Indian sports wrap, September 24: Khalin Joshi maintains lead in round three of Bengaluru Open

Khalin Joshi returned a three-under 69 to maintain a three-shot lead after round three of the Bengaluru Open on Thursday. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

GOLF

Young star Anvvi takes lead after two rounds in 13th Leg of Hero WPGT

An action-packed round studded with six birdies and an eagle carried rookie professional Anvvi Dahiya to the top of the leaderboard in the 13th Leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour here on Thursday.

The 18-year-old Gurugram golfer, playing in her hometown, bounced back from a disappointing first round of 78 and carded 5-under 67 on the second day. It was the only under par round of the day.

The 11-shot improvement took her to a 1-over total of 145 and she was ahead of experienced campaigners like Vani Kapoor (73-73) and Ridhima Dilawari (75-72), who were second and third.

Ridhima was one of the only two players to get a par or better in the second round.

Anvvi, who is with the DLF Golf Academy, turned professional earlier this year after a stellar junior and amateur career during which she won the 2022 DGC Ladies Open Amateur Golf Championship at just 14 years old.

She has in the past finished runner-up on the Hero WPGT, but is now looking at a breakthrough win in her fledgling pro career. She was joint runner-up in the ninth leg this season alongside Amandeep Drall and behind the winner, Vani Kapoor at Clover Greens in Hosur.

Starting from the first, Anvvi had three birdies on the third, fourth and the sixth. She dropped a double bogey on the seventh, but then eagled the eighth to get back to 3-under. On the back nine, she had three birdies against one bogey for a 67.

Tvesa Malik (74-74) and Nayanika Sanga (74-74) are tied for fourth place, while Lavanya Jadon (74-76) is sixth.

Overnight leader, Vidhatri Urs had a big drop as she shot 82 after a first round 69 and slipped to seventh place, while Jasmine Shekar also experienced a big dip from 71 to 81 and is now Tied-eighth with Kashika Misra (77-75).

Diksha Dagar also had a rough day with an 81 after a first round 72 and she tied 10th alongside amateurs Yogya Bhalla (77-76) and Anuradha Chaudhuri (78-75).

The cut fell at 164 and 41 players made the cut.

The contest to watch will be in the lead group as young Anvvi takes on the experienced Vani and Order of Merit leader, Ridhima in the final group.

This is the last event before the Hero Women’s Indian Open next month at the same venue.

-PTI

Khalin Joshi maintains lead in round three of Bengaluru Open

Khalin Joshi returned a three-under 69 to maintain a three-shot lead after round three of the Bengaluru Open on Thursday.

The 34-year-old Bengaluru golfer (61-68-69), who began the day with a six-stroke advantage, made an eagle on the par-five fifth and three birdies against two bogeys to reach 18-under 198, heading into the final round of Rs 1 crore Bengaluru Open.

Gurugram’s Manu Gandas (69-68-64), the 2023 PGTI Rankings champion, produced the lowest score of the day with a bogey-free eight-under 64. He climbed from tied third to second at 15-under 201, reducing Joshi’s lead by three shots.

Gandas, currently placed 20th in the Race to India Championship, made eight birdies, including three in succession from the 10th through the 12th.

Saptak Talwar moved into the sole third place at 11-under 205 after posting a four-under 68 featuring five birdies and one bogey.

Gurugram’s Veer Ahlawat (68-69-69) and local teenager Manoj S (65-70-71) shared fourth place at 10-under 206.

Joshi found the third round considerably more demanding as the wind strengthened, the greens quickened, and the flag positions became more challenging.

He said, “It was a challenging round. I didn’t strike the ball particularly well, but I held the round together and avoided playing myself out of the tournament. I’m still in a comfortable position and looking forward to tomorrow (Friday).”

-PTI

Shiv Kapur establishes three-shot lead, stays on course for AM Green IGPL win

Experienced golfer Shiv Kapur stayed on course for his maiden IGPL win, shooting a solid three-under 69 to move to 13-under at the AM Green IGPL Invitational in Ras Al Khaimah on Thursday.

His score has helped his team RVR Delhi Blue Bulls to share the lead with Auro Goa Eagles at 17-under after two days.

Auro Goa were aided by a splendid show by Varun Chopra, who scored four-under 68 to add to his first round 66 to emerge as sole second at 10-under, but three shots behind Kapur.

Veer Ganapathy, who represents GolfKonnect Bengaluru Stallions, has once again brought himself into the spotlight, though at five-under total with 69-70, he is eight shots behind the leader.

Veer is tied with the experienced Gaganjeet Bhullar (69-70) and Varun Parikh (66-73), who had a rough day as compared to the first round.

Kapur was once again off to a fine start with birdies on the second and the third and yet another on the seventh at which point he was 3-under and looking very strong and ready to run away from the field. He dropped his first shot of the week on the ninth after 26 bogey free holes.

On the back nine he had three birdies on the 13th, 14th and the 18th but bogeyed the 12th and the 16th for a total of 69.

Sachin Baisoya (72-68) was sole sixth at 4-under total, while three players, Trishul Chinappa (73-68) was Tied-seventh alongside young Kanav Chauhan (70-71) and Shaurya Binu (67-73).

The Top 10 was rounded off by IGPL Aryan Roopa Anand, whose RVR Delhi teammate, Kapur is in lead, Tushar Pannu (68-74) and debutant Ravi Kumar (66-76).

In the team standings, Auro Goa Eagles and RVR Delhi Blue Bulls are tied for the lead at 17-under with Kapur (13-under) doing the bulk of the work for the Delhi team. Kapur’s teammates are Aryan Roopa Anand (T-10), Chiragh Kumar (T-23) and Gaurav Ghei (T-48).

For the Goa side, Varun Chopra with a 10-under total has been the mainstay. Chopra’s teammates are Kanav Chauhan (T-7), Saarthak Chibber (T-14) and IL Aalaap (T-23).

Flying Man Kolkata led by Varun Parikh (5-under) are third. The other team members are Kartik Sharma, Sukhman Singh and Syed Saqib Ahmed.