Sindhu scores easy win; enters Rd 2 of French Open

NEWDELHI:Third seed PV Sindhu advanced to the women’s singles second round with a 21-17, 21-8 victory over Beiwen Zhang at the $750,000 French Open in Paris on Tuesday.

The Indian took just 34 minutes to level her career record to 3-3 against the American, who had defeated Sindhu in the first round of Denmark Open last week. The Hyderabadi will next take on the winner between Japan’s Sayaka Sato and Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi.

ANAND HELD BY SVANE

ISLEOFMAN: World’s third youngest Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa beat highly regarded Pavel Eljanov of Ukraine but five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Rasmus Svane in the third round of Isle of Man International chess tournament here Tuesday.

Praggnanandhaa is just 13 years old but the boy is already going places and this was his second win against a 2700 Grandmaster after beating English David Howell in the same tournament last year.Anand, on two points, is currently in the joint 26th position.

FICCI AWARDS

NEWDELHI: India’s largest professional inter-school sporting system, Sports For All (SFA), has been chosen as the ‘Best Sports Startup of 2018’ by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The eminent jury was chaired by Justice (retd) Mukul Mudgal.

SFA is rooted in the belief that all children deserve an equal and effective platform to showcase their sporting talent from the very start of their sporting career.

WOMEN’S FOOTBALL

CHONBURI (THAILAND): The Indian U-19 women’s football team will be up against Pakistan in its opening match of the AFC Championship Qualifier here on Wednesday. India coach Alex Ambrose said his team would look to keep emotions at bay in the clash against the arch-rivals.