Yuvraj Sandhu and Arjun Prasad rise to the top in round two

  Yuvraj Sandhu and Arjun Prasad rise to the top in round two  

 GREATER NOIDA, APRIL 2

Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu and Delhi’s Arjun Prasad climbed atop the leaderboard with totals of seven-under 137 after round two of the INR 1.5 crore Adani Invitational Golf Championship 2025 being played at the Jaypee Greens Golf & Spa Resort in Greater Noida.

Arjun Prasad 

Yuvraj Sandhu 

While Yuvraj (70-67), a two-time winner on the PGTI this season, came up with a 67 on Wednesday to rise nine spots from his overnight tied 10^th, Arjun (68-69) delivered a 69 to gain two spots from his overnight tied third place.

Chandigarh golfer Harendra Gupta shot the day’s best score of 66 to end up in tied third place at six-under 138 along with Honey Baisoya of Delhi who sank two eagles during his round of 68.  

Saptak Talwar, the first-round joint leader, carded a 72 to close the day as the best-placed professional from Greater Noida as he occupied fifth position at five-under 139.

The halfway cut came down at three-over 147. Sixty professionals and one amateur made the cut.

The lone amateur to make the cut was 19-year-old Sukhman Singh (71) of Noida who was tied 31^st at two-over 146.

Yuvraj Sandhu came out all guns blazing on day two making seven birdies on the first 10 holes where he hit his irons and wedges to perfection. On this stretch, 28-year-old Yuvraj narrowly missed a hole-in-one on the third, chipped-in on the 10^th and produced some exceptional chips and a terrific bunker shot to leave himself easy birdie conversions.

Yuvraj said, “This is my fourth straight week of competition so there was a little shoulder pain at the start of this event. But the physio here at the tournament, Ravinder Sir helped me get rid of the pain. A big thanks to him.

“As there was no wind in the morning, I pressed the pedal to take advantage of the conditions. But once the wind started swirling in the afternoon, I lost a shot or two in that transition.

“I’m playing at Jaypee after a long time, in fact this is my first professional event at this venue. I last played here as an amateur. But the course is quite challenging now and has its own teeth.”

Twenty-six-year-old Arjun Prasad, still searching for his maiden victory, made four birdies and a bogey in round two. Three of Arjun’s birdies came on the par-5s as a result of two outstanding up and downs and a great bunker shot.

Arjun said, “I’ve had a decent start to the season thanks to all the work that I’ve put in with my coach and my team. I’ve had two solid days so far and am now looking forward to playing in the leader group with my good friend Yuvraj for the second time this season.”

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Odisha Day celebrated at Haryana Raj Bhawan

 Odisha Day celebrated at Haryana Raj Bhawan

Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatraya lauds Odisha’s contribution to national and Haryana development 

CHANDIGARH, APRIL 1

The Haryana Raj Bhawan witnessed a grand celebration of Odisha Day on Tuesday, commemorating the formation of Odisha as a separate state on April 1, 1936. The event was graced by Hon’ble Governor of Haryana, Shri Bandaru Dattatraya, who lauded the invaluable contributions of the people of Odisha towards the development of Haryana and the nation at large.

Governor Shri Dattatraya highlighted the rich cultural and historical legacy of Odisha, emphasizing its profound impact on India’s heritage. He said: “Odisha is not just a land of ancient temples and rich traditions but also a state that has significantly contributed to India’s economic and social progress. The industrious and skilled workforce from Odisha has played a crucial role in Haryana’s growth across various sectors as well.”

Distinguished members of the Odia community residing in Haryana, along with dignitaries from various sectors, attended the celebration. Shri Atul Dwivedi, Secretary to Governor, Shri Amit Yashvardhan, ADC to Governor, and senior officials of the Raj Bhawan were also present on the occasion.       

