Men post win, women held in Olympiad
MUMBAI:THE Indian teams ended the third round of competition at the 43rd World Chess Olympiad at Batumi, Georgia, on Wednesday in contrasting manner as the men’s team defeated Canada 3.5-0.5 while the women were held 2-2 by Serbia.
Viswanathan Anand scored his second win in a row by beating Eric Hansen while Pentala Harikrishna got the better of Razvan Preotu. Krishnan Sasikiran defeated Aman Hambleton on the fourth board as the higher ranked Indians surged to another win. However, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, the third highest ranked Indian in the world, could manage only a draw against Evgeny Bareev, a former top-10 player from Russia now representing Canada. This was the third match in a row in which the fifth ranked Indian team, placed 22nd in standings after two rounds, failed to score a perfect 4-0 win.
In the women’s section, both Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika won their games. Humpy defeated Jovana Rapport with black pieces while Harika got the better of Jovana Eric with white pieces. However, Eesha Karavade and Padmini Rout suffered setbacks against Adela velikic and Teodara Injic as the 23rd seeded Serbia held the higher ranked Indians to draw. The loss of points will push the Indian team down the rankings in the fourth round. The team will now have to score some big wins to recoup the loss.
BOYS U-16 EYE AFC QUARTER-FINAL SPOT
KUALA LUMPUR: India’s under-16 football team will take on Indonesia in its last group match on Thursday in which a win or a draw would end a 16-year wait to make the quarter-final of the ongoing AFC Championship.
It was back in 2002 when India had last qualified for the quarterfinals of the AFC U-16 Championship — their best-ever performance in the competition.
Both India and Indonesia have four points after two matches, but Indonesia top Group C on superior goal difference.
A win or a draw against Indonesia will see India make the lasteight stage.
A loss can also end in India progressing but only if the other match between Iran and Vietnam, which kicks-off simultanously, ends in a draw.
“We always play for a win and we will do so against Indonesia as well,” said coach Bibiano Fernandes.
ANJALI , SARVESH SET NEW MEET RECORDS
NEWDELHI:TWO meet records were set on the second day of the National Open Athletics Championships at Bhubaneswar, Odisha, on Wednesday.
Haryana’s Anjali Devi clocked 51.79 secs to win gold in the women’s 400m and break the 16-year-old record of 51.90 secs set by KM Beenamol.
Services Sarvesh Kushare’s gold-winning performance of 2.24m in men’s high jump was better than previous mark of 2.23m set last year by VS Yadav.
ADITI PULLS OUT OF INDIAN OPEN
NEW DELHI: Aditi Ashok on Wednesday pulled out of the $500,000 Hero Women’s Indian Open golf tournament scheduled to be held from October 18 to 21 in Gurugram. The fast-rising 20-year-old from Bengaluru has decided to play at the Buick LPGA which will be held on the same dates in Shanghai, China.