Indian sports wrap, February 26: Akanksha Nitture knocks out second seed Carlota Cirez at ITF event in Ahmedabad

TENNIS

$40,000 ITF women’s tournament: Akanksha Nitture knocks out second seed Carlota Cirez

Qualifier Akanksha Nitture knocked out the second seed Carlota Cirez of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the second round of the $40,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Ahmedabad Tennis Foundation courts on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old Akanksha served well and converted her third match point in a long drawn 12th game of the decider on the Spaniard’s serve to clinch her place in the third round.

It was a welcome return to good form for Akanksha who had failed to win a match in the first three international tournaments of the season so far. In fact, she had managed to win ten games in all.

Before meeting the second seed, Akanksha had not dropped a set in three matches in the current tournament. She will play compatriot Vaidehi Chaudhari in the pre-quarterfinals.

Ankita Raina beat Funa Kozaki of Japan for the loss of seven games to set up a third round against Sohyun Park of Korea.

Shrivalli Bhamidipaty had to fight her way past Humera Baharmus in three sets to set up her third round match against fifth seed Haruka Kaji of Japan.

The country’s best ranked player, Sahaja Yamalapalli lost her way after winning the first set against Francesca Pace of Italy.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Bopanna loses early in Dubai

Rohan Bopanna in partnership with Ivan Dodig of Croatia was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool of Britain in the doubles pre-quarterfinals of the $3,415,700 ATP tennis tournament in Dubai on Wednesday.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

GOLF

Another amateur Saanvi takes lead in 4th leg of Hero WPGT

Vietnam-bound amateur Saanvi Somu played a bogey-free second round of two-under 68 to move into the lead in the fourth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The 16-year-old Saanvi has finished runner-up multiple times on the Hero WPGT, the latest of which was the first leg this season.

After Mannat Brar was at the top a day earlier, Saanvi became the second amateur to take the spotlight this week.

Saanvi, who will be in the Indian team at next week’s Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship, shot 73 in the first round.

In the second round, she parred the first 11 holes before she found her first birdie on the Par-4 12th hole. That was followed by five steady pars and a birdie on the Par-5 18th for a 68.

At one-over 141, Saanvi is one ahead of the experienced Vani Kapoor who added an even par 70 to her first round of 72.

Vani, who will soon be playing on the international circuit, had three birdies and three bogeys in her first 11 holes, and parred the last seven.

Another amateur Anuradha Chaudhuri shot even par 70 to get into a three-way tie with Vani and Seher Atwal (72-70).

Lavanya Jadon, who began the day with a bogey, did well to pick four birdies between the fifth and the 14th as she shot even par 70 and was placed Tied-fifth alongside Jasmine Shekar, a two-time winner in 2024.

Jasmine had rounds of 72-71 to be 3-over 143.

On a tight leaderboard which has a dozen players within four shots of each other, Gaurika Bishnoi (75-69) was the sole seventh.

Brar (68-77) was tied for eighth alongside Hitaashee Bakshi (72-73), winner of the 2024 Hero Order of Merit, Shweta Mansingh (70-75), Disha Kavery (74-71) and Kriti Chowhan (70-75). They were all 5-over 145 each.

Ridhima Dilawari (74-72) was T-13 with Ananya Datar and Durga Nittur.

Sneha Singh, winner of the last two events, had another off-day as she followed her first round 73 with a 74 and was T-16.

At seven-over 147, she is six behind but a low final round can give her an outside chance of a hat-trick of wins after having won the last two legs.

-PTI

Chhattisgarh Open 2025: Khalin Joshi takes lead on Day 2

Khalin Joshi fired a nine-under 60 to take a one shot lead with a 14-under 124, after two rounds of the SECL Rs.1 crore Chhattisgarh Open golf championship at the Fairway Golf and Lake Resort on Wednesday.

A winner of six titles on the professional tour, Joshi jumped 12 places to take the lead, following an eagle and six birdies on the back nine.

Shaurya Bhattacharya and Kartik Sharma came with 8-under 61 to be joint second, one shot ahead of M Dharma, Mani Ram, Jamal Hossain and Akshay Sharma.

Overnight leader, Shaurya Binu shot 2-under 67 to be joint eighth with S Manoj and Angad Cheema, 11-under 127.

Shankar Das made a hole-in-one on the second hole in his round of 66, and was tied 43rd at four-under 134. The cut was made on that score and 60 players made it to the third round.

“I struck the ball much better than round one. My putting was very consistent. The eagle on the 12th really got me going. I negotiated both the par-5s and par-3s very well today,” said Khalin Joshi.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

POLO

Sawai Man Singh Gold Vase Polo Tournament: Achievers Dynamix beat Jindal Panther

Shamsheer Ali scored five goals to help Achievers Dynamix beat Jindal Panther 7-6 in a league match of the Sawai Man Singh Gold Vase polo tournament at the Army Equestrian Centre, Delhi Cantonment, on Wednesday.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

TABLE TENNIS

WTT Youth Contender Vadodara 2025: No surprises on Day 1 as top seeds qualify for quarterfinals

The first day of the WTT Youth Contender Vadodara, a part of the WTT Youth Series witnessed no surprises in the qualifying stages and the main draw as all the top seeds have it to the quarterfinal stage at the end of Day 1.

Abhinandh Pradhivadhi, Priyanuj Bhattacharyya, Divyanshi Bhowmick, and Jennifer Varghese move into the quarterfinal stage of the U/17 boys and girls category. A total of 37 boys and 42 girls started off at the start of Day 1 with only 8 remaining in the U/17 boys and girls.

The top seeds in U/13 in both the boys and girls categories have had a similar outing as their seniors with no notable upsets in the group stages. In the round of 16, Tanishka Kalbhairav upset a higher-ranked Janvi Garg 3-0 (13/11,11/9,11/9) to reach the last 8, whilst all the other U/13 girls’ seeds made their way comfortably into the next round. In the U/13 boys category on the hand, higher ranked players were eliminated early as the event moves to Day 2.

Tomorrow will kick off the U/19 and U/15 mixed doubles with headliners Ankur Bhattacharjee, Pritha Vartikar, Taneesha Kotecha, Preyesh Suresh, Divyanshi Bhowmick and Sahil Rawat in action.

-Team Sportstar