Indian sports wrap, July 23: Pranavi Urs returns to action at Scottish Open 

GOLF

Pranavi back from injury in Scottish Open

After recovering from an injury sustained in May, Indian golfer Pranavi Urs returns to action at the USD 2 million ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open beginning at the Dundonald Links here on Thursday.

Other Indians in the field are the in-form Diksha Dagar and Tvesa Malik. Rookie Avani Prashanth and Hitaashee Bakshi failed to make the field.

Pranavi, who won the Hero Women’s Order of Merit in India in 2022 with five victories in a single season, has been a regular on the Ladies European Tour, where she was the top Indian in 2024.

This season, after some good finishes in Top-15 at the Ford NSW Open in Australia and Investec SA Women’s Open, she played and made the cut a Aramco Korea, but hurt her wrist.

It got so bad that she withdrew after the first round in the following week at the Dutch Ladies Open. That was in mid-May and she has not played since then. She is now 81st on the Order of Merit.

PTI

Late birdies help Neha take one-shot lead

Two sets of back-to-back birdies and another late birdie saw a resurgent Neha Tripathi take a one-shot lead in the 10th Leg of the Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Zion Hills Golf County course.

Neha, who was the runner-up last week in the ninth leg, had five birdies against two bogeys in a round of 3-under 69 which gave her a one-shot lead over Durga Nittur (70).

The only other player other than Neha and Durga to get a score of par or better was Ridhima Dilawari, who shot even par 72 and it included two birdies in the last four holes in the first round.

Neha, who is just getting back to form after being ridden with injuries over the past year, had back-to-back birdies on the second and the third, and parred the other six holes on the front nine.

She began the back nine with two straight bogeys but picked three birdies on the 14th, 15th, and 17th.

PTI

Mahreen, Arshvant lead Indian challenge a US Kids World Teen Golf C’ship

Two of India’s most decorated teenage golfers, Mahreen Bhatia and Arshvant Srivastava will lead the Indian challenge at this week’s US Kids World Teen Championship at the iconic Pinehurst, North Carolina.

The US Kids India team has six players in this year’s edition of the annual World Teens event. There are two players in the Boys 15-18 and four in Girls 15-18 and all have good experience in and out of India.

Mahreen was third at the 2024 edition and runner-up in 2023 and is aiming to get to the top.

In the past year, her achievements also include a win at the 2024 Shubhankar Sharma Invitationals and she was second at the 2024 at the Tommy Fleetwood International Pathway Series Pres by DP and also won the FCG Callaway World Juniors in the US in July last year.

She was also in the Top-5 of the Faldo Series Asia Grand Final.

Arshvant comes in with a lot of experience from US Kids events in the past few years and has two good wins on domestic circuit in 2024 at the NCR Cup Juniors and the Greens to Glory event and was the runner-up at US Kids Indian Championship.

This season he has had Top-5 finishes in US Kids China, US Kids Thailand and the Faldo Series Asia Grand final and was seventh in the US Kids UAE.

Vihaan Jain played the 2024 US Kids World Teens in 2024 and was T-13 with Arshvant also in the field.

Asara Sawhney was T-7 in 2024 US Kids, while Anushka Gupta and Ayesha Gupta also hold a lot of promise.

The week after the US Kids Teen Championship, India will be fielding a 14-member squad at the US kids for ages 6 and above and the event will be held at Pinehurst.

BADMINTON

Tanvi Sharma, Vennala and Tanvi Reddy advance at Asia Junior Badminton Championships

Rising Indian shuttler Tanvi Sharma stormed into the women’s singles third round, headlining a strong day for India at the Asia Junior Badminton Championships, here on Wednesday.

The second-seeded Sharma, who finished runner-up at the 2025 US Open Super 300 in Iowa earlier this month, outclassed UAE’s Vaidehi Kalidasan 21-6, 21-6 in the second round after receiving a bye in the opening round.

The 16-year-old Sharma will face China’s Shi Si Chen in her next match.

Vennala Kalagotla and Tanvi Reddy Andluri also progressed to the third round with convincing wins.

Kalagotla brushed aside Kazakhstan’s Alissa Kuleshova 21-6, 21-10 before notching up a 21-18, 21-16 win over Indonesia’s Auberta Zerlina. She will next face 10th seed Eng Ler Qi of Malaysia.

Andluri, who also received a bye in the first round, cruised past Macau’s Ung Cheok Ian 21-9, 21-10. She will take on Thailand’s third seed Yataweemin Ketklieng in the third round.

In men’s singles, Ansh Negi and Pranauv Ram Nagalingam made it to the third round.

Negi, who received a bye in the first round, beat Singapore’s Ding Han Jin 21-16, 21-15. Pranauv, who was also handed a bye, defeated Myanmar’s Lal Zuidika 21-15, 21-7 in straight games.

Negi will face Minh Son Le of Vietnam in the third round, while Pranauv will lock horns with Singapore’s Tee Kai Ze.

In mixed doubles, the Indian pair of Vishnu Kedhar Kode and Keerthy Manchala advanced to the third round with a hard-fought 22-20, 16-21, 21-19 win over Hong Kong’s Cheng Ying Kit and Hung Ho Yan.

In men’s doubles, top seeds Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu, along with the pair of Bhavya Chhabra and C Lalramsanga, received byes in both the first and second rounds.

– PTI

TENNIS

Aryan Shah reaches quarterfinal of Segovia Challenger

Aryan Shah beat Saba Purtseladze of Georgia 6-4, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals of the €91,250 Challenger tennis tournament in Segovia, Spain, on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old Aryan, who had beaten the top seed Duje Ajdukovic of Croatia in three sets in the first round, will play sixth seed Oliver Crawford of Britain in the quarterfinals.

-Kamesh Srinivasan

FOOTBALL

FC Goa on Wednesday announced that Spanish midfielder Borja Herrera has extended his contract with the club by one year, keeping him in orange till the end of the 2025-26 season. 

The 32-year-old will serve his second full year at the club this season, having first signed with FC Goa on a short-term loan in January 2024, and then playing the entirety of the 2024-25 season, recording six goals and four assists.

He also bagged four goals during FCG’s the Kalinga Super Cup triumph, including a double in the final.

Borja shares a good relationship with Head Coach Manolo Marquez, having played under him at Hyderabad FC in the 2022-23 season, as well as spending time together in Spain playing for UD Las Palmas in the 2017-18 season.

-Team Sportstar

SNOOKER

Mehta, Advani in quarterfinal of IBSF World 6-Red Snooker Championships

Down and out for the count against Pakistan’s Ahsan Ramzan, second-seeded Aditya Mehta of India staged a fine comeback to enter the quarterfinals of the IBSF World 6-Red Snooker Championships here on Wednesday.

The seasoned campaigner was down 2-3 in the best-of-seven frame pre-quarters, and kept his rival at bay with solid safety play to draw level at 3-3 and then made a splendid 71 clearance for a brilliant come-from-behind victory.

The 4-3 verdict helped Mehta, a former World Games gold medallist, set up a quarterfinal meeting against fellow Indian Manan Chandra, who thwarted a spirited challenge from Qatar’s Ahmed Saif.

Chandra, who overcame Saudi Arabia’s Omar Alajlani in the round of 32, jumped to a quick 3-0 lead. But lapses in concentration allowed Saif, who had overcome another Indian, Brijesh Damani, in the previous round, to stage a fightback.

But, the Indian upped his game to come away a 4-2 winner.

Reigning champion Kamal Chawla, however, blew away a 3-2 advantage and bowed out in a round of 32 match against Fung Kwok Wai from Hong Kong.

– PTI