Indian Sports Wrap, August 15: Anahat, Akanksha enter semifinals at Bega Open

SQUASH

Anahat, Akanksha reach semifinals at Begu Open

India’s Anahat Singh and Akanksha Salunkhe sailed into the semifinals of the NSW Squash Bega Open, a PSA Challenger Tour event, in Australia on Friday.

The 17-year-old Anahat, the top seed, defeated seventh-seeded South African Hayley Ward 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 14-12) in 27 minutes.

Fifth seed Akanksha Salunkhe beat fourth seed Alexandra Haydon of Australia 3-0 (11-4, 11-7, 11-3) in 24 minutes.

In the semifinals, Anahat will face Egypt’s Nour Khafagy while Akanksha will be up against Habiba Hani, another Egyptian..

– Team Sportstar

GOLF

Portland Classic: Aditi lies 32nd, Indian-American Gurleen tied second

Indian golfer Aditi Ashok produced four birdies in a row towards the end of her first round to make a solid start at The Standard Portland Classic. She shot 3-under 69 and was Tied-32nd.

Four pars at the start from the 10th were followed by a birdie on the 14th and then bogeys on the 18th and the third at which point she was 1-over. Then came a birdie run with four in a row from fifth to the eighth for a 3-under 69.

Two-time champion Brooke Henderson birdied all four par-5 holes for a 7-under 65 and was a stroke behind first-round leader Adela Cernousek.

Henderson is tied second with four others including Gurleen Kaur, a first generation Indian-American. The others are China’s Miranda Wang, Koreans Jeongeun Lee5 and Sung Hyun Park, all of whom shot 65 like Henderson.

The 25-year-old Gurleen played the 2021 US Women’s Open and made the cut. She turned pro in 2022 and played Epson Tour and came to LPGA in 2024. Starting on the 10th, Gurleen had eight birdies including five in a seven-hole stretch between the second and he eighth.

Canadian Savannah Grewal, who has roots in India, was T-32.

Leader Cernousek shot a 65 in the final group of the day off the 10th tee. The 22-year-old Frenchwoman played her final nine holes in 7-under 29 — highlighted by an eagle on No. 7.

– PTI

Danish Golf Championship: Shubhankar tied-70th after first round

India’s Shubhankar Sharma played a round of even par 71 on the opening day of the Danish Golf Championship and was placed tied 70th at the Par-71 Furesø Golf Klub in Copenhagen.

Having failed to make the cut since the Hero Indian Open held earlier this year in March, Shubhankar would be keen to avoid an early end to his week.

Veer Ahlawat shot 2-over 73 and was in danger of missing the cut as he was struggling at tied 113th.

Englishman Marco Penge played a bogey free round of 7-under 64 to set a new course record and place himself as the sole leader by two strokes at the end of the first day.

– PTI

Slow start for Saptak in Finland

Saptak Talwar started his campaign at the Vierumäki Finnish Challenge with a score of 1-over 73 to be placed Tied 104th in Vierumäki, Finland.

Fresh off his best finish in the Hotel Planner Tour just last week at the Irish Challenge Saptak has a fair bit of ground to cover to make the cut.

The leader after the first round was Alvaro Hernandez Cabezuela with a score of 9-under 63.

– PTI

Rayhan Thomas off to a strong start in Boise, lies Tied-8th

Indian golfer Rayhan Thomas got off to a good start in the Albertsons Boise Open, firing a round of 6-under 65 to finish the day at tied-eighth at the Hillcrest Country Club in Boise, USA.

Rayhan shot four birdies and one eagle.

Indo-Canadian Sudarshan Yellamaraju also had a good first day as he shot a bogey-free round of 4-under 67 to be placed tied 33rd. Yellamaraju started his round on the back nine and shot birdies on the second, third, fourth and 15th holes.

The leader after the first round was Ward Dalton, who started his day with a bogey and closed with another bogey but still shot a round of 9-under 62. He made five birdies and three eagles for his first-round score and leads the field by one stroke.

– PTI

Sandhu wins Mysuru Open, clinches third title of season

Yuvraj Sandhu clinched his third title of the 2025 season here on Friday with a thumping eight-shot win at Mysuru Open that also helped him consolidate his lead in the PGTI Order of Merit.

Sandhu (61-65-62-61), who hails from Chandigarh, emerged wire-to-wire winner after an exceptional final round of nine-under 61, matching his tournament low from round one, that saw him end the week with an astounding total of 31-under 249.

The 28-year-old Sandhu, an international winner, picked up the winner’s cheque of Rs 15 that took his season’s earnings to Rs 73,67,200, giving him a substantial lead of over Rs 12 lakh in the PGTI Order of Merit.

As the preferred lie rule was in application through the week due to the rains preceding the event, Yuvraj’s tournament total, the lowest ever on the PGTI, will not register as a PGTI record.

Delhi’s Arjun Prasad (66-62-64-66) secured the third place at 22-under 258 after shooting a last round of 66.

As a result, Arjun, one of the most consistent performers this season with eight top-10s to his credit, moved up from third to second place in the PGTI’s money list with season’s earnings of Rs. 61,12,549.

Sandhu, the leader from round one till the end, began the last day with a healthy three-shot lead.

Sandhu went on to strengthen his position at the top early on day four with five birdies on the front-nine. His drive on the Par-4 third hole found the green while he chipped-in and produced a great chip for a tap-in on the next two holes.

On the back nine, Sandhu continued his march towards the title by adding four more birdies courtesy a couple of terrific tee shots and his second chip-in of the day on the 11th.

Mysuru’s Dhruv Bopanna had the best finish among the local professionals as he totalled three-under 277 to end up in tied 53rd position.

-PTI

TENNIS

Sidharth Rawat in semifinals

Sidharth Rawat sustained his good run and beat Yanki Erel of Turkey 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the $30,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in Bali, Indonesia, on Friday.

In the semifinals, Sidharth will challenge the top seed Arthur Gea of France.

– Kamesh Srinivasan

HOCKEY

15th Hockey India Junior Men National Championship 2025: Kerala, Telangana, Chattisgarh, Delhi and Bengal win

Kerala, Telangana, Chattisgarh, Delhi and Bengal winning their respective fixtures while Gujarat drew with Goans on day four of the 15th Hockey India Junior Men National Championship featured four Division ‘C’ and two Division ‘B’ matches.

In the final match of the day Bengal registered a dominant 8-2 win over Assam with Karan Shaw (5’, 27’, 41’, 52’) scoring four goals for Bengal. Other four goals for the team were scored by Rohit Kujur (48’), Ayush Prasad (43’), Bishnu Paswan (3’) and Joydeep Singh (55’). Suraj Thakur (18’) and Ritik Patir (4’) were the two goal scorers for Assam.

– Team Sportstar