Indian sports wrap, August 2: Diksha Dagar makes cut at AIG Women’s Open

GOLF

Dagar makes cut at AIG Women’s Open, lies 28th

Diksha Dagar handled the changing temperature conditions well enough to shoot 1-over 73, ensuring her place in the weekend rounds of the AIG Women’s Open.

Dagar, who carded 1-under in the first round, is now even par for two rounds and Tied-28th going into the final two rounds.

Making her sixth Open appearance, Dagar is making the cut for a second time with Tied-21st finish in 2023 being her best.

Japan’s Miyu Yamashita produced a bogy free second round to reach 11-under-par through 36 holes to take a commanding three-shot lead.

The 23-year-old Yamashita fired a bogey-free seven-under-par for the best round of the day.

-PTI

Vedika still 2nd at US Kids World golf, Aida rises to 5th and Ojaswini stays ninth

Vedika Bhansali of Bengaluru maintained her Tied second position after the second round of the US Kids World Championship golf at Pinehurst Village.

Vedika, who was fourth a year ago, shot two rounds of 33 each and at six-under, she is still one shot behind the leader, Audrey Zhang of the US (32-33).

After a bogey-free first round, Vedika began with a bogey but had four birdies in her remaining eight holes to get to three-under 33 in the nine-hole round for Girls 9 Category.

In boys 12, Aida Thimmaiah after a 75 on the first day produced a superb four-under 68 with five birdies and just one bogey to climb 18 places from T-23 to Tied-fifth.

In girls 12, Ojaswini Saraswat stayed in tied ninth place despite improving her score by two shots as she followed her first round 70 with a 68 and at six-under she is Tied-9th.

She is three shots behind the leaders, Riviera Lindholm of Canada and Zara Stanley of the US, who are both at nine-under.

There are three Indians in Top-10 after the second day and one more day is left.

Also, in with a chance to get into Top-10 is Nihal Cheema despite slipping two places from T-12 to T-14 as he shot three-over 39 in his nine-hole second round in Boys 8 category.

-PTI

Saptak Talwar makes cut at Scottish Challenge

Saptak Talwar made the cut at the Farmfoods Scottish Challenge with a second round card of 1-over 72.

The score, put alongside his first round 66, placed him at 4-under for a tied-37.

In the second round, Talwar had three birdies on the front nine but gave away all that with a bogey on the 11th and a triple on the 16th.

Quim Vidal took a two-stroke lead into the weekend after signing for a six under par second round of 65 at Roxburghe.

-PTI

HOCKEY

15th India Sub Junior Men National Championship 2025: Bengal defeated Gujarat 4-1 in Division B

Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and Himachal Pradesh had fruitful outings after securing win in their respective matches on day six of the 15th India Sub Junior Men National Championship 2025 at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Chennai.

Chhattisgarh and Manipur, having finished as the top two teams in Division ‘B’, will secure promotion to Division ‘A’. In the top division, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Jharkhand won their respective fixtures.

In the first Division ‘B’ clash of the day, Arunachal defeated Goans Hockey, 6-1. Captain Shashank Kumar (38’, 47’) led from the front with a brace while Lenga Tuti (13’) and Ashwani Patel (20’) gave Arunachal an early advantage. In the final quarter, Sidharth Singh Pundir (55’) and Abhishek Kumar (58’) netted a goal each to round off a dominant display. Ankush Ansh Gaonkar (36’) was the sole goal scorer for Goans Hockey.

Bengal defeated Gujarat in another Division ‘B’ encounter, 4-1. Ray Risav (6’) set the tone for Bengal followed by Munna Kumar Singh (18’) before Abhishek Shaw’s (30’, 53’) brace sealed the victory. Kuldipbhai Baraiya (50’) registered a consolation goal for Hockey Gujarat in the final quarter.

The day marked the end of Division ‘B’ matches, with Chhattisgarh and Manipur emerging as the top two teams, thereby securing promotion to Division ‘A’ next year. The bottom two teams, Goa and Andhra Pradesh will face relegation to Division ‘C’.

