CHESS
Divya Deshmukh takes lead at World Junior Chess
After a day’s rest, the World junior chess championship will resume at the Gift City Club in Gandhinagar on Sunday. With five rounds remaining, the open as well as the girls’ sections look pretty open with several players in with a chance to be crowned champions.
While four players are jointly leading the open event, there is a sole leader among the girls. Divya Deshmukh had begun as a firm favourite and she is on 5.5 points, out of a possible six.
The Nagpur girl has won five games and drawn one. She is followed half-a-point behind, though, three players — Mariam Mkrtchyan, Narmin Abdinova and Ksenia Norman.
In the open section, there is a four-way tie between Jose Gabriel Cardoso, Kazybek Nogerbek, Rudik Makarian and L.M.S.T. De Silva. They are all on five points.
Behind them are 13 players on 4.5. But the top seed Abhimanyu Mishra is not among them; the Indian-origin player representing the United States has had a disappointing event so far and is on 3.5 points.
Top results (Indians unless stated):
Jose Gabriel Cardoso (Col, 5) drew with Nogerbek Kazybek (Kaz, 5); Aleksey Grebnev (Fid, 4.5) drew with Daniel Quizon (Phi, 4.5); Prraneeth Vuppala (4.5) drew with Pranav Anand (4.5); Mayank Chakraborty (4) lost to Rudik Makarian (Fid, 5); Marius Fromm (Ger, 4.5) drew with V S Nandish (4.5); L M S T De Silva (Sri, 5) beat Subelj Jan (Slo, 3.5); Dudin Gleb (Hun, 4.5) beat Simon Rybka (Svk, 3.5); Emin Ohanyan (Arm, 4.5) beat Domalchuk-Jonasson Aleksandr (Isl, 3.5); Artiom Stribuk (Fid, 4.5) beat L R Srihari (3.5); Gharibyan Mamikon (Arm, 4.5) beat Tarun Kanyamarala (Irl, 3.5); Harshit Pawar (4) drew with Tobias Koelle (Ger, 4); Aditya Samant (4) drew with Ayush Sharma (4); Sanket Chakravarty (3.5) lost to Luka Budisavljevic (Srb, 4.5); A R Ilamparthi (4.5) beat Adireddy Arjun (3.5); Zhangir Bizhigitov (Kaz, 3.5) drew with Abhimanyu Mishra (Usa, 3.5); Mark Smirnov (Kaz, 3) lost to Siddharth Jagadeesh (Sgp, 4);Alekhya Mukhopadhyay (3) lost to Ethan Vaz (4); Nihal Swarna (3) lost to Sambit Panda (4); S Aswath (4) beat Jyotshnav Talukdar (3).
Girls:
Ayan Allahverdiyeva (Aze, 4.5) lost to Divya Deshmukh (5.5); Mrittika Mallick (4) lost to Mariam Mkrtchyan (Arm, 5); Beloslava Krasteva (Bul, 4) lost to Norman Kseniya (Fid, 5); Martyna Wikar (Pol, 4.5) drew with Sachi Jain (4.5); Balabayeva Xeniya (Kaz, 4.5) drew with R Kashthuri Bhai (4.5); Narmin Abdinova (Aze, 5) beat V Rindhiya (4); Lucia Striskova (Svk, 4) lost to Rakshitta Ravi (4.5); Mrudul Dehankar (3.5) lost to Sofia Hryzlova (Sui, 4.5); Anna Zhurova (Fid, 4.5) beat Oshini Gunawardhana Devindya (Sri, 3.5); Lala Shohradova (Tkm, 4) drew with Anastasia Grozdanovic (Srb, 4); Yashvi Jain (3.5) lost to Kaldarova Ayaulym (Kaz, 4.5); Swara Lakshmi S Nair (4) drew with Milena Gasparyan (Arm, 4); Bhagyashree Patil (4) beat Liya Kurmangaliyeva (Kaz, 3); Trisha Kanyamarala (3.5) drew with Ishvi Aggarwal (3.5); Dakshita Kumawat (4) beat Rzali Sabina (Aze, 3); Nia Donghvani (Geo, 3.5) drew with Bristy Mukherjee (3.5); Arshiya Das (3.5) drew with G Tejaswini (3.5); Sharanya Gade (4) beat Anishka Vikram (3); Saparya Ghosh (3) lost to Sneha Halder (4); Meryem Agajanova (Tkm, 4) beat Chinnam Vyshnavi (3); Elisa Cassi Ita, 3.5) beat Arya G Mallar (3).
– P.K. Ajith Kumar
GOLF
Lahiri fires 69, lies T-15 in Liv Golf Houston
Anirban Lahiri had a sluggish start with a bunch of pars before finding the momentum and lifting himself to 3-under for the first round of the Liv Golf Houston. He was Tied-15 alongside Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm.
