GOLF
Diksha Dagar will lead a five-Indian contingent at the Tenerife Women’s Open golf tournament in the Canary Islands this week on the the Ladies European Tour (LET), which begins after a mini break. The tournament in Tenerife returns to the schedule for the first time since 2011.
Besides, Diksha, Avani Prashanth, Tvesa Malik, Hitaashee Bakshi and Sneha Singh are the other Indians in the field of 132 players from 35 nations at the Abama Golf Resort.
Pranavi Urs was also in the field but has withdrawn as she is yet to fully recover from her wrist injury.
After nine events this year, Diksha is the top Indian in eighth place on the LET Order of Merit, which decides the yearlong race to crown the Tour’s number one player.
Diksha has played nine events, made seven cuts and finished in Top-10 four times, including a runner-up finish in Morocco. Avani, at 39th, is the second best Indian on LET Merit list.
The Indian challenge includes the last two Hero Order of Merit winners in India.
LET rookie Hitaashee in two starts has done well to finish T-12 at the Dutch Ladies Open and T-34 at Jabra Ladies, while Sneha will make her first start.
Tvesa in six starts has made only two cuts with T-34 at Jabra Ladies as the best.
-PTI
TABLE TENNIS
U Mumba secures win against Ahmedabad SG Pipers in UTT Juniors
Prateek Tulsani and Ananya Muralidharan were in top form as they took U Mumba to a 7-2 victory over Ahmedabad SG Pipers in the league stage of the Dream UTT Juniors table tennis tournament at the Eka Arena on Wednesday.
It was the third victory in four matches for U Mumba as it led the eight-team competition with 23 points, along with Dempo Goa Challengers and Jaipur Patriots. Kolkata ThunderBlades was following with 21 points.
Chennai Lions (17), Pune Jaguars (14), Dabang Delhi (12) and Ahmedabad SG Pipers (11) looked to have lost the race for the semifinals, with all the teams left to play one more league match each.
The results (league):
Stanley’s Chennai Lions bt Jaipur Patriots 5-4 (Siddharth Dhariwal lost to Trishal Surapuureddy 10-11, 11-10, 9-11; Siddharth & Divyanshi Bhowmik bt Trishal & Shreya Dhar 5-11, 11-10, 11-8; Divyanshi bt Shreya 7-11, 11-6, 11-6).
U Mumba bt Ahmedabad SG Pipers 7-2 (Prateek Tulsani bt Abheek Kashyap 11-10, 10-11, 11-9; Prateek & Ananya Muralidharan bt Abheek & Mouboni Chatterjee 11-10, 11-9, 11-4; Ananya bt Mouboni 11-9 11-8, 8-11).
-Kamesh Srinivasan
TENNIS
Sumit Nagal enters second rounf of Heilbronn Challenger tennis tournament
Sumit Nagal bt Tom Gentzsch 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the €145,250 Challenger tennis tournament in Heilbronn, Germany.
In the $60,000 ITF women’s event in Sumter, USA, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty in partnership with Katherine Sebov beat the second seeds Ayana Akli and Dalayna Hewitt 7-6(6), 6-4 in the doubles pre-quarterfinals.
The results:
€145,250 Challenger, Heilbronn, Germany
Singles (first round): Sumit Nagal bt Tom Gentzsch (Ger) 6-1, 6-4.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Tim Handel & Lasse Poertner (Ger) bt Sumit Nagal & Marco Trungelliti (Arg) 7-5, 6-4.
€181,250 Challenger, Birmingham, Britain
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Nicolas Barrientos (Col) & Rithvik Bollipalli bt Cleeve Harper (Can) & Ryan Seggerman (USA) 7-6(4), 6-4.
€145,250 Challenger, Prostejov, Czech Republic
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Anirudh Chandrasekar & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Victor Cornea (Rou) & Karol Drzewiecki (Pol) 6-2, 6-2.
$60,000 ITF women, Sumter, USA
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Shrivalli Bhamidipaty & Katherine Sebov (Can) bt Ayana Akli & Dalayna Hewitt (USA) 7-6(6), 6-4.
