Sports Shorts: Sharmila lone Indian to make cut in Australian Ladies Classic

Sharmila Nicollet was the lone Indian to make the cut despite a 4-over 76 in the second round of the Australian Ladies Classic Bonville in Bonville on Friday.

Sharmila had a superb eagle on Par-5 seventh, but she also dropped a double on par-3 third besides four other bogeys. The Hero-supported Indian golfer is now tied-32nd and will look forward to a strong finish in the third and final round.

The other three Indians in the field, Gaurika Bishnoi (79-74), Amandeep Drall (73-81) and Vani Kapoor (79-82) failed to make the 36-hole cut.

England's Holly Clyburn played what she called was a 'game of two halves' after she recorded a second round of 69 to keep her two-stroke lead. The 27-year-old carded six birdies and three bogeys on a day of mixed weather conditions at Bonville Golf Resort. She is now eight-under-par and two clear of Celine Boutier (70-68).

Holly was three-under and flawless for the front nine, but was even par with three birdies and three bogeys on the back nine. The bogeys came in a space of four holes between 11th and 14th and she finished the day with birdies on 17th and 18th.

Boutier of France and Olivia Cowan from Germany, who both shot 68s, were her nearest challengers, Boutier having posted the clubhouse target of six-under before Clyburn teed off.

Iceland's Valdis Thora Jonsdottir backed up her opening round with a solid 70 and lies three shots off the lead. Australian Hannah Green is the leading Australian in a share of fifth place on four-under with Nanna Koerstz Madsen of Denmark and both players shot second rounds of 70.

Defeat for Bopanna and Sharan on ATP Tour

Both Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan exited from their respective ATP World Tour events following contrasting defeats.

Second seeded Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin lost their Open 13 Provence semifinal 1-6, 4-6 to the fourth seeded combination of Marcus Daniell and Dominic Inglot in just 51 minutes.
Bopanna was the only Indian at the Euro 718,810 hard court event in Marseille, France.

Meanwhile, at the USD 622,675 Delray Beach Open in the US, the unseeded team of Divij Sharan and Scott Lipsky went down fighting 6-3, 3-6, 5-10 to third seeds Ben McLachlan and Hugo Nys.
Leander Paes and Divij Sharan had lost in the opening round itself.

Vikas, Gaurav enter semis of Strandja Memorial boxing

Former Asian Games gold-medallist Vikas Krishan (75kg) and the unheralded Gourav Solanki (52kg) advanced to the semifinals to assure themselves of medals at the 69th Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament for men and women in Sofia.

While Gaurav pummelled Kyrgyzstan's Azat Usenaliev, Vikas edged past Kazakhstan's Tursynbay Kulakhmet in a split verdict late last night to make the last-four stage.

It is a significant victory for Vikas, who is returning to action after recovering from a hand injury, which forced him out of the national championships as well as the India Open last month.

Their victories took the total number of male boxers in the semifinals to four. Earlier, India Open gold-medallist Amit Panghal (49kg) also made the semifinal stage along with last edition's silver-medallist Mohammed Hussamuddin (56kg).

India are now assured of nine medals in the tournament, five of them courtesy women boxers — M C Mary Kom (48kg), L Sarita Devi (60kg), Seema Punia (+81kg), Saweety Boora (75kg), Mena Kumari Devi (54kg) and Bhagyabati Kachari (81kg).

While Mary Kom, Sarita, Saweety and Meena won their respective quarterfinal contests, Seema and Bhagyabati got byes.

Guru lose in Swiss Open; Kashyap, Subhankar reach quarters in Austria

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt crashed out of the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament after suffering a lop-sided loss in the quarterfinals of the men's singles competition in Basel.

On a comeback trail after recovering from a major ankle injury, Gurusaidutt lost 8-21, 15-21 to Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand in a 35-minute contest.

Gurusaidutt lagged 0-3 early on and though he grabbed a slender 4-3 lead, the Thai shuttler jumped to a 10-4 lead and then raced away with the opening game.

In the second game, Gurusaidutt once again was 3-10 behind before gradually narrowing the gap to 14-16, but the Thailand shuttler changed gears to seal the contest without much ado.

Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok defeated Germany's fourth seeded pair of Jones Ralfy Jansen and Josche Zurwonne 21-13, 21-17 to reach the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, at Austrian Open, Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap and Subhankar Dey entered the quarterfinals in men's singles.

While second seed Kashyap defeated Malaysia's Jia Wei Tan 21-15, 22-20, fourth seed Subhankar beat Mexico's Job Castillo 21-6, 22-20.

Keepers excel as Blasters, Chennaiyin draw

Chennaiyin FC eked out a goalless draw against Kerala Blasters here today to inch closer to a play-off spot in the Hero Indian Super League.

It was the first 0-0 draw in the league since the December 1, and while it doesn't end the Blasters' season, they need to hope for other results to go their way to stay in contention.

They're in fifth place, just one point behind Jamshedpur FC, who have a game in hand. Chennaiyin FC are placed third after accumulating 29 points from 17 matches, the same as second-placed FC Pune City, who have a better goal difference.

The Blasters could have won the game when they got a penalty just seven minutes into the second half. Gudjon Baldvinsson had stormed into Chennaiyin's box and took a tumble when Jerry Lalrinzuala made contact from behind.

Courage Pekuson took responsibility and went low to Karanjit's right - but the keeper had guessed early and made a fine save.

Lahiri slips at the end with two bogeys in first round; Tiger shoots par

Anirban Lahiri had a tough time on a windy day at the Honda Classic on the PGA Tour as he ended the birdie-less first round at three-over 73, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Lahiri had three bogeys, two of them on the last two holes. He was Tied-69th and left himself some work to do to ensure a stay for the weekend.

It was the kind of a day when even par looked like a great score and Tiger Woods shot just that to be Tied-21st.

Swede Alex Noren, who came close to a PGA Tour title, when he lost in a play-off at Torrey Pines, fired a four-under 66 to be one shot clear of the field at Palm Beach Gardens.

PGA champion Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger and Morgan Hoffmann opened with 67 each. Thomas had a run of four straight birdies around the turn on a day when nine players broke par from the early part of the draw.

Lahiri missed a few birdie putts. He did well to keep his slate clean except for the bogey on sixth till all the way to the 17th tee. Then he went into the rough on 17th and came out with a bogey and on 18th he three-putted from just inside 12 feet and the three-over finish meant he would have to ensure a fine second round to make the cut.

Woods had three birdies, a bogey and a double. Ironically the double came on what is the easiest hole on the course, the Par-5 third.

Woods drove into a fairway bunker on the third and then laid up and put his third shot in a bunker. He barely got it out and then had a 13-footer for par. He missed that and then missed a three-foot bogey putt to finish with a double.

But he got a birdie on next and made pars the rest of the way for a 70. On his first nine, the front side of the course, he birdied 11th and 13th and bogeyed 16th when he went into the bunker.

This is Woods’ third PGA TOUR event since returning from a fourth back surgery. Woods was tied for 23rd at Torrey Pines and missed the cut at Riviera. He has never missed consecutive cuts over 36 holes in his PGA TOUR career, and that could be a challenge on Friday because he will play in the tougher afternoon conditions in the second round.