GOLF
Soudal Open: Sandhu makes cut; Sharma misses out
Indians had mixed luck as Yuvraj Sandhu (70-68) made the cut, while Shubhankar Sharma (70-72) missed the weekend at the Soudal Open at Rinkven International Golf Club near Antwerp in Belgium.
Sandhu, playing his first season on the DP World Tour, had four birdies against three bogeys on the first day and was T-72, but his second round of 68 with five birdies against two bogeys saw him rise to T-51 and make the cut.
After a rather slow start to the season, when he missed six cuts on the DPWT, Sandhu made the weekend at Turkish Airlines Open and the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship.
Both Sandhu and Sharma missed out on the US Open qualifiers, but this week Sandhu has against made the cut, showing signs that he is adjusting to Europe.
Sharma, in 13 starts this season, has made six cuts and missed seven with a best of T-32 in Mauritius.
-PTI
Talwar hangs inside Top-20 in Denmark
Indian golfer Saptak Talwar showed signs of taking his good form at home to Europe as he carded 67-70 to easily make the cut at the Danish Challenge Open on the Hotel Planner Tour in Odense.
Talwar, who won one event on the domestic DP World PGTI Tour and leads the Order of Merit, had six birdies against one bogey in his first round and sizzled with six birdies against one bogey on the front nine in the second round.
At that point, he was in line to be inside the top five. He slipped with a double bogey on Par-4 16th and a bogey on the 17th to drop to T-16.
The 27-year-old Talwar played in the afternoon sessions when the wind was much demanding than in the morning wave. Yet he did superbly on the front nine.
Talwar has been focusing on dividing his time between the home tour, where he has finished inside the Top-15 in all six starts including a win, and the Hotel Planner Tour.
He was Tied-second at the DP World PGTI Open, which was co-sanctioned with Hotel Planner Tour, but missed the cut last two weeks.
-PTI
Pranavi in top 10 heading into the final round
Still searching for her maiden title on the Ladies European Tour, Indian golfer Pranavi Urs carded a second round of 2- under to hold her position in the top 10 of the leaderboard at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Rabat, Morocco.
Tied second after the first round, Pranavi was now T-8 with a total score of 5-under par (70-71) after 36 holes. She is eight strokes behind the leader, Kelsey Bennett.
Two-time LET winner Diksha Dagar was the only other Indian in the field to make the cut this week. She is currently in T-28 after carding a round of 3-under 70. Her total score stands at 1-under par (75-70).
The two other Indians in the field at the start of the week were Hitaashee Bakshi (78-72) and Avani Prashanth (75-75). Both of them met an early end to the week as they had a total score of 4-over par each after the second day and the cut was set at 2-over par. Both ended their week in T-73 on the leaderboard.
Pranavi, who was in Top-5 at the Hero Women’s Indian Open in 2025, began her second round on the front nine. She was off to a strong start with three birdies in the first five holes before dropping two strokes with bogeys on the fifth and sixth holes.
On the back nine, she made another two birdies on the 13th and 14 holes before dropping a shot with a late bogey on the 17th hole to end the day with a card of 2-under 71.
Diksha started her second round with a par on the first hole before making three consecutive birdies followed by bogeys on the fifth, seventh and ninth holes to be even par at the turn. On the back nine, she picked up strokes on the 11th and 14th holes before picking a late birdie on the closing 18th hole to finish the day at 3-under 70.
Hitaashee shot a round of 1-under 72 on her second day, following her opening round of 5-over 78 while Avani carded a second consecutive round of 2-over 75.
-PTI
TENNIS
Bhambri and Venus end runners-up in Geneva
India’s Yuki Bhambri and his New Zealand partner Michael Venus finished runners-up at the Geneva Open after suffering a hard-fought defeat in the ATP 250 doubles final here on Saturday.
