Sports Shorts: Shubhankar makes cut at Scottish Open

Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday

Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma shrugged off an average first round score to make a dramatic comeback in the second round of the Aberdeen Investments Scottish Open in North Berwick.

Sharma looked a different man on the day as he made the cut with a score of 66 (5- under par) in the second round after a par score i.e. 71 on Day 1.

On the other hand, SSP Chawrasia and Gaganjeet Bhullar couldn't make the cut and ended the day at T-124 and T-154 respectively.

Englishman, Lee Slattery was the leader as he sat at the top tied with South African, Erik Van Rooyen and Austrian, Bernd Wiesberger at the score of (14- under par) after Day 2.

Shubhankar started the round in style with three birdies on the first nine holes. Things seemed even better when a birdie on the 11th hole finally gave him the belief that he can make the cut on a very tough day.

From 12-17 holes, Sharma was able to keep the projected cut score within touching distance and finally a birdie on the 18th which was an amazing 45 feet putt ensured that he will be going through to the final two days of the tournament.

Sharma had a bogey free round 2 ending with an overall score of 137 (5-under par) after day 2 of the event making a jump of 54 places to keep the Indian challenge alive. Sharma's scores are 71(par) and 66 (5-under par) after round 1 and 2 respectively.

The day though belonged to the Austrian and 5 time European Tour winner, Bernd Wiesberger. The Austrian bettered his first round score and scored 61 (10-under par) with the help of 11 birdies in second round. Wiesberger made a huge jump of 28 places to end at the top of the standings.

Englishman and two time European Tour Winner Lee Slattery shared the first spot as he ended with an overall score of 128 (14-under par) after two rounds. Slattery picked up from where he had left and ended round 2 with seven birdies and a score of 64(7-under par) same as his round 1 score.

Erik Van Rooyen also ended with a score of 64(7-under par) in each of the two rounds to be tied at 1st position alongside Slattery and Wiesberger.

Lahiri makes cut with a birdie on last hole of 2nd round in John Deere Classic

India's Anirban Lahiri holed a 15-footer on the ninth, his closing hole in the second round, to somehow make the cut at the John Deere Classic golf tournament Silvis, USA.

Another Indian Arjun Atwal, who was invitee in the event, missed the cut with rounds of 69 and 72.

Also missing the cut was Indian-origin Swedish golfer Daniel Chopra, who shot 70-73.

Jhonattan Vegas, the sixth player in as many rounds on the PGA TOUR to post 62, took a one-stroke lead into the weekend.

Andrew Landry was placed second after posting a 65 in the second round.

Lucas Glover made an albatross on Par-5 10th and shot 64 to get to 11-under and was placed third.

Lahiri, who has been struggling with his scoring this season, hit 8 of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens in regulation. His six-under 65 after a first round of three-over 74 got him to three-under 139 and he somehow squeezed in at tied 67th place.

Starting on the 10th, Lahiri began with a birdie from 12 feet but gave that away on 12th by missing a 10-footer for par.

He quickly got back his momentum back with birdies on 13th and 14th and added another on 17th from 15 feet.

On the back nine, he holed a 15-footer and a 14-footer on second and fourth and moved to five-under for the day.

Then he missed two achievable birdie putts from five feet and nine feet and again from 11 and 12 feet on seventh and eighth. Finally he holed a 15-footer on the last hole to make the cut.

Harold Varner III (65), Russell Henley (68), Daniel Berger (66), Cameron Tringale (66) and Adam Schenk (65) were at 10-under. Varner chipped in for eagle from 42 yards on the par-4 14th.

First-round leader Roberto Diaz closed with a double bogey for a 73 that left him at seven-under.

Indian wrestlers clinch 3 gold in Istanbul

Indian wrestlers bagged four medals, including three gold, on the second day of the Yasar Dogu 2019 Ranking Series tournament in Istanbul.

While Rahul Aware won gold in the 61kg freestyle category on Friday night, Utkarsh clinched the bronze in the same weight division.

