Indian Sports Wrap, March 7: Vaishnavi reaches back-to-back finals on the ITF circuit

TENNIS

Vaishnavi reaches back-to-back finals on the ITF circuit

Vaishnavi Adkar reached her second consecutive final on the ITF circuit as Indian number 2 eliminated Jasmijn Gimbrere in the semi-finals of the W35 event in Kalaburagi, Karnataka on Saturday.

Third-seeded Vaishnavi defeated the top-seeded Dutchman 6-3, 6-2 in an hour and 11 minutes. Last month, the 21-year-old from Pune finished second in Bengaluru after becoming the first Indian woman to reach the final of a W100 tournament or above since Sania Mirza in 2009.

World number 464 Vaishnavi will face compatriot and her doubles partner Ankita Raina in Sunday’s final.

World number 681, seeded eighth, Ankita defeated sixth-seeded Thai Thasaporn Naklo 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and 43 minutes to reach her first final since W25 Jakarta in April 2023.

Later, Vaishnavi and Ankita Akanksha defeated Nitture and Soha Sadiq 6-2, 6-2 in an all-Indian doubles final.

At the ATP Challenger Tour event in Kigali, Rwanda, top-seeded Indo-Bulgarian duo Siddhant Banthia and Alexander Donski failed to convert a match point in the super tiebreak, losing 6-4, 6-7(6), (12-10) to British-Dutch duo Jay Clarke and Max Houkes in the doubles final.

-Team Sportstar

Riaan and Asees triumph at the 20th Ramesh Desai Nationals U12 Tennis Tournament

Riaan Nandankar of Gujarat and Asees Barar of Punjab emerged as boys and girls singles champions respectively at the 20th Ramesh Desai Nationals U12 Tennis Tournament organized by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) and played at the GA Ranade Tennis Centre.

In the boys’ final, top-seeded Riaan registered a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Karnataka’s BC Thanush to win the title. In the girls’ final, Asees struggled before edging past Tamil Nadu girl Vaishnavi Balajee 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

-Team Sportstar

GOLF

Lahiri drops to shared 17th place in Hong Kong

Indian Anirban Lahiri scored just one birdie and one bogey in a modest, even-par third round that left him outside the Top 10 at Liv Golf Hong Kong on Saturday.

With cards of 66-65-70 he is 9 under and in 17th place.

-PTI

Shubhankar Sharma makes a run in the weather-affected Joburg Open

Shubhankar Sharma struggled to a 2-over 72 and found himself at T-48 after two rounds, but good enough for the Indian to make the cut at the Joburg Open.

Sharma shot a round of 4-under 66 earlier on the first day.

In the second round, play was interrupted due to lightning, as several players were unable to complete their second round. Sharma made the cut, which ended up at 1 under par.

On the first day, Sharma was 4 under par through 14 holes, with play suspended due to darkness. Once play resumed, the 29-year-old closed the first round with four consecutive pars.

Sharma started the second round on the back nine and had an early double bogey on the 15th before making three straight birdies on the back nine of the course.

On the front nine, Sharma had consecutive bogeys on the second and third holes, dropping two strokes before dropping another stroke with a bogey on the ninth hole, ending the day at 2 over par.

-PTI

Aditi plays 2 under par 70 and is fourth in Blue Bay

Aditi Ashok built on her strong start to the week by shooting a third round of 2-under 70 to move into fourth place on the Blue Bay LPGA fdsf.

Aditi, who shot 68 in the first round, added a 70 in the second at the Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course.

In the third she had a rollercoaster for nine in the third round. Aditi had four birdies against two bogeys for a 2-under 34, and on the back nine she had one birdie and one bogey for a 70.

-PTI

Pranavi rises to joint fifth place; Diksha is ranked 14th in Australia

Pranavi Urs (70) dropped a double bogey on the 17th hole towards the end, but managed to stay in the top 5 after three rounds of the Australian Women’s Classic.

Pranavi, with 72-66-70, was 8 under and in fifth place as Kelsey Bennett took a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Australian Women’s Classic after carding 66-68-70 to move to 12 under par and maintain her slim lead.

