Zeel has it easy but men’s seeds face tough competition
NEW DELHI: Women’s top seed Zeel Desai brushed aside the challenge of Harshita Chugh without fuss but men’s top seed Suraj Prabodh faced stiff resistance before prevailing over Ansu Kumar Bhuyan on the opening day of the Fenesta National Tennis championship.
Zeel dispatched Harshita 6-2 6-0 in a lop-sided women’s singles first round but Prabodh had to dig deep into his reserves to beat Bhuyan 7-6(3) 3-6 6-3 in his men’s singles first round.
The seeded players in the men’s singles draw had a tough time as fifth seed Prajwal S D Dev was ousted by Manish Sureshkumar 6-3 6-4.
On court number six, eighth seed Faisal Qamar managed to subdue talented Dhakshineshwar Suresh 7-6(3) 6-4 to make it to the second round.
Dhakshineshwar, who won the Under-16 championhsip last year, gifted away easy points and also struggled to contain his unforced errors.
The lanky player from Chennai plays much better than what he put on display. Faisal, on the other hand, remained calm and grabbed his chances to advance.
MARY KOM, SARITA IN ASIAN BOXING SQUAD
NEW DELHI: The celebrated MC Mary Kom was back in her preferred 48kg category as she staved off the challenge from younger competitors to clinch a place in the Indian team for Asian Women’s Boxing Championship in Vietnam.
After three days of gruelling trials here, during which some boxers ended up fighting two bouts in one day, the veteran duo of Mary Kom and L Sarita Devi (64kg) made the cut despite trying their luck in changed weight categories.
ANAND SIGNS OFF JOINT SECOND
DOUGLAS (ISLE OF MAN): Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand capped his impressive run with another victory over Chinese grandmaster Hou Yifan in the ninth and final round to sign off joint second at the Isle Of Man Chess Championship .Anand took 53 moves to overpower Yifan to finish with 7 points.
He shared the second spot with America’s Nakamura Hikaru.
World Champion Magnus Carlsen won the title with 7.5 points. Vidit Santosh Gujrathi and Swapnil S Dhopade finished at the joint third position at 6.5 points.