The Governor reiterated the importance of unity in diversity, stating that Odisha’s cultural richness strengthens India’s pluralistic ethos. He also expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the Odia community in preserving and promoting their traditions while integrating seamlessly with Haryana’s progressive environment.

Prominent among those present on the occasion were Padma Shri Dr D Behera, Director, Pulmonary Medicine, Fortis Healthcare, Mohali, Dr RK Ratho, Prof and Head of Dept of Virology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, Dr Surya Narayan Panda, Pro VC, Chitkara University Punjab, Dr Sushant Sahoo, Additional Prof, Department of Neurosurgery, PGIMER, Chandigarh, Dr Raghunath Sahoo, Superintendent Physiotherapist, PGIMER, and Bhabagrahi Patra, Joint Secretary, Utkal Sanskrutik Sangh, Chandigarh.

N Thangaraja and Saptak Talwar tied for the lead in round one

  N Thangaraja and Saptak Talwar tied for the lead in round one 

GREATER NOIDA, APRIL 1

Saptak Talwar

Sri Lankan N Thangaraja and Greater Noida’s Saptak Talwar, playing at his home course, put up scores of five-under 67 to hold the joint lead in round one of the INR 1.5 crore Adani Invitational Golf Championship 2025 being played at the Jaypee Greens Golf & Spa Resort, Greater Noida.

Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow, Delhi golfer Arjun Prasad, Gurugram’s Sunhit Bishnoi and Bangladeshi Md Somrat Sikdar were bunched in tied third place with identical scores of four-under 68.

N Thangaraja, a winner on the PGTI last month, went bogey-free on day one. He scored two birdies on the front-nine courtesy a tap-in and a 30-feet conversion. Thanga then began the back-nine with consecutive birdies on the 10^th and 11^th, landing his approaches from 130 yards to within five feet on both occasions. He added his final birdie of the day on the 14tth.

N Thangaraja

The 43-year-old Thanga with five PGTI wins to his name, said, “I feel I’ve been in great rhythm since my win last month in Ahmedabad. My hitting form has been great. Today I hit all fairways barring one and struck 16 greens in regulation. I just missed a couple of short putts. But I’ll take an error-free opening round any day.

“The course feels just a little longer than the last time I played here in 2013. It will require good driving and putting to score well here.”

A couple of three-putts for bogeys on the back-nine resulted in a slow start for local lad Saptak Talwar who made the turn at one-over. Saptak then got on a roll on the front-nine as he picked up an eagle and four birdies between the first and the sixth hole. His eagle putt and two birdie putts were from a range of 12 to 17 feet. Talwar also landed his tee shot within three feet on the par-3 third for a birdie.

The 26-year-old Saptak said, “It was great to be back at my home course. But after playing tournaments at different venues over the last few weeks, I was adjusting to the greens here. I’ve not played up to my expectations in the last two rounds of events recently. However, I feel I’m getting better with every passing week.”

Yuvraj Sandhu and Shaurya Bhattacharya, both winners this season, were in tied 10th place at 70.

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Jay Clarke of Great Britain lifts singles title

 

 Jay Clarke (of Britain lifts singles title

 CHANDIGARH, MARCH 16          

Top seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain won the singles title of M15 Chandigarh ITF World Tour Tennis Men’s (US$-15K prize money Tournament at the Sector 10 Tennis Stadium here today.

. Jay Clarke (GBR) defeated third seed of Woobin Shin (KOR) in a 3 setter marathon match 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-0. Jay Clarke and Woobin Shin played high level tennis. Jay Clarke won the first set in tie break, in the second set Woobin Shin of Korea came back strongly and took the  set 6-4. In the final set Jay Clarke lift his level of game and played a high energetic game, finally Jay Clarke won the set and match without conceding a single game 6-0.

 Mr. Vishav Bandhu Monga, Chief State Coordinator, HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited; and. Sudhir Rajpal, IAS, Honorary Secretary  distributed the prizes to the winners and runners-up of Men’s doubles event.