Aware, an Asian bronze medallist, clinched his first career Ranking Series title with a tactical 4-1 victory over Munir Aktas of Turkey.

Among Indian women wrestlers, Seema and Manju Kumari bagged a yellow metal each in the 50kg and 59kg divisions, respectively.

In the 50kg finals, Seema stopped Valeriya Chepsarakova of Russia from winning her second career Ranking Series title with a 3-2 win.

The third Indian wrestler to claim gold was Manju, who mauled Katsiaryna Hanchar Yanushkevich of Belarus 13-2, in the 59kg finals.

But it was heartbreak for Sakshi Malik and Pooja Dhanda as they lost in their respective events to crash out of the tournament.

India begin junior shooting World Cup campaign with two gold

Udhayveer Sidhu collected a double gold as India took pole position on day one of competitions at the Combined World Cup for junior shooters in Suhl, Germany.

Udhayveer shot 575 in the junior men's 25m standard pistol event to lead a clean sweep for India as Adarsh Singh (568) and Anish Bhanwala (566) won silver and bronze respectively at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) tournament for rifle, pistol and shotgun shooters.

Udhayveer then combined with Adarsh and his twin Vijayveer Sidhu to also pick up the team gold in the event with a combined effort of 1707, a junior world record.

The team silver in the event also went to India as its second team comprising Anish, Rajkanwar Sandhu and Dilshaan Kelley shot a total of 1676 to finish behind their gold medal winning teammates.

India had five medals -- two gold, two silver and one bronze -- at the end of day one. China and Thailand are second and third with one gold medal each.

Indian women's football team jumps 6 places to 57 in FIFA rankings

The Indian women's football team jumped six places to 57th in the latest FIFA rankings on the back of some impressive performance in the past few months.

Among Asian countries, the Indian women's team is ranked 11th. The team has 1422 points to its kitty as compared to 1392 in the previous ranking list released on March 29.

Since January, the team has played 18 matches, out of which it won 12, drawn one and lost five.

The team had exposure tours to Hong Kong, Indonesia and Turkey and played in the SAFF Championships, the AFC Olympic Qualifiers Round 2, besides featuring in the inaugural Hero Gold Cup international tournament in Bhubaneswar.

The team is slated to play the COTIF Cup in Spain later this month.

Head Coach Maymol Rocky lauded the players for the rise in the FIFA rankings.

"The entire credit goes with the girls. They have worked hard for it, and we need to work harder from now on," Maymol said.

The Indian men's team captain Sunil Chhetri, currently the second highest goal scorer in international football among active players with 70 strikes, said he was "extremely proud of the girls".

"They have been doing really well. I'm really proud of the girls ... they can do wonders. I hope they keep working hard, keep doing what they are doing. I'm sure things will keep on improving,” Chhetri said.

AIFF Women's Player of the Year Ashalata Devi felt "the aim should be to climb higher".

"We are aware of our abilities. The self-belief after the exposure tours has been driving us. We need to break into the top 10 in Asia," she said.

Belgian champions Genk sign son of Hagi

Belgian champions Racing Genk have strengthened their squad for the new season with Romania international Ianis Hagi, the son of the player known as the Maradona of the Carpathians.

The 20-year-old son of Gheorghe Hagi, one of the outstanding players of his generation, has signed a five year deal until 2024, the club said.

He moves from his father's club Viitorul Constanța, although this is his second foray out of Romania, having spent 18 months at Fiorentina, where Hagi went aged 17 but played only twice.

Hagi helped Romania reach the semi-final of last month's European under-21 Championship, emerging as one of the stars of the tournament in Italy.

He has also been capped at senior level.

Genk will compete in the Champions League this season with automatic entry into the group stage.

Atanu-Deepika bow out in first round of mixed pair event

Indian recurve mixed pair of Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari went down to Colombia 3-5 to make a first round exit at the Tokyo Olympic Games test event in Tokyo on Saturday.

Colombia's Daniel Felipe Pineda and Ana Maria Rendon, who ranked a lowly 13th in the qualifications, fired a perfect round of 40 in the fourth set to seal the victory.

