GOLF
Aditi Ashok finishes tied-31st at Black Desert Championship
Indian golfer Aditi Ashoki carded a topsy-turvy even-par 72 in the final round to sign off tied 31st in the Black Desert Championship in Ivins, Utah, USA.
Aditi, who has had a rather modest season so far, totalled 10-under for the week.
She had back-to-back bogeys on the seventh and the eighth followed by a birdie on the ninth and the 11th to get to even par. A bogey on the 15th was compensated by a birdie on the closing 18th.
She tied for the 31st position with, among others, Mao Saigo of Japan, who won the Chevron Championship, a Major on the LPGA.
Haeran Ryu grabbed her third LPGA title with a flawless eight-under 64 in the final round. She won by five shots over Germany’s Esther Henseleit and China’s Ruoning Yin.
-PTI
ESPORTS
Esports to be a demonstration sport at Khelo India Youth Games
Esports has been added to the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) for the first time as a demonstration event featuring BGMI, Street Fighter 6, Chess, and eFootball, a development that industry experts believe will help establish it as a mainstream sport.
Esports will be an official medal sport at the 2026 Asian Games, and the first-ever Olympic Esports Games is scheduled to start in 2027.
Before its inclusion in KIYG 2025, host Bihar had organised the Bihar State Esports Open Championship and the Bihar Inter School and College Esports Championship over the past year.
States like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Nagaland have also taken proactive steps to support and formalise grassroots esports programs.
Esports competitions will be beld at the Patliputra Sports Complex on May 6 and 7, featuring popular titles such as Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), Street Fighter 6, Chess, and eFootball on both mobile and console.
While BGMI remains the most popular esports title in India, Chess stands out as a particularly noteworthy addition to KIYG 2025.
Once considered a purely traditional sport, it has increasingly found a home in the esports world, most recently as part of the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025, which boasts a prize pool of USD 1.5 million (Rs 12.6 crore) for the title.
“The inclusion of titles like BGMI, Street Fighter 6, Chess, and eFootball in the Khelo India Youth Games 2025 signals a big step forward for grassroots esports in India,” says Akshat Rathee, Co-founder and Managing Director of NODWIN Gaming.
“It’s encouraging to see esports standing shoulder to shoulder with traditional sports, and the addition of Chess – bridging classical and digital strategy shows how in tune this initiative is with global trends. But this isn’t just about tournaments.
“It’s about creating real opportunities to discover talent from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, places that have been overlooked for too long, thus building the foundation for a future where Indian gamers don’t just participate, they dominate on the world stage.”
-PTI
SHOOTING
Amanpreet Singh wins centre fire pistol gold in 23rd KSS championship
Amanpreet Singh of Punjab shot 587 and won the centre fire pistol gold in the 23rd Kumar Surendra Singh shooting championship at the Madhya Pradesh Academy on Monday.
The 22-year-old Amanpreet beat Mandeep Singh by two points. Sahil Choudhary won the bronze ahead of Olympian Gurpreet Singh, Harpreet Singh and the Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar.
Mukesh Nelavalli of Andhra Pradesh won the standard pistol gold with a score of 575, one point ahead of Suraj Sharma in both the men’s and junior events.
The results:
25m standard pistol: 1. Mukesh Nelavalli 575; 2. Suraj Sharma 574; 3. Adarsh Singh 573.
Juniors: 1. Mukesh Nelavalli 575; 2. Suraj Sharma 574; 3. Yogesh Kumar 567.
25m centre fire pistol: 1. Amanpreet Singh 587; 2. Mandeep Singh 585; 3. Sahil Choudhary 584.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
CUE SPORTS
Pankaj Advani wins CCI Billiards Classic for third time in a row
Ace cueist Pankaj Advani overcame a slow start to clinch his third CCI Billiards Classic title, defeating Dhruv Sitwala 5-2 in the final here.
Advani was far from his best in the final’s first three frames played here late on Sunday, but he capitalised on the opportunity provided by his opponent Sitwala, who faltered while he was on a strong break of 94.
Advani won the fourth frame to level the terms 2-2 and went on to find his rhythm and took control of the game. He won the next three frames to seal the win along with a prize money of Rs 2.5 lakh, while Sitwala took home Rs 1.5 lakh as the runner-up.
Advani said, “This win is special to me,” after winning the competition for the third straight year, which includes triumphs in 2023 and 2024.
Results
Pankaj Advani beat Dhruv Sitwala 5-2 [10-150(69, 51), 150(82)-148(95), 81- 150(85), 150(76, 48)-96(46, 42), 150(145)-136(136), 150(84)-147(63, 35), 150(69, 42)-137(48, 36)].
-PTI
Dilip Kumar beats Mushtaq Khan 5-2 in NSCI Baulkline Snooker match
Chennai’s experienced campaigner Dilip Kumar recorded a compelling 5-2 victory over Mushtaq Khan in a qualifying round match of the NSCI Baulkline Snooker tournament, here on Monday.
The former India No. 5 Kumar, who represents Railways, produced a commanding performance to get the better of his opponent even as Mushtaq managed to win two frames.
In another contest, Imran Nazeer conceded his game to Rayan Razmi after he was trailing 0-4.
Results
Dilip Kumar bt Mushtaq Khan 5-2: 76 (64)-0, 76-8, 0-75(75), 69 (47) -28, 81(43)-5, 8 -69,69 (55) -36; Rayan Razmi bt Imran Nazeer 5-0: 65-32, 58-28, 74-20,63-19 (conceded).
-PTI
TENNIS
ITF women: Rutuja wins doubles title with Paige Hourigan
Rutuja Bhosale in partnership with Paige Hourigan of New Zealand beat Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Alexandra Shubladze 6-3, 6-2 in the doubles final of the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Lopota, Georgia, on Monday.
It was the 26th career doubles title for the 29-year-old Rutuja, and the third with Paige. Rain had forced the rescheduling of the final to Monday.
The results:
$40,000 ITF women, Lopota, Georgia Doubles (final): Rutuja Bhosale & Paige Hourigan (Nzl) bt Shrivalli Bhamidipaty & Alexandra Shubladze 6-3, 6-2.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
CHESS
KCA international open GM chess: Pantsulaia maintains lead, Tegin halts Akash’s impressive run
Levan Pantsulaia, the third-seeded Grandmaster from Georgia, defeated Karnataka’s A. Balkishan and maintained his lead with 7.5 points after the eighth round of the KCA’s first international open GM chess tournament at the Courtyard Banquet Hall, Kanjikuzhi, on Monday.
Meanwhile Kyrgystan’s International Master Semetei Tologon Tegin, who had shocked the top-seeded Karen Grigoryan on Sunday, stopped the impressive run of Tamil Nadu’s 15-year-old G. Akash.
Akash had played GMs in his three previous rounds, had won against two and had forced a draw against another. The win saw Tegin move to the second spot with 7 points.
Select results (round 8)
Levan Pantsulaia (Geo) 7.5 bt A. Balkishan (Ind) 6; G. Akash (Ind) 6 lost to Semetei Tologon Tegin (Kgz) 7; Karen Grigoryan (Arm) 6.5 bt Daniel Sanz Wawer (Spa) 5.5; Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb) 5.5 lost to Deepan Chakkravarthy (Ind) 6.5; Huy Van Nguyen (Vie) 5.5 lost to V.A.V. Rajesh (Ind) 6.5; Karen Movszizsian (Arm) 5.5 drew with J.P. Karan (Ind) 5.5; Ajish Daniel (Ind) 5 drew with Raset Ziatdinov (USA) 5.
– Stan Rayan
Content Source: sportstar.thehindu.com