lahiri scores 70, moves to 15th
Melbourne: Anirban lahiri missed out on a chance to make his way into the top-10 at the halfway stage, as he had a sloppy finish in the second round of the USD 8 million ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf here on Friday. lahiri, a three-time winner on the Asian Tour, shot a one-under 70 despite two late bogeys on 16th and 17th holes at the difficult Royal Melbourne Golf Club. lahiri, who carded 72 on the first day, opened the round with a bogey on first, but over the next eight holes he birdied four times on second, fifth, eighth and ninth holes. Then following a string of pars, he bogeyed twice on 16th and 17th to finish tied 15th at the end of round two. With winds swirling around the magnificent Royal Melbourne, scoring was not too easy. lahiri, at even par 142, is tied alongside the likes of Ryo Ishikawa (71-71), Vijay Singh (73-69) and Miguel Angel Jimenez (73-69).
Yuki reaches semifinal
Shenzhen: India’s Yuki Bhambri on Friday inched closer to get wild entry in the Australian Open not only in the singles but also in the doubles by recording crushing victories at luohu Tennis Club, here. He first played the singles and the second seed Indian demolished the challenge of unranked Chinese Zhicheng Zhu 6-2, 6-1 to reach the semifinals. Ranked 204, Yuki broke Zhicheng twice in the opening set. He lost his serve in the second set which allowed his rival get on board but Yuki did not let the Chinese win a single game on his own serve after that and closed the match in a jiffy. He now faces world number 205 and third seed Di Wu for a place in the final. Di Wu, who was ranked 161 last year in May, dispatched compatriot and wild card Zhe li 6-3 6-3 in his quarter-final match.
Balaji in final, Jeevan ousted
Bhopal: N Sriram Balaji breezed into the summit clash of the ITF Futures singles event but an all-Indian final was prevented due to the defeat of top seed Jeevan Nedunchehzian, here on Friday. Second seed Balaji got past unseeded compatriot N Vijay Sundar Prashanth 7-5 6-2 in the semifinals of the USD 15,000 tournament to make his second successive final. Balaji had ended runner-up last week in New Delhi. He was down 3-5 in the opening set, facing two set points, but he hung on and reeled off four straight games to to snatch the momentum from his competitive rival. Top seed Jeevan lost 2-6 6-4 2-6 to third seed Korean Jung-Woong Na in the other semifinal.
Ryder’s test return in doubt
Wellington: Troubled New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder’s return to international cricket has been stalled by an injury which forced his withdrawal from a three-day match between New Zealand XI and the West Indies beginning Wednesday. Ryder’s inclusion on the New Zealand XI squad was to be the first step in his attempted comeback from self-imposed cricket exile. He has been hoping to win a recall to the New Zealand side for December’s three-Test series against the West Indies.