Filiberto Fumagalli (ITA) and his partner Aryan Lakshmanan (IND) upset second seed S D Prajawal Dev (IND) / Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND) in the 3 setter match 2-6, 6-4, 11-9 in the Men’s doubles final.

Men’s Singles  (final): Jay Clarke (GBR) [1] bt. Woobin Shin (KOR) [3] 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-0.

Semi-finals:    Jay Clarke (GBR) [1] bt. Stefan Vujic (AUS) 6-3, 7-6(3), Woobin Shin (KOR) [3] bt. Ishaque Eqbal (IND) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(2) 

 Men’s Doubles (final):Filiberto Fumagalli (ITA)/ Aryan Lakshmanan (IND) bt. S D Prajawal Dev (IND) / Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND) [2] 2-6, 6-4, 11-9.

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England’s Joshua Berry caps dream week at Kolkata Challenge 2025 with playoff victory

 England’s Joshua Berry caps dream week at Kolkata Challenge 2025 with playoff victory

India’s Om Prakash Chouhan finishes joint runner-up

 KOLKOTA, MARCH 16

Nineteen-year-old Englishman Joshua Berry capped a dream week with a playoff victory at the US$300,000 Kolkata Challenge 2025, a HotelPlanner Tour & PGTI joint sanctioned event, played at the revered Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC).

Joshua Berry (72-62-70-73), who set the course record of 10-under 62 earlier in round two, returned an ordinary one-over 73 in regulation play on the last day to total 11-under 277 along with three other players, Norway’s Andreas Halvorsen (69-66-71-71), Austria’s Lukas Nemecz (67-70-68-72) and India’s Om Prakash Chouhan (66-68-73-70).

The four players headed into a playoff where Joshua finally triumphed with a dramatic 19-feet birdie conversion on the second extra hole.

The trio of Halvorsen, Nemecz and Chouhan thus finished joint runners-up. While Chouhan, who struggled with his short putts all day, bowed out after missing a three-footer for par on the first playoff hole, Halvorsen and Nemecz lost out to Berry on the second playoff hole.

Om Prakash Chouhan’s tied second finish earned him a cheque worth INR 20,64,000 that pushed him up 41 places to third position in the PGTI Order of Merit 2025.

Teenager Joshua Berry, the overnight leader by one shot, had a slow start to the day as he conceded two bogeys on the front-nine. Joshua then made a crucial tap-in birdie on the 15^th to climb into contention. Berry made par on the first playoff hole along with Halvorsen and Nemecz. The Englishman then nailed his 19-feet birdie conversion on the second playoff hole to emerge champion.

Joshua, who won his maiden HotelPlanner Tour title, said, “I didn’t have the best of rounds today but I guess I earned the reward for staying patient till the end and keeping my emotions together. All parts of my game fired this week and I was particularly sharp with the mental aspect of my game.

“I’m absolutely buzzing. This win is important and it’s good for my confidence as well. I know I can do it now, which I think is the key thing.

“I did feel some nerves but that’s what you practice for. I’m looking forward to watching that putt in the play-off back.

“You’ve always got to be confident going into a play-off but obviously it’s nerve-racking. You really want to win, and I just tried to hit one good shot at a time. Luckily, I holed that putt on the second extra hole. It’s a game of such fine margins.”

Thirty-eight-year-old Om Prakash Chouhan, who was tied fifth and three off the lead after round three, couldn’t get his putting rhythm going on Sunday as he missed short putts to drop two bogeys on the front-nine in exchange for just one birdie.

Om Prakash, a former winner on the HotelPlanner Tour and at the RCGC in 2023, had a far better back-nine where he scored three birdies including a tap-in on the 11th and a 10-feet conversion on the 13th to move into contention.

Chouhan, who was the sole leader for a few holes on the back-nine, then missed a golden opportunity for victory on the 18^th where his 15-feet putt for birdie lipped-out.