Lahiri, starting from the 13th, had six pars and then found birdies five times in the next seven holes and ended with a 69 in the USD20m event.
Caleb Surratt, 20, started with a bogey-free 7-under 65 to share the first-round lead with Martin Kaymer, the captain of his team, Cleeks GC, and fellow team member Adrian Meronk.
The Cleeks also led the team event at 17-under to grab a three-shot advantage over Torque GC in the team competition.
The trio of individual leaders are one shot ahead of Kevin Na and Carlos Ortiz and seven players are two shots back, including Individual points leader Joaquin Niemann and Patrick Reed.
As many as 41 of the 54 players in the field broke par and included nine bogey-free rounds.
-PTI
TENNIS
Karan Thapa wins maiden under-18 National Series title
Kochi’s Karan Thapa who won the boys singles title in the AITA National Series under-18 tennis tournament in Bengaluru on Saturday.
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement
Kochi’s Karan Thapa who won the boys singles title in the AITA National Series under-18 tennis tournament in Bengaluru on Saturday.
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement
Kerala’s unseeded Karan Thapa defeated Karnataka’s third-seeded Kevin Titus Suresh 6-4, 6-4 and won the boys singles title in the AITA National Series under-18 tennis tournament in Bengaluru on Saturday.
It was the first under-18 National Series title for the 16-year-old who is coached by his dad Bimal Thapa and uncle Mansingh Thapa at the Regional Sports Centre-Next Generation Tennis Academies in Kochi.
-Stan Rayan
Riya Sachdeva wins women’s title
Riya Sachdeva, with the women’s singles winner’s trophy in Faridabad.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Riya Sachdeva, with the women’s singles winner’s trophy in Faridabad.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Riya Sachdeva saved two match points to beat top seed Aditi Rawat 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the final of the Rs.100,000 AITA women’s tennis tournament at the Faridabad Tennis Academy.
In the semifinals, the 17-year-old Riya had beaten Yashika Shokeen, a member of the Indian junior Billie Jean King Cup team.
It was the third singles title in the women’s circuit for Riya.
The results (final): Riya Sachdeva bt Aditi Rawat 2-6, 7-5, 6-4; Semifinals: Aditi bt Samaira Malik 6-3, 6-1; Riya bt Yashika Shokeen
– Kamesh Srinivasan
Sahaja Yamalapalli loses quarterfinals
Sahaja Yamalapalli was beaten 6-3, 7-5 by Maria Mateas in the quarterfinals of the $60,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Sumter, USA.
The results:
€148,625 Challenger, Surbiton, Britain Doubles (semifinals): Nicolas Barrientos (Col) & Diego Hidalgo (Ecu) bt Yuki Bhambri & Lloyd Glasspool (GBR) 6-3, 7-6(7).
$25,000 ITF men, Cordoba, Spain Doubles (final): Blake Bayldon (Aus) & Mats Hermans (Ned) bt Siddhant Banthia & Tennyson Whiting (USA0 7-6(3), 6-3.
$15,000 ITF men, Monastir, Tunisia Singles (semifinals): Cengiz Aksu (Tur) bt Manish Sureshkumar 6-2, 6-1.
$60,000 ITF women, Sumter, USA Singles (quarterfinals): Maria Mateas (USA) bt Sahaja Yamalapalli 6-3, 7-5.
$15,000 ITF women, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Antonia Schmidt (Ger) bt Saumya Vig 6-1, 6-0; Jessica Gomez (Mex) bt Sharmada Balu 6-1, 6-1;; Riya Bhatia bt Sabastiani Leon (USA) 6-3, 6-4.
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Kolie Allen & Sabastiani Leon (USA) bt Shria Atturu (USA) & Saumya Vig 6-0, 6-2.
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir, Tunisia Singles (semiifinals): Patricija Paukstyte (Ltu) bt Zeel Desai 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.
– Kamesh Srinivasan
FOOTBALL
Title holders India to face Maldives and Bangladesh in SAFF U-17 Championship
Defending champions India have been clubbed along side Maldives and Bangladesh in Group A in this year’s SAFF U-17 Championship.
The draw was conducted on Saturday for the SAFF U-17, U-20 Championship, and SAFF Women’s Championship. India is the reigning champions of the U-17 Championship. Hosts Bhutan, along with Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, have been drawn in Group B of the tournament, set to run from September 18 till 28.
As for the U-20 Championship, defending champion India has been clubbed in Group B along with Maldives and Bhutan.
Hosts Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have been drawn in Group A, with the competition happening between August 16-28 in Kathmandu.
In the Women’s Championship, five-time champions India has been clubbed in Group A alongside reigning champion Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Hosts Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan were drawn in Group B, with the event set to run between October 17-30.
The format for the tournaments remains the same — league-cum-knockout — with the top two sides from both groups making it to the semifinals.
-PTI