$30,000 ITF women, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Hirotko Kuwata (Jpn) & Sahaja Yamalapalli bt Natsuho Arakawa & Michika Ozeki (Jpn) 6-4, 6-3.
$15,000 ITF women, Kayser, Turkey
Singles (first round): Tanisha Kashyap bt Elizaveta Rozhkova 6-3, 6-2.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Tanisha Kashyap & Adelina Lachinova (Lat) bt Maria Kalyakina & Zoziya Kardava (Geo) 3-6, 7-5, [10-1].
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia
Singles (first round): Gloriana Nahum (Ben) bt Zeel Desai 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Lamis Aziz (Egy) & Anja Wildgruber (Ger) bt Diva Bhatia & Anjali Rathi 6-2, 3-6, [10-6].
$15,000 ITF women, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Singles (first round): Soha Sadiq bt Gio Jang (Kor) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; Akanksha Nitture bt Sonal Patil 6-0, 6-3.
$15,000 ITF men, Luan, China
Singles (first round): Hanyi Liu (Chn) bt Sidharth Rawat 6-2, 7-6(4).
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): JordanChiu (USA) & Yi Jui Lo (Tpe) bt Parth ggarwal & Siddharth Vishwakarma 6-4, 5-7, [10-2].
-Kamesh Srinivasan
CHESS
Grandmasters Chess tournament in Mumbai to be held June 16 to 24
The Aurionpro Grandmasters Chess tournament will be staged at the World Trade Centre from June 16 to 24.
The tournament, offering an overall prize money of Rs.40 lakh, will feature junior events apart from the main tournament that is expected to have about 20 Grandmasters.
The junior section will have age group competition for the under-13, 11, 9 and 7 boys and girls.
“We are witnessing a surge of bold, brilliant players ready to compete on the global stage. This tournament is just the beginning of a new era, filled with immense untapped potential,” said the CEO of Aurionpro Solutions, Ashish Rai.
“The goal of the tournament has always been to encourage analytical thinking and mental resilience in youth,” said Praful Zaveri, the Founder of Indian Chess School, which will organise the tournament.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
CRICKET
T20 Mumbai League 2025: Akash Parkar guides Sobo Mumbai Falcons past ARCS Andheri in opener
Sobo Mumbai Falcons players in action in T20 Mumbai League 2025.
Sobo Mumbai Falcons players in action in T20 Mumbai League 2025.
Akash Parkar’s Super Over exploits powered Sobo Mumbai Falcons to a short and sweet win over ARCS Andheri in the opening tie of the T20 Mumbai’s third edition at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Stadium.
Riding on Parkar’s sensational knock off unbeaten 27 runs off six balls – facing all the six balls in the Super Overs – the Falcons set Andheri a monumental target of 28 runs off six balls.
Seasoned pacer Siddharth Raut then restricted Shivam Dube and Musheer Khan by conceding just 13 runs in the over.
Earlier in the morning, a spell of showers delayed the toss by 45 minutes after a sparkling opening ceremony that marked the league’s return after six years.
Captain Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Amogh Bhatkal got the Falcons off to a brisk start. The match was interrupted due to rain shortly after the Falcons reached 26 without any loss, following a solid start from the opening air.
– Team Sportstar
Vidarbha Pro T20 League: RCB star Jitesh Sharma to lead NECO Master Blaster
India stumper Jitesh Sharma, who played a pivotal role in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s maiden IPL triumph, will be the star attraction in the Vidarbha Pro T20 League scheduled to be played at VCA Stadium from June 5 to 15.
Jitesh will lead NECO Master Blaster in the league, with Ranji Trophy-winning opener Sanjay Ramaswamy being his deputy.
On the women’s side, the team will be captained by the prolific Bharti Fulmali, with Riddhi Naik named vice-captain.
Speaking about the squad, NECO Master Blaster owner Anand Jayaswal said, “We are proud to see leaders like Jitesh Sharma and Bharti Fulmali guiding our teams, and we look forward to a season filled with inspiration, competition, and new heroes.”
– Team Sportstar
