Anand finishes 9th, Carlsen bags title in London
LONDON: Former world champion Viswanathan Anand played out a draw with Anish Giri of Holland to finish ninth in the London Classic while Magnus Carlsen of Norway won the event here. Reigning world champion Carlsen also won the Grand Chess Tour after winning the Classic on a lucky final day for him.
Anand ended the Classic on 3.5 points out of a possible nine, winning one, losing three and drawing the remaining five games in the 10-player round-robin tournament. Carlsen beat Russian Alexander Grischuk in the final round game with a little luck by his side and then won the tiebreaker against Maxime Vachier-lagrave of France to ensure his top spot.
CHAWRASIA JUMPS 26 PLACES TO BE 211TH
NEW DELHI: A top 10 finish in the Thailand Golf Championship last week saw Indian golfer SSP Chawrasia jump 26 spots to be placed 211th in the latest world golf rankings released on Monday.
Chawrasia had finished tied seventh at the Amata Spring Country Club and even though he missed a place in the 2016’s first Major at the British Open, he surged ahead in the rankings list.
The 37-year-old from Kolkata is the second highest ranked Indian in the world after Bangalore’s Anirban Lahiri at 41st place.
Rashid Khan, who missed the cut in Thailand, slipped eight rungs to be 288th, while Chiragh Kumar jumped three places to be 306th. Among others, Jyoti Randhawa was at 397th, Rahil Gangjee slipped three places to be 422nd, veteran Jeev Milkha Singh was 889th after a drop of three places.
LAHIRI 4TH INDIAN TO WIN ASIAN TOUR CROWN SENTOSA: Anirban Lahiri — with earnings of $1,139,084 — was presented the 2015 Asian Tour’s Order of Merit crown on Monday for him to become the fourth Indian golfer to win the region’s biggest award.
With only one tournament left for the end of the Asian Tour, World No.41 Lahiri enjoys a huge lead over the second-placed Scott Hend of Australia, who has accumulated $491,631.
The 28-year-old Indian golfer enjoyed a stellar campaign this season where he won twice on the region’s premier Tour, broke into the world’s top-50, posted a top-five finish in a Major at the PGA Championship, qualified for his maiden Presidents Cup and earned his Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour card in the United States.
SWAPNIL, PRACHI STAR IN NATIONAL SHOOTING NEW DELHI: Rising rifle star Swapnil Kusale and Prachi Gadkari hogged the limelight on the penultimate day of the 59th National Shooting Championship by winning the Junior Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions and Junior Women’s 10M Air Rifle events, respectively.
Swapnil, who represents Railways, also won the civilian section of the same event, while qualifying along with the likes of Olympic medallist Gagan Narang and Rio qualifier Chain Singh for the Men’s Final of the competition.
Maharashtra’s Prachi bagged the silver in the civilian Women’s 10m Air Rifle and also qualified for the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Final.