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GOLF
Shamim Khan shoots day’s best of 68, takes 3rd round lead
The seasoned Shamim Khan brought all his experience to the fore as he weathered windy conditions to shoot the day’s best score of four-under 68 and take the third-round lead at the Rs 1 crore Delhi-NCR Open here on Thursday.
The Delhi-based Shamim (35-69-68), winner of 17 titles, gained four spots to take a one-shot lead at eight-under 172.
Noida’s Gaurav Pratap Singh (35-68-70), playing at his home course, struck a 70 that included one of the only three eagles fired in round three to climb one spot to second position at seven-under 173.
Delhi golfers Sachin Baisoya (70) and Honey Baisoya (73) as well as Greater Noida’s Sudhir Sharma (74) were in tied third place with totals of six-under 174.
Shamim, overnight tied fifth, placed his nine-iron approach shots to perfection to earn birdies on the second and fourth holes. The 44-year-old, a two-time winner at the Noida Golf Course, made further progress with birdies on the seventh and eighth, including a 35-feet conversion on the former.
As the wind wreaked havoc on his back-nine, Shamim, a two-time PGTI Order of Merit champion, dropped his first bogey of the day on the 11th. He then adapted to the situation to play percentage golf as he picked up just one birdie on the 14th and made pars on all other holes.
Gaurav mixed an eagle, four birdies and four bogeys in round three to jump into contention at a venue where he has won a title previously.
Patna’s Aman Raj aced the 10th during his round of 73 that placed him tied 13th at two-under 178.
-PTI
TENNIS
Ramkumar into last eight of ITF Futures tourney
Second-seeded Ramanathan Ramkumar moved into the last eight of the singles section in the BR Adithyan Memorial ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament here on Thursday along with four of his Indian compatriots.
Ramkumar cruised past Kazakhstan’s Grigory Lomakin 6-0, 6-2 in the pre-quarterfinals to set up a last eight clash with fellow Indian player Kaliyanda Poonacha (no.8 seed), a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Karan Singh.
The other Indians to advance to the quarterfinals were Sidharth Rawat (no.4 seed), Manish Suresh Kumar (7th seed) amd third-seeded Digvijay Singh.
The number one seed Vladyslav Orlov of Ukraine was forced to fight back after losing the opening set before booking a berth in the last eight. His opponent Boris Butulija (Serbia) retired while trailing 1-3 in the third set.
Indian Yash Chaurasia, who had taken out Vishnu Varadan in the last round, was no match for David Perez Sanz (no.6 seed) going down 1-6, 4-6.
Sidharth Rawat prevailed over the experienced V M Ranjit 7-6, 6-3 to advance in the singles draw.
In the doubles event, the No.2 seeds Parikshit Somani and Manish Kumar were beaten despite winning the first set 6-0 by Vladyslav Orlov (Ukraine) and Patrick Toman (US), who won the next 6-4 before clinching the match tie-break 10-8.
Two Indian teams- Nitin Kumar Sinha and Vishnu Vardhan (No.3 seed) and Sai Karteek Reddy and T Macheria secured a last four spot as their opponents Boris Butulija and Woo Bin Shin (Korea) gave a walkover.
PTI
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