6-4).

– Kamesh Srinivasan

Ramkumar in doubles quarterfinals

Ramkumar Ramanathan went down 4-6, 6-7(2) to second seed James Duckworth of Australia in the pre-quarterfinals of the $82,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Taipei, Taiwan, on Wednesday.

Ramkumar, however, made the doubles quarterfinals with Remy Bertola of Switzerland.

In the $60,000 ITF women’s event in Kurume, Japan, Rutuja Bhosale beat Petra Hule of Australia 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3 in the first round.

THE SCORES

€100,000 WTA, Parma, Italy

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jesika Maleckova (Cze) & Conny Perrin (Sui) bt Maria Garcia (Col) & Ankita Raina 6-1, 6-1.

$82,000 Challenger, Taipei, Taiwan

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): James Duckworth (Aus) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 7-6(2).

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Remy Bertola (Sui) & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Blake Bayldon (Aus) & Colin Sinclair (Nmi) 1-6, 6-3, [10-6].

$15,000 ITF men, Kalmar, Sweden

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): James Markiewicz & Michael Shaw (GBR) w.o. Yuvan Nandal & Harry Wendelken (GBR).

$15,000 ITF men, Kingston, Jamaica

Singles (first round): Aryan Shah bt Abraham Asaba (Gha) 6-1, 6-0.

$15,000 ITF men, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Singles (first round): Chirag Duhan bt Yabets Kebede (Eth) 6-2, 6-1; Philip Henning (RSA) bt Kabir Hans 6-4, 7-6(3); Adil Kalyanpur bt Filippo Alberti (Ita) 1-6, 6-4, 6-4; Siddhant Banthia bt Ben Weintraub (Isr) 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4; Ishaque Eqbal bt Madhwin Kamath 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; Federico Valle (Ita) bt Raghav Jaisinghani 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5; Dev Javia bt Nitin Kumar Sinha 2-1 (retired).

$100,000 ITF women, Madrid, Spain

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ma YeXin (Chn) & Vasanti Shinde bt Blanca Berges & Cristina Sierra (Esp) 6-3, 4-6, [10-8].

$60,000 ITF women, Zagreb, Croatia

Doubles (quarterfinals): Emily Appleton (GBR) & Prarthana Thombare bt Ayla Aksu (Tur) & Ena Kajevic (Cro) 6-4, 6-1.

$60,000 ITF women, Kurume, Japan

Singles (first round): Rutuja Bhosale bt Petra Hule (Aus) 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3.

$25,000 ITF women, Bethany Beach, USA

Singles (first round): Jada Robinson (USA) bt Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-4, 6-2.

$15,000 ITF women, Kursumlijska Banja, Serbia

Singles (fiirst round): Anja Stankovic (Srb) bt Prathyusha Rachapudi 6-2, 6-4.

$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Daria Khomutsianskaya & Anna Kubareva bt Diva Bhatia & Hou Yanan (Chn) 6-4, 6-2.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Olympic-bound Diksha, Pranavi Urs to lead Indian contingent at the German Masters

Olympic-bound Diksha Dagar and Pranavi Urs will spearhead a huge Indian contingent of seven players, including one amateur, as they tee off in the Amundi German Masters from Thursday.

The Ladies European Tour (LET) is back in Europe and in Germany as a field of 132 players from 35 nations will engage in a 72-hole stroke play competition with a cut coming in for top 60 professionals and ties after the second round.

Olympic-bound Diksha Dagar, Pranavi Urs, Tvesa Malik, Vani Kapoor, and Amandeep Drall will be joined by Sneha Singh, who has received an invitation and amateur Avani Prashanth who is also among the 11 invites to the event.

Diksha will try and make amends for 2023, when she led in the event before three bogeys around the turn on the final day saw her drop to third. It was one of the two third places she had in 2023 – the other being at her home event, the Hero Women’s Indian Open.

– PTI

source