On the first playoff hole, Chouhan missed out on another short putt conversion from three feet that cost him a bogey and put him out of contention.

Chouhan said, “I once again struck the ball well, landing it within five feet for three of my birdies today. But the rhythm of my putting stroke continued to elude me. That resulted in a few missed short putts which turned out to be decisive.

“It was one of those days when things didn’t go as per plan. I was quite disappointed about missing out on the win after getting into contention towards the end.”

SSP Chawrasia and Samarth Dwivedi shot scores of 67 to make major gains on the final day. While SSP jumped 18 spots to secure sixth place at nine-under 279, Samarth moved up 22 spots to end the week in tied seventh position at eight-under 280.

 =====balbirsingh227@gmail.com

Kohli steers India into Champions Trophy final

  Kohli steers India into Champions Trophy final

DUBAI, MARCH 4

Virat Kohli’s knock of 84 led India to a four-wicket victory over Australia in the first ICC Men’s Champions Trophy semi-final after Mohammed Shami had earlier picked up three for 48 to help restrict the world champions to 264 all out.

Captain Steve Smith hit 73 for Australia with Alex Carey adding 61, but with wickets falling at regular intervals, Shami, alongside Varun Chakravarthy (two for 49) and Ravindra Jadeja (two for 40), made sure their opponents never got away from them.

Lower-order hitting from Hardik Pandya (28 from 24 balls) tipped the balance in India’s favour during the chase with the 2002 and 2013 ICC Men’s Champions Trophy winners looking to become the first nation to win the competition three times.

The first Australian wicket fell at the end of the third over as Cooper Connolly feathered Shami through to wicket keeper KL Rahul for a nine-ball duck, given out on review.

Travis Head, given a life on nought by Shami with his first legal delivery, attempted to counter the Indian bowlers’ tight start, hitting both Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav for six, before holing out to Shubman Gill at long-off for 39 off Chakravarthy.

Smith and Marnus Labuschagne put on 56 for the third wicket as they took Australia onto 110 before Labuschagne was trapped LBW by Jadeja for 29.

Smith, who was dropped by Shami on 36, went past 50 in the 26th over but lost partner Josh Inglis seven balls later to Jadeja when the Australian wicketkeeper found Kohli at short cover for 11.

Shami ended Smith’s stay at the crease in bizarre fashion, bowling the Australian skipper with a full toss for 73 for his second wicket, to leave the opposition 198 for five inside 37 overs.

In between the wickets of Glenn Maxwell – bowled by Axar Patel for seven – and Ben Dwarshuis – caught at deep midwicket by Shreyas Iyer off Varun for 19 – Alex Carey reached his half century off 48 balls.

Carey’s stint at the crease was ended on 61 after a brilliant direct hit by Iyer with Australia eventually bowled out for 264 following Nathan Ellis and Adam Zampa being dismissed late on.

India’s chase began in earnest, reaching 30 without loss inside five overs until Gill inside-edged Dwarshuis back onto his stumps for eight.

Smith’s decision to bring on Connolly paid off instantly as the opener struck Rohit Sharma in front for 28 having previously been given lives by Connolly himself and Labuschagne in the field.

Kohli powerfully pulled Zampa to the fence to reach a 53-ball fifty at the end of the 25th over as part of a stabilising 91-run stand with Iyer, before the latter was bowled by Zampa for 45 in the 27th.

Maxwell, who dropped Kohli on 51 at short cover, struck the Indian number three on his pad during the 32nd over with the score 160 for three, but the faintest of edges denied Australia a fourth wicket.

Ellis clattered Axar’s off stump while on 27 with 87 runs still required for victory.

The next five overs were then milked for 22 runs by Kohli and Rahul to take India to 200 for four with 10 overs to go.

Kohli top scored for the Group A winners with 84, but after putting Zampa into the stands two balls into the 43rd over, the leg spinner duly removed him when he was caught by Dwarshuis at long on with 41 runs still needed.

