GOLF
Aditi Ashok shoots 66 and rises to tied-20th at Black Desert
India’s Aditi Ashok shot one of her best rounds of the season as she landed seven birdies against one bogey in a round of 6-under 66 that carried her up to the tied 20th place in the Black Desert Championship in Ivins, USA.
With rounds of 69-71-66 she is 10-under and eight shots behind the leader, Haeran Ryu of Korea, who has shot 63-67-68 to be 18-under.
Starting from the first, Aditi began with three pars and then birdied four times between the fourth and the ninth to turn in 4-under.
On the back nine Aditi birdied 11th and the 12th and dropped a shot on the 14th and finished with a birdie on the 18th.
Aditi, who has been finding the fairways and the green regularly, needed 27 putts as against 31 on the second day.
Ryu regained control of the Black Desert Championship by holing out for eagle on the 11th hole. Her 68 helped her maintain her two-shot lead in the LPGA Tour’s return to Utah for the first time in more than 60 years.
Ryu is trying to win a tournament for the seventh straight year, dating to when she was an 18-year-old on the Korea LPGA. Ryu shared the 54-hole lead at a major last week in the Chevron Championship before closing with a 76.
Her biggest rival will be Ruoning Yin, the former Women’s PGA champion who ran off 10 birdies for a 62, the best score of the tournament and enough to get within two shots.
Esther Henseleit of Germany had a 68 and left her three shots behind.
-PTI
Bhullar falters in final round, drops to 54th in Korea
Gaganjeet Bhullar, who was in contention at the midway stage of the GS Caltex Maekyung Open, had a second straight disappointing round, shooting a disappointing 7-over 78 in Seoul.
After 70-68 on the first two days, Bhullar crashed to 74-78 and finished at 6-over 290 and ended T-54th. On the final day, Bhullar had five bogeys and a double bogey and his last five holes saw him go 5-over.
Bhullar’s season has been modest and he has not had a top-10 this year in 2025. His last top-10 was a T-7 in Qatar last October.
Bhullar’s last win was on the Indian Tour in April 2024 and his last international win was in Indonesia in November 2023. Bhullar plays the International Series in Japan next week.
-PTI
Lahiri finishes 45th as DeChambeau registers first win of the season
Anirban Lahiri produced a tame even par finish with 72 and ended the week at Liv Golf Korea in Tied-45th place in Incheon.
Lahiri’s rounds were 68-79-72 for a total of 3-over.
The Indian was, however, part of the winning team, Crushers, which were led by the individual winner, Bryson DeChambeau of the US.
DeChambeau, starting the final day with a four-shot lead, carried his team, Crushers, to twin success, as he won the individual title and also led his team to victory.
DeChambeau carded rounds of 65 and 66 on the first two days at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club, and added a final-round 66 with six birdies.
He finished at 19-under, two shots ahead of teammate Charles Howell III, who finished runner-up at 17-under after a final-round 63.
Lahiri, who started on the 12th began with a birdie and had another one on the 15th.
He bogeyed the 16th and then the second to drop to even par.
He then had a birdie-bogey sequence twice on the third 3rd-4th and again on the 8th-9th to finish at 72.
Lahiri has had a modest season with just one Top-10 in seven starts and two other finishes in T-20. He lies 31st in the individual standings.
-PTI
CHESS
Tegin jolts top seed Grigoryan, Pantsulaia lone leader at KCA open GM tournament
Kyrgyzstan IM Semetei Tologon Tegin, the 12th seed, shocked Armenia’s top-seeded Grandmaster Karen Grigoryan in the seventh round of the KCA’s first international open GM chess tournament at the Courtyard Banquet Hall, Kanjikuzhi, on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s G. Aakash, the 30th seed, jolted Armenia’s seventh-seeded GM Karen Movszizzian in another seventh-round game.
Georgia GM Levan Pantsulaia emerged as the sole leader with 6.5 points after seven rounds, while three – A. Balkishan, G. Aakash and Semetei Tologon Tegin – were in the second spot with 6 points each.
Select results (round 7): Levan Pantsulaia (Geo) 6.5 bt Marat Dzhumaev (Uzb) 5.5; Semetei Tologon Tegin (Kgz) 6 bt Karen Grigoryan (Arm) 5.5; A. Balkishan (Ind) 6 bt Mehar Chinna Reddy (Ind) 5; G. Aakash (Ind) 6 bt Karen Movszizzian (Arm) 5; Manuel Petrosyan (Arm) 5 drew with Huy van Nguyen (Vie) 5.5; Deepan Chakkaravarthy (ICF) bt Vitaly Teterev (Blr) 4.5.
Saturday’s games (round 6): Karen Grigoryan drew with Levan Pantsulaia; Marat Dzhumaev bt Boris Sacchenko; Huy Nguyen drew with G. Aakash; Evgeniy Podolchenko drew with Manuel Petrosyan; Tornike Sanikidze lost to A. Balkishan.
-Stan Rayan
WEIGHTLIFTING
Parv Chaudhary wins bronze for India in World youth weightlifting championships
Parv Chaudhary earned a bronze medal for India in the World youth weightlifting championships in Lima, Peru.
Parv lifted 140kg in snatch and 175kg in clean and jerk to register a total of 315kg, one kg less than silver winner Yslam Akmyradov of Turkmenistan. Griogor Ghazaryan of Armenia bagged the gold with 330kg. Parv also claimed a silver in clean and jerk.
-Team Sportstar