GOLF
Diksha adds another solid round in Spain to move into tied third place
India’s Diksha Dagar followed up her opening round with another strong effort, carding a three-under 69 on the second day to lie tied third at the Tenerife Women’s Open on the Ladies European Tour.
The 24-year-old has carded rounds of 70 and 69 to sit at five-under after two rounds. She is four shots behind sole leader Lauren Walsh (67-68), who is nine-under at Abama Golf.
Avani Prashanth played three-over par 75 on the second day to fall down the standings to tied 43. Tvesa Malik (73-75), Hitaashee Bakshi (72-76) and Sneha Singh (77-79) failed to make the cut, which was set at three-over par.
– PTI
Sharma misses cut, Ahlawat retires in KLM Open
Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma failed to make the cut after carding a one-over 72 on the second day of the KLM Open. Sharma shot 78 in the first round.
Play was suspended for the day due to darkness at The International.
Though the projected cut is set at four-over, Sharma at eight-over is certain to miss the cut. He had two birdies and one bogey in his second round.
Meanwhile, Veer Ahlawat retired after a difficult first day of 78.
– PTI
Talwar continues to play well, lies T-25 at the Swiss Challenge
India’s Saptak Talwar turned in a second successive round of two-under 69 on the second day to lie tied 25th at the Swiss Challenge at Golf Sempach.
Starting his round on the front nine, Talwar played a bogey-free round with both his birdies coming in the back nine. He picked up the shots on the 14th and 17th holes. His combined score for both rounds stands at four-under par.
– PTI
Rayhan eagles last hole to end streak of missed cuts on Korn Ferry
India’s Rayhan Thomas landed an eagle on his final hole of the second round to produce a solid four-under 68 and end a run of missed cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour.
The 25-year-old, who shot two-under 69 at Par-71 Thornblade Club on the first day and added a 68 at par-72 Carolina Country Club on the second day, lied at Tied-51st in the BMW Charity Pro-Am. He was T-70 at the end of the first round.
– PTI
CHESS
Delhi GM Open 2025: Vairaj Sogerwal stuns GM Karen, 17-year-old Meetansh Dixit holds GM Pantsulaia
The biggest upset came from Vairaj Sogerwal (1869), who stunned Armenia’s GM Karen H Grigoryan (2520) with a clean win.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
The biggest upset came from Vairaj Sogerwal (1869), who stunned Armenia’s GM Karen H Grigoryan (2520) with a clean win.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
The Delhi International Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament 2025 kicked off on Saturday at Tivoli Gardens, Chattarpur, with a dramatic opening round.
The biggest upset came from Vairaj Sogerwal (1869), who stunned Armenia’s GM Karen H Grigoryan (2520) with a clean win. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Meetansh Dixit (1874) held Georgian heavyweight GM Levan Pantsulaia (2551) to a thrilling draw, a standout result that underscored the rising talent on display.
Top seed GM Narayanan S L (2600) began his campaign with a solid win over Singapore’s Sai Siddharth (1876), while Indian GMs Diptayan Ghosh and Abhijeet Gupta, along with Armenia’s GM Manuel Petrosyan, registered convincing victories to round off a strong Day 1.
Now in its 21st edition, the Delhi GM Open has grown into Asia’s largest classical-format open chess tournament, drawing over 2,500 players from 20+ countries, including 24 Grandmasters across categories. With a record prize pool of ₹1.21 crore, the event remains a crucial platform for India’s emerging chess talent and a premier fixture on the global chess calendar.
Other Grandmasters with Round 1 victories include GM Luka Paichadze, GM Vitaly Sivuk, GM Mihail Nikitenko, GM Karthik Venkataraman, GM Aditya S Samant, and GM Mamikon Gharibyan, all of whom posted commanding performances. IM Aronyak Ghosh (2510) also notched up a win
The Indian women’s contingent saw participation from WFM Tanishka Kotia, WCM Sanskruti Wankhade, and WCM Nanditha V, all of whom had tough openings but are expected to bounce back as the tournament progresses.
