GOLF
Aditi slips in final round to finish T-28, Australian Grace Kim wins Evian title
Indian golfer Aditi Ashok, who looked good for a top-10 finish all week, faltered on the final day to card a disappointing two-over 73 to sign off tied 28th at the Amundi Evian Championship here.
She ended with a total of five-under 279 on Sunday. It was, nonetheless, Aditi’s second-best finish at the Evian, a year after ending tied 17th at this event.
Aditi opened with a string of nine pars and then bogeyed four in a row, which derailed her hopes of a top-10 position after being tied 12th overnight. She managed a minor recovery with birdies on the 17th and the 18th, but it was too little, too late.
Australia’s Grace Kim claimed her maiden major title after defeating world number two Jeeno Thitikul in a dramatic playoff at Evian Resort Golf Club.
This week, Aditi was the only Indian in the field as Diksha Dagar narrowly missed out on making the cut. She will, however, play at the AIG Women’s Open later this month.
The Ladies European Tour will take a week’s break and will then head to Scotland for the ISPS HANDA Scottish Open, taking place at Dundonald Links from July 24 to 27.
-PTI
Indians miss the Open for first time since 2022
There will be no Indian golfers at the 2025 Open, which is a pity, since Shubhankar Sharma has done well at the last two Opens – he was T-8 at Royal Liverpool for the best-ever result by an Indian — and was T-19 last year at Royal Troon.
The most appearances by an Indian at the Open is six by Anirban Lahiri and the best finish is T-8 by Sharma in 2023.
Eight Indians have played at the Open – Gaurav Ghei, Jyoti Randhawa, Jeev Milkha Singh, Arjun Atwal, Shiv Kapur, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Anirban Lahiri and Shubhankar Sharma.
Though Shubhankar is not in the field, he remains the only Indian to have played the Open at Portrush, and his appearance came back in 2019.
It was his second Open appearance where he made the cut and finished T-51. In all, Shubhankar has played four Opens and made the cut each time – the most by an Indian.
The Indian connection There may be no Indians, but at least three players have an Indian connection.
Two are Indian Americans: Akshay Bhatia, now 38th in the world, and Sahith Theegala, 46th in the world. The third is Indo-British Aaron Rai, who is 34th in the world.
All three have won on the PGA Tour. In 2024, they played in the PGA Tour Championships, for which only the Top-30 qualified.
-PTI
BASKETBALL
FIBA Women’s Asia Cup, Division B: India suffers heavy loss against Chinese Taipei
India women’s basketball team lost 39-83 to Chinese Taipei in its second Group A match of the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup (Division B) in Shenzhen, China, on Monday.
The competition, which concludes on July 20, has eight teams divided equally into two groups with the winner of the tournament set to be promoted to Division A.
India has previously won the Division B title in 2017 when it was also the host. However, the team missed out on playing in Division A in 2023 and aims to find its way back.
India takes on Tahiti in its final pool match on Wednesday at 11AM IST.
-Team Sportstar
HOCKEY
15th India Sub Junior Women National Championship 2025: Jharkhand beats Odisha to win title
Jharkhand defeated Odisha 1-0 to claim the 15th India Sub Junior Women National Championship 2025 – Division ‘A’ title in Ranchi on Monday. Haryana secured bronze medal after beating Mizoram 3-3 (SO 5-4) in the 3rd/4th position match.
The final saw both teams showing strong defencive skills before Jirn Soy Munda (27’) netted the only goal of the game.
In the bronze medal game, K Vanlalpeki (9’) opened the goal count on the scoreboard for Mizoram but captain Bhavya (19’), Durga (27’) and Manjinder (30’) soon took the lead for Haryana to push Mizoram on the backfoot.
Mizoram tried hard but was unable to convert the opportunities against the strong defence of Haryana until the very last minute where Laldinpuli (60’, 60’) heroics helped it end the match with a draw.
In the shoot-out, again it was a neck-to-neck competition between the teams. Bhavya, Manjinder, Neeshu, Radhika and Harshita scored for Haryana in all the five chances that they got. On the other hand, Laldinpuli, K Vanlalpeki, C Lalruatsiami and Lalnunfeli only could score out of their five chances and fell short in a closely contested game. Haryana goalkeeper Saina’s match-winning save in the shootout stood out to be difference maker and helped her side finish on podium.
– Team Sportstar
TENNIS
Prarthana loses doubles final
Fourth seeds Carmen Corley and Ivana Corley beat third seeds Arianne Hartono and Prarthana Thombare 7-6(4), 6-3 in the doubles final of the $200,000 WTA tennis tournament in Newport, USA, on Sunday.
The champion team collected 125 WTA points and $9,900. The Indo-Dutch team got 81 points and $5,766.