In the first Division ‘A’ fixture of the day, Uttar Pradesh Hockey defeated Hockey Madhya Pradesh in a hard-fought encounter, 5-4. Prahalad Rajbhar (5’) gave Uttar Pradesh the lead before goals from Captain Ketan Kushwaha (27’), Ali Shahrukh (33’, 45’) and Mohd Aqib Raynee (42’) ensured the win. Ansh Bahutra’s (34’, 38’, 49’) valiant effort and Karan Gautam’s (24’) goal went in vain for Hockey Madhya Pradesh.

Later, Odisha defeated Chandigarh 3-1. Mithles Kerketta (6’), Sandeep Lakra (19’), and Sanjeet Raj Lakra (43’) scored for Odisha while Hockey Chandigarh’s Captain, Suhail Duhan (47’), netted a late consolation goal.

Jharkhand defeated Punjab 5-2. Goals from Ashish Tani Purthi (14’), Ganga Topno (19’), Hassa Patras (24’), Kiro Sabian (49’), and Sukhu Guria (56’) guided Jharkhand to victory. Meanwhile, Arshpreet Singh (30’) and Jashanpreet Singh (58’) scored for Hockey Punjab.

– Team Sportstar

TENNIS

Anirudh-Ramkumar through to Challenger final in Lexington

Qualifier Dhakshineswar Suresh was beaten 7-6(4), 6-4 by the second seed Eliot Spizzirri of USA in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Lexington, USA.

The towering Dhakshineswar fired aces by the dozen in the tournament to affix his stamp of authority. He collected 16 ATP points, including six for qualification, and $2,890.

The Indian challenge, however, was sustained by Anirudh Chandrasekar and Ramkumar Ramanathan as they set up the doubles final against Yu Hsiou Hsu and Tsung-Hao Huang of Chinese Taipei.

In the $30,000 ITF men’s event in Congo, Dev Javia went down fighting to the top seed Florent Bax in three sets.

-Team Sportstar

MOTORSPORT

Sarthak Chavan bags second win in Indian National Motorcyle Racing Championship

Sarthak Chavan of Petronas TVS Racing pulled off a brilliant win, his second in three starts, in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc Open category at the Rolon Round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2025 at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore on Saturday.

Starting from P3, 18-year-old Sarthak survived some close calls and contacts with pole-sitter, Hyderabad’s Rahil Pillarisetty (RACR Castrol Power1) who eventually finished third behind Chennai teenager Johann Reeves Emmanuel (Motul KTM Gusto Racing India) to win an incident-filled 10-lap race.

Later, One Racing’s Jagathishree Kumaresan, the 21-year-old from Chennai, wrote her own script by winning all the three races she took part in. The defending champion won both her outings in the Girls (Stock 165cc) category of the National Championship and in between, topped the Women’s race in the Petronas TVS India One-Make Championship for a grand triple.

-Team Sportstar

BOXING

Jr Asian Boxing Championships: Sagar, Harsh register dominant wins

India’s Sagar (55kg) and Harsh (60kg) won their respective bouts in dominant fashion to enter the second round of the U-19 Asian Boxing Championships on Saturday.

Sagar was clearly the better boxer in all three rounds against Bhutan’s Tashi Yoezer while Harsh played a tactically smart bout to beat China’s Jiabao Yuan in yet another mixed day for the Indian contingent.

Among the other Indians in fray on Saturday, Vishvanath Suresh took the fight to Uzbekistan’s Behruz Kholdorov but lost 3-2 in the men’s 50kg category while Preet Malik went down 4-1 against Ilya Kalinin of Kazakhstan in the men’s 65kg category.

In women’s 51kg category, Devika Ghorpade lost 0-5 against Vietnam’s Thi Ngoc Tran Nyugen while Kartik Dalal went down by similar margin against Philippines Brandon Soriano in the men’s 70kg bout.

– PTI

WRESTLING

India finishes top of women’s team rankings at World under-17 championships

Yashita lost 11-0 to USA’s Tania Fernandez in the women’s 61kg final to settle for a silver medal at the World under-17 wrestling championships in Athens.

With two gold, three silver and a bronze, India (151 points) finished atop the women’s team rankings ahead of the USA (142) and Japan (113).

Sitender made it to the men’s freestyle 60kg summit clash.

– Y. B. Sarangi