Indian sports wrap, May 5: Aditi Ashok finishes tied-31st at Black Desert Championship

The Hindu

05-05-2025

GOLF
Aditi Ashok finishes tied-31st at Black Desert Championship
Indian golfer Aditi Ashoki carded a topsy-turvy even-par 72 in the final round to sign off tied 31st in the Black Desert Championship in Ivins, Utah, USA.
Aditi, who has had a rather modest season so far, totalled 10-under for the week.
She had back-to-back bogeys on the seventh and the eighth followed by a birdie on the ninth and the 11th to get to even par. A bogey on the 15th was compensated by a birdie on the closing 18th.
She tied for the 31st position with, among others, Mao Saigo of Japan, who won the Chevron Championship, a Major on the LPGA.
Haeran Ryu grabbed her third LPGA title with a flawless eight-under 64 in the final round. She won by five shots over Germany's Esther Henseleit and China's Ruoning Yin.
-PTI
ESPORTS
Esports to be a demonstration sport at Khelo India Youth Games
Esports has been added to the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) for the first time as a demonstration event featuring BGMI, Street Fighter 6, Chess, and eFootball, a development that industry experts believe will help establish it as a mainstream sport.
Esports will be an official medal sport at the 2026 Asian Games, and the first-ever Olympic Esports Games is scheduled to start in 2027.
Before its inclusion in KIYG 2025, host Bihar had organised the Bihar State Esports Open Championship and the Bihar Inter School and College Esports Championship over the past year.
States like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Nagaland have also taken proactive steps to support and formalise grassroots esports programs.
Esports competitions will be beld at the Patliputra Sports Complex on May 6 and 7, featuring popular titles such as Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), Street Fighter 6, Chess, and eFootball on both mobile and console.
While BGMI remains the most popular esports title in India, Chess stands out as a particularly noteworthy addition to KIYG 2025.
Once considered a purely traditional sport, it has increasingly found a home in the esports world, most recently as part of the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025, which boasts a prize pool of USD 1.5 million (Rs 12.6 crore) for the title.
'The inclusion of titles like BGMI, Street Fighter 6, Chess, and eFootball in the Khelo India Youth Games 2025 signals a big step forward for grassroots esports in India,' says Akshat Rathee, Co-founder and Managing Director of NODWIN Gaming.
'It's encouraging to see esports standing shoulder to shoulder with traditional sports, and the addition of Chess - bridging classical and digital strategy shows how in tune this initiative is with global trends. But this isn't just about tournaments.
'It's about creating real opportunities to discover talent from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, places that have been overlooked for too long, thus building the foundation for a future where Indian gamers don't just participate, they dominate on the world stage.'
-PTI
SHOOTING
Khelo India Youth Games: Rajasthan Air Pistol Mixed Team clinches first gold
The Rajasthan team of Prachi and Mayank Choudhary clinched the first gold medal on offer in the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG), beating Uttar Pradesh in the 10m air pistol mixed team final here on Monday.
With both teams tied at 15-15, Prachi, taking part in her second Khelo India Youth Games, shot 10.6 and helped Rajasthan finish ahead of Uttar Pradesh's Dev Pratap and Urva Chaudhary.
Prachi was part of a team that won silver last time.
Monday's final saw one of the youngest participants, 14-year-old Dev Pratap, put up a solid performance for Uttar Pradesh.
The 17-year-old Urva Chaudhary was competing in her third KIYG.
In the bronze medal match, Delhi's Hardik Bansal and Niyamicka Rana defeated Haryana's Pratik Sheokand and Kanak 16-14.
-PTI
CUE SPORTS
Pankaj Advani wins CCI Billiards Classic for third time in a row
Ace cueist Pankaj Advani overcame a slow start to clinch his third CCI Billiards Classic title, defeating Dhruv Sitwala 5-2 in the final here.
Advani was far from his best in the final's first three frames played here late on Sunday, but he capitalised on the opportunity provided by his opponent Sitwala, who faltered while he was on a strong break of 94.
Advani won the fourth frame to level the terms 2-2 and went on to find his rhythm and took control of the game. He won the next three frames to seal the win along with a prize money of Rs 2.5 lakh, while Sitwala took home Rs 1.5 lakh as the runner-up.
Advani said, 'This win is special to me,' after winning the competition for the third straight year, which includes triumphs in 2023 and 2024.
Results
Pankaj Advani beat Dhruv Sitwala 5-2 [10-150(69, 51), 150(82)-148(95), 81- 150(85), 150(76, 48)-96(46, 42), 150(145)-136(136), 150(84)-147(63, 35), 150(69, 42)-137(48, 36)].
-PTI
Related Topics
Aditi Ashok