The Colombians made a solid start to take the first set by one point but Atanu and Deepika bounced back with three perfect 10s from four arrows to make it 2-2 in the second set.

The third set saw a draw with both teams shooting 36 each before Daniel and Ana shot all perfect 10s in the decider to eliminate the Indians.

Deepika and Atanu will now battle it out in the individual sections that will get underway Sunday in the week-long event at the Yumenoshima Archery Field, which will be used next summer for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

India suffer 2-5 defeat against North Korea in Intercontinental Cup

Listless in the first half, India fought back in the second session with a spirited display but still lost 2-5 against North Korea to suffer their second consecutive defeat in the Intercontinental Cup football tournament in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

Jong Il Gwan (8th and 29th minute), Sim Hyon Jin (16th), Ri Un Chol (63rd) and Ri Jin (90+2) scored for North Korea while Lallianzuala Chhangte (51st) and captain Sunil Chhetri (61st) reduced the margin for India. 

The loss put the home side virtually out of reckoning for a berth in the final as they occupy the bottom of the points table. Tajikistan are in the top of the table with six points from two wins while Syria and North Korea have three points each.

Defending champions India have an improbable chance of making it to the final if North Korea lose against Tajikistan on July 15. In that situation, the home side will need to beat Syria by nine-goal margin in their final league match on July 16, which is highly unlikely.

The top two teams will make it to the final of the four-team tournament. If two or more teams end at same point, the ranking will be decided through goal difference.  

India now have minus five goal difference while North Korea have zero and Syria plus one.  

Mohammad Anas smashes own national record in Czech Republic

Mohammad Anas bettered his own national record in men's 400m race while winning gold with an effort of 45.21 seconds at the Kladno Memorial Athletics Meet at Kladno, Czech Republic on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Anas won an easy race as he finished nearly one second ahead of silver winner Omelko Rafal (46.19) of Poland.

Anas's earlier national record time stood at 45.24 seconds which he recorded last year.

In the women's 400m, V K Vismaya clocked her personal best of 52.54 seconds to win the 'A' race. Saritaben was third with 53.37.

In the XXII International Memorial Competition in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Indians also bagged 6 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze, with national record holder M Sreeshankar winning the long jump event with a creditable 7.97m.

The other gold winners are: Archana in 100m (11.74 sec), Harsh Kumar in 400m (46.76 sec), Lili Das in 1500m (4:19.05), Sahil Silwal in javelin throw (78.50m), women's 4x100 relay (45.81 sec).

Amir Khan wins WBC international welterweight title

Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan clinched the WBC international welterweight title after knocking out Australian Billy Dib in the fourth round of his bout in the inaugural Super Boxing League in Jeddah.

Khan was undoubtedly the stronger of the two as he landed a combination of punches right from the start, leaving his opponent on the floor with a left hook in the second round.

In the fourth round a double left hook again left Billy shaken, throwing in the towel to end the contest at King Abdullah Sports City.

"I felt very comfortable in there, I could see I had the strength, power and movement right early in the bout. I could see openings.third round I capitalised more. It was a great fight," Khan told PTI after the bout ended in the wee hours Saturday.

"It was a quick turnaround after the Crawford fight. Whenever I fight I always make it exciting, I always make it very interesting. I want to thank all the fans in Saudi Arabia for coming to the fight and we'll be back soon."

It was a great comeback by Khan, who was knocked out by WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford in his last bout in April.

After the fight, Khan expressed his desire to fight former four-weight world champion Manny Pacquiao next.

"The discussions are going on and if it materialise I would love to come back to Saudi Arabia to face Manny Pacquiao," Khan said.

Billy, who got the fight last month after Indian boxer Neeraj Goyat was forced to withdraw following a car crash, said, "What went wrong is that he looked bigger than what he seemed at the weighing in. He was stronger and it just didn't go my way. But look we both are safe and that is what matters."

"Of course, I would have loved to have more time to prepare but it's okay," added the Sydney-born fighter, who had to move up to make his welterweight debut after being roped in in June.