Jitu shoots record to win gold

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Jitu Rai on Friday won the men’s 50m pistol national title with a new national record score of 233 at the 61st National Shooting Championship. Rai got the better of Omkar Singh who shot 222.4 in the finals while Jitu’s army teammate Jai Singh secured bronze with an effort of 198.4. Rai’s score of 233 was a new record in the finals of the event. Rai also won the team gold in the event combining with Jai and Omprakash Mitherwal for a total of 1658.

MASTERS BEAT HUNTERS

NEWDELHI: HS Prannoy extended his unbeaten run as Ahmedabad Smash Masters outplayed Hyderabad Hunters 4-3 in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) here today. Prannoy beat fellow Indian Sai Praneeth 15-10, 15-8 in the second men’s singles to give his team an unassailable 4-1 lead in the tie.

Earlier, Lee Reginald and Kamilla Ryter Juhl gave Masters early advantage as they notched up a superb come- from-behind 4-15 15-12 15-8 win over Hunters’ Satwiksairaj and Pia Zebadiah in the opening mixed doubles.

ANAND STARTS SLOWLY

RIYADH: Newly-crowned World Rapid champion Viswanathan Anand won two and drew four in the first six rounds to make a slow start at the world blitz chess championship on Friday. Anand drew with Jhao Jun in the opening round and then Vladislav Kovalev proved no match for the Indian in the second round. Two more draws with Alexander Moiseenko and Nigel Short ensued before Anand won against Ivan Salgedo Lopez. Anand has 4 points out of six and is one point behind eight leaders and currently shares 18th spot.