-Team Sportstar
VOLLEYBALL
Virender Kanwar becomes Volleyball Federation of India president
From L-R: VFI president Virender Kanwar, along with Justice P Krishna Bhat and Rohit Rajpal (Chairman of the Ad hoc Committee), after the successful completion of the federation election on Friday.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
From L-R: VFI president Virender Kanwar, along with Justice P Krishna Bhat and Rohit Rajpal (Chairman of the Ad hoc Committee), after the successful completion of the federation election on Friday.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Virender Kanwar from Himachal Pradesh on Saturday became the president of Volleyball Federation of India after defeating Nagaland’s Prem Singh Bajor by a mere two votes in the long-awaited polls that picked an interim panel on Saturday.
Kanwar polled 33 votes, two more than his close rival Bajor. The third candidate in the fray — Bihar’s Anand Shankar — did not get a single vote.
Ramanand Choudhary from Rajasthan became the new general secretary after getting 33 votes, beating Maharashtra’s Nilesh Jagtap by four votes.
Telangana’s N V Hanmanath and Susanta Biswa from Assam received 36 votes each to win the vice-president election, while Hari Singh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh) won the election for the post of treasurer.
Anand Shankar and Kuldeep Vats won the two joint secretary posts.
Binoy Josh, Mithlesh Kumar, Uttam Raj, S Ramadasse and Partha Das were elected as members of the Executive Committee.
A three-member steering committee which has Rohit Rajpal, Stephen Bock (FIVB representative), and Hitesh Malhotra (FIVB head of empowerment) as members will support the elected panel.
Rajpal was also chairman of the ad-hoc panel that managed the affairs of the Federation till the elections.
Court-appointed Returning Officer Justice P. Krishna Bhat (Retd.) conducted the polls where representatives from the Sports Ministry, Indian Olympic Association, and the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) were also present as observers.
-PTI
ARCHERY
Indians fail to open account
The Indian campaign at the Archery World Cup Stage-3 in Antalya ended without a medal with the exit of the country’s recurve individual archers on Saturday.
Simranjeet Kaur, who was beaten 6-5 (shoot-off 11-8) by former World and Olympic champion An San of Korea in the quarterfinals, was the best Indian performer of the day.
THE RESULTS
RECURVE (INDIVIDUAL)
Men: Tarundeep Rai lost to Mathias Kramer (Ger) 6-2 (first round); B. Dhiraj bt Jack Williams (USA) 6-5 (shoot-off: 9-8) (first round), lost to Tang Chih-Chun (Tpe) 6-4 (second round); Parth Salunkhe lost to Lu Shuai (Chn) 6-2 (first round); Atanu Das bt Tomatsu Daisuke (Jpn) 6-0 (first round), lost to Brady Ellison (USA) 6-4 (second round).
Women: Ankita Bhakat lost to Dunya Yenhihayat (Tur) 6-2 (first round); Deepika Kumari bt Anatoli Martha Gkorila (Gre) 6-2 (first round), lost to An San (Kor) 6-0 (second round); Simranjeet Kaur bt Elia Canales (Spn) 6-4 (first round), bt Ziyodakhon Abdusattorova (Uzb) 6-0 (second round), bt Anastasiya Nikifarenka (AIN) 7-3 (third round), lost to An San (Kor) 6-5 (shoot-off: 11-8) (quarterfinal).
-Team Sportstar
TABLE TENNIS
U Mumba TT and Kolkata ThunderBlades set up summit clash
Prateek Tulsani and Ananya Muralidharan eked out a thrilling 11-8, 11-10, 11-10 mixed doubles victory over Trishall Surapureddy and Shreya Dhar, to put U Mumba TT into the final with a 5-2 victory over Jaipur Patriots in the Dream UTT Juniors table tennis tournament at the EKA Arena on Saturday.