The third-seeded Indo-Kiwi pair lost 6-3, 6-7(7), 7-10 to Romain Arneodo of Monaco and Australia’s Marc Polmans in a closely-contested summit clash that lasted nearly two hours.
Bhambri and Venus, who were playing together in their first final of the 2026 season, took the opening set but the rivals forced a match tie-breaker after taking the second.
Arneodo and Polmans raised their level in the decider, gaining an early advantage and maintaining composure in crucial exchanges to seal the title.
Amarya, seeded 3/4 and bronze medallist in the boys’ U-13 category last year, beat Malaysian second seed Muhammad Sharhan Mohd Saiful in four close games in the semifinals. He will take on top seed Leung Ngo San of Hong Kong in the U-13 final.
- PTI
Mukund, Kalyanpur clinch doubles title at ATP Challenger in Bengaluru
Petr Bar Biryukov overcame the jitters to eclipse Ilya Ivashka 7-6(0), 4-6, 6-4 in the singles final of the S.M. Krishna Memorial Open ATP Challenger at the S.M. Krishna Tennis Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Adil Kalyanpur and Mukund Sasikumar kept home spirits high in the doubles, claiming the crown with a 6-7 (3), 6-4, 10-3 win over Biryukov and G. Lomakin in the summit clash.
In the singles, Biryukov, a compulsive shot maker, seemed to suffer the yips when he was up 2-1 in the second set. The Russian did not take the effort to chase down balls, attempted shots between his legs, and hammered his forehands long. This sudden loss of interest allowed Ivashka to draw level.
In the decider, southpaw Biryukov was back in the right mindset, and used his big serve to great effect. Ivashka, a former World no. 40, stayed afloat, until a couple of unforced errors cost him dear.
At 4-5 (30-30), Ivashka missed an easy volley to hand Biryukov match point. Ivashka then hit his next shot into the net. A delighted Biryukov, who won his maiden Challenger singles title, celebrated by throwing his racquet high in the air.
Sasikumar and Kalyanpur held their nerve in a tight encounter. Sasikumar’s wide serve proved to be a handful, while Kalyanpur showed good hands at the net.
Biryukov received $9,500 and 50 ATP ranking points. Sasikumar and Kalyanpur took home $3,950 and 50 ranking points.
-Ashwin Achal
SQUASH
Aryaveer leads Indians’ march into finals in Asian Junior squash
Aryaveer Dewan (boys’ U-19), Shiven Agarwal (boys’ U-17), Anika Dubey (girls’ U-17) and Amarya Bajaj (boys’ U-13) advanced to the finals in their respective categories at the 33rd Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships in Panzhihua, China, on Saturday.
Aryaveer, seeded 3/4, defeated Malaysian top seed Nickhileswar Moganasundharam in four games in the semifinals, and will meet either Md Alnasafan (KSA) or Jonghyeok Lee (Kor) for the crown. Aryaveer had beaten the Malaysian for the U-17 title last year.
Meanwhile, Shiven, seeded 5/8, beat fellow Indian Squash Academy trainee Lokesh Subramani in a close four-game semifinal, and will take on Pakistan’s 9/16 seed Nauman Khan for the U-17 title.
Anika, seeded 3/4 and bronze medallist in this age-group last year, will battle with Malaysian top seed Harleein Tan for the U-17 crown after her semifinal opponent retired midway through their match.
- Team Sportstar
CHESS
Top seeds make winning start in All India Chess Masters
Top seeded Shreyansh Somaiya as well as Aditya Shardul Kadam and a few others made a winning start to the fourth season of the Mumbai FIDE Rated All India Chess Masters Season Four in Mumbai on Saturday.
Somaiya (ELO rating 1973) opened his campaign with a comfortable victory, while other leading contenders including Aditya (1917), Reyaansh Venkat (1906), Gaurang Bhandari (1889), Yash Kapadi (1854), and AGM Pinakesh Nahar Rajveer (1801) registered wins in the opening round.
- PTI
Published on May 23, 2026