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Ace Indian golfer Jyoti Randhawa dropped a rung to fifth but Gaganjeet Bhullar held on to the sixth spot in the Asian Tours Order of Merit list issued on Monday.

Randhawa down to fifth

Ace Indian golfer Jyoti Randhawa dropped a rung to fifth but Gaganjeet Bhullar held on to the sixth spot in the Asian Tours Order of Merit list issued on Monday. Randhawa has earnings of $ 318,350,while Bhullar has $ 308,916. The two are the only Indians in the top-10 bracket. At the top,the race for the Order of Merit crown is now down to Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand and Liang Wen-chong of China.

India thrashed

Indian men got off to a dismal start after suffering two humiliating defeats,while the womens team experienced a mixed day at the Asian Rugby 7s Circuit in Borneo. It was a hapless performance on the mens part on Sunday as they were left totally beaten by both China and fourth seeded Chinese Taipei 0-45 and 0-24,respectively. Meanwhile,the women team came out with fine all-round performance to overcome Malaysia 21-10,but failed to maintain the rhythm in their next match that they lost to Thailand 0-45.

Ghosal in round two

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India’s lone challenge Saurav Ghosal shrugged off a one-game deficit and battled back to beat French qualifier Mathieu Castagnet in the first round of the Men’s World Squash Open in Kuwait. Ghosal,India’s number one,defeated Castagnet 0-11,11-6,11-8,11-5 in 56 minutes in the $ 277,500 PSA world tour event at the Salmiya Club in the Kuwait city. “It was just weird,” explained the 29th seed from Chennai after his match. “He played really well – but I was in the rallies,but everything was wrong,even my body language,but I’m really happy to win.

Advani crashes out

Reigning world champion Pankaj Advanis medal hopes in the ongoing third Asian Indoor Games ended after he crashed out in the pre-quarterfinals of the 6-Red Snooker discipline in Hanoi,Vietnam on Monday. Advani defeated Japans Shuji Hase 49-25 42-1 37-2 43-12 30-43 45-0 in the first encounter of the day,but lost to local favourite Quan Do Hoang in the next game,losing 70-0 36-2 4-42 5-37 36-28 0-49 1-41 16-35.

Mary Kom leads Indian charge

MC Mary Kom led the charge as three Indians advanced to the finals in the third Asian Indoor Games in Hanoi. Mary Kom defeated Josie Gabuco of Philippines 7-3 in the 46kg semi-finals. L Sarita Devi (54kg) and N Usha (57kg) also made the finals of their categories.

In athletics,the Indian womens 4X400m relay team won a silver while long jumper Prajusha Maliakkal Anthony bagged a bronze.

Powerlifters win two medals

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Indian powerlifters opened their campaign on a strong note by winning a silver and a bronze on the second day of the World Open Powerlifting championships in Gurgaon. P Suresh won the silver medal in the 56kg category,while Rana Shyam Singh beat off stiff competition from compatriot Raja Vimal to clinch the bronze in the 60kg category. Suresh lifted 627.5 kg to finish second behind Sergey Fedosienko (715kg) of Russia.