In the other semifinal, Swara Karmarkar beat Aarya Redkar 11-7, 11-10 in the decisive girls singles match to guide Kolkata ThunderBlades to a 5-3 victory over Dempo Goa Challengers.
The final will be played at 11 a.m. on Sunday, and will be streamed live on FanCode.
THE RESULTS (SEMIFINALS)
U Mumba TT bt Jaipur Patriots 5-2 (Prateek Tulsani lost to Trishal Surapureddy 8-11, 11-10, 5-11; Prateek & Ananya Muralidharan bt Trishal & Shreya Dhar 11-8, 11-10, 11-10; Ananya bt Shreya 11-6).
Kolkata ThunderBlades bt Dempo Goa Challengers 5-3 (Ritvik Gupta bt Sahil Rawat 11-4, 10-11, 11-8; Ritvik & Swara Karmarkar lost to Sahil & Aarya Redkar 10-11, 11-10, 7-11; Swara bt Aarya 11-7, 11-10).
-Team Sportstar
TENNIS
Vaishnavi Adkar in final
Vaishnavi Adkar beat the top seed Ksenia Laskutova 7-6(5), 6-3 in the semifinals of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Saturday.
In the final, Vaishnavi will play seventh seed Varvara Panshina.
THE RESULTS
$60,000 ITF women, Sumter, USA
Singles (quarterfinals): Darja Vidmanova (Cze) bt Shrivalli Bhamidipaty 6-0, 6-4.
Doubles (semifinals): Tara Moore (GBR) & Abigail Rencheli (USA) bt Shrivalli Bhamidipaty & Katherine Sebov (Can) 4-6, 6-2, [10-4].
$40,000 ITF women, Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal
Doubles (semifinals): Alona Falei & Polina Iatcenko bt Elena Micic (Aus) & Ankita Raina 3-6, 7-5, [10-7].
$15,000 ITF women, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Singles (semifinals): Vaishnavi Adkar bt Ksenia Laskutova 7-6(5), 6-3.
Doubles (final): Daria Khomutsianskaya & Daria Zelinskaya bt Vaishnavi Adkar & Punnin Kovapitukted (Tha) 6-4, 6-4.
-Team Sportstar
MOTORSPORT
National 2W Racing Championship Round 1 – Day 2
Teenagers Sarthak Chavan from Pune and Bengaluru’s Savion Sabu emerged victorious in the two premier Pro-Stock categories, the 301-400cc Open and 165-200cc Open, respectively, during the first round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2025.
Sarthak (Petronas TVS Racing), the defending champion, beat pole-sitter Rahil Pillarisetty. Chennai’s Alwin Sundar who marked his debut race for Petronas TVS Racing team, finished a creditable third.
Pune’s Sarthak Chavan, winner of the Pro-Stock 301-400cc race.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Pune’s Sarthak Chavan, winner of the Pro-Stock 301-400cc race.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Meanwhile, Sabu, showcased a rare ability to absorb pressure as he held off experienced Chennai rivals, Soorya PM (Chandra LGE Racing) and Mohan Babu (Rockers Racing), on his way to victory.
The day’s other winners in their respective categories of the National Championship races were Chennai’s Ann Jennifer (Motul Sparks Racing), Rajender Beedani (MAI Racing) from Hyderabad, and Varun Patil (Mad Rabbit Racing), from Bengaluru.
Bengaluru’s Solomon R blitzed the Honda CB 300F field for a commanding win as he dominated the six-lap race from pole position in the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup.
In the TVS One-Make Championship, Chennai riders dominated, with G. Balaji beating Mohan Babu and Kaushik Subbiah Ganesan in a tight finish. Akarsh Jangam from Vijayawada won the Rookie race, with Bengaluru’s Poojita Anil Kumar and Hari Haran R from Coimbatore finishing second and third, respectively. In the Girls race, Elakiya Ravi scored a notable win over National champion Jagathishree Kumaresan while Mumbai’s Sarah Khan finished third.
-Team Sportstar