GOLF

Shubhankar ties course record in Irish Open, enters top 15

Shubhankar Sharma sizzled in the second round of the Irish Open, making a stupendous 10-shot improvement on his first-round card to rise to top 15 at the halfway stage of the event.

Sharma’s 6-under 65 in the second round tied the course record and he made the cut comfortably after being in trouble at the end of the first round.

Sharma, facing the prospect of an early exit after a 4-over 75 in the first round at the Royal County Down course, opened with three birdies in a row and kept his foot on the pedal for a 6-under 65 that saw him rise to 2-under for 36 holes at the par-71 course.

-PTI

TENNIS

Tavish Pahwa wins maiden ITF junior title

Tavish Pahwa beat Roman Kulpin in the final of the ITF junior tennis tournament to clinch his maiden title in the international junior circuit on Saturday.

The 14-year-old Tavish, who had started playing ITF juniors in March last year, did not drop a set on way to the title. He had beaten second seed Luke Koh of Singapore 6-4, 7-6(5) in the semifinals.

Vraj Gohil won the boys doubles title in partnership with Miguel Iglupas of Philippines.

Om Patel, Aishwarya Jadhav win ITF junior titles

Om Patel overcame a tough start to beat third seed Vatsal Manikantan 1-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(5) in the boys final of the ITF junior tennis tournament at the Ahmedabad City Foundation courts on Saturday.

Top seed Aishwarya Jadhav won the girls title, beating qualifier Prachi Malik for the loss of six games.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

Aditi Rawat sets up title clash against Riya Sachdeva in AITA Women’s Tennis tournament

Top seed Aditi Rawat beat Aditi Tyagi 7-6(2), 6-3 to set up a title clash against Riya Sachdeva in the Chamunda Rs.100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Faridabad Academy on Saturday.

Riya beat Shefali Arora for the loss of six games in the other semifinals, which was played after two days of play had been washed away by rain.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

FOOTBALL

Super League Kerala: Calicut beats Malappuram 3-0 in Malabar Derby

The Super League Kerala finally came alive on Saturday night, as the district of Malappuram lived up to its reputation. The football fans came in thousands and filled the Malappuram District Sports Complex Stadium well before the kick-off of the Malabar derby in the Super League Kerala.

And the full house was treated to a fascinating game. But those fans were in for a disappointment, though: Malappuram FC was beaten 0-3 by Calicut FC.

The visitor took the lead through a piece of individual brilliance by Gani Nigam. After receiving a ball down the right wing, he broke through the Malappuram defence, outfoxing four, and placed the ball above goalkeeper V. Midhun.

Malappuram, egged on by its loud fans, tried hard to equalise and created a few opportunities, but Calicut led 1-0 at half-time.

After the break, Malappuram pressed hard, but a sloppy piece of defending saw it concede another goal. George D’Souza made a mess of a pass and the ball was won by Thoi Singh, who set up Kervens Belfort inside the box to put the ball in the back of the net.

Gani struck again in the dying seconds to add to on the local team’s misery.

-P.K. Ajith Kumar

Karan Singh beats second seed Florent Bax

Karan Singh beat second seed Florent Bax of France 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 in the semifinals of the USD 15,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament in Monastir, Tunisia, on Saturday.

In the USD 25,000 women’s event in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, top seed Sahaja Yamalapalli was beaten 0-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) by Karina Miller of USA in the semifinals, but made the doubles final in partnership with Zhibek Kulambayeva of Kazakhstan.

-Kamesh Srinivasan