Sports Shorts: Khade wins gold at Singapore Swimming C'ships

A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday

Young swimmer Virdhawal Khade, continued his winning streak with a gold medal in the 50 metres freestyle category at the 49th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships (SNAG).

Competing against a host of international swimmers, Khade swam his season best timing of 23.02 seconds to win the gold.

The 26-year-old had also bagged a silver medal in the 50 metres freestyle at the same event.

"This was a good place to start. It always feels great winning for the country. Honestly, I expected a faster time, but I'll take this. There was a lot to learn from all the races in Singapore, and I know I can improve so much more in the coming months," Khade said.

Talking about his preparations for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, the Arjuna awardee said, "I have been training in Bangalore for five months now. Things have been on track and I have been swimming competitions to prepare myself for the Games."

"My times have been good and improving consistently, and at this point I feel it is all about staying injury-free and doing what I have been doing in the past months, as it seems to be helping me get better," he added.

Aditi sparkles in final round, finishes creditable 26th

Indian golfer Aditi Ashok seemed to have regained her form on the final day as she carded six birdies enroute to a week's best card of four-under 68 to finish T-26 at the Bank of Hope Founders Cup on the LPGA in Phoenix.

The 19-year-old Indian, playing her second season on the LPGA, was making her first start since missing one in Australia at the beginning of the year. She had three birdies against one bogey on either side of the turn and took her total from four-under 212 and Tied-50th place to eight-under 280 and Tied-26th place, which gave her a decent start and a cheque of $12,697.

After this week she plans to play as much as possible for next few months.

Meanwhile, 29-year-old Inbee Park built on her solid 54-hole position to complete her 19th LPGA win.

On Sunday, she had four birdies in a row beginning on No. 12 on back nine to win by five strokes over 54-year-old Laura Davies, Ariya Jutanugarn and Marina Alex.

Inbee (67) finished at 19-under-par 269, Davies, Ariya and Marina were 14-under, In Gee Chun and Megan Khang tied for fifth at 275.

Inbee now has 19 LPGA wins including seven majors championships – she has won four of the five majors – and an Olympic gold medal. She has already been inducted into Hall of Fame at age 27.

She was also the torchbearer at the recent Winter Olympic Games in South Korea.

Dame Laura continues to astound at 54. Her last LPGA win was in 2001 and she was trying to become the oldest tour winner – by 8 years. Davies has 20 LPGA wins; four majors championships and 84 wins worldwide. 

Advani makes winning start at Asian Billiards C'ship

Multiple-time world champion Pankaj Advani made a rampaging start to his title defence at the 17th Asian Billiards Championship, outclassing Singapore's Yeo Teck Shin 4-0 in the opening match of the men's event, in Yangon.

Advani, who has won the world champion 19 times in his career, barely broke a sweat as he dumped Shin with the help of a 98 break and three consecutive centuries in the best-of-seven 100-up encounter.

Rupesh Shah too came up with an identical win against Indonesia's Marlando Sihombing but with one century and a 53 break.

The other men's players participating from India are Nationals runner-up Dhvaj Haria and B Bhaskar.

In the women's snooker individual event, India's Vidya Pillai and Amee Kamani came up with contrasting wins against Myanmar cueists.

While Pillai scored a 2-1 win against Thandar Maung, Kamani notched up facile 2-0 victory in the league stage versus Ngwe Hlaing. Keerath Bhandaal, on the other hand, got the better of compatriot Varshaa Sanjeev 2-1 in a closely fought battle.

In the under-21 snooker category, the only Indian to play on the first day was Sparsh Pherwani who defeated Myanmar's Thaw Zain Htet in the deciding frame 4-3.

Shubhankar, Lahiri fall in world golf rankings

India's ace golfers Shubhankar Sharma and Anirban Lahiri dropped a few places to be at the 69th and the 83rd spot respectively in the World Golf Rankings released on Monday.

Shubhankar fell five spots to be at 69 with 1.97 points while Lahiri, who was at the 80th spot dropped three places to sit at 83 with 1.60 average points.

United States' Dustin Johnson continued to lead the rankings with 10.31 average points.

Another American golfer Justin Thomas remained in second place with 9.37 average points, ahead of Spain's Jon Rahm, who held third with 8.45 average points.

Three other United States golfers -- Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Brooks Koepka -- came in fourth, eighth and ninth, respectively.

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy jumped to seventh place with 6.52 average points.

McIlroy, a four-time major winner, returned to the top 10 after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, his first title since September 2016.