Indian Sports Report, April 15: Diksha Dagar leads the Indian challenge at Joburg Ladies Open

GOLF

Diksha leads a group of five Indians

Golfer Diksha Dagar will lead a five-member Indian contingent at the Joburg Ladies Open, co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour and the Sunshine Ladies Tour, which starts in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Diksha, currently in the top 10 of LET’s Order of Merit with two top-10 finishes from six starts, is joined by compatriots Avani Prashanth, Pranavi Urs, Hitaashee Bakshi and Tvesa Malik, a former winner of the Sunshine Ladies Tour.

On her debut in South Africa, Hitaashee rediscovered form after four missed cuts to finish tied for ninth at the Australian WPGA Championship, the fourth event of the Australian swing.

After a good rookie season in 2025, Avani has had a modest season with three points drops in five starts, but her best finish was a tie for 39th at the PIF Saudi Ladies International at the start of the season.

Tvesa, who lost her card last season, will make her first LET start in 2026, and a good week will give her confidence for the upcoming Investec Women’s South African Open at Royal Cape.

Tvesa will be the first Indian to tee off alongside Ana Dawn of Isle of Mann and Kaiyuree Moodley of South Africa, while Pranavi will play with Emma Spitz of Austria and Marta Martin of Spain.

Diksha tees off with Luna Sobron Galmes from Spain. Avani plays with Alice Hewson from England and Patricie Mackova from the Czech Republic and Hitaashee is grouped with Alexandra Försterling and England’s Annabell Fuller.

– PTI

Shubhankar opens two-shot lead at Boulders Classic

Shubhankar Sharma shot a second consecutive six-under 66 to take a two-shot lead after the second round of the inaugural Rs 1 crore Boulders Classic here on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old Shubhankar (66-66), a six-time DP World PGTI winner, will play his first event on the tour since the Tour Championship in Jamshedpur in December 2021.

He climbed to the top of the leaderboard at 12-under 132 with a steady and controlled performance over the first two days.

36-year-old Divyanshu Bajaj (69-65) from Kolkata produced a flawless seven-under 65 to move from joint 14th to solo second at 10-under 134.

The overnight leader, Vishesh Sharma (65-70) of Hyderabad, slipped to third at nine-under 135 after a round of two-under 70 at the Boulder Hills Golf & Country Club.

Honey Baisoya, winner of this year’s DP World PGTI, broke the course record with a flawless round of eight-under 64, which took him 38 places, from joint 42nd to joint fourth with a total of eight-under 136.

Ajeetesh Sandhu (68) and Anshul Kabthiyal (67) shared fourth place with Baisoya.

Shubhankar fired seven birdies against a single bogey and finished strongly with back-to-back birdies to build on his opening round momentum.

Yuvraj Sandhu, one of the pre-tournament favorites, followed his opening round of 73 with a four-under 68 to finish tied for 27th at three-under 141.

The cut came at an even-par of 144, with 53 of the 131 players advancing to the final two rounds.

– Team Sportstar

TABLE TENNIS

TN, Bengal and Delhi storm into Jr and Youth National TT pre-quarters

Powerhouses Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Delhi asserted their authority early, advancing from their respective groups into the pre-quarterfinals in the under-19 girls team event at the UTT Inter-State Junior and Youth National Table Tennis Championships in Dehradun.

With only one round of league matches remaining – Telangana vs Punjab (Group A), Uttarakhand vs Assam (Group B) and PSPBA vs Chandigarh (Group C) – the outcomes will have little impact on the three dominant leaders, who have already secured their place.

However, the final round will determine the second qualifiers of each group, making the final league matches even more exciting.

Elsewhere, Maharashtra (Group D), Uttar Pradesh (Group E), NCOE (Group F), Karnataka (Group G) and Gujarat (Group H) have all but secured their places for the quarter-finals.

Still, the race for the remaining knockout spots remains fierce, especially in Groups E and F, where the battle for the second qualifying spot is expected to go down to the wire.

Hosts Uttarakhand, placed in a tough Group C, lost the match to West Bengal 0-3, but they can redeem themselves when they take on Assam in the final round later today.

– PTI

FOOTBALL

FC Goa marches into the RFDL final to take on Bengaluru FC

FC Goa officially confirmed its place in the final of the Reliance Foundation Development League 2025-26. Despite a narrow 2-1 defeat to Punjab FC in the semi-final at the GMC Stadium in Goa, the Gaurs progressed on aggregate 5-2.

Vishal Yadav of Punjab opened the scoring in the second minute but Kavya Sunil Katkar of Goa equalized in the 24th. Konsam Sanathoi Singh restored Punjab’s lead late in the 83rd minute but it was not enough to overturn the deficit. The match ended when Sitroy Carvalho was shown a red card in injury time.

FC Goa will take on Bengaluru FC in a much-awaited final on Saturday.

– Team Sportstar

India U-17 men’s team plays friendly match against United Arab Emirates in Thailand

The Indian U17 men’s team will play two friendly matches against the United Arab Emirates in Samut Prakan, Thailand on April 17 and 21.

The friendlies, part of India and UAE’s preparations for the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026, will be played behind closed doors. Both matches will start at 4:30 PM IST at the Windmill Football Club in Samut Prakan, near Bangkok. The 24-man Blue Colts squad arrived in Thailand on Wednesday, April 15.

Last month, Bibiano Fernandes’ team played three friendly matches against Thailand (2-2), Indonesia (3-0 win) and South Korea (1-2 defeat) in Lopburi, Thailand. After the matches, the Blue Colts continued their training camp in Kolkata.

– Team Sportstar

Published on April 15, 2026