That left Pandya to join Rahul and the pair put on a crucial 34-run stand before Pandya was caught for 28 having hit three sixes.

Rahul finished the game off with a six off Maxwell as India won by four wickets with 11 balls to spare.

Scores in brief

ICC Men’s Champions Trophy, semi-final 1 India vs Australia, Dubai

India 267/6 in 48.1 overs (Virat Kohli 84, KL Rahul 42*; Nathan Ellis two for 49) def.

Australia 264 all out in 49.3 overs (Steve Smith 73, Alex Carey 61; Mohammed Shami three for 48)

Result: India win by four wickets.

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IOC Young Leaders Programme welcomes 25 new recruits for 2025 to 2028

  

Out of more than 5,000 applications: IOC Young Leaders Programme welcomes 25 new recruits for 2025 to 2028

LAUSANNE (SWITZERLAND), FEB 19 After receiving an overwhelming number of more than 5,000 applications, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced the selection of 25 new IOC Young Leaders for 2025 to 2028. The selected candidates will embark on a four-year journey to create grassroots sport-based initiatives aimed at addressing social issues in their communities.

The launch of this new cohort saw an unprecedented level of interest, with a remarkable 5,270 young people from 169 countries and territories registering for the first phase of selection. This overwhelming response highlights the growing commitment of young people to drive positive change through sport. "The selection of these 25 exceptional young leaders from diverse backgrounds underscores our commitment to empowering the next generation to build a better world through sport. The record number of applicants highlights how young people globally recognise the important role of sport in society,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “Their innovative ideas and dedication to leveraging sport for positive social change inspire us all. We look forward to supporting them as they contribute to the Olympic Movement and make a meaningful impact in their communities. This is what the Olympic Movement stands for: building a better world through sport." Coming from 25 countries and territories across five continents, this new cohort of IOC Young Leaders brings together a diverse group of passionate changemakers who will work to develop innovative projects aligned with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through this programme, the IOC Young Leaders will receive a bespoke four-year capacity-building programme that includes expert guidance and coaching, access to an extensive sport and sport-for-development network, and seed funding of USD 10,000, which will help them turn their ideas into impactful and sustainable initiatives. A growing community impacting over 55,000 lives Since its launch in 2016, the IOC Young Leaders Programme has supported 145 Young Leaders from 77 countries and territories, who have collectively delivered over 160 projects, positively impacting over 55,000 lives in communities worldwide. This initiative directly contributes to Olympism365, the IOC’s strategy to strengthen the role of sport as an enabler for the SDGs, by empowering young people to drive social change through innovative solutions. This year’s selection further expands the programme’s global reach, with IOC Young Leaders coming from countries that have not yet been represented in the programme: the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Poland and Zimbabwe. The 2025–2028 IOC Young Leaders The selected IOC Young Leaders 2025-2028 are: Africa Otim Ambrose (Uganda) Prince Apoh (Ghana) Jordan Joel (Nigeria) Audrey Oronda (Kenya) Nadine Taderera (Zimbabwe) Americas Guadalupe Beltrán (Argentina) Kyndall Hudson (USA) José López Aceves (Mexico) Ayanna Morgan (Barbados) SunMin Park (Canada) Camila Tauil Alves Barreira (Brazil) Rafael Valdivieso (Dominican Republic) Asia Chloé Abou Chabake (Lebanon) Laher Hiten Gala (India) Tin Sum Lee (Hong Kong, China) Sara Merican (Singapore) Amirtya Soerakoesoemah (Indonesia) Yenlik Ultarakova (Kazakhstan) Europe Oleksandra Boliak (Ukraine) Sofia Bonicalza (Italy) Marta Gorczyńska (Poland) Murhad Hussain (Great Britain) Eduardo Oliveira (Portugal) Georges Speyer (France) Oceania Kalinda Robinson (Australia). ====balbirsingh227@gmail.com