Diksha Dagar (69) recovered from her second-round 73 to reach 5-under and tie for 14th with one round to go.

The other two Indians, Avani Prashanth and Hitaashee Bakshi, had missed the cut.

Pranavi birdied the second but dropped shots on the fourth and fifth. She recovered from that with birdies on the eighth and ninth to make 1 under. She did a great job on the back nine with birdies at the 11th, 13th and 15th before hitting a double bogey at the 17th.

Diksha bogeyed the fifth and sixth and was in trouble, but she rallied strongly with birdies at the eighth and ninth. Three more birdies on the back nine moved her to 3-under for the round and 5-under total.

-PTI

TO SHOOT

Divyansh and Khyati win 10m Air Rifle T3 final; Anish takes first place with the 25 meter Rapid Fire Pistol

Divyansh Singh Panwar and Khyati Chaudhary secured the top spots in the 10m Air Rifle men’s and women’s events at the National Selection Trials 3 (Group A) in New Delhi on Saturday.

Olympian Anish Bhanwala won the T3 final of the 25 meter Rapid Fire Pistol event at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range.

In the men’s 10m air rifle final, Olympian Divyansh of Tokyo topped the eight-man final with a score of 252.5. Parth Rakesh Mane finished at the second position with a final score of 251.5, while Shahu Tushar Mane secured the third position with a score of 230.9.

The top spot in the women’s final was decided in a thrilling shoot-off, where Khyati had the upper hand over Mahit Sandhu after both were tied at 251.4 after the completion of 24 shots.

In the shoot-off, Khyati shot an excellent 10.9 to secure the top spot, ahead of Mahit, who scored 10.2. Mehuli Ghosh took third place with a final score of 230.1.

Earlier in the men’s qualification, Dhanush Srikanth qualified for the final in the first position with a score of 633.2, followed by Mahesh Babu Bathula, who shot 632.6.

National record holder Himanshu Dhillon and Niraj Kumar scored 632.1 and qualified at third and fourth positions respectively.

Parth Mane, Divyansh and Shahu qualified at the following positions after shooting 631.8, 630.6 and 630.4 respectively. National champion Kiran Ankush Jadhav completed the top eight with a score of 630.3.

Mehuli qualified for the women’s final in first place with a score of 633.4, followed by Sonam Uttam Maskar, who scored 633.2.

Tilottama Sen qualified in third place with a score of 632.0, followed by Khyati and Mahit, who scored 630.7 and 629.7 respectively.

Vidarsa K. Vinod (629.4), Sakshi Sunil Padekar (629.3) and Isha Anil Taksale (629.1) completed the top eight.

Olympian Anish Bhanwala continued his dominance in the 25 meters Rapid Fire Pistol event, securing the top spot in T3 with a score of 33 in the final.

Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu took second place with a score of 31, while Bhavesh Shekhawat survived a shoot-off with Vijayveer Sidhu to finish at third place with a score of 29. Vijayveer finished fourth with 23 hits.

Bhavesh, who was leading after Stage 1 of qualifying, qualified in first place with a combined score of 583-17x, followed by Rajkanwar, who achieved a combined score of 581-20x.

Adarsh ​​Singh qualified in third place with a score of 580-15x, and Anish shot 578-15x.

Neeraj Kumar (576-16x), Vijayveer (576-15x), Omkar Singh (575-18x) and Pradeep Singh Shekhawat (575-15x) rounded out the top eight.

-PTI

FOOTBALL

Olympian Hassan dies

Former Olympian Syed Habibul Hassan, popularly known as Hamid, passed away in Hyderabad on Friday at the age of 85. He is survived by a son and four daughters.

Hamid represented India at the 1960 Rome Olympics and played at club level for Hyderabad Sporting Club, Hyderabad Police, Mohammedan Sporting Club and South Central Railway. Like many from the city, Hamid, widely regarded as a complete all-rounder, owed his success to legendary coach Syed Abdul Rahim.

Telangana Football Association and former Indian captains Shabbir Ali and Victor Amalraj were among those who expressed their condolences.

– Anirudh Velamuri

Published on March 7, 2026