Indian shuttlers off to flying start
HAARLEM:YOUNG Indian shuttlers Ravi and Rithvik Sanjeevi Satish Kumar registered straight-game victories in the U-19 men’s singles opening round at the Dutch Junior International tournament here on Wednesday. While Ravi from Haryana wrapped up the match 21-11, 21-8 comfortably against his Indonesian opponent Made Deco Setya Atmaja, Tamil Nadu’s Rithvik thrashed Singapore’s Zhiyuan Lee 21-12, 21-11 to progress to the second round.
Another Indian Harsh Arora gave tough fight against M Fazriq Mohamad Razif of Malaysia before going down 18-21, 18-21.
Indian women shuttlers had a tough day as both Meghana Reddy Mareddy and Uthsava Palit suffered defeats in U-19 singles opening round.
ADHIBAN BEATS ARJUN IN AEROFLOT CHESS
MOSCOW:INDIAN Grandmaster B Adhiban beat compatriot Arjun Erigaisi in the seventh round to move within half-a-point of the leader Rauf Mamedov in the ‘A’ group of the Aeroflot Open chess tournament here. The Chennaibased GM won in 60 moves to take his tally to five points for a joint second spot. Mamedov is the sole leader on 5.5 points.
CHILE OPEN: SHARANSITAK PROGRESS
SANTIAGO: Divij Sharan and New Zealand’s Artem Sitak progressed to the quarterfinals of the Chile Open here. The thirdseeded Indo-kiwi pair defeated the Brazilian duo of Thiago Monteiro and Fernando Romboli in straight sets 7-6, 7-6. The Indokiwi duo will now face Spaniards Roberto Carballes Beena and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
SANKET, PRASHANT CLINCH MEDALS
BHUBANESWAR: Sanket Mahadev Sagar and Prashant Suresh Koli broke national records to clinch gold and silver medals respectively in the men’s 55kg weightlifting event at the Khelo India University Games 2020 here on Wednesday. Sanket set a new record in 138kgs Clean & Jerk lift. Meanwhile, Prashant set a new record in 110kgs snatch lift. The previous record was held by R Madhavan from Pondicherry.